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Monday, November 24, 2014

Miscellany: 11/24/14

Quote of the Day
The two terrors that discourage originality and creative living are
fear of public opinion and 

undue reverence for one's own consistency.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day


Immigration and Economic Considerations



The Importance of Educational Choice



It's Not Just Cars That Many States Prohibit Direct Out-of-State Sales



Choose Life



Facebook Corner

(National Review). Kevin D. Williamson: I do not think I would shake hands with Barack Obama.
 The entitlement in this message is so astounding. Those of you agreeing think so highly of yourselves to think you would even have the opportunity to shake hands with the President. As if. lol
That's right--because the guy hasn't done an honest day's work in his life and would never meet us.
Those so infected by hate they loose any semblance of rational thought and civility apparently would not.
Those who lack an ounce of character and self-respect would.
But....who is Kevin D. Williamson? One should always shake hands with the POTUS. Regardless. Dumb-dumb.
You should not shake the hand of a Fascist-in-Chief.

(Mercatus Center). One way the new Senate can help low-income families is to reform our outdated, rigid, and centralized public school system, argues Veronique de Rugy: http://bit.ly/1C5BCCv
I have to say that I would rather see the federal government out of the public education sector and local/state control. But I think as a matter of public policy the author's recommendation is a brilliant application of the principle of Subsidiarity: we need to let the consumer choose, which is the essence of market competition. Of all the bad things of RomneyCare, let's not forget one Copernican type insight; Romney took state hospital subsidies and converted them into subsidies for purchasing healthcare policies.
The School Choice movement is a MAJOR FAILURE. The first all voucher district on the face of the earth is the Recovery School District of New Orleans. It was one of the poorest scoring districts in the nation.
Absolutely FALSE claim by a crony teacher unionist troll. Whereas, unlike failing local public school monopolies, the occasional charter school fails, it loses its charter. And before going on, let me point out public charter schools are only part of school choice, let us have a look at CS Monitor's recent appraisal piece:

"The academic gains have been dramatic. The city has surpassed the state average for high school graduation by several points, with 77.8 percent of the class of 2012 graduating within four years – up from just over 54 percent in 2004.

"One measure regularly used in Louisiana is the Growth School Performance Score, which is based on test scores, graduation rates, and other factors. Based on those scores, in 2004-05 only 12 percent of students in New Orleans attended 'A' or 'B' schools while nearly 75 percent attended 'F' schools, reports New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO), a nonprofit that incubates and supports charter schools. By 2012-13, just 17 percent of students were in 'F' schools, while 34 percent were in 'A' or 'B' schools.


"Yet another bright point: the percentage of students qualifying for college scholarships from the state based on ACT scores and grade-point averages. Prior to Katrina, less than 6 percent of students in 14 high schools later taken over by the RSD qualified for these scholarships, NSNO reports. In 2013, 27 percent did."

(National Review). Michelle Obama's gross school lunches.
And if they really wanted the kids eating healthy, the food needs to be cooked on site, from scratch, using fresh (preferably local) ingredients. Pre-packed, pre-made, instant anything is not healthy.
Do you have any clue how much more expensive that locavorist protectionism would be? The reason they are implementing the Obama lunch standards is to get the federal lunch subsidies...


Lincoln, FDR, Wilson, LBJ. Lincoln for unnecessarily killing more Americans than any other President, his violations of the Constitution. FDR, for not only his unprecedented four elections, his economic madness policies, his attack on SCOTUS, resulting in Footnote 4, which spawned Big Government. Wilson for the Federal Reserve, the income tax, and the unforced error of WWI. LBJ for his Vietnam escalation and a huge expansion of unpaid-for entitlement programs (the failed war on poverty, Medicaid, Medicare).
(responding to an anti-Dem rant) so your sayin bush was a good president--Clinton had a surplus-- bush srated the deficit-the most unemployed since the depression-i was in neworleans before bush was - it took a week to send help-he was an idiot-anyone who would vote for any of the two parties are blind sheep-use your brain don't blindly follow these idiots that don't give a damn about you--give the independents a try--think for yourself
Clinton had a surplus huh? Calling people idiots? Clinton had no surplus. Any idiot can find the info. The sites are many. Independent? yeah right.
Actually the federal government ran surpluses for FY97-01. (He is credited for FY01 because the budget was set in CY00.) Now technically the budget was in surplus because the government didn't have to issue public debt, but the surpluses were actually increases in government-held debt to address future obligations, e.g., payroll taxes took in more revenue than distributions. One can make the argument these surpluses are a form of double-counting, like the Democrats trying to take claim the Medicare savings are both shoring up Medicare and funding ObamaCare.
(separately)
More specifically as to the anti-Bush troll: Bush had a net increase of about 1 million jobs, which were in the public sector; he was bookended by 2 recessions. As to Katrina, first of all, the US Coast Guard acted brilliantly. The principal brunt of blame for the disaster falls on the New Orleans mayor and Louisiana governor at the time, both Democrats. Nagin and Blanco refused to evacuate; Nagin, in fact, left buses in a low-lying area where they flooded, and Blanco didn't want to cede the National Guard to Bush's control. Bush as ex-governor, did not want to step over local/state control, which miserably failed.

Political Humor



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Pension Tsunami
Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Patriot Post

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry, "All I Have To Do Is Dream".  Just a r eminder that I'll suspend my vocalist/Campbell series with Wednesday's post to start my annual holiday music series. This year I'm toying with the concept of a classical Christmas. I haven't fleshed out the concept yet, but it's likely to be a fusion of classical pieces (like the Nutcracker Suite), choir and/or instrumental/orchestral presentations of traditional carols or classical works. On Thanksgiving, I'll embed a new (for me) take on the Kenny Rogers/Wynonna standard "Mary, Did You Know?"