The headline: American Adults Score Below Average on Global Test
Is anyone surprised... anyone at all...???
The study: The Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies
The news, as reported by Kimberly Hefling of the AP, is:
In math, reading and problem-solving using technology —
all skills considered critical for global competitiveness and economic strength
— American adults scored below the international average on a global test,
according to results released Tuesday.
Adults in Japan, Canada, Australia, Finland and multiple
other countries scored significantly higher than the United States in all three
areas on the test.
Beyond basic reading and math, respondents were tested on
activities such as calculating mileage reimbursement due to a salesman, sorting
email and comparing food expiration dates on grocery store tags. Not only did Americans
score poorly compared to many international competitors, the findings
reinforced just how large the gap is between the nation's high- and low-skilled
workers and how hard it is to move ahead when your parents haven't.
Among the [specific] findings:
Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of
problem solving in a technology-rich environment. The top five scores in the
areas were from Japan, Finland, Australia, Sweden and Norway, while the U.S.
score was on par with England, Estonia, Ireland and Poland.
Japan, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Sweden,
Norway, Flanders-Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and Korea all scored
significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test.
The average scores in literacy range from 250 in Italy to
296 in Japan. The U.S. average score was 270. (Average scores in 12 countries
were higher than the average U.S. score.)
The average scores in math range from 246 in Spain to 288
in Japan. The U.S. average score was 253, below 18 other countries.
7 comments:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/priests-risk-arrest-offering-sacraments-catholic-troops-during
Some Catholic priests under contract or GS (general schedule) to the military are not allowed to offer the Catholic sacraments - including saying Mass, consecrating marriages, or performing baptisms - on military property during the government shutdown, and if they do, even on a volunteer basis, they risk being arrested, according to the general counsel for the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
About 25% of the U.S. military is Catholic, some 275,000 service members, but there are only 234 active-duty priests. To fill the gap, contract or GS priests are brought in. But under the rules of the shutdown, many of those priests cannot perform their religious duties on military bases unless their contracts allow it.
“These men are employed by the government to ensure that a priest is available when an active duty Catholic Chaplain is not present,” said John Schlageter, general counsel for the archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. “With the government shutdown, many GS and contract priests who minister to Catholics on military bases worldwide are not permitted to work – not even to volunteer.“
* SOUNDS INSANE, HUH? WELCOME TO AMERIKA.
“During the shutdown, it is illegal for them to minister on base and they risk being arrested if they attempt to do so,” said Schlageter.
* ...SAID, SCHLAGETER, GENERAL COUNSEL FOR THE ARCHDIOCESE FOR THE MILITARY SERVICES, USA.
He explained, for example, if a Catholic family has a baptism scheduled for this weekend on an Air Force base staffed by a GS or contract priest, that baptism “is most likely cancelled.”
* EVEN IF THE PRIEST WAS WILLING TO WORK PRO BONO!
If you are stationed in Japan or Korea and served by a GS or contract priest, “then you have no choice but to go without Mass this weekend.”
* NICE...
“Until the federal government resumes normal operations, or an exemption is granted to contract or GS priests, Catholic services are indefinitely suspended at many of those worldwide installations served by contract and GS priests,” said Schlageter.
* IT WOULD COST ZERO DOLLARS TO EXEMPT VOLUNTEER ACTIVITY.
“At a time when the military is considering alternative sources of funding for sporting events at the service academies, no one seems to be looking for funding to ensure the Free Exercise rights of Catholics in uniform,” said Schlageter. “Why not?”
* I BELIEVE WE KNOW WHY NOT...
Steve Skojec with CatholicVote.org said, “This is outrageous. It is a violation of the First Amendment. It is a prohibition of the free exercise of religion to order priests under penalty of arrest that they cannot volunteer their time to offer Mass to the faithful on base. This cannot be allowed to stand.” “Our government is out of control,” concluded Skojec.
* I AGREE!
CatholicVote.org posted further comments from John Schlageter and the Military Archdiocese, noting that, so far in Northern Virginia, “3 Masses have been cancelled at local Fort Belvoir.” In addition, “In one situation a couple that is to be married at an Air Force Base this Saturday and did all of their preparation with a GS priest will now be married by an active duty priest who is being taken in from somewhere else,” said Schlageter.
The general counsel also reported, “We are also learning that some chapel musicians will not be able to play at Sunday Mass during the furlough.”
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Ashley McGuire, a senior fellow with The Catholic Association, said in a statement, "The idea that a priest would be arrested for or blocked from celebrating Mass for members of the military is something out of a totalitarian horror show. The government should do everything in its power to make sure that our servicemen and women are not punished with religious liberty violations during the government shutdown. This is yet another example of the Obama administration playing politics with our religious liberty."
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/nih-stops-therapy-dogs-visiting-sick-children
The Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health has suspended its dog therapy program because of the government shutdown, according to John Burklow, spokesperson for NIH.
Burklow said the dogs, which pay visits to patients in the hospital, including children with cancer, have to seen by veterinarians, and a “team” on staff made the decision to suspend program.
“A vet needs to evaluate the dogs, and given that there is a 25% reduction in staff (furloughed), we focus our activities and staffing on the care of patients already at our hospital,” Burklow said.
* FOLKS... READ ON!
Volunteers run the dog therapy program...
* ONE... MORE... TIME...
Volunteers run the dog therapy program...
(*PURSED LIPS*)
...but the veterinarians are on NIH staff and are paid as federal employees.
AND HAVE THE VETERINARIANS BEEN FURLOUGHED...??? ANY OF THEM? ALL OF THEM? WHAT'S THE EXACT SITUATION...?!?!
In an Oct. 3 interview on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, Abbey Whetzel talked about her son, Sam, who is dying of leukemia and enjoyed it when he was visited by the dogs. “They can only come once a week, but it's the highlight of Sam's week,” Whetzel said, adding that she was informed that the dogs would not be visiting because of the government shutdown.
“He was disappointed,” Whetzel said. “He really looks forward to the dogs coming.
* YOU'RE TELLING ME THIS IS NECESSARY? YOU'RE TELLING ME THE VOLUNTEERS WHO RUN THE DOG THERAPY PROGRAM HAVEN'T PROPOSED "FIXES" - INCLUDING TEMPORARY VOLUNTEER VETERINARIAN SERVICES? I... DON'T... BELIEVE... IT...!!!
“Sam has a special fondness for the little dogs that can come and just sit on his bed and lay down and curl up with him,” Whetzel said.
Burklow said the program would come back.
(*HOLDING BACK TEARS*)
“We will resume the program once the government is re-opened,” Burklow said.
* SO "SPOKESPEOPLE" ARE ON DUTY... VETERINARIANS AREN'T...??? (WOULDN'T YOU THINK PEOPLE LIKE BURKLOW WOULD BE THE FIRST TO BE FURLOUGHED AND THE LAST TO BE BROUGHT BACK? (IN A SANE WORLD!)
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/eric-scheiner/shutdown-day-7-government-buys-47174-mechanical-bull
The government shutdown may be keeping furloughed federal workers at home, but on Monday the U.S. Army contracted to buy a mechanical bull.
The $47,174 contract was awarded on Oct. 7 to Mechanical Bull Sales Inc. of State College, Penn.
* FOLKS...
* FOLKS...
According to the General Services Administration (GSA) listing, the National Guard of Utah made the request for a “bull which needs to be durable and low maintenance.”
Lt. Col. Hank McIntire of the Utah National Guard tells CNSNews.com that the mechanical bull is regularly used as a tool by recruiters at fairs and other events. “It draws attention to their message,” McIntire said.
McIntire says mechanical bulls have been used for several years by Utah National Guard recruiters. He says the previous mechanical bull had broke down and was beyond repair.
* THIS IS A GOVERNMENT FUNDING PRIORITY...
(*BITING MY LOWER LIP*)
* FOLKS... SERIOUSLY... ULTIMATELY THIS IS WHAT THE SHUTDOWN IS ABOUT. OUR GOVERNMENT BORROWING MONEY, PUTTING OUR CHILDREN IN DEBT, IN ORDER TO BUY MECHANICAL BULLS.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101093040
After months of speculation, it's official: Janet Yellen will be the next chair of the Federal Reserve...
* ANOTHER FUCKING ABSOLUTE DISASTER, FOLKS.
* AMERICA IS FUCKED. MY EVIDENCE...?
Dow and S&P futures shot higher following the announcement...
(*SHRUG*)
* WHAT'S BAD FOR MAIN STREET IS GOOD FOR WALL STREET.
(*SHRUG*)
"Markets are giving Yellen the thumbs up, counting on quantitative easing being maintained at full pace until further notice," Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney, told Reuters after the announcement.
(*HOLD BACK TEARS*)
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/327363-reid-wants-1t-debt-hike-to-end-of-2014
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is moving legislation to push the debt limit until Dec. 31, 2014, well beyond next year’s midterm election.
Senate aides estimate the bill would increase federal borrowing authority by about $1.1 trillion.
* IN ENGLISH: REID AND THE DEMS PLAN ON ADDING AT LEAST $1.1 TRILLION MORE TO THE NATIONAL DEBT THRU 2014. IS THIS WHAT YOU SUPPORT...?
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2013/10/08/obamacare_is_not_a_bailout_of_state_and_local_governments.html
State and local governments collectively owe more than a trillion dollars for retiree health care, a benefit completely unnecessary for the purpose of attracting and retaining a qualified workforce.
* RETIREE HEALTH CARE... NOT EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE!
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
Only one quarter of all large (200+ employees) employers now offer health benefits to retirees...but 77% of state and local governments still provide what is often referred to as "OPEB," for "Other Post-Employment Benefits.
Costs are soaring. Surveying 20 of California's largest cities, the think tank California Common Sense found that their OPEB costs increased 36% on average from 2008 to 2011, with some cities seeing increases of more than 50%.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
Over 60% of Detroit's annual health-care bill is for retirees, a sum ($176 million) greater than the size of the fire department's tax-funded budget.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
It's important to understand that, as shameful as state and local governments' pension-management record has been, they've been even more irresponsible with regard to retiree health care. States have accumulated over $3 trillion to pay for pension benefits. That may be $1-2 trillion short of what they need, but it's not nothing, which is close to what governments have set aside for retiree health care.
Pension benefits are prepaid out of trust funds whose value has grown through decades of contributions by employer and employee, compounded by investment returns.
* OR RAVISHED BY INVESTMENT LOSSES...
* OH... AND DON'T THINK THESE "TRUST FUNDS" ARE SACRASANCT! FUNDS HAVE BEEN "LOANED" AS WELL AS "INVESTED." BOTTOM LINE... YA GOTTA LOOK AT THE BOOKS!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Governments generally fund OPEB through a "pay-as-you-go" approach, which sounds responsible, but really means that current taxpayers pay for retired workers' benefits. Essentially, [today's] taxpayers are compensating retirees for work done decades ago.
* BASED UPON CONTRACTS SIGNED BY PEOPLE OFTEN NO LONGER FOOTING THE BILLS!
Enter ObamaCare. The new state-based, federally mandated exchanges are one of the essential mechanisms by which ObamaCare intends to expand coverage. They enable anyone without access to employer-sponsored care, or whose employer-sponsored care is too expensive, to purchase care through regulated and subsidized market exchanges.
* WHAT DOES "TOO EXPENSIVE" MEAN?
This will be a "tell" moment for state and local governments, who are normally happy to accept any financial assistance from the federal government. Granted, the exchanges do not exactly offer a free-lunch deal along the lines of stimulus or Community Development Block Grant funds. But if they're motivated, public officials will recognize how ObamaCare's subsidized coverage provides a soft landing to [their] retirees that did not exist before.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
"Bailout" is a useful term to apply only if the taxpayer winds up getting a bad deal from transferring the burden of funding retiree health care from state and local governments to the federal government. It's easy to imagine scenarios in which the taxpayer comes out ahead. Some governments, such as New York City's, don't require any cost-sharing from employees or retirees for OPEB. From the [New York state] taxpayer perspective, [federal government] subsidized care is clearly better than fully-comped care.
* SMOKE AND MIRRORS. AMERICAN AS A WHOLE SUFFERS! CITIZENS OF STATES THAT ACTED RESPONSIBLY SUFFER!
Much uncertainty prevails over how ObamaCare will play out, but two points seem clear. First, state and local governments are spending too much taxpayer money on retiree health care and should be considering every option available to them to get out of the OPEB business.
(At the very least, they should eliminate benefits going forward and for newer employees far from retirement.)
Two...most governments will need to summon substantial political will to use ObamaCare to drop retiree health-care coverage - and most of them will be acting in taxpayers' interests if they do so.
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