Our wrong-headed national motto

On this day in 1956 President Eisenhower signed legislation to change our national motto.  It had been “E Pluribius Unum”, which, for those of you who didn’t take Latin, means “Out of many, one.”  Now that’s a great motto.  It is all-inclusive and succinctly gets across the idea that though we may be a pluralistic society, we are all in this together.

The new motto since 1956 is “In God We Trust.”  Think of all the issues that accompany that.  Suppose you don’t believe in god.  Which god?  What exactly does that mean, anyway?  It’s almost like the old Alfred E. Newman catch phrase, “What, me worry?”

I can hardly abide the symbolic surface religiosity that permeates this society.  I’m putting my trust in hard work, rational thought, common sense, and the New York Times.  

Is Algebra Necessary?

Finally, 50 plus years after I was forced to take algebra, somebody has asked the right question.  That’s the headline in the lead article by Professor Andrew Hacker in today’s New York Times “Sunday Review.”  You can find it at <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper>.  

Hacker points out that many colleges require algebra, and it acts as a roadblock to students who are more interested in art or music or literature. He notes that algebra has little application to the real world.  He says that even in occupations that require math, companies train their employees in the math they need.

Two hundred years ago college students took Latin and Greek and memorized long passages of literary works.  Now they don’t, although maybe they should.  I know that I remember much more of my high school Latin class than I do of my high school algebra.  Let’s dump it. 

Pointers

Yesterday I walked in Palmerton using a list from the AFL-CIO of union members who were not registered to vote.  I know--go figure.  That’s not what I want to talk about, however.  What I want to do is give you some pointers.  

My friend Marian and I were doing a door-to-door in Nesquehoning last fall, and we agreed that you could almost always tell when a house was vacant.  Later I read a confirmation of this in a John Sandford mystery novel.  One of Lucas Davenport’s detectives speculated that a house with people in it gave off a certain vibration--breathing, walking, cooking, even sleeping--that was absent when the house was vacant.  

I’ve occasionally been wrong.  I’ll be sitting on the steps writing a note when the door opens.  Nonetheless, that happens less than one time in ten.  

Here are a few other things I’ve learned:

1. If the paper is still on the porch, you won’t get an answer.
2. Only about half of the door bells work.
3. Never peer in to see if anyone is there.  It’s rude and frightens people.
4. If you half turn away from the door, people are more likely to open the door.
5. If you are wearing a baseball cap, take it off when the person comes to the door.
6. People are more likely to open the door for a couple than for one person.
7. If a kid tells you his mother is on the back porch and you can come in through the house, don’t go.  She’ll be sunbathing, and you will both be very embarrassed.

100 days to go to the November election.  I’ll be out again next weekend.  

Dear Readers:  The above post was completed last night, but I couldn't get on the Internet.  The electrical storms we are having messed up more than the clock on the microwave.  It is a reminder of how fragile the grid is.  As Barry Commoner once said, "Nature bats last."

The Parade of Nations

The Parade of Nations is being televised tonight from London.  The announcer said that 35 nations have never won an Olympic medal.  Tiny countries like Central African Republican or Mali have a hard time scraping the money together to fly anyone to London, to say nothing of training programs, coaches, and competitive experience.

I suppose it is disloyal, but when some tiny nation is competing against the U.S., I have to root for the tiny nation.  Actually, it is very American to root for the underdog.  Go Estonia.  Go Cameroon.  Go Fiji.

Photo I.D., cont.

Terry Whiteman, the Chair of the Carbon County Labor Chapter, organized a demonstration at the Courthouse this morning.  We had about 15 people, and we were covered the Times News and Channel 13 (same company).  Somebody must have notified the Tea Party, because one of them showed up. I’m guessing it was the Times News, which is friendly to that political persuasion.  

I don’t watch Channel 13, but I’m guessing the Tea Party guy was given equal time to the 15 of us.

I made up four signs:

• If you think a photo I.D. is easy to get, you haven’t tried to get one.
• “Voter I.D., which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of PA: Done.” --House Republican leader Mike Turzai
• Photo I.D.--the real voter fraud.
•   # of voter fraud cases brought by Att. Gen. Tom Corbett:   ZERO.

I was pretty pleased with my signs.

Mike Schirra and Sarina Berlow spoke to the group.  Both were eloquent.  

By the way, Rep. Doyle Heffley sent me a letter detailing the law on photo I.D.  I think his data is out-of-date.  He said that only one percent of registered voters lack photo I.D.  That was the figure advanced the by the Republicans when they were pushing the bill.  Everybody now recognizes that the one percent figure is a gross underestimation.

Tomorrow I’m taking a guy from Palmerton to get his photo I.D.  I’m driving him to Hazleton.  I’ll let you know the results of that.

The NCAA

Yesterday the Penn State football players had a meeting with Coach Bill O’Brien to discuss the NCAA punishment.  The Morning Call ran a picture of one of the players walking away from the meeting.  I would like to know how keeping that player from participating in a bowl game is in any way justified.  I would like to know how taking away 112 victories from Penn State teams from 1998 to 2011 is in any way justified. 

As far as I know, none of those players were implicated in the Freeh report.  None of those players were involved in covering up child abuse.  Coach O’Brien was not implicated.  The thousands of students at the main campus and at the branch campuses were not implicated.  

The NCAA decision punishes the innocent and fails to punish the guilty.  The NCAA president said, “These events should serve as a call to every single school and athletics department to take an honest look at its campus environment and eradicate the ‘sports are king’ mind-set that can so dramatically cloud the judgment of educators.”

I don’t even know what that means.  

Ordering ammo

An acquaintance of mine (I hesitate to call him friend) who is an N.R.A. member told me that a number of N.R.A. members were thinking about planning a rally to defend the right to buy ammo over the internet.  Evidently they are worried that the fallout from the Aurora massacre might lead to calls to ban unrestricted ammo sales on the net.  The shooter bought most of his ammo on-line.

I think my “acquaintance”  was just trying to irritate me.  I don’t really know.