165- MY FAVE ALBERT EINSTEIN SAYING!!!.....

"GREAT SPIRITS HAVE ALWAYS ENCOUNTERED VIOLENT OPPOSITION FROM MEDIOCRE MINDS."

164- H-A-P-P-Y.........C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S....and a MUCH BETTER NEW YEAR than 2008!......

....and a coming New Year where YOU take control of YOUR life!...remember, MAKE a good year!.....squire

163- ELECTING OUR PRESIDENT By NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE?.....

a- For some time, this U.S government and Sociology educator, along with a growing chorus of reformists, are urging that the rules for selecting our U.S. President be changed from an archiac Electoral College method to a simple and FAIRER national popular vote!
It's simple...under the current Electoral College, our invidual votes in the Presidential election often DO NOT count! The current state-by-state method of choosing presidential electors actually sets up a divided country. "Battleground" states during this past election, 2008, received the most, by far, attention and power.

b- The Electoral College has a fixed number of 538 Electors. That's a total of 435+3 for the House of Reps and 100 for the U.S. Senate, both fixed. 538 total Electors in the Electoral College. The +3 was added for D.C. when the U.S. Constitution decided that D.C. had no representation. 270 are needed to "win" the Presidential election. If there is a tie, and History says there has been, it is decided in the House of Reps in a prescribed manner.

c- Since each State in the U.S. Senate is on an equal basis, with two (2) Senators each, the difference comes in the House of Reps. Remember, there are only 438 Electors total. Therefore, each State's Electors in the House is based on population. Are you beginning to understand problem here? Much of the action, therefore, is often centered with the heavily populated states, like California with a total of 55 Electoral votes (53+2)...Texas with 34 (32+2)...Florida with 27 Electoral votes (25+2)...Illinois 21 (19+2)...Ohio 20 (18+2)...PA. 21 (19+2)...New York 31 (29+2).....

d- The state-by-state method of choosing our president and presidential electors actually divides up our country into states, or blocks of states, into ones that are "hot" for campaigning or nearly ignored! Population (Electoral College) dictates that Alaska, Vermont, D.C., Delaware, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, with 3 Electoral votes for our president willl....go figure, now. Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Hawai'i and Idaho have 4 E. votes. That means 2 U.S. Senators and 2 Reps. Now...what states have the "power" in the election and which don't?

e- AND...does YOUR vote on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of a federal election year (formula!) go directly to YOU? Now YOU see that it doesn't!!!! Why, because every State's vote is decided by the Electors who actually vote in each respective state's capital. And they chose how a state votes by the total popular vote. If Virginia, for example, has the plurality vote (most votes by count) for the Democrats, Virginia Electors give ALL 13 Electoral Votes to the democrtic presidential candidate! The Republican candidate for president gets NONE. Therefore, YOUR individual vote, no matter what, did not go directly to the candidate you voted for!!!! Even worse, if your candidate in Virginia was the republican hominee, your vote never had a chance to be counted!

f- Go back to my lists of the states with the most population and Electoral votes. If YOU were a candidate for president, more of your $$$ and especially time would go to what states?...can you say California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Flordia....? And, looking at a specific year's election, a candidate and campaign may need to concentrate also on a "smaller' state that becomes a "swing' state that could add to winning with the larger populated states...remember in 2000 with Florida?

g- So...I am, like many others, into problem solving, convinced that one must have a better way. We need a better system whereby EVERYONE's vote equally counts!

h- One possible plan involves each State NOT giving all Electoral votes to the "winner take all" for a State...but instead a % for the major candidates. Virginia, therefore, has 13 Electoral votes (2 U.S. Senators and 11 Reps). According to the popular vote in Virginia, a % of the 13 would go to the Democratic candidate and a % to the Republican candidate. The way it is now, if the Republicans got the plurality majority, they would receive the 12 Electoral votes and Democrats 0!...see why that is unfair? The Democrats who voted in the popular vote in Virginia would get NOTHING!...their vote, even though voting, does NOT COUNT!!!

162- The YULE LOG, MR. GRINCH And HOT MULLED CIDER At The COLLEGE Of WILLIAM And MARY!....

A tradition at the College, Saturday evening (Dec. 13th), was one fine example of collegiate merriment mixed with plenty of school spirit, comradie and...and smiles! This alum enjoyed it all, including hot mulled cider and plump cookies. My most favorable moment, and there were many, took place after the Grinch's visit in the Wren courtyard in back. To complete the tradition, one needed a sprig of holly to toss into the Great Hall fireplace. While we waited outside with a large crowd, to enter the Great Hall, I asked a student how to get a sprig of holly seen in most hands and continued on moving in line. Within a few moments, a coed came up and asked if I needing a sprig of holly. She and her friends had searched the ground nearby for a sprig that had fallen....to share with me. THAT was my Nikon moment!
Yeah, my Nikon came along with me, as usual.

161- AH, HOMEMADE FRUIT CAKE AFICIONADO!...ARE YOU ONE?....MAYBE HOMEMADE POUND CAKE, INSTEAD?.....

Someone must like fruit cake 'cause they SELL! My maternal grandmere used to spend days baking up her "spacial" fruit cakes in that old-fashioned wood stove oven down on her farm! She used lots of those candied fruits and hand-cracked walnuts and spices. Once the cakes were baked, she soaked them with a dousing of "medicinal spirits", wrapped them in cheesecloth and stored them away in a cool place 'til Christmas...she was 'curing' them.
And what did she do with them? Gave them away as gifts! Oh mi ga!...once in a blue moon, she would whup up her homemade pound cakes, soak 'em and wrap the baked gems for a spell! I used to, as a kid, try to find out what her "medicinal spirts" actully were...I figure that it had to be, uh........rum.

It's OK...go ahead and love those fruit cakes, a slice at a time, though. I'll take the homemade pound cake...with a scoop of 'dirty vanilla' cream!

160- CHRISTMAS...CHRISTMAS...CHRISTMAS!

CHRISTMAS!...I grew up celebrating and respecting, MY choice, the Christmas holidays...and many of the traditions surrounding the handful of days. I still do, after much education and activities that have stretched around the world! This sociologist and author likes the Christmas music and programs in my colonial hometown...the door decorations in the Restored Area...sitting quietly in historic Bruton Parish Church, by candlight, and listening to the harpsichord and church organ completely surrounding me sitting in George Washington's old high pew. A 15-minute presentation, "A Christmas Carol", on Duke of Gloucester Street, on the weekend, three times a day, is refreshing. And I cannot wait for this coming Saturday (13th) at 6pm to become a part of the College of William and Mary Yule Log Ceremony in and around the Sir Christopher Wren Great Hall.
What a tradition it will be..... I will continue to use the word Christmas, and traditions, in any and everything I write and experience. I, of course, consider it a personal choice, never forcing anyone else to follow another's direction...that's my Socratic style!

159- LYING, CHEATING & STEALING in our AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS!...AN EPIDEMIC?

A look at this social phenomenon in America's current society....

a- I am so fortunate to have studied at several Virginia universities where their Honor Codes were steeped in honor and tradition based on Jeffersonian ideals and values. The College of William and Mary, America's 2nd oldest, has those high standards. The University of Virginia set the standard with their Honor Code centuries ago. As a matter of fact, much of my first novel (on its last draft), The Serpentine Bond!, is based on the life of seven at U. Va. At U. Va., students are responsible for handling infractions by students.
Lying, cheating and stealing in high schools, in general, are indicative of American society overall. A parent just the other day was distraught with her daughter, living with her father, whenever the daughter communicated with the mother. "How do I get her to understand how to simply tell the truth, anymore?"
b- The problem of stealing in high school is no longer a taboo subject! And this statement is not a rationalization excuse or being a "hasty generatization." There is a total lack of even realizing, admitting that stealing something of value from another student is morally wrong. "I want it...it is now mine, especially when I can cleverly get away with it."
c- There is an ancient adage stressing "that if one complains, one must devise a solution!" Well, the solution is obvious and will take some time to get it off the ground...set up an Honor Code like we have in higher education. Students could be selected, with a few faculty members, and collectively put some strength into the rampant stealing, cheating and lying social phonomenon ALLOWED to continue and grow in our high schools throughout our American culture. The program must be a national effort! The problem can be attacked and stemmed. d- GO FOR IT, America!