CRITICAL THINKING IS CRITICAL

It should be no surprise that the Tea Party opposes critical thinking. Now they are trying to stop testing for critical thinking in math and reading. The test is called "Common Core" and is supported by educationists, Republicans and Democrats.

The Tea Party is trying to stop the teaching of critical thinking, as critical thinkers do not support a party that basically says, "If I say it, then it is true."

Finally, people are doing what is right in education, but now the Tea Party is trying to stop the funding of the testing. WE NEED TO STOP THE TEA PARTY effort to keep our citizens ignorant.

In the US, even ditch diggers need critical thinking. You can not just "dig a ditch here". A ditch digger can get buried when the ditch falls in. A ditch digger can break gas and power lines. A ditch digger can mess up traffic for years. All because the ditch digger did not use brains as well as brawn.

Con men LOVE people who can not do critical thinking. If you are focused on making the most money possible, often you do not carefully examine the risk of losing the most money possible.

THIS IS HAPPENING NOW! Please take some of your summer time and call/write/email/fax your state legislatures and governors. Let them know that you support funding for Common Core testing.

POLIO AND DRONES

This week, in Pakistan, Taliban assassins killed a health worker who was inoculating children against polio. Then a senior Taliban leader was 'droned'.

Polio is a horrible disease. It kills by slowly paralyzing the lungs. Sometimes it leaves a person alive but unable to walk or to use arms. My parents had me inoculated against polio at the soonest possible time. (I was under 10, I think.) A friend my age did not have such knowing parents and is spending her life bound to a wheelchair. I know that the vaccine was available and could have kept my friend from becoming sick.

I completely fail to understand why the Taliban wants children to get ill, and possibly die or be crippled for life. I KNOW that killing the innocent health care worker was against the beliefs of the Muslim religion.

So, would I authorize a drone strike against a person who was ordering his followers to kill the polio inoculation workers? Sometimes there are no easy answers.

So I ask you. Would YOU have killed Hitler prior to World War II?

OUTGUNNED ON TAXES

Both the US and Europe are outgunned on taxes. Corporations can and do pay excellent tax attorneys any amount of money to make often spurious arguments as to why they do not have to pay taxes. The poor government attorneys are paid badly and often do not have the necessary litigation experience in tax court.

The current favorite loophole is based on the loophole corporations use to get out of paying state taxes in the US. Taxes are supposed to be based on WHERE the transaction took place. In an increasingly digital world, it is very easy to "cook the books" to show that a transaction took place in a low tax area.

There are two solutions.

One is to have well written international treaties on how multinational corporations divide their revenue between countries. Each country will also have to state that any division doing business in a non-treaty country will be presumed to be reporting fraudulent numbers.

The second is to realize that we have to PAY people who work for the government. Not only does austerity NOT WORK, but austerity reduces the "income" that a government can get from its taxpayers.

This sounds really easy, but is incredibly hard. Writing tax code is extremely difficult as one has to write the code knowing that lawyers will make spurious arguments. Getting countries to agree on a tax formula is also difficult.

Making it worse is the incorrect idea that government employees do not deserve any respect and/or equal pay. (Generally, you get what you pay for.) Plus corporations will spend billions on ads, lobbyists and bribes is order to not pay taxes.

Until this is done, Apple, Google and others can just thumb their noses at tax collectors.

GAMES "PATRIOTS" PLAY

Some people who call themselves "Patriots" believe that they do not have to obey any laws, because they have formed their own country out of the city lot that they may not even own. These "Patriots" form multiple trusts, allowing strangers to be the trustees, just to avoid taxes. Some "Patriots" believe that all income tax is unconstitutional, no matter what the US Supreme Court has said.

My favorite "Patriot" document was a "driver's license", printed on document paper, that was covered in interesting coats of arms and seals. I can not remember the name of the fake kingdom. I do remember laughing out loud when the holder of this document said that a police officer had accepted it as a real license to drive. I did not tell the "Patriot" that I thought the officer decided that he had better things to do than to spend days and days in court with a mentally ill person.

I have read some of the trusts that "Patriots" use. It was clear that the "Patriot" has WAY more faith in a con man than he had in the US government. When I pointed out that the chain of title was so unclear that the trustee could just steal the property, the reply was, "Oh, no, he wouldn't do that." There was no point in saying, "Ya, right." (I think this is a long con, designed to take the property upon the death of the "Patriot". There is NO WAY any family member could prove theft, due to the secretive nature of the transactions.)

One of the first "Patriots" I spoke with was going to federal prison for tax fraud. I tried to get him to testify against the person who had told him that the income tax was unconstitutional and who taught him the various techniques which are supposed to avoid taxes. This man was a licensed medical man, but he was so positive that the con man was right, he served five years in prison.

I honestly do not know what to do about these "Patriots". NOTHING that you tell them will pierce the armor of their beliefs.

THE EVIL OGRE OF CLEVELAND

Once upon a time there was a horrible, evil ogre. Women somehow knew he was evil so he had to capture young Princesses, who were kept in a dank, dark dungeon.

One brave Princess tried to escape, but could not get through the final doorway. A neighbor, a true knight in shinning armor, helped the Princess escape. Then the King's men came and rescued the other three Princesses, and captured the ogre. The ogre was promptly put in a prison that was, unfortunately, not dark and dank.

The entire world joined in hoping and praying that the rescued Princesses lived happily ever after.

RANDOM IMPORTANT THOUGHTS

If you need to 'wash' your hands without water, try sand or sawdust. In general, A DRY MICROBE IS A DEAD MICROBE.

If that diplomat in Russia really was a spy, I am glad Russia caught him. Anyone so incompetent that they think they can recruit spies like corporations recruit employees should not be a member of the US diplomatic service.

Mark playing politics at that level is like me trying to write a computer program. WAY too many intelligent people think politics is easy. Business people often forget that they are PAYING the people that obey them.

In the US environmentalists have WON. We now have really good regulations protecting the environment. When something meets the requirements of those regulations, then we NEED TO LET IT BE BUILT. I am sorry that protesting is so much more fun than writing and enforcing regulations. May I suggest you move on to legalizing marijuana?

I believe that real fur is MUCH better for the environment than fake fur. Leather shoes are better for the environment than plastic shoes. Sometimes being 'sensitive' is a bad thing.

THE US SHOULD HELP SYRIANS

The US should provide help to democratic Syrians. Senator Menendez has proposed that the US provide arms and training to thoroughly vetted Syrian rebels, monetary support to rebel controlled Syrian administrations, and aid to displaced Syrians refugees.

This is a good idea.

Now we now know how dictators survive when even their own people fight for democracy. The dictators are willing to kill anyone who disagrees with them. They are willing to allow their own country to go down in flames in order that they can remain in their palaces.

Our own revolution was supported by France, who sent officers to train our troops. The statute of liberty was a gift from France as a reminder of the freedom that they help give us.

It is true that the Syrians rebels probably must fight their own fight. Syria could be a flashpoint for a wider war, which no one wants. The UN is unable to help because Russia and China refuse to grant such help. Perhaps they are worried about setting a precedent which might haunt them in the future.

Even in the depth of the winter in Valley Forge, Washington did not lose hope. The Syrian rebels are fighting on, but this war needs to end. If the UN will not help, then we should at least adopt Senator Menendez's proposal.

My thoughts and hopes are with the rebels. No leader should be allowed to murder his own people.

FOREIGN WORKERS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Foreign workers who come to the US sometimes believe that equal opportunity applies only to THEM. Too many believe that women are inferior. I think we should require a course and test in equal opportunity before people even APPLY for the H-1 visa. We should also require that holders of the H-1 visa reflect the population of their countries. This means at least 50% of the visas must go to women.

I also worry that companies use holders of H-1 visas as inexpensive labor. If there are US women and US older workers available, companies do not need H-1 visas.

Here in Silicon Valley, Apple, Google and others were caught agreeing not to hire each others workers in an attempt to keep wages low. I worry that the lobbying for H-1 visas is another attempt to keep wages low.

The Valley did not used to be this way. Once we thought that sharing our wealth with our workers was the way to make everybody rich. Now we use accounting rules to give stock options to only the top of the upper level management.

YOU DO KNOW THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO KILL A GOLDEN GOOSE, DON'T YOU?

WARNING TO HEZBOLLAH

I believe that Assad is planning to use Hezbollah as cannon fodder. Assad's Iman recruiters are promising death in paradise, but Hezbollah may end up with pain and suffering from serious wounds. Worse, it looks like Assad is blaming Hezbollah for chemical weapons attacks.

Inexperienced fighters who are unfamiliar with the terrain can face massive losses. Sometimes an assault is not bravery but stupidity. This is especially true when the commander has shown a tendency to betray his own people.

The truth is that building your own country is MUCH harder than organizing a riot. It is hard, mostly boring, work. You have to learn what is really important and when you should compromise. It always takes much longer than you think it will take.

But the only way to have a better life for yourselves and your children is to have peace. Unless, of course, your own government kills you for thinking differently than they think.