The sadness that is America.

I want to take a couple of minutes and berate a few pathetic government officials who a) think they know more about technology than us geeks do, and b) who think they know more about education than the teachers themselves do.

Let me start with that giant moron, the Attorney General of New York Andrew Cuomo. I saw an interview on one of the news channels last night and I must say, he HAS to be the most ignorant human being on the planet. Does he really think the telcos can a) block ALL child porn? and b) not block legitimate websites/data at the same time. He's currently my front runner to 'Delusional Man of the Year'. Mr. Cuomo, I say to you, IT WILL NEVER WORK. No matter how hard you try. No matter how much money Verizon, et al invests in filtering technology, the distributed nature of the internet and the cleverness of people will render it moot. Not to mention your pushing the boundaries of constitutionality by trying it. Your methods border on extortion and I"m amazed the big telcos didn't smack you for pulling this.

Believe me, I am not advocating child porn. I have 4 kids of my own, so there's no way I would want that. I'm only going over the truth of the matter. That it's impossible to stop with filters. It won't work. Those of you who are naysayers, try it yourself. Setup CyberNanny or some such and see what you can and cannot get to online. IT DOES NOT WORK. I beg of you Mr. Cuomo, get your head out of your ass. Anyone with any tech savvy will tell you it won't work. Listen to them instead of promoting yourself. Idiot.

Now on to the Educational system, specifically in America, but something I read yesterday from Australia is rather telling how the 1st World is coming to a screeching halt in every way culturally. There's a report coming from Australia that says one of the biggest school systems in that country are looking to DROP ENGLISH as a subject because 'it's too hard' and the kid aren't 'intellectually able to handle it'.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ENGLISH? TO HARD? IN A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY?

Un-fucking-believable. I'm astonished. Really. If English is too hard for those prats, what about Calculus? Or Chemistry? They'll be next.

I also read a report from the UK that said one of the top Governmental Education Ministers is wanting to drop the 'middle class mandated curriculum' and start teaching 'civic duty' classes. You know, all those good things that will help you pay your bills and stuff. He says the current curriculum is all about making money and that is just plain wrong. What is this world coming to? I mean seriously.

Have we all lost our senses? I know a lot of teachers. Was married to one. They know what they are doing, now let them do it. Stop putting these nutters who haven't seen the inside of a classroom for 30 years in charge of curriculum, and testing. The tests don't work. The curriculum is TOO EASY, and this current generation of students need to suck it up and realize LIFE IS A BITCH. The workplace is a nasty cage match and if you aren't prepared mentally, intellectually and emotionally, you'll never make it.

I should start writing a book, like Gibbon, called The Decline and Fall of the American Empire. Because it will need to be written, sadly sooner rather than later.