Warren Buffett: Heretic!

Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the world is calling for taxes on the wealthy to be raised. Aren't the wealthiest of us all generally the most selfish, what gives?
Statistics have shown that nations with the greatest disparity in wealth have higher infant mortality (US rank 47), lower life expectancy (US rank 50), and to quote from Paul Solman's series on economic inequality states:
"If you actually look at how people do in different societies, the chances of moving up socially for poor children are much higher in the more equal countries. And, in the U.S., the chances are particularly low. We sometimes say, if you want to live the American dream, you should move to Finland or Denmark, which have much higher social mobility."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dionne-why-conservatives-hate-warren-buffett/2011/09/28/gIQAxmne5K_story.html?hpid=z3

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/makingsense_09-28.html

Climate Change

Article by Mother Jones on organizations working together to discredit climate change science. If you see a spokesman for any of these groups on television or at a conference consider very carefully what they are saying. Odds are that the true reality is the polar opposite of what they espouse.

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/09/chart-climate-change-spin-cycle

Home of the Brave?

Good article about America's obsession with fear and those profiting from it.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Walter-Rodgers/2011/0927/Is-America-still-the-home-of-the-brave

More on Anonymous

A threat to national security they are! Since when is bringing light to the dark corners of our world a bad thing? Do those labeling Anonymous a threat have something to hide? What sort of world would it be with complete transparency?

http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/09/22/221207/fbi-arrests-lulzsec-and-anonymous-hackers

Medicine and Watson

Idea that has been batted around for a while now and Tom Toles throws it out there once again. The thought is with a proper search engine we could diagnose and treat the majority of our health concerns ourselves. Not even have to go to the doctor, heresy!
My biggest problem with the doctors of today is their blatant selfishness. Perhaps the system is to blame. Doctors have to go to school for many years and invest substantial amount of income and just want a return on their investment. That's why when you go to the doctor you have an initial appointment where you schedule the actual appointment, are almost always subjected to some form of procedure regardless if there is a real problem, and they also attempt to put you on at least one form of medication for life. They need that steady income coming in.
There are actually a lot of good doctors out there but their work is diminished by the majority.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tom-toles/post/medical-mystery/2011/09/13/gIQAPd7pPK_blog.html

Gifted Students

Article on how to best teach for gifted students.
Concern is that in the day of high stakes tests the curriculum is geared towards the lowest performing students.
As a result, 10% of high school dropouts in the US are A students, dropping out of school due to boredom.
The more successful approach appears to be setting up a curriculum which is geared towards gifted students. Three year studies found that in such programs the percentage of students deemed 'gifted' rose from 10% of the school's population to 20%.


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0831/Back-to-school-Are-we-leaving-gifted-students-behind