I couldn’t agree more:

HAMPTON, Va. — President Barack Obama, addressing graduates at historically black Hampton University on Sunday, said that it is the responsibility of all Americans to offer every child the type of education that will make them competitive in an economy in which just a high school diploma is no longer enough.

Moreover, Obama said, the era of iPads and Xboxes had turned information into a diversion that was imposing new strains on democracy. “You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank that high on the truth meter,” he told the students. “And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.”

Obama told the nearly 1,100 graduates assembled in the university’s sun-splashed Armstrong Stadium that they have the added responsibility of being role models and mentors in their communities.

Obama said education can help them manage the uncertainties of a 21st century economy. For much of the last century, a high school diploma “was a ticket to a solid middle-class life,” he said. But no more, as jobs today often require at least a bachelor’s degree – or higher.

“All of us have a responsibility, as Americans, to change this, to offer every single child in this country an education that will make them competitive in our knowledge economy. That is our obligation as a nation,” the president said.

Obama said the graduates also must be role models and mentors in their communities. And they must pass the sense of an education’s value on to their children, as well as the sense of personal responsibility, self-respect and the “intrinsic sense of excellence that made it possible for you to be here today,” he said.

Read the New Huffington Post. INFO

There’s a new HuffingtonPost.info out there now (not connected to huffingtonpost.com). It features a more balanced approach to politics and other news. You can find opinion from both the right and the left, instead of the biased commentary you sometimes get on huffingtonpost.com. Check it out………

Sort of like the long ago, Bubble Boy as played by John Travolta in the 1976 movie, now there’s a Bubble Lady, Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes, 52, who spends ten hours a day, seven days a week inside her 160-square foot “bubble” in order to be chemically free. The $10,500 bubble is a galvanized-steel-and-porcelain shed right outside her house in South Whitehall, PA. Her neighbors call it “unsightly.” Her “bubble” is attempting to save her life from “environmental illness.” WowOwow spoke with Feudale-Bowes inside her home where she was taking a break from the bubble, as pressure mounts after the town judge ordered her sanctuary torn down due to zoning ordinances.
Continue reading ‘Bubble Lady Tells wowOwow: ‘Town Has Imposed Death Sentence on Me’’

Here in Wasilla, the small Alaskan town where until two years ago Sarah Palin was mayor, her speech officially to accept the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential nomination was greeted with tears and disbelief. Continue reading ‘‘She’s like a moose going after a cabbage’’

So, okay. Summer is here and work is light. This means I should be enjoying myself, right? Well, I am, though I’m experiencing a certain amount of angst and nervousness. I’m looking up textbooks I need to buy, places I can check out to living, and student organizations that might want to join. I’m also reading the blog of someone who’s going to soon be a second-year veterinarian student.

As to the latter, according to this vet student, there are two types of vet students. One believes that one should study endlessly. The harder you study, the better you’ll do. Therefore, the better jobs will be available to you once you graduate. Work hard, and you’ll do fine. That’s about it. The other school of thought is that you shouldn’t just focus on studying, but should also get out there and join as many organizations as possible, so that you get as much experience as you can. Grades are only secondary.
Continue reading ‘Should you be Book Smart, or Streetsmart’