The American Form of Government

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What is the difference between a democracy and a republic? What type of government did our founding fathers secure for us?

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Tea Party Signs

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Back to School Blues for Obama

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When the announcement was released that President Obama would make a one-hour speech to all children in public schools, a fire storm was started that makes the hills around L.A. pale by comparison. All of the social networking sites were instantly filled with rants as heated souls and keyboards spewed forth disbelief and anger. Some don’t understand the anger. Some want to just say that the parents are all “racists” and “right-wing nuts” bogged in a “silly season.”

But, this comes on the heels of being called “anti-American” and “right-wing terrorists” by ranking Democratic leaders and a post on Obama’s website. It comes on the heels of parents everywhere seeing that their Social Security has been stolen and that promised Medicare is almost beyond bankrupt. It comes on the heels of the unconstitutional interference in American businesses and a skyrocketing national debt that even these children scheduled to watch the President will be required to pay. It comes on the heels of a summer of purposeful misdirection and subterfuge by a party that was trying to defend and explain a plan that they didn’t even have!

Is there any wonder that the American mainstream would have doubts about all things Obama?

What was wrong with the plan to encourage children to work hard and stay in school?

First, we are told it was a problem of semantics. In the middle of another brouhaha about a commercial where celebrities, aka “heroes” to children, (see http://tinyurl.com/kwyycp) are seen vowing to stop a 200 year reign of slavery, giving up plastics and pledging allegiance to Obama, the lesson plan from the US Department of Education asked for our children to write letters about “helping” Obama. Not America. Not Americans. Obama. We had already been exposed to some young military-type group marching and chanting Obama praise, and had seen how our president used the child of a contributor to try to garner favor during a town hall meeting on health care. I personally don’t think this was a case of something being poorly stated, as Obama’s logo is still plastered all over the public domain. I’m surprised it hasn’t replaced the presidential seal on the podium at press conferences. We are constantly exposed to the man, not the office. And the US DOE was doing the same: putting the man above or in place of the office.

Also, the first indications from news reports were that the target would be pre-K through middle school. This seemed to reek of indoctrination attempts, as the older children who could already think for themselves were not included. I didn’t see a lesson plan for junior high and high school students on the first day that the news broke. I didn’t hear these ages included until the fire started.

Another consideration on the part of parents was the idea that this would not be an optional activity. One spokesperson on a news program said that children just don’t have, need or want “a relationship” with a president. That’s not necessarily true. As a child just learning to write, my father allowed me to add postscripts to the letters that he regularly wrote to his representative in government or to the editorial pages in local newspapers. I liked doing it. I liked pleasing my father, emulating my father, and receiving autographed photographs in the mail! But, I wasn’t forced to do this in school. We did have photographs and paintings of various presidents displayed at school, but every morning we said the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag that also hung on the wall in every room, and “to the Republic” for which it stood.

Even the timing was not well thought out. I taught for 30 years and I can attest to the fact that on the first day of school, there is not a single minute to spare, and we often wish we had a longer day. Teachers are charged with explaining school rules and classroom rules, distributing important documents to be signed and filed, checking schedules and records to make sure each student is actually where he or she needs to be, while being constantly interrupted by announcements about fees, workbooks, textbooks, and lunch rules. To stop for an hour on that day would either mean one class would be a full day behind, or all classes would be shortened, which makes them all the more hectic.

And, last but not least, showcasing Obama as a good example of doing well in school is also a questionable plan, as we have no idea what type of student he was, other than that he graduated. He has refused to offer any proof of any of his early years. He’s been asked. Requests have been rampant not only for a birth certificate, but also for the passport he used when young, school records, his scholarship information, etc. The more he hides, the more questions we naturally ask. Did he get into college on scholarship money reserved for foreign students? How involved was he in radical socialist, Marxist or communist groups? We already know some of the links, but only because someone else investigated it, not because of his “transparency” with us.

So, doubt and distrust had grown to a sparking point, and this little innocuous announcement lit the fire.

The heat reached the White House and the US Department of Ed and parents everywhere discovered anew the power of their freedom of speech when the DOE edited the lesson plans and the White House announced that the speech would be online a day before it would air in classrooms so that parents could appraise it, discuss it with their children and make informed decisions about Tuesday.

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While sorting through blogs and tweets and Facebook posts and watching hours of news from MSNBC to Fox, I’ve only run across one comment that gave me great pause. Someone said, “They won’t let kids read Huck Finn, either.” Ouch. I don’t believe in censorship. I don’t believe in propaganda. Do I now have to determine which of these is the greater evil? We need to prepare our children to face both.

Variety is the Spice of Earth

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Why are so many people teaching and preaching a “way” for us to go to preserve the planet? They are missing one of the most important principles of nature: variety is the key to survival of a population.

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There are two types of variety that we should not only accept, but embrace.

All organisms need an environment rich in diversity of plant, animal and microbial life. The stability of the ecosystem depends on plants that take carbon dioxide from the air to produce food, and, in so doing, release oxygen into the atmosphere. Animals use the oxygen to “burn” their food fuel to stay alive, and in so doing release carbon dioxide back to the plants. Microbes can do either, and will also cause dead organisms to decay, reducing all materials to a form that can be used again. The greater the variety, the more stable the ecosystem will be. Competition for the resources in an area controls the size of the populations present. If there are ample resources, life will thrive.

Enter man. What is our worse environmental practice? It is simplifying the environment.

Our highways and cities with skyscrapers may look extremely complex, but the number of species in a city is much lower than the number that originally lived in the area. And, on our farms, we plant acre after acre of a single crop, which practically wipes out competition within that area. The only animals that remain are those that can feed off of the crop. Because there is so much food, that population grows exponentially and becomes a pest population. They weren’t pests in small numbers. We make them pests by changing the environment. Then, we have to spend money, time, and energy to keep the pests from feasting at the banquet that we laid out for them in the first place! We may even have to resort to the use of poisons to keep them from eating our food. (Organic farms escape this scenario by rotating crops or planting a variety of crops in the same fields, keeping a variety of animals that compete and maintain small populations.)

What happens to the animals that can’t feed on our crop? They migrate to find food or they die. (Please note: Extinctions are a natural part of our planet's history, with the majority of extinction events occuring prior to the arrival of humans! Are we going against nature when we try to prevent extinctions?)

Therefore, the WORST thing that the government could ask us to do would be to do the same thing! If we ALL drive the same kind of car, use the same kind of light bulb, have the same kind of effect on the environment, we will simplify it even more and weaken the natural forces of survival.

Another kind of variety that is essential for life to continue on Earth is genetic diversity. Differences in individuals are necessary for the survival of the population.

Here’s a scenario. Little furry animals live in an area. An ice age is coming. What can they do to survive it? Invariably, someone will answer saying, “They will grow thicker hair.” Do me a favor. Stand up right now and grow thicker hair. You can’t. No animal can unless it has the genes to do so like dogs or Arctic hares that grow thicker hair during the winter and shed it during the spring.

But, in every population, there is variety. Some little animals naturally have thicker hair and some have thinner hair. If the ice age hits, the thin-haired animals die or move away leaving only the thick-haired animals behind. Since dead animals can’t make babies, only the thick-haired animals contribute genes to the next generation. Most of the babies will be like their parents, so, over time, the population (not an individual) changes. It no longer has thin-haired members. It will, however, have some that are thicker than others!

If your teacher told you that some fish flopped out of a pond and grew legs, forget it! That teacher was wrong. No scientist ever said that. No one with any sense believes that. Populations, not individuals, change as they adjust to environmental change.

So, again, the worst thing that we could be advised to do would be to strive to be alike. Humans would be much more likely to become extinct if we were selected by government mandate for certain characteristics. The use of abortions, eugenics, euthanasia, sex/gene selection, cloning and other processes would greatly weaken our genetic strength.

If we want to keep Earth healthy, we need to stop going against nature and let the human species compete in a variety of ways, using a variety of resources. Period.

Carol Kelly (B.S.-University of Montevallo; M.Ed.- Auburn University) taught environmental biology for 20 years at Auburn University and with Montgomery Public Schools (Alabama).

Fax Your American Voice!

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I’ve been asking for some time now, why members of Congress won’t just give out an email address along with their snail mail address and phone numbers to local and DC offices. For those of you who communicate with your elected officials, you already know that it is either going to be expensive or time consuming. There are 535 members of Congress, nine Supreme Court justices, cabinet members, the Vice President, and the President. To write to all of them requires a great deal of postage or long distance charges, membership in a blast fax or blast email program, or hours and hours to visit the web site of each where you must fill in your personal information and enter security symbols before the message can be sent. Even if you use the auto-fill function of your computer or browser, it takes a long time. Some members will not let you send email unless your zip code shows that you are their constituent. It can be maddening! But it must be done.

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I’m thrilled! There is an easy, cheap way to do it now! In less than 30 minutes, you can send a fax to all 500+ elected or appointed officials!

The service is from American Voice (http://www.americanvoice.com). This service also provides:
• Templates for one click faxes on the top legislative concerns.
• Information about each person in the executive, legislative and judicial branch, including photographs.
• An excellent tutorial on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
• A forum to discuss topics with other members.
• A list of currently proposed legislation including the name of the bill and a brief description.
• The voting record of Congress.
• A history of all faxes that you send on your free membership page.
• An opportunity to contribute. (I recommend that, if you use this service a lot, you help keep it running!)

Try it! I know you’ll like it! And, now that it’s easy, what will be your excuse for not taking an active role in the fate of your country?