If you are not an idealist
by the time you are twenty
you have no heart,
but if you are still an idealist
by the time you are thirty,
you don't have a head.
Randolph Bourne
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
How Crony Big Shipyards Hurt Consumers of American and Imported Products
NSA's Foothold in Oakland
Facebook Corner
(Illinois Policy Institute). Thousands of Illinois students are trapped in failing schools. These schools fail at their most basic task: providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the future.
72% of students at Illinois’ lowest-performing elementary schools failed to meet standards in math. 53% are one grade level behind, and 19% are two or more grade levels behind.
Even given this startling data, legislators have taken recent steps to prevent new, innovative and quality schools from opening.
This has more to do with powerful teacher unions which have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo and see competition from charter schools in zero-sum terms. We are never going to be able to tweak ourselves into a more competitive education market; we need to think bolder and privatize lower education.
(Catholic Libertarians). I can't even think of a good comment to add here. Feel free to add yours below... To what god are they even praying? ~Mark
« Iowa Democrat gubernatorial candidates Tyler Olson and Jack Hatch joined abortion activists in an extended prayer that repeatedly celebrated abortion rights. Excerpt: "...We give thanks, oh Lord, for the doctors, both current and future, who provide quality abortion care ... We pray for increased financial support for low-income women to access contraception, abortion and childcare ... Today, we pray for women in developing nations, that they may know the power of self-determination. May they have access to employment, education, birth control and abortion ... Today we pray for the families who have chosen. May they know the blessing of choice..."
Their god is the ideology of political correctness; if this is God, I'm an atheist.
We sort of answered that question in 1865.
Killing hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans, wanton destruction and regional subjugation resulted in over a century of divisive policies to what end? The use of force didn't change hearts and minds--and isn't that Thoreau's very point?
(Reason). Russia isn’t the only country that regards its "backyard" as its playground. The U.S. acts the same way.
what a crock. When did we invade Canada? Mexico? Cuba? You are so full of $h..
Even a basic understanding of Crimea would begin with the facts that Crimea is an autonomous region in Ukraine and about 60% of the inhabitants are ethnic Russian. (It was part of Russia for nearly 200 years through Stalin.) I do not approve of Putin's intervention, but America has in fact intervened multiple times in the America's. Going beyond the annexation of my own home state of Texas, we can think of more recent interventions in Haiti, Grenada and Panama (Wikipedia has a thorough timeline of American military operations).
(LFC.) "Restricting the number of fast-food outlets around offices and homes could help combat the obesity epidemic....Measures to restrict access, such as not opening [takeout] restaurants near schools, may help...Several local authorities have introduced restrictions on fast-food outlets, around schools or in places where there are already lots of [takeout food]." When buns are a crime, only the criminals will have them.
Oh, yeah, that'll work. It's not like you can binge on carbs at home... Next thing you know, they'll be zoning parking away from buildings and banning lower-level elevators....
(Reason Magazine). re: yesterday's embedded video. "If Cesar [Chavez] were here today, he certainly wouldn't be supporting what's being done now, which is a union trying to impose itself on employees."
Unions, of and by themselves, when they are voluntary in nature, competitive, and do not receive special privileges by the State, are not inherently evil. But in a world of instant communication, where good, productive workers are in demand, bad employers find it hard to recruit and retain talent. Unions are increasingly anachronistic, making it difficult for management to control costs and maintain a viable business model, as in the case of the auto industry. They essentially tax the earnings of fellow workers to maintain their bloated overhead and fund political causes which member may not share and resent being forced to contribute.
(Illinois Policy Institute). Wherever there is innovation, our local and state governments rush to prohibit and harass under the guise of protecting the “public interest."
"Regulation" is typically a stealth anti-competitive weapon; companies, unions and other special-interest groups require force by the State to achieve what they can't win in a free marketplace, in defense of their vested interests in the status quo. Consider, for instance, Chinatown intercity buslines, with its innovative ultra-cheapfare, curb-to-curb (vs. hub) service, which took nearly two-thirds of Greyhound's market share in the Northeast in a decade. Greyhound in part fought back with its own curbside service. But a statistically insignificant couple of sensationalized accidents in 2011 were all that were necessary to set off indignant populist rants from the likes of Senator Schumer, despite the fact that that Chinatown buses have very competitive overall safety records. Nevertheless, the Feds have pursued a discriminatory purge of over 2 dozen bus companies. What we don't see are the costs of regulation; politicians are very fond of telling other people what to do, but they don't have to pay the costs of compliance, never mind the deadweight loss to consumers when innovative companies are harassed out of business.
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| Via We the Individuals |
Political Humor
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| Via Right Wing News |
Yesterday Washington had a big power outage. And I thought: Well, wait a minute, I think the Obama administration has been without power the entire second term. - David Letterman
[Actually, Obama has been in the dark for years now...]
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un won re-election with 100% of the vote. They say that when the absentee ballots are counted the percentage could go even higher. - David Letterman
[Former Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman was an election observer. Kim Jong Un said that he was grateful for his late uncle's absentee vote.]
President Obama has unveiled his budget for 2015. He's referring to it as a road map for creating jobs. And young people said, “A what for creating what? Road map? Job? I've never had either of those things.” - Jimmy Fallon
[But who will build the roads???? This coming from a back-seat driver whom doesn't know his way around DC and won't stop to ask for directions... His GPS edition comes preconfigured with driving directions to your local election precinct and voting instructions.]
After hearing that he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Putin said, "Tell me who the other nominees are — and I will eliminate them." - Conan O'Brien
[Obama responded, "You can only approve kill lists AFTER you win the Nobel Peace Prize..."]
Pope Francis told the press today that the Catholic Church could tolerate same-sex civil unions. You know, I think lately when people say, “Is the Pope Catholic?” they’re actually asking. - Seth Meyers
[But if the Pope chooses to call himself a Catholic, who am I to judge?]
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Jerry Holbert and Townhall |
Del Shannon, "Runaway"
