Rewriting History

The winners of all wars have written the history of their glorious victories. The losers never write history, well almost never. The Germans are trying to rewrite the history of WW2 and leave out the part about what was done to the Jews. I wonder what will be written in history about Iraq, and Afghanistan. I hope to be around long enough to read about those as history instead of current events. But not only do winners write history.

In Texas the State Board of Education rewrites history. According to their view of "History", Cesar Chavez never existed. The constitutional separation of church and state has disappeared. I wonder where it went? Capitalism also disappeared only to be replaced by "free enterprise system". Thomas Jefferson was not a writer who inspired late eighteenth and nineteenth century revolutions. I wonder if the Board of Education has informed the French of this? The "christian right" in Texas has gone too far. Unfortunately, they are making our grand state a thing of ridicule by the rest of the world. My daughter was fed up with the lack of tolerance they constantly exhibit. She left and will never return. I too am leaving. Not because I am giving up the fight, but the Governor canceled all new faculty jobs at Texas Universities by cutting the budget for higher education. I go where the work is. It is poetic that Texas will have fewer faculty to educate students in colleges. With the rewriting of history by the State Board of Education, the students will have to relearn history and that will require more teachers. Unless, of course, the state rewrites history at the university level also. The "christian right" is rewriting history and trying to make the separation of church and state disappear. I fear they will try to make academic freedom of thought disappear. If that happens, I will not be lonely in being a former Texan. It makes me very sad.

Tired of Politics as Usual

I have gotten very tired of the Republican right thinking they have the only solution after turning the economy into chaos. The heads of the party fortunately agreed to not require a "purity pledge" from candidates. I used to think that I was a Republican. I think independent would be more accurate. I voted for Jimmy Carter (not a great choice), Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (a pathetically poor choice in retrospect). Since the Republican party became the party of those that were conservative, "Christian", and refused to allow women free choice on abortion, I can no longer be an Independent, which has become a euphemism for a middle leaning Republican. I support President Obama. I am tired of KKK leaning email garbage accusing him of not being an American. I do not know if the efforts he has made to revive the economy will work, but I want him to have the chance to try.

My research is directed toward detecting financial reporting fraud. Guess what? It is still rampant. I cannot release any recent research because it needs to be in the hands of the Treasury. I have little confidence in the SEC's ability to regulate Wall Street. I do hope that the Obama administration will make an improvement. An improvement is a move toward control of the greed that is evident on Wall Street. I think this is a direct result and a legacy of the deregulation of the Bush administration.

If I have offended anyone, I suggest you take a long hard look at why you are offended. I do not apologize and have not been as strident in my expression as perhaps I wanted to be.