Boycotting BP Gas stations is about as childish and ignorant as drawing an imaginary line in a car to separate fighting siblings in the back seat. A lot of people that are understandably upset with the oil spill feel that the best way to vent their frustrations are to boycott buying gas from BP stations. Hitting them where it hurts in the pocket books..
There are two main problems with this.. First off the BP station's that pump gas are independently owned and operated and are only franchised under the BP Label.. SO instead of taking the money out of the hands of the "suits" in the UK, people are taking the money out of the hands of hard working Americans (and some Indian-Americans). All a successful boycott would do is continue to add to unemployment and an ever growing welfare state.
The second problem is that crude oil, the type that is currently being served as a dipping sauce for fried clam strips in the gulf, is a commodity. This means that the oil BP brings out of the ground is sold at market and at market prices unless it is directly shipped to a BP refinery. For a boycott to truly work one would need to boycott buying crude oil from BP... Of course the few hundred thousand facebook junkies "that recently started doing some thinking" can definitely persuade the rest of the oil industry to not buy BP oil.
So you potentially have this situation, as a Boycotter you are driving past a BP station, to go to an Citgo station to get gas. The gas you are buying at citgo could potentially be made up of: 25% Venezuelan oil (profits going to that nut job Chavez) 25% oil from Saudi (profits going to a terrorist bomber) and 50% oil from BP!! SO... for a Boycott to work we need to boycott Gasoline all together..I know some Ethanol producers that would be happy with that!!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
History of the Pledge by Dr. John Baer
Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).
The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]
Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'
In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.
In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.
If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.
Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.'
A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'
The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.
In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'
His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]
Dr. Mortimer Adler, American philosopher and last living founder of the Great Books program at Saint John's College, has analyzed these ideas in his book, The Six Great Ideas. He argues that the three great ideas of the American political tradition are 'equality, liberty and justice for all.' 'Justice' mediates between the often conflicting goals of 'liberty' and 'equality.'
In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.
In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, 'under God,' to the Pledge. The Pledge was now both a patriotic oath and a public prayer.
If the Pledge's historical pattern repeats, its words will be modified during this decade. Below are two possible changes.
Some prolife advocates recite the following slightly revised Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, born and unborn.'
A few liberals recite a slightly revised version of Bellamy's original Pledge: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with equality, liberty and justice for all.'
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
"American Pie" By Don McLean
"American Pie" By Don McLean
The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how rock and roll music changed in the years since his death. McLean is lamenting the lack of "danceable" good time party music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al.
(Verse 1)
A long, long time ago...
"American Pie" reached #1 in the U.S. in 1972; the album containing it was released in 1971. Buddy Holly died in 1959.
I can still remember how That music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
One of early rock and roll's functions was to provide dance music for various social events. McLean recalls his desire to become a musician playing that sort of music.
But February made me shiver,
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.
With every paper I'd deliver,
Don McLean's only job before becoming a full-time singer-songwriter was being a paperboy.
Bad news on the doorstep... I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
Holly's recent bride was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.
But something touched me deep inside, The day the music died.
The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959 became known as "The Day The Music Died".
So...
(Refrain) Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant.
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry Them good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye Singing "This'll be the day that I die, This'll be the day that I die."
One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains the line "That'll be the day that I die".
(Verse 2)
Did you write the book of love,
"The Book of Love" by the Monotones was a hit in 1958.
And do you have faith in God above, If the Bible tells you so?
There's also an old Sunday School song which goes: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so"
Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?
The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John Sebastian's "Do you Believe in Magic?". The song has the lines: "Do you believe in magic" and "It's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll."
Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Dancing slow was an important part of early rock and roll dance events -- but declined in importance through the 60's as things like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.
Well I know you're in love with him 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
Back then, dancing was an expression of love, and carried a connotation of committment. Dance partners were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.
You both kicked off your shoes
A reference to the beloved "sock hop". (Street shoes tear up wooden basketball floors, so dancers had to take off their shoes.)
Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
Some history. Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much else in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first, "race music," later rhythm and blues. In the early 50s, as they were exposed to it through radio personalities such as Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening, too. Starting around 1954, a number of songs from the rhythm and blues charts began appearing on the overall popular charts as well, but usually in cover versions by established white artists, (e. g. "Shake Rattle and Roll", Joe Turner, covered by Bill Haley; "Sh-Boom", the Chords, covered by the Crew-Cuts; "Sincerely", the Moonglows, covered by the Mc Guire Sisters; Tweedle Dee, LaVerne Baker, covered by Georgia Gibbs). By 1955, some of the rhythm and blues artists, like Fats Domino and Little Richard were able to get records on the overall pop charts. In 1956 Sun records added elements of country and western to produce the kind of rock and roll tradition that produced Buddy Holly.
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck has endured as a symbol of sexual independence and potency, especially in a Texas context.
But I knew that I was out of luck The day the music died I started singing...
Refrain
(Verse 3)
Now for ten years we've been on our own
McLean was writing this song in the late 60's, about ten years after the crash.
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
Rolling Stone Magazine
But that's not how it used to be When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester is Bob Dylan, as will become clear later. Elvis Presley is the king, which seems pretty obvious. The queen COULD be either Connie Francis, Little Richard, or someone else.
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film. In one particularly intense scene, Dean lends his coat to a guy who is shot and killed; Dean's father arrives, sees the coat on the dead man, thinks it's Dean, and loses it. On the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Dylan is wearing just such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to one shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.
And a voice that came from you and me
Bob Dylan's roots are in American folk music, with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Folk music is by definition the music of the masses, hence the "...came from you and me".
Oh, and while the King was looking down The jester stole his thorny crown
A reference to Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance. (i.e. Presley is looking down from a height as Dylan takes his place.) The thorny crown a reference to the price of fame. Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.
The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.
The trial of the Chicago Seven.
And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles. The "Marx-Lennon" wordplay has also been used by others, most notably the Firesign Theatre on the cover of their album How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?
The quartet practiced in the park
The Beatles.
And we sang dirges in the dark
A reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which played long pieces not meant for dancing OR a reference to The Door's song "Light My Fire" which said "... a funeral pyer..." in one line.
The day the music died. We were singing...
Refrain
(Verse 4)
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears on the White album. Charles Manson, claiming to have been "inspired" by the song (through which he thought God and/or the devil were taking to him) led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders. "Summer swelter" a reference to the "long hot summer" of Watts.
The birds flew off with the fallout shelter Eight miles high and falling fast
The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension." It was one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.
It landed foul on the grass
One of the Byrds was busted for possesion of marijuana.
The players tried for a forward pass
Obviously a football metaphor about the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were waiting for an opening which really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up.
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating from the accident.
Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
This line and the next few refer to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The "sweet perfume" is tear gas.
While sergeants played a marching tune
The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" music in general as "marching" because it's not music for dancing. But music with a message to which we march.
We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance
The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes and there wasn't any music to dance to OR due to the break-up of The Beatles.
'Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield.
A reference to the dominance of the Beatles on the rock and roll scene. For instance, the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds" in 1966 -- an album which featured some of the same sort of studio and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper" (1967) -- but the album sold poorly. It's a comment about how the dominance of the Beatles in the rock world led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.
Do you recall what was revealed, The day the music died? We started singing
Refrain
(Verse 5)
And there we were all in one place
Woodstock.
A generation lost in space
A reference to the "famous" (and horrible) 60s TV "Lost In Space."
With no time left to start again
The "lost generation" spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted their lives.
So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
A reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968.
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
The Stones' Candlestick park concert.
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
The Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil."
And as I watched him on the stage My hands were clenched in fists of rage No angel born in hell Could break that satan's spell
While playing a concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, the Stones appointed members of the Hell's Angels to work security. In the darkness near the front of the stage, a young man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to drop the song from their show for the next six years.
And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite
About Altamont, and in particular Mick Jagger's prancing and posing while it was happening. The sacrifice is Meredith Hunter, and the bonfires around the area provide the flames.
I saw satan laughing with delight
Satan would be Jagger.
The day the music died He was singing...
Refrain
(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues
Janis Joplin.
And I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away
Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970.
I went down to the sacred store Where I'd heard the music years before
The "sacred store" was Bill Graham's Fillmore West, one of the great rock and roll venues of all time.
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly et.al.'s music.
And in the streets the children screamed
"Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops; in particular, perhaps, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in 1969 and 1970.
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's.
But not a word was spoken, The church bells all were broken
The broken bells are the dead musicians: neither can produce any more music.
And the three men I admire most The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens.
They caught the last train for the coast
A way of saying that they had left the scene (or died -- "went west" as a synonym for dying).
The day the music died And they were singing...
The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how rock and roll music changed in the years since his death. McLean is lamenting the lack of "danceable" good time party music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al.
(Verse 1)
A long, long time ago...
"American Pie" reached #1 in the U.S. in 1972; the album containing it was released in 1971. Buddy Holly died in 1959.
I can still remember how That music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance, And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
One of early rock and roll's functions was to provide dance music for various social events. McLean recalls his desire to become a musician playing that sort of music.
But February made me shiver,
Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm.
With every paper I'd deliver,
Don McLean's only job before becoming a full-time singer-songwriter was being a paperboy.
Bad news on the doorstep... I couldn't take one more step. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride
Holly's recent bride was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.
But something touched me deep inside, The day the music died.
The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959 became known as "The Day The Music Died".
So...
(Refrain) Bye bye Miss American Pie,
Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant.
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry Them good ol' boys were drinkin whiskey and rye Singing "This'll be the day that I die, This'll be the day that I die."
One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains the line "That'll be the day that I die".
(Verse 2)
Did you write the book of love,
"The Book of Love" by the Monotones was a hit in 1958.
And do you have faith in God above, If the Bible tells you so?
There's also an old Sunday School song which goes: "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so"
Now do you believe in rock 'n roll?
The Lovin' Spoonful had a hit in 1965 with John Sebastian's "Do you Believe in Magic?". The song has the lines: "Do you believe in magic" and "It's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll."
Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Dancing slow was an important part of early rock and roll dance events -- but declined in importance through the 60's as things like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.
Well I know you're in love with him 'Cause I saw you dancing in the gym
Back then, dancing was an expression of love, and carried a connotation of committment. Dance partners were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.
You both kicked off your shoes
A reference to the beloved "sock hop". (Street shoes tear up wooden basketball floors, so dancers had to take off their shoes.)
Man, I dig those rhythm 'n' blues
Some history. Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much else in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first, "race music," later rhythm and blues. In the early 50s, as they were exposed to it through radio personalities such as Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening, too. Starting around 1954, a number of songs from the rhythm and blues charts began appearing on the overall popular charts as well, but usually in cover versions by established white artists, (e. g. "Shake Rattle and Roll", Joe Turner, covered by Bill Haley; "Sh-Boom", the Chords, covered by the Crew-Cuts; "Sincerely", the Moonglows, covered by the Mc Guire Sisters; Tweedle Dee, LaVerne Baker, covered by Georgia Gibbs). By 1955, some of the rhythm and blues artists, like Fats Domino and Little Richard were able to get records on the overall pop charts. In 1956 Sun records added elements of country and western to produce the kind of rock and roll tradition that produced Buddy Holly.
I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck With a pink carnation and a pickup truck
"A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)", was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1957. The pickup truck has endured as a symbol of sexual independence and potency, especially in a Texas context.
But I knew that I was out of luck The day the music died I started singing...
Refrain
(Verse 3)
Now for ten years we've been on our own
McLean was writing this song in the late 60's, about ten years after the crash.
And moss grows fat on a rolling stone
Rolling Stone Magazine
But that's not how it used to be When the jester sang for the King and Queen
The jester is Bob Dylan, as will become clear later. Elvis Presley is the king, which seems pretty obvious. The queen COULD be either Connie Francis, Little Richard, or someone else.
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
In the movie "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean has a red windbreaker that holds symbolic meaning throughout the film. In one particularly intense scene, Dean lends his coat to a guy who is shot and killed; Dean's father arrives, sees the coat on the dead man, thinks it's Dean, and loses it. On the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Dylan is wearing just such as red windbreaker, and is posed in a street scene similar to one shown in a well-known picture of James Dean.
And a voice that came from you and me
Bob Dylan's roots are in American folk music, with people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Folk music is by definition the music of the masses, hence the "...came from you and me".
Oh, and while the King was looking down The jester stole his thorny crown
A reference to Elvis's decline and Dylan's ascendance. (i.e. Presley is looking down from a height as Dylan takes his place.) The thorny crown a reference to the price of fame. Dylan has said that he wanted to be as famous as Elvis, one of his early idols.
The courtroom was adjourned, No verdict was returned.
The trial of the Chicago Seven.
And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
Literally, John Lennon reading about Karl Marx; figuratively, the introduction of radical politics into the music of the Beatles. The "Marx-Lennon" wordplay has also been used by others, most notably the Firesign Theatre on the cover of their album How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?
The quartet practiced in the park
The Beatles.
And we sang dirges in the dark
A reference to some of the new "art rock" groups which played long pieces not meant for dancing OR a reference to The Door's song "Light My Fire" which said "... a funeral pyer..." in one line.
The day the music died. We were singing...
Refrain
(Verse 4)
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter
"Helter Skelter" is a Beatles song which appears on the White album. Charles Manson, claiming to have been "inspired" by the song (through which he thought God and/or the devil were taking to him) led his followers in the Tate-LaBianca murders. "Summer swelter" a reference to the "long hot summer" of Watts.
The birds flew off with the fallout shelter Eight miles high and falling fast
The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" was on their late 1966 release "Fifth Dimension." It was one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.
It landed foul on the grass
One of the Byrds was busted for possesion of marijuana.
The players tried for a forward pass
Obviously a football metaphor about the Rolling Stones, i.e. they were waiting for an opening which really didn't happen until the Beatles broke up.
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
On July 29, 1966, Dylan crashed his Triumph motorcycle while riding near his home in Woodstock, New York. He spent nine months in seclusion while recuperating from the accident.
Now the halftime air was sweet perfume
This line and the next few refer to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The "sweet perfume" is tear gas.
While sergeants played a marching tune
The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" music in general as "marching" because it's not music for dancing. But music with a message to which we march.
We all got up to dance Oh, but we never got the chance
The Beatles' 1966 Candlestick Park concert only lasted 35 minutes and there wasn't any music to dance to OR due to the break-up of The Beatles.
'Cause the players tried to take the field, The marching band refused to yield.
A reference to the dominance of the Beatles on the rock and roll scene. For instance, the Beach Boys released "Pet Sounds" in 1966 -- an album which featured some of the same sort of studio and electronic experimentation as "Sgt. Pepper" (1967) -- but the album sold poorly. It's a comment about how the dominance of the Beatles in the rock world led to more "pop art" music, leading in turn to a dearth of traditional rock and roll.
Do you recall what was revealed, The day the music died? We started singing
Refrain
(Verse 5)
And there we were all in one place
Woodstock.
A generation lost in space
A reference to the "famous" (and horrible) 60s TV "Lost In Space."
With no time left to start again
The "lost generation" spent too much time being stoned, and had wasted their lives.
So come on Jack be nimble Jack be quick
A reference to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones; "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was released in May, 1968.
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
The Stones' Candlestick park concert.
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend
The Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil."
And as I watched him on the stage My hands were clenched in fists of rage No angel born in hell Could break that satan's spell
While playing a concert at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, the Stones appointed members of the Hell's Angels to work security. In the darkness near the front of the stage, a young man named Meredith Hunter was beaten and stabbed to death -- by the Angels. Public outcry that the song "Sympathy for the Devil" had somehow incited the violence caused the Stones to drop the song from their show for the next six years.
And as the flames climbed high into the night To light the sacrificial rite
About Altamont, and in particular Mick Jagger's prancing and posing while it was happening. The sacrifice is Meredith Hunter, and the bonfires around the area provide the flames.
I saw satan laughing with delight
Satan would be Jagger.
The day the music died He was singing...
Refrain
(Verse 6)
I met a girl who sang the blues
Janis Joplin.
And I asked her for some happy news But she just smiled and turned away
Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose on October 4, 1970.
I went down to the sacred store Where I'd heard the music years before
The "sacred store" was Bill Graham's Fillmore West, one of the great rock and roll venues of all time.
But the man there said the music wouldn't play
Nobody is interested in hearing Buddy Holly et.al.'s music.
And in the streets the children screamed
"Flower children" being beaten by police and National Guard troops; in particular, perhaps, the People's Park riots in Berkeley in 1969 and 1970.
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
The trend towards psychedelic music in the 60's.
But not a word was spoken, The church bells all were broken
The broken bells are the dead musicians: neither can produce any more music.
And the three men I admire most The Father Son and Holy Ghost
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Richie Valens.
They caught the last train for the coast
A way of saying that they had left the scene (or died -- "went west" as a synonym for dying).
The day the music died And they were singing...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Innovations need to be rewarded!!!
According to Everett Rogers diffusion is: “process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.” Diffusion plays an important role in innovation, in that; it is responsible for the communication and spread of innovation. The diffusion of innovation is made up of four parts: innovation; adoption of an innovation is based on the perception of an innovation, communication channels; mass media and interpersonal channels play a vital role in the spread of innovation; individuals adopt innovations based on the opinion of peers, time; the diffusion of innovation is based on how fast an innovation is adopted into society and how long it takes to spread through society, and social system; social systems can help or delay the diffusion process.
Innovations are spread by their adopters, the more people adopting a certain innovation (with success) the greater the diffusion of the innovation. Innovation awards programs play an important role in this adoption. An innovation which receives an award has a better chance to be diffused than an innovation that goes by with little acknowledgement or understanding. By rewarding successful innovations, not only does the possibility of innovation adoption increase, but the motivation to be innovative increases as well. The diffusion of the motivated and innovative mind set is just as important as the diffusion of tangible innovations themselves.
Innovations are spread by their adopters, the more people adopting a certain innovation (with success) the greater the diffusion of the innovation. Innovation awards programs play an important role in this adoption. An innovation which receives an award has a better chance to be diffused than an innovation that goes by with little acknowledgement or understanding. By rewarding successful innovations, not only does the possibility of innovation adoption increase, but the motivation to be innovative increases as well. The diffusion of the motivated and innovative mind set is just as important as the diffusion of tangible innovations themselves.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Minimum Wage and Illegal Immigration March 17, 2009
Background of the problem
The Employment Policy Institute has a significant interest in minimum wage policies and has recently been interested in the effects of a change in minimum wage on illegal immigration in the United States. There have been previous attempts to address both the problem of illegal immigration and the policy of minimum wage, individually. Linking the two together, however, may prove to be significant in improving the problem and the policy.
In 1986, President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which penalized employers for hiring illegal immigrants. Since that time, numerous other attempts have been made to address illegal immigration including the idea of building a wall and granting amnesty to current illegal immigrants living in the United States.
Minimum wage is a policy that has been debated and changed since the FDR administration. This policy has also been subject to partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats. In 2007, the Fair Minimum Wage Act increased the minimum wage rate from $5.15 to $5.85, and then, in 2008, to $6.55, and in 2009, to $7.25 under this current law. With this, Senator Ted Kennedy, a veteran of the Democratic Party, has vowed to address the possibility of a $9.50 rate by 2012. An assessment linking both minimum wage and its effects on illegal immigration is needed, but it also has some built-in limitations. First, illegal immigration statistics are based on estimations. Conclusions drawn from this data could be considered by certain stakeholders as speculation. Second, the connection between illegal immigration and minimum wage is a new concept, of which there is no comparable evidence or known precedent that can be followed.
Significance of the Problem
From 1980 to present day, illegal immigration has been a significant problem and will only become more significant as the problems in Mexico escalate. In 2006, one third of all immigrants in the United States were considered illegal aliens. 80% of these illegal aliens come from Latin American countries, primarily Mexico. In January of 2008, there were an estimated 11.6 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. This number was down from 11.8 million in 2007. Below in Table 1 are the estimated number of illegal immigrants and the years they entered the United States.
Table: 1
| Period of Entry | Number of illegal immigrants | % of the current population of illegal immigrants |
| 1980-1984 | 900,000 | 8% |
| 1985-1989 | 1,310,000 | 11% |
| 1990-1994 | 1,800,000 | 16% |
| 1995-1999 | 3,260,000 | 28% |
| 2000-2004 | 3,250,000 | 28% |
| 2005-2007 | 1,070,000 | 9% |
The illegal immigrants who are coming to the United States are working in low-wage jobs. In 1998, immigrants, legal in this regard, had an average wage that was 34% lower than an American with comparable skills and/or job. It is estimated that illegal immigrants' wages were lower than that. While these numbers are high, they are even higher when you look at the historical number of unemployed in the United States, as well as the demographics of those earning at or below minimum wage. Below in table 2, are the employed earning at or below the minimum wage and the unemployment rates of the same years as the period of entry years of table 1.
Table: 2
| Years | Unemployment totals | Unemployment Rate | Minimum Wage Earners | Minimum Wage earners percent of total wage earners |
| 1980-1984 | 9,168 | 8.3 | 6,878,800 | 13.24% |
| 1985-1989 | 7,440 | 6.2 | 4,477,000 | 7.64% |
| 1990-1994 | 8,444 | 6.6 | 4,378,400 | 6.82% |
| 1995-1999 | 6,693 | 4.9 | 3,980,200 | 5.78% |
| 2000-2004 | 7,558 | 5.2 | 2,214,600 | 3.04% |
| 2005-2007 | 7,223 | 4.8 | 1,767,667 | 2.33% |
As previous stated, illegal immigrants are obtaining low-wage jobs in the US. These are jobs that would, if an employer was following the law, be filled by minimum wage workers. Looking at the demographics of those employees that earn minimum wage provides the following characteristics:
· 50.4% of wage earners at and below minimum wage are 16-24 years of age, or 1,122,000 workers.
· 24.5% of wage earners at or below minimum wage are 16-19 years of age, or 545,000 workers.
· Men make up 32.7% or 728,000 workers and women make 67.3% or 1,498,000 workers of wage earners at or below minimum wage.
· 60.8% or 1,353,000 workers are part-time and 39.2% or 873,000 workers are full-time.
Problem Significance
Just looking at the data, it could be perceived that illegal immigrants would be taking jobs from women 16-24 years of age who work part-time. While there is data to support this, it is not the case because illegal immigrants in America are:
· 57% male.
· Within the 18-34 age group males make up 62%, and women make up 52% of the 45-over age group.
This data provides significant indication that there is no correlation between minimum wage and illegal immigration based on the current minimum wage rate. This is because a majority of the workers who would be affected by a minimum wage increase would be a different demographic group from those who would be losing jobs from an increase in illegal immigration. The question that arises now is what effect illegal immigration would have on male workers who are 16-24 years old and work part-time.
Analysis of Alternatives
As stated above, there is a political push to raise the minimum wage again to $9.50. This is a hotly debated policy change and will be debated significantly more with the current economic crisis. Because of this, there are three alternatives policies that could potentially affect the illegal immigration problem in the US. The three alternatives are: raising minimum wage to $9.50, keeping current minimum wage laws intact, and allow states with illegal immigration problems to set a wage lower than the federal level.
Keeping current minimum wage laws in place would result in a raise to $7.25 in July of 2009 with this being the last incremental raise of the current law. This would allow employers to keep their cost of labor at a minimum, which would significantly affect production in this current financial situation. Also, illegal immigration in the US decreased from 2007 to 2008 by 200,000.
A more radical alternative, one that is not very politically feasible, is to allow states with illegal immigration problems to set a minimum wage that is less than the federal wage. This would require the current minimum wage law to be amended and could lead to a challenge in a US court over the legality of it. Below are the states that have a significant illegal immigrant problem:
| States | 2008 illegal immigrant pop. | Percentage of total illegal immigrant pop. |
| California | 2,850,000 | 25% |
| Texas | 1,680,000 | 14% |
| Florida | 840,000 | 7% |
| Arizona | 560,000 | 5% |
The states with the most significant illegal immigration problem are states that border Latin American countries (with Mexico being the most important), or, in the case of Florida, in close proximity to Latin American countries.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Because the evidence for illegal immigration is so unpredictable, it is hard to quantifiably analyze the effects minimum wage would have on illegal immigration. There are initial conclusions based on the three alternatives. Raising the minimum wage would increase the standard of living for more employees but also increase the gap between an American’s wage rate and an illegal immigrant’s wage rate. Based on the law of supply and demand, more illegal immigrants would venture into America in search of jobs. Also, unless the minimum wage is raised in concurrence with stricter penalties for hiring illegal immigrants, employers will provide more work to illegal immigrants to lower their cost of labor.
Keeping minimum wage where it is currently would allow the government to continue to limit the amount of illegal immigrants in the US. Finally, allowing certain states to set minimum wage rates lower than the Federal rate would allow legal residents of these states, within certain industries that have the highest percent of illegal immigration, to be more competitive in the job market. This would give the employer the opportunity to hire Americans at a lower labor cost.
Based on the evidence from the data provided and after analyzing that data, there is currently no relationship that indicates a significant link between minimum wage and illegal immigration. Looking historically, it could be seen that the increase in minimum wage in the years from 1990 to 1993 may have caused a large spike in the number of illegal immigrants that came into the country in the period of years that followed. On the opposite side of that, 2006 to the present has seen the most increases in minimum wage for that short of a time span and the number of illegal immigrants has decreased significantly. There could be other variables that caused this decrease and possibly skewed the data, such as a stricter effort to thwart illegal immigration. Once again the opposite side is that a spike in illegal immigrants in this county could be caused by the current situation in Mexico with more Mexicans fleeing their country to find work in the United States.
While I feel that the minimum wage laws facilitate illegal immigrants obtaining jobs in the United States, there is no evidence to support the increase in minimum wage coinciding with an increase in illegal immigration. There are too many external variables that affect immigrants coming to America for this to be true. Working for minimum wage is insignificant in their choice to migrate. External variables such as the failing economy in Mexico play a bigger role. My recommendation is that illegal immigration should not be considered as a significant variable in deciding whether or not to raise minimum wage.
The United States is or the United States are?
This question has been bugging me for a while so I finally looked it up. Before the civil war, it was common for people to view the "United States" as a plural noun. For example: "The United States are going to obtain the Louisiana Purchase." Famous Transitional Americans (I can them transitional because they lived in a time between G. Washington and Abe Lincoln) Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Webster are documents as referring to the United States in the plural sense. Then came the famous "A house divide can not stand" and a bloody civil war and after hundreds of thousands of Yanks and Confederates lost their life we, as a society, have adopted the United States as a singular form.
The question remains though, which is right? From a philosophical stand point big government people, the Hamilton's of today, would prefer to see the US as a unified single object. Whereas, the state rights people, the Jeffersons of today, could potentially still feel that the US is an organization of states both independent and dependent of each other.
The question remains though, which is right? From a philosophical stand point big government people, the Hamilton's of today, would prefer to see the US as a unified single object. Whereas, the state rights people, the Jeffersons of today, could potentially still feel that the US is an organization of states both independent and dependent of each other.
Entrance Essay to GSPIA
JIFF or PETER PAN
With the Presidential election just around the corner, a lot of people (mostly the media) have been asking intriguing questions about not only America, but also the world. Candidates campaign and debate on such topics as national health care, the war on terror, illegal immigrants, and campaign finance reform. To me, this is what makes America great, the fact that a group of people vying for arguably the most powerful position in the world can contend and debate without worry about being shot or punished for their thoughts. What a lot of people do not realize is that there are a lot of countries in the world that are democracies, but they do not have the same system present in the United States. An extreme example of this difference is Iraq before Operation Iraqi Freedom. Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, was in fact a dictator, but Iraq was a democratic country; he just happened to receive 100% of the votes when he ran for office unopposed. The difference between their democracy and ours is that ours actually is a democracy, a government for the people by the people. This leads me to what I think is a major problem in the United States today.
George Washington in his farewell address warned America of ‘political factionalism’, or in layman’s terms political parties and how they could harm democracy in America. Now, a lot of people consider President Washington to be the closest to a king Americans have ever had, so what he said was taken to heart. But even he knew that the chances of America not having political parties were slim. I agree with President Washington in suggesting that political parties do damage the integrity of democracy in this country, but I also understand and accept the fact that there will always be political parties in America. So to basically contradict myself, the problem with the United States today is that we do not have enough political parties.
There are roughly 300 million people living in America, and 64% of these people turned out to vote in the last Presidential election. So that means for the 192 million voters in the 2004 election there were only two political parties, assuming that third parties such as the Green Party didn’t carry a large percentage. To me this seems like a problem, because people do not have enough viable choices. Yes, they could have voted for Ralph Nader or whoever else ran for office, but when it really comes down to it they had two choices: Bush or Kerry. America is the most advanced country in the world socially, economically, and governmentally, but we have more choices for what kind of peanut butter to buy at the store than choices for potential Leader of the Free World. Really, when you think about it, to win the nomination for either the Democrats or the Republicans you have to be like a robot. For example, let’s say I am a Republican and I am the most qualified and brightest rising star in the party and I want to run for President. Would Republicans vote for me if I supported Pro-life issues, gun control, and same-sex marriages? No, I would lose the nomination to some good-hearted Governor that goes to church every Sunday and says all the right things, but couldn’t lead a Girl Scout troop let alone the Free World.
Basically what I am trying to say is that Americans are too eccentric to be classified into two groups, and what is needed is a bit of evolution. If you took the two current political parties and split them both in two, you could have four strong parties. For the sake of this essay we will call them the Conservative, Republican, Liberal, and Democratic Parties. Imagine a national election where you had four candidates that were simultaneously strong and able to win. The election wouldn’t come down to who won California, Texas, and New York; the election would come down to who could carry the whole nation. States like Montana and Alaska would actually matter, because their electoral votes would be more valued if the total electoral votes was dispersed among four candidates. So why hasn’t this happened yet?
To answer that question you don’t have to look very far. The people of America, the voters, are the reason why this hasn’t happened. We let the media and other big-budgeted venues construct our opinion about candidates and politics instead of actually going out on our own and finding out which candidates are the best. Will the development of four major political parties ever happen? Probably not in my lifetime, but if Americans motivate themselves there could be a government revolution. A revolution not fought with guns and fatalities, but instead with intellect and moral values. I would love to see the day when I’m at a local hangout and I ask someone “What are you, a Democrat or a Republican?” and they respond ‘No, I’m an American.”
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