Knowledge

Celebration Of Knowledge: The 214th Anniversary Of The Library Of Congress In Washington, DC!

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This weekend, the nation commemorates the 214th anniversary of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the national library of the United States!

Anyone who has done scholarly research, as this author has, or anyone who has read any book published in the US or worldwide that has been available in the United States, owes a lot to the Library of Congress, as it catalogues all books, prints, photographs, manuscripts, periodicals, newspapers, and every other kind of venue for knowledge that exists!

Spending many months in the Manuscript Division, as this author did in the early 1970s for his dissertation/ book which was published in 1981, made one fall in love with the institution, and realize how fortunate this nation is for this institution, and its three magnificent buildings in the nation’s capitol, along with research facilities and repositories all over the country.

In league with the National Archives and the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress gives the nation and the world unprecedented access to the “hospital of the mind,” the knowledge that expands human aspirations and activity, and makes the world a better place!

Conservatives, Republicans, And Basic Knowledge: Science, Mathematics, History, Economics, Spelling And Grammar, World Diplomacy

Ronald 1 Comment

Many Republicans and conservatives, whether in Congress, the news media, think tanks, or just ordinary citizens, have a real and fundamental problem with basic knowledge. It makes one wonder where they were when they were young, and supposedly being educated, and the indications that they have learned nothing new as adults.

Consider the field of Science, with many of the Republicans and conservatives believing in creationism, the BIble theory of creation, that claims the earth is maybe 10,000 years old at the most, and that dinosaurs walked with man, with a Creationist Museum open to the public in Kentucky, near the border with Cincinnati, Ohio. There is complete denial of Charles Darwin, to the point of total craziness.

Also, there is the failure of these people to accept that there is global warming and climate change, despite so much evidence that there is a problem, and refusal to plan for the future on the basis that we are facing a long range threat, with Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma being the political leader of the “deniers”.

But also, many Republicans and conservatives seem to have their own version of the process of pregnancy and what is a rape, as for instance, defeated Senate nominees Todd Akin and Richard Mouroick.

But let’s move on from Science to Mathematics, and we are talking here about basic math, arithmetic, not geometry, trigonometry, or calculus. Many members of the GOP, including Paul Ryan, claim a magical system of numbers to come up with their budget plans, but as Joe Biden said to Paul Ryan in the Vice Presidential debate, it does not add up!

Then we move on to history, and the image that America is the greatest nation in history, and has never made a mistake, never needs to apologize, has no faults or shortcomings that anyone needs to learn about. And our exceptionalism is enough to wave in the faces of all nations around the world. Why should we teach or learn about slavery, mass murder of native Americans, discrimination against Jews and Catholics and other immigrants, the exploitation of labor by corporations, the destruction of our environment, the corruption of many politicians over our history, the war crimes committed by our troops in many wars, and so on? NO, that is unpatriotic, and instead we must sanitize all historical learning!

And the field of economics is another area of believing that the best system is NO regulation, and the promotion of Adam Smith’s Laissez Faire economics, expressed in the Wealth Of Nations, and if there is poverty or other human suffering, that is the way it was intended by God, so the promotion of Social Darwinism, the one time Darwin is utilized by these KNOW NOTHINGS!

Spelling and grammar do not matter, as many Tea Party radicals who hold rallies show their total ignorance of all subject matter, and cannot express themselves appropriately, and in a respectable manner! They march with signs that are misspelled, as with the Secession signs now being brandished by many of these characters, who are upset with the Obama victory last week!

World Diplomacy, the whole idea of trying to relate to other countries in a respectful manner, is also insignificant to many, who believe the answer is to BOMB everyone you do not agree with, throw our weight around, and not give a damn about how the world perceives us!

This ignorance and stupidity is totally unacceptable, and the Republican Party and the conservative movement needs to purge itself, or go into the dustbin of history!

PBS: $1.35 Per American—Is This Too Much To Promote Knowledge And Education?

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PBS has been part of American culture since 1965, when it was created under Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the Great Society programs, to promote knowledge and education.

Reaching nearly fifty years of age, and having lots of excellent programming, not just Sesame Street and Big Bird, and being made available in rural areas that have far fewer educational opportunities than metropolitan areas, PBS costs only $445 million annually to taxpayers, less than one thousandth of one percent of the national budget!

It comes down to $1.35 per person in America annually, and yet Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the Republican Party and conservatives want to force PBS to survive simply on the contributions of its viewers, which happen to be about 90 percent of the people at some point during the year.

While there are already contributions made by many to keep PBS able to promote its excellent programming, to use PBS as the “whipping boy” for the budget crisis that America faces is the height of hypocrisy, as it is literally a “drop in the bucket”, and it comes across as extremely petty to attack PBS, which offers so much good to the nation, and should not be subjected to becoming part of politics!

Education and knowledge should be our aim, and already, there are indications that the opponents of PBS are losing the battle of public opinion!

Sesame Street And Education Vs. Wall Street And Mitt Romney!

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Mitt Romney jokingly talked about stopping funding of PBS and Sesame Street during the Presidential debate, and “Big Bird” and the educational community is up in arms over the pettiness of what Romney is promoting!

As Barack Obama said yesterday, we need a war NOT on Sesame Street and PBS, which represents one one thousandth of a point of the national budget, but to crack down on Wall Street abuses, and prevent more tax cuts to the wealthy!

PBS and Sesame Street represent the future of America—education and knowledge–and the Republican Party is only concerned about the elite wealthy, and yet Romney lies through his teeth incessantly that he “cares” about the “one hundred percent”, and claims the “47 percent” comment was just a slip in one of hundreds or thousands of statements or speeches during his campaign!

Of course, the “47 percent” speech was NOT to a politically rally, or to a journalist, but to a group of super wealthy contributors in Boca Raton, and one can certain that this shows the TRUE Romney, and that his statement is NOT a mistake, except for the fact it got out to the public, and has caused the rapid decline in Romney fortunes!

By making 27 lies in 38 minutes of the Presidential debate, and attacking Sesame Street and “Big Bird”, and then claiming the “47 percent” statement was a slip up, when it was not, and only is seen as so because the American people know about it, Mitt Romney has “shot himself in the foot” yet again, and his Presidential fortunes will be no better on November 6!

Mitt Romney Declares “War” On PBS, NPR, NEH, NEA, And Amtrak

Ronald 1 Comment

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has declared “war” on knowledge and learning, by his statements that he will, if elected President, move to eliminate funding for PBS, National Public Radio, the National Endowment For The Humanities, and the National Endowment For The Arts.

He also would eliminate Amtrak, a transportation system that benefits the “hated” Northeast part of the country, the most educated part of the nation!

All of this together would save a pittance, just a total of $2 billion, a “drop in the bucket”, with a multiple trillion dollar budget annually, while at the same time wishing to give massive tax cuts to the wealthy, even though that has not created new jobs, as conservatives have said would be the result!

So, Romney is promoting “Know Nothingism”, a war on knowledge and learning, attacking the arts, history, public media, and even public access to a decent transportation system in the crowded Northeast corridor.

It is a mean spirited, ideological attack on what Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, Presidents of different parties, did to promote programs and ideas seen as advancing America to more than just serving the elite classes among us!

But education and knowledge and the Northeast corridor are seen as evil, and this shows just how far Mitt Romney has moved to the far Right, that he is willing to eliminate programs that no earlier Republican President, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, dared to work to end!

The “compassionate” conservatism of George W. Bush and earlier Republican Presidents is gone, and ignorance and narrow mindedness are in!

The Anti Science, Anti Knowledge Political Party: The Republicans!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Party race for the Presidential nomination in 2012 is revealing just how ignorant, how dim witted, and how opportunistic all of the candidates are, with the one exception of former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

Only Huntsman is willing to speak up for science, for global warming, climate change, and evolution. All of the rest of the field, except Mitt Romney, prefers to point out that they are “good” Christians, and therefore allow theology to trump science, and put their heads in the sand!

What a model for America’s children, who are being encouraged to let religion dominate their brains, rather than science!

And Romney, who privately has the same views as Huntsman, is starting to hedge on it publicly, because he has no guts or courage, and wants the GOP Presidential nomination so badly he will sell his soul, and act as if he totally agrees with the rest of the ignorant crowd competing against him!

So we have six candidates out of eight who do not accept science, one (Romney) who has no willingness to stand up for what he knows is factually correct, and Huntsman, the only true, sincere, EDUCATED candidate, also with more foreign policy insight than all seven of his opponents combined, competing to run against a man (Barack Obama), who is highly educated, understands science, respects the scientific method, and speaks for knowledge and education!

One would think that the obvious battle for President should be between Huntsman and Obama, an intelligent competition!

Instead, it seems pretty certain that one of the others will be the nominee of the party for the leadership of our country, and responsibility for world affairs. This is due to polls (Public Policy Polling), which indicate that only 21 percent of Republican voters in Iowa believe in global warning, and only 35 percent believe in evolution!

The anti intellectualism of Republicans is absolutely mind boggling and troubling for the future of America in the 21st century!