More from a very long week!
Stupid government tricks – Government-run, tax-funded schools
Minnesota bans free college education
(SLATE.com)
NATHAN: This issue, according to the article, was resolved favorably, but it STILL points out that education isn’t about “the children” (indeed, except for the rare protegy, no children were involved in this: everyone over age 18, thank you!), but about the power and the money. Minnesota DOES want to dictate what people do in the privacy of their own home or room – not just sex (I know, I know, the “liberals” will claim ‘t’aint so but they do) but ESPECIALLY studying at a college level. Them college folks is dangerous powerful threat to the state, you ken? And of course, it is only the State that knows what is best to be taught and whether or not you are being taught anything useful and worthwhile. You (or your parents) can’t possibly know that.
Self-defense
12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion
(www.newson6.com) A 12-year-old girl took matters into her own hands during a home invasion in … NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com | 12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion In Bryan County … St. Clair, who told her to get the family gun, hide in a closet and call 911. [When he got to the closet in searching the house, she shot him through the door, wounding him: he was arrested by cops a few minutes later.]
NATHAN: Preaching to the choir time again! Would she be dead, raped, murdered, or just missing and later found dismembered (like the girl in Denver area last week) if she hadn’t had access to the gun? Will her parents be investigated and prosecuted for child abuse because the gun was available to a 12-year-old? Townhall had a good column on this, tying it to the “messiah’s” call during the debate for MORE gun control, but missing points as well. Government can NOT protect us against violence, and every government attempt to do so results in MORE violence, not less. It is not just the current incumbent of 1600 PA that is dangerous to our lives and liberties, but the “major” candidate running for the job.
Theft by government
Welfare cost 746 billion in FY2011
(Godfather Politics) More than Social Security or “basic” military spending (that is, not counting the Afghan occupation or the other interventions). The article gives a brief history of federal welfare since LBJ’s Great Society in 1964, and points out that 46 million Americans (15.1%) get this plus 283 billion from the states: a total of $1.029 TRILLION.
NATHAN: My trusty calculator says that is $22,370 per person per year: not a GREAT wage but a livable one ($10.75) on a family basis (2 to 4 people each getting that $22K). Of course, this isn’t paid directly to the welfare recipients, as we all know: MOST of it goes to pay/feed the bureaucrats at salaries easily double that on average, and the average welfare recipient is lucky to get even 40% of that: around $10 K or so. And this is the individual welfare: not the corporate welfare or the local government welfare or the Beltway Bandit welfare.
Government steals from us in a multitude of ways and here we see several. First, taxes (or borrowed money) pay for this largesse to the poor and especially to the bureaucrats, and indirectly to the big corporations that benefit from providing commodities and acting as middlemen for food stamps and the like. Second, this “free” money drives up the costs of the goods that we compete with the bureaucrats and the welfare-clients for. Third, the taxes and borrowing inflate the money supply, driving the value of our savings and investments down.
Home Front
Report: Violent crime rises sharply, reversing trend
(USA TODAY) 11:54PM EDT October 17. 2012 – WASHINGTON — The violent crime rate went up 17% last year, ending a general decline in violence that began nearly 20 years ago, according to a new federal survey of crime victims. The Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey also found an 11% increase in the rate of property crimes, including household burglaries and car theft. The survey represents a sharp departure from recent years and a preliminary report produced earlier this year by the FBI, which found that violent crime had declined by 4% during the first six months of 2011. The final FBI Uniform Crime Report, which collects data from police departments across the country, is expected out later this month.
Mama’s note: Guess that makes it official… but we knew this a while ago.
Nathan: It seems that we just have MORE reason to distrust the “data” and numbers being provided. And I am curious as to “Why?” according to these “experts.” Too much of this seems to be based on data from large cities (like Chicago and New York) and too much seems to be speculation.
Mama’s note: Very true… I’s almost impossible to know what to believe anymore, but the news stories of increasing crime in the cities, even groups of young women committing crimes we never heard of before – all these are most disquieting. I know we have little reason to trust the “news” in any case, but I’ve seen a few signs of this trend even in the quiet rural area where I live.
The bottom line is that we all must be prepared to defend ourselves, in every way possible.
Stupid people tricks
Disaster shelter offers full kitchen, flat-screen TV
(ClickOrlando.com) Corrugated pipe ‘Doomsday’ bunker priced at $59,900 ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -Could a “Doomsday Bunker” protect your family in case of disaster? One local business thinks so and is offering tours of an Atlas corrugated pipe shelter. Al’s Army Navy Store in Altamonte Springs is selling a 32×10-foot shelter. The unit is designed to go 20 feet underground, and can offer protection from hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters.
Mama’s note: People are so strange sometimes. Hard to imagine anyone who can feed themselves successfully actually believing that a “flat screen TV” would be a useful part of an emergency shelter like this. Wonder how much of a discount they offer if you don’t want the TV? 🙂
Nathan: Hmm. Well, here are some guesses:
(1) They assume that the cable networks will continue to function, or will be more quickly restored than they will be able to get their house aboveground repaired.
(2) They need something to keep the children (regardless of age) entertained to keep them from going stir-crazy.
(3) They have additional “add-on” options such as cameras to watch the mobs up aboveground or to see the radiation-crazed looters.
(4) They have a lot of rather stupid customers. I recall the wife in Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold and her drug problems and the trouble she caused from being bored. We have a lot of her kind around today.
I suspect that the same amount of money spent on improving their ABOVE-ground normal house to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes would be far more beneficial, but I also wonder if the value given to this isn’t also tied to things like fear of crime and being singled out and attacked. An underground bunker is both less visible and more easily defended.
Politics 2012
CNN Poll: 46% Say Obama Won Debate, 39% Say Romney
(CNSNews.com)
NATHAN: I once again avoided the debate, and THIS time didn’t listen to any of the commentary or reviews the next day. And I’m glad I didn’t. As I understand, supposedly the “messiah” did better than Romney, but that in part seems to be because he did so much better than that guy did against Romney in the Denver debate. At the same time, apparently (unlike the first debate) this debate has had little or no effect on voters: Romney is up slightly (despite being viewed as the loser), but not attributable to this. It appears that (a) they aren’t that far apart on most issues, when you get right down to it, (b) the issues that they DO differ on are hidden by personality conflicts, and (c) too much of the time is wasted on meaningless garbage.
Mama’s note: If two crickets held a “debate,” how would anyone decide which of them “won?” And what would they “win” if you could figure it out? A pox on both their houses.
Government-run, tax-funded schools – Theft by government
The Imaginary Teacher Shortage
(Wall Street Journal) In 1970, public schools employed 2.06 million teachers, or one for every 22.3 students; in 2012, there are 3.27 million teachers, one for every 15.2 students…
One of the problems is that the number of ADMINISTRATORS and useless hangers-on (Douglas Adams’ “middlemen” in A Hitchhiker’s Guide) like guidance counselors and career specialists and deputy junior assistant principals and school resource officers, have increased at an even MORE rapid rate. And the spending per student (much of it in increased salaries for administrators and teachers) has grown far in excess of the rate of inflation – even when realizing that inflation as reported by the government is insanely low. Of course, the subjects TAUGHT by this multitude of teachers has grown more and more watered down and more and more worthless, as well.
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The Price of Liberty 
Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-44B: This and that
More from a very long week!
Stupid government tricks – Government-run, tax-funded schools
Minnesota bans free college education
(SLATE.com)
NATHAN: This issue, according to the article, was resolved favorably, but it STILL points out that education isn’t about “the children” (indeed, except for the rare protegy, no children were involved in this: everyone over age 18, thank you!), but about the power and the money. Minnesota DOES want to dictate what people do in the privacy of their own home or room – not just sex (I know, I know, the “liberals” will claim ‘t’aint so but they do) but ESPECIALLY studying at a college level. Them college folks is dangerous powerful threat to the state, you ken? And of course, it is only the State that knows what is best to be taught and whether or not you are being taught anything useful and worthwhile. You (or your parents) can’t possibly know that.
Self-defense
12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion
(www.newson6.com) A 12-year-old girl took matters into her own hands during a home invasion in … NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com | 12-Year-Old Girl Shoots Intruder During Home Invasion In Bryan County … St. Clair, who told her to get the family gun, hide in a closet and call 911. [When he got to the closet in searching the house, she shot him through the door, wounding him: he was arrested by cops a few minutes later.]
NATHAN: Preaching to the choir time again! Would she be dead, raped, murdered, or just missing and later found dismembered (like the girl in Denver area last week) if she hadn’t had access to the gun? Will her parents be investigated and prosecuted for child abuse because the gun was available to a 12-year-old? Townhall had a good column on this, tying it to the “messiah’s” call during the debate for MORE gun control, but missing points as well. Government can NOT protect us against violence, and every government attempt to do so results in MORE violence, not less. It is not just the current incumbent of 1600 PA that is dangerous to our lives and liberties, but the “major” candidate running for the job.
Theft by government
Welfare cost 746 billion in FY2011
(Godfather Politics) More than Social Security or “basic” military spending (that is, not counting the Afghan occupation or the other interventions). The article gives a brief history of federal welfare since LBJ’s Great Society in 1964, and points out that 46 million Americans (15.1%) get this plus 283 billion from the states: a total of $1.029 TRILLION.
NATHAN: My trusty calculator says that is $22,370 per person per year: not a GREAT wage but a livable one ($10.75) on a family basis (2 to 4 people each getting that $22K). Of course, this isn’t paid directly to the welfare recipients, as we all know: MOST of it goes to pay/feed the bureaucrats at salaries easily double that on average, and the average welfare recipient is lucky to get even 40% of that: around $10 K or so. And this is the individual welfare: not the corporate welfare or the local government welfare or the Beltway Bandit welfare.
Government steals from us in a multitude of ways and here we see several. First, taxes (or borrowed money) pay for this largesse to the poor and especially to the bureaucrats, and indirectly to the big corporations that benefit from providing commodities and acting as middlemen for food stamps and the like. Second, this “free” money drives up the costs of the goods that we compete with the bureaucrats and the welfare-clients for. Third, the taxes and borrowing inflate the money supply, driving the value of our savings and investments down.
Home Front
Report: Violent crime rises sharply, reversing trend
(USA TODAY) 11:54PM EDT October 17. 2012 – WASHINGTON — The violent crime rate went up 17% last year, ending a general decline in violence that began nearly 20 years ago, according to a new federal survey of crime victims. The Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey also found an 11% increase in the rate of property crimes, including household burglaries and car theft. The survey represents a sharp departure from recent years and a preliminary report produced earlier this year by the FBI, which found that violent crime had declined by 4% during the first six months of 2011. The final FBI Uniform Crime Report, which collects data from police departments across the country, is expected out later this month.
Mama’s note: Guess that makes it official… but we knew this a while ago.
Nathan: It seems that we just have MORE reason to distrust the “data” and numbers being provided. And I am curious as to “Why?” according to these “experts.” Too much of this seems to be based on data from large cities (like Chicago and New York) and too much seems to be speculation.
Mama’s note: Very true… I’s almost impossible to know what to believe anymore, but the news stories of increasing crime in the cities, even groups of young women committing crimes we never heard of before – all these are most disquieting. I know we have little reason to trust the “news” in any case, but I’ve seen a few signs of this trend even in the quiet rural area where I live.
The bottom line is that we all must be prepared to defend ourselves, in every way possible.
Stupid people tricks
Disaster shelter offers full kitchen, flat-screen TV
(ClickOrlando.com) Corrugated pipe ‘Doomsday’ bunker priced at $59,900 ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. -Could a “Doomsday Bunker” protect your family in case of disaster? One local business thinks so and is offering tours of an Atlas corrugated pipe shelter. Al’s Army Navy Store in Altamonte Springs is selling a 32×10-foot shelter. The unit is designed to go 20 feet underground, and can offer protection from hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters.
Mama’s note: People are so strange sometimes. Hard to imagine anyone who can feed themselves successfully actually believing that a “flat screen TV” would be a useful part of an emergency shelter like this. Wonder how much of a discount they offer if you don’t want the TV? 🙂
Nathan: Hmm. Well, here are some guesses:
(1) They assume that the cable networks will continue to function, or will be more quickly restored than they will be able to get their house aboveground repaired.
(2) They need something to keep the children (regardless of age) entertained to keep them from going stir-crazy.
(3) They have additional “add-on” options such as cameras to watch the mobs up aboveground or to see the radiation-crazed looters.
(4) They have a lot of rather stupid customers. I recall the wife in Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold and her drug problems and the trouble she caused from being bored. We have a lot of her kind around today.
I suspect that the same amount of money spent on improving their ABOVE-ground normal house to withstand hurricanes and tornadoes would be far more beneficial, but I also wonder if the value given to this isn’t also tied to things like fear of crime and being singled out and attacked. An underground bunker is both less visible and more easily defended.
Politics 2012
CNN Poll: 46% Say Obama Won Debate, 39% Say Romney
(CNSNews.com)
NATHAN: I once again avoided the debate, and THIS time didn’t listen to any of the commentary or reviews the next day. And I’m glad I didn’t. As I understand, supposedly the “messiah” did better than Romney, but that in part seems to be because he did so much better than that guy did against Romney in the Denver debate. At the same time, apparently (unlike the first debate) this debate has had little or no effect on voters: Romney is up slightly (despite being viewed as the loser), but not attributable to this. It appears that (a) they aren’t that far apart on most issues, when you get right down to it, (b) the issues that they DO differ on are hidden by personality conflicts, and (c) too much of the time is wasted on meaningless garbage.
Mama’s note: If two crickets held a “debate,” how would anyone decide which of them “won?” And what would they “win” if you could figure it out? A pox on both their houses.
Government-run, tax-funded schools – Theft by government
The Imaginary Teacher Shortage
(Wall Street Journal) In 1970, public schools employed 2.06 million teachers, or one for every 22.3 students; in 2012, there are 3.27 million teachers, one for every 15.2 students…
One of the problems is that the number of ADMINISTRATORS and useless hangers-on (Douglas Adams’ “middlemen” in A Hitchhiker’s Guide) like guidance counselors and career specialists and deputy junior assistant principals and school resource officers, have increased at an even MORE rapid rate. And the spending per student (much of it in increased salaries for administrators and teachers) has grown far in excess of the rate of inflation – even when realizing that inflation as reported by the government is insanely low. Of course, the subjects TAUGHT by this multitude of teachers has grown more and more watered down and more and more worthless, as well.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.