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Show HE SIGNPOST Wednesday, September 5, 2007 EDITORIAL Signpost Viewpoint Modern conveniences may be making life harder cars. How can algebra compete with What is ADD but a natural that? evolutionary response to our We work hard for our modern growing impatience propped up conveniences - our can with mass doses of sugar and caffeine known for their intense, but openers, microwaves, Tivo, and audiobooks, our bigger houses, short-term effects. smaller computers and nicer cars. We are a nation of sound bites As a result, we have become so and remote controls. No one has to dependent on technology that we sit through anything anymore. We couldn't function anymore without can pause, fast forward, rewind or it. eject and walk away. And the more responsibility Our movies are more actionwe have, the packed, more unhappier we violent and We are slaves tend to be. We sexier than ever. proudly purchase Sensationalism to our jobs, the our beautiful new has become gas-guzzling, bank, Hollywood, the norm. No environmentmore charming Nashville, Microsoft choking SUVs Cary Grants or bumbling Jimmy Or Apple, McDonalds, and spend the Stewarts for us. next three years advertisers, fashion We need Tom worrying about Cruise in Mission scratches, dents and convention. Impossible or or stains on the Brad Pitt in Mr. upholstery. As soon as we reach a point where it's and Mrs. Smith to keep our hearts not worth worrying about anymore, pumping and our butts in the seats. we trade it in for something new, Our novels grow shorter (Harry keeping us constantly stressed and Potter is a glaring exception) in debt. and must include action in every chapter, and a hook in every first How many people have no line. No more meandering Charles credit card debt? How many Dickens or Victor Hugo for this people actually own their homes generation. Not many would or their cars or their computers? sit through the first 60 pages of We are slaves to our jobs, the bank, the unabridged Les Miserables, Hollywood, Nashville, Microsoft hanging out with the bishop (only a or Apple, McDonalds, advertisers, secondary character), learning what fashion and convention. he wears, eats, drives and why. We Instead of following the frightening have^things to do and places to go. trend that will lead us to evolve into overweight, muscle-deficient, Instead, everything is abridged, computer-dependent shells with the condensed, packaged for our attention spans of a gnat, let's find convenience and pumped full of ways to exert our independence. Even preservatives. And we wonder why if it's only once a week, let's leave the our children can't sit through one class period--why they can't wait-;- car in the driveway, leave the video games on the shelf, watch a blackto get home to their Wiis and Xand-white movie, read Shogun or boxes so they can blow things up cook from scratch. or run people down in their virtual America's economy increasingly knowledge-based By Elaine L. Chao McClatchy Tribune For over a century, Labor Day has been a federal holiday. And American workers have never been more deserving of formal recognition than today. Our nation's standard of living, freedom and accomplishments are the envy of the world. That's a tribute to the strength, productivity and resiliency of America's workforce. By continuing to help our workers access the training and tools they need, this new century promises to be America's greatest yet. The U.S. labor force is 153 million people strong. Three traits of the American workforce position our nation for tremendous gains in the increasingly competitive 21st century worldwide economy: high productivity, flexibility and mobility. The mobility and flexibility of America's workforce are truly remarkable. Every year, about one-third of U.S. jobs change hands, largely because workers have found better opportunities. Change is the norm in our society and is a primary route to advancement. America's economy is increasingly a knowledge-based economy.Two-thirds of all the new jobs being created require some kind of post-secondary education. Over the next decade, America will need 3 million health-care professionals and 1.7 million schoolteachers. We will need more than 900,000 engineers, including aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer software, and environmental engineers. We will also need workers in other high-growth industries including nanotechnology, geospatial technology, and the life sciences, to name a few. Higher-skilled jobs that require more education are clearly the future for the United States in the worldwide economy. And acquiring the skills and training to access these jobs is abso- lutely critical to the success of individual workers. From 2001 through 2006, high-paying occupations grew almost 3 times as much as lower-paying occupations. There is a "skills gap" in our economy that has kept lower-skilled workers from seeing their wages rise as quickly as workers in higher-skilled occupations. With the new school year starting, students need to be aware that high school drop outs make about $522 per week for full-time work and their unemployment rate is about 7.1 percent. Meanwhile, workers with a high school diploma average $704 weekly, and this segment of the workforce has a 4.4 percent unemployment rate. Workers with associate degrees average about $846 per week, and this group's unemployment rate is 3.5 percent. But workers with a bachelor's degree or higher average $1,393 per week and have an unemployment rate of 2.1 percent. More than ever before, education, training and retraining are the keys to future earnings. Graduating from high school really does pay off and going onto college pays off even more! To empower more workers with higher work skills and education, the Bush administration has invested in workforce training that is more relevant and responsive to the changing times. That investment includes training individual workers for jobs in the new, knowledge-based economy. Other investments serve as the catalyst for entire regions to align their resources so they can compete worldwide. America's success - past, present and future - rests on the strong foundation that America's workers have built. Our challenge is to ensure that workers continue to have access to the education and skills necessary to remain competitive in the 21st century worldwide economy. HI, AUC6, THIS \S BETTX.. you$"£E IN TODAYS THAT SPENDING ONLY 10 ON A CELL PHONE COULD CAUSE \ O C> o Stop the campaign please, I want to get off By Sally Raskins guest columnist The presidential election of 2008 is quickly becoming tiresome. Never mind the fact that even the earliest states won't be holding primaries for another four months, candidates have been cramming their perfectly crafted images into the public awareness for what feels like an eternity already. For months we've been hearing about the mammoth character of this election. Surprisingly even things like record-breaking fundraisers and YouTube debates lose their charm the tenth time you've heard about them. And here's the real kicker: Amidst all of the hullabaloo about broken records and new campaign strategies, there's really nothing being said. While there is a multitude of candidates both in and out of the major parties, there doesn't seem to be anyone who really has something different to say. Each front-runner has his or her well-spun sound bites and there the relationship with the voting public ends. Considering this dearth of real communication, is it any wonder that state after state has moved its primary up? Michigan, Florida, and Wyoming have alt changed their primary dates to January in rebellious defiance of the bylaws of both the Republican and Democratic National Parties. Other states such as Nevada, California and Washington have moved their primaries to the earliest date possible without violating the bylaws. As Americans we are nothing if not optimistic and we are sure if we can just get the candidates to come to our state, to look at our issues, to shake our hands and answer our questions we will find the deep, thoughtful person we are seeking to run our country. For years the presidential candidates have been chosen, for all practical intents and purposes, by the earliest of the early states: New Hampshire and Iowa. For years we've heard of small gatherings and barbeques, town hall meetings and intimate debates, a fairytale of candidate companionship. Can the national parties really blame the rest of the country for wanting to get a piece of that pie? A telling statement in the Seattle Times presents the problem admirably. The article stated, "Unsure of which order the primaries and caucuses will take place, the presidential campaigns aren't sure how to allocate resources or even where to send their candidates on a given day." If by merely adjusting my state's primary THE SIGNPOST 1$ NOW HI COLUMN in copy NCWJ date I can ensure that presidential candidates will be "allocating resources" on the issues and needs of the people I serve, by golly I'm going to do it. Perhaps it's time to reassess the whole election process. Choosing a president is a big deal; sound bites are not sufficient information to base a decision on. Neither is knowing who raised the most money. We need to know candidates' personalities, not just their declared positions on key election issues. We need to know what is really important to each candidate and why he or she wants to run our country. We need to know the kind of thing that can be discovered chatting over barbeque at your own city park. In essence we need candidates who will actually talk to the people, not just spout spin. To leave a message for Sally Raskins, call 626-7614. |