The Value of "Stuff"

Education...In a nutshell, education is the future prosperity or destruction of this country. Yet our education system is failing. People on the left claim we don't "invest" enough of our tax dollars in education and if we simply tripled the education budget, all problems would be solved. People on the "right" claim that the real problem is the material we are using to teach with. That is a symptom, but not the root cause of the problem. The real problem with education is that we have made it a so called "right". Education is free for all and everyone gets an opportunity to attend school. Now, there are countries in Asia and Africa where families would kill to get their children just the opportunity to learn to read, meanwhile, in many inner cities the dropout rate is well over 50%. Why is that?

The answer is simple, and BHO's financial policies have demonstrated that answer perfectly. By flooding the world market with US dollars, they have become so easy to come by that they are losing their value. Money is a commodity and therefore people want it. We must make education a commodity as well and that means putting an end to the free ride education system. A child's education must be something of value in society. It must be of value to the parents as well as the children.

Question: How much value does something have in society where not only is it given away for free, but it becomes mandatory for people to take it, whether they want it or not?

The answer is none.

The solution is to make education something to fight for. Make education something to earn. Privatize the schools and allow them to compete. Give large tax incentives to low income parents of children who excel in school. Force parents to actually take the time to actually bring their children to and from the school they attend rather than sticking their children on free public bussing, after all, parenting is a responsibility, not a right. Set up different types of schools for children with different abilities. Above all, parents must have final say so in subject matter taught when it comes to moral, social and religious issues. One reason parents no longer take interest in their children's educations is that they are given no say whatsoever in what or how their children are taught. The problem with the Bush "no child left behind act" is that it should have been labelled the "no child gets ahead act" because that is how it, and the education system in general is set up. Rather than making an education system that is nothing more than a one size fits all production line, we must tailor the education system to the individual needs of individual students or the society based on individualism that we have come to love will be lost to the circular file of history.

One last thing, the same thing will happen to our healthcare system that is happening with our education system if those who want to destroy our country succeed in implementing obamahealthcaredestruction. Nobody in this country will even care about going to a doctor because it will be as tedious as the dmv and as useless as our education system.

The Gulf Oil Spill Makes it Clear It Is Time to…. Push the Liberal Agenda

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel

never let a crisis go to waste part 2, 332

 

I mean sure, Wind, Solar, and Ethanol, along with Cap and Trade are wildly inefficient, but, look at the bright side,  they are also fantastically expensive too! – stated one administration official*

*Not really but he might as well have

As the Deepwater Horizon Well continues to pour oil into the gulf, the politicians are doing their best to turn our misfortune into their windfall. The (Il)logical chain goes like this: 1) crude oil is messy and dirty, especially when it is spilled into water; 2) “green” fuels and energy methods are clean and don’t result in oil spills; 3) Green energy would expand political power in this country 4) therefore, the government should force  “green energy” on consumers.

Also the Cap and Tax movement is using the Deepwater Horizon disaster to push for its’ pet initiative.  The best I can come up with for the (il)logical rationalization for the oil spill “making it clear Cap and Trade is necessary” is 1) Liberals want cap and trade 2) The BP Oil Spill is a disaster 3) never let a disaster go to waste 4) therefore, we must pass cap and trade.

This MSNBC (Official Mouthpiece of the Administration) reinforces the position :

“Alternative energy proponents say the time is right for help from Washington. “Our thoughts are with the people living and working in the Gulf as they and other organizations deal with the oil spill,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “Americans’ support for pure, clean energy is clear, and events such as this heighten the need for Congress to pass needed energy and climate legislation.”

But not to be outdone, ‘the lets burn our food to make less efficient but more costly fuel’ crowd, aka the Ethanol Industry, has jumped on the bandwagon too:

“The Gulf oil spill is a heartbreaking catastrophe, and it demonstrates in stark terms why we need to accelerate the use of renewable energy alternative like ethanol,” said Stephanie Dreyer, spokesperson for ethanol advocacy group Growth Energy.

“The long-term ramifications of the oil spill are yet to be determined, but it definitely indicates a need for us to invest in alternative fuels in a renewable way and move away from oil.”

No, it clearly does not indicate any such need.  And it also is not a clear mandate for complete moratorium on all drilling.  The Oil Industry as a whole has a fantastic safety record, and not to minimize the terrible situation the BP disaster has put us all in, and the enormous economic losses that the gulf will experience, it should not slow down our efforts to drill here at home one iota.  As Rupert Murdoch said, “We didn’t buy Alaska to save the Moose.”

Not wanting to miss out on the action, the Global Warming Alarmists have to make hay off of this crisis as well.  To make matters worse, the New Plan from Chairman Zero for $7 dollar a gallon gasoline would obviously trigger yet more condemnation of oil and lead to more demands that the government “nationalize” the industry.  Which would play into The Oministration’s hands very nicely.

In reality, government intervention played a SIGNIFICANT role in the disaster in the first place.  As Judge Andrew Napolitano points out, BP wanted to drill in 500 feet of water, which the state of Louisiana approved but then was, of course, halted by the federal government which demanded the company drill in 5,000 feet of water.   The Judge writes:

“Never mind that no oil company had ever cleaned up a broken well at that depth and never mind that the feds had never monitored a broken well at that depth and never mind that BP only needed to set aside $75 million in case something went wrong. The feds trumped BP’s engineers and the feds trumped the wishes of the folks who live along the Gulf Coast and the feds decided where this oil well would be drilled.”

And why did BP only need to set aside 75 million for liability? Because of a law liberal lawmakers passed following the Valdez spill.  Previous to that there was no liability limit,  another example of government good deeds at work.

Furthermore, the federal government has roadblocked local & state governments as well as private citizen’s efforts at cleanup every step of the way.  The Obama Regime has turned away offers from well-trained and well-equipped groups including foreign countries because of the Jones Act, which protects American maritime unions.  A law which could be suspended with a mere stroke of Obama’s pen.    As much as the Liberals howl about saving the animals, and saving the environment, with this decision to do nothing Obama has made it clear he favors the unions more than the environment.

Is this merely incompetence and protection of special interests?  OR is this maximization of the opportunity provided by this crisis ram down less-efficient and much more costly energy “alternatives,” such as windmills and corn-based ethanol, both of which are highly inefficient wastes of time and money and kept alive only by massive government subsidies. In a free market consumers would reject these costly and inefficient sources, but thanks to the magic of political “investing,” we no longer have a “free” market, and costly and inefficient are what Government does best.

So we have a spill the Obama administration and many others hope will change our attitudes toward oil. The fuels that come from crude oil are unmatched in their energy production and cost-effectiveness, so it would take a major event to make American consumers willing to impose huge costs on themselves. We may not need alternative fuels, and we may not want them, but apparently the government and its allies are using this unfortunate event to increase State power and to make us poorer.

-KOOK

Puerto Rico, Estado Numero Cincuenta Uno, Segunda Parte

  Like that title? I am just practicing, trying to remember my Espanol.

So, Following up on Yesterday’s Post,  Puerto Rico – A New State full of Potential Progressive Voters, the House voted In Favor, including 50 of our closest allies  (Distance is relative, remember, Mars is the next closest planet to earth but still a long long… long way from us) the Republicans, to ‘reaffirm’ Puerto Rico’s right to self determination.  A right they have had for six decades now. Let me be clear® I am not against Puerto Rico becoming a State, not if that is really what the People IN –IN-Puerto Rico want.  Heck, it looks like it would be just an abs-o-lutely fantastic place to visit: The article below is actually from a LeftStreamMedia Source and it almost tells the whole story, of course without any outrage over the bills most ridiculous affront to common sense and ethics to come out of Washington, well in at least the last 24 hours:

Bitter debate ensues as House approves bill that could move Puerto Rico to statehood

  The House on Thursday approved a bill that could move Puerto Rico to statehood - exposing a rare and bitter rift between New York members from the island territory.

Bronx Democratic Rep. Jose Serrano ( THIS GUY is one of the worst, he is the one that always pushes the bill to remove presidential term limits) backed the measure, calling it a vital step to ending colonial rule, even as his usual ally, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) blasted it as a "disgrace," "shameful" and "appalling." (thank you for that, Nydia)

The measure offers Puerto Rico - a U.S. territory for 112 years - a two-step vote.

The first would ask whether Puerto Ricans -

including those living in the States - like the current territorial commonwealth status or if they want change.

If the vote is for change, a second vote would ask what change they want.

"For the first time in 112 years, the Congress of the United States will ask the 4 million American citizens (A huge Liberal Voting Bloc) in Puerto Rico what they wish their relationship to the United States to be," said Serrano.

Velazquez and Harlem Rep. Charlie Rangel, whose father was Puerto Rican, said the measure was a backdoor move to a statehood vote on the island that has failed three times in the past. –OH MY GOD, Charlie Rangel said something bordering on common sensical…  I expect to see unicorns any moment now…

"It is baffling that the statehood option, which lost in 1967, in 1993 and again in 1998, is now allowed to scheme its way to victory," Velazquez said.

Before the debate, the bill had offered three options for change: statehood, independence or an independent "free association" like three other former U.S. territories.

Velazquez argued that if keeping the current status was no longer on the ballot, statehood - always the second choice in the past - would win by default.

She favors a Puerto Rican constitutional convention.

Velazquez managed to win an amendment to add keeping the status quo to the choices.

"We restored some fairness to a badly flawed process," she said.

Still, Serrano was so pleased he wielded the final gavel, hammering it down with a wide smile.

mmcauliff@nydailynews.com

 

Arriba La Raza! Viva La Reconquesta!

-KOOK

Andy Stern to Resign as SEIU Head

  

Via and with a big H/T to: Reaganite Republican  I don’t visit the Reaganite often enough.  Was perusing this morning and caught this: 

The disturbingly influential head of the Purple People Beaters is planning to step-down (in 2012), according to Politico- this of course comes as a surprise, right at the peak for this power-hungry rabble-rouser .  Strange it is... so what's he up to?- best to keep an eye on this one

Reaganite Republican: Andy Stern to Resign as SEIU Head

Left this as a comment, and it sums up my opinion.

  It is not likely that Stern is going to be given a MORE high profile position. The reason he is probably moving/changing is because he has been shown to be too HIGH profile already. These people do their work in the weeds under the cover of darkness, A la Van Jones.  They cannot stand the sunlight. He has been caught out in the sun and widely reported as being the most frequent visitor to Chairman Zero's throne room. He is just going to go back underground. He may be moved to a liberal policy think thank, or may be called back to the mother ship at the Soros Foundation, or create a new evil organization.  That is what they do. Old Hippie Rabble Rousers never die they just create new organizations and rebrand themselves. That is what they have done since the sixties.

-KOOK

D.C. Hell on Earth. DemonPass in; Constitution out.

Nuff' said.


-Kook
via iPhone

This is a story nearly as old as time itself

It really all comes down to who knows better.  It is the same story that most of you are familiar with as being told by Braveheart.  The Scots-Irish is the culture that more than any other begat the USA.   It goes way, way back to the time of the Romans several years before Christ’s birth, but really takes off not long after his death.  The Roman army conquered the south end of England but was never able to really take the north because there were crazy people up there who fought like madmen and painted themselves blue, they were called Picts.  They refused to bend a knee to a far away authority.  Their culture was based on family ties, personal honor, and leadership was only accepted after it had been earned.  Allegiance was to the most local level.  In AD 122 Hadrian began construction of a wall between the ‘civilized’ part of the island and the wild north. Kings tried again and again for literally hundreds of years to bring these ‘savages’ into line.  They burned whole towns, slaughtered them in droves but never, eva, eva, won.  These people had freedom hard wired into their DNA.  The Scottish ‘nobles’ eventually were bought off and became ‘civilized’ to the British way of thinking, but still the people themselves never submitted.  They did not view allegiance the same way as the Brits. The British view was of wealth and property, poor people owed their allegiance to their rich ‘betters’.  Scotsmen knew in their hearts every man, prince or pauper, was free, and as stated before their allegiance was to their Kin, then their Clan, then their neighbor clan. They were not isolationists like the gypsies, did not have a class caste system like the rest of Europe, and they freely intermarried with other groups, who then became Scots.  This is what we think of as  a “grassroots” organization now. Their religious affiliation was Protestant and they were some of the first.  The Brits had always also had difficulty with the Irish, for differing but similar reasons.  They decided getting the Scots to move into Ireland would allow them to take both Ireland and Scotland in time.  Bad plan.  Many Scots moved to Ireland in the Ulster Plantation under a colonization plan dreamt up by the Brits.  Soon the Irish and the Scots were fighting each other…when they weren’t both killing the English.  The Irish and the Scots had similar views on Freedom, but differing views on Religion.  Then the first colonization of North America began.  Some Scots-Irish left Ulster to come to the “new world”  with the Puritans thinking they too could have religious freedom, and to their way of thinking they were protestants just like the Puritans.  Not true.  The Puritans idea of religious freedom was that everyone should be ‘free’ to worship as the Puritans did (Everyone was entitled to their opinion, as long as it was the Puritan opinion).



  Scots again refused to be assimilated, and were pushed further west into the Appalachian mountains, which was similar to throwing Brer Rabbit into the Briar Patch.  More Scots came and they stayed in the Mountains, moving South all the while. They intermarried and had lots and lots of little Scots-Irish babies (up to 40% higher birthrates than other immigrants at the time).  Ohio was opened for settlement and by this time the Native Americans or “Indians” were wise to this tide of white men and so began killing of the more gentrified of the English settlers…  The aristocracy in Britain thought they knew just the people to send over to make the Indians lives rough…the Scots.  They sent Scotsmen literally by the boatload to cheap land on the wild western frontiers as as a buffer between “Civilization”  and the “Indians”.  The Scots did as predicted and more.  The Scots kept coming, causing at least one wealthy landowner in England to lament (paraphrasing) “why are we letting them move if it is only so that they can have a better life, how does that profit us?” because he was losing too many tenants on his vast landholdings. The Scots kept pushing the Indians, and still managed to cause problems with their more ‘enlightened, wealthy, and civilized betters’  When the American Revolution began many in England saw it as nothing more than just one more Scottish rebellion, some called it exactly that.  The vast majority of the Scots stayed out of the fray until the English using their typical bullying tactics that had so enraged Scotsmen for eons, really went too far.  Then buckskin Scots came down out of the hills near Kings Mountain and destroyed an entire British Loyalist force 10 to 1.  Then they did it again at Cowpens, which the Brits never recovered from, ending in their defeat at Yorktown.  The Scots refused to bend a knee, and the USA was born. Down through the ages, the Scots-Irish CULTURE, meaning not only those people descended from the Scots, but also those who became culturally inseparable from the Scots,  have fought in more battles and done more to defend Freedom than any other group of people.  They have given us most of our  presidents (61%), many of our founding fathers were Scotsmen by birth or culture.

 
   The battle is the same today in the 21st century. The Puritans, the Elite, Our Betters, the Democrats, the proponents of European Socialism believe they know better than us.  Us, of the Mountains of Appalachia, the Carolinas, descendents of the first settlers of Ky, TN, TX, AR, and the Missouri Ozarks and all points West.  Our ancestors were at the forefront of the frontier and settled the West because no one else was tough enough, crazy enough restless enough to do it.  They were always fighting and moving to try to keep their individual freedoms, to be LEFT ALONE.  Today we are called Hillbillies, Rednecks, Rubes, Hicks, Uneducated and Unenlightened.  We are the faceless ignorant electorate, “those People” in the “Flyover”.  What we really are is the Poor but Proud, the  Entrepreneurs, The self made men and women  who frickin run this country, just like our ancestors.

You. Are. Not. Our. Rulers.

-KOOK

Billy Long – Someone Stick a Fork in Him

Billy Long (Failing) Candidate for Mo-7 Congressional seat Race  commits second possibly MAJOR blunder.  Billy (auctnr1) Tweeted this yesterday:

“Wrapping big project for Congressional race- my staff does auction/real estate bus[iness], plus Congressional race and they do a GREAT job THANKS !”

See for yourself Click to Embiggen:

 
I am glad he appreciates his staff and all, and I am sure that they are some great folks, but since Mr. Long is apparently not acquainted with the law let me explain  what is wrong here.

Information below taken directly from http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/citizens.shtml 

The law … prohibits contributions from corporations … This prohibition applies to any incorporated organization, profit or nonprofit. For example, the owner of an incorporated "mom and pop" grocery store is not permitted to use a business account to make contributions. …Most people think of contributions as donations of money in the form of checks or currency. … [but] anything of value given to influence a Federal election is considered a contribution…The donation of …--anything of value—[like wages of your own business’s employees you have working on your campaign] is an in-kind contribution…A donation of services is also considered an in-kind contribution…

I am not a lawyer or a Campaign Finance expert by any stretch.   The way I see it, though, is that there is really no way Mr. Long can use his employees from his business to work on his campaign in any sort of paid capacity, and I think it would be very difficult for him to allow them to “volunteer” because the awkward position that would put his employees in.  What if they didn't want to “volunteer” to work on his political campaign?  What would that mean for their regular employment? Someone who is a Lawyer or Campaign Finance expert should look into this. If I am proven wrong, I will be the first one to correct myself, but…

Honestly Folks, at this point I can’t tell these three apart:

 

 

 

-KOOK

Billy Long is Wrong

Billy Long is Wrong: With Regret: Discovering the Ugly Side of Politics on a Personal Level Below is a repost from our good friend Clay’s, the purveyor of BBCW, other website covering Billy Long.  Billy Long is a candidate in the Mo-7 race for Roy Blunt’s soon to be vacated seat. This race is shaping up to be HOTLY contested.  Billy Long has been a front runner in the race…up until this latest shenanigan (hopefully).  Billy Long is a wealthy businessman who plays the “Aw Shucks good ol’ boy” but  he appears to be as “crooked as a sidewinder”   Or  “Crooked as a Dog’s Hind Leg”…or for those of our readers not from the south that would be… “unethical”. 

Clay was feeling sort of mean spirited because of his pretty astringent coverage of Billy Long’s campaign so far, he was just about to extend an olive branch…when BLAM! all of Clay’s suspicions and suppositions turn out to be SPOT ON regarding the W.I.Q., that would be Weasel In Question, Billy Long; who has aspirations of joining all the other “ethically challenged” Weasels in the District of Criminals.

The fact is, Billy Long proved he is WRONG for the position of representing us. Billy Long is Wrong For Missouri.  Billy Long proved he is unethical.  Read the post below and you will understand why; the days where you can Bribe, Blackmail, Extort, and generally Payola your way to office are OVER if we of the Pro-Liberty Coalition have anything to say about it…

In case your were wondering I repeated Billy Long’s name several times in this post to get the Search Engines to crawl this hot breaking Billy Long News faster about how Billy Long is Wrong for Missouri, and how Billy Long is Unethical, and How Billy Long has no business in Washington. I also want to mention that if things work out I will be in Ozark tomorrow night and will hopefully be able to report how Billy Long is a Weasel, Billy Long, Billy Long, Billy Long…

With Regret: Discovering the Ugly Side of Politics on a Personal Level

When I decided to challenge Billy Long’s candidacy for Congress, I hoped that I could encourage the debate of the important issues that face our country and our lives with a focus on the preservation of our Constitution. I saw the massive amounts of money Mr. Long was collecting and feared money would be the deciding factor in this election. As someone concerned for the future of our great Republic, I hoped for better.
This is the reason I decided to challenge Mr. Long. Even if he won the primary, I knew Southwest Missouri would be better off because of the push for a real debate to bring out the best candidate. I never intended this to be a witch hunt. I have spent many hours listening to what Billy Long was saying, and I grew more concerned over his candidacy.
It should be no surprise the Web site ‘LongisWrong.com” was having an impact in the way his campaign was run and possibly the shaping of the race in August. It was my wish to bring about an issues focused campaign that looked beyond the free t-shirts and bumper stickers at the meet-and-greets and the high tech billboards along Southwest Missouri roadways with Mr. Long’s campaign colors. With lots of regret, we may never dive into this seventh district race with a push for the real issues to be addressed.
After seeking counsel through friends, family, religious leaders, and journalists, and considering all the factors that may affect the lives of many people, I have decided to come forward in hopes that my actions will return ethics to Southwest Missouri politics and possibly politics in Washington as well.
I attended the Joplin Federated Republican Women’s meeting on March 2, 2010 at Pizza by Stout. The featured speakers of the event were candidates running for Missouri’s Seventh Congressional District seat now filled by Roy Blunt. After the meeting was over, Billy Long quickly approached me and asked me if I would be willing to sit down and discuss his campaign and my views of his candidacy over a cup of coffee.
While I will leave most of the details of the conversation off the record for now, I was surprised and disgusted by what took place towards the end of our conversation. My wife had just joined us after leaving the meeting room and sat down at our table, and I continued my conversation with Mr. Long listening to him react to the Long is Wrong Web site. I had raised some Constitutional concerns in our conversation about his candidacy, and I had pointed out a few of the great American tales that drive my passion for the Constitution. Mr. Long tells me he is impressed with my knowledge and that I would make a good addition to his own campaign. He asks me to consider it. He then tells me that if I stop doing what I am doing, referring to the Long is Wrong Web site, that I could have a position in his campaign.
I cut the conversation short after this, and as we got up to leave the table, Mr. Long once again invited me over, this time using a Star Wars reference asking me to join the ‘dark side’ (sic).
It is with great sadness that I discuss this today. All I hoped for was to raise the debate in Southwest Missouri to a higher level that directed our country in the right Constitutional direction. Instead, I am having the deal with what I feel is a bribe, to get me to remove the Long is Wrong Web site. This is not what I wanted to bring about in the seventh district. In fact, I have a heavy heart even discussing this as I was exposed to the dirty truth of politics in America today on a personal level by a man who claims a vote for him is a vote to send a citizen to Washington.
I wish I had never sat down and had coffee with him. I hate the position he has put me in, and I hate how this feels inside.

Billy Long is Wrong

Keep your chin up, Clay

-Kook

My 2 Cents, POTUS, TOTUS, States Rights, Education, The Whole Stinking Mess.

 

Okay folks, if you have not seen the photo yet, it is everywhere.  Yes, yes, it is true.  The POTUS needs TOTUS to stay on message when talking to 11 year olds.  Those on the defense point out that the press was there too, well sure it was, he wouldn’t go into a PUBLIC school if there wasn’t a PR Opportunity to be had. And Clifton at Another Black Conservative is right on the money as usual.  Big O has no substance, he is a product of a machine in a way we have not seen since the bad old robber baron days.  At any rate I want to comment on one part of the story.  For other commentary please read any of the fine sources at the bottom of the post, or many others that are out there.

What I want to focus on is the State’s Rights issue here, as well as the quality education that our kiddos deserve.  It really is easy to understand and see things for what they are when you understand what the broader goal for the left is.  They always say it is for the children, but clearly it is not.  If money was the solution to why we are ‘sucking hind teat’ among the nations of the world for education, don't you think by now that we would have fixed it?  Money is NOT THE ISSUE and MORE will not fix it.  The issue IS the federal standards.  I come from a long line of teachers. Two grandparents, an Aunt, and Uncle, 5 Cousins, and more, all teachers.  From IL, TN, MO, and TX, they all sing the same tune.

This started when I was a youngster.  We all did the achievement tests, I do not remember when I was in Elementary School spending time learning the test, but by the time several administrations policies had taken their toll and High School rolled around, we were spending weeks specifically practicing for the test.  Well, I gotta ask the obvious question, are we training kids to take tests or to THINK?  Obviously we are training them to put little black dots in little circles on paper…push the button KOKO get a bannaner…

Here is the reality of all the crappy federal regulations that have happened starting in the Sixties.  Step 1. The IRS takes money out of the hands of producers that could be spent locally and sends it to Washington. Step 2. The Fed sets an arbitrary performance standard for curriculum across this nation from Maine to Hawaii, and Alaska to Key West.  Encompassing all the flavors of the rainbow and cultures that we possess.  Step 3. States are set to compete for the dollars by meeting these standards.  Step 4. Individual school districts, beholden to the Federal and States for the dollars removed from individuals and businesses in their districts, must compete amongst themselves for the dollars apportioned to the states.  Step 5.  Through entitlement programs, and the general moral decay of our society, along with the rampant PC and lack of discipline applied to our children, parents do not parent, and children are increasingly apathetic towards learning. Step 6. Teachers, needing their careers, and under pressure from their administration for results, begin to teach little Johnny and Little Susie how to answer test questions, similar to monkeys in some sociology experiment, instead of how to use their BRAINS.  Step 7: as performance standards outstrip the children’s actual ability to remember and regurgitate infonuggets schools resort to really ridiculous ways of propping up their scores in a downward spiral of ignorance. Throw in laughable standards for a teaching certificate, Teachers unions, and Smarmy politicians and voila, a McDollar Menu Education  on a Filet Mignon budget.

We do not let teachers teach, and we do not provide a basis for our children’s future, because we have turned teaching into a race for federal hog slop.  And it goes without saying that Obama’s plan will hasten the further degeneration of the actual quality of children’s education further.  Why?  Because we should not try to teach all the kids in this nation the same thing on the same day at the same hour.  That is what makes things meaningless. Even making the State’s Rights argument doesn’t go far enough.  I feel strongly, and logic supports me, that curriculum should be decided on a district by district level.  I would settle for State by State, but even in Missouri there are wide cultural variances regarding not only what, but how kids should be taught.  One size never ever fits all, and in this case, most lose out.

Some of the greatest minds in history were self educated, or educated in one room schoolhouses.  We do not need 20 million dollar high schools with laboratories rivaling that of pharmaceutical research companies, and gymnasiums that look like something from ESPN.  We need to teach the three R’s , Readin, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmatic.   I have done posts previously that demonstrate from the local level that our schools are horrible, the local one here averages something like 20 hours a week of potential instructional time to Jr. High kids.  What they are learning in 7th grade I learned in 5th, what I learned in 5th my parents learned in 4th.  I was taught Phonics and Greek and Latin root words and taught to look at context. When I see a word I have not encountered I can make a reasonable guess at how it is pronounced and probably its’ general meaning.  Children today are taught words by rote memorization and “sight words” nonsense hogwash garbage.  We still teach math all wrong to kids, my grandparents can do as much math in their heads as I can do with a calculator and forget giving me a pencil it is a waste of time. When I was a kid in Texas we learned Texas history, and when I moved to Missouri, we learned Missouri history.  When I got to High School I learned World History, up to the Vietnam War. Guess what, forty years since Vietnam, and kids learn up to the Vietnam War.  The color of the houses of the natives to the Indian Subcontinent are not as relevant to our kids as what happened since Vietnam, yet, that is part of the curriculum.  And yellow, if you are wondering, all the houses were yellow, and they all disappeared and no one knows why.  Riveting isn’t it? 

If we focused on teaching people how to THINK and then Inspired them to do so and gave them direction we would be way better off than trying to cram useless facts into their head without giving them any context.  This is how the Ignorance is spread folks.  This is why kids worship Che.  This is why we are losing.  If we win the battle on Healthcare, and that is a big IF, then we will have to win Immigration on our terms to turn the tide.  Then, in order to actually win, Education reform is the battlefield we will win it on, and it will take two generations, or we are pretty much shot as far as I see it.  Local People, teaching their Kids, at the Local level, lessons that are relevant to them.  Let’s teach our kids to Read. To Learn. To Question, and to THINK. 

Photo h/t Left Coast Rebel

via: Another Black Conservative

Via: Gateway Pundit

Via: The Reihl World View

-KOOK

Lawmakers Race to Limit Corporate Spending on Elections After Court Ruling

For those who have not kept up with this case, the Supreme Court ruled recently that portions of the McCain-Feingold (yes, that McCain) Act regulating when and how much money businesses can spend to buy ads or other campaign materials is UNCONSTITUTIONAL under the 1st Amendment.  Bravo.  But congress critters are not deterred.  All the talk about “special interest this” and “special interest that” means nothing.  What these weasels are actually saying is “the special interests that are not in favor of me.” Unions were not regulated under the law because they are “not for profit” or “non-profit” entities.  The results of this are the staggeringly powerful ACORN’s and SEIU’s in our current predicament.  It was open season for them, no season for private sector businesses.  It is ludicrous. 
So now I guess is a good time to get into a discussion about the Spirit of the Law vs. the Letter of the Law. 

“They [crooked congress critters] said they were still exploring their options. But with the Supreme Court ruling that there is "no basis for allowing the government to limit corporate independent expenditures," they will have to proceed cautiously to ensure subsequent legislation is not challenged and struck down again. “

A prime example of the fact that the Grade “A” Assholes in Washington do not get it, or do not care.  Probably both.  Instead of hearing the message that this is not a constitutional pursuit, they are now dedicated to working around the ruling.  We will never get anywhere until we have a total culture change in DC, because these people do not know how to take “NO” for an answer.  NO means NO. 

Another thing, while I am ranting a little.  You can call it a “fee” if you wish, but I know what it is, and so do you, it is a “TAX”.  I am so sick of all the euphemisms.

Read the whole sickening mess here:

FOXNews.com - Lawmakers Race to Limit Corporate Spending on Elections After Court Ruling
-KOOK

If you Give a Mouse a Cookie…

Why is it so difficult for people, who admit to seeing what the goons in the District of Criminals are doing, to believe that those in DC will do MORE?  The answer is twofold, on one hand people Project their desires onto politicians and demand their pet cause be addressed, on the other hand when no limits are set and different voices call for different things and those in power get away with whatever they try then they begin to feel there are  no limits; indeed functionally there aren’t any.

First let us understand that once the District of Criminals is given the power to do one thing, they will do more.  Allow them to tax your property; soon they will tax your income. Allow them to tax your income; soon they will tax your benefits.  Allow them to provide your healthcare; they will feel compelled to control unhealthy things. Allow them to control the “unhealthy things” and soon everything will be declared “unhealthy”.

More, more, more, more, more, more, more.

They forget to declare a nanny or a gardener’s wages; and we do nothing.  So they or the next guy forgets he has a house in the Bahamas or in Ireland; and we do nothing. So then the other guy forgets to pay his taxes that he was reimbursed for anyway; and he gets promoted.  So then they up the ante again, and again, and again.  No limit.

A man associates with terrorists, thugs, and thieves, and we turn a blind eye; so why wouldn’t he think it was Ok to appoint some of those associates to positions in his administration?  He says that we are “five days away from fundamentally transforming this Nation” and we do nothing; then why would he not then think it was fine to go ahead and do that?  People didn’t listen and didn’t hear what he said, they heard what they wanted him to say.  They projected their and desires and beliefs onto him…

Once a person realizes that they have no limits placed on what they can do, it fans the flames on their desires and dreams. Once a person has demonstrated that they have no limits in area A; we must realize that they also have no limits in Area B.

Hypothetically let’s say I am an advocate of Gun Control.  I think all guns should be banned.  Once the government enacts that ban, why should I think they would not attempt to control something else?  The next person advocates for stricter drug laws, and so on and so on. That is to say, once we allow the government to control one thing; they will naturally think it is ok to control another thing.  I do not advocate anarchy; but we must take special care and be more vigilant, realizing that when we give government the power to control one thing we as individuals think is good, someone else also has pet causes and issues that we may not share. The resultant message that a politician gets is that the people as a whole want him to control many many things…and there are no limits.

Here is the human failure that allowed BHO and his merry band of radical criminals in control of this nation:

People want to project their values on likeable or public figures.  BHO said some nonsensical fluff but people HEARD what they wanted to hear.  BHO and Botoxi and Dingy Harry have demonstrated no limits to what they will attempt, because the people have not enforced any.  Yet, people project their own values onto them.  They say “surely they wouldn’t do that”, when nothing that these goons have done would logically lead us to believe that they indeed would not do that; quite the opposite, we have seen no evidence that they would limit themselves in any way.  But  we have consciences and limits and  we  would not dream of such illicit, unethical, or amoral behavior, so  we  project our values on people who have no such constraints, and indeed have not been taught those constraints by any experience they have had with we the people. 

  If you give a mouse a cookie, he is going to want a glass of milk.  If you get him a glass of milk, he will want a straw, and if you give him a straw he will want a napkin to wipe his mouth.  If you give him a napkin to wipe his mouth; he will want a mirror…

My pet cause and my desire is for government to get out of my life, and to leave me alone. Many people may say this, but the difference between me and a lot of people is not only do I want them out of MY life I want them out of your life as well; many people want them in your life, but out of theirs…

-KOOK

While we slept by Feed your ADHD

I am reposting this because I could not express what I am feeling any better. Dr. Dave, aka Snarky Basterd, already did the work for us.
Feed Your ADHD: while we F****** slept.




While we slept this morning, the real mobsters, the ones dishing out and accepting bribes in the District of Criminals, completely fucked our country along straight party lines (60-39) … with the first vote on Christmas Eve in more than a century.
Atlas just shrugged.
And the funny thing is, we didn’t sleep. We marched on our capitol buildings during the spring, leading up to TEA Party day on April 15. We screamed during townhall meetings and at local Congressional and Senate offices all summer long. We marched on Washington a million-plus strong in September. We stormed Congressional offices in the fall. We added more than a million signatures to a petition to Congress to stop this madness. We phoned and we blogged and we emailed and we snail mailed and we faxed and we twittered and we bled patriotism, pleading with them:
STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND USE YOUR LAST BRAIN CELL TO COME TO YOUR SENSES.
And they didn’t hear a fucking thing.
I don’t know how much more awake we could have been. I don’t know how much louder we could have screamed. I don’t know how many more ways we could have made our opposition known.
In the end, it didn’t matter. They think they know better than us. And now it’s done.
And that’s fine. Let them have their perceived notion of power. Let them slink back home for Christmas and get drunk on the stinking fumes of their “victory.” Let them dance wildly in the shimmery mirage of the “history” they’ve made.
Because now the real fight begins. The fight for November 2010 and 2012 and every forthcoming election thereafter. The fight to send these fuckers back to their homes, tattered and broken, never to be heard from again.
Be bloody angry. Let it burn in you. Let it harden your resolve. Use it to carry on and maintain your focus. Keep it close and keep it ready for when you need it, for when it will be your time to have your voice truly heard.
Get out your checkbooks and give to the organizations that will try to stop this un-Constitutional legislation in the courts. Beat the bushes and find real conservative candidates who are truly willing to honor the Constitution and write them checks and speak out on their behalf.
Then, when the time comes, scream so loudly with your finger in the voting booth that the Socialists will be shocked when the 7 p.m. newscasts declare them extinct.
We’re coming for you, fatcats. Enjoy your good times. Your days of thievery are done. Forever.



-Kook
via iPhone

Smart Grid: Smart for Whom?

 All this is taken directly from the NY Times article, if this stuff doesn’t anger and frighten you then I don’t think you are paying attention.

WASHINGTON — Millions of households across America are taking a first step into the world of the “smart grid,” as their power companies install meters that can tell them how much electricity they are using hour by hour — and sometimes, appliance by appliance. But not everyone is happy about it.

 Leo Margosian of Fresno, Calif., said his meter put July use at three times as much as last July's.

Customers in California are in open revolt, and officials in Connecticut and Texas are questioning whether the rush to install meters benefits the public.

[snip]

Elizabeth Keogh, a retired social worker in Bakersfield, Calif., who describes herself as “a bit chintzy,” has created a spreadsheet with 26 years of electric bills for her modest house. She decided that her new meter was running too fast.   Ms. Keogh reported to the utility that the meter recorded 646 kilowatt-hours in July, for which she paid $66.50; last year it was 474 kilowatt-hours, or $43.37.

[snip]

At one in Fresno, Calif., Leo Margosian, a retired investigator, testified that the new meter logged the consumption of his two-bedroom townhouse at 791 kilowatt-hours in July, up from 236 a year earlier. And he had recently insulated his attic and installed new windows, Mr. Margosian said.

At the urging of the state senator, Dean Florez, Democrat of Fresno and the chamber’s majority leader, and others, the California Public Utilities Commission is moving to bring in an outside auditor to determine whether the meters count usage properly.

[snip] To reduce their bills, customers could cut back at pricey peak times and shift some activities, like running a clothes dryer or a vacuum cleaner, to off-peak periods. Utilities will then have lower costs, the argument goes, because the grid will need fewer power plants as demand levels out.

Someday utilities hope to use the meter to control consumption by major appliances like air conditioners [!holy!shit!]. But experts are still debating what technical standards the meters and appliances should use to communicate.

[snip]  And with smart meters, utilities are alerted immediately if a customer’s power is out.

If a utility decides to shut off a customer for nonpayment, it can do so by remote control; if the customer pays enough money to allow resumption of service, the utility can also do that from a central office without sending out a representative. [!!! think of what else this means]

[snip]

But today, reining in energy consumption is less of a corporate priority: generating capacity is in surplus in almost all parts of the United States because the recession has shuttered so many factories. And in swaths of the eastern United States, the wholesale price difference between peak and off-peak demand is far smaller lately.  [so the point of this is…WHAT?  Politics of Greed is what it is]

The long-term impact of the smart meters is uncertain. Some studies show that people use less electricity when they can see the numbers ticking higher on the meter. [no joke, and when the power company turns your heat off or your AC off because they know better, or make a mistake, or kill your grandpa when they kill the oxygen machine that is sucking up too much power oh well, you cannot possibly be expected to take care of yourself, and it sounds like even if you track and understand your usage it is going to go up anyway.  Looks like from this the rate you are charged is whatever they want it to be that minute] I guess the only question I have is, Smart Grid: Smart for WHOM?

Read the complete article below:

‘Smart Grid’ Is Making Many Households Unhappy - NYTimes.com

Copenhagen and the U.N.

-He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation.

Hmmm...seems prescient to me.


-Kook
via iPhone

Plan For Obama Care written by a Felon

Big h/t to Blackandgoldfan here

http://therightstuffbng.blogspot.com/2009/12/healthscare-felons-creation.html

Obamascare: A Felon's Creation

Big Government.com is now breaking the news that the game plan followed by the Dems to get socialized medicine passed was authored by a federal felon.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has pushed for a public option within the healthcare debate. Now meet her husband, Robert Creamer.

From biggovernment.com:
Rep. Schakowsky’s husband, Robert Creamer, used to be the leader of Citizen Action/Illinois. He also founded its predecessor, Illinois Public Action, in which Ms. Schakowsky served as Program Director. He runs a political consulting firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, which lists ACORN and the SEIU among its clients and which made $541,000 working for disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

Creamer resigned from Citizen Action/Illinois after the FBI began investigating him for bank fraud and tax evasion at Illinois Public Action. He was convicted in 2006 and sentenced to five months in federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, plus eleven months of house arrest.

Now while Creamer was in prison, he wrote a book titled Listen to Your Mother: Stand Up Straight! How Progressives Can Win (Seven Locks Press, 2007). In it he outlines how to get socialized medicine rammed down the throats of the American people.

The ten points outlined by Creamer:

“We must create a national consensus that health care is a right, not a commodity; and that government must guarantee that right.”
“We must create a national consensus that the health care system is in crisis.”
“Our messaging program over the next two years should focus heavily on reducing the credibility of the health insurance industry and focusing on the failure of private health insurance.”
“We need to systematically forge relationships with large sectors of the business/employer community.”
“We need to convince political leaders that they owe their elections, at least in part, to the groundswell of support of [sic] universal health care, and that they face political peril if they fail to deliver on universal health care in 2009.”
“We need not agree in advance on the components of a plan, but we must foster a process that can ultimately yield consensus.”
“Over the next two years, we must design and organize a massive national field program.”
“We must focus especially on the mobilization of the labor movement and the faith community.”
“We must systematically leverage the connections and resources of a massive array of institutions and organizations of all types.”
“To be successful, we must put in place commitments for hundreds of millions of dollars to be used to finance paid communications and mobilization once the battle is joined.”
That was easy, wasn't it? Think about all the games played by the Dems in this battle of socialist proportions. They've followed this almost step-by-step.

More on this story will be hitting the web soon. Please read the article at biggovernment.com. It speaks volumes.

Btw....Schlakowsky and Creamer were in attendance at the "crashed" State Dinner. Could it be another political quid pro quo?

-Kook
via iPhone

The Rational Jingo: So, how do we turn them off?

If I have not said it recently, I absolutely love this woman’s capitalist loving freedom loving soul.  She says it great.  This was a natural follow up to my previous post:  The difference between faith, and science 

So, how do we turn them off?

I am talking about the disciples of the Al Gore New Church of Global Warming. Now, that what we thinking people have known all along has been proven to be true; global warming is a big, fat scam designed to pilfer wealth and freedom from, mostly, Americans. Whatever are we going to do with all the followers that are all hopped up on global warming hysteria?
Oh sure, they can still carry around little net bags to get their groceries and ride their bikes but they are going to have a harder time getting mostly everyone else to go along with them. And that is what it was really always about, wasn't it? It was never about saving the planet. It was about reducing us all one level. No longer would they need to feel inadequate. They longed for the razing of the McMansions and they were giddy at the prospect of forcing us all into the cities and onto public transportations. Yes, those breeding bourgeoisie were finally going to get theirs.
It was never an issue getting the Europeans to go along with it. They already pay most of their income to the government, what's a few more percentage points? Plus, they have always been known to cut off their nose to spite their face, if it meant knocking those fat and stupid Americans down a few pegs. In Copenhagen, they are already powering their Christmas tree display with human produced energy ala Fred Flintstone. You already see more bikes than cars in Copenhagen so the lifestyle change wouldn't be so dramatic. What's a few thousand years anyway?
Global warming was an easy sell for urbanites who misjudge the state of the   entire planet based on their experience living in filthy and polluted looking cities. If you are constantly inhaling fumes from city buses or looking out at the haze hanging over LA it is probably very easy to just assume the world is going to hell in a hand basket and somebody (meaning someone in the government or someone with a lot of letters after his name) needs to do something.
My prediction, these sheep will not be deterred and will be just as willing to be led by the global warming hucksters. Even with the evidence that it is all a big fraud. Even with the untold damage that this type of conformist thinking is going to do to our scientific bodies and minds. These people, the true believers, will not be deterred and we are stuck with them. They have found their perfect cause and they are not going to give it up that easily because it was never about the planet it was about envy and filling a vacuous hole in their soul.

The Rational Jingo: So, how do we turn them off?

-KOOK

The difference between faith, and science

The Theory of Relativity, the Theory of Natural Selection (not to be confused with religion of evolution) and the Theory of Plate Tectonics are just that: theories. These are not recognized as laws. Science does not work that way.
Scientific method works by a process of elimination. A hypothesis, or educated guess, is proposed. An experiment is designed and facts are gathered. One solid piece of contrary evidence can disprove the hypothesis but no amount of evidence in support of the hypothesis proves the theory. Dis-proving alternate or competing hypotheses is the only way to strengthen a hypothesis. This is the only logical way of handling complex problems involving many variable factors.



This is illustrated by the White Swan exercise. If I say that all swans are white how many swans do I have to show you to prove my hypothesis is true? 100, 1000, 10,000,000? No, I have to demonstrate that every swan past present or future is or was white. How many swans of any different color have to be found to immediately disprove my hypothesis? One. In the case of Einstein's theory of relativity, it has not been proven true, but all competing theories have thus far been disproven. The same with continental drift and plate tectonics. Likewise with natural selection.
So for obamarx, algore, or some other political moronic gas bag to say that the science is settled and the debate is over on anthropogenic climate change, i.e. Global Warming, is not only absurd but untrue and impossible according to the scientific method and all logic.

What it is, is a belief based on faith. I will not debate the sociological merits of religion or my particular beliefs here. Religion can and most times is a positive influence in the lives of people. But there are beliefs, that especially when taken to extreme, are destructive. The current radical followers of this movement are destructive. It does not bother me that a person chooses to believe in the green movement. We are all entitled to our beliefs. All that I am asking is that we call it what it is and not set public policy based on hypotheses which are not capable of being proven and ate NOT universally accepted.
Christianity and Greenism are both faith based ways of explaining the world.

Let me illustrate:
A long long time ago the earth and all that is in it was brought into existence. All the animals and plants lived in harmony and nature and it was wonderful. After a period of time humans arrived on the scene and became the dominant species on the earth and soon after that things began to go horribly wrong. People were wicked and did many things to hurt the natural order of things. They were warned that unless they ceased their wicked ways and returned to the more original way of things they and the earth would be destroyed. Part of man's redemption can be obtained by living in a prescribed manner and denying oneself certain pleasures. Some people are encouraged to live a life of chastity and pacifism. There are certain proscriptions against eating certain foods and rules for the proper growth and preparation of foods. Certain rules regarding sex and procreation are observed. The proper use and distribution of money is laid out. Treatment, and care of animals is discussed.


Now, what have I described, judeo-Christianity and Islam, or the green/animal rights/ environmentalist movement?

It is not science. It is a religion. It is a religion masquerading as science. And it is a false religion and poor science at that. And now we have the emails that not only prove their was an active effort to supress alternate data and hypotheses, but that the perpetrators knew it was not science all along.

As to your personal religious beliefs, believe what you want; I suppport your right to do so, let's just acknowledge that is what they are, and don't force them on me.


-Kook
via iPhone

Update:
My Good Blogging Friend Foutsc from over at Western Hero had this to add:
Good explanation, Kook. The word "Science" is thrown around to induce hushed silence in the masses, many of whom have no idea about what you just described. No shame in that, all of us are not scientists.

"To piggyback upon what you said, peer review means you turn over the raw data and your experiment methods so others can independently verify or refute your conclusions. Since they've destroyed much of the raw data, that is impossible.  Global Warming is a Global Swindle.  I posted something similar to this today." Read it here: The Fudge-inci Code, inside the global warming swindle