Aspen Institute holds panel discussion on community colleges for financial gain

The panels were convened at the Aspen Institute, February 4, Monday, in Washington, DC, including the one devoted to community colleges.

Though the concept has been around for over a hundred years, the community colleges hadn't found their niche in academia until the 1990s.  Were they an extension of high school, a sort of remedial secondary school for those students who wanted entry to some four-year college; or, were they really a trade school with a scattering of some high school subjects--just what?  Having taught some years in a community college in the Chicago area and thinking that community colleges offer opportunities to improve one's financial future by providing on-the-job training while encouraging them to increase their participation in their society beyond the level of an ordinary citizen, I have witnessed jockeying over the years that the movement has edged itself into higher education as a legitimate way for its graduates to become bona fide members of their community in good standing.  More likely than not, they have a job that the community college trained them for and they take civic pride in the duties and activities afforded their status as the stable backbone of their society.

Indeed, in some states, the government is so enamored by their presence and by their contributions to the common weal that they encourage the upcoming crop of youth to take advantage of their educational opportunities free of charge! Just pay for texts and room and board.   

Brookings Institute: Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operrations Discussant

The discussion was held at the Brookings Institute, Washington, DC on January 28, 2019.  It was to include plans for the future and an assessment of its maritime current activities.

Now I know that the navy has an especial role in the conduct of a military theater and that it can take advantage of its particular geographical placement: it is water-based; and that means it can travel on seas and its reach stretches across all kinds of land terrains. Nor is its fire power constrained to the sea.  Its drones and planes hop around nimbly on land masses!  The Admiral admitted the navy plans are limited to a 5-year cycle--after which results are evaluated and assessed, I would imagine.

The navy's mission in peacetime involves patrolling international sea lanes and cable networks under the sea to protect them from any threat of interference in the conduct of commerce and trade.  At the meeting, questions from the audience came up about China's patrolling of the South China Seas; but the Admiral did not take up the issue of whether the United States felt China was doing a responsible job in assuring passage of ships and vessels on that waterway. Nor did the Admiral have anything to say regarding the United States' response to the Russian recent detaining Ukrainian sailors and seizing their ships in an open sea separating Ukraine from Crimea.  Ought NATO to have become forthwith involved in responding to that seizure?

I came away from the presenation with puzzling questions about current plans the navy is undertaking for growth.  But one fundamental question has emerged as a central concern, viz., whether the navy is really taking advantage of its unique position as a maneuverable resource--readily placed in a locale, then moved to another locale--in carrying forth its field operations on the myriad of waters that circumnavigate the world. 

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Note-taking of the discussion by Kyla Roberts, Catholic University Graduate Student
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The odyssey continues....about plans it may have cast into current projects....
What could the US Navy be doing amid all that water?  What wondrous 'sins' are being wrought? 

The Russians have escounced themselves in Syria and taken over one of its warm-water seaports.  They also are anticipating China to build a deep-sea port in the Crimea for them.  And China itself is developing military installations in the China South Sea area.  We are also aware that England, currently in the throes of Brexit, once ruled the seas. May it again assume a dominating role in sea power?

Case Managers are needed for the Elderly

--Preferably with an advanced degree in social work.

As the population ages worldwide, I believe so does the need for social workers to represent the elderly among us  I have become aware of what case managers can do for the elderly, because I have benefited from their concern for over one and a half years, now.

To my mind the greatest service they perform is being an advocate for the elderly person they represent.  It is true that an elderly person may have more than one case manager, each one deducated to the client, representing the individual older person in some way according to the case manager's realm of expertise.  But a case manager no matter how he functions in meeting some need of the person he represents is the elderly's representative.  Similar to a lawyer's function in the judicial field.

The other day I couldn't get through to my dentist, because of the way he has set up to be contacted.  I needed the services of my case manager (appointed for that specific instance) to cut through the red tape and make the appointment for me, while I sat next to him, providing him with information when I would be available.  You wouldn't think that a case manager would be needed just to make an appointment to see a dentist, but such an occasion had arisen in my case after I tried on my own to make the appointment for several days.   It happens; and I'm glad I had a case manager available who could get through the red tape.  An elderly person on his own simply doesn't have the perseverance to follow through on something protracted, I believe.  She did a fantastic job in getting me furniture once we decided on a senior residence for me.

I am just in the midst of changing my case manager.  The one I've had for the past year plus has taken on additional responsibilities making herself available to me only for consultation.

But it was through her services  that I was able to make a smooth transition from living in El Paso, Texas to coming back to living in DC.  I am most indebted to her--Esther Ford of Miriam's Kitchen in DC.       

To the UK: A better deal; is no deal!

If the Prime Minister May can take all the criticism that will continue to come her way, don't make any deal.  A deal outside the situation of separation is a dream deal, not confronting the reality that the break heralds.  Wait for the reality of separation before confronting the manifold factors of griving rise to multi-faceted circumatnances one could not have envisioned.

Also, I am veryglad to learn that the UK will continue as a member of TPP.  Someone has to have good sense!  The trading block is sure to take off in Asia!  Cheerio to you. 

Best to you.  You are having the beneffit of my over 30 years of dealing with in situ circumstances.

Cato's Discussion: "What to do about US support of the Saudis in the Yemen Civil War?"

Perhaps, no topic is more deserving of widespread discussion in the US as to how supportive of the Saudis should the US be in the former's pursuit of war in Yemen?    And, I am grateful that the Cato discussion raised the issue, no matter how couched in political verbiage it was handled (in my opinion).  The event took place in Washington, DC at the Cato Institute, December 7th, 2018.

The point could be made in a much larger historical context:  Should the US have become involved in the Medieval war waged by certain Christian states (known as the Crusades) to take over the Middle-East Palestinian peninsula--assuming the US had existed at the time?  But that is precisely what the US is doing today.  It has joined forces in a religious war between Sunnais and Shia'a Muslims in both Yemen and Somalia (so it would seem), favoring the Sunnai Muslims (e.g., Saudi Arabia) in both cases.  Even more outrageous. the US administration apparently never asked us citizens whether we want to become combatants in a religious war that is tearing apart at least two countries and killing countless number of civilians including children in the region?  How dare we become participants in a religious conflict that dates back to the time of Mohammed himself!  What is wrong with our national government!  Hooray, for President's dictum, Don't get involved!

So, now in Sweden, the UN is sponsoring cease-fire talks among the two ever-warring factions in the Muslim religion.  I hope the discussions enter the theological realm, so that there is some final resolve to the bitter hostilities that have marred the history of the world since the early centuries A.D. of the Muslim faith.  It is true the Middle Ages is replete with the bloodshed wrought over the many European Crusades, but cannot the Muslims learn from the horrors the Crusade annals record in Christianity? 

There is no hope until a Muslim unity challenges the option of war and its human annihilation as concomitant necessary effect.  And, please, let not the United States become involved on either side of  forces in some religious war either by supplying weaponry to the combatants or sending up our drones to wreak havoc in support of a particular religious, Muslim faction.




               

Reflecting on recent development: My making friends in DC

I am beholden to any federal agency that has made it possible for me to return to DC.

When I was here a few years ago and thought I was staying but didn't, I experimented with the help of that federal agency to reach out in friendship to groups in the area to get to know them.  It was successful, but I couldn't do much than just meet with a few, very few groups.  This method is available to me only in DC.

Anyway, I'm back!  And just recently, the federal agency sponsoring my final return has apparently made available to me this one-on-one communication once again.  I've tried it on several occasions in the last few days with again good results.

This enables me to add to the blog method of communication with those interested in knowing what I'm about.  So, onward to my making more friends with whom to carry on conversation!  My pleasure.

What purpose can you have in a world of automation?

Up to very recently, a man's identity (i.e., who he was in the community) was tied to what he did as a living.  If he was a tradesman in the Middle Ages, he could be known as one, e.g., John Smith, the town's man who worked with horses.  Then, when man worked in factories, he was identified with the product he made.  Today, automation has taken away many jobs from workers that they used to have, particularly on assembly lines and in maintaining company books. 

On the Washington Journal program aired December 3rd over C-Span, the findings of the current status of the working class was presented by its authors of Opportunity America, headed by Tamar Jacoby.  The statistics mentioned demonstrated that workers are experiencing a wage crunch caused by the necessity for workers to compete against computerized operations, wherein AI machines now make human intervention in productivity systems virtually obsolete. 

Even in agriculture, machinery, I am told, will soon displace countless farmer laborers in such activities as planting and harvesting crops! 

In a world of machinery and humans interacting on a continual basis, how is the human being to count for something?  How can he feel purposeful and his efforts needed and valuable?  Already, the unemployed can become despondent and irrelevant to today's active and productive atmosphere, which is presented him on TV.

This is becoming an ever increasing stark reality:  fewer jobs for the takers.

I think the paths to self-worth can be found in the government offices of unemployment who deal with workers who have not worked for many years.  Re-training isn't the answer for those over prime working age.  They may find themselves doing odd jobs around hospitals, volunteering to work with mentally challenged persons, like doing household jobs for them, and some even volunteer to do non-paying jobs in political campaigns.  The point is they are reaching out to make a contribution to society, in particular, in their community, whether or not they are gainfully employed.  For they are attending to the needs of other humans, which, hopefully, brings about greater happiness for all to share.