The heartbreak of government-run tax-funded schools

Posted on 2017-02-11 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Recently, Vicki E. Alger a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, a libertarian-conservative think tank, in Oakland, California, published a new book, Failure: The Federal “Misedukation” of America’s Children.

I’ve not been able to read the book yet, and I missed her on-line talk at the Heartland Institute on Wednesday, the 1st.  However, Heartland has this to say of her book:

“Education policy has long been mired in controversies, often with opposing sides missing the mark. Failure helps us step back from the skirmish du jour and redirects our focus to the big picture, showing what’s gone wrong over the decades and why. It also offers a bold blueprint for returning the federal government to its constitutional role and for cultivating an educational system based on school choice that meets the needs of students and parents, rather than bureaucrats.

“Concerned citizens of every stripe will benefit from Failure’s history of federal education policy, its brutally honest report card for the Department of Education, its look at education systems across the globe, and its ambitious policy recommendations. Failure might even succeed in re-framing the way the federal education establishment thinks about education policy.”

Assuming this is accurate, it seems as though she is missing the point.  She is speaking of the “Reformation” of schools, when what is needed is the “Restoration” of truly independent schools: an education system by and for and of the parents and the students themselves. Continue reading →

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Fifth Column

Posted on 2017-02-10 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

As we are in the third week of the Trump Era (however long that may last), it is clear that there are enemies within and without.  Not just within and outside the Fifty States, but within and outside the FedGov.  Especially the executive branch.

More and more stories are coming out of bureaucrats working directly against the White House and sneaking around to work around and undermine, weaken and betray the man elected in accordance with the Constitution.  There are clandestine Tweets and Facebook accounts, whispered leaks and outright refusal to carry out lawful orders. They are whispering and screaming about the evil illegality, the lack of compassion, the lack of constitutional sanction of the new regime.

All good, really.  Whatever their motives, they are preaching and encouraging and promoting and aiding the weakening of government, and destroying its credibility and the confidence of the people in government.  A lack of confidence which, coming on top of eight years (or even sixteen … or twenty-four…) of distrust and betrayal, is that much more powerful. Continue reading →

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Hypocrisy – environists and liberals and politicians

Posted on 2017-02-08 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Fresh news from North Dakota, that the acting Secretary of the Army may issue a record of decision as soon as Friday the 10th of February, which will allow the DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) to be completed has people in a tizzy.  The pipeline’s completion and use will destroy and permanently damage identified sacred-land (so recently identified that it was not known to exist when the environmental assessment was done just a couple of years ago). (I’m being sarcastic.)  AND it is guaranteed to irreparably pollute Lake Oahe and the entire Missouri and Mississippi Rivers downstream to the Gulf and thus destroy the water supply for millions of people (including several thousand Lakota).  Never mind the other several dozen pipelines that have existed under the river (upstream and downstream), many for decades, that have not done so.  DAPL is the straw that will break the camel’s back.

But the horror has already begun. Continue reading →

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Europe’s fall continues

Posted on 2017-02-08 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Things are not going well in Europe these days. A point of which we are made freshly aware when an Islamist warrior attacked a French military patrol near the Louvre in Paris itself.  As reported by Stars & Stripes, there are several matters of concern.

At the same time, another Islamist, accused of plotting a bomb attack on the USAF’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany, was arrested in Austria, again reported by Stars & Stripes. The story also reports a series of arrests of more Muslims – presumed Islamists – in Germany, including one accused of planning a bomb attack in Frankfurt, a major western Germany city.  The Austrian teen said he planned the attack because he hated the German military for attacking Muslims, apparently not appreciating the irony of attacking an American base in Germany, rather than a German base.

Meanwhile, American troops are pouring into Poland, joining those already in the Baltics.  Reportedly, “neutral” Sweden is ramping up civil defense measures, concerned (or so it is reported) about Russian activities.  German unrest about Muslims is increasing, rumors (apparently untrue) that Switzerland is banning all Muslim immigration are widespread, and – gasp – the House of Commons has voted to sustain the referendum by which the subjects of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. And in Catalonia, a trial has led to protests which may becoming active rebellion as it seeks independence from Spain, and apparently is rejecting both the Spanish monarchy and the Tranzi paradise that Spain has become. Continue reading →

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Disappearing from the American landscape: why?

Posted on 2017-02-03 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

When researching the column on “Disappearances: American Style?” (some time ago) I did find a few interesting articles about disappearances that are of interest but distracted from the point of that commentary. Still worth looking at and talking about, and asking “Why?”

Here are some examples:

Jobs for males are disappearing (according to the NY Times) as a major economic crisis grows worse. Other people just point out that a LOT of jobs, male and female, are disappearing as we enter the sixth year of the Crash of 2009.  Especially the “good jobs” that pay more than minimum wage and a couple of dollars over.  And many of us have jobs (or operate businesses) where the amount we earn has, in dollars, not changed in 10-20 years, even while the dollar has melted down.

North America’s rest areas are disappearing, it is claimed.  But never fear, we don’t need them, we are told, as more and more fast food places and convenience stores pop up on highway exits.  (Architecture News Daily)  Well, idiots, try traveling in the REAL America, where dozens of Interstate exits are ghost towns: abandoned service stations and fast food places and convenience stores killed back in the 1970s and 1980s are still abandoned, and where even newer places are closing down, and see if we can do without rest areas.  And THEN go to the REAL highways, NOT the Interstates, but the highways that move the wheat and corn and cattle and sheep and sugar beets that feed America (and much of the world) and look at the abandoned towns and fuel stations and even saloons and trading posts…  I have driven hundreds of thousands of miles in North America since the early 1970s, and seen the rise and fall of the system and the economy. Continue reading →

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Ramping up and strawmen

Posted on 2017-02-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

A few weeks ago, Freedom News Daily, which touts itself as the “freedom movement’s daily newspaper” featured these two articles in the “news” and “commentary” sections.

Trump to launch “major investigation” of his voter fraud fantasy : Source: The Hill “President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will launch a ‘major’ investigation to look into voter fraud in the country. ‘I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and …. even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time),’ the president tweeted Wednesday morning.” (01/25/17)

Why Trump is doubling down on the voter fraud fraud: Source: Garrison Center by Thomas L Knapp “Voter fraud is not a strategy used by candidates and campaigns to move the needle on election results. Why? Because it’s just about the most expensive, burdensome, unreliable and risky way imaginable to do that. A successful voter fraud operation on any scale would require rounding up a whole bunch of people, trusting those people to cast the votes desired instead of just voting however they wanted to vote, and risking any or all of them getting caught (or sprouting a conscience) and blowing the operation. Too many co-conspirators and too many ways for things to go south fast and hard. If we remove the letter ‘r’ from the end of ‘voter,’ things make more sense. Yes, elections are sometimes rigged. But they’re not rigged the hard way, by impersonating voters.” (01/25/17) Continue reading →

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Escape

Posted on 2017-02-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

It seems to happen every four years, and we heard it a lot in 2016.  “If SO-AND-SO gets elected, I’m going to migrate to Outer Upper Snowland.”  Those are almost always some kind of Tranzi celebrity.  Usually the kind that has to borrow a brain-cell from a slavish follower to have two of them to rub together.  But they are NOT the only kind of people who talk about escaping.

Can we?  Should we?  Some pretty hardcore libertarian types – not the political kind – are urging American lovers of liberty to escape: perhaps to somewhere in Central or South America.  Or maybe to one of the East Asian places (Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia) which are rated as being high on personal and economic liberties.  Some even go back to old Europe and places now rated high (Switzerland, Norway, Estonia).

And many are opting, once more, for a Free State – either Wyoming or New Hampshire.  Or just one of the states rated on the opposite end of the spectrum from California, New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

But does it make sense? Can we really escape? Or are we just finding a different wing of the prison to call home? Continue reading →

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Ground Hog Day

Posted on 2017-02-02 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

No true “first light” yesterday, and it’s snowing this morning so I don’t expect one today. Just a gradual increase of diffused light that reveals the deep cloud cover and the snow all around. It can be beautiful in its own way, of course, but my soul longs for the sun.

Not a word in the mainstream “news” this morning about Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog in Pennsylvania that has predicted the spring weather for 131 years.

From the official website:

  • On February 2, Phil comes out of his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob – in front of thousands of followers from all over the world – to predict the weather for the rest of winter.
  • According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.

Sadly, the “news” today is much the same as it has been for months. People all over who have decided, for whatever reason, to riot, burn, loot and even kill in the name of “protest” and disagreement. Not content with controlling their own lives and property, they seem to think that their destructive “protest” will – or should – cause everyone else to give them what they want. Even when they don’t seem to know just what it is they want.

And this, at least partially, grows out of the growing entitlement mentality where whatever they want or believe they “deserve” becomes a “right” to be extracted from any and everyone else. The fact that someone else’s right to life, liberty and property is infringed on to obtain their wants most likely doesn’t even occur to most of them. They have been indoctrinated by the “schools” that all these wonderful things they want can – and must be  granted by their benevolent government.

And that, of course, includes the idea that their government can and must “keep them safe” from all risk and harm – or even feeling unhappy. They don’t seem to understand the risk and harm dished out by the government, and become confused and angry when it affects THEM instead of all the others who disagree with them.

It will be interesting to watch the “powers that be” deal with this, and so much else, but I don’t expect real freedom to break out any time soon. Are people in general starting to understand their own need for liberty and justice? Are they starting to question the bogus “authority” of the non-voluntary government? Remains to be seen, of course.

An old Indian saying tells us that cutting off one end of a blanket and sewing it on the other end solves nothing. Instead of making the blanket longer and better, it is now shorter and looks like hell.

OK, I made up the “Indian” part…

 

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Cold and Cold Running Mud

Posted on 2017-01-30 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

First light at 6:10 AM. Mountain standard time, Newcastle, Wyoming. Sunrise at 7:30 AM, a few scattered clouds fast fading from pink and black to white. Most of the last snow melted yesterday, and we will now have cold and cold running mud until the next snow and temperature drop – after which we will have lots of frozen mud, on pretty much everything just as with every other year.

Mr. Trump has certainly taken a stick to every hornet’s nest and ant hill he can reach, so far, and there is great promise that this statist bar brawl can at least shine a light on some of the real problems. Unfortunately, an awful lot of people are cheering the new destruction and power grabs, seemingly grabbing onto the slogans and hype, instead of seriously considering the implications for individual liberty or justice.

Karen Kwaitkowski has some excellent points in her latest article:

Trump is the Perfect President  
By Karen Kwiatkowski Continue reading →

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Post-modern government

Posted on 2017-01-29 by TPOL Nathan

by Nathan Barton

Despite the fact that it has been 34 years since the last human walked on Luna, and those pitiful few who have so far (a mere 12!) are now dying of old age, few people would challenge the claim that we are in the “Space Age.” And more and more people – though still a measly number – are getting into space. Although, frankly, near-earth orbit is about equal to how far you can wade into the water with your pants’ legs rolled up and not getting the pants wet. Of course, we are able to do the equivalent of building an RC-boat and sending it waddling across the water, not just to that little sandbar of an island within a stone’s throw (so briefly occupied by the world’s most expensive tourists), but even to those more distant islands we can barely see.

But in nearly 250 years, from 1776 to 2017, we’ve really changed AND improved the way we travel: from rowboat and sailing ship and horseback or horse-drawn conveyances to aircraft that cross in a hour what ships took days and wagons took weeks. And perhaps MORE important, today information, communications, that once took that same length of time as a ship or wagon, now travels in fractions of a second. And in very large quantities (whatever the quality) rather than the dit-dash speed of a telegrapher’s hand or the speaking speed of an Edward Murrow or a George Burns. Continue reading →

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