52nd Book: Jay Dubya (Book) - 8/5/2026 9:42:25 AM
Hi Author!
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Parody Paradise (Book) - 7/4/2026 8:40:47 AM
Miriam Smith:
I write in 8 genres, so I'll relate my comments to the 4 Part Parody Paradise adult satire series to which you have cited. I had been an English teacher from 1965-1999. During my career, I had often studied with my classes short stories by Poe, Jack London, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Hawthorne and many other classic authors. I often imagined how I would satirize those authors' stories when I retired. I waited until after my New Jersey pension had cleared, because I feared that my adult satire re-writes would be challenged by the pension fund board, since teachers in my district back in 1965 had to sign a Moral Turpitude contract upon being hired. After my pension cleared, I began publishing my 75 hardcover and paperback books, which I had begun authoring back in 1970. My formula for success was: Quality + Quantity in multiple genres = Eventual Sales Recogniton.
Best,
John Wiessner, J.W.
Jay Dubya
Parody Paradise (Book) - 7/4/2026 8:17:20 AM
Hey Jay Dubya, hope you're having a great week! I've been following your work for a bit now and honestly, your latest pieces have been amazing. The way you hook the reader is great. Quick question for you: do you have a specific routine that helps you get into the creative zone, or do you just write whenever inspiration strikes?
The Arcane Arcade (Book) - 4/2/2020 8:00:45 AM
Dr. Streitfeld was a man of much experience that you collaborated with in perfecting the stories for the world to read. A combination that will be sorely missed with his death. Thank you for publishing this work honoring his work and yours, John.
Ron
The Arcane Arcade (Book) - 12/14/2019 12:31:27 PM
And, I see that you have put out this collection with your collaboration with Dr. Leonard Streitfeld. Forgive me if I don't remember whether I have commented on this before. But it looks like that the good doctor's contributions needed to be published, and I'm glad you did.
Ron
Thirteen Tantalizing Tales (Book) - 12/14/2019 12:27:46 PM
Congrats on your latest. I see you have a rather broad range of subjects in this one. Wish I could keep up with your productivity. I do have a few short stories since the last time I published an anthology. Might do it again.
Ron
First Person Stories (Book) - 11/28/2015 10:26:01 AM
Congrats on your 49th book. I recall reading Isaac Asimov's Opus 100 and thinking what accomplishment that was. Based on your productivity, 100 books is not out of the question for you.
I don't find writing in the first person that difficult. But then, I'm probably violating the I, I, I, me, me, me rule when I do it. ;-)
I noticed that the illustration is for The Psychic Dimension, Part II, and not for First Person Stories. But it is correct that Amazon.
Keep up the good work…
Ron
Hawthorne: Hazed Hooked Hammered & Hijacked (Book) - 9/10/2015 5:48:56 AM
Your productivity amazes me! And taking on Nathaniel Hawthorne, well that is quite a task, indeed! Much success with this latest work.
Ron
Twain: Tattered, Trounced, Tortured and Traumatized (Book) - 4/3/2010 11:32:52 AM
Always enjoy reading about Mark Twain. It takes you back to adventure of his era when things were so different with such unique challenges. And this book certainly reminds us of how Twain suffered through so much yet went on to become so great.
Poe: Pelted, Pounded, Pummeled and Pulverized (Book) - 3/7/2010 3:55:41 AM
Description
Poe: Pelted, Pounded, Pummeled and Pulverized is a unique collection of eighteen classic Edgar Allan Poe short stories that have been creatively rewritten and satirized into adult parody form featuring adult content and language, and the work is author Jay Dubya’s thirty-fifth book. When Jay Dubya (John Wiessner) was a New Jersey public school English teacher, during his thirty-four year classroom career he often enjoyed teaching and reading E.A. Poe’s “influential literature” to his sometimes-enlightened middle and high school students.
Even though Poe (1809-1849) had died at a very young age, he still managed to remarkably write and publish over nine hundred pages of imaginative short stories and awe-inspiring poems.
In addition to being a superb writer, Poe was also an excellent editor and literary critic and is widely regarded as one of the most important authors in American literature. The now-esteemed writer is often referred to as “the father of the American short story” and as “the inventor of the detective story.”
Edgar married his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm and made a very modest living as a writer and as a newspaper journalist. Poe had a nasty temper, took drugs as painkillers and because of his mercurial disposition, couldn’t keep a job for any length of time. In 1847 Virginia died of tuberculosis and Poe, underfed, pale and gaunt-looking, passed away two years later.
Poe’s detective stories “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Purloined Letter” made him famous in addition to his classic horror tales “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Cask of Amontillado” and the popular-but-eerie epic “The Tell Tale Heart.”
Poe: Pelted, Pounded, Pummeled and Pulverized has three companion books that satirize the works of O. Henry, Mark Twain and Jack London.
1) O. Henry: Obscenely and Outrageously Obliterated (220 pages)
2) Twain: Tattered, Trounced, Tortured and Traumatized (212 pages)
3) London: Lashed, Lacerated, Lampooned and Lambasted (216 pages)
Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Part II (Book) - 8/19/2009 11:24:32 AM
Product Description
Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Part II: The rolls of dice in any Atlantic City or Las Vegas casino meaning the numbers two and twelve. In this unique collection of fourteen short story/novellas, the first tale "Like Clockwork"and the last one "A Second Chance" are written in the first person where the narrator describes the action using the pronouns I, me, my, and mine, which is in stark contrast to the other twelve sci-fi/paranormal tales sandwiched in between, the dozen other stories being written in the more common third person expository style of literary presentation. Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Part II is author Jay Dubya's twelfth sci-fi/paranormal story collection and his thirteenth story collection overall. Other works by this prolific author are Snake Eyes and Boxcars, Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III and Pieces of Eight, Part IV. Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas, Part II, Nine New Novellas, Part III and Nine New Novellas, Part IV are written in the "Pieces of Eight" spirit along with recent works One Baker's Dozen and Two Baker's Dozen. RAM: Random Articles and Manuscripts is a collection of 38 mostly non-fiction writings.
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Snake Eyes and Boxcars (Book) - 2/7/2009 2:31:26 AM
Snake Eyes and Boxcars
Snake Eyes and Boxcars: The rolls of dice in any Atlantic City or Las Vegas casino meaning the numbers two and twelve. In this unique collection of fourteen short story/novellas, the first tale “The Second Civil War” and the last one “The Music Portal” are written in the first person where the narrator describes the action using the pronouns I, me, my, and mine, which is in stark contrast to the other twelve sci-fi/paranormal tales sandwiched in between, the dozen other stories being written in the more common third person expository style of literary presentation.
Snake Eyes and Boxcars is author Jay Dubya’s eleventh sci-fi/paranormal story collection and his twelfth story collection overall. Other works by this prolific author are Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III and Pieces of Eight, Part IV. Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas, Part II, Nine New Novellas, Part III and Nine New Novellas, Part IV are written in the “Pieces of Eight” spirit along with recent works One Baker’s Dozen and Two Baker’s Dozen. RAM: Random Articles and Manuscripts is a collection of 38 mostly non-fiction writings.
Jay Dubya is John Wiessner’s pen name and also his initials (J.W.). John is the author of 33 books, is married to wife Joanne and the couple has three grown sons. John Wiessner is a retired New Jersey public school English teacher of 34 years and he and Joanne live in Hammonton, NJ USA.
RAM: Random Articles and Manuscripts (Book) - 10/25/2008 5:58:24 AM
Description
Random Articles and Manuscripts is a collection of thirty-eight writings and essays that reflect author Jay Dubya’s personality and philosophy. Articles range from biographical sketches to the author’s humorous adventures, and the manuscript section is dedicated to the writer’s observations about matters that run the modern-day social spectrum from the Iraq War to inherent problems associated with American society. Some of the articles in this work originally appeared in the Hammonton (New Jersey) Gazette and in the Hammonton News.
In the “Articles” section of the book, accounts recalling the writer’s personal memories of certain people are represented in the stories “A Young James Bertino,” “Mr. Charles B. Sipley” and “Little League Baseball.” Humorous experiences are recounted in “A Tale of Two Counties,” “Misadventures in Furnitureland” and “Catty Cat Catching.” The author’s youth is recollected in the renditions “Growing-up in Hammonton” and “Dogwood Hollow: 1954-‘55.” And incidents from Jay Dubya’s thirty-four-year teaching career are described in “School Assemblies,” “Williamsburg School Trips” and “The High School Faculty.”
In the “Manuscripts” section, such essay subjects as “Rap Music Is Not Music,” “Why Jimmy Brown Doesn’t Write” and “Multicultural Education” are skillfully presented. Other thoughtful essays are also included with “Freedom Isn’t Free,” “American Education Is Wasteful” and “The Trouble with American Democracy.” The creative work “Gerunds, Verbals and Participial Adjectives” is a zany effort that pokes fun at the complexity and diversity of the English language and its complicated grammar usage.
One Baker's Dozen (Book) - 3/9/2008 12:06:12 AM
One Baker's Dozen is a collection of short stories by Jay Dubya. He has written other adult fiction besides One Baker's Dozen and its sister book Two Baker’s Dozen.
Black Leather and Blue Denim, A '50s Novel and its sequel The Great Teen Fruit War, A 1960 Novel along with Frat' Brats, A '60s Novel are adult-oriented literary works constituting a trilogy. Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III and Pieces of Eight, Part IV are' short story/novella collections featuring science fiction and paranormal plots and themes. Nine New Novellas is the companion book to Nine New Novellas, Part II, Nine New Novellas, Part III and Nine New Novellas, Part IV.
All ten of Jay Dubya's sci-fi/paranormal book collections are written in a spirit that emphasizes suspense and surprise endings, literary techniques that the author enjoys implementing.
One Baker’s Dozen
1) “Luck and Love”
2) “Galaxy Gambol”
3) “The Indestructible Teacup”
4) Foreshadowing and Flashback”
5) An Erroneous Coincidence”
6) Figurines”
7) Butterton Woods”
8) “That’ll Be the Day”
9) Government Problem Solving”
10 “Global Warning Thwarted”
11 “Twelve Modern Labors”
12 “Parallel Developments”
13 “The Christian Republican Left”
Shakespeare: Slammed, Smeared, Savaged and Slaughtered, Part II (Book) - 7/22/2007 3:06:38 PM
Book Description
Shakespeare: Slammed, Smeared, Savaged and Slaughtered, Part II is adult literature featuring adult language and content. Jay Dubya converts ten of William Shakespeare's most famous plays into crazy risqué and bawdy satire/parodies. "Much Ado about Nothing" and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" are creatively assaulted along with "Henry IV, Part I" and "Henry IV, Part II." "Twelfth Night" and "The Taming of the Shrew" are also degenerated and pulverized. Jay Dubya also humorously broadsides "Julius Caesar" and "Romeo and Juliet." Finally the serious tragic plays "Macbeth" and "Hamlet" are hilariously clobbered and thoroughly corrupted. Shakespeare: S, S, S and S, Part II represents William Shakespeare as you've never before read the bard's historic work. Each play has been imaginatively rewritten and converted from dialogue into adult-oriented narrative/dialogue form. Shakespeare: Slammed, Smeared, Savaged and Slaughtered, Part II is the companion book to Shakespeare: S, S, S and S.
Nine New Novellas, Part IV (Book) - 3/31/2007 1:44:47 AM
Nine New Novellas, Part IV is author Jay Dubya’s ninth story collection written in the spirit of Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III, Pieces of Eight, Part IV, Two Baker’s Dozen, Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas, Part II and Nine New Novellas, Part III bringing the writer’s novella total up to sixty-eight.
“The Bounty Hunter” is a unique tale that mixes suspense with a well conceived revenge plot, “Batsto Village” is a sci-fi time travel adventure with a clever surprise ending and “Dreamland” describes dramatic conflict in the life of a man whose dreams suddenly become reality.
“Colliding Galaxies” is a science fiction offering that provides a rational explanation for man’s petty place in the Universe, “Greek Statutory Law” describes how an American immigrant becomes wealthy and then is affected by the power of mythology, and “Specters” depicts a man who develops the remarkable ability to have the ghosts of famous people become his modern-day servants.
Finally, “A Small World” is a chilling story that shows how a computer genius uses miniaturization to get even with past enemies, “The Music Disk” tells how two friends have a lyrical misadventure that ends in disaster, and “The Amazon Sorority” is an imaginative tale about two astronauts discovering a civilization dominated by ancient-type women warriors in the Constellation Virgo.
Two Baker's Dozen (Book) - 3/17/2007 12:54:38 PM
Two Baker’s Dozen is a collection of twenty-six short stories and is author Jay Dubya’s ninth story collection written in the spirit of Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III, Pieces of Eight, Part IV, Nine New Novellas, Nine New Novellas, Part II, Nine New Novellas, Part III and Nine New Novellas, Part IV.
Two Baker’s Dozen contains original works of science fiction, paranormal and mystery tales. Many of the stories feature suspense and surprise-endings, writing techniques that the author enjoys utilizing.
Contents
“Story Behind the Headlines” 1
“Irrigation Irritation” 9
“Illumination” 19
“Double Play” 27
“Calendar Man” 37
“New Jersey Transit” 47
“The FITS Project” 55
“Life on the Blueberry Farm” 67
“The Stealth Auto’ Device” 87
“Mariner X” 97
“The Disfavored Son” 109
“Double Trouble” 121
“The Bed” 129
“The Alien Minority” 137
“City Councilmen” 145
“Fixtures” 155
“The Jewelry Box” 163
“The Victim” 173
“Justification” 181
“Cemetery Walk” 189
“The Fountain of Youth” 199
“Modern Mythology” 207
“Higher Stakes” 217
“The Traffic Ticket War” 231
“Family Resentment” 239
“The Pondarosa” 249
Pieces of Eight, Part IV (Book) - 3/7/2007 7:59:54 AM
Description
Pieces of Eight, Part IV is a collection of eight short stories/novellas that complement the eight appearing in Pieces of Eight, the eight in Pieces of Eight, Part II and the eight novellas represented in Pieces of Eight, Part III.
“Freeze Frames” and “The Rings of Saturn” are paranormal tales; whereas, “Expedition Earth” and “Stairway to Heaven” lean more toward the science fiction side of popular literature.
“The Seven Statues” and “Salientia” mix elements of science fiction and paranormal experience. “The Price of Bigotry” is a surprise ending hate-crime murder story, and “The Love Tree” incorporates science fiction, romantic and paranormal elements in its presentation.
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part IV (Book) - 2/17/2007 9:53:04 AM
Book Description
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part IV is adult literature featuring adult content and language. The work satirizes and spoofs thirteen classic stories from U.S., British, French, Russian, Arabian literature and from Greek mythology. Jay Dubya goes right to work retelling and sideswiping tales from American literature. Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game," O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death," Jack London's "Love of Life," and Mark Twain's "Tom and Huck's Gang" are thoroughly degenerated. British Literature is also corrupted with imaginative adult renditions of Rudyard Kipling's "The Elephant's Child," Wilkie Collins's "Blow Up With the Brig," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and Charles Dickens's "Ebenezer Scrooge." Finally, Greek mythology is assaulted with a hilarious retelling of "Oedipus." French literature is not ignored with a crazy version of Victor Hugo's "The Bishop's Candlesticks." Russian lit' is broadsided with an imaginative retelling of Anton Chekov's "The Bet." And last but not least, Arabian literature is not spared from being clobbering with a new version of "The Fourth Voyage of Sindbad."
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part III (Book) - 8/6/2006 3:41:40 AM
Thirteen Sick Tasteless Classics, Part 3 is a zany collection of famous short fiction stories given new adult spins. Author Jay Dubya gives entirely new interpretations of American literature works “The Cop and the Anthem” by O. Henry, James Thurber’s “The Dog That Bit People,” Mark Twain’s “Lost in a Snowstorm,” Stephen Vincent Benet’s “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat.”
British literature is not spared bombardment with scathing satires of Saki’s “The Interlopers,” H.G. Well’s “The Time Machine,” W.W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw” and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale.”
Norse mythology is thoroughly broadsided with a new adult rendition of “Beowulf” and Greek mythology is also attacked with a new humorous version of “Theseus and the Minotaur.” The French short story is not spared as Jay Dubya presents a new witty corruption of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” and Spanish literature is also blasted with a funny spin put on Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote Fights the Windmill.”
Nine New Novellas, Part III (Book) - 6/7/2006 7:51:50 AM
Nine New Novellas, Part III is author Jay Dubya’s seventh story collection written in the spirit of Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II, Pieces of Eight, Part III and Pieces of Eight, Part IV, Nine New Novellas, and Nine New Novellas, Part II bringing the writer’s novella total up to fifty-nine.
“The Zodiac Wheel” is a unique tale that mixes suspense with a well conceived revenge plot, “The Curator” is a sci-fi time travel adventure with a clever surprise ending and “Music Psyche” describes dramatic conflict in a death-sentenced prisoner’s subconscious mind’s musical preferences surfacing from his distant past.
“76 Years” is a science fiction offering that provides a rational explanation for man’s petty place in the galaxy, “Palm Sunday” describes how two business partners’ fortunes told by a palm reader come true, and “Gratefulness” depicts and explains how a WW II veteran generously returns a favor fifty years later.
Finally, “The Department of Water” is a chilling futuristic view of what remains of the United States of America in 2105 AD, “The Oracle” tells how a man neutralizes and lifts a terrible five-generation curse on his family, and “Everything’s Relative” is an imaginative tale about two astronauts discovering three strange new world’s in the Constellation Orion.
Pieces of Eight, Part III (Book) - 5/29/2006 6:07:02 AM
Pieces of Eight, Part III is a collection of eight unique short stories/novellas that complement the eight appearing in Pieces of Eight and the eight novellas represented in Pieces of Eight, Part II and Pieces of Eight, Part IV.
“An Attic Television” and “The Timeless Sports Car” are paranormal tales having ‘50s themes; whereas, “Time Vigilantes” and “Youth Revisited” lean more toward the science fiction side of popular literature.
“A Literary Dispute” and “The Better of Two Lives” mix elements of science fiction and paranormal experience. “The Hotel Delaware” and “The Rip Van Winkle Club” are essentially fantasy stories that incorporate science fiction and paranormal elements in their presentations. Pieces of Eight, Part III is available in hardcover, paperback and Adobe Reader, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket ebook downloading formats.
The Tattoo (Short Story) - 1/2/2020 1:43:39 AM
you whet the appetite for more! I look forward to reviewing the book!
Never stop writing !
m
The Tattoo (Short Story) - 12/2/2019 9:45:06 AM
It looks like you were indeed fortunate to have a friend and co-author work with you on these short stories. Leonard Streitfeld certainly had a long life experience that enabled him to write about things others could only dream about. Especially his B-17 experience. Remarkable, given the rate that those flying fortresses were shot down over Germany.
As I read The Tattoo, I came across the characteristic Jay Dubya outlandish, dictionary lookup worthy adjectives from your vast vocabulary, and reference to local eating establishments of note, very glad to be named in fictional stories as a form of advertising.
In a way, The Tattoo reminded me a little bit of the movie, The Fly. Only in the fly, there was some semblance of science with the DNA of a fly getting mixed with the DNA of a human in a scientific procedure. On the other hand, the Hades tarantula tattoo was merely ink on skin, so the psychological turmoil that Dennis Kincaid was going through, appeared to be clearly in the paranormal fantasy of what the mind can do. Except for the apparent physical damage to Dennis's body, that could actually have been self-inflicted by taking a razor blade and attempting to cut out the various tattoos that Kincaid's alcoholic DTs told him to remove to verify the tarantula tattoo's voracious nature.
But those details were left out, including the fact that while Dennis contemplated going to a doctor, he never thought of going back to the tattoo shop and the artist that placed those seemingly living ink images under his skin.
Finally, I would have to look it up to see if the Hades tarantula exists and is indeed capable of destroying all of the other insects, including the female black widow. But I have learned that man, the ultimate predator, finds it quite easy to snatch a tarantula, skewer him on a stick and roast him into a tasty morsel, regardless of his poison.
Ron
Holiday Hooligans (Short Story) - 10/28/2019 5:22:44 AM
I always enjoy your writing.
haven't see one for review in a while, what can you send?
Never stop writing
m
Holiday Hooligans (Short Story) - 10/27/2019 9:19:37 AM
You certainly are prolific and your stories are verbose, John. With lots of details and side comments that endear you to your readers. And, you have a way of highlighting local landmarks, restaurants and other locations that will guarantee that people from those places will want to read your work to see how you treated their establishments and monuments, usually with a flair for the positive.
The story was very creative with the idea of a reverse robbery, following in the pattern of the original Secret Santa. I tried that a couple of years ago just before Christmas by going out into a very populated Westheimer business strip to a very popular Starbucks to pass out free books of mine in closing a $50 bill as a bookmark. Unfortunately, I encountered numerous homeless outside of Starbucks who eyed me with great suspicion and one who did not, refused my offer of a free book by declaring that he didn't read. But when I gave him the $50, anyway, he lit up with joy, and soon vacated his position outside of the Starbucks door to go buy his favorite addiction with his soon-to-be spent, good fortune.
With Starbucks a bust, we parked in front of an upscale grocery store and ladies emerging thanked me heavily for the books and the money, promising to make a comment where my books were sold. None did in the rush of their busy lives.
Looks like ya have another winner just in time for the Christmas season. Early bargains have already begun In this most materialistic of holy days.
Ron
Contemporary Illuminati (Short Story) - 5/17/2019 7:36:18 AM
Hi Ronald Hull:
Thanks for your review of the science fiction story "Contemporary Illuminati", which appears in the hardcover/paperback /ebook The Psychic Dimension (Part I).
I've recently revised and re-edited the aforementioned Psychic Dimension book, and I'm quite happy to report that the title is Sold Out at Walmart Online, at eBay retail vendors at Jet.com and at several worldwide Amazons. (Copy and Paste separately each item below)
https://www.ebay.com/p/The-Psychic-Dimension-by-Jay-Dubya-Hardback-2014/195090400
https://www.walmart.com/ip/The-Psychic-Dimension/406862122?u1=jplhwwc07b0025fb0009i&oid=618726.1&wmlspartner=je6NUbpObpQ&sourceid=25163977411963730282&affillinktype=10&veh=aff
Hoping you're having a great day,
Jay Dubya
John Wiessner
Contemporary Illuminati (Short Story) - 5/16/2019 11:34:14 AM
When I saw the title, I immediately thought of the original illuminati, revealed to me when the entrepreneur and inventor Elmer Frye (one of his inventions, a cliff hanging mobile home, was featured on the cover of Life Magazine) described them to me one evening from his distinctly ultra right wing posture as a member of the John Birch Society. If that lamp had been around, he would've heard me laughing to myself at the old fool's belief in conspiracy theories. He was visiting from his empire in Wisconsin, my wife, a good friend of his daughters.
Back to your story, reported with your quirky style of writing, I found the rather neat division of aunt Genevieve's estate rather strange. Exact amounts. Anyone of any wealth, usually has rather messy assets, unless all of the messy stuff was included with the home and all of its accoutrements, antiques etc. I once visited the home of an Italian lady in Morgantown West Virginia and it was filled with paintings exotic vases and tapestries, making me think that she may have been connected with the Mafia and some of these items were quite valuable.
Back your story again. I found the two lamps a bit unnecessary. I also found the power of the lamp and the esoteric writing fanciful almost beyond belief. But I'm sure magic like this appeals to many readers because it explains away many things easily.
It is my wish that all estate settlements go this smoothly between greedy relatives.
Ron
The Victim (Short Story) - 1/9/2016 1:30:39 AM
intriguing read
The Victim (Short Story) - 12/19/2015 8:51:40 AM
Some twists and turns in this highly unlikely story. Aside from the overuse of adjectives and side remarks that can be deleted without affecting the story, I failed to see the humor and even the mystery in a story that has someone suffering from a concussion and coming out of a coma. Some brain damage usually occurs, unlike the momentary unconsciousness that occurs in the boxing.
Your story paints a unfavorable view of Mexican migrant workers (like Trump). Personally I have found Roundup to be diabolical. You should write a mystery story of why people are willing to use dangerous chemicals in the name of convenience.
Ron
The Victim (Short Story) - 12/18/2015 3:08:52 PM
Thoroughly enjoyed your well-written story along with the give and take of dialog. Though a skeptic, I went along with your rationale of why Mr. Berkheimer's assailants didn't leave him for dead or finish him off. The bunch didn't strike me as sophisticated enough to pull off a ransom with success.
Ancient Greek Statutory Law (Short Story) - 10/18/2015 6:45:28 AM
You also seem to be well versed in Greek mythology. Perhaps because your students read so many of those stories over the years. This story has some interesting connections between today and ancient Greece, right down to Achilles name and the location he chose to retire, Athens, Georgia. The idea of turning to marble goes back to the ancients.
While you were telegraphing what would happen all along, I didn't see it coming. The reference to going back to page 145 in the story of Perseus and Medusa doesn't seem to have any real relevance except to reinforce the reader or warn Achilles of his pending doom. You may call it hubris, but it seems strange that Achilles would not use the shield when offered to him. And the leather sack disappearing is a bit strange.
I'm still finding all the superlative adjectives in the way of my reading.
Ron
Ancient Greek Statutory Law (Short Story) - 10/18/2015 1:48:16 AM
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your modern myth. Hubris is certainly an Achilles heel. I liked the verbal exchange between Perseus and Achilles.
Beauty in the Least (Short Story) - 9/20/2015 11:46:36 PM
I admire your clever and creative use of music trivia in this mystery, along with the repartee exchanged among the FBI agents. I do get the title which pertains to the disfigurement of two former beauty pageant contestants, and on that basis, feel it fits. I can attest that we Italians often get to the heart of matters while breaking bread together. Not so sure about all the greasy food your goodfellas eat!
Beauty in the Least (Short Story) - 9/20/2015 6:31:21 AM
These stories are a walk down trivia lane. It is amazing how agents talking around a table at a favorite Jersey restaurant can thwart a international terror plot without getting up from their sumptuous meal. ;-)
Was it, "Beauty in the Least," or, "Beauty and the Least?" The title doesn't seem to match the story very well. And the story… Well, everything became too down pat in the end with a coordinated military effort somehow requiring the Three Musketeers to do very little except watch.
Ron
The Chain Store Solution (Short Story) - 8/7/2015 10:49:50 AM
Bravo! I enjoyed so much about the story: naturally, being an FBI myself--the Italian elements; dialog and turn of phrase; the lay and stretch of your story; its simple but confounding solution to the crime; the ending.
The Chain Store Solution (Short Story) - 6/20/2015 8:26:18 AM
Once again as I read, your adjectives and adverbs remind me of comic books and their TV offshoot, Batman.
I checked out Casciano’s Coffee Bar & Sweetery. Should done that a long time ago. My publisher warned me not to put real businesses in my novels for fear of lawsuits. But I see that you use all of these landmarks to your advantage two ways: first is a way for your work to get Googled and second, if you are complementary about business establishments, getting them to buy your work. Good marketing strategy once again.
Ron
Kandu's Great Discovery (Short Story) - 1/31/2015 10:42:23 AM
A fine story with great lessons about cooperation and friendship, as well as a little understanding of life in those times. Since it's for children, you didn't mention the brutality that often occurred, as evidenced in the archaeological record.
I also noticed that the animal pit had meat in it to to lure carnivores like the lion that was captured. I assume that the herbivores that you mention would accidentally fall into the pit by following a normal animal trail to water or foraging. And, as far as I know, you can't make fire by rubbing flint against a stick. Flint makes sparks when struck against other stones, and the friction between two pieces of wood can create an ember that can be used to ignite tinder.
Ron
It's in the Cards (Short Story) - 1/9/2015 10:43:54 AM
An amusing semi-biographical, wishful story. Especially the one about your coming death. Although with Sicilian connections, that might be highly likely. ;-)
I have a couple of wealthy deceased and still alive uncles and great uncles and aunts. Hopefully I will get a mysterious message on the printer next to me telling me that, if I solve a number puzzle, and write it down, I'll learn about a long-lost inheritance… And my coming death. I'm waiting…
Ron
Doing Bristol (Short Story) - 12/14/2014 8:26:53 AM
An interesting tale and trip down memory lane. Thanks to WLS Chicago we got the latest out of the East Coast at that time, dancing all the dances and eagerly waiting for Dick Clark's American Bandstand on TV. Levittown was the template for the bungalow we moved into in 1956. That neighborhood has not deteriorated, but becoming preferred part of town with a huge mall at the end of the street.
I had a similar experience recently while taking a whirlwind 3000 mile journey from Houston to Lake Havasu City and back. It was like, "What hotel am I in today?"
Ron
Growing Young (Short Story) - 12/9/2014 9:59:35 AM
A clever idea turned into a rather preposterous story resulting in collusion between federal officials and medical doctors. As usual, I found an abundance of little-known facts sprinkled about the story. And, your use of over-the-top adverbs and adjectives remains a bit disarming. I want to change every one into something more reasonable, without making the story "boring."
Ron
The Tadpole and the Caterpillar (Short Story) - 11/10/2014 6:58:54 AM
A great little parable. I seem to recall that frogs like all manner of flying insects, including moths.
Ron
The Music Portal (Short Story) - 11/4/2014 7:07:49 AM
A very creative piece of work. Once again, I find your style of writing wordy and full of unnecessary information (comic book style). If I were an editor, I would remove much of the extraneous, but factual, information to make the story run smoother.
I also found the ten confrontations where your life was in danger, to be generally all the same type. I much expected other kinds of threats that you didn't consider, but since your threats all involved distasteful people, five confrontations would have been enough to get the point across. The last two, and especially the last one, did not put your life in danger, so I don't see you making your point by banishing a pimp for simply doing his job. In fact, most muggings and robbery are only looking for money and no one is threatened with death or serious harm in the process.
The idea of finding a higher level of existence by discipline makes a lot of sense. Also, experiencing other, entirely different venues. During my lifetime, I was forced, first by my paralysis, and later by job changes, to experience entirely different places and cultures. The result has enlightened me immensely.
Ron
Lost Identity (Short Story) - 9/13/2014 5:41:23 PM
interesting read
U.S. Reliance on China’s Green Energy: Neville Chamberlain Revisited! (Article) - 3/25/2024 2:12:49 PM
Great article. "Climate change" has always been a big scam to scare the public. The climate has always been changing and it has nothing to do with carbon emissions. It doesn't prevent politicians and celebrities from flying in private jets and buying beachfront properties. A great movie just came out Climate, the Movie: the Cold Truth, which is much more truthful and informative than Al Gore bullshit.
How and Why Socialism Is Ruining American Culture (Article) - 2/28/2023 3:28:34 PM
This is an article that had to be written. I wonder if enough people are reading it. I have a Venezuela 100 Bolivares note pinned to my bulletin board to remind me what can happen in socialistic countries. It might as well be there because it won't buy anything, even in Venezuela. Why have millions of people left countries like Cuba and Venezuela? It ain't because the living is easy in them. The Pilgrims initially owned their land in common and everyone was expected to do an equal amount of work raising crops on it. They starved. Smart people like Governor Bradford realized that people had to own their own land. When they changed to private land ownership they flourished. In Cuba the Castro spawn travel the world and stay in 5-star hotels while everybody else is lucky to be able to find a little food that isn't rotten. When a female doctor has to moonlight as a prostitute to make ends meet something is wrong.
U.S. Reliance on China’s Green Energy: Neville Chamberlain Revisited! (Article) - 10/24/2022 3:06:48 PM
Well, Ron. It looks like you can't break-out of your liberal fantasy bubble.
The Earth is 4.5 BILLION years old. The Industrial Revolution (carbon emissions, smokestacks, etc.) began only around 250 years ago.
Scientific studies indicate that the Earth has endured over 300 Ice Ages in the last 500 million years.
The last Ice Age ended around 11,000 years ago, obviously terminated by
Climate Change" and Global Warming".
Here is what is causing "Climate Change"; an event that happens every 26,000 or so years. Fact is, we're midway between the Precession of the Earth's Axis (Precession of the Equinoxes) right now.
Take the time to review this video and learn that "Climate Change is Real". However, mankind and carbon emissions has little (if nothing) to do with it.
Copy and Paste onto Google (below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUZOXczMfMo
John Wiessner
Google: Jay Dubya books
U.S. Reliance on China’s Green Energy: Neville Chamberlain Revisited! (Article) - 10/24/2022 1:49:36 PM
I certainly hope your scenario doesn't come true, because it prolongs the world's obsession with conflict and domination rather than cooperation in solving the most pressing problem the world as ever faced, global warming.
The scientific facts point to a "tipping point" that we may have already reached with the permafrost in the Arctic melting rapidly releasing massive amounts of methane. Even the Antarctic ice is melting faster than originally predicted. I first saw the signs viewing the Athabasca glacier in Alberta in 1971. Parts of your own state of New Jersey are totally destroyed by the coal and petroleum industry that makes this country great. But that time in history is over.
I predict that countries, including China, will soon be faced with natural disasters that will sap their resources and their populations requiring constant attention of their governments to control. The fact that Covid-19 came from China is no coincidence. Why they have to crackdown so hard on their own people when a virus breaks out.
Smart weapons rule the world now. China has a huge population to deal with that is hard to sustain. Their buildup is, like all communist countries, mostly boasting gamesmanship like the Soviet Union did. What happened to the Soviet Union? It collapsed on itself. You don't figure that in your unscientific analysis.
It is only through liberal universities working with dynamic companies like Tesla, that develop the weapons of the future. Not the old behemoths of power being destroyed with as little as Molotov cocktails in Ukraine. My brother is working on avionics software with major companies around the world that make things like rockets takeoff and land vertically without destroying them in the process. Scientific people don't care about war, only politicians and their henchmen, the generals.
Your analysis ignores the hydrogen economy that will be mass-produced along with oxygen from multiple green power sources. Hydrogen will power the aircraft of the future without the need for fossil fuels. Lithium and cobalt are not used in the electric engines used to drive vehicles. They are used in the batteries. And will be recycled effectively in the future. Greatly reducing sourcing from other countries like Peru for lithium.
Ron
How and Why Socialism Is Ruining American Culture (Article) - 8/19/2022 8:08:54 AM
Absolutely brilliant! Unfortunately, the eternally deceived libs will never see the forest for the trees. They don't realize what they complain about is, historically, actually their fault. Thank you for detailing the historical facts. Most people don't see the problem or conflict of interest with socialist-government-controlled education.
Your essay should be required for reading in every classroom.
Critical Race Theory & the 1619 Project (Article) - 11/1/2021 5:06:49 PM
Good, fair, balanced article that is honest. Thank you for writing this article. No doubt many uneducated and spiritually blinded people will disagree with your article, but that's their right. I don't believe in indoctrinating and forcing truth on anyone, just presenting it, like you have, and allowing people to exercise their free will to debate, argue the points etc. Again, this article is very concise, easy to understand, and from my study of history, is highly accurate.
Please keep writing more illuminating articles!
-in Christ's love, David Clure
Critical Race Theory & the 1619 Project (Article) - 8/21/2021 5:34:36 AM
Ron Hull:
You make too many presumptions and assumptions in your evaluative statements. In fact, you sound too much like a Sophist, “squeaky gears get the most grease”, BLM-sympathizer-member of the “Marxist Grievance Industry”. Your views are laden with pessimism, skepticism and cynicism. I’ll respond to your flaccid remarks and non-meritorious assertions one at a time.
The primary difference between indentured servants who later became wage slaves and the black slaves in the South was that they could work out their indenture in a few years and then were free to find work or die.
If I remember from my college History classes, one of the Indentured Slaves at Plymouth Colony became a signer of the Mayflower Compact, which was a first step toward achieving Man’s Civil Rights in the original 13 colonies. In fact, my family recently sold our 400-acre peach and produce farm to enterprising Chinese businessmen, who have sponsored “indentured workers” from China to labor in the fields. After seven years, the imported (and grateful) Chinese workers have a choice: continue working on the newly acquired farm, or evolve into the American “Free Enterprise System” and make a living on their own. And so, Ron, the notion of Indentured Workers (even in this modern age) can be a positive thing and not a negative item as you are arguing. The general position that I was maintaining in my essay is that your life (and mine along with most black folks living today) would have been much more miserable living in the medieval 1200s than in the year 2021. My Chinese neighbors now owning and laboring on the former-family farm greatly values American Capitalism over Communist China Socialism.
But I'm afraid you just repeated the white man's apologist for why racial education no longer matters.
Well Ron, I had been a public-school teacher for 34 years. Black History in America was always part of the History Curriculum. But now, CANCEL-CULTURE BLM History is being emphasized in schools over what was formerly known as chronological American History. The majority of white people (including you and me) are good folks who want to see peace and prosperity being abundant in the U.S.A. “Critical Race Theory” and the “1619 Project” are designed to diminish the contributions of European-descendent citizens in History, which in the process, is making White Students in classrooms the “Oppressors” and Black Students the “Oppressed Victims” of Systemic Racism being exploited in all American Judicial and Economic Institutions. This type of divisive indoctrination has to and must be stopped. As long as a black student perceives himself or herself as being an “Oppressed VICTIM”, the affected kids will grow-up into becoming dependent on the State and not being Independent, self-confident, successful adults. In short, neither the world nor the U.S. Government owes anybody a living. There exists sufficient opportunity out there in the USA for any self-motivated person to rise above mediocrity in the marvelous “free enterprise economy” that a free America provides.
You are missing the subtle character of race. It is not on the public-school teaching radar, but long known by psychologists. Naturally, we all tend to fear the dark of night and cherish the white light of day. When given tests psychologists have found that the color of skin matters. When children of all races were given a choice of dolls with different skin colors, most of them picked the blonde haired pink or white faced doll over the other choices. Including the black children, seeking to identify with whiteness.
First of all, PSYCHOLOGISTS are mostly false prophets who teach that humans are exclusively motivated by NEEDS and DRIVES. The real prophets in the Bible taught WISDOM outlined and evident in the Ten Commandments, but today’s Social Sciences teach an abundance of worthless KNOWLEDGE. In my world, WISDOM transcends KNOWLEDGE. I would always tell my classes, “If you listen to your teachers’ views on the U.S. economy and culture, you’ll never earn more than them. But if you constructively listen to your own conscience and follow that path, you’ll more-than-likely be more successful than any teacher on the faculty!” I often remember that in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver visited a floating island of university professors who were trying to teach spiders how to weave clothing along with other impractical, ridiculous, experimental enterprises. PSYCHOLOGISTS are today’s floating island professors. How do you account for wealthy blacks like Oprah Winfrey and Julius Erving ascending into positions of power in America? Was it because of playing with white-faced and black-faced dolls, or was it because they learned to be competitive in a fabulous free enterprise economy, and over time, both Oprah and Julius ascended from a lackluster existence, and through personal ambition, developed all-important self-confidence in making their aspirations realities.
While driving or riding with colored people I have been stopped more than 10 times for no damn reason except mixed races in the vehicle. One time on the New Jersey Turnpike where we were pulled over, and the officer came immediately to my passenger, a doctoral student from Bangladesh and started asking him questions, delaying our journey to meet his wife that he had married three months before over the phone in London England. He is currently professor and dean emeritus from Kent State University.
First of all, your’ Kent State professor friend is proof that black folks can ascend to lofty height in the United States of America just like Barrack Obama was able to become President for 8 years and Kamala Harris was able to be elected Vice-President. I find your assumed Police Harassment of black people to be somewhere between a canard and a prevarication. If you are driving 75 or more miles-an-hour on the New Jersey Turnpike, and if a trooper flashes his red warning lights behind you, then there is no way he or she knows the color of skin of the driver and/or the stopped car’s occupants. I happen to be a very close friend with six New Jersey State Troopers, and I have taught at least two dozen other excellent -character students who had evolved into NJ State Troopers. One trooper friend, a Captain, informed me that rented cars traveling north on the Turnpike with coded Florida Airport Tags along with rented vehicles traveling south on the NJ Turnpike with New York Area coded license plates are often stopped because of those targeted vehicles transporting drugs up and down Route 95. In most cases, the driver coincidentally happens to be black; he is not targeted; his license-plate and his vehicle-type is being singled-out for the purpose of intercepting drug-traffic-interdiction.
A while back, I had gotten a ticket on the New Jersey Turnpike and another one on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Northeast Extension) near Jim Thorpe. A third ticket I had received in my own town from the father of a former student, who after stopping me, insisted that the ticket not be issued. Not wanting to receive preferential treatment, I urged the local cop to write-out the well-deserved ticket of going 47 in a 35 mile-an-hour zone. The central points that I’m making here, Ron, are: Number One, that policemen should always be respected; and Number Two, that I didn’t have my driving privileges suspended because of “White Supremacy”!
The other embarrassing moment, was being pulled over in the Cadillac of our white energy engineering consultant who offered to pick us up at the airport and take us to our meetings in Austin. His passenger in the front seat was our black president of the University and future ambassador to two African countries for the United States. He laughed at the incident, but he was very familiar with it, as I was becoming.
That is why my Berkeley educated office colleague whose white grandfather had two families, one white and one black, making her black, although fair skinned, told me She would not let her son, who was so light-skinned as to be considered white, drive her Infiniti, fearing what would happen if he got pulled over. And that was over 20 years ago.
This is another preposterous, erroneous argument, Ron, so you should be more critical of your own polemics. Just pretend you’re a cop driving behind a speeding car. There is no way that you can determine the race of the driver (or passenger) by flicking on your lights and pulling them over, and then stopping behind the vehicle either you or your friend is driving. The policeman must get out of his patrol car and view the driver and his passengers through the stopped vehicle’s window. As a general rule, and from personal experience, if the stopped driver is courteous and respectful to the police officer, then the rest of the situation should remain civil.
If and when being stopped by a State Trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike, you are acting perturbed or disgruntled at being INCONVENIENCED in reaching your travel destination, then obviously, the policeman will become suspicious of your true motives.
Perhaps if you and your Kent State friend would purchase a Time-Share Property in Kabul, Afghanistan and spend several weeks there feeling genuinely “OPPRESSED”, then you would more amply appreciate the rights, freedoms and privileges generously granted to you in the United States of America.
John Wiessner
Google: Jay Dubya books
Critical Race Theory & the 1619 Project (Article) - 8/20/2021 12:06:44 PM
It's so good to see you posting again. You are so intelligent and have the facts straight when you write that it is hard to deny anything that you write. You didn't mention that those oppressed pilgrims had slaves with them, although you mentioned it later about who ruled the Middle Ages. The primary difference between indentured servants who later became wage slaves and the black slaves in the South was that they could work out their indenture in a few years and then were free to find work or die.
But I'm afraid you just repeated the white man's apologist for why racial education no longer matters.
You are missing the subtle character of race. It is not on the public school teaching radar, but long known by psychologists. Naturally, we all tend to fear the dark of night and cherish the white light of day. When given tests psychologists have found that the color of skin matters. When children of all races were given a choice of dolls with different skin colors, most of them picked the blonde haired pink or white faced doll over the other choices. Including the black children, seeking to identify with whiteness.
While driving or riding with colored people I have been stopped more than 10 times for no damn reason except mixed races in the vehicle. One time on the New Jersey Turnpike where we were pulled over, and the officer came immediately to my passenger, a doctoral student from Bangladesh and started asking him questions, delaying our journey to meet his wife that he had married three months before over the phone in London England. He is currently professor and dean emeritus from Kent State University.
The other embarrassing moment, was being pulled over in the Cadillac of our white energy engineering consultant who offered to pick us up at the airport and take us to our meetings in Austin. His passenger in the front seat was our black president of the University and future ambassador to two African countries for the United States. He laughed at the incident, but he was very familiar with it, as I was becoming.
That is why my Berkeley educated office colleague whose white grandfather had two families, one white and one black, making her black, although fair skinned, told me She would not let her son, who was so light-skinned as to be considered white, drive her Infiniti, fearing what would happen if he got pulled over. And that was over 20 years ago.
Being black does matter, and until all whites like you and I truly understand that, we should be careful saying that we are not racist.
Ron
Violence, Student Disrespect and Fighting in Schools (Article) - 6/29/2020 9:32:22 AM
Makes me glad that my 40 years was in higher education. While students could be just as antagonistic, they didn't express it physically. I told them at the beginning of class that they paid for this class and had best pay attention to me and the subject or they wouldn't benefit from the money they spent. I didn't hesitate to fail those who weren't doing the work.
You have an immense memory of all of these flights. But emotion does that to our memory. These times of high intensity get seared in our brains. The detail is very good right down to the epithets and punch by punch play-by-play. Gruesome in some cases.
But it does remind me of my high school without so many fights in the school itself. During junior high school, our vice principal was a sadist who had tremendous pinching abilities in his fingers and would be able to bring the largest student to his knees by pinching the right nerve in the kid's shoulder. Probably why, by time they got to high school, students took their fighting off-campus. But as far as general intelligence goes… The students in my high school and even in my college, largely dodging the draft, were no more studious than very average and looking for any way to get over and not have to learn anything to get a college degree.
Come to think of it, my grade school was much more violent. Remember couple of very good cat fights… One involving my girlfriend in sixth grade. I shamelessly cheered her on.
Ron
Rap Music Is Not Music (Article) - 5/19/2019 11:53:55 PM
Music is a combination of rhythm and melody. Rap is a rhythm with no melody. Therefore Rap is not music. Period.
How and Why Socialism Is Ruining American Culture (Article) - 10/28/2018 11:46:16 PM
One of us has been in a stupor for the past 60 or 80 years. I'm pretty sure its you. Fact Check these facts: America has $107 trillion of wealth. The top 10 percent hold $96 trillion of that pile. The next 40 percent hold just $10 trillion, while the bottom 50 percent (165 million) hold less than $1 trillion. That is the most severely skewed distribution of wealth in the entire industrialized world. Why? All of their money pays for the bare essentials of life: food, housing, fuel, health care, and transportation. The entire social fabric is rigged against them. They cannot advance because they have no money. Not even enough to pay for the barest essentials. They are paid minimum wages, can't afford decent housing, must eat beans, and must rely on food stamps, and other forms of welfare just to survive. They can't afford college, can't afford to own a home, can't, can't can't.
They wealthy inherit their wealth (now completely tax free), and that wealth compounds at 7 to 10 percent per year. At that rate the skew will be 32 times worse than it is today. A 50 year old who inherits $100 million will see that pile grow to $800 million in just 30 years---from doing nothing! Wake to fuck up Jay Dubya!
How and Why Socialism Is Ruining American Culture (Article) - 10/16/2018 10:24:53 AM
You sure picked the right pseudonym. I suppose you like health insurance companies raising your rates every year. Obama never should've backed down on single payer, and Republicans had the gall to attack their own idea. Every industrialized country in the world has single payer, except for greed-monger-loving America. And I suppose you oppose social security (until you get your first check) and you must've loved it when Bush/Cheney deregulated Wall Street (Bernie Madoff was in charge of one of the self-regulating Wall Street vehicle) before he got caught. Railroads still own a hell of a lot of real estate; Warren Buffet never would've bought Burlington if there wasn't big money in it. That property was a federal gift for building the railroads. And what is a two and a half trillion dollar write off if it's not a federal entitlement for the rich? I have to laugh every time some Republican reelection committee ad attacks a democrat for opposing the "middle class" tax plan passed by Trump. Sarah Sanders thinks $350,000 a year is middle class.
How and Why Socialism Is Ruining American Culture (Article) - 10/13/2018 12:58:14 PM
I was in line for a job at Home Depot once. Missed it by circumstance because I was on vacation. Your statistic about government assistance is probably correct. I have a form of government assistance to help pay for my three caregivers, yet because they are my employees, I am treated as a business and because of my retirement savings (saved in order to pay for these caregivers for the rest of my life) income, pay considerable taxes each year, without any sales income like most businesses. Unlike yours, my books are not selling.
A statistic you're avoiding is the result of Reagan inspired Republican deregulation that has been going on for the last 40 years. Wages have been stagnant and every year, middle-class people have been sliding into poverty with no equity while privatization of many enterprises has resulted in higher costs to live on every front. With no equity and little disposable cash for spending, the economy grinds to a halt. The rich get richer like Langone and find ways to remove jobs (I was to be hired to do that--automate) or always seek labor of the lowest common dominator, often not in this country. It is true that unemployment is low, but most of those jobs are unfulfilling and wage slave jobs that you or I would not want to work. Many actually have two jobs just to try to make ends meet. Shock trips to autocratic dictatorships that came from colonial two-tiered societies is cheating the students of reality. We are becoming a two-tier nation.
Deregulation of public schools has resulted in two-tier education. Those with enough money to pay for their children to go to private schools get the best education because their money is removed from the public system in the form of vouchers to these "charter" schools. Many charter schools have failed because they are badly managed businesses and not really engaged in educating children. As soon as we think of education as a financial matter, we are in trouble. If all of the private schools closed and all of the money spent on private schools placed in the public school system, education in United States would be next to none. Rich students would rub elbows with the poor. Unless, school districts were conveniently gerrymandered to keep the social classes from mixing. You speak a lot of competition. But rich kids have always had an advantage when it comes to schooling. They don't compete on the same level as poor kids. Donald Trump and George W. Bush are good examples of this.
When I was in school in the 1950s I studied with a lot of dumbed down kids. I also went to college with a lot of students who thought that beer was a subject matter and if they graduated with Cs they were guaranteed a good teaching job regardless of their knowledge of subject matter. They couldn't answer Jay Leno's questions either. But nobody cared.
Ron
The Liberals 3 Card Playing Deck (Article) - 9/24/2018 6:32:21 AM
While intellectuals around the world struggle with the complexities of causes and effects, those who have all the answers even before the questions are asked know all the truths: They simply assert them! It's all about "misguided liberals" and "wise founding fathers." As to fundamental values I suggest you carefully read the Preamble to the Constitution: "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." Any law that subtracts from even one of these objectives is, by definition, unConstitutional, and therefore illegal. I suggest that a panel of nine 3rd graders could evaluate and decide on the merits of any dispute, using only the Preamble, with greater clarity and thoughtfulness than does SCOTUS -- not once, by every time. Imagine the changes that we would see!!
Student Fighting in Public Schools (Article) - 5/21/2018 11:16:35 PM
can't say i 'enjoyed' the read, can say, at least my own experiences in and out of classroom were with shorter and less aggressive kids!
Counting middle and high school teachers among my teacher acquaintances and friends I say with no hesitation NOTHING on earth could have dragged me to a middle or high school classroom.
I admire your pluck, and the pluck of all middle and high school teachers, for not only sticking with it, but even for CONSIDERING trying to teach in classrooms where there is often little to induce you to begin much less remain for 3 and more decades.
m
35+ years classroom teacher K-1!
The Liberals 3 Card Playing Deck (Article) - 2/7/2018 1:12:12 AM
Well Ron, philosophically and politically speaking, author Ann Coulter said it best. "Conservatives are the children of the American Revolution; whereas, Liberals are the offspring of the French Revolution."
Every time I think about your "Climate Change" hero Al Gore I consider his flying all over the U.S. and the world in his private jet, wasting more fuel and polluting the atmosphere 1,000 times more in one year than either you or I will ever do in our lifetimes.
Jay Dubya
The Liberals 3 Card Playing Deck (Article) - 2/6/2018 8:45:46 AM
I must admire your scholarship, your writing ability and your adamant frankness for your point of view. But I find it strangely archaic in the 21st century. As I've written before, the greatest problem that we have in this century isn't being addressed. Global warming and climate change. It is a war we must engage in, making everybody and our future generations, wealthy.
Instead, we are spending countless money and energy on territorial disputes over whether we should be governed by conservative or liberal ideals. Regardless of your scholarship, the Athenian democracy and the Roman Republic, were both possible only by slave ownership. I think we both can agree that by 1850, most developed countries at that time believed that slavery was not right. But slavery still persists, particularly where people are poor and can be taken advantage of.
You may recall that our original Constitution basically accepted slavery. And those first 10 amendments were absolutely necessary to create the environment for the kinds of political argument we have today. The original Constitution was greatly flawed. But the one right that is in the Constitution that seems to be resisted by conservatives like you is the right to "alter or abolish it."
The slavery card still exists. Only now, it is wage slavery. Like the Romans who had the Circus and the games with heroes like gladiators to placate the masses, we have NASCAR and the NFL, casino gambling and other pastimes for any discretionary money our wage slaves have. And we use corporate commercials to make sure that they follow the lines of least resistance; never save man invest. Live paycheck to paycheck.
I come from German stock from Pennsylvania to Indiana to Wisconsin. But bear the proud English name, Hull, from English shipbuilders that came to this country in the 1600s and their ships. My great-grandfather and his five brothers served in Wisconsin regiments from the north in the civil War. Nelson was a blacksmith. Central Wisconsin where I'm from was invaded by the Polish in the early part of the 20th century, despised by German and Scandinavian stock as bearing the Catholic religion and less intelligence, prompting many Polish jokes. My high school town was about two thirds Polish and about two thirds Catholic. Probably still is. But I am a student of history and know that there are many distinguished Poles, among them, Copernicus, who had an idea that was totally despised by conservative religion at the time. It took a long time before, like Al Gore, he was proven right.
As far as work ethic goes, the African immigrants and "illegal" immigrants that I've encountered from south of the border seem to have the desire to work hard for very low wages and have skills equivalent to "Caucasian" workers in the same field. The perception that these new immigrants are lazy or ignorant is ill advised. And, if they have taken advantage of government programs, it's only because those watching those programs are lazy and not doing their jobs. Or because of conservative cuts there aren't enough people checking. Most government watchdogs that I know are overwhelmed with work and despised as bureaucrats.
Getting back to the 21st century. United States does not need to be made great. We still have the resources, wealth and capability to provide everyone with a decent salary or wage. The animosity that's occurred is a result of 50 years of the hierarchy that's always been there, going back to the village 10,000 years ago, where the chiefs got all the perks and the peasants did all work--or else. The idea of democracy is the breakdown the Republic hierarchy and make it more fair for everyone. That happened in the 1930s and brought great prosperity in the 1950s and 60s. The entitlements in those days were made by unions and jobs that lasted a lifetime in one company. My father was a Teamster and resisted going into management so that he could maintain his high standard of living as a truck driver.
Authors like you and I should be judged by the quality of our work and given a government subsidy for that quality, like the programs in the 1930s. Our economy can support fairness for everyone. And, if we provide enough government jobs to take care of things like proper review of immigration qualifications, etc., the immigration problem would go away with the existing laws we have. The biggest problem we have is not enforcing the tourist visa, not the border. And the crime at the border is not caused by immigrants, but our own insatiable need for drugs that don't discriminate between liberals or conservatives, but conservatives insist on criminalizing, making business become much more violent than necessary.
If the trend of the rich getting richer and the middle class sliding into poverty continues… There will be blood.
Ron
Student Fighting in Public Schools (Article) - 1/8/2018 5:46:17 AM
I hear you! Having taught 33 years in LA, I can vouch for most of these incidents or similar ones.
Instead of choosing volunteer service after high school, though, students should go into a military-type camp between high school and junior high. With enough manual labor, they might think education is worth all the "pain" and "boredom."
Where I taught, parents could opt their kids out of paper pickup (so demeaning). These were upper-class rich suburban kids. They needed some demeaning!
Cell phones could not be touched by a teacher as the previous semester someone in the office left phones unattended and several were stolen. Phones are the WORST. "Johnny, please put your phone away" was our severest stricture.
If I were teaching now, I would wear a body cam at all times. Most of our parents were great, but the nuts were way overly nuts. I had grades online to check day or night, and some still called at the end of the semester to ask about extra credit to be sure somebody passed and could graduate.
It's really a terrible situation if teachers are stuck with a pushover principal. I am merrily retired.
Student Fighting in Public Schools (Article) - 1/7/2018 7:49:23 AM
Pardon me, but I laughed at some of your colorful descriptions. I wasn't on the scene like you were in having to deal with such a sticky wicket as maintaining order in chaos without stepping over the "assault" line. But I admire how you handled the cases described and wonder how you survived 250 altercations during your long public-school career.
I never taught in public schools, but certainly observed a lot during my years in school. The roughest school I was in was my grade school with over half of the students from families with some prison time. Fortunately, I move away from that inner-city neighborhood in a rough industrial town to a more rural (and backward?) town in seventh grade and junior high school. That junior high school had a assistant principal disciplinarian who used all kinds of torture to control the misfits. That was in the 1950s when he could get away with it.
In my high school, most of the bad actors either left school, or were probably expelled as soon as they acted out their anger or hatred. Cafeteria was more for stupid pranks like throwing food into the overhang lamps so that it would become a biological experiment.
I handled the bad students in my college classes by informing them at the beginning of the course that they had paid good money for the course. If they didn't participate they would have wasted their money. I did not hesitate to give incompletes to students who didn't finish their work and fail those who plagiarized, cheated or didn't do the work. I recall that one student wrote a hate letter to the Dean about me. The Dean actually believed the student. Partly because some of the other faculty had advised him that I wasn't teaching my courses the way that they taught theirs. There are bullies among faculty members as well is among students.
Ron
Hoax: Climate Change Caused by Mankind (Article) - 6/16/2017 6:32:21 AM
A rather shallow view of the problem and quite populist, like Trump's promises and his actions so far. First, it is global warming and not "global warning." That is the title of my poem. Second, historical climate change was not geological (or ideological either), but astronomical, except in the case of volcanoes erupting and changing the climate (also probably forced by astronomical events). These changes to the earth over billions of years are part of the solar system's, and earth's, evolution.
Simple proven experiments show that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and worse, methane, when released in the atmosphere, cause a "greenhouse effect." The long-term cycles that caused the heating and cooling of the planet in the past took thousands of years. The latest "mini ice ages" were caused by smoke and soot in the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions and not the same as the cause for the major ice ages as part of the long-term climate cycle.
As early as 1954, it was learned that release of carbon dioxide in the air was causing a problem. Subsequent measurements resulted in the conclusion that warming is occurring very rapidly, within 100 years or less. Of course, fossil fuel providers, powering the world, will do everything in their power following the example of tobacco companies, to continue the use of fossil fuels that has been a source of great wealth for a few that are now in complete control of politicians and over most of the media to continue their "commercials" promising great things while sweeping their dirty activities under the rug. Profit now, pay later.
Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Accords merely underscores his carrying out the kind of George Washington isolationism that the people who elected him, like you, seem to want. Although you are all sucking on the tit of low cost products and services from international corporations who cater to your whim while continuing to rape and pollute faraway lands and countries. Our problems are not socialist activities, but the oligarchs in control. We cater to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, but condemn Somalia and Yemen who are poor.
If disaffected Americans like you would realize that the wealth of our nation is held by a few Americans instead of condemning real problems like global warming, we all would be better off. Global warming is a terrifying prospect for our grandchildren. If we don't wake up and join the world in solving this problem as a world leader and not as a wimpy dropout, there will be hell to pay. But you and Trump will be dead by the time it really hits the fan.
But I will guarantee that you will change your mind about this within 10 years if you are still alive and can see what's happening. Don't mess with mother nature for profit; it's not worth it.
Ron
