Politicians and their religious beliefs

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan
Published: October 21, 2010

When you step into a position of power, you have to be prepared to lay your life out on a silver platter for others to observe and pick apart. Whether or not you have Constitutional rights, the First Amendment is a bitch and American citizens are greedily awaiting to hear about the latest political scandal.

Just look at celebrities: protection of privacy? I think not.

“That fact that an atheist couldn’t get elected dog-catcher in the United States of America is no secret,” stated writer Jonathan Malesic, ABC Religion and Ethics article.

If politicians ran around with their religious beliefs stamped across their forehead, they would be no closer to gaining a seat in the Senate as Mike the “Situation” from Jersey Shore is. Look at Christine O’Donnell, she admitted to being a witch at one point in her life and now she is constantly mocked for it. I mean who can take a reformed witch seriously? Save it for Halloween.

“Most voters (70 percent) want the president to be a person of faith. But half of the electorate expresses unease with politicians, presidential contenders and others, who talk too much about their religious beliefs,” according to an article written by the Research Center for the People and the Press.

I think it’s true – it would be awkward to have a hardcore preacher waltzing into the Senate trying to heal you.

Everyone in the United States has the right to express their religion in their own personal or public way. But religion always seems to be a touchy subject with people: Muslims get profiled as terrorists (Islamophobia), born-again Christians speak in tongues, Scientologists are secretly “crazy,” Catholics sit on their pedestals, warlocks and wiccans are just emo people on drugs and Rastafarians are, obviously, lovers of the natural herb. So do politicians really want to have to fight off these religious stereotypes every single time they step into the spotlight? I don’t think so.

But then again, I would want to know if the president, for example, is secretly worshipping the devil at night. Just like I would want to know if the first lady was a Bible hugger. Since I am an American citizen with kick-ass First Amendment rights, I feel like I should have the right to know something about politicians and their religious beliefs. No Christine O’Donnell, I do not want to hear about your first date to a satanical bloodbath or whatever creepy ceremony you so willingly took part in (yes, I am aware of the fact that the media most likely blows all of this out of proportion).

Just like we have our First Amendment rights as boring average citizens, I guess I cannot deny the fact that our politicians have their rights too. The Constitution states “no religious test shall be imposed on any public official,” according to an article written by Debate the Opposing Views. So, technically, we may never know which god or devil any of our politicians may secretly worship (they can just lie to us).

What I want to know from religious politicians is what role will faith play during his or her job as a national politician. What are the boundaries between government and religion? Since religion can dominate a person’s psyche and lifestyle, I think it is only fair we have these questions answered.

Debate the Opposing Views also told readers to take a closer look at past politicians to see how fanatical they are about their religion. “James Watt, President Reagan’s first Secretary of the Interior, told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, ‘after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.” See, obsessed with his religion.

And also what about Bush? Does anyone remember Bush stating that the reason he was president was because God appointed him? I mean he told America that God wanted him and only him. Talk about narcissistic.

All I am saying is that we have to be careful. We do not want our politicians being affected by their religious beliefs to the point that they forget how our country was really formed: by revolution, war and oppression (with a hint of faith). Religion comes second to our Constitution. And most importantly, Debate the Opposing Views reminds us to remember that our politicians “don’t drop their religious beliefs at the White House door.”

Early Start Program

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan
Published: February 08, 2011

In early 2010, the CSU Board of Trustees voted that all 23 CSU campuses must create and implement new programs in remedial English and math. CSU campuses were given until Nov. 19, 2010, to come up with an individual strategy in accordance to the needs of their universities.

These mandatory early start plans will go into full effect by summer 2012 with complete implementation by summer 2014 after the Chancellor’s Office reviews each CSU program, according to the Access and Equity Group.

Ed Trotter, Cal State Fullerton’s acting associate vice president for CSUF undergraduate programs; Javier Ramirez, M.F.A, student retention services to CSUF; Kimberly King, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Cal State University Los Angeles; and Steve Teixeira, Academic Professionals of California for the CSU, came together for a discussion on Friday, Dec. 3, to discuss the details of the Mandatory Early Start Program.

The forum was called “Advocating for Educational Access, Quality and Equity Session,” and the main focus was to educate all attendees on the positives and negatives of the Mandatory Early Start Program, MESP.

The office signed an Executive Order that establishes “a program for CSU admitted freshmen who have not demonstrated proficiency in mathematics and/or English as established by the CSU faculty.” The order states, “as of summer 2012, incoming freshman who have not demonstrated proficiency in English and/or mathematics will be required to begin remediation prior to the term for which they have been admitted.”

According to a PowerPoint presentation put together from reports written by the California Faculty Association, UCLA Civil Rights Project and Academic Professionals of California, Cal State University Dominguez Hills needs 91 percent remediation, CSULA needs 89 percent remediation and Cal State University San Bernardino needs 75 percent remediation. CSUF falls between the highest and lowest remediation percentages.

Trotter said that the CSU aims to aid all incoming students. “There are a lot of issues here. But I know the people who started this (program) wanted to help people of color,” said Trotter.

“We tend to ethnitize everything, when in fact whites are amongst the second largest group that are in dire need of remediation,” said Teixeira.

To decide whether or not a student is remedial, “the CSU will take a look at test scores on the Early Assessment Program taken at the end of 11th grade in a California public high school, or the Entry Level Mathematics Exam and/or the English Placement Test taken during their senior year of high school,” Order 1078 states.

“Remedial students did not fail to prepare for CSU. Remedial students are the majority. Remediation can be seen as a social justice remedy because if remedial eduction was not available in the CSU then many fewer students would have access to a college education in California,” said King.

Teixeira feels that the MESP just raises the level for the students that have always had an unequal everything.

“It is a very cumbersome process right now. But it is the Trustees’ policy and it was passed by the Board of Trustees, so no matter what it will start in the summer 2012,” Trotter said.

Dr. King stated that according to the Chancellor’s Executive Order 1048, if students do not participate in the remedial summer program prior to their expected start date, they cannot attend a CSU.

“If (students) have not started to address a deficiency in either mathematics and/or English, they will not be permitted to enroll at the CSU campus of their admission unless they have applied for an exception, and the requirement has been waived due to extraordinary circumstances,” Order 1078 states.

In the Programmatic Requirements section of Order 1078, it says that the remediation requirement does not require that students demonstrate a proficiency at the end of the summer, “only that remediation has begun.”

Joe Lopez, president and CEO of Associated Students Inc., asked the panel, “Are there any people within the CSU, other than those present, that are advocating for students?”

Order 1078 also addresses the issues of financial aid for remedial students.

“Matriculated students who are required to enroll in remediation during the summer immediately after high school and immediately preceding the fall term shall be classified as early entrants,” the Order states.

Early entrant students can qualify for financial aid if they meet six specific CSU conditions and they try to qualify for a Pell Grant.

Teixeira is afraid that “MESP will become too much of a dollar opportunity as far as extended education is concerned.”

“A lot of us don’t have a problem with this, except for the fact that it’s mandatory and it seems like it’s just another admissions requirement that penalizes students who have already been cheated by the educational system,” King said.

Trotter did not deny the fact that parents and students alike will have concerns. “I cannot believe that when this hits it will survive. But people above me have control over this mandate.”

The panel, at the end of the discussion, directed their concerns toward the government: “If President Bush and President Obama bailed out the banks, insurance companies and automobile companies, why not have a real bailout for public education?”

King said there are many things everyone can do in regards to MESP. “First, understand the problem and get informed. Hold campus meetings for people who care about this, collect public data, that way we can push our leaders to commit to quality public education.”

Chancellor Charles B. Reed of the CSU signed Order 1078 on June 11, 2010. The CSU is currently reviewing MESP plans submitted by all 23 CSUs and is planning on beginning campus implementation in February 2011.

Get back to your roots, Tea Party

By ALLY BORDAS
For the Daily Titan

The Tea Party movement: bringing back the Patriots at full force to squash out micromanaging government control. The TPM is currently a group of mainly Republican people who are pissed off about the way the government is being run. All you tea partiers, join the club. AKA the majority of America who isn’t running around in golden underwear basking in the millionaire’s club and benefiting from our current legislation.

But what separates the TPM from the rest of pissed off America is the fact that they are in fact doing something (even if they have whored their original ideals to corporate America and the ever-present and corrupted media).

Today some might view the tea partiers as extreme right-wing conservatives. But was this party ever free from societal constraints and media intimidation?

I clearly remember the one time I applauded them for figuratively shoving at fatty middle finger in Capitol Hill’s face…I also think that it’s good to see that some of the more, shall I say, older citizens of this country are trying to do something instead of complain, since the youth are too immature and radical to know what they are talking about (that was meant to be read as sarcastic).

I am an indecisive tea party sort-of supporter. Meaning that I find myself agreeing with a few parts of their original manifesto. Original being the key word in that previous sentence.

This movement was pure at the beginning. It came on strong after three federal laws began pissing people off: Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and a series of health care reform bills. With Ron Paul as its enthusiast and re-newer of the phrase “Tea Partier,” he started this liberal nation-wide movement with fiscal conservatism at its roots demanding change through 10, well-thought out guidelines for congressional candidates to follow.

So, what the hell happened to you guys? The TPM started out as such an innovative catalyst that could possibly bring about change. Now instead of organized national and local protests with educated followers and leaders, you have people joining the movement because they “just don’t like Obama,” and they do not even know why (according to an article from The Policy Page).

Today’s Tea Partiers do not like being associated with political parties, and some say that it is not a party at all, but more of an “anti-party.” F–k the system man, let’s rebel! Ok that is a bit extreme, but there are definitely some extremists strutting around as a “Patriot”.

An example: the Sept. 22 St. Louis Tea Party protesters finally revealing to the world that Obama is Hitler reincarnate without realizing that “in fact the Tea Party’s own fanatical style of politics is itself incredibly similar to that previously imbued by leaders of the Third Reich” quoted the Daily Fortnight paper.

Nice job guys. Seriously that doesn’t sound like you are being hypocritical at all. Perfectly calm and rational. Cough cough.

Judging the modern day TPM, do I agree with the fact that it is now somewhat infested with ultra-conservative sticks-up-their asses ignorant pricks (Sarah Palin)? No.

Do I support the fact that they are now a corrupted group with their backs against the wall and the media breathing down their necks? Oh, no.

This bandwagon titled: “Tea Party: The right thing to do or DIE a cruel death of government oppression” is now just a popular fad drowning out independent ideas and being replaced with conservative, mainly anglo supporters.

With people like Christine O’Donnell supporting the TPM, it is time to run for the hills, despite all of the rouge wildfires. I would rather die of smoke inhalation than have a certified nut-case as part of our government who claims she is a die-hard tea partier.

In case you don’t know her, O’Donnell is the recent Republican Party nominee for Delaware U.S. Senate. She is also known for saying she is capable of stopping all sexual intercourse in America, dabbling in satanical witchcraft, looking and acting like Palin’s twin and outwardly opposing “all abortions except if a woman is going to die, in which case her family could decide which life to save,” according to an article written by Politics Daily in September.

The fact that the “new” tea partiers and Sarah Palin have made her a celebrity over night cannot be a good endorsement for this once legitimate movement.

The TP manifesto was, in one phrase, “let’s kick it old school.” They wanted to bring the government back to its Constitutional roots and support lower taxes, wanted less government control, according to USA Today had a “firm conviction that the federal government has gotten too big and too powerful and a fear that the nation faces great peril” and in that same USA Today article stated that the TPM felt that “illegal immigrants in the long run cost taxpayers too much by using government services rather than becoming productive citizens.”

All this to stop the government from suffocating our economy through regulatory bureaucracies.
Such inspiring ideas…where did they go? Where did all the original supporters go? Stand up and speak out against the disgrace this nation has caused on your movement.

Any movement that has been sold to and endorsed by Sarah Palin and her drone Christine O’Donnell makes me want to burn down Capitol Hill and start all over again.

It freaks me out that people support these asylum escapees, especially when this movement was originally grassroots formed to bring forth REAL change. What sell-outs.

What do I really think?

I think capitalism is getting out of hand (big box corporations anyone?).

I think that our George Orwell depicted Big Brother government is micromanaging every facet of our lives.

I love people that speak out about their Constitutional rights because the government is too saturated with fat and self-satisfaction to care about the Constitution anymore.

The chant: “no taxation without representation!” needs to be reinstated in everyday vocabulary.
Don’t get me wrong-I mean I love tea (especially English-made tea) and I love a good party (especially one with revolution as its theme).

But putting them together and starting a now out-of-control corrupted-from-within-movement…hmmm, let’s just chuck Christine O’Donnell into Boston Harbor.

Politicians and their religious beliefs

Ally Bordas

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan
Published: October 21, 2010

When you step into a position of power, you have to be prepared to lay your life out on a silver platter for others to observe and pick apart. Whether or not you have Constitutional rights, the First Amendment is a bitch and American citizens are greedily awaiting to hear about the latest political scandal.

Just look at celebrities: protection of privacy? I think not.

“That fact that an atheist couldn’t get elected dog-catcher in the United States of America is no secret,” stated writer Jonathan Malesic, ABC Religion and Ethics article.

If politicians ran around with their religious beliefs stamped across their forehead, they would be no closer to gaining a seat in the Senate as Mike the “Situation” from Jersey Shore is. Look at Christine O’Donnell, she admitted to being a witch at one point in her life and now she is constantly mocked for it. I mean who can take a reformed witch seriously? Save it for Halloween.

“Most voters (70 percent) want the president to be a person of faith. But half of the electorate expresses unease with politicians, presidential contenders and others, who talk too much about their religious beliefs,” according to an article written by the Research Center for the People and the Press.

I think it’s true – it would be awkward to have a hardcore preacher waltzing into the Senate trying to heal you.

Everyone in the United States has the right to express their religion in their own personal or public way. But religion always seems to be a touchy subject with people: Muslims get profiled as terrorists (Islamophobia), born-again Christians speak in tongues, Scientologists are secretly “crazy,” Catholics sit on their pedestals, warlocks and wiccans are just emo people on drugs and Rastafarians are, obviously, lovers of the natural herb. So do politicians really want to have to fight off these religious stereotypes every single time they step into the spotlight? I don’t think so.

But then again, I would want to know if the president, for example, is secretly worshipping the devil at night. Just like I would want to know if the first lady was a Bible hugger. Since I am an American citizen with kick-ass First Amendment rights, I feel like I should have the right to know something about politicians and their religious beliefs. No Christine O’Donnell, I do not want to hear about your first date to a satanical bloodbath or whatever creepy ceremony you so willingly took part in (yes, I am aware of the fact that the media most likely blows all of this out of proportion).

Just like we have our First Amendment rights as boring average citizens, I guess I cannot deny the fact that our politicians have their rights too. The Constitution states “no religious test shall be imposed on any public official,” according to an article written by Debate the Opposing Views. So, technically, we may never know which god or devil any of our politicians may secretly worship (they can just lie to us).

What I want to know from religious politicians is what role will faith play during his or her job as a national politician. What are the boundaries between government and religion? Since religion can dominate a person’s psyche and lifestyle, I think it is only fair we have these questions answered.

Debate the Opposing Views also told readers to take a closer look at past politicians to see how fanatical they are about their religion. “James Watt, President Reagan’s first Secretary of the Interior, told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, ‘after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.” See, obsessed with his religion.
And also what about Bush? Does anyone remember Bush stating that the reason he was president was because God appointed him? I mean he told America that God wanted him and only him. Talk about narcissistic.

All I am saying is that we have to be careful. We do not want our politicians being affected by their religious beliefs to the point that they forget how our country was really formed: by revolution, war and oppression (with a hint of faith). Religion comes second to our Constitution. And most importantly, Debate the Opposing Views reminds us to remember that our politicians “don’t drop their religious beliefs at the White House door.”

The Devils Advocate: Against Going Green

Ally Bordas

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan
Published: October 28, 2010

(Re-posted here without permission) 

“Going Green” is the new fad, replacing the desire to adopt international babies that were abandoned at birth. I think Angelina Jolie was the secret catalyst to both of these trends: first by adopting at least one hundred children, from all over the world, ranging from Cambodia to Ethiopia. Before that, Jolie began her work as a humanitarian by sitting on the United Nation’s board. Talk about starting a movement.

As Americans, we are obsessed with what movie stars in Hollywood are wearing, eating, shopping and adopting. So when A-list superstars start wearing clothing made from potato sacks, meat and trash bags in order to save the earth, lord knows that People magazine will inform the average American citizen about where to shop to achieve a similar look.

But is this really necessary? There are plenty of other ways to go about erasing your carbon footprint than sporting a meat-sewn outfit to prove that killing animals is “bad taste.”

Our government pushes and pushes its citizens to find small ways to stop the ozone layer from depleting. Some of their ideas: change your light bulbs, turn the lights off as much as you can, shower in five minutes or less, don’t brush your teeth while the water is running, reusable water bottles, RECYCLE, RECYCLE, RECYCLE and buy a Toyota Yaris to save on gas. If we do all of this, if we “green” our households and apartments, what the hell are we supposed to do when oil companies storm in and ruin it all? What happens when China keeps crushing all of our efforts? Cough cough, this is a waste of our money. And our money is precious nowadays. Hello, we are in a state of emergency! Money is what people are hoarding! The next thing you are going to see on the A&E television channel is: money hoarders, desperately clinging onto their sanity.

According to an article written in the LA Times, “China isn’t green at all; as the Chinese themselves say, referring to the ever-present smog in their megacities, it’s gray. Air pollution is getting steadily worse, and water pollution is a major crisis as well.” Well since China and the U.S. are two of the world’s mega powers, won’t things affect both of these super powerful nations simultaneously? What happens to one happens to the other. When China yells “screw going green,” the U.S. responds with a “keep trying to go green because the government can use the extra cash.”

The article also unabashedly states, “China burns more coal (by far) and emits more greenhouse gases than any other country. It sells more automobiles than any other country too (it passed the United States last year). And all those bad numbers are still going up, because China’s No. 1 goal is increasing industrial production, not protecting the environment.”

And don’t expect China to be changing their ways anytime soon. “We cannot blindly accept that protecting the climate is humanity’s common interest; national interests should come first,” Yu Qingtai, China’s chief climate negotiator, said in a speech last month, according to the LA Times article. “The country has to develop … and if that increases emissions, I say, ‘So what?’ The people have a right to a better life.” Yeah, a better life until the people of China have to wear oxygen tanks strapped to their backs in order to inhale fresh air. It will be an accessory, like a new Chanel purse.

If you have been following politics at all you will have heard of Proposition 23, which will suspend the Global Warming Act formed in 2006. This act was a huge landmark in clean air legislation. If proposition 23 passes, then the government will have to suspend the 2006 act until unemployment goes down to 5.5 percent. It also requires all programs with “going green” initiatives to be stopped until further notice. So this means that all of the effort that Californians have been putting into the idea of “going green” is a waste of time and money if this proposition passes.

There you have it people. Stop buying products that supposedly donate a percentage of their proceeds to helping the world because countries such as China will cancel out all of your good deeds with bad deeds. Here is the main point of this argument: you are wasting your money. Everyone and their grandmothers know that wasting money is not a good thing. Save your money or go jet-off into the sunset towards grassier plains. Or, if you are as broke as me, save it to buy some spaghetti, which is one-step up from the usual Top Ramen.

‘Glee’ causes anger and depression

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan (re-posted here without permission)
Published: December 07, 2010 Glee is the worst sitcom ever created. Why anyone in their right mind would waste one hour every week watching this show is beyond me. Glee makes me want to lash out.

Our media has become infiltrated with idiotic individuals scrambling to keep the masses of our nation entertained, since we desperately cling to all things new and improved with the potential to take the world by storm.

The fact that this show has exploded and made everyone a part of it an instant superstar is seriously disturbing. I am begging, pleading, with citizens, non-citizens and aliens alike to band together and overthrow FOX for airing this sort of rubbish.

Unite or be forced to watch people in their late 20s dressing like high schoolers and singing songs when in fact they are butchering all that is great about music!

Glee was inspired by high school drama, sex and choir. FOX aired the pilot episode in 2009. Since then, it has completely blown up into a social phenomenon.

The show has been nominated for 19 Emmy awards, four Golden Globes, six Satellite Awards and 57other awards.

Is this what the youth of America, nay, all of America has become consumed by? Slutty girls and bad choir performances? I like my brain! I like knowledge! And hardcore cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, played by Jane Lynch, is legitimately torturing every fiber of my being.

The writers of this show, who I now have a personal vendetta against, are Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchulk ad Ian Brennan.

These writers missed the target from day one. For example, let’s dissect the word glee; the first part, beginning with “g-l” automatically makes me think of gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins. Which makes sense, seeing as the majority of America is an over-indulgent nation, enjoying shows such as Two and a Half Men, Trueblood and of course, Glee.

The second part of the word, ‘e-e’, makes me think of e.e. cummings, the sappy love poet. Glee is the cheesiest show ever with the most horrendous plotline, so e.e. cummings fits into this equation perfectly.

Put the word back together and you have Glee: over-indulgent people pretending to feel the most unrealistic level of happiness that no one in this economy will ever attain.

Let’s take a look at the show from a different perspective, like if Glee is a realistic portrayal of high school: haha don’t make me laugh, hell no it is not a realistic portrayal! Wake up to the injustice they are serving our mindless youth!

Glee is completely opposite of what real high school is like. Ian Brennan conceptualized the show based off his own high school experiences when he was in choir. What high school did he go to? Prick-town high?

Ladies and Gentlemen: This is not high school. Do not be so easily fooled. Where is the acne? Where are the braces, the high-pitched male voices that have yet to crack, the mismatched clothing, the battered lockers and all the other terrible plagues we all had to face in high school? They are missing because this is not high school. This show is a bad acid trip.

I felt like if I was going to write an article about Glee, I had better watch at least one episode. So for the sake of researching, I endured 45 minutes of torture in the form of the Glee episode entitled “Special Education.”

As expected, it was terrible. At least I got to watch the first 10 minutes sans singing. When the singing did kick in though, it hit with full force. In an apocalyptic way.

I still cannot believe they sang a song from the classic movie Dirty Dancing and did the famous dance, that is a terrible way to pay thanks to the late Patrick Swayze. And they sang a song by Florence and the Machine… so depressing.

In the end, not only was the acting heinous, the singing was just as unbearable. During the dialogue sessions, one character dropped the word hipsters, another couple went through a cheating scandal, every click just seemed to love each other and all the hidden advice this episode tried to give was so fake. I almost hurled.

I hope I persuaded the world against Glee. If you would like additional information on why NOT to watch Glee, check out Kroq’s Gleecap by DJ Omar Khan. Funniest segment on radio.

There’s an app for that

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan (re-posted here without permission)
Published: December 08, 2010 Cell phones have changed our lives and destroyed them at the same time.

I do not know how many more times I will be able to endure wandering around campus watching hundreds of students and faculty alike making public love to their cell phone. It is distressing, and most of all uninspiring.

There used to be a time when cell phones were a coveted item to own. My favorite times in high school were the class periods when someone’s phone would randomly begin to vibrate aor ring and everyone in the class would make ridiculously loud distractions in order to save the culprit from getting sent to the deans office.

Fake coughs, pounding on desks and turret-like shouts were all tactics used by fellow students in order to save the owner from embarrassment and a for sure grounding. Ah man, the good ole’ days.

Now as I sit in class I notice that at least 90 percent of students have their cell phones visible during class and at least 75 percent of those students will check their phones multiple times. And let’s not forget the professors, who also either have their phones out on the desk and check it throughout class time.

I am mentally sick because of how consumed we all are by technology. What happened to mail, you know, being delivered and put in our mailboxes? Or documentaries, playing outside, long grungy hair and the phones that actually have cords? Am I just wishing that we could all go back and live in the ‘70s? Maybe. But I think my point is more valid than that.

Amy Gahran, specialist for CNN, wrote an article discussing how cell phones have changed our lives. Her article starts out very promising, but then takes a turn for the worst as she begins making love to technology as well.

“Cell phones provide vital services and human connections. They connect people in dire need with services that can change (or save) their lives and offer new hope, even through simple broadcast text messages,” Gahran said.

This is what Gahran was inspired to write after she witnessed a supposed homeless person on the bus whip out a cell phone.

Gahran goes on to advocate for everyone to purchase smartphones, “smartphones do matter. I own a smartphone, and I use it nearly constantly. (Over the summer I ditched my iPhone in favor of the Droid Incredible.)”

Cell phones do not really connect us at all! Yes we can instantly get in contact with each other, check e-mails and get news reports but is that really a human connection? They make us scared to interact with one another, invade our minds and implant a brand new slang language into our vocabulary that is less than impressive.

Now when I text someone and do not get a response they can make up so many excuses: my phone is broken, I lost my phone, I didn’t get your text I swear… back in the day there were no such excuses! You had to get creative to avoid people and almost always had to respond to someone or they would just show up on your doorstep.

I do not want a smartphone. I am not tempted in the slightest to go trade in my 1990s brick of a cell phone for a smartphone. Smartphones are going to pull a Transformers 2 and change into super smart robots that will take over the world! So much for getting prepared for when zombies attack, I am petrified of a technology apocalypse.

OK, I will not be completely ignorant and at least acknowledge the fact that with so many improvements in technology a lot of good has become of it. I admit it. But the question I have is when is it going to stop? When is it going to be enough?

Globalization has spurred so much international competition between countries that brilliant minds of our society are supercharged into wanting to discover the next big thing. But are these “next big things” causing an outbreak of laziness? Have we become so dependent on technology to do all of our work for us that we would not know how to survive in the world without it?

I still crave stimulating conversations and debates that get me riled up. I do not care about “news” updates on way too naive Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus on a stripper pole, the underage annoyance known as Bieber fever, Lady Gag-me, sexually charged dead vampires or where in the world Lindsay Lohan is. I want unbiased news no matter how hard that may be for people to understand. Wake up! Or the puppeteer (AKA technology corporations) will permanently own you.

We may not be smart but we are confident

By Ally Bordas
For the Daily Titan
Published: November 16, 2010
(re-posted here without permission)

Being educated is not important. As long as our government is confident, as long as we are confident, then we will make it in this world. Confidence is much more important than any education system.

What good is education really? I mean, seriously, with the budget cuts, ridiculously low employment opportunities and a worsening economic downturn, what is the point of school?

According to Open Innovation, education does not teach you the joy of living, “it only creates people who can earn their livelihood but it does not give any insight into living itself. It is not only incomplete, it is harmful too because it is based on competition.”

John Schulte, a retail tycoon, says “just because you don’t go get a degree does not mean you can be ignorant on your subject matter, it only means you’re not paying the university/college to tell you to read books on the subject.”

Let me tell you, it’s not a joy when I am sitting on the floor in a lecture class crammed wall to wall with people while my professor reads off of the power-point slides that I can clearly read myself. Like I can’t read two sentences on a larger-than-life screen with my own two eyes? Way to insult my intelligence.

I learn more from protesting the educational system than sitting in a classroom learning about it.

The educational system seems to capitalize on the student population, creating business drones that can quote statistic books but cannot hold a conversation about Marxism or history.

Our government is confident in us as American citizens so being educated is a footnote on the many lists of U.S. “successes.”

Dr. Roberts from Global Research says, “The U.S. owes its image of success to: (1) the vast lands and mineral resources that the U.S. “liberated” with violence from the native inhabitants, (2) Europe’s, especially Great Britain’s, self-destruction in World War I and World War II, and (3) the economic destruction of Russia and most of Asia by communism or socialism.”

“The U.S. nation is a failed state,” Roberts said.

Great Depression: FAIL.
Korean War: FAIL.
Vietnam War: FAIL.
Cold War: idiotic and FAIL.
Desert Storm: FAIL.
US Bank bailout: FAIL.
Recession: FAIL.

Um, should we really be confident in the U.S. with all those bomb fails? Maybe we should stay in school? Anyone?

“After 20 years of off-shoring U.S. production, which destroyed American jobs and federal, state and local tax base, the U.S. unemployment rate, as measured by U.S. government methodology in 1980, is over 20 percent. The ladders of upward mobility have been dismantled,” Roberts said.

Oh of course one could not forget the war against terrorism: EPIC FAIL.

According to Roberts, “the ‘war on terror’ completed the constitutional (and) legal failure of the U.S. The U.S. has also failed economically. Under Wall Street pressure for short-term profits, U.S. corporations have moved offshore their production for U.S. consumer markets.”

The extent of these failures is all hearsay, but in general, our country as a whole did not slam-dunk all of these wars and other issues.

Our government has installed fear in order to gain control. Now, a terrorist threat is “a creation of (our) own government (and) is sufficient justification for naked aggression against Muslim peoples and for an agenda of world hegemony,“ Roberts said.

Not only have we lost many, many young American lives at the hands of ignorant American dictators, we have lost billions of dollars, global credit and have been claimed as “brutal.”

What kind of confidence can be had after all of these failures? I mean how can the government function while drenched in blind confidence and narcissism? It’s disgusting.

Now we are left with no confidence and no need for education. What the hell do we do? We have become chained to our government; giving our leaders every fiber of our being… can you feel the heavy weight on your chest? That weight is the realization that our rights have become sickeningly limited. That weight is the realization that we are doomed.

So what can be done? Roberts gives us the pessimistic version, “the American people are lost in la-la land. They have no idea that their civil liberties have been forfeited. They are only gradually learning that their economic future is compromised. They have little idea of the world’s growing hatred of Americans for their destruction of other peoples.” Ouch. That hurts, especially if you are not “educated enough” to understand what that means.

We can go to school and become one with the grad school kids that use their degrees to be top-notch bartenders. We can educate ourselves on… I can’t remember what my lecture professor has taught me thus far.

But then again, we are the country of dreams, so my unending optimism forces me to believe that my college degree will aid me in some way. Yes, our government is very arrogant, but I am forced to believe that in the end, education is a great tool to aid me in becoming a confident being, ready to throw down against ignorance.

Cal State Fullerton Reporter Slammed for Speaking Truth

(From Friends For Fullerton's Future)
A California State University of Fullerton student reporter has come under attack for quoting me in the Daily Titan.

Ally Bordas wrote a brief article for the Daily Titan on the financial mess at CSUF and pointed out the irresponsibility, waste, and hypocrisy within the university’s management. In her article, she quotes my blog post Cal State Fullerton President – Lifestyles of Our Rich Public Employees at the El Dorado Ranch.



CSUF Daily Titan scared by the truth



The CSU media specialist didn’t like the fact that Ms. Bordas used my post and even less that it was pulled from the 4F blog. Unfortunately, the story was pulled from the Daily Titan and Ms. Bordas has had to endure a lot of questions on her fact checking.

The fact remains that the words she quoted from me are based on the official legal agreement between the State of California and the Chapman family who donated the El Dorado Ranch. You can find the document at the Orange County Recorder’s Office by asking for Instrument No. 1989-334761 of Official Records. You can also email me at GregSebourn@yahoo.com and I will email the 28-page PDF to you.

Here are a few facts to consider about the El Dorado Ranch that the agreement spells out:

1. It was donated in 1989 by the Chapman Family.
2. CSU Fullerton President Milton Gordon takes office in August 1990, almost exactly 1 year after the donation.
3. No property taxes are paid on the compound because it is owned by the State of California. However, the Orange County Assessor still keeps track of how much the 4 acre property would be taxed if anyone else owned it. That figure puts it at $3,351,724 in 2009!
4. The property was donated and all parties agreed that the mansion would be the “official residence” of the president. This is mentioned multiple times throughout the agreement.
5. The agreement stipulates that the property shall not be converted into student housing. However, there is one MAJOR and MASSIVE exception. The “apartment adjacent to the house [which] may be used for support staff for the President of the University and/or El Dorado Ranch. In my initial post I said his assistant had a home on the sprawling estate but I was wrong. He could actually have as many assistants (a.k.a. “support staff”) as he feels he needs to have on hand and all of them are welcome to live at the El Dorado Ranch.
6. At the time of the initial donation, there were numerous antiques on loan to the State that remained in the home. Some items dating from the early 19th century.
7. The Chapman family still retains mineral rights to the El Dorado Ranch. That means they have a right to pump oil from underneath the State’s property.
8. Item 11 of Exhibit “B” of the agreement requires that any garden developed on the property shall be named the “Alice Wilber Chapman Garden”. Alice Chapman was the mother of the donors.
9. The property is owned by the taxpayers of the State of California yet the sign at the entrance reads “PRIVATE PROPERTY”. Surely it was an error on the part of some underpaid state employee who didn’t know that public property can’t also be private property.
   
10. Not in the agreement but worth noting is that we all need to do our part to conserve energy because energy conservation is clearly not high on the President’s list of priorities. Of course when someone else is paying the bill, who cares… Thanks for leaving the light on!
    

At the end of the day, Ms. Ally Bordas was correct to point up the chain of command within the CSU system and call out the hypocrisy that exists. The leadership insists on burdening the students with higher tuition and “fees” but they are not willing to look within their own ranks. The CSU system has many great minds but where they are being used remains a mystery. In my opinion, the media specialist should do a little fact checking of their own.

For Milton Gordon, its still good to be king!