George is one bright fellow… and he is precisely correct.
Near the end of this presentation George asks the following:
“If you accept the premise that government schooling exists primarily for the benefit of the child, rather than the benefit of the state, then it seems rather peculiar that attendance has to be compulsory. That is, if you offer a “free” good or service economics demonstrates that you would have far more demand for it than the supply could meet. This is why we have a price mechanism, to balance supply with demand – at a particular price. But if there is no price, demand ought to be unlimited. So, again, why are children forced to go? So, on its face it makes no sense to have a free service but yet have to force people to consume it. The answer to this paradox is that the government school system does not exist for the benefit of the children, it exists for the benefit of the state. In which case it makes perfect sense that you have to force children to go.”
Brilliant..
For some great historical perspective:
http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/excursions/critics-state-education-part-1-joseph-priestley
http://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/critics-state-education-part-2-british-voluntaryists
Gun Debate
By ·
Stupidville, OH
By ·
I stumbled across the steubenvillefiles, and it’s horrific and sickening if true. Justice must prevail here.
This is not what high school kids “do.”
If true, this is obscene and destructive behavior that, apparently, some high school students who attended a government school engaged in. It’s sick, and is a reflection of not only their character but that of an environment in which they were raised that did not inculcate any shred of individual rights, morality, or even plain decency.
If true, all I can say is shame. Shame, shame, shame.
In the most important section of his book, Chapter One, “Blessings of a Rational Theology,” he claims that medieval “theologians placed far greater faith in reason than most philosophers are willing to do today.” It was Christian attempts to understand the nature of God that set “the precedent for a theology of deduction and inference. . . . ” The basis of Western commitment to reason was set because “from very early days Christian theologians have assumed that the application of reason can yield an increasingly accurate understanding of God’s will.”26
To understand the profound error committed here, and to grasp the actual nature of reason, one must refer to the basics of philosophy.
Herein lies the root cause of the tragedy that was the Middle Ages–and of Stark’s fundamental error in ascribing to Christian theology the West’s commitment to rational thought. Reason is an observation-based methodology. It does not begin with beliefs already accepted on prejudicial grounds, and then proceed to “prove” their truth. Whether studying man, the inner workings of his mind, germs, rocks, insects, atoms, the far reaches of intergalactic space, or anything else, reason proceeds from sensory observation by a method of logical thought embodying Aristotle’s famed Law of Non-Contradiction: No existent can be both x and non-x at the same time and in the same respect.
But there is, and can be, no sensory experience of a dimension beyond this one. More to the point, there is no evidence upon which to establish that the existence and activities of material bodies are wrought by an immaterial cause. (How could spirit or consciousness exist without bodily means, e.g., sense organs, nervous system, brain? How could such a non-bodily ghost create, control, or remotely impact bodily beings?) Theologians, and religionists in general, start with a fantasy premise and then proceed to apply rigorous formal logic to tease out its implications. Stark himself points out that “theology consists of formal reasoning about God.” This is admirably exact. Theologians, beginning with a wished-for creation of their own minds, analyze that creation’s characteristics by rigorous application of the principles of formal–that is, deductive–logic.
The balance of Andrew Bernstein’s stellar critique is here
Bottom line, religion IS the problem and NEVER a solution.
The Fix or The Cause
By ·Listening to some of the talk radio blatherers the last few days, I’m hearing a ton about how we need to treat the evil perpetrators of mass shootings. Some say, we need to screen for psychotic disorders before getting a fire arm. We need more money for the psychologists, psychiatrists, and doctors. All the programs are under-funded. Maybe. However, maybe it’s because those people actually did go and get psychological help in the first place that caused them to do what they did. Read the recent cases below and you tell me what the common thread is here.
1. Huntsville, Alabama — February 5, 2010: 15-year-old Hammad Memon shot and killed another Discover Middle School student Todd Brown. Memon had a history for being treated for ADHD and depression. He was taking the antidepressant Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.” He had been seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist.
2. Kauhajoki, Finland — September 23, 2008: 22-year-old culinary student Matti Saari shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine. He was also seeing a psychologist.
3. Dekalb, Illinois — February 14, 2008: 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amount of Xanax in his system. He had been seeing a psychiatrist.
4. Jokela, Finland — November 7, 2007: 18-year-old Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School in southern Finland, then committed suicide.
5. Cleveland, Ohio — October 10, 2007: 14-year-old Asa Coon stormed through his school with a gun in each hand, shooting and wounding four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon had been placed on the antidepressant Trazodone.
6. Red Lake, Minnesota — March 2005: 16-year-old Jeff Weise, on Prozac, shot and killed his grandparents, then went to his school on the Red Lake Indian Reservation where he shot dead 7 students and a teacher, and wounded 7 before killing himself.
7. Greenbush, New York — February 2004: 16-year-old Jon Romano strolled into his high school in east Greenbush and opened fire with a shotgun. Special education teacher Michael Bennett was hit in the leg. Romano had been taking “medication for depression”. He had previously seen a psychiatrist.
8. Wahluke, Washington — April 10, 2001: Sixteen-year-old Cory Baadsgaard took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates and a teacher hostage. He had been taking the antidepressant Effexor.
9. El Cajon, California — March 22, 2001: 18-year-old Jason Hoffman, on the antidepressants Celexa and Effexor, opened fire on his classmates, wounding three students and two teachers at Granite Hills High School. He had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.
10. Williamsport, Pennsylvania — March 7, 2001: 14-year-old Elizabeth Bush was taking the antidepressant Prozac when she shot at fellow students, wounding one.
11. Conyers, Georgia — May 20, 1999: 15-year-old T.J. Solomon was being treated with the stimulant Ritalin when he opened fire on and wounded six of his classmates.
12. Columbine, Colorado — April 20, 1999: 18-year-old Eric Harris and his accomplice, Dylan Klebold, killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded 26 others before killing themselves. Harris was on the antidepressant Luvox. Klebold’s medical records remain sealed. Both shooters had been in anger-management classes and had undergone counseling. Harris had been seeing a psychiatrist before the shooting.
13. Notus, Idaho — April 16, 1999: 15-year-old Shawn Cooper fired two shotgun rounds in his school, narrowly missing students. He was taking a prescribed SSRI antidepressant and Ritalin.
14. Springfield, Oregon — May 21, 1998: 15-year-old Kip Kinkel murdered his parents and then proceeded to school where he opened fire on students in the cafeteria, killing two and wounding 25. Kinkel had been taking the antidepressant Prozac. Kinkel had been attending “anger control classes” and was under the care of a psychologist.
Why is the media failing to bring up this point?
FEMA and local officials hold a Town Hall Meeting which quickly erupts with angry Staten Island residents voicing their frustration at the lack of response to Hurricane Sandy.
Residents are sleeping in their cars while their kids are bunking out elsewhere. No homes, no electricity, no sewer/water, no food, no clothing, no Christmas. That’s FEMA for ‘ya. It’s the government. Don’t expect efficiency. Don’t expect help. Expect millions of dollars to be spent on government FEMA jobs supporting thousands of government workers who serve no purpose other than to shuffle papers in an attempt to justify their existence.
And then there’s I-Promise-To-Cut-The-Red-Tape-Obama. Remember when Katrina happened and within a week the Main Stream Idiots blasted Bush for FEMA’s inefficiency? Well, where are the screaming voices of the MSI today? SILENT! Wouldn’t want to call Obama and his FEMA employees bungling morons, now would we? And where on earth are the Sean Penns and the Hollywood elites who held telethons like they did for Katrina and Haiti? Nowhere to be found. And don’t look for a visit from the Messiah. He will be jetting to Hawaii for 3 weeks for a luxurious vacation with his family, which will cost the taxpayer around 4 million dollars. It’s just another coin added to the 16 trillion dollar deficit.
Here are my thoughts on what may be going on here. I know it’d be easy to look at these people and ask the logical question, How Many Of You Voted For The Screwball In The Whitehouse, Not Once, But Twice? And the logical reaction is that elections have consequences, and they are getting what they voted for, so no empathy here. But if you fact check just a little you will find that some of the boroughs where these newly homeless people live are typically Red, not Blue. That means they tend to vote Republican. Could that be why Obama and his FEMA workers have ignored them? No Dem voters, so why bother?
Or maybe it’s this fact. When you watch this video you will notice the white skin color of most of the people. I suggest that maybe they aren’t black enough to warrant government help. Or how about this idea? Maybe they are too middle class, they’re not poor enough, like the Katrina and Haiti victims. If that’s the case, then I would suggest that they paint their faces black, go back to FEMA and claim racism. That word always gets a reaction.
Or maybe it’s the simple fact that the government cannot efficiently run a popcorn stand, much less an emergency response department. Imagine what we are in for with Obamacare.
In my opinion I’d like to see FEMA abolished and their budget used to reduce the federal debt. Â Leave the rehab to social organizations, communities helping communities, and neighbor helping neighbor or anyone who knows what they are doing. Â Not the Government.
Watch the entire video. Â The last speaker isn’t a happy camper, literally camping in his car.
Bill Whittle makes a great speech and says it very clearly here…..
Rise Above..
By ·h/t to Dr. Danielson!
The Last Republican
By ·With the size of the Government and Government entitlements growing faster than my waistline during the Holidays we might have seen our last Republican President for some time. If you start to add the individuals on Social Security, Welfare, Disability, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment, to the number of Government employees active and retired ( it’s a physical impossibility to differentiate between the two) and all the jobs dependent on big government, you arrive at a large number of individuals who will always vote for big Government. I’m not saying it’s good, I’m not saying it’s bad, it is what it is.
So when Mr. Romney was caught on tape with the now infamous “47%” remark, he was right on target. Again, I’m not taking sides; I just want to point out that it would behoove the people benefitting from large Government, to vote for large Government. So what was the big uproar about Romney stating that the infamous “47″ will vote Democratic? They will, they did and that’s the name of that tune.
With the national debt growing every day and growing more in the past four years than all others combined, America is a freight train racing out of control to the station. Who’s at the wheel when she hits the wall will only be a footnote in history. Borrowing one from Obama, I like to blame our parents and Grandparents. They spent out of control knowing they would never live to see the day of reckoning.
With huge Government expansion comes large tax increases and colossal debt but it also lends job security to the Democrats. America’s population is around 300 million; 136 million (45%) receive some kind of Government benefits. Throw away your picks and shovels everybody, we are in the promise land, Mr. Obama is going to save us all.
Again, this video simply reinforces what we ought to know plainly. Yet, we have House Republicans caving as I type on tax increases for the so-called rich. And then earlier today we had CNBC trotting out the limo lib of all limo libs, Warren Buffett, opining on why tax rates ought to be higher for some Americans. Such nonsense merely to sustain spending, with nary a whisper regarding outlays.
Adapted from Ayn Rand’s 1947 pamphlet of the same name.
Politics is not a separate field in itself. Political ideas do not come out of thin air. They are the result of the moral premises which men have accepted. Whatever people believe to be the good, right and proper human actions-that will determine their political opinions. If men believe that every independent action is vicious, they will vote for every measure to control human beings and to suppress human freedom. If men believe that the American system is unjust, they will support those who wish to destroy it.
Few people would take socialism straight. But a constant stream of hints, lines, touches, and suggestions, from both sides of the isle, battering the public from election to election will act like the drops of water that split a rock if continued long enough. The rock they are trying to split is Americanism.
There can be no “group insurance” in the field of ideas. Each man has to do his own thinking. We merely offer the following list to the independent judgement and for the voluntary action of every honest man and woman in America.
1. Don’t take politics lightly.
2. Don’t smear the free enterprise system by attacking individual rights individual freedom, private action, private initiative, and private property – these things are essential parts of the Free Enterprise System, without which it cannot exist.
3. Don’t smear businessmen and women.
4. Don’t smear wealth; only savages and Communists get rich by force-that is, by looting the property of others.
5. Don’t smear the profit motive – if you denounce the profit motive, what is it that you wish men to do? Work without reward, like slaves, for the benefit of the State?
6. Don’t smear success.
7. Don’t glorify failure.
8. Don’t glorify depravity.
9. Don’t deify “the common man.” America is the land of the uncommon man. It is the land where man is free to develop his genius-and to get its just rewards.
10. Don’t gloriy the collective.
11. Don’t smear an independent man.
12. Don’t use current events carelessly.
13. Don’t smear political institutions – if you discredit the Congress of the United States by presenting it as an ineffectual body, devoted to mere talk, you imply that representative government is no good, and what we ought to have is a dictator.
Conclusion
Advocate the political principles of Americanism, seriously, consistently and dramatically. Freedom of speech does not imply that it is our duty to sit silently and provide the knife for the murderer who wants to cut our throat.
. . . for it is there you will find your future, if you want one.
And the key for the future of the GOP, IMHO, is to drop the social issues as a principal means to their political ends. It will be difficult, but it is critical. The party is simply on the wrong side of time by clinging overtly to deeply divisive issues such as an abortion litmus test (all too often manifesting as militantly pro-life), anti-gay marriage, and overt religiosity. If they continue down those premises it will go worse for them as time goes along. Those are the actual core reasons why the GOP has lost ground..
This isn’t to suggest they should do a 180 and take the opposite by becoming overtly pro-abortion, pro gay marraige, and reject religion. But there is a third way, and I see it as the only way. There are core themes that can draw together libertarians, Christian conservatives, free thinkers, and economically astute social liberals. Chief among them are: lowered taxes, limited (efficient) government, market premised economics (a separation of economics and state), less regulation, and an overt support of individual rights and personal freedom. In short, the idea ought to be: whatever your moral premise may be, whatever your religion (or not), there are things we all can and should agree upon so that we are free to exercise our individual religious freedoms and personal preferences in a country that is prosperous while respecting and promoting the rule of law. We need to renew the principle of the government as logically subordinated to the individual – it now vice versa, supported all too often by the GOP, and is the operating premise of the Left. If the GOP were to go down that path, I guarantee you it would win a lot of elections down the road. It is, essentially, an end run around the Left whose premise is ideologically based upon subordinating the individual TO the state. The new GOP would remove the Left’s makeup and reveal them for what they really are: controlling and vindictive.
The GOP would first and foremost win minds, and then hearts.
When the Whigs, Free Soilers, and Abolitionists emerged from Ripon they had various individual beliefs and positions, but they all agreed that that free men on free soil comprised a morally and economically superior system to slavery. The GOP of today would be well advised to wrap their arms around that simple idea and portray what the left has inculcated as policy (taxation, regulations, educational monopolies, controlled economics) as slavery. The GOP, of all parties, should be the champions of individual rights – not the bedroom window peaking party they are perceived as and portrayed as by the left and much of the center in America today.
Lincoln left the Whig party principally because of the slavery issue, and was a man without a party until the GOP emerged with a single minded purpose. When they lost their political power to Roosevelt’s new deal, it was eerily similar to what we’re living through now. Of course, the inception of the GOP was heavily influenced by the Free Soiler movement and anti-slavery, but it also advocated for a modernized economy. Well, that sounds like individual rights and free market capitalism to me today! The GOP would be well advised to look deep into their own history and see that free men and free minds were really at the core of its initial appeal, and could be again provided they stop proselytizing and started thinking in terms of individual rights as envisioned by crazy lunatics such as Thomas Jefferson ;> (who, sadly, could not even be welcomed into, let alone a nominee of, the GOP of today – he wasn’t an evangelical Christian, he was a free thinker).
You’ll find that around the 12:00 mark, and a whole lot more including the best darn discussion of Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry to date.
All from none other than that rotund revolutionary Penn Jillette!
Seriously, dude’s got it pretty well figured out..
Boehner’s Boner
By ·Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus sounds as sick as having to listen to David Axelrod orgasm about Obama. Even Shepard Smith has heard enough. So “FISCAL CONSERVATIVE’s” again will have to rely on David Boehner. Oh boy, I’m so excited that David’s giving me a bo*er. The real boner here is keeping Boehner as head of the majority party in the house.
Let’s hope the trend continues. These Republicans deserved to lose. Views such as these have no place in civilized society.
Oh, and although I do not believe in divine intervention (divine anything for that matter) the Onion did strike a chord in this piece.. If I didn’t know better, I would say God reads The Onion!