Saturday, July 21, 2012

How Many More Mass (5th Column) Killings Will The US Endure?

When will our leaders start to lead and do the job we elected them to do? Never as long as the gun lobbies funded by The National Rifle Association keep them in a perpetual state of fear (a selfish fear of losing their jobs) paralyzing them to the point of DOING NOTHING.
 I did a Google search to compile a list of inside-job terrorist killings (fifth column) in the United States since 1990. These statistics are appalling. Each year, each death and each maiming, represents a deep relentless grief for some family and still the weapons that created this anguish and bereavement are freely marketed and sold like so many pieces of candy. These are weapons of war that any crazed killer without a record of illegal activity can purchase with savings from their piggy bank. It's a reality that has become so ugly and shameful, we as a people should be shaking our fists at our leaders while yelling... DO SOMETHING!
But only a handful of citizens will feel this outrage and as the dust from yet another enormous catastrophe settles, the NRA will go about its business of meetings, promising its members less gun regulations, enabling more weapons to be sold and the rest of us will all go back to our comfort place, without giving much thought to the fact that another mass killing will surely take place in one of our schools, malls, restaurants, churches or movie theaters, etc. while our leaders will continue where they left off, playing their childish game of chance with our country, our democracy and our lives. Thinkingblue

PS: A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within. A fifth column can be a group of secret sympathizers of an enemy that are involved in sabotage within military defense lines, or a country's borders. A key tactic of the fifth column is the secret introduction of supporters into the whole fabric of the entity under attack. This clandestine infiltration is especially effective with positions concerning national policy and defense. From influential positions like these, fifth-column tactics can be effectively utilized, from stoking fears through misinformation campaigns, to traditional techniques like espionage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_column
(Although, the NRA is definitely not a 5th column --at least I hope not-- it has become compatible with such a group by stifling laws that would regulate and prevent assault weapons from entering our economical system and thus, placed in the hands of someone with a sociopathic tendency towards mayhem in order to attain their fantasized 15 minutes of fame. thinkingblue)
The latest tragedy, which occurred early Friday not far from Columbine at an opening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado left 14 people dead and at least 50 wounded.

According to a list compiled by the The Telegraph of London, the last mass killing that took place before the incident in Aurora was in January, 2011 at a shopping center in Tucson, Arizona, where six people were killed and at least 12 wounded, including former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Of all the incidents noted by the Telegraph, the deadliest by far was the shooting incident on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia in April 2007 when student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 15 before shooting himself.

The following is the list of mass killings in the United States since 1990:
Timeline: Mass shootings in the United States since 1990

January 2011 - a gunman opened fire at a public gathering outside a grocery in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people including a 9-year-old girl and wounding at least 12 others. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was severely injured with a gunshot to the head.

February 2010 – A professor opened fire 50 minutes into at a Biological Sciences Department faculty meeting at the University of Alabama, killing three colleagues and wounding three others.

November 2009 - U.S. army psychologist Major Nidal Hasan opened fire at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, leaving 13 dead and 42 others wounded.

July 2009 - Six people, including one student, were shot in a drive-by shooting at a community rally on the campus of Texas Southern University, Houston.

April 2009 - a man shot dead 13 people at a civic center in Binghamton, New York.

March 2009 - six people were shot dead in a high-grade apartment building in Santa Clara, California.

March 2009 - a heavily armed gunman shot dead eight people, many of them elderly and sick people, in a private-owned nursing home in North Carolina.

March 2009 - a 28-year-old laid-off worker opened fire while driving a car through several towns in Alabama, killing 10 people.

December 2008 - a man dressed in a Santa Claus suit opened fire at a family Christmas party in Covina, California, then set fire on the house and killed himself. Police later found nine people dead in the debris of the house.

September 2008 - a mentally ill man who was released from jail one month earlier shot eight people in Alger, Washington, leaving six of them dead and the rest two wounded.

February 2008 - a man opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, killing five students and wounding 16 others before laying down his weapon and surrendering.

February 2008 - a shooter who is still at large tied up and shot six women at a suburban clothing store in Chicago, leaving five of them dead and the remaining one injured.

December 2007 - a woman and her boyfriend shot dead six members of her family on Christmas Eve in Carnation, Washington.

December 2007 - a 20-year-old man killed nine people and injured five others in a shopping center in Omaha, Nebraska.

August 2007 - Three Delaware State University students were shot and killed in “execution style” by a 28-year-old and two 15-year-old boys. A fourth student was shot and stabbed.

April 2007 - student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 15 others at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, before shooting himself, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the United States after 2000.

October 2006 - a truck driver killed five schoolgirls and seriously wounded six others in a school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania before taking his own life.

March 2005 - a man opened fire at a church service in Brookfield, Wisconsin, killing seven people.

November 2004 - in Birchwood, Wisconsin, a hunter killed six other hunters and wounded two others after an argument with them.

Aug. 27,2003 - Salvador Tapia, 36, a fired employee for poor performance at Windy City Core Supply Inc., hunted down and shot to death six people in an auto parts warehouse at Chicago before being fatally shot by police.

July 8, 2003 - A gunman dressed in camouflage opens fire at a Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian, Miss. The county sheriff confirms six dead, including the shooter, and several others injured.

July 2, 2003 - Jonathan Russell, 25, shoots and kills three co-workers and wounds five more at the Modine Manufacturing Co. near Jefferson City, Mo. before killing himself during a standoff with police.

March 22, 2002 - William Lockey, 54, walks into the aircraft parts plant in South Bend, Ind., where he worked and opened fire, killing four co-workers and wounding two others. He commits suicide after leading police on a high-speed chase into Michigan.

Feb. 21, 2002 - John E. Mabie, 70, a retired Newark police officer, kills his granddaughter and three neighbors in Toms River, N.J., going from house to house shooting a .39-caliber revolver, according to prosecutors.

Feb. 4-5, 2002 - Six people are shot to death near Camden, N.J., four at one home and two in an apartment complex the following day. A 16-year-old boy, the nephew of one of the victims, has been charged in the slayings. He has not been identified because he is a minor.

Dec. 6, 2001 - Robert Wissman, 36, an employee of Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork, walks into the company factory in Goshen, Ind., and opens fire on co-workers with a shotgun. Wissman, who police said had been involved in a workplace love triangle, kills a manager and wounds six other employees before taking his own life.

Feb. 5, 2001 - William D. Baker, 66, a former employee of Navistar International forced his way into the plant. He killed four people and wounded four others before taking his own life. He was to begin a five-month prison term for theft of company property.

Dec. 26, 2000 - Software tester Michael McDermott allegedly kills seven people at a Wakefield, Mass., Internet consulting company, Edgewater Technology Inc. Authorities say the shooting may have stemmed from an IRS order to seize part of his wages to repay back taxes. He pleads innocent.

Nov. 2, 1999 - Employee Byran Uyesugi opens fire at a Xerox Corp. office in Honolulu, killing seven before fleeing in a company van. He surrendered after five-hour standoff with police and was later convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

Sept. 15, 1999 - A gunman enters a church service for teens in Ft. Worth, Texas, and opens fire with a semiautomatic handgun. He kills three adults and three teens, wounding eight more, before he kills himself in a church pew.

Aug. 10, 1999 - A man opens fire at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, wounding five people. A postal worker is later shot and killed. Buford Furrow Jr., 37, later surrenders in Las Vegas.

Aug. 5, 1999 - Former employee Alan Eugene Miller shoots two people to death at a construction supply company where he worked in Pelham, Ala., and then kills third at business where he formerly worked. Miller was later convicted and sentenced to death.

July 29, 1999 - Nine people killed and 13 wounded at two Atlanta brokerage offices. Gunman Mark Barton, a former day trader who had reportedly lost more than $400,000 on his investments, later commits suicide.

June 11, 1999 - Joseph Brooks Jr., 27, kills his former psychiatrist and a woman at the doctor's Southfield, Mich., clinic. Four others are injured before Brooks kills himself.

April 15, 1999 - Sergei Babarin, 71, opens fire in the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, killing two and wounding four others before police shoot him to death.

March 18, 1999 - Walter V. Shell, 71, turns himself in after allegedly shooting to death his attorney and one of his clients in Johnson City, Tenn. Shell blamed the lawyer for a $100,000 loss in a dispute over his ex-wife.

March 6, 1999 - Former accountant for the Connecticut Lottery Corp., Matthew Beck, 35, fatally shoots four lottery senior executives and then kills himself.

Jan. 14, 1999 - Di-Kieu Duy, 24, allegedly opens fire in a Salt Lake City office building, killing one person and wounding another.

Dec. 18, 1997 - Arturo Reyes Torres, 43, kills four former co-workers at maintenance yard in Orange, Calif., and is shot to death by police.

Sept. 15, 1997 - Fired assembly line worker Arthur H. Wise, 43, allegedly opens fire at Aiken, S.C., parts plant, killing four and wounding three others. He was convicted and sentenced to death.

April 24, 1996 - Firefighter Kenneth Tornes kills four superiors at firehouse in Jackson, Mississippi. Tornes dies on Death Row.

July 19, 1995 - City electrician Willie Woods fatally shoots four supervisors at C. Erwin Piper Technical Center in Los Angeles. He is later sentenced to life in prison.

April 3, 1995 - James Simpson, 28, walks into office of his former employer, Walter Rossler Co., a refinery inspection company, in Corpus Christi, Texas, and shoots five workers before shooting himself to death.

Nov. 14, 1991 - Fired postal worker Thomas McIlvane kills four supervisors and wounds five workers at the Royal Oak, Mich., post office, then kills himself.

June 18, 1990 - James Edward kills nine and wounds four others at Jacksonville, Fla., office of General Motors Acceptance Corp., a car financing company, before killing himself.

SOURCES:

http://www.newsmax.com/US/mass-shootings-us-colorado/2012/07/20/id/445971

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-08/28/content_259210.htm

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A senseless tragedy has happened once again.

A senseless tragedy has happened once again. Airport security scrutinizes travelers to embarrassment to protect them from terrorists. Yet a lone young American armed to the teeth can easily slip in to a theatre and kill all those people who were taking a break from their hectic lives to enjoy some entertainment. It appears that since the NRA rules here in the USA there will be no stopping these homegrown terrorists from acting out their fantasies with weapons they've easily purchased legally. There are no words to describe the sadness caused by these weapons that are bought and sold so effortlessly by any psychopath with a craving to kill. When will it stop? It will never stop, as long as the NRA is in control. :-( Carolyn Ward
PS: In my opinion Eliot Spitzer has said it best. (Below)

My View” from the July 20, 2012, edition of “Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer.”
Eliot Spitzer:
The words of sympathy from our nation’s leaders in response to the horrific events in Colorado last night are welcome, and we all share the sentiments.
But I disagree with one word that both President Obama and former Gov. Romney used to describe the tragedy. The word is “shocking.”
The one thing this horror is NOT is shocking. After the litany of mass shootings we have had over the past years, we should by now be braced for this tragedy, not shocked by it.
No one should be shocked. Just as we should not have been shocked by the killing of seven at Oikos University in April; or the school shooting in Shardon, Ohio in February; or the Arizona shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others — killing six — in 2011; or the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007; or the Columbine shooting over 13 years ago.
Depending on which study you choose, there are 10,000 gun murders in the United States every year. According to USA Today, there are on average 20 mass shootings per year. And according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, every day in America guns claim 84 lives and wound nearly 200.
Yet somehow, gun control in this country has become the third rail of politics.
Perhaps that’s partly because the public seems to care less and less. According to Gallup, in 1990 almost 80 percent of Americans said that laws covering the sales of firearms should be made more strict. By 2010, that number was only 44 percent.
In fact, starting in 2009, the majority of respondents said gun laws should either remain the same or be made less strict.
And I’m tired of hearing about the Second Amendment as a bar to useful measures — it isn’t. There is no right to buy submachine guns or silencers or uniquely hazardous bullets without background checks — or at all.
So let’s act, not just wring our hands. It is time to ban all military-style semi-automatic assault weapons; ban assault clips holding more than 10 rounds; and require that new guns have micro-stamping technology so bullets left at crime scenes can be traced. These are simple, moderate steps.
This tragedy is not shocking; it is a reminder. A stark reminder of our inability to do what so many other nations have done: put in place meaningful gun control.
That’s “My View.”
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 How Many More Mass (5th Column) Killings Will The US Endure?

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Monday, July 16, 2012

Thank All That Is Good America Is Not A Christian Nation

(Picture From This Site: http://www.facebook.com/obetiku )
Religion could never have such a stranglehold on people's minds if we didn’t fear death as much as we do. Just vision it, if death was just a part of life like eating, sleeping, growing and learning, the so called CHURCH could not control minds and would go OUT OF BUSINESS. It's a pity that we teach children from day one to fear dying, telling their innocent minds to believe that they will be judged upon the arrival of this day called death, and will either be ‘SENT’ (by some non-existent Supernatural Being) to a PIE IN THE SKY, HEAVEN (if they are ‘GOOD’ which is a word that can be subjectively interpreted) or sent to the dungeons (if they are ‘BAD’ another subjective word) where they will burn and be tortured forever and a day. I wish we could all learn to just live in reality (it’s not near as scary as the place that religion tells us to live in) and not in the nonsensical world that Religion creates for us, using fear. thinkingblue
OH, ‘WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD THIS WOULD BE’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5taPhvqbXE

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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Graham Game

Lindsey Graham: 'It's Really American' To Avoid Taxes Like Mitt Romney Does

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney shouldn't be criticized for using off-shore tax havens because "it's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee has come under fire for stashing assets overseas in places like Bermuda and Switzerland.

Graham argued that Congress is responsible for tax avoidance because it has crafted such convoluted rules and said he was fine with Romney's taking advantage of the loopholes.

...........................

"It's a game we play," Graham said. "Every American tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can. I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/lindsey-graham-taxes-really-american-mitt-romney_n_1662939.html

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Sunday, July 08, 2012

Ideology and Vanity and The Stupid, OH MY!

When I came across the below article the other day, I thought, My Guinness, it's amazing how little has changed in Washington DC since the Founding Fathers put forth a new beginning for those who cherish freedom and liberty for everyone.(except for the slaves they owned) Even without the Tea Party they bickered and fought each other. (Of course Tea Party mentality of 'It's My Way or the Highway', was always around just went by a different title back then) The difference of then and now, IMAO, is the forefathers didn't try to cater to 'The Stupid' like they do today and eventually through all the Vanity, Ideology and Shortsightedness these great men of the past were able to come together and create something that would be good for All,
Even The Stupid.
Please read the short article below and hope that our leaders will once again rediscover the proven formula of sense, greatness, learning and 'COMPRIMISE'. thinkingblue
Leaders, Try Greatness Not Meanness
History tells us Washington can accomplish great things setting aside vanity and shortsightedness

Each night in Washington as dusk settles along the Potomac River, floodlights brighten our national icons: The Washington Monument stands eloquently gazing over at the beautiful Jefferson Memorial, where the statue of the great statesman looks across the Tidal Basin toward the imposing White House, whose first tenant was John Adams. Next door, the Treasury Department's southern portico is graced by a statue of Alexander Hamilton.

In life these four great men did not like one another. Journals of that time are full of stories of their conniving and their bitter rivalries.

Yet look at what they accomplished when they set aside their vanity, ideology and shortsightedness: a federation of distinct regional and economic interests bound by core principles and liberties upon which a carefully balanced national government could function and thrive.

We're deep into a campaign season that amounts to a 21st-century explosion of vanity, ideology and shortsightedness. Angry divisions with no interest in compromise have picked sides and launched a seemingly endless barrage of costly and inflammatory advertising. Politicians' campaigns reflect our political process, something Allegheny College President James H. Mullen Jr. calls a "disgraceful stew of invective … a continuing contest in which each side of the partisan divide sees itself as right and the other as evil, uncaring or, worst of all, unpatriotic."

That's hardly an atmosphere for confronting a gigantic challenge to our federal finances. Consider the context: At a time when the federal government is spending $3.6 trillion a year, just over $1 trillion is on the table before Jan. 1. Tax cuts and tax breaks expire, a financial supplement for doctors treating Medicare patients ends, automatic cuts take effect in domestic and defense programs. And the national debt limit must again be addressed, an event that virtually paralyzed Washington a year ago. To do nothing all but guarantees a second recession, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.


Together, these decisions have the potential to reshape the federal government and upend the delivery of services from health care to security to food safety. And that's before anyone tackles the challenges of strengthening Social Security and Medicare.


John Adams could just as easily have been talking about today when he wrote in 1776 of his fears that the Continental Congress' decisions would be dictated "by noise, not sense; by meanness, not greatness; by ignorance, not learning; by contracted hearts, not large souls." His conclusion is as appropriate today as it was then: "There must be decency and respect and veneration introduced for persons of authority of every rank or we are undone. In a popular government, this is our only way." Decency, respect and veneration produced compromise and a foundation that has endured for 236 years. We are surrounded by noise, meanness and ignorance. The measure for our leaders must be their ability to rediscover that proven formula of sense, greatness and learning. http://www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-07-2012/history-politics-civility-achieved-greatness.html

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Friday, July 06, 2012

Teapublicans Out In Force Doing What They Do Best: LIE!

Now, we who THINK, have to go around spreading the Truth to counteract their lies. I wish the good people of America would not be so easily fooled into becoming Teapublican stooges and vote against their own best interests. Please watch Al Sharpton on Political Nation to get the facts. I wish it was that easy, but I know they have been lulled into a trance to believe whatever comes from the lips of a lying Teapublican as the HOLY TRUTH. thinkingblue
PS: It really should be against the law to be so ignorantly uninformed, as to believe the misleading, unfactual lies that the dastardly spread around without conscience; these low information voters should be fined (TAXED) for believing such unabashed and blatantly false Teapublican mendacity.

1. By 2022, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the Affordable Care Act will have extended coverage to 33 MILLION AMERICANS who would otherwise be uninsured.

2. Families making less than 133 percent of the poverty line — that’s about $29,000 for a family of FOUR (4)— will be covered through Medicaid. Between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty line — $88,000 for a family of four – families will get tax credits on a sliding scale to help pay for private insurance.
3. For families making less than 400 percent of the poverty line, premiums are capped. So, between 150% and 200% of the poverty line, for instance, families won’t have to pay more than 6.3 percent of their income in premiums. Between 300 percent and 400 percent, they won’t have to pay more than 9.5 percent. This calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation will let you see the subsidies and the caps for different families at different income levels.
4. When the individual mandate is fully phased-in, those who can afford coverage — which is defined as insurance costing less than 8 percent of their annual income — but choose to forgo it will have to pay either $695 or 2.5 percent of the annual income, whichever is greater.
5. Small businesses that have fewer than 10 employees, average wages beneath $25,000, and that provide insurance for their workers will get a 50 percent tax credit on their contribution. The tax credit reaches up to small businesses with up to 50 employees and average wages of $50,000, though it gets smaller as the business get bigger and richer. The credit lasts for two years, though many think Congress will be pressured to extend it, which would raise the long-term cost of the legislation.
6. Insurance companies are not allowed to discriminated based on preexisting conditions. They are allowed to discriminate based “on age (limited to 3 to 1 ratio), premium rating area, family composition, and tobacco use (limited to 1.5. to 1 ratio).”
7. Starting in 2018, the law imposes a 35 percent tax on employer-provided health plans that exceed $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The idea is a kind of roundabout second-best to capping the tax code’s (currently unlimited) deduction for employer-provided heath insurance. The policy idea is to give employers that much more reason to avoid expensive insurance policies and thus give insurers that much more reason to hold costs down.
8. The law requires insurers to spend between 80 and 85 percent of every premium dollar on medical care (as opposed to administration, advertising, etc). If insurers exceed this threshold, they have to rebate the excess to their customers. This policy is already in effect, and insurers are expected to rebate $1.1 billion this year.
9. The law is expected to spend a bit over $1 trillion in the next 10 years. The law’s spending cuts — many of which fall on Medicare — and tax increases are expected to either save or raise a bit more than that, which is why the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will slightly reduce the deficit. (There’s been some confusion on this point lately, but no, the CBO has not changed its mind about this.) As time goes on, the savings are projected to grow more quickly than the spending, and CBO expects that the law will cut the deficit by around a trillion dollars in its second decade. Here’s its graph, which covers the period between 2012 and 2021:
The ACA’s taxes and spending cuts make it a slight deficit reduce in its first decade. (CBO)
10. In recent years, health-care costs have slowed dramatically. Much of this is likely due to the recession. Some of it may just be chance. But there’s also evidence that the law has accelerated changes in the way the medical system delivers care, as providers prepare for the law’s efforts to move from fee-for-service to quality-based payments.
11. The law’s long-term success at controlling costs will likely hinge on its efforts to change the way health care is delivered, most of which have gotten very little attention. They include everything from encouraging Accountable Care Organizations to spreading medical homes to penalizing hospitals with high rates of preventable infections to creating an independent board able to quickly implement new reforms through the Medicare system. A partial list of these efforts can be found here.

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Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Jonathan Krohn Not Your Average Everyday Indoctrinated Child



This child is a breath of fresh air in these times of right-wing CRAZY. He, at the early age of 17 has gone through an epiphany of an entire lifetime (--78.2 years in the USA-- that is if one, is capable of thinking). Starting out at the age of 13 as a conservative pundit (His political philosophy, he now believes came from the right-wing hate radio that he listened to everyday in his home of Georgia.) spouting all the right words that the right-wing radio talk hosts repetitively (ad nauseam) jam down the throats of their obedient, low information listeners. He has a brilliant mind and can memorize volumes of information all at once; so in essence the garbage went in from the right-wing hate radio and he pumped it out from his innocent frontal lobes. Now that he is older, he is pondering upon those automated unenlightened thoughts that he believed were correct and finds out that so many of his beliefs were not only wrong but did not coordinate with his perception of life. HAT'S OFF TO JONATHAN KROHN! thinkingblue
Philosophy for Children
First published Thu May 2, 2002; substantive revision Mon Jun 8, 2009
In the United States, philosophy typically makes its formal entry into the curriculum at the college level. A growing number of high schools offer some introduction to philosophy, often in special literature courses for college bound students. In Europe and many other countries, it is much more common to find philosophy in the high school curriculum. However, philosophy prior to high school seems relatively uncommon around the world. This may suggest that serious philosophical thinking is not for pre-adolescents. Two reasons might be offered for accepting this view. First, philosophical thinking requires a level of cognitive development that, one may believe, is beyond the reach of pre-adolescents. Second, the school curriculum is already crowded; and introducing a subject like philosophy will not only distract students from what they need to learn, it may encourage them to become skeptics rather than learners. However, both of these reasons can be challenged. They will be addressed in turn.

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1. Are Children Capable of Philosophical Thinking?
Jean Piaget's (1933 ) well-known theory of cognitive development suggests that prior to age 11 or 12, most children are not capable of philosophical thinking. This is because, prior to this time, children are not capable of “thinking about thinking,” the sort of meta-level thinking that characterizes philosophical thinking. This “formal operational” level of cognitive development includes analogical reasoning about relationships, such as: “Bicycle is to handlebars as ship is to rudder, with ”steering mechanism“ being the similar relationship” (Goswami, p. xxi). However, there is a growing body of psychological research suggesting that Piaget's account seriously underestimates children's cognitive abilities (Astington, 1993; Gopnik, et al.).

Philosopher Gareth Matthews goes further and argues at length that Piaget failed to see the philosophical thinking manifest in the very children he studied. Matthews (1980) provides a number of delightful examples of very young children's philosophical puzzlement. For example:

•TIM (about six years), while busily engaged in licking a pot, asked, “Papa, how can we be sure that everything is not a dream?” (p. 1)
•JORDAN (five years), going to bed at eight one evening, asked, “If I go to bed at eight and get up at seven in the morning, how do I really know that the little hand of the clock has gone around only once? Do I have to stay up all night to watch it? If I look away even for a short time, maybe the small hand will go around twice.” (p. 3)
•One day JOHN EDGAR (four years), who had seen airplanes take off, rise, and gradually disappear into the distance, took his first plane ride. When the plane stopped ascending and the seat-belt sign went out, John Edgar turned to his father and said in a rather relieved, but still puzzled, tone of voice, “Things don't really get smaller up here.” (p. 4)
Matthews acquired many of his anecdotes from friends who knew of his interest in the philosophical thinking of children. It is not uncommon for attentive adults to encounter such examples.

However, it might be objected that more than such anecdotes are needed to show that children are capable of serious philosophical thinking. What is needed is evidence that children are capable of sustained philosophical discussion. Matthews (1984) provides illustrations of this, too. Meeting with a group of 8–11 year olds, he used the following example to develop a story for discussion:

Ian (six year old) found to his chagrin that the three children of his parents' friends monopolized the television; they kept him from watching his favorite program. “Mother,” he asked in frustration, “why is it better for three children to be selfish than one?” (Matthews 1984, 92–3)
This generated a lively discussion in which children commented on the inconsiderateness of the three visiting children, the desirability of working out a solution that would satisfy all four children, the importance of respecting people's rights, and how one might feel if he or she were in Ian's place. Matthews then posed a possible utilitarian approach: “What about this argument, that if we let the three visitors have their way, three people will be made happy instead of just one?” One reply was that it would not be fair for three people to get what they want at the expense of a fourth. This triggered a discussion of fairness that addressed more specific concerns about the relative ages of the children, whether they are friends, siblings, or strangers—and what types of television programs are involved.

No doubt, part of the explanation of the children's ability and willingness to carry on an extended discussion of Ian's circumstance is that they have faced similar challenges. Still, the children exhibited a rather sophisticated conceptual grasp of the issues at hand, which is what one might expect from children once they are invited to reflect on their own experiences. MORE HERE:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/children/

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Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Tea Party Mixed Bag of Nuts

Tea Party Mixed Bag of Nuts
The problem is, too many Americans buy into the mixed bag of nuts the Tea Party has offered. We can laugh at them but they are dangerous because their vote counts and the GOP has tried to make it count even more than that of a rational person; Scary Stuff! Please watch the video that I uploaded in 2008 to show how crazy the McCain/Palin crowd was. Well they're back and they have not changed a bit unless to say they are even nuttier than they were in 2008. Please vote for Obama, at least he draws an intelligent and rational thinking crowd. thinkingblue

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THE MOTHER OF ALL COMMENTS:

"Propagated low income? housing".........More interviews???????
Listen? again! She said
"Propagated Low income housing to people who can't afford it."
Whats the difference between a rational person and an irrational person?
Irrational people live in a different reality than the rest of us. They hear things differently, see things differently, etc. (usually negatively).

Honestly, that's an overstatement, but if you've ever tried to talk sensibly with an irrational person, you know what I mean. MORE HERE:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080801171808AAIohgM
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Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012
By Robert Applebaum (Contact)
To be delivered to: Rep. John Kline (MN-2), The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate, and President Barack Obama
Total outstanding student loan debt in America is expected to exceed $1 TRILLION this year. Millions of hardworking, taxpaying, educated Americans are being crushed under the weight of their educational debts, while the economy continues to sputter. Support a REAL economic stimulus and jobs plan. Support the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 (H.R. 4170).
Since 1980, average tuition for a 4-year college education has increased an astounding 827%. Since 1999, average student loan debt has increased by a shameful 511%.

In 2010, total outstanding student loan debt exceeded total outstanding credit card debt in America for the first time ever. In 2012, total outstanding student loan debt is expected to exceed $1 Trillion.

In short, student loan debt has become the latest financial crisis in America and, if we do absolutely nothing, the entire economy will eventually come crashing down again, just as it did when the housing bubble popped. Reasonable minds can disagree as to the solutions, they cannot, however, disagree on the existence of this ever-growing crisis, as well as the unsustainable course we're on towards financial oblivion. PLEASE SIGN HERE: http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan? OR http://signon.org/sign/support-the-student-loan?source=mo&id=44965-21947117-wAzIZ4x
Thethinkingblue Response Here: http://www.thethinkingblue.com/studentloans.html



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Sunday, July 01, 2012

Low Information Voters Moving To Canada Because Of SCOTUS Decision On Affordable Healthcare Act. Yeah!

Low Information Voters Moving To Canada Because Of SCOTUS Decision On Affordable Healthcare Act. Yeah!

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Low Information Voters... Critical Thinking? Not for these folks, as long as there are entities like Fox News, Religious Dogma and Rush Limbaugh to tell them WHAT TO THINK, the rationalizing will go on and on. thinkingblue
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Low Information Voter
One who votes based on information gleaned from other low information voters, rumors, viral emails, and FOX "News". (Let us not forget the biggest LOW INFORMATION VOTER, Rush Limbaugh - but his LOW INFORMATION is for his listening audience only, you know the Ditto Heads... HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING, ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK)
Low Information Voters are skewing the electorate in favor of the corporatocracy because they don't have the curiousity or ability to research facts for themselves. Low Information Voters will vote against labor unions, in spite of the fact that the labor unions are responsible for getting them the 40 hour work week, decent wages, employer provided health insurance, vacations, lunch hours, and breaks, among other things. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=low+information+voter
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So many of the Fox viewers wish to move to Canada because they are angry at the Affordable Healthcare Act, which was passed by SCOTUS, well maybe they ought to reconsider and move to Costa Rica along with Rush Limbaugh... GOOD RIDDANCE to stupidity! thinkingblue
See Video.

The Voices Of Reason On Health Care Reform


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