Slip the Bonds

In, High Flight, — John Gillespie Magee, Jr, gave us the memorable lines,

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings"

and this week, President Obama is slipping the bonds of our Constitution.  The voters said no, but like a petulant child, it didn't matter.  We said, we are having no more of your socialist agenda, and he's not hearing us.

Instead, Obama is amassing an army of millions entering the US as undocumented, and adding them to his victim side of the "victim vs. oppressor" scale, the (proletariat vs. bourgeois) paradigm of Karl Marx.

Instead of Ferguson ready to explode, Martin Luther King, Jr., took the high ground of Gandhi and non-violent protests and blacks were on the their way into the middle class until 'the great society' taught many they were victims instead.  Babies and their young moms were snatched from family homes where Gramma and Gramps lived, in the 'village' of responsible grownups and placed in projects, alone in an apartment with their infant, a recipe for depression, where few if any of the adults were not victims.  Generations followed in their footsteps, pushing post WWII, 75%+ two parents in the home, down to below 25% today.

Hayek understood the difference between socialism and Marx.

"The totalitarian leader must collect around him a group which is prepared voluntarily to submit to that discipline they are to impose by force upon the rest of the people. That socialism can be put into practice only by methods of which most socialists disapprove is, of course, a lesson learned by many social reformers in the past. The old socialist parties were inhibited by their democratic ideals; they did not possess the ruthlessness required for the performance of their chosen task. It is characteristic that both in Germany and in Italy the success of fascism was preceded by the refusal of the socialist parties to take over the responsibilities of government. They were unwilling wholeheartedly to employ the methods to which they had pointed the way.They still hoped for the miracle of a majority’s agreeing on a particular plan for the organization of the whole of society. Others had already learned the lesson that in a planned society the question can no longer be on what do a majority of the people agree but what the largest single group is whose members agree sufficiently to make unified direction of all affairs possible."

The adage, "you can't fight city hall,' just became a whole lot larger and more dangerous.

UNSHACKLE OUR TEACHERS

"Whereas, an educated population being necessary for informed voting, civic duties, economic growth and tranquility in daily discourse; and,

Whereas, multiple funding sources originating outside of Nebraska and lacks parental oversight add burdens to teachers in their classrooms complying with various rules and regulations which are attached to said funds, and,

Whereas, these burdensome rules and regulations have caused a precipitous decline in student achievement while simultaneously growing the divisions between segments of the population; now,

Therefore be it resolved, that the Sarpy County Republican Party encourage the State of Nebraska to break all ties with federal or any other outside control of education within our borders; and,

Be it further resolved, that any and all remuneration for education from outside the State is encouraged to be accepted and acknowledged by Nebraska's schools, including private & parochial schools, so long as the funds do not require the school to change its curriculum, add burdensome rules or regulations for teachers, the school, or the district offices." Will be voted on Thursday as a Resolution. 

From 2009 through 2012, PISA international statistics saw the U.S. slip from 25th to 31st in math; 20th to 24th in science; and 11th to 21st in reading. Let me repeat, our teens in the USA slipped from 11th place to 21st place in THREE YEARS.  If you cannot read effectively, you cannot think! 

A Resolution for Enhancement of Quality Education for Nebraska's Youth

Whereas an educated population being necessary to informed voting, economic growth and tranquility in daily discourse, and whereas since the federal government of the United States and many funding bodies not directly linked to Nebraska schools, have become involved in local public schools and the education of our Nebraska children to an invasive extent, scores have dropped, a large percentage of graduates must take remedial classes in Math before attending Nebraska’s Universities, and division between segments of our population have grown, be it resolved that the State of Nebraska breaks all ties with federal control of education within our borders.  Any and all remuneration for education can be accepted from any source by any school of the parent’s choice including private schools, but funding may not be accepted by any Nebraska school when tied to changes in curriculum or added burdens for the school.

All public school boards are to be dissolved, administrative offices used in the future as classrooms, and each public school principal is required to accept nominations for a board made up only of parents or custodians of his/her school’s students and organize an election (one parental vote per pupil in attendance at that school) within two weeks of the start of the school term. The principal and the subsequently elected board write the budget and determine materials and resources required for the year.  Once in place, this election can be held closer to the end of their school term for the following year. All principals are required to teach one or more classes during the school day to keep in touch with students. California Achievement tests are administered at the end of each school term (annually) to determine the quality of the individual teacher and determine their individual bonus by the actual growth and performance of those so trustingly placed in their care.  New students or transfers can be administered the tests at the principal's discretion.
Staff members tasked to individually assist the disabled, in accordance with ADA law, are funded by that federal agency and barring classroom disruption, the child and their assistant may mainstream in public schools.  Impact aid from the federal government for areas close to Offutt reduce the amount allocated per pupil.

All private schools also administer California Achievement tests and results are published in the local newspapers annually next to the public school scores.  If a parent changes jobs and their employer maintains a school on the premises, there should be no barriers for their child changing to that school.  The school day, materials, hours, business involvement, is at the discretion of the each school as long as their overall achievement remains acceptable which is the only Unicameral function, setting the lower end of achievement which may cause a vote to determine if the school is to be closed or a principal replaced. 

I recommend a return to the Spalding Method of teaching reading which involves saying, hearing, writing (penmanship) and seeing words and phonic patterns to build a list of spelling words that are understood by the child including how to form those words on paper, read them, spell them, listen and say them.  As their book of sounds and words grow, "reader texts" may not be required as children may select topics of interest from their classroom's library of books. The board of parents and the principal make decisions on "texts" for young readers, however. Students are better able to think independently and contribute to current community ideas when they've been taught to read effectively.  

Could this work in Nebraska?

Maurice P. McTigue is a distinguished visiting scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he directs the government accountability project. Previously, he was a member of the New Zealand Parliament and New Zealand’s ambassador to Canada, and was closely involved in New Zealand’s deregulation of labor markets, deregulation of the transportation industry, and restructuring of the fishing industry through the creation of conservation incentives. He also served as Minister of Employment, Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Railways, Minister of Works and Development, Minister of Labour and Minister of Immigration. Among his many honors, Mr. McTigue is a recipient of the Queen’s Service Order, bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. In the U.S., he was recently appointed to the Office of Personnel Management Senior Review Committee, formed to make recommendations for human resources systems at the Department of Homeland Security. He also sits on the Performance Management Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The following is [an excerpt] adapted from a lecture delivered on February 11, 2004, on the Hillsdale campus, during a five-day seminar on “The Conditions of Free-Market Capitalism,” co-sponsored by the Center for Constructive Alternatives and the Ludwig von Mises Lecture Series.

New Zealand had an education system that was failing as well. It was failing about 30 percent of its children—especially those in lower socio-economic areas. We had put more and more money into education for 20 years, and achieved worse and worse results.

It cost us twice as much to get a poorer result than we did 20 years previously with much less money. So we decided to rethink what we were doing here as well. The first thing we did was to identify where the dollars were going that we were pouring into education. We hired international consultants (because we didn’t trust our own departments to do it), and they reported that for every dollar we were spending on education, 70 cents was being swallowed up by administration. Once we heard this, we immediately eliminated all of the Boards of Education in the country. Every single school came under the control of a board of trustees elected by the parents of the children at that school, and by nobody else. We gave schools a block of money based on the number of students that went to them, with no strings attached. At the same time, we told the parents that they had an absolute right to choose where their children would go to school. It is absolutely obnoxious to me that anybody would tell parents that they must send their children to a bad school. We converted 4,500 schools to this new system all on the same day.

But we went even further: We made it possible for privately owned schools to be funded in exactly the same way as publicly owned schools, giving parents the ability to spend their education dollars wherever they chose. Again, everybody predicted that there would be a major exodus of students from the public to the private schools, because the private schools showed an academic advantage of 14 to 15 percent. It didn’t happen, however, because the differential between schools disappeared in about 18-24 months. Why? Because all of a sudden teachers realized that if they lost their students, they would lose their funding; and if they lost their funding, they would lose their jobs. Eighty-five percent of our students went to public schools at the beginning of this process. That fell to only about 84 percent over the first year or so of our reforms. But three years later, 87 percent of the students were going to public schools. More importantly, we moved from being about 14 or 15 percent below our international peers to being about 14 or 15 percent above our international peers in terms of educational attainment.

Grand Tour to California

First 1/2 Google map for Grand tour to California
Second 1/2 Google map for Grand tour to California


Useful links:
http://www.sfcityguides.org/ San Francisco Walking Tours
http://www.cityofgolden.net/play/recreation-attractions/clear-creek-rv-park/ Golden's RV park
http://www.bikeslc.com/WheretoRide/CycletheCity.html Bike tour and rental in Salt Lake

Calendar (chalked in only):

Firm Date-Drive from Omaha on May 24^th

Stay at Golden Clear Creek RV Park, 547 mi / 7h 40 min 

Drive from Golden on May 25^th stopping on route overnight. 

Reach Verde National Park for 2:00 tour on May 26th and spend night, 440 mi / 7 h 40 min

Morning of 27th, Drive to Grand Canyon National Park, 571 mi /4 h 3 min,

Drive toward San Diego, 571 mi/8 hr 16 min, stopping on route for overnight on May 27th.

May 28th-29th Tour SeaWorld Balboa Park, La Jolla Seals, etc.

May 30^th Day at Disneyland, 1 hr 29 min

May 31^th Day at Big Sur, Limekiln State Park 202 mi/3h 44 min + 93.2mi/ 1h 41 min (thru Ventura)

June 1st Golden Gate Park 173 mi / 3 h 39 min.

Best Western Plus Airport Inn & Suites

170 Hegenberger Loop, Oakland, CA, 94621

Property Information: +1 510 633-0500

1 Room:Standard Room, 2 Queen Beds

3 Guests:2 Adults 1 Child

2 Nights:Sun Jun/1/2014 to Tue Jun/3/201

2^nd and 3rd in San Fran area driving up to Armstrong woods, ride trolleys, see wharf, Chinatown, etc. and head home through Sacramento with possible stops at Lake Tahoe, on 4rd, stop on 5th, day at Salt Lake, 6th on way home. 

This builds in 1 day for repairs.  Wish us luck! 

The Radical Individualism of Paul Goodman

Richard Wall’s, “The Radical Individualism of Paul Goodman,” is a beautiful essay that captures the central core spirit of Paul Goodman. Newer LRC readers must be made aware of this inspirational prophetic voice who still speaks to us today in his powerful words and noble sentiments of humane resistance and courage:

How profoundly alien our present establishment is…[…] The term “establishment” itself is borrowed from the British – for snobbish and literary reasons, and usually with an edge of satire. But we have had no sovereign to establish such a thing, and there is no public psychology to accept it as legitimate. It operates like an establishment: it is the consensus of politics, the universities and science, big business, organized labor, public schooling, the media of communications, the official language; it determines the right style and accredits its own members; it hires and excludes, subsidizes and neglects. But it has no warrant of legitimacy, it has no tradition, it cannot talk straight English, it neither has produced nor could produce any art, it does not lead by moral means but by a kind of social engineering, and it is held in contempt and detestation by the young.

The American tradition- I think the abiding American tradition – is pluralist, populist and libertarian, while the Establishment is interlocked, mandarin, and managed. And the evidence is that its own claim, that it is efficient, is false. It is fantastically wasteful of brains, money, the environment, and people. It is channeling our energy and enterprise to its own aggrandizement and power, and it will exhaust us.

I would almost say that our country is like a conquered province with foreign rulers, except that they are not foreigners and we are responsible for what they do.”

~ Like a Conquered Province, chapter 6: “Is American Democracy Viable?

Anti-War

They shot JFK, and LBJ escalated the war in Vietnam. When Martin Luther King, Jr, came out with his anti-war feelings, they shot him, too. His family has publicly said the man in jail didn't do it. 

Anti-war feelings grew and Eugene McCarthy [D] won a primary against LBJ funded by deep pocket democrat donors who would be punished by the party if their names were revealed. After McCarthy won, anti-war RFK jumped in and won in California. They shot him, too. Then they passed the FEC which 'Clean Gene' McCarthy [D] said was to silence [by defunding] dissidents.  

An owner of a major truck stop once said that donating to a third party candidate could cause road construction to close his exit off the Interstate for months. Now we know that's never done to punish ... no one would ever close lanes on a bridge to cause traffic jams, right? A woman whose family owned a grocery found their street closed with a 2 block detour for access until their store went broke and her husband died of a heart attack. He had openly opposed the current Mayor as being corrupt and he won reelection.

FEC Campaign records are scoured by people like you and me to find out who funds our favored candidate, right? Wrong; they are scoured by political party hacks. 

Along came the Internet and money bombs, and even before money bombs, Dr. Dean collected funds from the Internet. Those populous candidates are crushed by the main stream media who can take one 'scream' from Dr. Dean or a political dirty trick from Christie and turn it into an anchor.  They miscaracterize Dr. Ron Paul as an isolationist rather than a Jeffersonian 'Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations...entangling alliances with none!'

While Dr. Ron Paul was speaking at the University in New Hampshire, outside on the steps in the falling snow because the room was too small, John McCain was in the State visiting a munitions plant. McCain kept his powerful seat in the Senate signing those contracts over to suppliers of war and won the New Hampshire primary.  

Now, will the GOP do the right thing and let the next Ronald Reagan be nominated. Reagan was not the presumptive nominee, Gerald Ford was, and Reagan won only after several ballots. Ford was a good man but would have either lost or compromised so it would be the same as a loss for the anti-war majority. 

Hillary voted for the Iraq war and helped stage Libya for the chaos and bombing they've faced. We saw not one injured Libyan child after dropping 1000s of bombs a day. What? Hillary directed our ambassador in Syria to assist rebels in an attempt to overthrow Assad. Stop a moment and think: What if the Syrian ambassador to the USA assisted rebels in attempt to overthrow OUR leader? Look at the refugees and the carnage in Syria yet Kerry sent rebels funds February, 2013, and then later sent them HUGE military weaponry. The Benghazi visit may have been about shuffling some of the Libyan weapons to Syrian rebels.  

We invaded and occupied two of Iran's neighbors, deposed Iranians' elected leader and installed the Shah and shot down a domestic airliner by accident. We tell them they can participate in UN talks about another neighbor, Syria, only if they agree to the verdict first; trial later. Assad must go??? what? 

I'm beginning to believe our foreign policy isn't about peace but is about funding the military industrial complex so they don't shoot our elected leaders. And I'm beginning to think NSA data may be more about coercing votes from any elected leaders and/or justices of the USSC than security. 

How can we possibly know the truth anymore?

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  Reagan’s greatest achievement is hawks worst fear

  rare.us
  

  Republicans who want war with Iran shouldn’t be invoking Reagan.