Iran Shows It Has What It Takes

[Sstashmoo]

Now it's the media's fault?

[rb336]

of course

[ccbatson]

Media has a role in what the perception of the situation is, not the situation itself. They carry responsibility as a result, and are not immune from the consequences of that responsibility.

[elganned]

...future archeologists would be arguing we were all tree worshippers.

...or at least tree fetishists.

[ccbatson]

More like future archeologists would argue that we were all gullible simpletons to believe the liberal propaganda and deceptions of today.

[gibran]

Future archaeologists having arrived from a planet in far solar system finding the world covered with sand and water, find evidence of global warming that ravaged our earth. They also find evidence of wars that have been waged under the neo colonial right wing agendas finally took it toll on the human race. In a time capsule is a photograph of Sarah Palin hunting a Polar bear and a bumper sticker saying drill here and drill often [[2012). ..and these brave explores conclude that man has finally exterminated himself.

[Lorax]

The entrenched political dogma of the fascist right in this country fits their political ideology around the predetermined personal/social ideology.

What is "known" to be true by virture of what "God" dictates is then probed, prodded, justified and extruded, and much as a shape-shifter changes shape, what comes out the other end of such an exercise is something entirely new, and unrelated to the original core belief.

This is why we had the tortuous explainations of why we went into Iraq in the first place.

The truth would have been easier, but not politically expedient.

This is why "enhanced interrogation" was actually torture.

This is why the "Healthy Forests Initiative" was really a giveaway to logging interest.

The "Clean Air Act" became the poster child for pollution.

"No Child Left Behind" really meant most children left behind.

The "Patriot Act" really was a euphenism for a promotion of warantless wiretapping.

The "Military Commissions Act" was really a euphemism for rendering American citizens to foreign black-site prisons.

Iran has shown us the determination to free themselves from the authoritarianism of a religiously dogmatic segment of their society, much as we democratically extricated ourselves from continuing down the path of a fascist oligarchy, tinged with phony religious window dressing.

We need so much more honesty and transparency in our national discourse, for without it, we're not going to make it as the Democratic collective we were meant to be from the beginning.

[ccbatson]

By item.

1. Tortuous explanations were unfortunate political decisions because of fear that voters would not understand the true nuanced reasons...a tactical error on GWB's part IMO.

2. Not torture by definition of the word. However, even if it were, the circumstances may have justified it.

3. Look at the statistics as far as amount of forestation exists and where it is concentrated. Logging self interests under principles of free markets has expanded the forestation, not diminished it.

4. Pollution only after the corrupt liberals redefine pollution to include the breath we exhale [[CO2).

5. No child left behind shifts some of the onus to the teachers to produce. Too little and too late after the damage done by government in the coercive monopoly that is public education and organized labor removing incentives.

6. The Patriot Act was a well designed and effective temporary act that serves us well without even a single valid complaint of any specific inappropriate invasion of privacy or limitation of liberty.

7. Military Commissions Act as a far better option than having Geofrey Fieger defending suspected terrorists using the argument that they were not read their Miranda rights.

Iran is trying, unlikely to succeed, in no small part as a result of your hero Obama siding with the tyrants.

[gibran]

5. No child left behind shifts some of the onus to the teachers to produce. Too little and too late after the damage done by government in the coercive monopoly that is public education and organized labor removing incentives.



Number five: a statistical failure ...even when hiring stat guys to data mine and try to make look better than it was...[[U of A..project to salvage or data mine to statistically prove what most teachers, principals and special needs parent could have told you since it's conception...focus on testing, justification paperwork and less on teaching and support systems to ensure.....what? no child left behind...

Iran is trying, unlikely to succeed, in no small part as a result of your hero Obama siding with the tyrants.[/quote]

Maybe we should have bombed them like BiBI wants or the right wingers here..or maybe we should listen to the many [[ including Iranians expats)who say Obama did exactly what he needed to do...not enabled a tyrant and let the democracy grow...and not give the false president of Iran any excuse to unleash his thugs on the general population more than he has already...

If Bomb Bomb Iran was president we would have already shot off our mouths and placed many more potential reformists in a country first position...their revolution may have saved a preemptive strike that would have inflamed the region...thank God for the Iranian people taking matters into their own hands.

[ccbatson]

Here is a funny observation, as I first started to read Gibran #209, I thought....hey, he has it right. Then I realized he was quoting me.

[gibran]

and then I suddenly realized he is right..cc ...your right on the fact our government [[Bush screwed up the NCLB)..accountability is one thing ...teaching to tests vs. teaching critical thinking is another.

[ccbatson]

Since you can't teach critical thinking, teaching to tests is the only and best next thing.

[gibran]

tell that to the students when they get into the world...

[ccbatson]

I always do, and they understand it completely.

[Lorax]

Since you can't teach critical thinking, teaching to tests is the only and best next thing.

Proof is in the photo:

[ccbatson]

Honestly Lorax, could you be any more sophomoric?

[Lorax]

You could post a photo of yourself instead.

Taking one for the team. Scooter Libby did, you could too.

[ccbatson]

Could YOU be any more sophomoric was the question [[not me).

[Papasito]

The Ayatollah calls the shots in Iran. This little chicken hawk that has been squawking about Israel, has very little say in anything. The US media has been targeting his jabber, building up support for a strike on Iran. The term "President" here and there mean two entirely different things. Ahmadinejad has to clear anything he does with Khamenei. A little fact our media leaves out.

But I thought Obama was going to make all of our enemies our friends because, simply put, he's a more likeable guy....? Guess that didn't work out for him.

Here's Mr Friendly in action, wow, the world loves him
Russian Politicians & Obama
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/275919

[Sstashmoo]

That's not a good thing...

[ccbatson]

Likeability is irrelevant here....strength and weakness in language and actions are what count.

[rb336]

Since you can't teach critical thinking, teaching to tests is the only and best next thing.

you can't? obviously YOU have never been taught critical thinking, as it shows in every post. that it IS teachable is without question. That it is hard to teach is also without question, yet somehow many have done so. Many courses that require critical thinking skills have been axed from school curricula across the country. teaching to the test creates nothing but drones, perfect for your little us v. them world

[ccbatson]

Critical thinking is an innate and individual skill honed by rational thought. Thought cannot be instilled in an individual. Knowledge can be, not critical thought.

[gibran]

Here's what the experts sya form the Critical thinking academy:

A Working Definition of critical thinking by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief
and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual
values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy,
precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth,
breadth, and fairness. It entails the examination of those structures or
elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or
question-at-issue, assumptions, concepts, empirical grounding; reasoning
leading to conclusions, implications and consequences, objections from
alternative viewpoints, and frame of reference. Critical thinking - in being
responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes - is
incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them:
scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking,
anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and
philosophical thinking.

Critical thinking can be seen as having two components:

1. a set of skills to process and generate information and beliefs, and
2. the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to
guide behavior.

It is thus to be contrasted with:

1. the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, [[because it
involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated,)
2. the mere possession of a set of skills, [[because it involves the
continual use of them,) and
3. the mere use of those skills [["as an exercise") without acceptance of
their results.

Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
manipulation of ideas in service to one's own, or one's groups', vested
interest. As such, it is typically intellectually flawed, however
pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its
selfish use.

Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality
is therefore usually a matter of degree and dependent on, among other
things, the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or
with respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical
thinker through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with
such-and-such insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies
towards self-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking
skills and dispositions is a life-long endeavor.

Three Definitions of Critical Thinking

[gibran]

cc...while intelligence can be considerfed innate you have to acquire these skills [[critical thinking) and how do you acquire such skills?