Sunday, April 15, 2018

New Short Stories

Irish Enchantment Series
An Armada Scandal
The Girl from Old Tribe
Ian: The Lover from Galway Bay
Death All Around

 Midwestern Heartbreak Series
A Dormant Grief
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Saturday, May 27, 2017

BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR
2009 - 2017
  


Children's Books
The Challenger Intermediate School Series


DEGREES AND COURSES

Bachelor of Arts, Emory University, 1982
Master's in Public Administration University of Georgia 1985
In Search of Excellence 1989
IBM Situational Leadership 1989
IBM Transformational Leadership 1991
Emory University: Effective Management Series 1991
Emory University Sexual Harassment Series 1991
Total Quality Management - Clayton State College 1991
Powerful Communications, Handling Conflict Resolution Customer Service Daniel Management 1991
ICA Facilitation Skills 1993
Consulting Psychologist Press Myers Briggs Type Indicated Certification for five years
Blue Ride Technologies Document Imaging Systems 1996
Life, Health, and Annuities - Florida State License 2005
Real Estate -- Florida State License 2014

PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Creating a Change Management System from Scratch" (2005) http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference/2005/creating-change-management-system-scratch
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation Santa Cara Ca. 1993
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "CNI Libraries and Internet" Cause- Educom, Regional conference, Philadelphia PA 1995
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "George Records Management" Conference Augusta GA 1995
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Document Imagine Horizons Seminar" Oct 1996
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "SIGUCCCS" Chicago Ill October 1996
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Issues in Scholarly Publishing" Washington DC 1996
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "EDUCOMM - Change Management and Debate panelist - Atlanta, 2004 and
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "EDUCOMM - Change Resistors - Las Vegas, June 2005
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Speaker: Kent State University - New Media Centers - A Wireless Future
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Evolving Technologies Committee, Panel Presentation and White Paper Wireless -- SmartCards
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "- EDUCAUSE - Information Architects, Birds of Feather 1999

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "A Publication on Information Technology from Emory University" e-edition "Cite of the Day" by The Chronicle on Higher Education 1997
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "National Judge and Newsletter Programs Chair for all Universities and Colleges, SIGUCCS 1996 & 1998 http://www.siguccs.org/about/Userservices.html
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "First Place among University Newsletters, SIGUCCS 1995 & 1997
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "First in Excellence, Society for Technical Communications 1995 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Technical_Communication#History
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Evolving Technologies Educause Committee - Consecutive appointments 1999 - 2000
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Multimedia Constituent Group Leader, Educause - Consecutive appointments 1997 - 2004
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Appointed to the President's Commission on the Status of Women at Emory 1990-92
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Appointed Habitat for Humanity Emory ITD Coordinator and Building Volunteer 1995
Fellowship Advisory Committee - EDUCAUSE beginning 2003 - 2006

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

All personal community organization papers maintained by Georgia State University in Special Collections.
http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/xml/W044.xml

PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES

Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "XML: An Evolving Technologies Committee Report" Educause Committee Conference Papers (2001) http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/DEC0109.pdf
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "The Wireless War Dance" EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY o Number 1 2001 ) http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0116.pdf
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Evolving Smart Card & Biometric Technologies" Educause Committee Conference Papers (2000) http://www.docstoc.com/docs/69606663/Evolving-Smart-Card-and-Biometric-Technologies
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Evolving Wireless" Educause Committee Conference Papers (2000)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "What Are the Goals of Internet2" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (September 1997)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "The Internet2 Game's Afoot" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (September 1997)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Crystalline Communications" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (March 1997)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Imagining & Innovating: Skirting Around the I.T. Bylines." A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (January 1997)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "The Year 2000: Reversing the Implications---Education on Information Technology" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (September 1996)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Can the Gospel Truth Be Found with Information Technology" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (September 1996) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook11.asp
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "The Mirages and Ardor of Undisciplined Disciplines" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (March 1996)
Konsynski, Benn, Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Getting Better: Information Technology & Learning" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (January 1996)
Anderson, Espen, Konsynski, Benn Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Oops, It Does It Again: It Changes Everything" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (November 1995)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "What Comes First - the Decision or the System?" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Unearthing the Opportunities: All Together Now" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Courage Mounteth with Information Technology" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Thoughts on the Internet's Uncensored Culture" A Publication on Information Technology at Emory University (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Beyond Grasping the Program" InfoTalk 28 (November 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Grasping the Software Program" InfoTalk 27 (October 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "What Will Virtual Reality Have to do with Higher Education?" InfoTalk 26 (September1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Using Goudy: The Emory Typeface" InfoTalk 25 (May 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Former President Jimmy Carter Views Three Uses of Information Technology InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "A.D.A.M. A Renaissance Tool For Teaching Anatomy InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Adding a Measure with Information Technology InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Cultural Revolution in Using Public Policy Data" InfoTalk 23 (March 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Heart Warming Services Are Enhanced with Information Technology InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Heart Models - Positron Imaging" InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Envisioning Electronic Mail Use InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Quantifying Visualization Using Grades AS An Example Forms InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Computer Analysis Test Theories of Ancient Religious Mystics InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Art from the Past and Modern Multimedia Create a Cultural Experience in Russian Studies Forms InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "HyperCard Programs in Near Eastern & Judaic Languages & Literatures InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Electronic Communications Novices Can Now Compete With Network Gurus of Yesteryear InfoTalk 24 (April 1994)

COMMUNITY SERVICE
   
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed - Georgia Supreme Court of the State of Georgia "Unlicensed Practice of Law Standing Committee" 2000-06
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed "Soroptimist International of Atlanta" Elected Vice President 1983-84
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed - Supreme Court of the State of Georgia "Commission on Gender Bias-co-author of the final report "Judicial Ethics" chapter reprinted in the Law Review 1989 - 1992
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "The Citizen's Chronicle" Publisher & Editor 1985
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Lecturer & Moderator "Jobs and the Jobless in a Changing Society" & "Who's Talking --- Who's Listening?" 1985 Kennedy Library, Boston, Ma.
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Young, Andrew "YMCA International Conference on Women's Issues" 1985
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Domestic Policy Association- Speaker - "Social Security System" 1983
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed to the DeKalb County Courts Judicial Selection Committee" 1985-86
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Appointed & Elected Women in DeKalb County" Chairwoman 1985-86
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Atlanta Regional Commission - Community Services & Advisory Group" Elected Chair 1985
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, "Atlanta Regional Commission -Regional Development & Planning Advisory Group and Water Resources" Chair 1984
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed - "Economic Opportunity Authority of DeKalb County - Elected 2nd Vice President 1982-83
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Appointed "Head Start Program" Chair 1982-83
Moriarty, Laura Joyce, Elected "President of the League of Women Voter's DeKalb County" 1981-82

PROGRAMS DEVELOPED FOR FACULTY & STAFF TRAINING AT EMORY

The Empowered Manager 1992
Customers in Distress 1992
Advanced Microsoft Word-Excel 1992
Let's Create a Team Vision 1991
Copyrights and the World Wide Web Group 1996
Document Imaging 1996
IT for High School Students Druid Hills 1996
Assessment, Measurement and Evaluation Santa Cara Ca. 1993Cause CNI Libraries Educom, and Internet Regional conference, Philadelphia PA 1994 1995
George Records Management Conference Augusta GA 1995
Document Imagine Horizons Seminar Oct 1996
SIGUCCCS Chicago Ill October 1996
Issues in Scholarly Publishing Washing DC 1996

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Saturday, April 21, 2012


New Short Stories from Laura Joyce Moriarty

The Italian Pearl & The Irish Peasant




This is a story taken from the lineage of the O'Malley family in "The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons".

Around 300 B.C., a handsome Roman general, nephew of the reigning Caesar, is sent off to battle pirates and bring home treasure for the glory of Rome. Along the way, he comes across an extremely unusual Irish ship crewed by both male and female pirates, a bad omen as far as his crew is concerned . . . and an unlikely source of any kind of treasure. Nonetheless, the general is instantly smitten by the ship’s beautiful captain and orders his reluctant crew to pursue the strange vessel. Despite disaster, his quest continues until the general is taken prisoner by an unfriendly King. When the King turns him over to an ugly peasant woman, our hero continues to pine for his lost love. Both prisoner and caretaker live in fantasy worlds where they yearn for what they cannot have until a shocking discovery changes everything for both of them.   ©Laura Joyce Moriarty


The Death of Reiley Freeze

Reiley Freeze was an extremely heroic, kind, and popular character with readers in the Trilogy, The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons. His instant charisma was evident with everyone he knew. He was fascinating, and yet, he never met very many people---he was always on the move.

Reiley was the envy of every man who ever met him including his own brother. He didn’t understand why men disliked him because he didn’t realize that he made choices with a power that many men lacked---the internal fortitude to set aside his own desires for the sake of others. He stayed completely loyal to his goals---to provide a permanent life of security for the generations who would follow his own. He made every decision as closely aligned with the world’s most valued and yet difficult necessity---the one that says good men must conquer the evil ones while not becoming stained with sin and guilt--- the only way for a man to become a real hero.

Even more unlikely, the men who disliked him out of jealousy, principally because he was so admired by women, couldn’t see the truth. They saw his charm, but yet, he held no pretense or swagger. The reason women longed for him was because of his way---his way with words---his way with a smile---his way with a helping hand, and most importantly, his way with his goodness.  ©Laura Joyce Moriarty




Brigid's Dilemma
After Rosemary O’Connor finds her abusive husband sneaking into her young daughter’s bedroom, she spends the next few years physically fighting him off to protect her beautiful Brigid. In the end, Rosemary saves her from her father, but is unable to shield Brigid from a ravaging stranger, a man nearly twice her age, who uses the young girl’s desperate desire for love to seduce her.
Once she learns her daughter is pregnant, as if tempting fate, Rosemary suffers a final altercation. She sends Brigid away while secretly condemning her husband to prison.
Rosemary’s scheme was to save Brigid from a pitiless society that oppressed unwed mothers during the early days of the 1900s. But she frightens her in the process.
As a result, vestiges of her fear and caution keeps her desire for a husband perpetually fettered---and then each time she is ready to fall in love, fate intervenes.   ©Laura Joyce Moriarty





The Mission of Alexis Dering

Alexis Dering was born to a wealthy, but brutally sinister British family in Devonshire, England. Yet, he remained kind, curious, and despite his baneful opinion of himself..
The shy boy meets an unlikely friend, a young Irishman who feels destined to become a missionary in a foreign land as soon as he can finish his education and become an ordained priest. Alexis loves his friend but continually resists to be seduced into his chosen life as a priest. Instead, he relentlessly tempt Fitz into a safe, mutually beneficial life of privilege and comfort. Their unexplainable intransigence  strange effect has a lasting effect on each of them with remarkably prophetic outcomes.  ©Laura Joyce Moriarty



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Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - Donations

Donations -- Free Books are given to High Schools, Retirement Communities, and Veteran's Hospital based on sales.

May, 2011

6 Copies - 3 of each Title

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Beginning

The Secrets of Nine Irish Sons - The Rose Oisín

Liberty High School 4250 Pleasant Hill Road • Kissimmee, Florida 34746

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Health Care Conundrum


Dylan Ratigan of Morning Meeting, asked health insurance lobbyist and guest, James Klein of the American Benefits Council ---"Are you in favor of perpetuating the monopoly for health insurance, [i.e.,] the anti-trust exemption?"

Ratigan asked Klein the same question over and over and Klein avoided answering, insisting it was a "charged question."

This is not a charged question.

The reason this question is important, is because most people in this country would have never known or suspected that Health Care Insurance Companies were exempt from the Sherman anti-trust laws. People who go to manufacturing plants, schools, hospitals, and a thousand different types of business offices to work every day, and then go home to meals, cleaning, bathing, homework, lawncare, and another thousand different types of chores, have no time to sit at home and enjoy a leisure browse through the Internet on the latest government fiasco, or news scoop on how they are being ripped off.

There is so much dishonesty now, that it fails to raise the interest of most---except for those who can find a small market niche in working for corporations who want them to put on a public face in town hall meetings.

Wikipedia adds this explanation: the U.S. Supreme Court in Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan: outlined that, "The purpose of the [Sherman] Act is not to protect businesses from the working of the market; it is to protect the public from the failure of the market. The law directs itself not against conduct which is competitive, even severely so, but against conduct which unfairly tends to destroy competition itself."

So finally, it has come to the attention of some people that Health Care Insurance Companies are exempt from anti-trust laws --- the only corporate group as a whole, as far as the public knows right now.

You might ask why. I did. But there is no answer except somewhere, somehow, elected representatives heard one side of a story and bought into it---or were bought.

This is not good for you if you are a Republican, because if you are a sincere believer in your own principles, you would tout open and free competition. You might have enough money to become a budding Health Care provider, but in most states, your aspirations wouldn’t have a chance. This has to be very bad news for you because you believe!

You are sold on your theories and want to be able to jump into any market and prove your are better---that is, you believe that Adam Smith was right and that your principles produce the best economic wealth for all people in all nations. This is a solid and concrete precept to you and there are no mitigating factors. You don’t believe in coersive monopolies. You believe in natural monopolies and you think you have the know-it-all to get into the business and provide the best, most efficient Health Care on the market.

If you are a Democrat and are in favor of torte reform, this becomes a huge issue that has developed over the years and makes the anti-trust laws extremely important. You see as soon as it became widely known that Health Care Insurance Companies were defrauding good people with honest insurance claims, the courts filled up with new law suits. That is that dishonest people delighted in a new-found way to become professional litigators and collect millions based on a pyramid of new frauds at the expense of all payers into their insurance programs. The spillover loss to those keeping up with their health care costs has since then skyrocketed.

If you are a Republican or a Democrat, you have to be really scared if tort is reformed and the exemption to the Sherman Anti Trust laws is not dropped. You can’t imagine what it would be like if Health Care Insurance Companies could do what they want on the market and there was absolutely no recourse for you. Can you imagine, wanting to drive from North Carolina to Georgia to receive special heart transplant services and you were suddenly not allowed to get those services? That is not out-of-service, just plain not allowed at all---or at any price. You would have to be fairly certain that there was no chance that you might actually get sick and need medical care.

So somewhere along the line, the Health Care Insurance Companies saw a light at the end of their tort problem tunnel. It was exemption from Trust laws. Think about it. If you were the owner of a big provider, and you were paying out part of your profit to litigants, you would have to stop, or your stock holders would be angry. And where would your millions in compensation come from? It is only you and the stockholders who are the ones making a profit on your medical reimbursements.

If you are exempt from the Trust laws, you are exempt from price fixing. That means if it’s you, the Republican, who wants to jump into the business, you must meet with your competitor and agree to hold all your public customers to a fixed price for a specific service. You might also pass that same type of agreement onto the doctors---you will hold them to a reimbursement ceiling, or set a limit on what they can charge for a service because you must maintain a certain profit margin. Of course, this is already the case.

You must then hold all your suppliers to the same agreement. You can make fifty percent above your costs but you have to make sure we are reimbursed fifty percent as well. The more you charge our providers the more you will have to pay us. If you can’t provide our supplies at the price we want, we will have to go elsewhere . . . to some other supplier like China or Japan. They will give us the price we need to make our profits.

If you are the consumer, you can expect one thing. Less service at a higher cost---all the economic principles that maintain a free market are lost and the market spins out of control. It serves one master---the profit master. So if you need cancer treatments, and the provider doesn’t want to pay for them, many thousand excuses can be brought to the table to bear witness against your need. You can’t have it both ways --- profit and necessary health care. It doesn’t matter what you believe in. You’re screwed!

If you are a Republican or a Democrat, you have to be really scared if tort laws are reformed and the exemption to the Sherman Anti Trust laws is not dropped first. You can’t imagine what it would be like if Health Care Insurance Companies could do what they want on the market and there was absolutely no recourse for you. It could happen!
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

U.S. Constitution Can No Longer Protect Capitalism

A new movie by Michael Moore, Entitled Capitalism – a Love Story will be released for screening October 1. In the ads that preview the movie, Michael reports that, The richest 1[one] percent of our citizens have more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined.

This is interesting because, no one in my recent memory has ever had the nerve to say anything even remotely negative about capitalism without being branded something --- a communist --- a socialist --- a member of a cult --- something insulting. I am sure that there will be no surprises on the release of this film either. All the ignorant people who refuse to learn facts of our current history will want to burn images of Michael Moore in effigy. Why?

One thing about human nature is that certain instincts tend to guide a person’s thinking and once that mental image or belief system is set in stone, it takes more than a movie, usually more than a lifetime of study, to undo it. What’s worse is that most people will filter every bit of new information through that old belief system and spin it around to fit into the mental box that holds their original premises.

In this case, the original premise is typically based on something learned in childhood, for example, a lesson in 5th grade when the student hears, “We are capitalists – not socialists. We don’t believe in Socialism or Communism. Those are inept and unsuccessful economic models used by other countries. They are not as evil as dictatorships or monarchies. We don’t believe in them either. We are capitalists and we love the USA. And you are free to make as much money as you can in this country.”

So when someone like Michael Moore comes along and says, I think we have an economic system that is unfair, it is unjust, it is undemocratic and goes against the principles we say we believe in, most people will freak out and shut down any new information. How can we undo what we have always believed in---that we are allowed to do business freely? The only thing left for these people to do will be to fling relentless insults, and these days, scream obscenities.

But the bottom line is that Michael Moore is right---that capitalism within our constitutional framework no longer works and for several reasons, some of which are listed below.

One reason is that our country was formed around the U.S. Constitution. See:

Article 1.

Section 1

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Congress makes the laws. When Congress decided to unleash the bankers and corporate powers in the this country to gamble away your money, charge you outrageous and previously illegal fees for the most minute financial transaction, take away your Christian rights to be guarded against usury [what used to be called extortion and what many thugs on the street used to go to jail for], then you cannot have capitalism. What you have is legalized criminality. Why did they do this?---because they were paid to do this---and with more than just money. They were insured a safe reelection. And there is nothing scarier to an elected representative than losing a seat of power. After all, what could be a more fun job when unemployment is rising?

Section 2

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

If you analyze the last part of the above paragraph, i.e., they were insured a safe reelection, you will see why the U.S. Constitution is now defied. You see, the people no longer elect their representatives. That power was revoked when corporations started buying the members of congress with huge contributions that insured reelection.

Section 2 – Con.’t

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons,

Because the people no longer elect their representatives, and because the large corporations do, the people cannot be apportioned their Taxes justly. Why? --- because most huge corporations in this country no longer pay taxes. They can’t afford to if they have to pay each other a million times more than their value. So there is no longer a logical way to pay apportioned taxes.

Section 4

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and

Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Choosing Senators.

This is no longer enforced. During the last election, the Democratic Party cast off millions of votes based on “Party” rules. Maybe the legislature of each of those states said “OK --- You make the rules.” But they have no right to do that. They must make the rules and then take the heat for whatever happens. According to the Constitution they are supposed to do this. They cannot allow any party – Republican, Democratic, Independent, or the Communist Party to make the rules that govern elections---and certainly, cannot allow them to discard votes cast by American citizens, not unless they change Article I of the Constitution.

Well, this can go on and on. Our U.S. Constitutional protections have been so completely devastated during the past two decades that we are no longer a United States of America. We are a collection of States and people trying to survive under the worst of circumstances and there are no people left in Congress who have the moral fortitudes to undue the mess they brought upon us. And they would gain nothing by trying.

We are a global economy and while you and our journalists were sleeping, the small corporations, turned into giants that not only own your Congress, both republican and democratic officials, were bought with your future. What is good for them is what will succeed.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Who Can You Trust Now?

When the news about Obama’s planned speech to school children raised the collective head of ignorance, I did my little Tweet of – “dumb” in a nutshell, waiting for sanity to emerge from the wild wilderness of political pundits. Now, I wonder! Why have people with such an incredible lack of knowledge been raised to the level of legitimacy?

Comments like brainwashing and indoctrination filled the airways. And there on the news, sitting at a slick desk with lots of colorful swatches of screen shots waving around in the background, a journalist sits tapping his or her cheek with a soulful look and comment such as, Well maybe they have a point there. After all, there was a lesson plan that asked children to write a letter to the president of the United States with his or her own ideas. Let’s discuss this. How radical is that? It could be brainwashing. The next speech will be the proof in the pudding---Indoctrination!

Where does this stuff come from? It’s so nuts!

When I went to school, which was a very long time ago, Joe McCarthy hearings were on television, and even little elementary school children were expected to learn from them---and also from Meet the Press, Bishop Sheen, and William F. Buckley and dozens of others who had something intelligent to say---agree or not.

We were also expected to understand where we lived. We didn’t live in Russia or China or some other place in the world that believed in brainwashing. We were expected to be alert to ideas, learn about them, ask questions, and make a judgment about our opinions which, by the way, we were told to keep to ourselves until we could prove they had a solid foundation of accurate facts to support them, and a sense of propriety and morality associated with our reasoning. We had to prove that we were worth listening to and when we weren’t ready, we faced the worse kind of criticism. The next time we opened our mouths to espouse this or that bit of an opinion, we were prepared.

Now, look at the hyperbole associated with the ridiculousness of Indoctrination and Brainwashing. When I grew up, we learned that brainwashing was a systematic form of abuse against populations who had no access to public libraries, open education, competitive newspapers, or free radio or television. We were taught that in the countries that did not have free and open access to speech and the press used very powerful social demands on their people, often forcing them to work in labor camps or minimally be ostracized from their families and friends. We were taught that punishments to the populations included deprivation of food and basic necessities. We were taught that those who obeyed the powerful were rewarded and those that disobeyed were chastised relentlessly. We were about seven years old on the average, when we were taught this and for some reason, understood the concept---intense, systematic repetitive indoctrination against one’s principles, without access to differing opinions, and while being subjected to repetitive torture, humiliation, and/or isolation, could cause someone to believe in something other than what he or she believed to be the truth.

After that initial debate hit the news, I waited for someone with a lick of sense to explain this, so I could feel a sense of normalcy again. No one did. In fact, I have been waiting for someone, democrat or republican, with real intelligence to say something about how low the intellectual bar has fallen in this country when people can scream insane nonsense, and the pundits, news journalist, etc., fail to offer much in the way of rebuttal. It’s as if they were scared---or never went to school. Today, Walter Cronkite is being honored. I wonder if he was scared by the screamers! I wonder who you can trust now!

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