Archive for the ‘Text for Thought’ Category
The celebrated case of Troy Davis finally ended last night at 11:08 p.m. The Georgia death row inmate exhausted years of legal appeals and was put to death by lethal injection.
Davis was convicted of killing a policeman back in 1989… However, recently 7 witnesses have recanted their testimony casting doubt upon the case.
You can read here how the world is reacting.
Just before his execution, Davis was granted a temporary delay in his execution date by the Supreme Court of the United States. This gave hope to his supporters that a retrial would be forthcoming.
The tweet above conveys just one perspective on the actions that have taken place in the past few hours, days, and weeks. Where do you stand? Do you believe that there’s #toomuchdoubt?
Life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line”
Sound familiar?
Elementary School Flashback Alert: They’re lyrics from the Pokemon 2000 movie song “The Power of One”
Thanks to Movieberry.com!
Fun Fact: It’s also a go-to inspirational quote for Republican Presidential Wannabee Herman Cain . He’s used it four times, never attributing his source correctly.
Ready for these alternatives to hit the campaign trail?
12
Unveiling the Ban
by dizzycypher 
Featured, Islam-a-phobia, News, Text for Thought, View from Abroad
Thanks to Miss France
They’ve done it folks! After years of deliberation, the French government has finally banned the public use of the Burka,a traditional muslim veil, effective Monday April 11.
Anyone wearing the burka or niqab in public will be “fined up to $216 and a citizenship course.” And to enforce this law, men who are caught forcing women to wear a veil will face a much steeper punishment of up to $43,400 in fines and prosecution.
To complicate matters, immigration minister and architect of the ban, Eric Besson (who once described a burqua as a “walking coffin”) is reported to have a Muslim Tunisian girlfriend who is more than half his age. Besson is allegedly considering suing a news website that speculated about his possible conversion to Islam.
Muslims in France are less than certain about the the burqa ban …. ok, they are outraged!
If the protests on Saturday and the peaceful demonstrations on Monday are any indication, this is going to be a long difficult battle.
On Saturday, 61 people were arrested in Paris, 19 of which were women. And attempting to join the party was Anjem Choudary, a member of the outlawed Islam4UK. He was arrested along with two other Muslim radicals.
On the first day of the ban, two women wore their burqas in defiance of the new law and were arrested NOT for veiling their face BUT for an unauthorized protest! It seems the French government is still confused about its own law.
“I’m not here to provoke, but to defend my civil liberties as a French citizen,” said Drider, one of the veiled protesters on Monday.
Taking creativity to a new level, some Muslim women in France are planning on wearing medical masks in order to get around the law. Others have simply left France, which is the 1st country to “bring a ban on face-covering veils.” Although nearly a year ago Belgium passed a similar ban, it has failed to enforce it.
Even more alarming are Al-Qaeda’s massive threats to attack France following the introduction of the ban. Like many Muslim communities abroad, they are not buying Sarkozy’s fight against the “debasement of women” so passionately stated in his state of the nation address last year.
It is curious, odd, and some would say a little incriminating that Sarkozy would support this ban just a year before a national election. 60% do not support Mr Sarkozy according to a recent Paris-based poll. But France’s current political atmosphere seems to be anti-immigration. So it appears Sarkozy may be using the ban as a good political opportunity to boost his popularity.
Just something to think about. Could the ban spread to the UK, Italy, and even the US?
At one point or another we have all have taken standardized tests. You know, the ones with endless rows of perfectly formed multiple choice bubbles or ovals and well sharpened #2 pencils. Not to mention attempting to stay inside the lines, without crayons! Yeah, those.
Well, President Obama may have just exponential boosted his popularity with this comment,
“All you’re learning about is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test and that’s not going to make education interesting.”
It looks like 10 years after the Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policy, the era of filling in bubbles instead of the brain may just come to end. The Obama administration is advocating “learning about the world, learning about different cultures, learning about science, learning about math.”
Revolutionary huh! What? ACTUALLY learning instead of memorizing to regurgitate on standardized tests? What is that all about? After all, we have singlehandedly managed to become one of the wealthiest nations that ranks 25th in math scores compared to 70 other countries. Quite an accomplishment.
But before you take a stand on the American education system and standardized testing, here are the pros and cons as presented by advocates and critics.
Pro
- Both Teachers & Students can be held accountable
- Easier to grade & not time consuming
- Measure student progress by identifying their weaknesses
Con
- Results in no meaningful learning in classrooms
- Assess a narrow set of skills
- Some high stakes testing have negative emotional and material impacts on students, schools, and teachers.
We want to know what you think. Take our poll below ( ironically, it is multiple choice)
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March for the Alternative
by dizzycypher Featured, News, Text for Thought, View from Abroad
Unsatisfied with your government?
The largest mass demonstration since the war in Iraq has hit London. Over 250,000 people showed up to what was a largely peaceful protest against UK’s government austerity measures that plan to cut $131 billion over the next 5 years.
The March for the Alternative brought together incredible support by taking a page from Egypt’s ingenious use of cyber space to organize.
Although not at the same level, it would appear Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Morocco, and Iran are not the only ones uprising. With the way things are going, no country will be free of protests!
19
Shiver Me Timbers!
by dizzycypher Featured, News, Text for Thought, View from Abroad, Whatzup
That’s right, THE PIRATES ARE HERE …. to stay!
Minus the wooden leg, screeching parrot, and eye patch, the Somali pirates have swept the high seas. True buccaneers of the 21st century, swords and cannons are replaced by RPG-7 launchers and assault rifles. Not to mention the high speedboats that chase down large ships in a matter of minutes.
And these pirates don’t discriminate between victims, be it U.S., French, Chinese, Indian, or even African vessels. In fact, the ships and their cargo is no what is valuable, but rather the people on board who are ransomed off for booty. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Somali pirates have earned a reputation for peaceful conduct, for the most part. Once captured, it would appear no one makes a visit to Davy Jones’ Locker.
Meanwhile, Somali pirates hijacked a yacht with four Americans on board Friday afternoon in the Indian Ocean.
“serous concern”
Surely, the time for concern is over, and the time for action should be …. right about now. Especially with the recent sentencing of a Somali pirate who brutally attacked a U.S. merchant ship captain.
If that does not raise a flag then this should. It is reported that Somali piracy is currently at its HIGHEST levels, “with more than 40 ships and 800 seamen currently held.”
What does February mean to you? Snow? School? Super Bowl?
THIRTY FOUR years after the celebration of the first black history month (1976) and EIGHTY FOUR years after the first Negro History Week (1926), it is likely the month of February is remembered more for Valentine’s day than the 300 years of rich African American History.
Sure, almost everyone knows Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, Rosa Parks daring acts of defiance on a segregated bus, and Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad.
But few can tell you about Marcus Garvey, Stokely Carmichael, or even Count Basie.
In fact, it is a safe bet to say that an American teenager knows more about Pauly D’s hair gel than he/she does about Black History. And professors are beginning to worry when students are shocked to discover the first lady is indeed (gasp), BLACK!
Despite the popularity of African American history on college campuses, some are asking…Why the special treatment?
Some view Black History Month as nothing more than a time for recalling grievances for slavery and a celebration of the rights that blacks have been awarded.
The boasting of the progress that has been made is summed up in Barack Obama, the first black US president.
But what about the progress that has not been made? The racial profiling or the incarceration of blacks that exceeds those that are in college?
Maybe Morgan Freeman was right when he said “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” during an interview aired on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in December. “I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history.”
With the recent arguing in Washington, we got to thinking about compromise.
Henry Clay (1777-1853), was an American patriot known as the “Great Compromiser.” He served in both chambers of the Congress and in the White House, and knew quite a bit about the necessary and proper workings of American government. Here is his take on compromise:
All legislation, all government, all society is founded upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these everything is based…
Let him who elevates himself above humanity, above its weaknesses, its infirmities, its wants, its necessities, say, if he pleases, ‘I will never compromise;’…
but let (all) who are not above the frailties of our common nature disdain compromises.
Here’s another interesting line we found worth sharing. We haven’t been able to find an exact attribution for the quote ( perhaps someone would care to help us out here). Still, have a read… and a ponder:
“If you want what you don’t have …do what you’re not doing.”
We at USDemocrazy enjoy a good cartoon, a revealing video, but a good well-written sentence can really get the brain working. In that spirit, here’s the second a new regular segment featuring interesting, challenging and sometimes amusing ponderings called Text For Thought. If you have some favorite quotes please send them along.
Here’s our second from 19th-century French writer Stendhal:
“For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machinations, or by confederacy with others that are in the same danger”
We at USDemocrazy enjoy a good cartoon and a revealing video… but there’s nothing like an engaging well-written sentence can really get the brain working.
In that spirit, we would like to introduce a new regular segment featuring interesting, challenging and sometimes amusing ponderings called Text For Thought. Here’s our first, a great one from Thomas Jefferson:
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
