We have a problem in America. It is called “the old south”, the southern states that battled to leave the Union in the Civil War, now seem to be moving backwards in terms of the well being of their citizens and in matters of race.

NO ANALYSIS OF THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA (HAMAS)

“...its hard being an atheist in the United States, where plenty of people behave in decidedly un-Christian ways, but to speak ill of Christianity or other religions can be career-ending. How low in the hierarchy are American atheists? Dogs had their own channel before atheists did.  Sarah Palin, too.

The link to the NY Times story is here (no sub required)

OBAMA TAKES A WALK. THIS IS NEWS. REALLY

THOUGHTS ON BOB DYLAN, HIS MUSIC, HIS WORDS AND LEGACY

Houses are not just for people any more, they are trophies of wealth

GUESS WHAT? THE REPUBLICAN STATES ARE ALSO THE STATES WITH THE BIGGEST PROBLEM DEBTS BY CITIZENS

The judge sentences a woman accused of assault on a police officer during the Occupy protests

The Occupy Wall Street trials go on. A commentary by Chris Hedges

HERE IS A SERIOUS QUESTION: HAS NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST GEORGE WILL LOST HIS MIND?

OBAMA AT WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT’S ASSOCIATION

CLIMATE CHANGE AND HEAVY RAINS

scroll down on Maryland flooding page

MARYLAND FLOODING VIDEO AT THIS LINK

The TerryReport has written for years, some times with exasperation, about how schools and police counseled passivity in the face of school shootings, telling students to hide under desks (what good does that do?) and basically wait around whimpering for a shooter to get to them. The police, for their part, have often stood around outside, waiting for back-up or waiting for the SWAT team to arrive. Then, it is too late. Columbine HS in Colorado made all of this clear when a student who had been shot wrote a sign that said, I AM BLEEDING TO DEATH. The shooting was over, the gunmen had killed themselves, but the students who had been shot were left inside the building with no help for a long time. Here is a clip from an NY Times story (7.26.14)

“A DAY AT THE RACES” AT THE PREAKNESS IN PHOTOGRAPHS ON THESE TWO PAGES

From the article DON’T SEND YOUR KID TO THE IVY LEAGUE from the New Republic magazine:

Our system of elite education manufactures young people who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.

See TerryReport commentary below on this issue

An excellent shot of the sunset in Arizona Tuesday , 4.22.14 as posted on twitter by Rick Furmanek

 Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1927-2014

I am in mourning not only for the life and death of a great writer, but also for the passing of the time when writing was considered to be of central value in our civilization and writers were seen as great heroes, larger than life figures of huge importance.  It is not too much to suggest that at one time great writers were viewed almost as gods who walked among us, people imbued with great insight into the human condition and able to create narratives by which we all come to understand our world and our lives. We are moving on into a new time, one that we can only hope won’t be a literary wasteland.  LINK TO ARTICLES ABOUT MARQUEZ

IS SENATOR TED CRUZ OF TEXAS THE MOST HATED MAN IN THE SENATE?

HILLARY CLINTON’S PROBLEM, IF SHE DECIDES TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

One of America’s greatest blues guitarists, Johnny Winter, died in his hotel room in Zurich , Switzerland. As quoted in the NY Times:

"Made my first record when I was 15, started playing clubs when I was 15. Started drinking and smoking when I was 15. Sex when I was 15. Fifteen was a big year for me," Winter recalled with a laugh in a documentary released this year, "Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty."

THE LINK to the site with the photo of Jimi and Johnny Winters

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich says the US is in danger of becoming a nation dominated by dynastic fortunes as the rich pass down vast sums to their heirs, who are then able to live a lifetime spending, not earning and not working.

As noted here on The TerryReport,  major news organizations are writing about the fact that President Obama is engaging socially much more in a variety of ways. The NY Times has a story today(7.15.14) aboutObama meeting with intellectuals and powerful people when he went to Italy. The Times indicates that Obama prefers such meetings to the “stilted” dinner he had with Senate Republicans. Here is a quote from Obama in the Times article:

“Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. “Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?, they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”

Note: no matter how much “critics” say Obama should engage with Republicans, their stated goal, beyond all others, is his defeat. McConnell even went on record during the first term saying the No.1 goal was to ensure he was a one term president. When someone is willing to state that publicly, where is the point of potential engagement on issues?

LINK to the NY Times article on Obama’s intellectual dinner in Rome and other recent similar activities

SUPER MOON over north America, 7.12.14. Did you get outside and see it?

Thanks to Hal Hoiland of Olney, Maryland, for this photo.  The Vancouver Sun newspaper has some great photos from around the world. The Washington Post has an even better collection of photos. A shot of last year’s supermoon can be seen at this link.

Coming soon! A new website: the Impeachment Monitor. Sarah Palin let the ugly cat out of the bag this week in calling for Obama’s impeachment. Problem is, she jumped the gun. The gun doesn’t go off until 2015.

It’s time to impeach; and on behalf of American workers and legal immigrants of all backgrounds, we should vehemently oppose any politician on the left or right who would hesitate in voting for articles of impeachment,”� Palin posted on Breitbart.com.

Many Republicans, including John McCain, said, “I don’t agree.” This is, in part, because impeachment talk now could harm the party, while impeachment talk, and perhaps voting, next year could help strengthen the Republicans going into the presidential year, 2016. Even if the Republicans were to take majority control of the Senate this year, there is almost no way imaginable in which they would come up with the necessary 67 votes to remove the President from office. McCain said as much in his statement. The new website will be separate from The TerryReport and will deal exclusively with this issue.

The Washington Post has a time lapse of the formation and fade out of the double rainbow

Taylor Swift writing about the future of the “music industry” in the Wall Street Journal. Who said anything about entitlement?

“My generation was raised being able to flip channels if we got bored, and we read the last page of the book when we got impatient. We want to be caught off guard, delighted, left in awe.”

NEW WAYS TO ATTACK POVERTY IN AMERICA

CNN.COM has a terrific photo spread on fabulous places and wonderful views in all fifty states. The TerryReport has never recommended anything before at CNN.com, but this you gotta see.

AEREO SHUTDOWN, GOES DARK

FAR TOO MANY** CHILDREN DIE EVERY YEAR IN AMERICA FROM BEING RUN OVER ACCIDENTALLY BY THEIR PARENTS. How can this be? All it takes is a few seconds to make certain you know where your child is before you back up. Look before you back, wait before you back and then, if you don’t know where the child might be, stop and get out. Here are some statistics on these kinds of deaths, which include deaths from small children being locked in hot cars. **One child, of course, is “too many”, but what is meant by this phrase, of course, is that most of these deaths are entirely preventable and could be avoided.

In the NY Times:

Use of Drones Risks a War Without End, Report States

By MARK MAZZETTI   A group of military, intelligence and legal experts warned of a “slippery slope”€� to perpetual war and the dangers of setting bad precedents for foes.

Drones are an effective weapon for going after terrorists who hide in remote parts of the world. The larger problem, however, for America is this: secret war is incompatible with democracy. Secret war does not allow the voters, citizens, to know what is being done in their name and to overrule it with their opposition and votes.

Recommendations and Report of the Stimson Task Force on US Drone Policy

LINK TO THE NY TIMES article on the “boomerang generation” who can’t find good jobs and move back home.

The Patent Office rules that you can’t have a protected trade name “Redskins”. Fair enough, even though they made a similar ruling a decade and a half ago that wound up being over turned. In making the ruling, they committed an unintentional slur on white, European Americans by calling American Indians “native Americans”. You see, everyone who was born here is a “native American”, it is just that the European tribes got here much, much later than the Indians and they and the European settlers fought long battles over who would be allowed to stay. More on this subject here.

IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:

A federal agency withdrew trademark protection for the Washington Redskins because it said the nickname is an insult to Native Americans, threatening millions of dollars the team and the National Football League make from merchandise and sponsorships.8:26 PM

• If the Redskins Go, Who Else Follows?
• What Would You Call the Redskins?Photos

Washington Redskins Trademarks Canceled

In the Washington Post:

Board rules in favor of dictionary
over Redskins’ feeble arguments

Robert McCartney

COLUMN | Citing “unanimous” labeling of the term as offensive, judges reject defenses of the name.

What’s wrong with the term “native Americans” as applied to American Indians

BLAME OBAMA FOR THE MESS IN IRAQ?

HOLD ON TO YOUR TOP HAT. LOOK BACK AT HOW THIS STARTED IN THE FIRST PLACE

WASHINGTON POST SETS UP A SECRET DROPBOX SO PEOPLE CAN CONTACT THE NEWSPAPER WITHOUT BEING TRACKED BY THE NSA AND OTHER GOVERNMENT SPY AGENCIES

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price index for college tuition rose almost 1,200  percent from April 1978 through April 2014. Consumer prices overall rose less than 300  percent.

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:

Obama on Monday (6.9.14) will announce he’s expanding his “Pay As You Earn” program that lets borrowers pay no more than 10 percent of their monthly income in loan payments, the White House said. Currently, the program is only available to those who started borrowing after October 2007 and kept borrowing after October 2011. Obama plans to start allowing those who borrowed earlier to participate, potentially extending the benefit to millions more borrowers.

American college students are facing more than ONE TRILLION dollars in debts from loans to attend college. This is a slow motion disaster. The entire program, the idea of loans in the first place, needs to be re-thought and changed. Student loans have allowed colleges to raise tuition much more than the general cost of living, because the increases were covered by the loans (half hidden, in other words). Graduating, or dropping out, with a modest level of student debt might make sense. Starting life with 30 to 60 thousand and more doesn’t. Something’s gotta give. Right now, it appears that neither the president nor the brain dead Congress understands this disaster. In any case, Obama is taking some steps, but neither he nor the Congress is prepared right now to fix it fully.THE LINK

From the NY Times from the General Motors report on its failures in dealing with the long running ignition key problem:

“The report, which the company on Thursday turned over to federal regulators and   lawmakers, is a tale of nonchalance, ignorance and incompetence with tragic consequences.”

In the larger sense, what the report suggests is a bankrupt corporate culture unable to face up to a serious problem and do anything about it at a time when the lives of many people were in danger. This is serious business. It also suggests that the “new” GM, the one that is making better cars all around, could partially be an illusion. It looks like a company working against its own best interests where protecting GM, and saving your own job, were the two most important tasks right up to the moment when denial wouldn’t work any more. We should not assume these kinds of craven problems are limited to GM. While care should be taken before making the report into a general indictment of American business practices, it is worth considering that the difference between GM and many other large corporations is that GM got caught.

Compliments to the Times reporter who wrote the story quoted above, a rare example of a major publication working harder to say it plainly rather than couch everything in softer, less direct tones. Straight forward truth is more valuable than artificial complexity, every time. LINK TO THE TIMES ARTICLE

What do you do for yourself if the country goes into a big recession? If your house is threatened with foreclosure, you wanna be kind to yourself, right? Apparently, one of the answers for Americans since 2008 has been this: go get the dog groomed very nicely. You might be broke, but at least the doggie is going to look good? Also, get your nails done. Strange as this might seem, that’s one result found from studying economic data as reflected in a series of charts published by the NY Times. Click here to see the results. The growth in pet grooming services is in the last chart.

While tuition at American colleges has been going ever higher, while students have piled up nearly 1 trillion dollars in student loan debt, the colleges have been cutting back on the qualifications and, indeed, the quality of the instruction being offered to undergraduate students. Is this a great country or what? The quote below is from The New Yorker magazine.

(Universities) are increasingly inclined to hire part-time, “adjunct” professors, rather than full-time, tenure-track ones, to teach undergrads. Adjuncts are cheaper; perhaps more importantly, they are easier to hire. Whereas it takes a committee of experts months to decide if someone’s scholarship is good, it takes an administrator only a few minutes to decide if that person can teach. That makes it easy for faculty size to track student demand. Today, more than half of all the academic jobs at American universities are part-time, non-research positions.

From Boston.com: At Harvard, adjuncts accounted for 57 percent of the faculty in 2005...

A WARNING FROM A FOREIGN SOURCE THAT REPUBLICANS IN WASHINGTON MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER:

When you’re in the opposition, you want to create difficulties for those that are in the administration, Mr. da Silva said. “But we forget that maybe one day we’ll take office.   (From the NY Times)

Brazil has spent billions to build infrastructure projects and many of them, like a railroad crossing the northern part of the country, were abandoned mid-way through construction. One reason is that very complicated and difficult “oversight” systems for monitoring projects before, during and after completion were put in place by the legislature. Now, those systems appear to be making it almost impossible to complete a project on anything like the intended schedule. A huge backfire, in other words. Grand ”Visions” Fizzle in Brazil

BACKLASH AGAINST REFUGEE CHILDREN AND UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS CONTINUES

In the NEW YORK TIMES:

OYSTER CREEK, Tex. A shelter for Central American children who crossed the border illegally opened behind Gregg Griffith’s house here a few months ago. The children are quiet. No one has hopped over the fence that separates his backyard from the shelter, a once-vacant youth home. But when Mr. Griffith looks at the brightly painted brick buildings, he is mostly resentful.

“That’s my tax money taking care of a foreign national or however you want to classify them, said Mr. Griffith, 51, a volunteer fireman and researcher at a chemical plant. “I don’t want to take care of a foreign national. It’s not my problem. We did house kids in Brazoria County there at the youth home. I sort of feel like we should be taking care of our own first.”

THE LINK

Something is clearly out of balance in this erupting dispute over what to do with children running from violence in Central America. Many of the towns that are rejecting temporary housing for children are the same ones campaigning a few years ago for new prisons in the belief that a prison provides for local employment. The refugee children are being used as a stand-in for the larger issue of illegal immigration.

Will someone in a leadership position please speak up?The problem of children coming to the United States is a refugee problem, not one of illegal immigration. America is showing its mean, unforgiving side right now as various towns refuse to allow the federal government to house and take care of these children while they await deportation or being allowed to stay. From the Wall Street Journal:

In Escondido, Calif., the planning commission denied a permit to turn a former nursing home into a 96-bed youth shelter after residents protested at a packed public meeting. Federal officials abandoned plans to locate a facility near Richmond, Va., after protests from residents. In Texas, two communities passed resolutions stating they don't want shelter€s  before anyone suggested opening them there.

Question: are these the same small towns that have tried to recruit prisons for the local employment they provide?

What makes people angry is the idea that people are trying to jump the border by any means available. There is no doubt, however, that many of these children face a dire situation if they are returned. “This isn’t our problem?” Well, yeah, it isn’t, strictly, but if someone is inside the country, under existing law and simple decency, they must be treated humanely, child or adult, and given a deportation hearing. A law specifying a hearing was signed by G.W. Bush in 2008. The confusion over illegal immigration and refugees is part of what is prompting the harsh response across our country.

GETTING THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE ALL WRONG, THIS TIME

Did we mention that your cell phone bill is killing you? The WashPost has a story about a family “struggling” to get by on 90 thousand a year, living in the outer reaches of the DC area.  Here is a clip from the article:

“While they struggle to meet basic expenses, the Johnsons’ home is filled with the electronics that have become a standard part of middle-class life in the 21st century. For $90 a month, a satellite dish provides basic television service for their three flat-screen sets and for the WiFi connections Scott needs when he works from home. They have one laptop and three iPads, and each girl has a computer in her bedroom. The bill for four cellphones runs about $300 a month.”

Shouting “Wake-up, people!” probably wouldn’t help. Three television sets? So the kids can watch what they want while the adults do the same? You don’t want your kids to watch what they want. Two sets would do fine, one would be better. As for the cell phone bill, this is totally nuts.

Richard Martinez is the father of one of the students killed in the Santa Barbara massacre. Below is a quote from the Washington Post as he told reporters he was not angry at the police for not discovering the violent potential of the shooter when they went to talk to his son in April:

“They don’t have the tools they need,”€� he said. “I don’t have the answers, but we should ask them what they need and we should give it to them. It’s a lack of will to find solutions. That’s what I’m upset about. This is a problem that can be solved.

Some TerryReport thoughts on this issue at this link.

From an OpEd piece in the NY Times. A thought to remember on Memorial Day, 2014

 Soldiers are expendable in war, and veterans are expendable and forgotten about when they return. That’s just the way it is. This recent V.A. “scandal” over prolonged wait time for veteran care doesn’t surprise me one bit. Politicians and many hawkish Americans are quick to send our sons and daughters to go off to fight in wars on foreign soil, but reluctant to pay the cost.

Colby Buzzell, Iraq war veteran

The sad fact is that when people come back from war, the problem is not that other people don’t care at all about what happens to them. It is this: not enough people care enough. The Vets feel abandoned and many feel lost in civil society after having had rifles in their hands and having had people shooting to kill them on a daily basis. The world has changed for them, forever, but, meanwhile, they often have to deal with the lingering results of injuries and related illnesses. The cost of war should be paid by the whole society, not just a few people left to suffer and, in many cases, die in the streets from drugs or suicide. If we can’t pay the price of dealing with this suffering, then stop inventing reasons to go to war around the world.

War is a good and glorious enterprise. To those who stay home and never see it.

Whatever we do on a holiday like this one, however many flags we fly, songs we sing and memories we conjure up, it all amounts to nothing, ZERO, if we don’t act to help and protect those who have lost so much by fighting our wars.

LINK TO THE TIMES OP-ED

NOT coming to a local television channel near you: Atheist TV, a new channel to be available via Roku and on the Internet generally. The channel is not billing itself as the opposite of the dedicated religious channels so much as an alternative to suspicions, ghosts and science fiction. Here is a quote from the NY Times about the new channel:

From the NY Times:

As has been the case for most of the last two decades, corporate America surges ahead while Main Street America, ordinary working citizens, fall behind.

Jared Bernstein, a former economist for the Obama White House, put it this way: Since the end of the recession, the “gross domestic product” has grown 11 percent, the Standard & Poor’s 500 is up 83 percent, corporate profits have swelled 53 percent and median household income, in the most up-to-date numbers, has fallen 4 percent.

The LINK to the Times article is here (google news link/free)