The Personal Impact of Pearl Harbor (an audio blog)

 This audio blog was aired on WCRF on December 7, 2011.

Since then I've learned that Jacob DeShazer's grade was Sgt., not Col.

 

Geopolitics and the Interests of Foreign Powers in Our Election

Geopolitics and the 

Interests of Foreign Powers 

in Our Election

We hear reports that China and Russia are both attempting to influence our election. According to many of these reports, Russia favors Trump – or is against Biden – and China favors Biden – or is against Trump. What we hear the most of is Russia leaning toward Trump, which sounds like a carry-over from 2016.
 

This brings up a question: does Russia (Putin in particular) really like President Trump? Hardly, I say. Before he was elected, Russia knew that Trump would be tough on them, and he has been. If they favor Trump in this election, then why? Do you really think Biden would be tougher on Russia? Do you think Hillary would have been? Not really. Then, if they do favor Trump, why? What’s in it for them?
 

Russia’s real target is not the U.S. Presidency. It’s China. China and Russia are rivals. They were rivals for world domination when Russia was the dominant part of the Soviet Union. Look at the Cold War years. The USSR favored India and China favored Pakistan. China backed North Korea while the USSR backed North Vietnam, which has a constant border dispute with China.
 

Since the breakup of the USSR, Russia has ceased to be a Communist country. It owes its present economic success to embracing capitalism. China is still ruled by the Communist party, though they have adopted a level of capitalism for pragmatic reasons. However, the leadership of both nations have imperialistic ambitions. Both see the United States as an obstacle to their ambitions.
 

The goals of interference in U.S. elections also differ. Russia’s apparent goal, according to some, is to degrade our electoral process. If U.S. citizens do not trust their electoral system, it will weaken the government and our foreign policy. China’s goal is to gain influence and steal as much as they can of our technology and intellectual property so they can dominate the Pacific and South Asia.
 

This also brings up another reason Russia would favor Trump (if they do): the threat of China dominating Russia. Its moves, therefore, would be defensive. It would serve their interests for the U.S. to be tough on China. For our national security and our economy, who is the larger threat? China. So who would be tougher on China and still be tough on Russia? Biden or Trump?

A Farmer Has to Be Smart

There is a LOT a farmer has to know. Add to this what he has to figure out.
A farmer has to –
• Choose the best crops to plant this year, taking into consideration
       - crop rotation,
       - crop prices,
       - costs of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and storing each crop.
• Decide which field gets which crop.
• Take into consideration weather patterns and soil conditions
• Know the best way to cultivate each crop
• Know how to cope and adjust for changes in weather and other growing conditions
• Know how to care for machinery, including mechanical maintenance
       - This now includes programming computer-assisted and microchip-operated equipment
• Know the current regulations
• Participate in organizations relevant to agriculture and community
• Be up-to-date on national and international affairs, because they impact the operation and profitability of his or her business
• Have extreme patience and know-how to respond to ignorant elites

The Changing Motivation for Higher Education and Its Outfall

 The Changing Motivation for Higher Education and Its Outfall

• First published on January 29, 2020, on LinkedIn

Looking back on the past 50 years, it appears that the motive for urging young people to go to college has shifted from equipping them to be intellectually and economically successful or equipped for service to subjecting them to indoctrination.

Two kinds of indoctrination are at issue here. One is reinforcing a secular humanistic worldview and converting those who have grown up with a biblical worldview. The other is ideological/political indoctrination.

Both kinds of indoctrination have come to rely not only on logical persuasion but on limiting students' right to think and speak for themselves. Part-and-parcel of this is denying access to points of view contrary to the official view, infringing not only on the free speech, religion, and peaceable assembly rights of students (and faculty), but also those of others.

This has had a negative impact on graduates of these institutions. First, the number of graduates in various fields has outstripped the number of positions available, which had diminished the economic value of the degrees. Second, the promotion of university education with the expanded availability of student loans has resulted in ballooned faculty salaries and expansion of costly-to-maintain university facilities, raising the costs of education, with the end result of enormous student loan debt per graduate.

Another result is the philosophical and ideological imbalance in professions receiving large numbers of indoctrinated members. Just a few of these professions are public education, journalism, pediatrics, social work, and clinical psychology.

Coupled with the example of civil rights suppression in universities, this has contributed to a decline in civil discourse. If this continues and grows, it may to lead to civil war.

The question for us is, "What can and should we do to remedy this distortion of our educational system?"

One solution proposed by many is shifting the focus of federal education aid by including post-secondary vocational programs, such as are found in most community colleges. Another is working to restore and protect the First Amendment rights of students and faculty. This should include countering bias in granting of tenure as well as the hiring of faculty and reviews of grading criteria used by the instructors and professors. Additionally, university administrations should discourage the badgering of students who have worldviews or political leanings which differ from those of the professor.
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Update: Here is the outcome of a lawsuit related to bias in colleges and universities: https://www.westernjournal.com/court-delivers-243000-lesson-college-discriminated-pro-lifers/