Retiree confidence levels change since the Bush years

Some people forget that G W Bush also inherited a recession. The percent of retirees in 2001 who felt very confident or somewhat confident that they had saved and invested sufficiently for retirement ranged from 74% in 2001 to 79% in 2007. In 2008, that dropped to 64% and then to 60% in 2011 as the recession ground on despite a massive influx of federal funding. Link to Research. The gloom and doom in the business community is palpable as they are hit by more and more taxes and uncertainty about health care. Expansion is mostly out of the question, unless you're a petroleum driller in North Dakota. This affects those of us who live on retirement incomes whether Social Security, or defined benefit plans or our own savings/investments. Obviously, two things jump out about those years--the current recession that started in 2007 changed the investing mix and caused retirees to reevaluate their retirement plans and spending, and the baby boomers began entering the retirement demographic.

Those of us who were born before or during WWII whose fathers fought in that war and whose parents were teen-agers or young adults during the Great Depression have a different attitude than baby boomers about saving and sufficiency. We also have benefited from stronger family safety nets and we know the difference between “wants vs. needs." The value gap will expand for Gen-Xers who were accustomed to even more “stuff” replacing spiritual and familial values. In the 1940s and 1950s even children whose parents never took them to church heard Biblical admonitions on values and thrift in school before the Supreme Court ended it in the 1960s. "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” Matt 6:19-20

Herbert Marcuse and "Repressive Tolerance"

In searching for the intellectual foundations of the anti-free speech movement, it is necessary to look back as far as the 1960s, and possibly before. Clearly, one of the most blatant intellectual attacks on free speech is the infamous essay “Repressive Tolerance”, written in 1965 by the well-known German Marxist, Herbert Marcuse. “Repressive Tolerance” is nothing less than the definitive blueprint for the “political correctness” movement that ails us to this very day.

Link

Where's Dana's phone call from the President?

"Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a "talk slut" and Laura Ingraham didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was called a "bitch" by way of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" intro song on Jimmy Fallon's show and didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Michelle Malkin was called a "mashed-up bag of meat" by Keith Olbermann and she didn't receive a Presidental phone call. Sarah Palin was called a "c*nt" by Bill Maher and she didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Countless other conservative women, like myself, have over the past several days been threatened with death and rape on Twitter and in email if we ask why we should pay for another woman's contraception. We didn't get Presidential phone calls. Why? Because Barack Obama can't use us to make an argument for birth control to hide his attack on the First Amendment."

Dana Loesch

"In the midst of all the media outrage over Rush Limbaugh calling Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke a slut, one would think political figures would shy away from using such words against their opponents, at least in public. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clearly doesn't think so for moments ago he sent a note via Twitter calling Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.) a "prostitute" and a "call girl":

So, a radio host shouldn't use the word "slut," but RFK, Jr. should feel free to throw around words like "call girl" and "prostitute" at a sitting Senator?"

Dan Riehl

Love Song of Saul Alinsky

According to Breitbart.com, Pam Dickler, director of the 1998 production of The Love Song of Saul Alinsky in Chicago that included a panel discussion featuring then-State Sen. Barack Obama, has a video tape of the play. And she won’t release it.

More details here.

Sandra Fluke and the feminist war against Rush Limbaugh

The rush to bash Rush Limbaugh for his comments about Sandra Fluke is another attempt to get him off the air--the left hates him because he tells the truth about them. They are going after Clear Channel and his sponsors.

This door of insults only swings one direction--to the right. The left was merciless toward Sarah Palin and Obama just laughed--and made fun of special needs children. They ridicule any woman conservative, and call her terrible names. Our Mr. President Obama chuckled when Tea Party members were smeared for doing nothing more than gathering and learning about their rights, which he continues to trample. "Despite President Obama’s repeated claims to change the tone in Washington, the White House had no comment this afternoon after Teamsters Union leader James Hoffa, speaking at an event before President Obama, said of Tea Party activists that, come November, Democrats should “take these sons of bitch..." For Sandra Fluke he gives a phone call and high praise.

But with Rush, there is a different standard. President Obama shreds the first amendment freedom of religion guarantees with the HHS Mandate; Rush Limbaugh calls a 30 year old radical feminist who wants us to pay for her contraceptives which cost $9/mo, a slut. Which is a bigger threat to America? And by the way, Sandra Fluke's demand for us to all pay for sexual reassignment surgeries will cost a bit more than $9/mo. .

Truly, this woman has an agenda, and I think it's a lot bigger than Limbaugh's.

Moses and the Bill of Rights

Last night at Faith of our Founders group (we study and discuss the Christian faith and actions of the founders) we sort of chuckled when we heard that tour guides tell people that the statue in the Supreme Court building is Moses with the Bill of Rights. I checked this on Google, and found another account of this from Religious News Service which gives some background. Of course, rather than seeing what is plainly the message of the sculpture, the guides use information that is unattributed. It’s like the Jefferson fathering children with a slave story—there are no male descendants of Jefferson from which to get a DNA sample, but the lie of a scoundrel and convict is used as a source, and a modern writer (Ellis) who lied even about his own history as a war veteran. Whether witnessing about the truth of the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ or the truth of the faith of the founders, some of us will meet people who chose darkness and misinformation. Don’t be discouraged, continue with the truth.

When the Supreme Court justices consider whether the Ten Commandments should be displayed on government property, they will do so under the watchful eyes of Moses.

The Jewish lawgiver is depicted several times in the stone and marble edifice that is the Supreme Court building, and so are the Ten Commandments. In sculpture, Moses sits as the prominent figure atop the building's east side, holding two tablets representing the Ten Commandments. And on the wall directly behind the chief justice's chair, an allegorical "Majesty of Law" places his muscular left arm on a tablet depicting the Roman numerals I through X.

Believers are convinced those are indeed the commandments given to Moses as described in the biblical Book of Exodus. Others [including staff] say the 10 numbers represent the Bill of Rights.

Link

New taxes under Obamacare (as known a year ago)

Increase Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of the payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent for couples earning more than $250,000 a year ($200,000 for single filers). 2013, $210 billion

Apply the 3.8 percent HI tax to investment income for couples earning more than $250,000 a year $200,000 for single filers) for the first time. 2013, Included in the above $210 billion

Mandate for individuals to buy health insurance and employers to offer it to their workers. 2014, $65 billion

Annual fee on health insurance providers based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2014, $60 billion

40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance for plans costing more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. 2018, $32 billion

Impose an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of branded drugs based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2011, $27 billion

Exclusion of unprocessed fuels from the existing cellulosic biofuel producer credit. 2010, $24 billion

2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices. 2013, $20 billion

Higher corporate taxes through stricter enforcement by requiring them to report more information on their business activities. 2012, $17 billion

Raise the 7.5 percent AGI floor on medical expenses deduction to 10 percent. 2013, $15 billion

Limit the amount taxpayers can deposit in fl exible spending accounts (FSAs) to $2,500 a year. 2014, $13 billion

Reduce the number of medical products taxpayers can purchase using funds they put aside in health savings accounts (HSAs) and FSAs. 2011, $5 billion

Eliminate the corporate deduction for prescription expenses for retirees. 2013, $4.5 billion

Increase corporate taxes by making it more diffi cult for businesses to engage in business activities that reduce their tax liability. 2010, $4.5 billion

10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services. 2010, $2.7 billion

Increased penalty for purchasing disallowed products with HSAs to 20 percent. 2011, $1.4 billion

Increase taxes on health insurance companies by limiting the amount of compensation paid to certain
employees they can deduct from their taxes. 2013, $0.6 billion

Repeal special deduction for Blue Cross/Blue Shield organizations. 2010, $0.4 billion

TOTAL REVENUE RAISED $503 billion

Table 1, Web Memo, Heritage

But stay tuned. New things come out every day as people read the bill.

Why is Fluke paying $3,000 for birth control? She isn't.

Why would a 30 year old Georgetown university (Jesuit school) law student spend $3,000 a year for birth control pills*? Here's a list of pharmacies where she can get it for $9/mo. 2 lattes. Obviously, she is a plant and a hoax selected by radicals, put out there by Democrat cafeteria Catholics like Pelosi and Biden who are more loyal to Obama's statism than they are to the values and morals they profess to believe and the Constitution they are supposed to uphold.

Here's the list.

*Oral contraceptives are hormonal preparations that may contain combinations of the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin alone. Combinations of estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy by inhibiting the release of the hormones luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary gland in the brain. LH and FSH play key roles in the development of the egg and preparation of the lining of the uterus for implantation of the embryo. Progestin also makes the uterine mucus that surrounds the egg more difficult for sperm to penetrate and, therefore, for fertilization to take place. In some women, progestin inhibits ovulation (release of the egg).

The combination estrogen-progestin is, or was before 2002, given to older menopausal women as "hormone replacement therapy." When health problems turned up, most women were taken off HRT. Why is it OK for younger women, even teen-agers, but dangerous for older?

The Case Against Obamacare

In November 2011, The Heritage Foundation Web Memo 3053 by Nina Owcharenko outlined the case against Obamacare, in Repealing Obamacare and Getting Health Care Right . In summary, without the most recent February disaster known as the HHS Mandate which hits at the First Amendment rights to religious freedom:

Individual Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that everyone buy government-approved health insurance or face a penalty. This mandate is unconstitutional and violates personal liberty.

Employer Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that employers with 50 or more employees provide government-approved health insurance or face a fine. This mandate will hit workers through lower wages and fewer jobs, shareholders through lower profits, and consumers through higher prices.

Health Care Subsidies: Obamacare spends more than $400 billion in the first 10 years to subsidize health insurance offered through government-designed exchanges. The design of these subsidies reinforces the current inequities in the tax code and creates new ones that will discourage work and encourage employers to discontinue offering health insurance.

Medicaid Expansion: Obamacare requires states to expand an already broken Medicaid program that is squeezing state budgets and providing poor-quality care. More than half of the reduction in uninsured under Obamacare comes from expanding this failing welfare program.

Medicare Cuts: Obamacare cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare—not to shore up Medicare’s long-term solvency, but to pay for new spending in Medicaid and new health care subsidies. These payment cuts are unsustainable and will jeopardize seniors’ access to care and services.

Independent Payment Advisory Board: Obamacare puts in place an unelected board to reduce payments to Medicare providers. These major payment decisions will ultimately impact seniors’ ability to access care and services.

CLASS Act: Obamacare creates a new long-term care entitlement program for all Americans. The program is actuarially unsound and fiscally irresponsible. Its flawed design has led the Administration to put its implementation on hold.

New Taxes: Obamacare includes more than $500 billion in new taxes. Many of these new taxes will be passed on to consumers in higher prices, while others will lead to higher tax rates on work and investment and discourage economic growth.

Government Regulation and Benefit Mandates: Obamacare adds layers of regulation and benefit mandates on insurers and the insurance market and on employer health plans. Together, these provisions will increase costs, destabilize the market, and reduce consumer choice.

Summary with hot links

Using different words, titles, and scare quotes to tell the same story

Two sources, the Washington Times and Nature Magazine, both covered the case of Michael Mann and Climategate by Virginia's Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Mann, formerly of the University of Virginia, now at Pennsylvania State University, created the hockey stick graph which was published in Nature. Notice how differently the two sources cover a Virginia Supreme Court decision. Both articles say Mann has been cleared of academic misconduct, but that's not what this case is about--it's about misuse of state funds and Cuccinelli's authority to investigate.

Va. Supreme Court denies Cuccinelli’s bid for climatologist’s emails
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday rejected a bid by Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II to acquire records about a former University of Virginia climatologist. Mr. Cuccinelli, under the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act, issued two civil investigative demands (CID), akin to subpoenas, in 2010 seeking records related to Michael Mann, who is associated with the infamous “hockey stick” global warming graph charting a rapid rise in the temperature of the earth’s surface during the 20th century. . . the Virginia Supreme Court in a Friday opinion concluded that Mr. Cuccinelli does not have the authority to issue the demands to the University of Virginia at all.
Radio column, Washington Times

Virginia high court rejects case against Mann
The Virgina Supreme Court on Friday tossed out an investigation by the state’s conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, into Michael Mann, the former University of Virginia climatologist whose work on the now-famous hockey-stick graph (originally published in Nature) has become a lightning rod for climate skeptics as well as the subject of a new book. . . In a dense and conflicted 26-page ruling (pdf) . . . Virginia’s high court ruled that the university is not a “person” and thus is not subject to Cuccinelli’s demands under the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
Nature blog

First, notice the difference in headlines--in one the court denies bid to emails, in the other it rejects case against Mann. In the one sympathetic to Cuccinelli, his surname is used, and in the one sympathetic to Mann, his surname is used.

1) rejected a bid to acquire records or tossed out an investigation

2) Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II or state’s conservative attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli

3) Michael Mann, who is associated with the infamous “hockey stick” global warming graph or Michael Mann, the former University of Virginia climatologist whose work on the now-famous hockey-stick graph. . .

4) The Virginia Supreme Court concluded that Mr. Cuccinelli does not have the authority to issue the demands to the University of Virginia at all or Virginia’s high court ruled that the university is not a “person” and thus is not subject to Cuccinelli’s demands

A mother's arms reach around the world

Gary's foundation

Ohio probing adoption agency after rape charges

Certainly hope they are looking into taking the man's agency approval (ACTION approved in Ohio for fostering since 2005) now that he's been charged with raping the boys he'd been approved to adopt. Seems there should be some other serious charges.

Ohio probing adoption agency after rape charges

Hating Breitbart

"It is sad that to be a left-winger is to be a hatemonger, but the death of conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart has certainly brought out those true colors of the left. The giddiness displayed and cheering indulged by America’s leftists over the fact that Mr. Breitbart died late Wednesday night has been shrill, disgusting, and suffused with the lamentable inhumanity so commonly found in the hearts of leftists everywhere.

It should be no surprise that left-wingers are prone to authoritarian regimes and acts of genocide."

Warner Todd Huston

To see any of Breitbart's websites, click here.

Diversity in Hollywood

During Hollywood's silent screen era Japanese screen star Sessue Hayakawa rivaled Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and John Barrymore in popularity with film audiences. Hayakawa was one of the highest paid Hollywood stars of his time, making over $5,000 a week in 1915, then $2 million a year through his own production company in 1920s. He was handsome and flamboyant and gave some of Hollywood's legendary parties. Hayakawa was also Paramount's first choice for the role of The Sheik that launched Rudolph Valentino's career in 1918.

Not bad for a student from Japan who stumbled into acting during a vacation. in Los Angeles.

Rest of the story.

The Joseph Ellis fabrication of George Washington

Why Time Magazine would use a liar and known character assassin to write about George Washington for a special edition, I don't know. . . Oh, wait, I think I do. Because Washinton stood for something. Have you checked his piece for original sources? Ellis was exposed 8 years ago as a fraud. What's up at Time? When he tried to trash Thomas Jefferson with the Hemings story in the 1990s, he was trying to shore up William Jefferson Clinton, as "see everyone does it." With Washington, I think he's trying to discredit all patriots, and shore up President Obama. Mt. Holyoke suspended him for a year. It was far too little. I have the pb edition of his "Founding Brothers" (written before his lies were exposed), so it will go in the trash, not even to the library book sale where it might mislead someone for fifty cents.

". . . consider how intellectually disabled a generation of students mentored by Mount Holyoke "presidential historian" Joseph Ellis must be, given his assertion in Time Magazine this week that "[Washington] began the political tradition that produced a Union victory in the Civil War, the Federal Reserve Board, Social Security, Medicare, and most recently, Obamacare. He had no patience in his own time with a states' rights interpretation of the Constitution and would have found the conservative agenda of the modern Republican Party and its Tea Party allies a repudiation of all he stood for."

Of course, Time's editors failed to issue a disclaimer noting that their esteemed source is a fraud and fabricator. In 2001, the Boston Globe revealed that Ellis had been telling his spellbound young students tall tales of his involvement in the civil rights movement in the South, of his valor as a combat platoon leader in Vietnam, and of his later activities as an intrepid anti-war leader at Yale. All lies."

"For years, Mount Holyoke professor Joseph Ellis had been regaling students, interviewers, and friends with gripping stories of his service in Vietnam. He claimed to have been a platoon leader and paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division. He said he served in Saigon under Gen. William Westmoreland.

Ellis was recently forced to apologize for "having let stand" the "assumption" that he served in Vietnam. Ellis whiled away the Vietnam War in his college dorm room, presumably, like most academics, smoking pot, and listening to the Beatles' "White Album."

Among the "assumptions" Ellis had "let stand" was his claim that after witnessing the horror of Vietnam, he came home and enlisted in the anti-war movement. He also boasted of having helped David Halberstam with his 1972 best seller, The Best and the Brightest, by sharing his vivid recollections of Vietnam.

He had no involvement in the anti-war movement, and Halberstam says he's never talked to Ellis.

The fantasy life of this deskbound Walter Mitty didn't stop at Vietnam. He has also bragged about his work in the civil-rights movement. He claims that while on the Freedom Trail in Mississippi, he was the victim of racist Southern cops banging on his door late at night and following him in his car. He wistfully recalled his years as a high-school football star, describing to a reporter last year how he once scored the winning touchdown.

He wasn't in Mississippi, and his greatest moment on the football field involved a clarinet.

Between 'Nam flashbacks and Freedom Rider reunions, Ellis co-authored the groundbreaking 1998 report, "Jefferson Fathered Slave's Last Child." You may remember this report if you weren't on the moon when it was released. It was the Clinton flacks' giddiest "Gotcha!" moment. The report was unveiled to instant acclaim — as luck would have it — just weeks before the House impeachment vote.

Bill Clinton wasn't a pervert, liar, and felon after all! Rather, he was part of an honorable history of venerable men molesting the help. As report co-author Ellis put it: "It is as if Clinton had called one of the most respected character witnesses in all of U.S. history to testify that the primal urge has a most distinguished presidential pedigree." Ellis claimed the new testing proved "beyond any reasonable doubt that Jefferson had a long-term sexual relationship with his mulatto slave."

As the author of the award-winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson — and a Vietnam veteran — Ellis spoke with some authority on the matter. He dismissed the likely protestations from "die-hard Jefferson worshippers," proclaiming the debate over. "Now we know," he said.

Unfortunately, proof of a Jefferson-Hemings liaison was as fanciful as Professor Ellis's war service. Two months after the report's "findings" had been published in every news outlet where English is spoken, there was a slight correction. One of Ellis' co-authors, pathologist Eugene Foster, admitted to the British science journal Nature that they had not proved Thomas Jefferson fathered any children by Sally Hemings. What they meant to say was "Jefferson could have fathered the slave's last child." Just like Ellis could have served in Vietnam.

The scientists had compared the DNA from descendants of Hemings's last son to the DNA of descendants of one of Jefferson's paternal uncles. The report established only that some Jefferson male had fathered a child with Hemings.

That isn't as incriminating as it might sound. There were 25 Jefferson males with the same DNA alive when Hemings conceived her last son. Seven of them were at Monticello during the relevant time period. The report's title was a lie." Link

"I believe that the lies he told about himself and the way he told them changed the way he wrote history," Charles Hoffer wrote of Joseph Ellis.

Hoffer is kinder than I would be. Ellis is was and always will be a liar, and any school or publication that hires him to write or teach history is not worthy of my money or time.

Andrew Breitbart dead at 43

From Breitbart.com

With a terrible feeling of pain and loss we announce the passing of Andrew Breitbart.

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.

Andrew recently wrote a new conclusion to his book, Righteous Indignation:
I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and—famously—I enjoy making enemies.

Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands—who knows?—of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night.
Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.

In September I read his book, Righteous Indignation and wrote, "The Democrat Media Complex (DMC) is what Andrew Breitbart calls the unholy coalition of the Democratic Party, the Old Media (press, TV, Hollywood/pop culture) and increasingly the New Media (Salon.com, Huffington Post, Daily Koz, blogs, social networking, etc.). He was an unthinking Democrat until the Clarence Thomas Anita Hill hearings, and although he didn't change his politics, that's when he first realized that the Democrats controlled the media and the message. So how did a country with guaranteed freedom of speech and respect for western civilization come to be one where any speech that doesn't toe the party line is suspect and people in power are anti-capitalist?"
.

Arizona SB1070, Obama and Holder

Why is our President siding with Mexico against out own citizens?

Can you trust this poll?

“Poll after poll in recent months has indicated that Americans have a high level of concern over Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president, with one poll showing fully half of the nation wants Congress to investigate the question.”

I don’t know who they are polling, but I don’t believe Americans are that worried about Obama’s eligibility to be president. Do You? Even if I were concerned, I know nothing will come of it, and it’s better to put effort elsewhere if you believe, as I do, he’s a bad president. However, something is supposed to come out tomorrow from Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Source of story. I’m not holding my breath.

Reading Pearl Buck's Good Earth again--55 years later

I read several of Pearl Buck’s novels when I was in high school, so I probably read the Good Earth (1931) around 1956 or 1957. I don't recall that I ever saw the movie (1937). Although I couldn’t have told you the names of the characters or the plot, as I’m rereading it now for book club next Monday, each page seems familiar. Even after 5 pages, I was in awe of Buck's skill and sensitivity. What a masterful writer. As Hilary Spurling wrote:

“Buck is virtually forgotten today. She has no place in feminist mythology, and her novels have been effectively eliminated from the American literary map. In the People’s Republic of China her fiction remains unique because it accurately depicts the hard lives of an illiterate rural population ignored by the Chinese writers who were Buck’s contemporaries and subsequently obliterated from the record by Communist Party doctrine. “In China she is admired but not read,” ran a recent article in the New York Times, “and in America she is read but not admired.” Both views could do with reappraisal. “ Link

The story begins on Wang Lung's wedding day when he goes to The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners to get his future wife, O-Lan, a slave. She was not pretty so she hadn't been defiled by the sons or male servants. O-Lan turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. Ms. Buck in describing Wang Lung as he encounters a revolutionary during the time the family has been wrenched off the beloved land by a famine, describes almost perfectly our own revolutionaries of today--The Occupiers:

“. . . proclaimed the young teacher, “and the murderous one who stabs you when you are dead and do not know it are the rich and the capitalists, who would stab you even after you are dead. You are poor and downtrodden and it is because the rich seize everything.”

Now that he was poor Wang Lung knew full well but he had heretofore blamed it on a heaven that would not rain in its season, or having rained, would continue to rain as though rain were an evil habit. . . Wang Lung grew bold and asked,

“Sir, is there any way whereby the rich who oppress us can make it rain so that I can work on the land?”

At this the young man turned on him with scorn and replied, “Now how ignorant you are, you who still wear your hair in a long tail! No one can make it rain when it will not, but what has this to do with us? If the rich would share with us what they have, rain or not would matter none, because we would all have money and food.”

A great shout went up from those who listened, but Wang Lung turned away unsatisfied.

Still, eventually Wang Lung the peasant through hard work and some stolen jewels becomes wealthy and greedy, buys the estate in which his wife was formerly a slave, and turns away from the wife who had helped him accomplish everything.

What is high school for?

"The Office of Diversity and Inclusion Bridge Program [at The Ohio State University] assists incoming freshman with transitioning from high school to college by providing academic enrichment coursework, campus involvement, community integration, and peer mentoring. The enrichment coursework includes English, research, mathematics, psychology, economics, and calculus lab. Students also participate in study skills, career, and personal development workshops."

In 1982, 30 years ago, I had a temporary contract at the OSU Libraries to work with freshmen and undergrads at what was then "West Campus." (I have pretty good research skills, but can find no record of this financial boondoggle on the internet. I may have to ask a retired colleague.) In those days, the "bridge" was real; a bus drove the young students across the river to a special campus with fine Soviet, cereal box architecture (west campus is still there but now is primarily administrative offices) which would be user friendly with advisors and grad instructors on hand to help them adjust and make it to the next year. There was even a library there called "the learning center" instead of "library." It was to make the transition easier, not just for minorities, but for freshmen who had poor skills in math and English and might need some extra help. There was even an English lab or rhetoric workshop (forgotten it's name) tucked away on another level of the West Campus Learning Center.

I think the state was proposing stricter standards for elementary and high schools, but apparently the university is still offering make-up work for the kids so that enrollment stats look better. The graduation rate from our big city high schools is poor. Don't know what the graduation rate is for a minority student who comes on campus as a freshman so unprepared for college level work, that the first year is spent catching up. Probably FERPA covers their tail on this.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion complies with the rules set forth by the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) with regard to student personal and academic information. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Academic Advancement Services, utilizes the web based scheduling system, GradesFirst, to schedule retention counseling and tutoring appointments, track student participant’s academic progress, communicate with program participants, ODI staff and university professors, and generate program affiliated reports. AAS staff will utilize academic information acquired from The Ohio State University and program participants for these purposes. Student personal and academic information housed on Gradesfirst is secure and will not be shared outside of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

If anyone has some statistics on this, or even a web site I can link to about the old West Campus of the 1980s, I'd appreciate it.