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MrsJoe 76F
17280 posts
6/26/2016 8:35 am

Once upon a time, people strived for improvement, to win the "prize" and be the best they could be. Thanks to the dumbing down of our schools, abuse of affirmative action, and the "everybody wins" mentality that is being taught, this is no longer true.
You mentioned China. Just look at their educational system. Those kids work hard, just to get into the good schools. True, it is government run, but then so are most of ours. Just go take a look at the differences, AND THE RESULTS!
It is my fervent prayer that the people of our country soon become tired and disillusioned with the ultra liberal crap that is being pushed down our throats and ruining our country, and vote for people who believe in personal and governmental responsibility. Sadly, I am afraid we may never see it again.


Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


hermitinthecity 70M
1691 posts
6/26/2016 8:45 pm

    Quoting  :

It's an interesting thought, but I'm not so sure about the scientist thing you mention here etc. This is really a great oppourtinity for anyone with brains to really make it also. With a lot of lazy people failing it will be easier for the achievers to succeed without too much competition, granted there may be a few less but anyone with an ounce of brains coupled with drive could capitalise on the situation.

Again - sure they can give 'spots to women and minorities' but only the achievers will make it. Maybe a few 'home schoolers' will run it everything one day.

Judgment Day will be interesting - and all paths lead there.


bondjam33 70M
840 posts
6/27/2016 3:31 am

I find it interesting, and amusing, that this article has been redacted in such a way as to fit a completely different agenda to that put forward by its original writer in December 2010. I am sure Professor McCoy would not recognise the message of his work

“Despite the aura of omnipotence most empires project, a look at their history should remind us that they are fragile organisms. So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly bad, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, 22 years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003. (NOTE THIS DATE)

Future historians are likely to identify the Bush administration’s rash invasion of Iraq in that year as the start of America’s downfall. However, instead of the bloodshed that marked the end of so many past empires, with cities burning and civilians slaughtered, this twenty-first century imperial collapse could come relatively quietly through the invisible tendrils of economic collapse or cyber warfare.

…Available economic, educational, and military data indicate that, when it comes to U.S. global power, negative trends will aggregate rapidly by 2020 and are likely to reach a critical mass no later than 2030. The American Century, proclaimed so triumphantly at the start of World War II, will be tattered and fading by 2025, its eighth decade, and could be history by 2030.

It would also appear that Professor McCoy has a completely different explanation of the decline he seeks to narrate and predict. His analysis is that the decline in technological innovation reached its nadir in 2009. Significant? Perhaps. Coincidence? Probably.

A harbinger of further decline: in 2009 the U.S. hit rock bottom in ranking among the 40 nations surveyed by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation when it came to “change” in “global innovation-based competitiveness” during the previous decade. Adding substance to these statistics, in October China’s Defense Ministry unveiled the world’s fastest supercomputer, the Tianhe-1A, so powerful, said one U.S. expert, that it “blows away the existing No. 1 machine” in America.

Add to this clear evidence that the U.S. education system, that source of future scientists and innovators, has been falling behind its competitors. After leading the world for decades in 25- to 34-year-olds with university degrees, the country sank to 12th place in 2010. The World Economic Forum ranked the United States at a mediocre 52nd among 139 nations in the quality of its university math and science instruction in 2010. Nearly half of all graduate students in the sciences in the U.S. are now foreigners, most of whom will be heading home, not staying here as once would have happened.

Blaming President Obama for the decline predicated in this article is completely disingenuous as the article clearly lays the blame on the preceding period from 2003 -2010. After all this article was written in 2010 when President Obama had been in office for only 2 years.ALL of the effects detailed (and the article is MUCH longer than this) are attributed to the period immediately preceding 2010. Significant? Definitely. Coincidence? Probably not.


bondjam33 70M
840 posts
6/27/2016 3:46 pm

I am not sure how the 'rose coloured glasses' comment has any relevance here.
I was not reinterpreting the piece but simply put it back in its original context. The implications of that for its message are absolutely clear - as long as you are able to see through your glasses, no matter how darkly.


bondjam33 70M
840 posts
7/2/2016 3:34 pm

    Quoting bondjam33:
    I am not sure how the 'rose coloured glasses' comment has any relevance here.
    I was not reinterpreting the piece but simply put it back in its original context. The implications of that for its message are absolutely clear - as long as you are able to see through your glasses, no matter how darkly.
Deflection ? I am disappointed.

As for blaming Bush -- ask Professor McCoy about that. He wrote the original and his narrative certainly put the blame on the period 2003-2010; as can be plainly seen in the article.I did not apportion blame, simply restored the original conclusions of the author.