Q: What's in Your OTBL Wallet
Don't leave Hudson without it.
8/23/2006
Judy, Bill & Bob Resign!!
Special school board meeting tonight at 7:30 PM. This is making its way across town like wildfire...
My questions: Why Bob? Also - Why suddenly? Anything to do with what's coming down the pipe on that police report that was read aloud last night?
Tonight should prove interesting.
8/22/2006
Best Place In The World to Live- Hint: It Aint U.S.
Norway still the world's best place to live:
For the fourth year in a row, the United Nations has ranked Norway as having the highest standard of living in the world. Sweden, Australia and Canada are next in line, while the United States is further down the scale.
Mixed economy
"The Norwegian economy is generally characterized as a mixed economy - a capitalist market economy with a clear component of state influence.""Norway’s economic policy is designed to stabilize and counteract unemployment and inflation, to stimulate growth and to influence the structure of industry and the distribution of income.
In 2002, the rate of unemployment was 3.9% of the workforce."
"Norway is a highly developed, industrial country with an open, export-oriented economy. Listed as one of the richest countries in the world, it has also achieved top-rankings with regard to standard of living, life expectancy, overall health and housing standards."
All public education in Norway is free, up to and including upper secondary level. The standard of teaching and training in schools and workplaces has a significant impact on the development of society. An important goal of Norway’s education policy is therefore to ensure that the Norwegian education system is among the best in the world as regards academic standards and recruitment of teachers.
United States Ranking...... 8th.There's A New Blog In New Richmond
UPDATE: Evidently the blog mentioned in this post has been dismantled. See message below:
A reader forwarded me the link to a new blog in New Richmond. The blog is called billsgottago and the address is http://www.billsgottago.com/.
Being a professional blog reviewer with no hidden agendas or ulterior motives, I can safely say this blog appears to take aim at New Richmond school board member Bill Brennan. The blogs is in its infancy. Check it out.
And now, we interrupt this post for a touching moment with Bill and Judy as they prepare for another school board meeting...
Question: What's The 35th Fastest Growing County In The USA?
Answer:
St. Croix County, Wis., was ranked 35th among the 100 fastest-growing U.S. counties, according to a U.S. Census report released Monday. The ranking was based on the percentage change in housing units from April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005. Housing units in St. Croix County, the only east metro county in the top 100, increased 28 percent during that period for a total of 31,140 in 2005.
Sorry OTBL Luke, your answer of the Willie threat letter was not even close.
The Original Above The Border Line
Once again the OTBL gang only wants you to hear half the truth...
Well it looks as if our little buddy Jack Bauer has enlisted a friend in his personal attack on a member of the community. Marion Shaw, 493 Countryview Rd., Hudson WI requested via a public records request the document which is linked below in the article. Please read the article and then see the rest of the truth at the bottom.
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Douple Dipping?
by Jack Bauer @ 9:08 am
Mike Ballard, the former Principal of the New Richmond Middle School, recently quit this post to become a Principal at an elementary school in River Falls.
On July 13, the New Richmond School Board finally accepted Ballard’s resignation pending his starting the new position in River Falls.
Following a quick review of the contract signed by Mike Ballard on June 29, his start date in River Falls was July 1. We have nothing but best wishes for Mr. Ballard in his new endeavor. However, we do wonder what his last date of pay was New Richmond.
See OTBL link http://www.ontheborderline.net/files/River_Falls_Ballard_Contract_Form.jpg
Since his contractual start date in River Falls was on July 1, we would expect his end date of pay in New Richmond to be June 30. Did the New Richmond School District continue to pay him after June 30? And if so, for how many days? His annual salary in New Richmond was $85,969. Based on 240 workdays per year, this equates to approximately $358.20 per day rate.
It will be interesting to see how many days Ballard may have been paid by both the taxpayers of the New Richmond School District and the River Falls District.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this to determine if this is just yet another example of care-free spending by the New Richmond District with your tax dollars.
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Mr Bauer & Mr. Shaw,
Mr Ballard was asked by Superintendent Vielleux to stay on until the School Board acted on his resignation. Which was scheduled for Thursday, July 13th. The reason for the request was simple: Due to the School Board making several mistakes (which Mr. Bauer you also blamed Mr. Ballard for, incorrectly may I add) it took an additional 3 months to hire a new Assistant Principal.
Transitioning in one new administrator would be hard enough, not to mention two, on top of a new Superintendent. The School District of River Falls allowed Mr Ballard to work until July 10th, with the understanding that he would be using HIS vacation time to do this. So really, as a favor to Morrie Vielleux, Mr Ballard used his personal time to help out the New Richmond School District. Now I think it should also be noted that Mr Ballard also volunteered to use an additional 2 days vacation to help any transition to the new Principal that Mike could help with.
So Jack, I have to Thank you, I read your article and was concerned, did a lot more investigative work than you obviously did and was relieved to know that once again, you and your investigative team had only done half the work necessary to get the whole story out. That my friend seems to be the trend with you and your gang. Sad but true!
Border Line
OTBL Glaciologists Meet on Disko Island
Off the OTBL wire:
Melting glaciers not a recent phenomenon.
Filed under: General --- Chris @ 10:48 pm
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Greenland’s glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, according to a Danish study, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming.
Danish researchers from Aarhus University studied glaciers on Disko island, in western Greenland in the Atlantic, from the end of the 19th century until the present day.
“This study, which covers 247 of 350 glaciers on Disko, is the most comprehensive ever conducted on the movements of Greenland’s glaciers,” glaciologist Jacob Clement Yde, who carried out the study with Niels Tvis Knudsen, told AFP.
8/21/2006
Quench Your Conspiracy Thirst!!!
Have You Seen The Light Of Unalienable Cola?
A current post at ontheborderline.net by Chris the Admin says they have seen the word unalienable many times on the OTBL blog. It exists in the second paragraph of the United States Declaration of Independence.
We are often confronted with extremely serious OTBL quotes like this one currently posted by the OTBL admin Chris:
"But what does it mean? The concept of Man’s rights being unalienable is based solely upon the belief of their Divine origin. Without this belief, there is no moral basis for any claim that they are unalienable or for any claim to the great benefits flowing from this concept. Man has no power to alienate–to dispose of, by surrender, barter or gift any of his God-given rights. This is the meaning of “unalienable.”"
And the OTBL'ers base much of their worldview and ideas of reality from the fictional characters of Ayn Rand's novels who are atheists. I repeat, the words of fictional characters who are atheists.
Of course, our neighbors over at OTBL pick and choose what helps support their philosophy of individual selfishness. Contemplate who the words of Ayn Rand square with the "God-given" quote above:
"They claim that they perceive a mode of being superior to your existence on this earth. The mystics of spirit call it 'another dimension,' which consists of denying dimensions. The mystics of muscle call it 'the future,' which consists of denying the present. To exist is to possess identity. What identity are they able to give to their superior realm? They keep telling you what it is not, but never tell you what it is. All their identifications consist of negating: God is that which no human mind can know, they say—and proceed to demand that you consider it knowledge—God is non-man, heaven is non-earth, soul is non-body, virtue is non-profit, A is non-A, perception is non-sensory, knowledge is non-reason. Their definitions are not acts of defining, but of wiping out."
Ayn Rand,
Atlas Shrugged
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Well of course, Ayn is writing a book of fiction. Surely she's not suggesting there is no God! That she is an atheist!!!
"I am an intransigent atheist, but not a militant one. This means that I am an uncompromising advocate of reason and that I am fighting for reason, not against religion. I must also mention that I do respect religion in its philosophical aspects, in the sense that it represents an early form of philosophy."
Ayn Rand
Letters of Ayn Rand
March 20, 1965
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OTBL admin Chris loves to do these hard hitting posts. He's the no-compromiser who believes there is no middle ground. In fact, in a post has has rerun a couple of times he says this:
"Go along to get along. Find the common ground. The world is not black and white, it is gray. Compromise. Be moderate. We have heard all these phrases before. Well I think a moderate is nothing more than someone who does not understand or is too afraid to stand up for what they believe in. So how do we find middle ground? We can’t."
In the same post, Chris the OTBL admin adds:
"You believe that it is OK for someone to kill their baby anytime before it is born. I believe that this should only occur under extenuating circumstances."
Chris seems to be waffling a bit on the "extenuating circumstances" phrase. It actually shows there's a step toward middle ground.
But alas, as an admitted sheep in Ayn Rand's flock, I truly wonder what Chris would say to his beloved Ayn Rand if she were to come out of the grave and post this on his blog:
"An embryo has no rights. Rights do not pertain to a potential, only to an actual being. A child cannot acquire any rights until it is born. The living take precedence over the not-yet-living (or the unborn).
"Abortion is a moral right—which should be left to the sole discretion of the woman involved; morally, nothing other than her wish in the matter is to be considered. Who can conceivably have the right to dictate to her what disposition she is to make of the functions of her own body?"
Ayn Rand
"Of Living Death"
The Objectivist
October 1968
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The beautiful thing about hypocrisy, is that it allows us the ability to talk out of both sides of our philosophical mouths.
The Milk of Conspiracy:
Following Steven Milloy & Junkscience
Steven Milloy is the junkscience guy. Below are recent examples of his work. His funding comes primarily from corporate America.
'False Alarm' Issued: New Report Examines 35 Years of Food Scares Promoted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest
The soda jerks
PETA: Sacrifice Human Life, Not Animals, in Stem Cell Research
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For a little balance and a discussion on the subject of junkscience, here's an interesting link:
GREENWASH: Perspectives on right-wing and libertarian think-tanks, free-market and common-sense environmentalists, and their corporate sponsors
Quote of the Day
"Whether or not corporations are evading taxes does not really matter. In the end individuals still pay the taxes one way or another. Corporations are not going to cut into their profit to pay for taxes. They just raise the price of whatever they are peddling." -Cato
Cato is right to an extent. American Taxpayers do end up paying for it. But the problem is EVERY taxpayer pays more, and more taxes have to be paid than the corporations would have paid anyway.
For context, See the discussion here
8/20/2006
News You Won't Read @ ontheborderline.net
Hudson enrollment may exceed projections
Meg Heaton
Hudson Star-Observer
Published Thursday, August 17, 2006
While there are still a few weeks before the first day of school, it appears that enrollment in Hudson schools will exceed projections.
Superintendent Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten made the report to the school board. She stressed that the numbers were preliminary and would likely change before the beginning of the school year on Sept. 5. She said the district is not always notified when students move out of the district and doesn’t find out until after school starts.
Read more@ Hudson Star Observer.
Don't Like The Findings Of Actual Scientists Doing Actual Scientific Research?
Hire Steven Milloy
-- FOXNEWS "science" commentator and paid corporate shill
Once again the environmental ostriches over at OTBL are posting the corporate propaganda of their favorite scientist Steven Milloy. It amazes me that he is the only scientist they ever post anything on. Amazingly enough, he gets paid large sums of money from Exxon to do scientific research -- from his home,
Below is an interesting article that discusses some of the reasons Milloy and other "journalists" spout the half-truths that help support the misinformation needed to confuse the public above health and the environment. God forbid we try to tamper with free-market capitalism by working to clear water, fresh air and a sustainable environmental balance.
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PUNDIT FOR HIRE.
Smoked Out
by Paul D. Thacker
n his final column of the year, FoxNews.com science columnist Steven Milloy listed "the top 10 junk science claims of 2005." For number nine, Milloy attacked the research of Michael Mann, a Penn State scientist who, in 1999, published research showing a dramatic rise in global temperatures during the twentieth century, after hundreds of years with little climate change. Calling Mann's science "dubious," Milloy praised Representative Joe Barton of Texas, whose calls for an investigation into Mann's methodology last June were cut short when the scientific community and members of Congress protested it as a witch hunt. Representative Sherwood Boehlert, the chairman of the House Committee on Science, wrote to Barton, "The only conceivable explanation for the investigation is to attempt to intimidate a prominent scientist and to have Congress put its thumbs on the scales of a scientific debate."
Another conceivable explanation for the investigation is that Barton, as chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, is swimming in donations from oil companies. But that probably didn't bother Milloy, because he receives his own sponsorship from ExxonMobil. As revealed in Mother Jones last spring, between 2000 and 2003, ExxonMobil donated $90,000 to two nonprofits Milloy operates out of his house in Potomac, Maryland. Milloy's defense of Barton--and excoriation of Mann--is typical of his corporate-subsidized science reporting, in which he has attacked not only global warming, but also secondhand smoke studies and clean air regulations.
Over the past year, there have been several instances of political columnists shilling for the Bush administration. In January 2005, Tribune Media Services booted Armstrong Williams after discovering he had taken a government contract to write columns favorable to Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. And, in December, Copley News Service dropped Doug Bandow after discovering that he was taking money from Jack Abramoff to write columns favorable to the Republican lobbyist's clients. But the trend in paid-for-punditry seems to have spread to the world of science journalism as well. Earlier this month, BusinessWeek Online reported that, in 1999, Scripps Howard columnist Michael Fumento received $60,000 from Monsanto, one of the biotech companies he later covered in his columns, to help pay his salary at the Hudson Institute and to cover some of the overhead of his book BioEvolution. Fumento had not disclosed the Monsanto money to Scripps Howard.
Read more@ New Republic Online.
More explanation of where the money comes from to fund the propaganda of the likes of Milloy and others:
From Mother Jones:
Climate of Denial by Bill McKibben
As The Wrold Burns by Chris Mooney
Rachel Carson and the Birth of Corporate Junk Science
"...she was vilified as a nature-mystic, a Communist, and a person threatening the world with hunger. Her work was satirized and "scientific articles" were written to counter her claims. It was one of the first examples of "junk-science" being used against science."
Dr. Rachel Carson was a scientist whose book, Silent Spring, became the means by which the American public first found out that pesticides killed other species in addition to "pests." The title of her book indicates what would happen if pesticide use were not regulated: a spring without birds. She wrote eloquently, yet as a scientist—presenting data and extrapolating what would happen if the trends persisted. The pesticide industry tried to halt publication of the book, and after it was published, she was vilified as a nature-mystic, a Communist, and a person threatening the world with hunger. Her work was satirized and "scientific articles" were written to counter her claims. It was one of the first examples of "junk-science" being used against science.
Read more on Rachel Carson and the ban on DDT.
Big Tobacco firms found guilty of conspiracy, racketeering
Gee more government interference with the free-market and laisse-faire capitlaist ability to kill people for a better profit margin. Maybe Big Tobacco should have hired a "scientist" like Steven Milloy to convince the public about the facts on smoking?
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Last Thursday a federal judge found Big Tobacco firms guilty of civil fraud and racketeering, but failed to impose harsh sanctions against the companies in the suit, citing a restrictive appeals court ruling.
U.S. District Judge Gladys E. Kessler said the government's seven-year case against Big Tobacco proved cigarette makers had participated in a decades-long conspiracy to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking for the sake of turning a larger profit. Kessler had harsh words for the tobacco industry in her nearly 1,700 page ruling, but said a federal appeals court ruling on the damages sought by the government "unfortunately" did not allow her to impose multibillion-dollar sanctions against the industry.
Read more@ News Target.com
8/19/2006
Don't Like Court's Verdict? - Get Your Own Judges
Conservative court to hear NSA appeal
CINCINNATI - The Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, rejected by a federal judge, is heading toward an appellate court loaded with the president's own appointees.
See AP Story
Observations By John Kenneth Galbraith
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.
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In all life one should comfort the afflicted, but verily, also, one should afflict the comfortable, and especially when they are comfortably, contentedly, even happily wrong.
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Liberalism is, I think, resurgent. One reason is that more and more people are so painfully aware of the alternative.
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The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
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The conspicuously wealthy turn up urging the character building values of the privation of the poor.
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The salary of the chief executive of a large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
John Kenneth Galbraith
Galbraith, OC, LL.D (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006) was an influential Canadian-American economist of the 20th century. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of US-style 20th century political liberalism and progressive politics. His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the late 1950s and during the 1960s.
Galbraith was a prolific author, producing four dozen books and over a thousand articles on various subjects. His most famous works were perhaps a popular trilogy of books on economics, "American Capitalism" (1952), "The Affluent Society (1958)", and "The New Industrial State" (1967). He taught at Harvard University for many years. Galbraith was also active in politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; and among other roles served as U.S. ambassador to India under Kennedy.
He was one of the few two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, receiving one from President Truman in 1946 and another from President Bill Clinton in 2000. He was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for his contributions to strengthening ties between India and the United States.
8/18/2006
Market Forces Drive up Price of Sun Oil
Scientists meeting at Dick's Bar, in Hudson WI, declared today that the Sun is not running low on fossil fuel and there is no need for it to switch to renewable energy resources. The public responded to the report by saying..."What?????". Despite the news that there is no supply
problem, the price of Sun Oil rose today by $666 per barrel. Reporting record profits this last quarter, Sun Oil representatives claim the rise in price was only the result of uncontrollable market forces.
Things To Do In The St. Croix River Valley
Wayne "The Train" Hancock
at the Dalles House
Saturday night, August 26
St. Croix Falls, WI
In the area for a two-day run at the Minnesota State Fair, Wayne Hancock with be stopping at the Dallas House next Saturday for what is guarantee to be a lively set of honky tonk swing music. Lee's Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis is a regular stop for Hancock three or four times a year on his swings up from Austin, Texas. Hot Telecaster picking and "dog house" base slapping provide the foundation for Hancok's excellent song writing -- some of the best in the bidness.
As one who has made the pilgrimage to Lee's to see Wayne, I can guarantee you won't be disappointed. Whether its the three piece band or the four piece with a table steel guitar, the music will be non-stop, hillbilly swing. These boys are country music road warriors who know how to put on a show night after night. If you can't make the Dalles House show, make sure you catch them at the State Fair.
As Willie sez: "There ain't no flies on them boys!!!"
Read more @Bloodshot Records.
How Do You Spell "Laisse-faire?"
L. Percent growth in corporate profits, 2001 through 2003: 62.2
A. Percent growth in labor compensation, 2001 through 2003: 2.8
I. Growth in private wage and salary income (total labor compensation, including health care and pension benefits), 2001 through 2003: -0.6
S. Percentage of Americans living below the poverty level who voted in the 2000 presidential election: 38
S. Percentage of Americans living at twice the poverty level who voted: 68
E. Percentage of average public university tuition covered by a maximum Pell Grant award in 1976: 84
Percentage of average public university tuition covered by a maximum Pell Grant award in 2003: 39
F. A student from a family in the top 25 percent of income with standardized test scores in the lowest 25 percent was as likely to be enrolled in college as a student from a family in the lowest 25 percent of income earners with scores in the top 25 percent.
A. Percent of students from families in the top 25 percent of income who graduate with a four-year degree within five years of entering college: 40
I. Percent of students from families in the lowest quarter of income who graduate within five years: 6
R. Median weekly wage of full-time workers in 2003: $620 ($32,240 annually). Percent increase from 2002: 2
E. Median annual compensation for CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in 2003: $4.6 million. Percent increase from 2002: 27
Borderline Bar Jokes
1. A dyslexic OTBL’er walks into a bra.
2. An OTBL’er walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says:
"A beer please, and one for the road."
3. Two OTBL’ers are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"
4. An invisible OTBL man marries an invisible OTBL woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.
5. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.
6. The OTBL’er went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but couldn't find any.
7. An OTBL’er woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!" The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"
8. An OTBL’er went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.
9. Two OTBL’ers sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.
10. A group of OTBL chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."
666. A OTBL woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."
30 Million Dead, 40 Million Infected..
..and 40 million new infections in the next five years.
Thanks to a personality problem in the World Health Organizaton and the ignorance of Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton on the real scope of the problem, HIV/AIDS has gone from an epidemic to a pandemic with no end in sight.
Amazingly, it took 80's rockstar Bono's influence on none other than Jesse Helms to convince Rice and Bush that the world needed help. In the early years of Bush's Presidency he dedicated 15 billion dollars, much of it to Africa, to pay for medication that has, on average, extended the life of victims an additional 8 years.
That fund will dry up in early 2008, leaving many African's (and other developing countries) unable to afford the cost of the pricely Triple Cocktail. It should be noted that 95% of new infections are in developing countries.
Question: What should the United States' roll be in the world regarding this issue?
Friday Fun: Capitalist Trivia
From 1950-2000 Corporations averaged 17 percent of the total tax contribution to the government.
Now, it is about 7 percent. I'll give everyone until Monday to come up with the number one reason why this is down...with the biggest example in the last decade.
No asking OTBL members! That's cheating.
8/17/2006
He's Frustrated...But Still Workin" Hard
New York Times, Aug. 15 — President Bush made clear in a private meeting this week that he was concerned about the lack of progress in Iraq and frustrated that the new Iraqi government — and the Iraqi people — had not shown greater public support for the American mission, participants in the meeting said Tuesday.
“I sensed a frustration with the lack of progress on the bigger picture of Iraq generally — that we continue to lose a lot of lives, it continues to sap our budget,” said one person who attended the meeting. “The president wants the people in Iraq to get more on board to bring success.”
The president expressed frustration that Iraqis had not come to appreciate the sacrifices the United States had made in Iraq, and was puzzled as to how a recent anti-American rally in support of Hezbollah in Baghdad could draw such a large crowd. “I do think he was frustrated about why 10,000 Shiites would go into the streets and demonstrate against the United States,” said another person who attended.
Round 2: Name that Anarchist!
As winner of the last round I find it my duty, and personal honor, to sponsor round 2. Hint: Some may call him NUMBER 1.
Time to Play: Name that Anarchist!
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It's the overnight game sensation that's sweeping the blogshpere.
Play as often as you like.
Can you: NAME THAT ANARCHIST?
Candidate Paul R. Nelson: airport security should look for turbaned men named Mohammed
Hey! He didn't call them "ragheads!"
by Jeff Petersen, WIXK
A Republican running in Wisconsin's Third Congressional District advocates racial profiling as a "no nonsense" security measure.
Paul R. Nelson suggests Muslim males ought to be singled out, by airport security. "Racial profiling is one way that we can cut down on security risks," said Nelson. Asked how to tell what a Muslim male looks like, Nelson said "well, you know, if he comes in wearing a turban and his name is Mohammed, that's a good start."
Nelson, of Woodville, is challenging incumbent Democrat Ron Kind of La Crosse in the western Wisconsin district.
Hear the audio@ Wisconsin Radio Network.
8/16/2006
The unmourned end of libertarian politics
by Michael Lind,
Senior fellow
New America Foundation
The most epochal event in world politics since the cold war has occurred – and few people have noticed. I am not referring to the conflict in Iraq or Lebanon or the campaign against terrorism.
It is the utter and final defeat of the movement that has shaped the politics of the US and other western democracies for several decades: the libertarian counter-revolution.
Between the 1930s and 1960s, the US and other liberal democracies adopted their own versions of modern welfare state capitalism. By the mid-20th century, in every western democracy, the legitimacy of the welfare state was accepted by mainstream parties of the right as well as the centre and left. But not by the libertarians. Unlike Eisenhower, Nixon and other “modern Republicans”, America’s libertarians did not seek a more fiscally responsible welfare state. They wanted to abolish the welfare state altogether and replace it with an “opportunity society” or “ownership society”. They were revolutionaries – or more precisely, counter-revolutionaries, seeking to restore an idealised Victorian world of laisser faire capitalism.
Read more@ The Financial Times.
8/15/2006
Ask Ayn Randers
Dear Ayn,
What will the face of the new police chief look like when being asked what he has done about the Devin Willi threat letter and the June 14 2005 school board meeting fiasco?
Dear N.,
Like This!!
Any Answers?
I found this interesting picture/question currently posted on OTBL:
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Below is post done on this blog back in February of this year. From what I've read about the war in Iraq, the dead and wounded are coming from red and blue states.
Meet The "Marlboro Man"
The photograph hit the world on Nov. 10, 2004: a close-cropped shot of a U.S. Marine in Iraq, his face smeared with blood and dirt, a cigarette dangling from his lips, smoke curling across weary eyes.
BATTLE SCARS: The photo of the ‘Marlboro Man’ in Fallujah became a symbol of the Iraq conflict when it ran in newspapers across America in 2004. Now the soldier has returned home to Kentucky,where he battles the demons of post-traumatic stress...
Read the whole story:
San Francisco Chronicle
There's Another Blog In Hudson
Someone drenced in the Hudson political scene who's office is at an exclusive address paid for by taxpayers told me there is a new blog in Hudson. This person said the Mayor made mention of the blog at a recent city council meeting. The blog is titled "Life and Politics in Hudson WI and appears to let viewers participate freely in the discussion, debate and observations -- unlike the ontheborderline.net blog eminating from the Hudson sewer district.
Check in out: www.hudsonwisconsin.blogspot.com
OTBL's Answer to Dissenting Opinions....
HAHA - Wow, They actually did it. They deleted me. *sigh* That just made my day.
OTBL Celebrates Discrimination
It should come as no surprise to us that our favorite masked friends are celebrating our thumbs up to racial, religious, or ethnic profiling but nonetheless I was sick to my stomach this morning to see this post.
Like I posted on OTBL (We'll see if they approve it).... I am more scared of what's brooding in Heartland America than I am of your average Muslim...
EDIT: My mistake, this isn't in The US. (Thank you Cato for pointing that out) Regardless of where this is happening, the fact that its being celebrated is wrong.... The fact that my siblings are growing up in a town with people that celebrate this kind of thing scares the hell out of me.
8/14/2006
8/13/2006
Get Government Off My Back
A veteran returning from Korea went to college on the GI Bill, bought his house with an FHA loan and saw his kids born in a VA hospital. His family got their electricity from the TVA, and a little later their water came from an EPA project.
Meanwhile, his parents retired to a farm on social security, got electricity from the Rural Electrification Agency and soil testing from USDA. When his father had been laid off and his mother became ill a few years back, the family had been saved from financial ruin by Medicare. Another life in his family was saved with a drug developed by NIH.
His children participated in the school lunch program, learned physics from teachers trained in a National Science Foundation program and went through college with guaranteed student loans. He drove to work on the Interstate and moored his boat in a channel dredged by Army engineers. When floods hit, he took Amtrak to Washington, D.C. to apply for disaster relief, then spent a little time visiting the Smithsonian Institution.
When he returned home, he wrote a letter to his representative in Congress demanding that the government get off his back and stop raising his taxes to pay for all of those government handouts created for ungrateful people.
Originator unknown. Offered by Saul Schniderman
Read more@ Big Labor.com.
Technology In Schools: Gadgets v. Graduates
“Technology has a huge role in being a 21st century collaborator. You can’t be an effective communicator and not use technology to communicate. There isn’t a skill or content area that doesn’t have a significant technology attached to it.”
Ken Kay
President
Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
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Here's an interesting article discussing technology in school v. students. We were having a discussion here a few weeks back about this and this article -- printed in the American School Board Journal -- provides additional perspective.
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A Tool For Reform
by Kathleen Vail
American School Board Journal
July 2006
Educators, after focusing on lower grades following passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, are now facing a new wave of reform centered around the nation’s high schools. Alarmingly high dropout rates, particularly among minority students attending mammoth urban comprehensive high schools, are prompting the push to break down larger schools into small learning communities. Fueled both by private funders, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and by federal grants, small learning communities are inspiring other changes, summed up in three words: rigor, relevance, and relationships.
Technology is inextricably tied to this reform, and not just because of Gates’ presence in the arena. To truly transform high schools, reform proponents say, technology is key. Not so much the hardware and software itself, but what the technology allows teachers and students to accomplish.
Read more!
A Biblical View of Economics:
What's In The Soul Of Your Moral Wallet?
I was doing some research on economic theory regarding laissez-faire capitalism and its social impacts and came across this interesting overview by Kirby Anderson. The author points out some interesting comparison between Christian morals and the economic theories of capitalism.
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Capitalism: Moral Critiques
One of the first moral arguments against capitalism involves the issue of greed. And this is why many Christians feel ambivalent towards the free enterprise system. After all, some critics of capitalism contend that this economic system makes people greedy.
To answer this question we need to resolve the following question. Does capitalism make people greedy or do we already have greedy people who use the economic freedom of the capitalistic system to achieve their ends? In light of the biblical description of human nature, the latter seems more likely.
Because people are sinful and selfish, some are going to use the capitalist system to feed their greed. But that is not so much a criticism of capitalism as it is a realization of the human condition. The goal of capitalism is not to change people but to protect us from human sinfulness.
Capitalism is a system in which bad people can do the least harm, and good people have the freedom to do good works. Capitalism works well if you have completely moral individuals. But it also functions adequately when you have selfish and greedy people.
Read complete article.
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