what's wrong with this picture?
~S~
clickyThe United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).
The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).
I would agree that funding is a bit skewed in terms of national defense, I don't like the argument that "National priorites proj." puts forth that for every dollar we spend on X, we could have done millions of good things for Y(homeless children, education...).
That doesn't make any sense...The way to create better schools and Insure everyone (is that even a possible or logical goal?) is to change the enviornment that everyone is growing up in. RALS504 you imply that there are dropouts because we don't spend enough on education. That is false, take my High School for example, it was one of the top in the state, but it was very divided in terms of students. There were students who would utilize the materials and challenge themselves (surprising enough, because their peers were of the same type/home enviornment supported it) and those that didn't really care (but were given the same oppurtunities as all the students). There is no amount of money that is going to change their minds on the value of education, if you want to put money into anything, put it into making better parents, changing the culture...etc.
Other statistics to note :
US Pop. by Race: 70% White, 12%Black, 12%Hispanic, 6%Other
Inmates by Race: 35% White, 44%Black, 18%Hispanic, 3%Other
Pushing money into arbitrary things as such isnt necessarily going to give results...
can you elaborate on how we are living in a police state?nothing amazes me more than citizens of a police state advocating their own liberties being frittered away, while they wave flags and tout their love for freedom and democracy at that
There is a big difference between advocating a government that doesnt do anything to help the people and advocating personal responsibilty for the masses...Stevo said:or citizens advocating governace that turns it's back on the general populances problems, while convincing them that they are to blame
~S~
good point
what would be the definition of Police State ?
how's being only second to China in incarcerations per capita?
how's the element of collusion set with you on our longest war (drugs), producing over 2 million non violent inmates? note that other countries have let go the strict standards we have, decriminalizing minor offenses
the advent (around 20 yrs ago) of mandatory sentencing,federal guidlines,and the increased federalization of crimes in itself had a major impact here
and lastly, the privitization of our penal system is becoming a cash cow, it's become a friggin' business in itself
somehow 'let freedom ring' doesn't quite carry as it once did ....~S~
Again, this is bad why?
B)
Warrentless wire taping, 'sneak and peak,' . . . . . in general, 'The Patriot Act.'can you elaborate on how we are living in a police state?