GHANA’S PROBLEM: They are All Self-Inflicted

Collins Dauda, Minister of Water Resources

As Ghana struggles with the importation of alum for its water production, coupled with the drop in the cedi’s value against the dollar, it is becoming clear that some of the problems Ghana is facing in the water sector as well as the national economy are self inflicted or deliberate.

Even though Alum can be produced in this country through a reaction between bauxite (aluminum trihydrate), hydrogen tetraoxosulphate 4 acid (hydrogen sulphate) and water, the Ghana Water Company has been spending millions of dollars to import the chemical from outside the country for water treatment.

2Al(OH)3     +     3H2SO4              +         8H2O     →     Al2(SO4)3 .14H2O

^{(bauxite)          (hydrogen sulphate)                                                               (water)                                                                (alum)}

The business has become so lucrative that companies try to outdo each other to import the chemical. Even when the chemicals are brought in attempts are made to frustrate its clearing leaving Ghana the looser. Documents for clearing of the goods mysteriously vanish from the offices of GWCL.

It may be recalled that about a year ago media reports suggested that expired chemicals had been imported into the country and supplied to GWCL for water treatment. This lead to the confiscation of many bags of alum by the National Security and the setting up of an investigative committee by the Ministry of Water Resources Works and Housing to delve into the issue. The investigation report showed that alum does not expire, yet the imported consignment had an expiry date on them that was one year after the production date. It also discovered that, documents provided to GWCL by the importers to be used for clearing the chemicals from the ports by mysteriously vanished from the offices of GWCL leading to the accumulation of port charges and the eventual expiration of the chemical (per the date printed on the imported bags of alum). Furthermore even though during the bidding process the importer was to have imported the chemicals from India, the consignment he brought was from China.

To get the bags released from the ports, the head of quality control at the GWCL, Mr. Evans Balaara tasked the Ghana Standards Board check the quality of the chemicals to see if they had indeed expired as it was strange the expiry date printed on the bags of alum. The Ghana Standards Authority duly checked the chemicals and certified them not to have expired. When eventually the bags of alum were released and supplied information was leaked to the media and the national security of the importation of expired chemicals leading to a national outcry.

After the investigative committee set up by the Ministry submitted its report, the Ministry did not state anything about the problems with the importation or why chemicals from a different country from the one specified by the bidding process were supplied. Nothing was stated about the people behind the fiasco. Rather, the Ministry indicted staff of GWCL including Mr. Evans Balaara and reinstated them when the brouhaha had died down.

Furthermore, nothing was stated about who was going to pay for the alum that had to be discarded under the supervision of national security.

On the long term nothing was stated about how to produce alum locally from bauxite, water and Hyrogen sulphate which are all abundant in Ghana. In light of the unwillingness by the public to pay higher tariffs coupled with Ghana’s high foreign exchange problems. This has become an elephant that can no longer be ignored.

What the minister said on

REPORT ON ALLEGED EXPIRED ALUMINIUM SULPHATE

When the attention of the Hon. Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing was drawn to the alleged expired Aluminium Sulphate (Alum) for treating water, a Five-Man Committee was set up to among other things establish whether expired Alum was imported and was used for treating water by Ghana Urban Water Limited.

The Committee established the following: -

In August 2010, Aqua Vitens Rand Limited, now Ghana Urban Water Limited (GUWL), placed adverts for the supply of 3,000 metric tones of aluminium sulphate granules (bulk), and 12,000 metric tones of aluminium sulphate granules (bagged and palletized) using International Competitive Tendering (ICT) procedure.

Messrs Santa Baron Ventures Limited emerged the winner and was to supply 12,000 metric tonnes of bagged granules of alum. The first consignment of 1,250 was cleared without difficulty. However, the second and third consignments totaling 750 metric tonnes faced challenges during clearing. They were finally cleared in August, 2012, and January 2013 respectively, that is ten and fourteen months over stay at the harbor.

According to the Supplier, he handed the original documents needed for the clearing of the chemicals to the Procurement Officer, Ghana Water Company Limited. The Procurement Officer agreed receiving the document from the Supplier's Messenger but did not open it until a week after when the Logistics Officer returned from leave. The Logistics Officer after taking the unopened folder to his office, returned to inform his boss that the documents were photocopies and so could not use them to clear the chemicals. This delayed the clearing of the chemicals which stayed at the ports until January 2013 when the label on them indicated they had expired.

While the chemicals remained at the port, Ghana Standards Authority upon the request of GWCL took samples and tested them before GRA (CEPS Division) allowed the consignment to be cleared. The chemicals were cleared out and delivered to the Warehouse of Ghana Water Company Limited at Mile 18, Tema.

Upon the directives of the Chief Manager, Water Quality Assurance at Ghana Water Company Limited, an order was placed to supply a quantity of 7,500 bags of the alleged expired Alum to Weija.

Upon the break-up of the news on 18^th February 2013, National Security cordoned off the Warehouses where the chemicals were kept to prevent their further use. The rest of the Alum labeled expired were carte to the premises of National Security Offices (Blue Gate).

THE COMMITTEE'S OBSERVATIONS

The Committee observed the following: -

1.       That Ghana Urban Water Limited/Ghana Water Company Limited contracted

          Messrs Santa Baron Ventures to supply 12,000 metric tonnes of Alum. The last     

          consignment was to be delivered by February 2012.

2.       That in evaluating the bid documents of Messrs Santa Baron Ventures Limited,

due diligence was not done. For example, though he provided sample of Alum

manufactured by AVS Bhagvatee Chemicals of Gujarat, India, he ordered the chemicals from China without permission from GUWL.

3.       That though at the time the Alum entered the port of Tema, they were not

expired, by the time they were cleared, they had expired.

4.       That 0.7% of the total of 12,000 metric tonnes was used at Weija Treatment

Plan.

5.       That the Acting Managing Director of GWCL requested Ghana Standard

Authority to certify the potency of the alum before GRA (CEPS Division) allowed it to be cleared.

6.       With the request of GWCL Ghana Standards Authority conducted analytical

test and declared the sample potent. This is contrary to the Ghana Standards Authority mandate as per their Act, NRCD 173.

7.       That Messrs Santa Baron Ventures Ltd won the contract for the 2012 supply of

Alum to Ghana Urban Water Limited.

8.       In the opinion of the Committee, the testing of the alleged expired Alum by the

Standard Authority is clearly not within the mandate of the Authority.

9.         An independent Chemist (from the University of Ghana) who spoke to the

Committee on the matter indicated that Alum does not expire when stored well. It is also not poisonous or harmful when used to treat water. He explained further that when the potency goes down quantity used may be increased without any harm to the body. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Committee recommends the following: -

1.       The retrieved expired Alum should continue to be in the custody of National

Security.

2.       Both the Procurement Officers of Ghana Urban Water Limited and Ghana

Water Company Limited should be held responsible for failing to handle the procurement and clearing of the Alum professionally.

3.       The Logistics Officer at Ghana Water Company Limited should be held partly

responsible for the delay in clearing the chemical.

4.       The Committee recommends that the second contract given Messrs Santa Baron

Ventures Limited needs to be monitored into closely.

5.       The Committee finds the one year shelf life of the alleged expired Alum as

strange since it is a stable inorganic salt, which will not expire when it is stored

in a good condition.

6.       The Supplier should be made to provide explanation for the one year shelf life

          from the Manufacturer.

Further investigation should be conducted by the Bureau National Investigation (BNI), into the following:

1.       Circumstances that led to the undue delay in the clearance of the Chemicals

2.       The circumstances leading to the loss of the original documents for

clearing the chemicals.

3.         The rationale behind the testing of the alleged expired Alum by Ghana

Standards Authority.

Finally, to facilitate further investigations into the matter, the following officers have been interdicted.

1.       Miss Dora A. Bonnah - Procurement Officer GUWL

2.       Mr. David Yankson - Procurement Officer GWCL

3.       Edwin Kwamivi - Logistics Officer

4.       Evans Balaara - Chief Manager, Water Quality Assurance GUWL

Editorial

Who Can Understand This?

 The United States of America and its allies are angry at the people of Crimea for daring to declare themselves part of the Russian Federation and they say they are planning to impose sanctions on Russia and its leaders for this.

 Interesting 97 per cent of the people of Crimea voted in a free and fair referendum to join the Russian Federation.

 Is the United States and its allies rejecting the principle of self- determination which is upheld  in international law and in the corridors of al international organizations including the United Nations?

In any case is what is happening in Crimea not far more democratic than what the western countries sponsored in the former Yugoslavia?

What about the NATO invasion of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan?

 Has the establishment of a US military base on Cuba soil been approved by the Cuban people?

The double standards of the United states of America and its allies is just simple shocking.

The people of Crimea have a right to determine their own destiny and no power can take away that right.

WE’ LL MAINTAIN OUR TIES WITH UK- BUSIA

Abrefa Busia

Here is speech by Opposition leader, Dr K.A .Busia, made on the Eve of Independence. He was seconding the Premier’s reply to the speech from the Throne opening Parliament.

MR. Speaker I am happy to second the motion for an address of thanks to be presented to Her Majesty on behalf of this National Assembly.

The august and colorful ceremony we hold here today marks the end of one kind of association between our country and Britain and the beginning of another.

It marks the end of our colonial status. Colonialism has fallen into disrepute and is now a term of accusation and reproach.

On this occasion, however, we can afford to look at the other side of the picture. We can, in our shame or bitterness and in fact with sincere gratitude acknowledge the benefits which our connection with Britain as an imperial power has brought us.

Britain has conveyed to us the benefits of European science and technology and made us share amply in the gains of man’s long and sustain struggle for the mastery of nature.

The evidence of this is all around us in our roads, our public buildings, our homes, our aerodromes and ports, our hospitals, our factories, our schools and colleges.

We have also benefited from Britain administration and law to which we owe our concept of nationhood, democracy and individual freedom; and European education introduced to us under British rule has made us heirs of the literature and accumulated wisdom of the ages presented to us in books for succeeding generations.

Adults not wards

And the British language has not only enabled us to communicate with our fellow countrymen of different tongues and tribes, but has also prepared us for effective membership in the wider community of nations to which we now come as adults and no longer wards.

Nevertheless theses benefits came to us on the basis of a relationship which could not but be an affront to us, resting as it did on assumptions we were bound to question, and on injustices we were bound, sooner or later to seek to rectify. It happily accords with contemporary thought and feeling that such a relationship should end.

We are indeed happy that its end does not mean a complete severance our ties with Britain but the forging of stronger bonds in new relationship.

We believe our joining the British commonwealth as an independent state is of international significance, and we are glad to see the occasion marked by the presence here today of distinguished representatives of many nations. To all of them we extend a hearty welcome.

Henceforth, our links with Britain will rest solely on our freely chosen loyalty to those British institutions, ideas, and ways of life we have adopted, and on our freely given devotion to Her Majesty the Queen who becomes our sovereign.

We become members of the international fraternity of British Commonwealth on the basis of our common humanity.

We are aware that we owe this achievement to the people of Britain and other foreign countries, as well as to our own countrymen.

Our own countrymen will expect better and higher standards of living; on us will be focused the hopes of many communities in our vast continent and elsewhere who justly aspire after political emancipation; and on us too will be centered the expectations of many well-wishers throughout the world for some notable contribution from us to mankind’s common and ever – increasing heritage built up in the efforts to improve and enrich our human life or to gain wisdom and understanding for peaceful co-existence in an international community. These are high expectations but we cannot escape them.

It is our prayer that all of us in this country, whatever our work or situation in life, may rise to the requisite discipline, integrity of services without which these expectations will never be fulfill.

“Thank you”

To the people of Britain and to her gracious majesty we will say again, simply but with heartfelt sincerity thank you; we are glad that our ties will continue in the domain where human ties are most enduring and the devotion and goodwill of all human heart freely given and reciprocated.

Finally we pray the birth of our country as an independent nation within the British Commonwealth may mean for us also a mental and spiritual rebirth, and a fresh dedication of our talents to the honest and devoted service of our country and generation.

Mr. Speaker, I beg to second the motion.

(First published in daily graphic on March, 8^th 1957)

Dr. K. A. Busia, Opposition Leader

CAN PAUL AFOKO MAKE IT?

Paul Afoko, NPP Chairmanship contestant

By Ekow Mensah

There can be no doubt that Mr Paul Afoko is the front runner in the race for the National chairmanship of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

However recent event especially those related to the vetting of candidates for various positions in the party could have a toll on his chances.

 This is more so because the NPP refuses to disclose what was so negative about Mr Afoko’s candidature which compelled it to halt the vetting process for so long.

 Interestingly, leading members of the Party had dropped hints that the allegations against Mr Afoko were drug related.

 So far the NPP has only said that Mr Akofo has been cleared of the allegations against him.

 No one knows who Mr Afoko’s accusers were and what the allegations against him were.

 It is just possible that those allegations were deliberately concocted by elements in the party described by Mr Afoko himself as constituting a “ mafia” to  destroy his chances of winning the election.

The refusal of the party to make the details available would protect devious elements in the party an devious elements in the party and encourage them to do what they have done to Mr Afoko to others.

 It is legitimate to ask, who are these faceless people and who could possibly to behind them in their search and destroy operations.

There are credible reports that some leading members of the party have boasted that even though Mr Afoko has been cleared by the vetting Committee his image has been sufficiently damaged by the allegations.

The NPP has an obligation to fully clear Mr Afoko’s name by revealing all the facts about events leading to the halting of his vetting.

 Who are the faceless people who tried desperately to do substantial damage to Mr Afoko’s chances of leading the NPP? Did  they act alone? What were the specific allegation made against Mr Afoko? How was he cleared?

These are importance questions which need answers.

 Meanwhile the question on many lips is whether Mr Afoko can make it in the light of the smear campaign he has suffered.

A Letter from Mexico to comrades in Ghana

Freedom Centre in Accra

Greetings to all of you dear friends,

Four months have passed since I had to leave to Mexico, the place where I was born, where I grew up but not the place where I belong to anymore...

I can still remember with vivid clarity the first time I went to the Freedom Centre; I felt myself so comfortable and free to be who I really am. My first thought was: “that is what I have been looking for.” Any time I think about it I get the same feeling. In fact, I have the strong sensation that the decision to remain, work, study and fight beside you has been the most relevant step in my personal development until now.

Among you I found answers, logical and objective answers to what I had been told not to think about. I understood the useful difference between the possible and the impossible. I discovered that philosophy is not only to know the world but to change it through active involvement in the processes of history; consciously fighting for what we believe must prevail like justice, freedom and equality. I was helped reasoning that revolution is a science and an art in constant motion; that real and effective changes are never made by an isolated person but rather by organized and disciplined groups. Beyond all this, perhaps the highest gift you have given me is the hope in building the new society. It is this realistic hope that day by day nourishes my convictions like a rising fire.   

It is with great enthusiasm that I want to inform you that we are gradually opening a new front here with many projects aiming at the same point... the work is enormous and the resources few. We have to accept it, in this struggle there are only two options whatever the circumstances may be: to give up or to continue forward; I am one of those who stay in.

There is a need for us to join experiences and strength not just to learn from each other but to coordinate an internationalist front. I hope some of you will consider coming and sharing with us soon.

In essence, revolutionaries have no country, no homeland, no race; we belong to any place where exploitation undermines liberation, where ignorance opposes reasoning or where the strongest oppresses the weakest. Nonetheless, for strategy purposes we ought to choose the battlefield in which we can be the most effective and productive for the revolution. I have chosen mine...

I know we shall meet again along this revolutionary path,

“Many frontiers, one struggle.”

Your always Comrade

ROBOAN

Open letter to Obama from Russia

US President Hussein Obama

Dear Barack Hussein Obama,
I decided to write to you directly, because clearly there is some misunderstanding between us.

Whatever my country does, you say "Putin did this, Putin introduced, Putin occupied, Putin announced ..." It sounds like a personality cult of some sort. Let's talk about things without mentioning Putin, directly, OK?

In addition to Putin and his enemies who partook in the march of the millions on Bolotnaya Square, we have another 142 million people. Your colleagues in the West and in Russia call them different names - "anchovy,"  "cattle," "imperialists," and "serfs." I understand that "surf" is a convenient word but it is hurtful and I would like to ask not to use it when talking about me.

I understand that you, Mr. President of the last superpower, do not know much about us, only if through hearsay. Grandpa Luka, a character from Maxim Gorky's story, answering the question of a local cop why the said cop did not know who Luka was despite the fact that it was the cop's job to know everybody in his district, said: "This is because the entire land did not fit into your district, there is a little bit left..."

What I mean is that, generally, there is no shame in not knowing all the people occupying 1/7 of the land where we, 142 million, are residing. I've heard that in America, people are important not as a crowd - Russians, Serbs or Abkhazians, but as individuals. This is why I decided not to collect signatures for a petition but address you as an individual.

You shouldn't think that we are mean, angry people who conspired against neighboring Ukraine, Europe or the entire world. Don't start talking about Putin again, I said "we," which means one hundred millions of people. I will tell you a secret: there are more Russian in Russia, Crimea and Ukraine than your friends Germans or French. There are more Russians in Ukraine than Austrians in Austria (the motherland of Californian Arnie), or Danes in Denmark (the country of NATO Secretary General). There are seven times more Russians than Albanians in Kosovo for whose right to self-determination your predecessor bombed Serbia.

No, I am not talking about you bombing, or our readiness to bomb. I am talking about the fact that there is more kinship between the Russians in Crimea and eastern Ukraine than between your esteemed people and Kosovo Albanians. Somehow we cannot be indifferent when in a neighboring country guys who hang a portrait of a local collaborator Hitler in their office come to power. We cannot be indifferent to the fact that they limit people's rights to their own language, to self-governing, or preserving their human and national dignity. You were always proud of commitment to democracy and fair elections, and therefore, of course, you cannot but be shocked that the power in the country with a population of 45 million was forcefully captured by a small group of people that dictates to everyone how they should live.

I am sure you remember the first words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence: "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.." I suggest that you and I, Mr. President, only you and I, Putin aside, give the population of Crimea a chance to explain to humanity, including the respected people of the U.S. , how they see their destiny and why. You and I are to act as guarantors of the referendum. I promise for the time of this free expression of the will of the people not to say anything bad about America, and you promise to harness your acquaintances in Kiev that listen to you (although I would be embarrassed to have such acquaintances) so they do not interfere with the highest form of manifestation of human rights and freedoms - national plebiscite.

Oleg Odintsovsky

The dumbing down of America

By David Hoffman

One of the most insidious, yet effective, political strategies in existence is what Adolf Hitler called THE GREAT LIE THEORY. Simply put, the great lie theory states that if political leaders take great lies, reduce them to slogans, and unremittingly repeat them they can make people believe that "hell is heaven" and "heaven is hell." 

When successfully deployed, great lies can influence all classes of people to act against common sense, common interests, and the common good, and when great lies are propagated by the rich, they can be especially effective at turning the middle class and the poor against each other.  For this to occur, however, the propagators of great lies must overcome two fundamental problems.

First, they must make sure they are disseminating great lies, because ordinary lies will be recognized by the masses.

For example, many, if not most, Americans did not believe Bill Clinton's denials about having a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, because people routinely lie about extramarital affairs.

Yet many, if not most, Americans obsequiously  swallowed George W. Bush's lies about Iraq possessing "weapons of mass destruction," because it was difficult for them to believe a United States president would recklessly spend billions of taxpayer dollars, and callously sacrifice thousands of lives, simply so he and his draft-dodging minions could "play soldier" without risk to their own lives, and so he could further enrich his wealthy political supporters with "no-bid" rebuilding contracts, oil leases, and other lucrative spoils of war.

Second, for great lies to be successful, they have to be believed, and historically this has meant that intellectuals who possess the political, social, and historical knowledge to recognize and expose great lies must be silenced.

  

In dictatorships, this is usually accomplished through censorship, intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and assassination.  But in so-called "democracies," the suppression of the intelligentsia usually has to be more subtle. 

Usually, but not always.  In fact, one of today's primary beneficiaries of the great lie theory, Barack Obama, has not hesitated to employ tactics once reserved for dictators.

Obama catapulted into the presidency on the great lie that he was a politically progressive visionary concerned about the human rights abuses, warmongering, and erosion of the Bill of Rights perpetrated by his predecessor.  He promised an "open and transparent government," and a majority of the electorate believed him.

But Obama has not only failed to prosecute any of the war criminals, torturers, and murderers of the Bush administration, or any of the people who covered up their crimes, he has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect them.  His administration has defended them in court and strong-armed foreign governments into not pursuing their own indictments against these criminals. 

By contrast, his administration has rabidly persecuted and prosecuted courageous and conscientious individuals who dared to expose America's war crimes, violations of national and international law, tortures, and murders. 

According to The Committee to Protect Journalists-an  organization that normally concerns itself with abuses directed against journalists in dictatorial countries-the  "[Obama] administration's war on leaks and other efforts to control information are the most aggressive . . .  since the Nixon administration . . ." and have resulted in an "unprecedented number of prosecutions of government sources and seizures of journalists' records." (qtd. in the Associated Press, October 10, 2013).

And everyone knows what a "law-abiding" president Nixon was!

Yet again, by contrast, the Obama administration has invaded and decimated the privacy rights of millions of Americans by expanding the spying capabilities of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the powers of the FBI and CIA, despite the fact that all three of these institutions have historically acted above the law without fear of legal reprisals, particularly when promoting corrupt government interests or enhancing the profits of American corporations.   

A common refrain government officials mutter to critics of these expanded powers is, "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you should have nothing to hide."

So why doesn't this refrain apply to governments too?

One reason for addressing Obama's great lies in this article is to show that instead of being the egalitarian, Nobel Peace Prize winning savior destined to restore America's moral standing in the world, Obama has reaffirmed the axiom that humans who seek and obtain power are usually undeserving of it and incapable of resisting its corrupting influence.

The second reason for addressing Obama's great lies is to dispel the proclivity of many readers to assume that being critical of one political movement or party automatically means you are supportive of the other.

If there is one recent movement in America that bluntly demonstrates how successful great lies can be, and how easily many Americans can be dumbed down to unquestioningly accept these lies, it is the tea party movement.  In fact, the tea party movement has been structured on one monolithic lie:  Even though it is financed and controlled by corporations and right-wing billionaires motivated by greed and selfishness, and acting to the detriment of 99% of the American population  (including many of the movement's own supporters), tea party politicians have managed to dupe numerous people into believing they are supporting a grass-roots campaign fueled by the common man.

There is no clearer evidence of the tea party's willingness to exploit great lies than its recent shutdown of the federal government.  After all, many members and supporters of this movement vociferously condemned and protested the Democratic legislators who retreated to other states in an effort to block anti-labor legislation in Indiana and Wisconsin.

The difference, of course, was these Democrats were seeking to compel a fair and honest debate on proposed legislation, not shutting down a government, harming an economy, and putting thousands out of work because of petty bitterness over legislation that has already become law.

If further evidence is needed to demonstrate the political results of the dumbing down of America, it can be discerned by the fact that no truly intelligent, informed, and enlightened voter would ever believe that reprobates like Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Mitch Daniels, Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Ted Cruz, Todd Rokita, Marlin Stutzman, Jackie Walorski, Eric Cantor, and John Boehner (to name a few) are or were fit for public office.

So how was America dumbed down to create the milieu for great lies to succeed?  There are six ways, and they are still being practiced today: 

1).  INDOCTRINATION:  In 2002, the United States Supreme Court ruled that students in public schools could be subjected to "random" drug testing, even though no reasonable suspicion exists that they are using, or have used, illegal drugs.  Like many indoctrination techniques, "random" drug testing pretends to have a benevolent motive.  After all, what parent would not want to know if his/her child is abusing drugs?

But, in addition to the financial kickbacks and other perks school administrators receive from laboratories that do this testing, the real goal is to indoctrinate impressionable school children into believing they are guilty until proven innocent, and that even their most intimate bodily functions can be controlled by a ubiquitous "big brother." 

In most "random" drug testing scenarios, students are ordered to leave their classrooms, required to reveal to a complete stranger any medications they are taking (including medications for depression, HIV, and/or birth control), then forced to urinate into a cup while this stranger listens.

And all this is occurring at the same time that many schools are eliminating courses that encourage individuality, imagination, and creativity, such as music, art, and literature, allegedly because they cannot afford to sustain them.

Not surprisingly, one of the most powerful pushes for indoctrination over education comes from what is perhaps the most politically backward state in the Union: Texas.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, several members of the Texas Board of Education are right-wing, religious zealots who are seeking to omit theories and ideas in scientific and social studies textbooks that fail to comport with their small-minded ideologies. 

While it is true that this indoctrination would have scant ability to dumb down the rest of America if confined within Texas's borders, some critics have expressed concerns that the size of the Texas textbook market could make it too costly for publishers to print one version of a textbook for Texas, and a different version for the rest of the United States.  Since Texas has already cursed America with the likes of Cruz, Perry, George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, and Alberto Gonzales, and given the number of electoral votes it possesses, it might actually be beneficial to America to grant the wish of many Texans and allow the state to secede from the Union.

2).  THE CORPORATE CONTROLLED MEDIA:  One of the ironies of having a plethora of television and radio stations to choose from in today's America is that people are actually becoming less informed and knowledgeable about state, national, and international affairs.

In the past, when American television viewers could only choose between two or three stations, most of the news broadcasts had journalistic integrity.  Since these broadcasts normally aired at the same time on all these channels, viewers either watched the news or they watched nothing at all.

Today, the abundance of television channels, along with the Internet and other rapidly evolving technologies, have spawned a myriad of mindless programs to watch and mindless activities to do.  And those who do desire to be informed are confronted with numerous news outlets competing for ratings and profits so vehemently that they simply regurgitate what viewers want to hear, instead of what they need to hear, and/or manufacture counterfeit controversies, usually involving a celebrity or sports figure, so they can avoid reporting on the real ones. 

Some so-called "news" networks have even mastered the "Oops, I made a mistake" strategy, where propagandists report falsehoods as truth, and then, at a later date, issue an "apology" for their "mistake," knowing that many of the people who heard the original report will not hear the retraction.

As I was researching and writing this article, I was both surprised and pleased to see a similar article by LZ Granderson entitled America's Problem: We're Too Dumb.  Having written for Pravda.Ru for over ten years, I realized that any article discussing the dumbing down of any person, entity, state, or nation is risky and controversial; therefore many journalists and pundits are reluctant to express such sentiments publicly.  Granderson made me realize there is at least one kindred spirit in the journalistic world.

To support his article's thesis, Granderson cited the "person on the street" interviews often conducted by some late-night television hosts.  During these interviews, the host shows people photographs of historically significant figures and of celebrities.  Although the historical figure is rarely identified by the interviewee, the celebrity almost always is.

Still, despite the commentary on the flawed priorities and lack of relevant knowledge many Americans possess, there is inherent hypocrisy in these interviews, because late-night talk show hosts are some of the principal culprits promoting the very "cult of celebrity" they are ridiculing.

3).  NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CAPITALISM DEMANDS IGNORANCE, NOT INTELLIGENCE: Granderson states, "an uneducated workforce is a hindrance to us all and an uninformed electorate is the thorn in democracy's side ."

While I agree with his latter observation, I disagree with the former.  An uninformed electorate is indeed a thorn in democracy's side, but it is a rose in capitalism's hand, and, unfortunately, an uneducated workforce is a blessing, not a hindrance, to tea party politicians and their billionaire backers.

Capitalism thrives on fear and ignorance:  people often fear losing their employment to such an extent that they will mutely accept the lifelong prospect of being paid too little for working too much at a job they despise.  Then they frequently waste the wages they earn paying too much for products they don't need or want because "everybody else has one," and/or engaging in costly activities they don't enjoy because "everybody else is doing them."

Marketing and advertising is built upon the "herd mentality"-consequently, the resolute sense of individuality and independence that education often inspires is anathema to the capitalist system.

4).  THE COSTS OF COLLEGE AND THE RISE OF "FOR-PROFIT" EDUCATION:  One of the criticisms leveled against traditional colleges is they compel students to take courses unrelated to their academic goals. 

For example, I was required to take courses in subjects like literature, geology, physics, biology, and economics even though my major was communications.  And while I ended up enjoying these subjects, I still, like many of my classmates, viewed these requirements as a way for the university to gouge more tuition dollars out of me.

Colleges and universities often emphasize the benefits of higher education by comparing the annual incomes of people with and without college degrees.  Yet what they neglect to factor into this comparison is the student loan debt many, if not most, college students have accumulated. 

After paying monthly student loan bills, a college graduate may actually be left with less income than a person without a degree, and even this is contingent on whether the graduate has had the good fortune to secure a job that provides enough income to both service the debt and other living expenses.

A student loan default can follow college graduates around for the rest of their lives, creating a cruel Catch-22 where student loan debtors require good incomes to pay off defaulted loans and reestablish good credit, yet they cannot obtain employment that pays such an income because of the bad credit rating caused by these same defaulted loans.

Also, in tough economic times, when competition for any type of job is fierce, persons with higher education degrees may actually be at a disadvantage, because prospective employers will often label them "overqualified" (a code word meaning "wanting more than we are willing to pay").

As the expense associated with traditional college or university degrees decreases interest in higher education, the dumbing down of America will increase. 

Some pundits have contended that the growth of the "for-profit" college industry (colleges owned by private corporations) and "online courses" will prevent this dumbing down from occurring. 

The allure of "for-profits" is that prospective students are told they can learn at home "at their own pace," course schedules are flexible, and, with narrow exceptions, they are only required to take courses related to their specific area of study.

Yet these alleged "benefits" not only ignore the classroom and other social interactions that are often crucial to the overall learning experience, they also create people who are proficient in one area but totally ignorant in others.  As a famous quote from George Santayana states, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."  Such doom is a certainty when history is not being taught.

5).  THE DESTRUCTION OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM:  In several past articles for Pravda.Ru, I have discussed how the University of Colorado (UC), in conjunction with Colorado's corrupt legal system, decimated academic freedom throughout the United States by firing tenured professor Ward Churchill. 

Churchill came under scrutiny after authoring a controversial essay about the September 11, 2001 attacks.  Although UC initially contended that Churchill's essay was protected by his right to freedom of speech, they subsequently conducted an "investigation" into allegations that he had engaged in plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. 

After he was fired, Churchill filed a lawsuit against UC, and a jury returned a verdict in his favor, finding that the misconduct allegations were simply a pretext used to discharge him.  But the presiding judge, Larry Naves, himself a graduate of UC law school, reversed the jury's verdict and upheld Churchill's firing. 

Although Churchill's case eventually made its way to the United States Supreme Court, the so-called "justices"-callously (but predictably) indifferent to the corrosive impact his firing has upon academic tenure and freedom-refused to hear it.

Thanks to UC, Larry Naves, and the United States Supreme Court, every professor in America, tenured or not, will now tremble at the thought of researching, studying, writing, or expressing anything that could remotely be construed as "controversial"-a sad prospect in a world where today's pariahs are frequently tomorrow's prophets.

So the dumbing down goes on.

6).  CORRUPTION:  If Professor Ward Churchill was fired for nothing more than expressing his opinion, then what type of career in higher education should await a right-wing, book-burning, lying, hypocritical politician who worships privatization and despises publicly funded programs and schools?

In Indiana, he is appointed the president of publicly funded Purdue University. 

Not only that.  He is appointed by the very lackeys he previously appointed to Purdue's "board of trustees."

Mitch Daniels, during his tenure as governor of Indiana, instituted several so-called educational "reforms" designed to weaken the public school system.  In addition, he sought to ban certain books, like Professor Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, from Indiana classrooms. 

One such "reform" was an "A-F" grading scale used by Indiana's Superintendent of Schools to determine how much state funding a school would be eligible to receive. 

Recently, the Associated Press (AP) obtained e-mails indicating that Tony Bennett, who served as Superintendent of Schools under Daniels, changed the grade of Christel House charter school from a "C" to an "A."

According to the AP, the school's founder Christel DeHann, had "given $2.8 million to Republicans since 1998, including $130,000 to Bennett and thousands more to state legislative leaders."

I have written extensively about the history of corruption in Indiana politics in articles such as The Ku Klux Klan Once Again Controls Indiana (Pravda.Ru, November 12, 2012), and its political backwardness may only be rivaled by Texas. 

This was made appallingly clear when, despite Bennett's antics, Indiana voters still elected Republican "super majorities" to the State Legislature and tea party darling Mike Pence as governor.  And even though Democrat Glenda Ritz was elected to replace Bennett, her "victory" serves as nothing more than a depressing reaffirmation of how oblivious Indiana voters are to the magnitude of their state's corruption.  

As the South Bend Tribune recently reported (October 13, 2013), the State Board of Education Ritz chairs is still polluted with Bennett supporters, her funding has been drastically cut by the Republican "super majorities," Pence has moved $5 million dollars earmarked for Ritz's office to his office, and, when Indiana "lawmakers" reconvene in 2014, Ritz expects to be completely stripped of her authority.

So this question ultimately emerges:  Is Indiana so dumbed down that its governor and Republican "super majorities" foresee no political risk in placing the interests of wealthy Republican donors above the educational interests of children?

Considering that Indiana voters are also responsible for electing tea party darlings like Walorski, Rokita, and Stutzman to the United States Congress, the answer can only be a resounding YES!

Meanwhile, Daniels recently flaunted how tightly he carries Purdue's Board of Trustees in his pocket by giving a paid speech to a conservative "think tank" in Minnesota, despite his promise to avoid partisan politics while serving as Purdue's president.

Some pundits have contended that the tea party's political antics, including the recent government shutdown, have set it on the pathway to destruction.  This might be the case if a majority of the people still determined the outcome of elections in America.  Despite successes in Texas and Indiana, the tea party's ability to dumb down a majority of the voters so they will believe its great lies still has limits, at least during this stage of American history.

But the tea party realizes that soon the majority of the people will no longer determine the outcome of elections.  The minority of the people with the majority of the money will.

It is no secret that the tea party movement was significantly bolstered by the United States Supreme Court's corruption inviting Citizens United case, which removed all financial limits on what corporations and right-wing billionaires could spend to promote tea party candidates. 

And now this same court, comprised of some of the most biased, racist, unethical, politicized, myopic, and corrupt "justices" in American history, is poised to grant corporations and right-wing billionaires the power to give unlimited financial support directly to political candidates.

Of course, America will still call itself a democracy.  And, if the dumbing down of that once great nation continues unabated, this great lie will undoubtedly be accepted without question.