Minnesota suffering from Romnesia bans free online education and then unbans it in the face of backlash

Here's some news that will definitely have you head scratching:

As we know, college tuition is very expensive and rapidly becoming pricier. The average student debt load is astronomically rising as student borrow more and more to finance their degrees.

Additionally, in a tenuous -- yet slowly improving -- job market, many workers and work seekers need to learn new skills in order to compete.

And with rising energy/service/food costs matched with stagnant wages, an organization called Coursera -- offering free on-line courses -- has come to the rescue of millions who can not afford a higher education.

Yankees and Cards win: A-Rod is benched

"I'm still getting paid"

I must admit, I am a casual baseball fan. For the most part, I am mostly indifferent to the marathon 162 game  regular season. But come October --similar to the original Mr. October AKA Reggie Jackson -- my passion for the game heats up.

DC Nats give up four 9th inning runs and lose to the Cards 9-7 

My heart sank last night as my second favorite team (remember I am a die-hard fan of all Philly teams) the Washington Nationals had an epic meltdown in their first post-season appearance. The Nats were only one strike away from advancing to the NL Championship playoff series before losing to the resilient St. Louis Cardinals.

Ryan asked for federal help as he championed cuts

This particular exchange between Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan (watch the video) underscores the dishonesty, political opportunism and hypocrisy of the Republican party:

Ryan asked for Stimulus cash then lied about doing so.

Today's Must Read:Why the Obscenely Wealthy Whine When They Have It So Good

This article appeared in the AlterNet.

Romney's 47 percent flip-flop can't hide the fact that rich conservatives perceive themselves as victims

BY FRANK JOYCE, ALTERNET

So, Mitt Romney now tells Sean Hannity he was “completely wrong” about the 47 percent.  On the surface that looks like a typical etch-a-sketch campaign pivot. But I think there is more to it than a little clean up in aisle three.

My theory is that after careful research and analysis,  the smartest guys at 1 percent World Headquarters reached a disturbing conclusion. They decided that the whole fiasco needs to be contained as much as possible because it has the potential for serious damage well beyond the November election.

How? Let’s see.

First,  the setting.  This is how they think and talk among themselves.  It’s not just at fundraisers,  but in their churches,  country clubs and board rooms as well.  Their servants hear them all the time.  But they can’t tell for fear of being easily dismissed.  Thanks to YouTube we now get to see and hear for ourselves.

Yes, they really do believe there is something wrong with the people.  What is it?  It’s that our default preference is to be lazy moochers.  As employers this is definitely how they think about us as workers.  This is why there are entire schools devoted to “management”.  We also hear a lot about their true worldview any time we start to talk about forming a union.

The roots of this mindset run very deep.  Did the job creator plantation owners ever want to consider there was anything wrong with the slavery system? Of course not. But they were very eager to talk about all the things that were wrong with the slaves.

That legacy is very much with us  They still don’t want anyone to think there is anything wrong with the system.

Axelrod: GOP had a 'diabolical' strategy to oppose Obama

Once again, when our country was staring into the economic abyss -- even the most conservative economist feared an economic collapse/melt-down that would dwarf the Great Depression -- the country overwhelmingly elected candidate Barack Obama.

His mandate: Fix the economy and save our country from economic ruin. 

Candidate Obama promised not only to restore our economy, he promised to usher in a new era of post-partisan politics. As he frequently campaigned: There are no red states or blue state, there is only the United States.

I have no doubt that Obama meant what he said and intended to govern bi-partisan. However, the GOP leadership and their big money sugar daddies (billionaire Koch brothers and Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch) had other plans:

It's Time For Obama To Become The 'Angry Black Man'

President Obama has mastered many subtleties, both non-verbal and verbal, on how to not be perceived as threatening to white America -- the Angry Black Man. 

Let's keep it real, if not for this mastery, he would have never achieved the highest office in the land. As president, he had one minor slip up -- the Henry Gates vs Cambridge police confrontation --after the following comment the backlash was immediate:

Shaq vs Howard: Superman vs Superman?

Battle of the Capes?

Comic book lore has it that the invincible Superman had only one weakness: Kryptonite.

Lo and behold, the NBA has discovered yet another Superman weakness: his alter-ego from a not so distant past.

The movie Deliverance gave us battling banjos; and now two mammoth 7 foot something NBA giants -- Shaquille O'Neal and Dwight Howard -- have become the battling Supermen.

Obama's October Christmas gift: Unemployment drops to 7.8%

After a horrendous and dreadfully flat debate performance by President Obama -- Al Gore suggested it was because of the Denver mile high altitude (he loves Global Climate explanations) -- the president was buoyed by a far better than expected September Jobs Report: unemployment dropped to 7.8% -- lowest level in the Obama presidency.

And this was a substantive improvement because the unemployment drop was not a result of discouraged people dropping out of the job market:

Billionaire Richard Branson: War on drugs or War against African-Americans

HGP November 2011 post 

Drug abuse less likely among black, Asian kids, study says:

Black and Asian adolescents are much less likely to abuse or become dependent on drugs and alcohol than white kids, according to a Duke University-led study based on an unusually large sample of kids from all 50 states.

"There is certainly still a myth out there that black kids are more likely to have problems with drugs than white kids, and this documents as clearly as any study we're aware of that the rate of ... substance-related disorders among African-American youths is significantly lower," said Dr. Dan Blazer of Duke's psychiatry department and a senior author of the study.

Minister Farrakhan to Black Youth: Stop the killing!

In a prior post, I reported the on the Brookings Institute Report regarding the five keys to transitioning from poverty to middle-class:

The formula to being middle-class in America: 

(1) graduate from high school;
(2) don't have children until after you get married; 
(3) don't do anything that will land you in jail; 
(4) don't acquire a drug habit; and 
(5) have a decent work ethic. Americans who are chronically poor typically flunk three or more of these indicators.

With crisis like levels of black-on-black killings in Urban America, USA, another key should be added: 

Avoid gun violence.