Bump's Stump

During the last 50 years or so Americans have learned to welcome welfare. Your parents probably will remember that not too many years ago there was a stigma attached. Something like a loss of respectability. Welfare was a very last resort. It was there for the disabled, handicapped, and chronically ill. It was to be avoided by fit and able and respectable workers. Not any more. Those born recently don't have any concept of some of the old fashioned virtues. Things like character, integrity, and why it's important to be proud of your independence. We are standing by as families disintegrate.  Maintaining family standards and family reputations have become a tradition of the past. We don't think about these things very often despite media overexposure. Just pay attention to your daily newspaper for example. If it is like mine there is a definite bias toward violence. The first page headlines shout about wars and catastrophes. There are horrible pictures of accidents...

Now and then something really beautiful lights up the  internet.   This video was both unexpected  and wonderful.   Certainly m y over-reaction  is influenced by  the misery of recent events in the middle east     and snippets of  the black history of  the area.   When I think about the area my mind sees:                     .            The continuing middle east violence.   The evil agenda of the al Quaeda terrorists.    The evil and unreasonable Palestinians.   The Ultra-Orthodox Jews that I simply don't always understand.   My knowledge of the Degania Bet kibbutz from long ago.   And my military assignment in the Libyan desert for months at a time.  With these things combined with the reports of dysfunction from the area -  there is a tendency to forget the beauty that is also...

The two significant candidates had their third and (thankfully) last debate. It was, as expected, more of the same truth bending and innuendo. The viewers learned nothing of consequence as usual.  The "debate" concept centers on how a candidate looks, not his platform or agenda. Voters are up to their eyeballs with this extravagant non-sense. Our presidential election process is ridiculous, expensive, dishonest, and without principles. It ALWAYS has been. We react to the lack of civility between candidates and their respective political parties -  while at the same time we recognize that civility has suffered since the first election. So why do we expect civility in elections today? Nobody won the debates. The entire run up to the coming presidential election has been a vast scam to defraud the citizen voter. No, I'm not kidding or exaggerating. The two most parties, Democrat and the Republican, have  stupidly lied without shame, unfairly insult...

In a previous post I criticized America's educational system - and briefly described  what might be done to improve it.  Let's expand on that.  First, the good old school days really were not so good at all. In the 1800's as the industrial revolution began to pick up steam: the flow of immigrants increased tremendously,  rural families began moving to the cities looking for industrial jobs,  and  our educational systems had to be refined and changed.   The teaching process became  a "factory style" routine where every student was regarded equally and the same - and was taught using the same regimen.  Students were thoroughly subjugated by often ill equipped teachers who applied a mechanical efficiency to forcing repetition of facts. Which facts? Only the facts as dictated by school boards. Underpaid (and usually unqualified) teachers taught "the facts" which were then  repeated by at test time in order for a student to advance to...

Young Americans today are badly served by their parents. From K-12 our educational systems have broken down and are a national disgrace.  Over a period of time parents gradually have given up responsibility and control to the state. The "state" was not up to the job,  and passed the responsibility to the "federal" government. The liberals in our midst told us that the federal government would devise a better system and better manage our schools. The nicest thing to say is that it didn't work. The well intended "leave no child behind" concept, for example,  has created a disaster in public schools K-12. It virtually eliminates competition in the classroom and the incentive for achievement. This concept is not the way to go - but that's where we are. In the grades kindergarten through high school it is clear that course work has been steadily "dumbed down". It is also clear that grades are commonly "inflated" to achieve advance...

Are you having a little trouble figuring out just how much America's DEFICIT really is? I'm not the brightest bulb but conceptualizing billions and trillions staggers my mind. So I looked up a few facts to help me: TIME (MILLION)   1,000,000 seconds is 12 days (BILLION)    1,000,000,000 seconds is more than 31 years. (TRILLION)  1,000,000,000,000 seconds is 31,688 years. DOLLARS America goes more than (TRILLION) $1,000,000,000 in debt every year. The Federal Government's total yearly budget is (TRILLIONS) $3,700,000,000 per year. So, close to 1/3 of our TOTAL spending per year is borrowed. A COUPLE OF FACTS If the federal government taxed every corporation in America and confiscated every single asset of the super-wealthy (Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, etc.) it still wouldn't even come close to balancing the budget. Of the more than $1,000,000,000 borrowed last year ABOUT HALF was created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve. ...