Today Marks a New Height in the Death Toll in Iraq.
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
LONG BEACH, CALIF. (April 30, 2008)-- The death toll in Iraq for the month of April has been the highest in the past seven months. Over 47 servicemen have died in April as a result of militia activity.
According to a spokesman for the Iraqi civilian security operations, at over 900 people have died in Sadr city as a result of heavy fight, although these numbers have yet to be confirmed.
As of today the US death toll is about 4, 059.
For more information on the Iraq War click here.
The Shadow Knows
While the number of US servicemen killed so far is reaching a high I can't help but think of the number of people who died in the Vietnam war under similar circumstances.
In the bloodiest year of the fighting in Vietnam, 1968, 14, 589 soldiers lost their lives. This is the equivalent to about 40 a day. More over to the nay sayers who are talking about the horrendous loss of life so far, I need only to think back to 1966, where in the first year of hard combat over 5,000 soldiers were killed.
In over five years of fighting in Iraq the US has lost over 4,000 troops. This equates to about two soldiers a day.
While the losses are no less tragic I feel that by comparison we are doing better. I do not believe in this war, I do not believe the people who are in charge, but I do believe that the people on the ground are real and the people who sent them there are.
So do your part, help end the war and save their lives, like they're trying to save ours.
For statistics on the Vietnam War click here.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Flash From the Past
Today's commentary will be in the edited form of a speech made by John F. Kennedy when he accepted the Democratic nomination for president in 1960. My personal comments will follow.
Delivered on 15 July 1960.
It was my great honor to place his name in nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, and I am delighted to have his support and his counsel and his advice in the coming months ahead.
With a deep sense of duty and high resolve, I accept your nomination.
I accept it with a full and grateful heart – without reservation – and with only one obligation – the obligation to devote every effort of body, mind and spirit to lead our Party back to victory and our Nation back to greatness.
I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk – new, at least since 1928. But I look at it this way: the Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgement – to uphold the Constitution and my oath of office – and to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest. My record of fourteen years supporting public education – supporting complete separation of church and state – and resisting pressure from any source on any issue should be clear by now to everyone,
I hope that no American, considering the really critical issues facing this country, will waste his franchise by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. I want to stress, what some other political or religious leader may have said on this subject. It is not relevant what abuses may have existed in other countries or in other times. It is not relevant what pressures, if any, might conceivably be brought to bear on me. I am telling you now what you are entitled to know: that my decisions on any public policy will be my own – as an American, a Democrat and a free man.
Under any circumstances, however, the victory that we seek in November will not be easy. We all know that in our hearts. We recognize the power of the forces that will be aligned against us. We know they will invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of their candidate – despite the fact that the political career of their candidate has often served to show charity toward none and malice toward for all.
Perhaps he could carry on the party policies – the policies of Nixon, Benson, Dirksen and Goldwater. But this Nation cannot afford such a luxury. Perhaps we could better afford a Coolidge following Harding. And perhaps we could afford a Pierce following Fillmore.
And after eight years of drugged and fitful sleep, this nation needs strong, creative Democratic leadership in the White House.
But we are not merely running against Mr. Nixon. Our task is not merely one of itemizing Republican failures. Nor is that wholly necessary. For the families forced from the farm will know how to vote without our telling them. The unemployed miners and textile workers will know how to vote. The old people without medical care – the families without a decent home – the parents of children without adequate food or schools – they all know that it’s time for a change.
But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high – to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future.
Today our concern must be with the future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.
Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons – new and uncertain nations – new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free – but one-third is the victim of cruel repression – and the other one-third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations then by the fission of the atom itself.
Meanwhile, Communist influence has penetrated further into Asia, stood astride in the Middle East and now festers some ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality – and neutrals into hostility. As our keynoter reminded us, the President who began his career by going to Korea ends it by staying away from Japan.
The world has been close to war before – but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over.
Here, at home, the changing face of the future is equally revolutionary. The New Deal and the Fair Deal were bold measures for their generations – but this is a new generation.
A technological revolution on the farm has led us to an output explosion – but we have not yet learned how to harness that explosion usefully, while protecting our farmers’ right to full parity income.
An urban population explosion has crowded our schools, cluttered up our suburbs, and increased the squalor of our slums.
A peaceful revolution for human rights – demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life has strained at the leashes imposed by timid executive leadership.
A medical revolution has extended the life of our elder citizens without providing the dignity and security those later years deserve. And a revolution of automation finds machines replacing men in the mines and mills of America, without replacing their incomes or their training or their needs to pay the family doctor, grocer and landlord.
There has also been a change – a slippage – in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drought and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies – and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America – in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will, and their sense of historic purpose.
It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership – new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.
All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power – men who are not bound by the traditions of the past – men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries – young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.
The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is also a young man. But his approach is as old as McKinley. His party is the party of the past. His speeches are generalities from Poor Richard’s Almanac. Their platform, made up of left-over Democratic planks, has the courage of our old convictions. Their pledge is a pledge to the status quo – and today there can be no status quo.
For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of old gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their own lives to build a new world here in the West. They were not the captives of their own doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their motto was not “every man for himself” but “all for the common cause.” They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened from without and within.
Today some would say that those struggles are all over – that all the horizons have been explored – that all the battles have ben won – that there is no longer an American frontier.
But I trust that no one in this vast assemblage will agree with those sentiments. For the problems are not all solved and the battlers are not all won – and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier – the frontier of the 1960's – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.
Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises, it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook – it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.
But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric – and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me regardless of party.
But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age – to all who respond to the Scriptural call: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”
For courage – not complacency – is our need today – leadership, not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously. A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is a Tory nation, and the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory.
There may be those who wish to hear more – more promises to this group or that – more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin – more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high. But my promises are in the platform you have adopted. Our ends will not be won by rhetoric and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves.
For the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand on this frontier at a turning-point in history. We must prove all over again whether this nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure; whether our society, with its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives, can compete with the single-minded advance of the Communist system.
Can a nation organized and governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction, but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men’s minds?
Are we up to the task – are we equal to the challenge? Are we willing to match the Russian sacrifice of the present for the future, or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present?
That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make – a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort – between national greatness and national decline – between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” – between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.
It has been a long road from that first snowy day in New Hampshire to this crowded convention city. Now begins another long journey, taking me into your cities and homes all over America. Give me your help, your hand, your voice, your vote. Recall with me the words of Isaiah: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary.”
As we face the coming challenge, we too shall wait upon the Lord, and ask that he renew our strength, Then shall we be equal to the test. Then shall we not be weary. And then we shall prevail.
Thank you.
The Shadow Knows
Why can't we have that? We need leaders that will stand up not to the people but for the people. We too lie on the horizon of a new frontier. Think of our leaders as people we can trust to actually lead you like Kennedy lead America, to try. They might not always succeed but only in not trying do we really fail.
Delivered on 15 July 1960.
It was my great honor to place his name in nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, and I am delighted to have his support and his counsel and his advice in the coming months ahead.
With a deep sense of duty and high resolve, I accept your nomination.
I accept it with a full and grateful heart – without reservation – and with only one obligation – the obligation to devote every effort of body, mind and spirit to lead our Party back to victory and our Nation back to greatness.
I am fully aware of the fact that the Democratic Party, by nominating someone of my faith, has taken on what many regard as a new and hazardous risk – new, at least since 1928. But I look at it this way: the Democratic Party has once again placed its confidence in the American people, and in their ability to render a free, fair judgement – to uphold the Constitution and my oath of office – and to reject any kind of religious pressure or obligation that might directly or indirectly interfere with my conduct of the Presidency in the national interest. My record of fourteen years supporting public education – supporting complete separation of church and state – and resisting pressure from any source on any issue should be clear by now to everyone,
I hope that no American, considering the really critical issues facing this country, will waste his franchise by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. I want to stress, what some other political or religious leader may have said on this subject. It is not relevant what abuses may have existed in other countries or in other times. It is not relevant what pressures, if any, might conceivably be brought to bear on me. I am telling you now what you are entitled to know: that my decisions on any public policy will be my own – as an American, a Democrat and a free man.
Under any circumstances, however, the victory that we seek in November will not be easy. We all know that in our hearts. We recognize the power of the forces that will be aligned against us. We know they will invoke the name of Abraham Lincoln on behalf of their candidate – despite the fact that the political career of their candidate has often served to show charity toward none and malice toward for all.
Perhaps he could carry on the party policies – the policies of Nixon, Benson, Dirksen and Goldwater. But this Nation cannot afford such a luxury. Perhaps we could better afford a Coolidge following Harding. And perhaps we could afford a Pierce following Fillmore.
And after eight years of drugged and fitful sleep, this nation needs strong, creative Democratic leadership in the White House.
But we are not merely running against Mr. Nixon. Our task is not merely one of itemizing Republican failures. Nor is that wholly necessary. For the families forced from the farm will know how to vote without our telling them. The unemployed miners and textile workers will know how to vote. The old people without medical care – the families without a decent home – the parents of children without adequate food or schools – they all know that it’s time for a change.
But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high – to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future.
Today our concern must be with the future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do.
Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons – new and uncertain nations – new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free – but one-third is the victim of cruel repression – and the other one-third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations then by the fission of the atom itself.
Meanwhile, Communist influence has penetrated further into Asia, stood astride in the Middle East and now festers some ninety miles off the coast of Florida. Friends have slipped into neutrality – and neutrals into hostility. As our keynoter reminded us, the President who began his career by going to Korea ends it by staying away from Japan.
The world has been close to war before – but now man, who has survived all previous threats to his existence, has taken into his mortal hands the power to exterminate the entire species some seven times over.
Here, at home, the changing face of the future is equally revolutionary. The New Deal and the Fair Deal were bold measures for their generations – but this is a new generation.
A technological revolution on the farm has led us to an output explosion – but we have not yet learned how to harness that explosion usefully, while protecting our farmers’ right to full parity income.
An urban population explosion has crowded our schools, cluttered up our suburbs, and increased the squalor of our slums.
A peaceful revolution for human rights – demanding an end to racial discrimination in all parts of our community life has strained at the leashes imposed by timid executive leadership.
A medical revolution has extended the life of our elder citizens without providing the dignity and security those later years deserve. And a revolution of automation finds machines replacing men in the mines and mills of America, without replacing their incomes or their training or their needs to pay the family doctor, grocer and landlord.
There has also been a change – a slippage – in our intellectual and moral strength. Seven lean years of drought and famine have withered a field of ideas. Blight has descended on our regulatory agencies – and a dry rot, beginning in Washington, is seeping into every corner of America – in the payola mentality, the expense account way of life, the confusion between what is legal and what is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, their will, and their sense of historic purpose.
It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership – new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.
All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power – men who are not bound by the traditions of the past – men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries – young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions.
The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is also a young man. But his approach is as old as McKinley. His party is the party of the past. His speeches are generalities from Poor Richard’s Almanac. Their platform, made up of left-over Democratic planks, has the courage of our old convictions. Their pledge is a pledge to the status quo – and today there can be no status quo.
For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of old gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their own lives to build a new world here in the West. They were not the captives of their own doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their motto was not “every man for himself” but “all for the common cause.” They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened from without and within.
Today some would say that those struggles are all over – that all the horizons have been explored – that all the battles have ben won – that there is no longer an American frontier.
But I trust that no one in this vast assemblage will agree with those sentiments. For the problems are not all solved and the battlers are not all won – and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier – the frontier of the 1960's – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats.
Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises, it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook – it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.
But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric – and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me regardless of party.
But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier. My call is to the young in heart, regardless of age – to all who respond to the Scriptural call: “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”
For courage – not complacency – is our need today – leadership, not salesmanship. And the only valid test of leadership is the ability to lead, and lead vigorously. A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is a Tory nation, and the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory.
There may be those who wish to hear more – more promises to this group or that – more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin – more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high. But my promises are in the platform you have adopted. Our ends will not be won by rhetoric and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves.
For the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand on this frontier at a turning-point in history. We must prove all over again whether this nation, or any nation so conceived, can long endure; whether our society, with its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives, can compete with the single-minded advance of the Communist system.
Can a nation organized and governed such as ours endure? That is the real question. Have we the nerve and the will? Can we carry through in an age where we will witness not only new breakthroughs in weapons of destruction, but also a race for mastery of the sky and the rain, the ocean and the tides, the far side of space and the inside of men’s minds?
Are we up to the task – are we equal to the challenge? Are we willing to match the Russian sacrifice of the present for the future, or must we sacrifice our future in order to enjoy the present?
That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make – a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort – between national greatness and national decline – between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” – between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.
All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.
It has been a long road from that first snowy day in New Hampshire to this crowded convention city. Now begins another long journey, taking me into your cities and homes all over America. Give me your help, your hand, your voice, your vote. Recall with me the words of Isaiah: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary.”
As we face the coming challenge, we too shall wait upon the Lord, and ask that he renew our strength, Then shall we be equal to the test. Then shall we not be weary. And then we shall prevail.
Thank you.
The Shadow Knows
Why can't we have that? We need leaders that will stand up not to the people but for the people. We too lie on the horizon of a new frontier. Think of our leaders as people we can trust to actually lead you like Kennedy lead America, to try. They might not always succeed but only in not trying do we really fail.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Know Your Candidate
Tomorrow's Primary May Decide Tomorrows President.
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
Tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary for the Democratic nominee is a point of major concern for both candidates. If Hillary Clinton fails to capture the state she may well have to drop out of the race, though she has repeatedly said she has no plans of doing so. Barack Obama will have to overcome statements he had made at the beginning of the month about the people of Pennsylvania.
During the week the candidates have been upping the attack ads and the news it seems has done little more than report the days mudslinging. I believe that it is time to quit focusing on the obvious flaws of these candidates, for we are not electing them on that, and again focus on what they plan to do.
We are looking to the future not the past. For the democrats to have any hope of beating John McCain in the race for the presidency, then they must put the daggers away. If I were a republican consultant, and who says I'm not at this point in the story, I would be paying close attention to what the democrats are saying about each other now. Because it will be great fodder once a candidate is elected.
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
Tomorrow's Pennsylvania primary for the Democratic nominee is a point of major concern for both candidates. If Hillary Clinton fails to capture the state she may well have to drop out of the race, though she has repeatedly said she has no plans of doing so. Barack Obama will have to overcome statements he had made at the beginning of the month about the people of Pennsylvania.
During the week the candidates have been upping the attack ads and the news it seems has done little more than report the days mudslinging. I believe that it is time to quit focusing on the obvious flaws of these candidates, for we are not electing them on that, and again focus on what they plan to do.
We are looking to the future not the past. For the democrats to have any hope of beating John McCain in the race for the presidency, then they must put the daggers away. If I were a republican consultant, and who says I'm not at this point in the story, I would be paying close attention to what the democrats are saying about each other now. Because it will be great fodder once a candidate is elected.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A Reflection on Virginia Tech
What Has Been Learned?
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
A year ago 33 students were killed by a lone gunman, not from a tower, a book depository (if you believe that), or any other great distance. This person proceeded on foot and with two hand guns was able to create a massacre bigger than the incident at Columbine or the shootings at Cal State Fullerton in the 1970s.
I remember sitting in my newsroom at Orange Coast College glued to my computer hastily trying to gather information for the publication of the weekly paper. I felt sick to my stomach the whole time.
I wasn't thinking about my deadline. I wasn't thinking about the dead or the living at the school in Virginia. I wasn't event thinking about the fall out and paranoia that would be coming in the following weeks. I was thinking quietly to my self, "today someone has set a new standard."
A new standard for horror. A new standard for the breaking point and the reaction. A new standard for things I never want to know.
The response was typical. Fear, paranoia, sadness, regret and over-reaction to a problem that was too late to be solved.
A year later I'm sitting at a computer, writing about the same subject.
We still don't know the exact reason for why these horrors have happened and why they keep happening. We still don't know why these people, these killers, do what they do. Maybe that's the biggest flaw in our assumption. Maybe they don't know either.
Read this article and ask yourself: how far have we come?
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
A year ago 33 students were killed by a lone gunman, not from a tower, a book depository (if you believe that), or any other great distance. This person proceeded on foot and with two hand guns was able to create a massacre bigger than the incident at Columbine or the shootings at Cal State Fullerton in the 1970s.
I remember sitting in my newsroom at Orange Coast College glued to my computer hastily trying to gather information for the publication of the weekly paper. I felt sick to my stomach the whole time.
I wasn't thinking about my deadline. I wasn't thinking about the dead or the living at the school in Virginia. I wasn't event thinking about the fall out and paranoia that would be coming in the following weeks. I was thinking quietly to my self, "today someone has set a new standard."
A new standard for horror. A new standard for the breaking point and the reaction. A new standard for things I never want to know.
The response was typical. Fear, paranoia, sadness, regret and over-reaction to a problem that was too late to be solved.
A year later I'm sitting at a computer, writing about the same subject.
We still don't know the exact reason for why these horrors have happened and why they keep happening. We still don't know why these people, these killers, do what they do. Maybe that's the biggest flaw in our assumption. Maybe they don't know either.
Read this article and ask yourself: how far have we come?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Yet More things Keeping Students From Knowledge
Rising Tuition Costs are Keeping Students out and Making College a Privilege
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
Knowledge is free. You can go and learn from books and become an expert on any subject you desire. However, so that people don't laugh in your face, you have to go to college and college is not free.
Currently we are at the cusp of a financial crisis in America, so we're told. Money is not worth it's weight, so many people are using that money to go back to school. If any of you out there are thinking about a master's, this is the time.
However, and isn't there always one, some people have gotten wise to this fact and are raising the costs of college tuition. To gain some more knowledge click here.
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
Knowledge is free. You can go and learn from books and become an expert on any subject you desire. However, so that people don't laugh in your face, you have to go to college and college is not free.
Currently we are at the cusp of a financial crisis in America, so we're told. Money is not worth it's weight, so many people are using that money to go back to school. If any of you out there are thinking about a master's, this is the time.
However, and isn't there always one, some people have gotten wise to this fact and are raising the costs of college tuition. To gain some more knowledge click here.
Monday, April 7, 2008
New Tools
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
LONG BEACH, Calif--I discovered a new tool in my quest for knowledge. If you go the yahoo.com website and look at the options bar on the left side of the screen you will see at the very top the word answers.
By clicking on that bar you go to a search engine where you can type in questions and have the public respond to the questions. The ask-er can review them and then pick the one they like best out of the answers they received. Now I have my doubts when it comes to accuracy but as a public forum of information I find this highly interesting.
I would recommend you try this if only to see how people respond.
Knowledge Beat
LONG BEACH, Calif--I discovered a new tool in my quest for knowledge. If you go the yahoo.com website and look at the options bar on the left side of the screen you will see at the very top the word answers.
By clicking on that bar you go to a search engine where you can type in questions and have the public respond to the questions. The ask-er can review them and then pick the one they like best out of the answers they received. Now I have my doubts when it comes to accuracy but as a public forum of information I find this highly interesting.
I would recommend you try this if only to see how people respond.
Prices of Gas
By David Cowan
Knowledge Beat
(Needles, Calif/Flagstaff, Ariz)--Over the break I took a chance to travel to another state to observe both nature and culture. What I found to be the most shocking thing about the culture was the dramatic prices in gasoline between states separated but only a few miles.
At Needles in California gas had reached $4 at the border, but a mere 90 miles later the price had fallen to about $3.29. 70 cents is quite the difference when it comes to a log road trip for those of us who have trouble flying.
While travel companion observed the natural beauty of the state I was still quite bothered by the low price. California easily has twice the roads and doubles the population many times over and yet no leniency is shown.
In a time when we are facing recession and stimulus at the same time, wouldn't it be easier to lower the prices of existing necessary items rather than throw give out money that will barely cover the cost in the first place?
Knowledge Beat
(Needles, Calif/Flagstaff, Ariz)--Over the break I took a chance to travel to another state to observe both nature and culture. What I found to be the most shocking thing about the culture was the dramatic prices in gasoline between states separated but only a few miles.
At Needles in California gas had reached $4 at the border, but a mere 90 miles later the price had fallen to about $3.29. 70 cents is quite the difference when it comes to a log road trip for those of us who have trouble flying.
While travel companion observed the natural beauty of the state I was still quite bothered by the low price. California easily has twice the roads and doubles the population many times over and yet no leniency is shown.
In a time when we are facing recession and stimulus at the same time, wouldn't it be easier to lower the prices of existing necessary items rather than throw give out money that will barely cover the cost in the first place?
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