Dear Commons Community,

This is my absolute last post on Donald Trump.  Actually I promised this to myself a couple of days ago but Charles M. Blow’s column today makes a point that is just too important and  needs to be shared as much as possible

Mr. Blow, reflecting on Trump’s candidacy and its popularity among  some members of the right, comments that it doesn’t reflect American  ideology as much as it exposes the flaws within it.   To quote:

“It further exacerbates a corrosive culture on the right that now celebrates the Cult of Idiocy — from Glenn Beck to Michele Bachmann — where riling liberals is more valuable than reason and logic, and where intellectualism and even basic learnedness is viewed with suspicion and contempt.

It further advances the campaign of the rich and powerful in America to exploit the fears of those who feel most fragile in an effort to increase or insulate their fortunes.

It further enshrines the destructive pop culture dogma that fame and fortune grant moral wiggle room to flout the rules and obscure the truth.

And, yes, it further plays to the heavy racial undertones that have marked this presidency. (This was underscored in the ugliest of ways last week when Marilyn Davenport, a Tea Party activist, sent an e-mail containing an Obama ‘family portrait,’ portraying them as apes under the phrase, ‘Now you know why no birth certificate’.”

Thank you, Mr. Blow!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday I posted on Donald Trump’s presidential aspirations.  There has been no let-up on his candidacy in the popular media over the past couple of days. But perhaps the most entertaining piece was a compilation of video clips (see below) by MSNBC.  If you are at all interested in his candidacy, I think you will enjoy it.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Inside Higher Education has an extensive article on CUNY and the current debate on Gen Ed  requirements.  This has received a lot of attention locally within CUNY but this brings the issue to our colleagues around the country.  CUNY’s  central administration proposed in January the creation of a common general education framework across all of our two- and four-year colleges, which would cause many institutions to significantly trim their current requirements, some of which require as many as 60 credits. CUNY has also proposed a brand-new, overarching transfer agreement that would guarantee that liberal arts and sciences courses taken for credit at any CUNY institutions be accepted for credit by any other CUNY institutions, even if an equivalent course exists at the transfer institution.    The article comments that:

“The comprehensive reform efforts, including the trimming and standardization of general education requirements, that CUNY is pursuing are similar to efforts made within the State University of New York system two years ago and those currently being pursued between the California Community Colleges and the California State University System. Many higher education experts have commented in recent years that two- and four-year institutions should strive to make the transfer process easier and more seamless.”

At stake are important faculty governance and curriculum prerogatives.  In addition there is a “push-me/pull-me”  issue between community college faculty and four-year college faculty as to the quality of the two-year transfer courses vis-à-vis four-year degree programs.  Our colleague, Sandi Cooper, chair of our CUNY-wide University Faculty Senate, is quoted as saying “the broad changes being proposed by CUNY’s central administration are a “transparent attempt to ensure faster graduation” and that while “citing student complaints about the problems of transfer,” it is “proposing a cure that threatens the entire validity of the four-year degree.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Donald Trump is picking up a good deal of publicity as a possible presidential candidate in 2012.  Exactly on what party’s ticket (Republican or Independent), is still up in the air.  David Brooks had a column on why Donald Trump appeals to some people.  He commented:

“there has always been a fan base for the abrasive rich man. There has always been a market for books by people like George Steinbrenner, Ross Perot, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Bobby Knight, Howard Stern and George Soros. There has always been a large clump of voters who believe that America could reverse its decline if only a straight-talking, obnoxious blowhard would take control. And today, apparently, Donald Trump is that man.”

Richard Cohen in his column for the NY Daily News observed:

“For whatever reason, Trump has risen to the top of potential Republican presidential favorites. Maybe this is on account of name recognition, maybe because the public likes his television manner (kind of a latter-day Mussolini) or maybe because people think the country needs a businessman to do the right thing…. He refers to himself often in the third person. He is bombastic, sometimes cruel, utterly domineering and not in the least bit fastidious about the truth. “Donald is a believer in the big lie theory,” his lawyer told Vanity Fair. “If you say something over and over again, people will believe you.”   Cohen concludes  his column that other candidates should “ B E W A R E”.

But perhaps the best insight into Donald Trump occurred yesterday while being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos for a “Good Morning America” segment that turned rather heated.  Trump lashed out at Stephanopoulos after several questions regarding Trump’s obsession with  President Obama’s birth certificate.  Trump accused  the ABC host of being “co-opted” by President Obama’s “minions” .  See the video below.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The NY Times is reporting that the tornadoes over the past several days in the South have forced the closing of Shaw University, one of the oldest historically black colleges in the country.   Officials decided to close Shaw indefinitely.  The university, a private Baptist institution, was founded in 1865.   Commentators praised Shaw’s president, Irma McClaurin, for quick decision-making and expressed confidence that the university would survive.

Some students cheered the early vacation. But the news prompted more anxiety for others. Some seniors were upset that they would not have the opportunity to improve their grade point averages with final exams and projects.  But anxiety began to subside by Monday afternoon as professors began responding to e-mail, and the university said it was putting together a Web site to help students contact instructors.

Shaw officials were still assessing the damage Monday, and it remained unclear when classes would resume.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

For the past year or more, we have been bombarded by proposals from the left, the right, the Democrats, the Republicans, the Tea Party, to solve our country’s fiscal problems.  Every proposal has its supporters, detractors and rationales for why it will work – cut the deficit, create jobs, spur the economy, etc.   We wonder how all of  these proposals, many of which contradict one another can justify their claims.  In referring to the latest proposal by the House Republicans, Paul Krugman, in his column today, comments on the Heritage Foundation.

“When the proposal was released, it was praised as a “wonk-approved” plan that had been run by the experts. But the “experts” in question, it turned out, were at the Heritage Foundation, and few people outside the hard right found their conclusions credible. In the words of the consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers — which makes its living telling businesses what they need to know, not telling politicians what they want to hear — the Heritage analysis was “both flawed and contrived.” Basically, Heritage went all in on the much-refuted claim that cutting taxes on the wealthy produces miraculous economic results, including a surge in revenue that actually reduces the deficit. “

Krugman further comments:

“By the way, Heritage is always like this. Whenever there’s something the G.O.P. doesn’t like — say, environmental protection — Heritage can be counted on to produce a report, based on no economic model anyone else recognizes, claiming that this policy would cause huge job losses. Correspondingly, whenever there’s something Republicans want, like tax cuts for the wealthy or for corporations, Heritage can be counted on to claim that this policy would yield immense economic benefits. “

Thank you again, Dr. Krugman!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In honor of April 18^th (Tax Filing Day), I posted yesterday about the top-ten American corporations that evade taxes.  Today the AP is reporting that the Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year. The average income on those returns in 2007, the latest year for IRS data, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.  The top income tax rate is 35 percent, so how can people who make so much pay so little in taxes?

The nation’s tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level. There are so many breaks that 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010, according to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.   To be balanced, more than half of the nation’s tax revenue came from the top 10 percent of earners in 2007. More than 44 percent came from the top 5 percent. Still, the wealthy have access to much more lucrative tax breaks than people with lower incomes.

This article also mentions Eric Schoenberg who wants to pay higher taxes.

Schoenberg, who inherited money and has a healthy portfolio from his days as an investment banker, has joined a group of other wealthy Americans called United for a Fair Economy. Their goal: Raise taxes on rich people like themselves.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

As many individuals prepare to submit their tax returns tomorrow (IRS extended the filing deadline this year from April 15^th to April 18^th),  Alternet and MSNBC have posted “top ten” lists of corporate tax dodgers.  There are actually eleven in the list below because GE earns a special spot by virtue of the fact that it pays no taxes.

*GE      

1. Google
2. Boeing
3. News Corp. (FoxNews, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rupert Murdoch and Company)
4. Pfizer
5. Oracle
6. Altria (Philip Morris)
7. IBM
8. TimeWarner
9. Morgan Stanley
10. Microsoft

God Bless These Companies and God Bless America!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Flip video camera went on sale in 2007, quickly dominated the camcorder market and sold two million of the pocket-size, easy-to-use cameras in the first two years. Then, in 2009, Flip was sold to Cisco Systems, the computer networking giant, for $590 million.   On Tuesday, Cisco announced it was shutting down its Flip video camera division.

Even in the life cycle of the tech world, this is fast.  In four years, Flip has gone from start-up, to dominant camcorder maker, to out of business.    Smartphones with built-in video recorders basically destroyed its market.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I hate to give Rush Limbaugh coverage on this blog but I have to draw attention to his latest outburst where he refers to President Obama in vile tones and refers to his Democratic base as savages.  Here is a sample of his viciousness:

“His base is made up of people even more vile than he [Obama] is,” he said. “You’ve got…a lot of it is just walking human debris on the Democrat base side…That bunch of people, those savages that make up the Obama base, are fit to be tied,” he said. He had to get them back, and the one way to do it was to go out and savage us. That’s what they love. That’s what they get off on. That’s their orgasm. ‘Cause these people can’t find willing mates.”

The savages are Limbaugh, the radio stations, and other media that profit from his daily bigoted, obscene tantrums.

Tony