Ben Carson's Medical Career Could Have Begun at West Point

West Point graduates are eligible and allowed to apply for medical school,

Ben Carson could have begun his medical career at West Point then fulfilled his service obligation as a doctor.
He also had the option of having his civilian pre-med and medical studies funded by the Armed Forces. He should have known about that and that should have been readily available to him after his successful high school Junior ROTC career which Carson brags about.

All Carson did after high school was go to college and major in pre-med with no guarantee of admission to medical school.

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Since the 1947 desegregation of the Armed Forces, the military has been a highly respected source for careers in the African-American community.

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Ben Carson's misrepresentations disrespects:

•  West Point graduates who went on to medical school,

• Doctors whose undergraduate and medical school education were funded by the Armed Forces, and

• African-American who choose a career in the Armed Forces because they assess that the equal opportunity in the Armed Forces is more of a reality than in the civilian world.

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Ben Carson's misrepresentations now appear to be an attempt to promote himself as someone who heroically sacrificed a generous offer of a college education at West Point to pursue a medical career.

Carson's West Point story is not only pointless and meaningless, his misinformation can be confusing and harmful to others considering a medical career while seeking appointment to a military academy.

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Paul Ryan's Refusal to Work with President Obama on Immigration: Why History Matters

New House Speaker Paul Ryan says he will not work with President Obama on immigration reform.

Extremists have said President Obama cannot be trusted.

However, these same extremists also refused to work with Republican President George W. Bush and Republican Senator John McCain when they proposed immigration reform.

Based on that history, the extremists are unwilling to work with anyone on immigration reform which means a continuation of the system we currently have.

That means the agriculture, construction, and other big money interests will continue to make huge profits by using a pool of undocumented workers whom they can continue to pay low wages and employ in unsafe working conditions. 

Paul Ryan and other Republicans lack the courage to tell the extremists in their ranks that legalization is not "amnesty" and deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants would require:

• Turning the U.S. into a police state to find the undocumented immigrants, Everyone will be required to carry proof of citizenship or their visa at all times. Police will be allowed to randomly demand "show me your papers" and to set up residency and citizenship papers checkpoints.

• To prevent harm to our economy from the loss of the deported workers, a new program to immediately issue massive numbers of work visas for new immigrants to replace those undocumented workers being deported.

• A massive tax increase to fund those programs.

Ironically Paul Ryan's extremist free market Ayn Rand libertarian ideology probably would advocate open borders to allow the free movement of workers to seek the best deal for their labor. But his same lack of courage cited above suggests that he will not be discussing that either.

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My readers are free to use anything in this blog in any way without attribution.

I consider what I post to be background research and talking points. I would be honored if others found something useful for their work.

If you wish to acknowledge me, please ask me me before doing so.

This is for me to practice my writing and blogging skills so please ignore grammar, spelling, formatting and other errors.

Celebrate Native American Heritage Month By Ceasing Undocumented Claims of Native American Ancestry

President Obama just proclaimed November Native American Heritage Month.

To celebrate I urge all who claim American Indian ancestry to review their family history.

If they do not have documentation, I urge them to state their claim is based on undocumented family oral history or to refrain from continuing to make such claims until ancestry is documented. 

Claiming American Indian ancestry without documentation can be disrespectful of American Indians and is best discontinued.
Many claims are found to be family legend and not to be true.

I urge public figures who have claimed American Indians ancestry but have not provided any documentation to cease such claims.

Confirmation can be a family tree with supporting documents showing a direct descent from an American Indian.

Attempting to benefit from a claim of American Indian ancestry without documentation is a form of "white privilege" and needs to stop.

Europeans expropriated all American Indian land and almost completely exterminated them. Among the ways we can make amends is to cease falsely claiming to be descended from them.

Revised: November 1, 2015

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My readers are free to use anything in this blog in any way without attribution.

I consider what I post to be background research and talking points. I would be honored if others found something useful for their work.

If you wish to acknowledge me, please ask me me before doing so.

This is for me to practice my writing and blogging skills so please ignore grammar, spelling, formatting and other errors.