Monthly Archives: May 2018

What is the Value of a College Degree Today?

When I was young, my father, Big Daddy G, never attended one PTA meeting or one parent-teacher conference.  Nope.  Not one.  But Big Daddy G did not have to attend either of these ‘child developmental’ programs.  I was in the unenviable position of having three of my grade school teachers having husbands that worked every day with my dad.  In essence, he attended a parent-teacher conference almost every day, even if it did come second hand through his co-workers.  This worked out very well for Big Daddy G, but not too well for me.  Talk in class?  One week of being grounded.  Do poorly on an assignment?  No need to wait for a report card; one week of being grounded.  Anything I did that was remotely determined to be marginal behavior or performance got to Big Daddy G faster than word travels in the middle of the Congo by drumbeat.  I was the proud recipient of any punishment coming from those drumbeats.  The situation did not improve in high school, either.

My mom, as practically all the moms, attended all the parent-teacher conferences.  In our small town, it was a social event.  My mother bought a new dress for these conferences.  Most of the other moms did the same.  In a small town, with a minimal number of weddings or funerals taking place, these conferences provided the perfect excuse for a new ‘outfit.’

Then something remarkable happened.  I grew up and went away to college at a Big Ten university in the Midwest.  After 50 years, I still remember my two day orientation as if it were yesterday.  The most memorable part was the last hour when we met with our two senior coed escorts at the student union.  Their last comment to our group of 25 incoming freshmen was this: “Look around.  Only 10% of you will graduate from this university.”  Say what?  Did I hear that right?  My thoughts were racing.  Most of these kids came from big city schools that held more kids in a bathroom than I had in my graduating high school class!  I reverted to my high school math.  If 10% of 25 freshmen equates to 2.5 graduates, maybe I could be the .5 graduate!  Made sense to me because most of these 25 freshmen looked pretty gosh darn intelligent.

During my freshmen year, I saw just about every one the members of my orientation class.  My sophomore year?  About half.  By the time I graduated, I had not seen any of those students for over a year.

So what has happened over the last 50 years to higher education?  It is much more expensive, for sure.  But now, my alma mater boasts of a college graduation rate of 65% up from a graduation rate of 41% of just 10 years ago.  I am guessing the 10% graduation rate from 50 years ago is close to accurate.

In my mind, I am questioning whether today’s college freshmen are that much smarter than 50 years ago, or if higher education is falling in line with the Grandpa T rule #2, ‘businesses are in the business of making money.’  If you were to ask my grandchildren, they would tell you that they are much smarter, if you can get them off their devices long enough to converse.  But I believe there has been a lowering of academic standards to receive that degree.   Let us review some statistics and data.

ATHLETES

Look at how much money a college spends on its athletic programs.  Why?   Because winning teams bring in huge monies for athletic event attendance.  I do not need to do research when I say that at least 6 college football coaches are making in excess of $5 million a year.  Usually, their income is higher from endorsements or from ‘sports talk’ programs.  The secondary benefit is that the alumni (and wannabe alumni) always donate and endow more to colleges with winning sports teams.  A third benefit is the royalties on the college branded merchandise.  You know what I mean, the foam fingers proclaiming their team is number one, mugs, hats, t-shirts and sweat shirts, etc.   But what happens to those colleges that do not have winning teams?  Well, the cost of the athletic department is passed down to the students in the form of tuition increases.

What does it take to have winning teams besides a coach.  Well, you need to have winning athletes!  And if you are a 5 star athlete, your ticket is punched.  If Bubba weighs 325 pounds and can run the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds while tearing off car doors with his bare hands, Bubba will be playing tackle on any football team he wants.   And Bubba will have an all inclusive scholarship, with private tutoring and privilege that the average student could only dream of.  But Bubba has been a 5 star student for his entire playing career.  He had marginal grades in high school, but was given a grade high enough to insure he was always eligible.  Now that he is in college, they will tailor a program that may get him a degree…just for him!

Does lowering the standards for Bubba sound like a stretch to reality?  During a recent University of North Carolina scandal, a learning specialist hired to help athletes found that during the period from 2004 to 2012, 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth and eighth grade levels.  About 10 percent read below a third grade level.  Keep in mind that all of these athletes both graduated from high school and were admitted to college.  Do you think this is just a problem at UNC?

INSTRUCTION

During my college career, I had good instructors and I had bad instructors.  I know that my university attempted to hire professors with ‘distinction.’  Many of them had written books.  One of them had been a member of John Kennedy’s cabinet.  But do well educated people, regardless of their distinction necessarily make for being a good instructor?  After all, during my lifetime I have met people with educational credentials up the wazoo, but would not be able to figure out which way was up if the sun was not shining.  I call them ‘educated idiots,’ because they had absolutely no common sense, and sadly, no teaching charisma.

Would you like your student to attend Harvard law school?  Well if you do, your student would have Laurence Tribe, author of the book, “To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment” as a professor.  On CNN last week, this supposedly brilliant prof said this about the POTUS:  “You can’t be the boy who cried wolf and have a viable impeachment power.  You can’t use it over and over again against the same president.  If you’re going to shoot him, you have to shoot to kill.”  Ah, there it is.  Academic brilliance at its finest…and its stupidest.  That turd would not have floated during my college years.

Or, just to show that your student may have a prof with immense compassion, there is this from an English prof at the California State University in Fresno within an hour after the death of Barbara Bush.  Her name is Randa Jarrar.  She decided to twitter that, “the late Barbara Bush is an ‘amazing racist.’  She went on to say, “happy the witch is dead”…and then crowed that because she had tenure, she’d never be penalized for her ugly comments.  Is this who you want teaching your student?

(As an aside, my instructors at my officer basic course were absolutely top notch.  95% of those instructors were better than my profs at my Big Ten university.)

Do I think a college education is ‘watered down’ since my college years?  Absolutely!  I believe colleges have become more corporate than educational.  They strive to keep up attendance because they cannot receive monies from students that drop out.  Bragging about their high graduation rates makes more sense when they are dealing with a generation of students that are accustomed to getting ‘participation trophies.’  A college degree today appears to have become a participation trophy for many universities.

I believe the quality of instruction has suffered, because profs are not hired as to how well they instruct, but by how ‘distinguished’ they are.  Most of my high school teachers and practically all of my military instructors, were better than my college professors with few exceptions.

After looking at the available degree programs at my alma mater, it becomes evident that some of the degree programs are ‘watered down.’  In other words…a cake walk degree program to keep the student in college, paying tuition.  Inter-college bachelor’s degree program?  Multidisciplinary bachelor’s study program?  Yup.  They are both in the catalog and I have no flippin’ idea what either of them encompass.

Here is what is really missing from a college education today.  Mom and/or dad.  Remember at the beginning I explained how my mom would always attend the parent-teacher conference?  Well, how many colleges have that as a program?  Once I left home, I was on my own.  A novel concept in today’s society, but none the less, my parents had no input into my college career.  I think parents should sit through some of their student’s classes, just to assess the quality of the instruction they are receiving.  I know that if my parents knew that I was receiving instruction from the two professors I quoted, Harvard and California State University administration would have experienced a ‘crap storm without an umbrella.’

My advice?  Be selective about where to attend a college.  Pick a major that produces a career and earning potential.  Pick a school with excellent instructors and not necessarily the school with the most ‘distinguished’ instructors.  Remember that not all people are cut out to go to college.  Skilled labor is needed in our country and does provide for a decent living, so technical schools are essential.  Just hire a plumber or an electrician and get the bill to see how decent that living can be.  Additionally, one-third of all college graduates are in jobs that only require a high school diploma.   Education is expensive.  Use your money wisely.

Barack Hussein Obama…The Worst President Ever???

I am not a sexist!  My realtor and my investment adviser are both women.  During my stint with cancer, two of my three doctors were women.  One of these women, Dr. White, performed three surgeries on me.  During one of my surgeries, my entire operating staff was women.  I know of many fine female officers and female enlisted people in the military and have had the privilege of serving with them.

I am not a racist.  I get along famously with people of all races that share my values.  During my experiences in the military, I was ‘color blind.’  That is because the military is truly an ‘equal opportunity employer.’  An officer or an enlisted person of color had to reach the same milestones, perform to the same standards and obtain the same educational standards as us ‘white guys.’  Everyone was held to the same standard.  Period.  No one was more or less privileged because of race.

I am not any other ‘phobe’ or ‘ism’ as interpreted in today’s media.  So, now if you have read this far, you are wondering why the wordy introduction.  Well….it’s because I am going to say and write something that very few people have the courage to say or even discuss.  I believe Barack Hussein Obama will go down as the worse POTUS this country has ever had and grossly abused his presidential powers while in office.

TEA PARTY

Prior to the 2010 midterm election, there was a movement afoot that was called the ‘Tea Party.’  The purpose of this organization and its increasingly popular movement was to basically cut taxes and spending within the federal government.  They derived their name from the infamous tea party during the Revolution, in protest of the Brits placing taxes on tea and other British imports.  Many of the chapters of the growing Tea Party movement applied to the IRS for tax exempt/non-profit status.  This was so they could raise funds and purchase advertising to advance their conservative cause.  The result?  Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS refused tax exempt status, and then started promoting IRS investigations and audits into the founders!  Personal vendettas were waged by the IRS!  Do you remember Lois Lerner?  She was the one called before a congressional inquiry and pleaded the fifth amendment when asked questions!  A government official, paid by us tax payers pleaded the fifth.  She immediately resigned her position and began collecting a golden parachute retirement.   Lois Lerner was not smart enough or ‘ballsy’ enough to wage this vendetta on her own.  It had to come down from her boss and from her bosses boss.  That would have been Barack Obama.

URANIUM ONE

While Hillary was Secretary of State, the United States decided to sell a large portion of its uranium reserves to…of all the people in the world…the RUSSIANS!  Oh yeah!  These are the same Russians that are being investigated for tampering in our elections.  But during this marvelous deal, the Russians got the uranium and the Clinton Foundation got a $147 million contribution.  Where did that uranium go?  Who will use it and for what purpose?  Will it be used in weaponry against us or our allies?  So, who is ultimately responsible for this deal?  That would be Barack Obama.  And, dear readers, what will be the consequences if a nuclear explosive device is used and the device reads, “This uranium was graciously provided by the people of the United States.”  (As a speculation, do you think all of the $147 million stayed with the Clinton’s, or could some of it been used to grease the wheels of this transaction in Washington?)

BOWE BERGDAHL and BENGHAZI

Do you remember what the reasoning was for exchanging the AWOL Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban commanders being held in Guantanamo Bay?  Well, according to Carolyn Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, it was for “protecting the lives of Americans abroad and protecting US soldiers.”  (Three of those five Taliban commanders immediately joined the battle against America.  How is that for protecting US soldiers?)   By law, Congress was to be notified 30 days in advance of any releases to be made from Guantanamo Bay.  How long a notice did the White House give Congress?  TWO HOURS!

If the White House was so concerned about American citizens abroad, then we should have sent at least two naval armadas to rescue the US ambassador to Libya and the American protection staff.  But, sadly, we did nothing.  Rumors persisted from the Pentagon and through military channels that a relief flight of planes were dispatched from Italy, but were ordered to return to base.  The rumors also stated that the stand-down order came from the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  But, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon do not take orders from, or answer to the Secretary of State.  They take orders from one person only; the Commander in Chief, Barack Obama.

So let me get this straight.  One AWOL for five experienced terrorists represented good American policy, but rescuing Americans in Libya from terrorists was not.

PAYMENT FOR AMERICAN HOSTAGES and THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEAL

I will be the first to say I am confused about the two events mentioned above.  Supposedly, we shipped $400 million to Iran to release Americans held by the Iranians.  Rumor has it that they were not released until a cargo plane loaded with pallets full of $100 bills arrived in Tehran.  The chiropractors in Iran were busy for weeks adjusting the backs of those poor individuals that had to carry all that money.

Then there is the murky Iranian Nuclear agreement.  Supposedly, for a paltry $1.7 billion, the Iranians would discontinue nuclear material production.  Who provided that money?  Did France, Germany or England provide any of that money?  Now, they are criticizing Trump for leaving this deal?  Also, the Iranians are threatening us by stating they are going to step-up production of nuclear material.  Do you believe for one New York minute that they ever stopped?  I surely don’t, and, we gave them enough money to fund terrorism for quite some time.  Look at what they are doing in Syria and what they have continually attempted to do in Iraq.  There weren’t any teeth in that initial Iranian nuclear agreement for non-compliance and now the Iranians are waving the stupidity of that deal in our faces using our money.

ROBERT MUELLER INVESTIGATION

Are you getting tired about this investigation?  I know I am.  But here is the spin coming out of the people trying to hide the real intent of this politically motivated witch hunt.  The US government was concerned about the Russian interference in US elections. So where did they decide to look for glaring examples of this Russian interference?  Well, the best place to look would be in the campaign headquarters of the new Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump.  They must have thought there were Russians under every desk and borscht and cheap vodka running down the hallways.

But wait…what was the basis of looking only at the Trump campaign headquarters, and not the Democratic presidential headquarters?  Well, it was a document put together by a former British, disgraced agent working for a company called Fusion GPS.  The purpose of this company is to dig up smut on political opponents. And the Fusion GPS policy is that if smut cannot be found, then make it up.  This matches most of today’s media coverage.   The FBI, under the watchful eye of its egotistical leader, James Comey, received warrants from the Justice Department allowing wiretaps of Trump staffers.  And now, we have learned lately that the FBI placed a mole within the Trump organization.

This whole affair is politically motivated from top to bottom.  How can I say that with certainty?  If the FBI was indeed looking for only Russian influence in US elections, wouldn’t they inform Trump or someone on his staff about what they were doing and ask their cooperation?  From the reaction by the Trump administration, I am sure no one knew about any FBI informant and wire tapping.   And who was the first national politician to use Fusion GPS?  That would be Barack Obama, as he hired them to find smut about Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential elections.  Who do you think authorized this witch hunt and allowed the placement of a mole in Trump headquarters?  Again, I contend that would be Barack Obama.  This, my fellow Americans, is strictly against the law!

SUMMARY

If, as I suspect, Barack Obama ordered or allowed the placement of an informant in Trump’s campaign headquarters, he broke the law.  He has used the Justice Department as his battering ram because of two weak attorney generals that would acquiesce to any of his wants, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.  This could ultimately make Watergate look like a pizza party in comparison.

Barack Obama bypassed congressional procedure by releasing five dangerous Taliban commanders without proper notification.  This is a dereliction of duty and an over reach of presidential power.

Barack Obama stifled political freedom by utilizing the IRS as a battering ram to squelch the emergence of the Tea Party movement during a mid-term election.    This, my fellow Americans, is against the law.  And with Lois Lerner pleading the fifth amendment to direct congressional inquiry questions, the obvious link between her and Obama was never established.

The Obama administration policy concerning dealing with anything Muslim was very muddied.  We trade five Muslim extremists for one AWOL soldier, pay $400 million for the release of our hostages from Iran, do not attempt a rescue in Benghazi from Muslim extremists, and give $1.7 billion to Iran in the hopes that they will abide by ceasing the production of nuclear materials.  If this were a game, the score would be: Muslim extremists – 4, USA – 0!

But the one act that is the most serious is the Uranium One deal.  That deal should never have happened and it did by bypassing Congress.  If the Russians sold that uranium to North Korea, Iran, or any other country for nefarious purposes, then I would say that Barack Obama has performed a treasonous act.

The one thing that concerns me the most about Barack Obama and his administration?  With very few exceptions, he has been given a pass by the media for all of these events.  Real reporting, real journalism should have uncovered these events and exposed the gross negligence of his administration.  He has been given the presidency and excuses, because of his race.  Did he get a pass because anyone who criticized him would have been branded a ‘racist’ during his politically correct administration?   He should not have had a second term.  In a word, he made the ‘swamp’ deeper and wider.  I am confident history will prove me right.

There you have it and I will no doubt be called a racist for my remarks.  But just like a stalwart statue in the wind, I am not going to waver even though I may have some pigeons crap on me!

‘Obstruction and Negativity’—-The Liberal Party Plank!

How long can you tolerate watching national and world news?  In the good old days of my youth with vigor and vitality, I could tolerate up to 30 minutes.  Now that I am older and wiser, I can tolerate watching national and world news for 20 minutes.  If I am having a really, really good day, I’ll watch it for 10 minutes!

Why the decrease in time, you ask?  It is quite easy to understand.  The vast majority of the news being reported (or made up!) has a negative connotation for either our country or for the POTUS.  Between the liberal media and the Democratic party, they will go to ungodly and disrespectful lengths to assure that anything this POTUS has accomplished be minimized.  The negatives get accentuated and the positives fade into obscurity.

The greatest example of obstruction took place about 4 months ago.  Do you remember when the Democratic party was vehement about the fact that something had to be done to address the problem of the ‘dreamers.’  The ‘dreamers’ are those people that were brought into this country by their parents who were illegal immigrants.  The Liberal ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling regarding this issue was that as children, these ‘dreamers’ did not have any choice.  Consequently, they should be granted US citizenship.  The extension to this was that their parents should also be given US citizenship, because, gosh darn it, look at how long they have been here.  The liberals stated that there were 900,000 dreamers in the US, and gosh darn it, every one of them was a smart and productive American citizen candidate.  (My first thought about hearing this liberal approach was that if these ‘dreamers’ were so smart, why didn’t they go through the naturalization procedure long before.  I digress.)  Do you remember Trump’s response?  Trump said that a 10 year procedure would be put in place for 1.8 million dreamers.  This would allow twice the number of dreamers to become naturalized American citizens as being vetted by the Liberals.  The one big caveat that required 10 years to become a citizen?  A clean criminal record history.  In other words, if you have a criminal record, you could not become an American citizen, and could be deported.  The Liberal response?  Have you heard one word about the ‘dreamer’ issue in the last 4 months? The ‘dreamer’ issue was an issue thrown up against the Washington crap wall to see if it would stick in making Trump look like he was a racist and opposed to any path for the ‘dreamers’ to become US citizens.  It backfired on the Liberals and the liberal media instantaneously obliged by eliminating any more coverage of the ‘dreamer’ issue.  In the meantime, a very good and fair proposal got tossed onto the Washington crap pile.

What is the continued purpose of the Mueller investigation?  When I was young and living on the farm, one of our dogs strayed.  After a couple of weeks, we were pretty gosh darn sure that Chuck, my samoyed was not coming home.  After almost a year and a half of investigating, Mueller and his team of seventeen lawyers, a  prosecutorial dream team have not come up with anything.  Remember, this investigation was put together for two purposes, even though they are more inclined to focus on one of the purposes.  The first purpose was to investigate the possibility of Russian influence in our last election.  The second purpose was to investigate possible collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.  So Robert, let me help you and your very expensive staff of attorneys.  Russian influence in our last election?  Yup. No doubt about it.  Collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians?  Probably not.  But…what if that answer was just ‘probably.’  Then what?  I would think you and your staff of legal geniuses would know that even if the collusion existed, it is not illegal!  So, Robert, what is the real purpose of your investigation?  Is this another attempt at throwing more defecation at the Washington crap wall?  Another arrow in the quiver of impeaching Trump because Hillary lost the election?

Remember, Robert, your whole investigation was triggered by a fictitious piece of propaganda by Fusion GPS that was funded by the Democratic National Committee; and yet you treat it with more relevance than Moses receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai.  At least Moses received the commandments on stone tablets.  Your Fusion GPS propaganda was written on used toilet paper. Yet you have kept this expensive charade up for well over a year.  My suggestion?  End this politically motivated (yup, I do believe there is a definite liberal agenda) witch hunt now, and send your bill to the Democratic National Committee instead of the taxpayers of America.  And Robert, if you really need something to investigate concerning the Russians?  Please start with the Uranium One deal between the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Russians where we sold them our uranium reserves.  Remarkably, the Clinton Foundation received a $147 million donation after the sale.  That whole incident smacks of treason.  Where did that uranium go?  To Iran?  To North Korea? To Syria?  What if that uranium is used against us or our allies in the future.  Could you possibly find it in your black heart to investigate that?  Or, rather than worrying about the Russians stuffing the ballot boxes, why not investigate voting requirements in each state.  I am sure that there were many more votes cast by non-US citizens than the Russians could dream of.

I know exactly why Donald Trump has become a moving target to the Liberals and their media.  Firstly, the Liberals are deathly afraid that Trump may actually accomplish something that may benefit America and make them look bad.  Thus their ‘obstructionism’ policy.  Don’t vote for any of his programs.  Don’t vote for his cabinet/department/supreme court nominees.  Besmirch the reputation of any nominee and get the media to sensationalize it.  Attack the mental state of the POTUS. Does any of this sound familiar?  Secondly, it has shaken the Washington cesspool to the core that a none-politician could be elected, and succeed as POTUS.  Every other President during my lifetime has had a political background.  What these liberal geniuses have not figured out is that Trump got elected because he did not have the political background.   Hillary Clinton was swimming in the Washington cesspool up to her neck.  Trump was not.  Thirdly, Trump fights back!  When some liberal politician of liberal media outlet makes an outlandish claim (and there are many of them!) about Trump, he responds.  Like most people, I wish he would tweet less, but I understand why he does.  Trump is being Trump.  Fourthly, Donald Trump did not have to rely on selling his soul to any lobbyist for political funding to get elected.  He spent half the money on his campaign as Hillary Clinton.  And, lets face it, anyone that can’t be bought or controlled scares the hell out of all those career politicians in Washington.

So, to demonstrate the negativism that exists in the media, let me recap some of the Donald Trump accomplishments in his 16 months as POTUS: 1.  Reduced corporate and individual income taxes.  2.  Stimulated the economy and stock market.  3.  Lowered the unemployment rate to the lowest point in decades.  4. Smacked the crap out of ISIS, something the previous POTUS said was impossible.  5.  Faced down a North Korean deviate which may lead to the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 6.  Forced a better trade deal with China.  According to Newsweek Magazine on the one year anniversary of the Trump presidency, he has achieved 82 significant accomplishments.  Holy Cow!  How many of those accomplishments have you seen denoted in the media?  I read the list in that Newsweek and if you would read it, you would be amazed at what he has done!  (OK.  Name three Obama accomplishments.  When you get them, text me.)

During Ronald Reagan’s administration, he was referred to as “The Teflon President.”  That is because regardless of what Reagan did, nothing seemed to stick to him.  Politicians and the media treated Reagan respectfully.  During George ‘Dubya’ Bush’s years, he was referred to as “The Velcro President”.  This was because everything he did, but mostly the perceived bad decisions, stuck to him like Velcro.  He was the POTUS during the second Iraqi War and received much flack about it.  Now we get to Trump.  What should we call him?  Many may want to call him the ‘hamburger’ President, because everyone wants to take a bite out of him.  I would rather call him the ‘Oreo’ President, because when it comes to being between the Liberals and the liberal press, Trump is definitely the white filling of an Oreo cookie.

PS.  This is blog 101.  I was going to stop at 100.  Two of my faithful readers have convinced me not to quit blogging.  Grandma P also wants me out of her hair.  I’m back.  Enjoy.