"At stake: Teaching vs. teachers unions"

Leonard Pitts writes the best column I have read on the problem of teaching in this country. I am not familiar with Mr. Pitts, but will become so with this display of wisdom on a critical problem in our society

RATIONALITY

Neil Reynolds in a Globe and Mail column explains the facts presented in The American Scholar Magazine this summer by Professor Robert Laughlin, a physicist at Stanford.

Calm and factual, which is what we need! Please read if you are concerned about global warming.

It reminds me of an exercise I did a few years ago that relieved my concern. It is not scientific, but I think adds a little wisdom to the discussion.

The world population is 6 billion. I thought that is a lot of people, no doubt, and it will be double that in not that many years, so maybe there is need for concern.

To effect the climate of the earth these 6 billion - heading for 12 billion - must have a significant impact, so I could get a feel for this by calculating how much of the surface of the earth man touches directly - 6 or 12 billion is a BIG number!

So I said let's allow 1 square yard - 3' x 3' - for each person, and have them stand shoulder to shoulder just to see the physical size of this "direct human footprint" on the earth.

The result: the entire population of the earth would fit in 1/2 of San Diego County, California, where this is being written. When it doubles to 12 billion, they will still all comfortably fit in the county!

Think what a small area this is in relation to the earths entire surface!

I know, this is not our entire "footprint", but let's assume each person effects the atmosphere 100 times his "personal footprint". Correlating with area this would still fit inside the four Southwestern states - California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

Still a minute part of the earths surface, and I find it difficult to believe we could have any effect on climate with all of the other forces in the universe.

Food for thought!

Are We a Nation of Laws #2?

David Limbaugh explains how BHO and his Administration evidently don't believe so:


"Remember the popular motto 'What would Jesus do?' which was invoked by many Christians as a moral guidepost for daily living? President Barack Obama more likely adheres to 'What would Saul Alinsky do?' as most recently evidenced by his apparent defiance of a federal court order on his moratorium on offshore drilling. Politico reports that the drilling companies who secured the court order blocking the moratorium say the administration indeed is going to defy the court order. I'm quite sure that Alinsky would applaud this move: If at first you don't succeed through proper legal channels, proceed anyway, because nothing is more important than the radical ends you seek, including the means that must be trampled in the process. Of course, shrewd Alinskyites like Obama will always have a plausible excuse for their deceitful tactics. In this case, they are alleging newly discovered facts. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he intends to reimpose the drilling moratorium based on information that wasn't 'fully developed' in May, when the six-month moratorium was imposed. Quite convenient." --columnist David Limbaugh


You BHO supporters should be careful: you may get what you wish for!

H/T: The Patriot Post Brief

Are We a Nation of Laws #1?

Thomas Sowell is questioning our Governments actions - rightfully so in my opinion!


"[O]ur government is supposed to be 'a government of laws and not of men.' If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion -- or $50 billion or $100 billion -- then so be it. But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without 'due process of law.' Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference. With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution. If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government." --economist Thomas Sowell


H/T: The Patriot Post Brief

Wisdom

The Foundation

"There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness." --George Washington


We should listen to our founders!

H/T: Patriot Post "Brief - 5/24/2010"

HEALTHFARE Food for Thought

"Let me get this straight. Obama's health care plan was written by a committee whose Chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress which didn't read it, signed by a President who smokes, funded by a Treasury Chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by a country that is nearly broke.

What could possibly go wrong?"

(From an email I received this AM)

Food for Thought

"Insight

"The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits." --Greek historian Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.)

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." --physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

"Vote: The instrument and symbol of a free man's power to make a fool of himself and a wreck of his country." --American author Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

"I guess truth can hurt you worse in an election than about anything that can happen to you." --American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)"

H/T: Patriot Post Chronicle - November 4, 2009

A couple of thought provoking articles.

John Cassidy writes an interesting economical analysis of the 2008/2009 recession in the New Yorker - "Rational Irrationality" - I like the title! He has an interesting point, but one I would have a few questions for him to resolve. Let me know if you agree with him!

Thomas Edsall writes "Rich Dem, Poor Dem" for The New Republic, pointing out potential problems for BHO strategy to date of "class warfare". He thinks it may lead to major problems. Important for all Dems out there to read and contemplate for their parties future.

Enjoy!

INDOCTRINATION

The link below is one story of what many of our "teachers" are doing to our children with the aid of the Department of Education. This should NOT be happening!


http://smartgirlnation.com/2009/09/the-president-speaks-to-our-children-information-or-indoctrination/

HOPE AND CHANGE!

Is this what you voted for? CBS News.com post an article pointing out that BHO will increase welfare payments in ONE YEAR - 2010 - by more than W spent on the entire Iraq war! Read the entire article here.

Read that paragraph again: welfare will increas more in 2010 than the entire cost of the Iraq war under W!

This is the key paragraph:


"According to his White House budget proposal, President Barack Obama will increase annual federal welfare spending by one-third, from $522.4 billion to $697 billion in his first fiscal year. Adjusted for inflation, the combined two-year increase of $263 billion is greater than any increase in welfare spending in history."


I hope the country, and particularly the supporters of this administration, wake up before our country is devastated. Would anyone like to defend this spending?

Will a "moral vacuum" be our downfall?

An interesting article on a Church of England Bishop's analysis of British society today.

Could this happen to us?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

"The Democratic Party has become the Lawyers' Party. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are lawyers. Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama are lawyers. John Edwards, the other former Democrat candidate for president, is a lawyer and so is his wife Elizabeth. Every Democrat nominee since 1984 went to law school (although Gore did not graduate.) Every Democrat vice presidential nominee since 1976, except for Lloyd Benson, went to law school. Look at the Democrat Party in Congress: the Majority Leader in each house is a lawyer."

"The Republican Party is different. President Bush and Vice President Cheney were not lawyers, but businessmen. The leaders of the Republican Revolution were not lawyers. Newt Gingrich was a history professor; Tom Delay was an exterminator; and Dick Armey was an economist. House Minority Leader Boehner was a plastic manufacturer, not a lawyer. The former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon."

Interesting!

HT: http://www.rightwingsparkle.blogspot.com/