President Obama wants Congress to approve $110 million in new spending for brain research. “Ideas are what power our economy,” Obama said. Does he not know that the country is broke and getting deeper in debt by the second? His ideas don't power the economy; his ideas are only about spending. If for some stupid reason this is approved, the first brain that needs to be studied is his.First off, is it not possible for the Oklahoman to run letters that critique President Obama without stooping to childish rants and insults?
Secondly, it's pathetic that Mr. Robinson is writing about issues of budget and economy when he clearly has no firm grasp of either. Is he really complaining about a hundred million dollars? That's about thirty cents per person in this country. That's change-under-seat-cushions money. We build fighter jets that cost more than that per plane! Perhaps, instead of ordering 80 such plans, the US Marine Corps could just order 79? Boom. Problem solved.
And unlike that 80th F-35 that would almost certainly just collect dust for its entire lifetime (when was the last time the Marines were launching scores of planes into battle?), a center to engage in serious brain research could actually lead to improvements in during diseases like Alzheimer's and better deal with concussions and strokes.
And lastly, is it really the case that the US is "broke"?!? The attempt to portray the US federal government as nothing more than a giant family of 300+ million people spread across most of a continent breaks down upon even the most basic scrutiny. No doubt Mr. Robinson is too stupid and too incurious to even think about such things, but one wonders how he would answer this question: would anyone loan a "broke" entity (a family, company, country, etc.) money at virtually no interest? Because the answer is no. None is lending a "broke" country money for nothing.
Would that the Oklahoman just ran letters from smart people making smart arguments. Unfortunately, smart arguments tend not to fall in line with most plutocratic/theocratic arguments. And thus we are left with this sort of crap. We should expect better.
Dr. Allred, an interesting letter in the Muskogee Phoenix yesterday by George Kesselring titled "Wake up. America see what the GOP is doing" No commetents yet but I am sure there will be. I have had 6 letters published in the Phoenix since Oct 2012(without edditing) and some controversal. We may be getting a little more news coverage outside the Oklahoman. Tulsa World has just been bought out and we will see what this brings. Had a couple published there but not very controversal. Keep up what you are doing. Edward V. Harris
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ed! I'll check out some of the stuff in the Phoenix you mentioned. The DOK's been a little lax in running totally crazy letters of late, but I'll try to update with some critiques soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lance. The Austin American Statesman seems to be somewhat responsive. Have had 3 published there recently. (Limit 150 words though.)A short not of explanation. I am science oriented--math and computer science, but got sick last year and got mad over some issues so started writing letters. Hadn't sent to the Norman Transcript until March and sent two and both got published. Remembered Norman from my BS and MA after the Korean War and they were extemely biased both the school and town. The were forced to let a black student in graduate school but put ropes to separate him off until the courts stopped that. I roomed with a family and one night heard a bad argument. The grown daughter, a student at OU, and her frinds had invited the black graduate studnent to their church,a larger on in Norman, since no blacks lived in Norman at that time. He father, a deacon, was in a bitter argument with them. I went in and asked what the problem was? He said if they let blacks in their church, they would next be wanting to marry their daughters. I said "Right!" I was going with my wife, a Native American at that time before the Korean War. We went in the late 60 for our Phd's to Florida State and Helen spent a lot of time on the Native American causes. Her dissertation was on Mark Twain's response to Native Americans and a controversal article was published in American Literature and her point accepted by many scholars. She no longer is involved other than edit my letters and rewrite! So much for that.
DeleteLance, forgive the errors in the note above. I developed a severe autoimmune problem, Myasthia Gravis, last year and have to take medication. If I am slow in taking it, my mind doesn't function as well as it should, and I know I should wait before posting. Didn't want to take the note off and correct it, or didn't even know how, but maybe you can get the ideas anyway. I usually let, my wife, Helen edit before I put on things for people to read.
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