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“[State controlled] education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.” – Joseph Stalin

"[I]f you serve a child a rotten hamburger in America, federal, state, and local agencies will investigate you, summon you, close you down, whatever.  But if you provide a child with a rotten education, nothing happens, except that you're liable to be given more money to do it with."

--Ronald Reagan

“Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924)

 

“Creating false distinctions between human rights and property rights plays into the hands of Democrat and Republican party socialists who seek to control our lives.  If we buy into the notion that somehow property rights are less important, or are in conflict with, human or civil rights, we give the socialists a freer hand to attack our property."

--Walter Williams

Doctoring The Truth           by Theresa Fritz Camoriano

1.       Education spending in Kentucky – Not Last and Not Least:          Do you have the impression that Kentucky spends the least amount of money educating its students of all the states in the United States?  If so, that is not surprising, given recent C-J stories.  However, if you read those stories carefully, you will find that Kentucky spends about $7,400 per student, which ranks it 29^th in the nation in per student spending, roughly in the middle.  Interestingly, instead of focusing on the amount spent per student,  which is the number that really matters, the C-J has repeatedly highlighted statistics that make it appear that Kentucky ranks last in education spending, such as, “Kentucky ranks last in the nation in two categories of education spending -- the amount spent per capita and the amount spent as a share of personal income”.  In a state with an aging population, where the number of students relative to the total population is low, these statistics should not be surprising.  Kentucky might also have the lowest ratio of dollars spent on education relative to the number of cow flops, or relative to the number of stalactites in its caves, but who cares?!! Those numbers don’t matter.  Don’t allow yourself or your friends to be duped by these sneaky lobbyists who call themselves “journalists”.  They have an agenda, and they intend to pursue it, even if they have to try to mislead you in the process.                 (click to read more)
 

An education game Kentucky’s children can’t win           By Richard Innes

This year we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Monopoly, the popular Parker Brothers’ board game. Unfortunately, a new unwinnable edition designed by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) is being produced in Frankfort.

For the second straight year, the department arbitrarily changed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reporting requirements for schools. These changes ensure that Kentucky’s parents will not be able to draw a “Chance” card for better educational opportunities for their children. Such maneuvering began right after the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was enacted in 2002.                 (click to read more)

Definitions Lend Clarity           By Gordon F. Corbett

    Definitions can render seemingly impenetrable subjects breathtakingly clear.  When definitions are not used, a topic's seeming fuzziness can promote confusion.

    Here is an example.  Many self-described "conservative" reporters slavishly praise President George W. Bush and hail his work as "conservative.".  Unfortunately, they seldom define "conservative";  still more rarely do they show why this word describes our president's actions.                 (click to read more)

FDR PROPOSED PRIVATE ACCOUNTS          By Rod D. Martin

To hear today’s Democrats talk, Franklin Roosevelt would be spinning in his grave if he heard today’s debate about Social Security private accounts.   

They’re only half right.  He’d be spinning if he heard today’s Democrats.                (click to read more)

Less is Good, Nothing is Better: How the State Can Improve British Education           by Sean Gabb 

Even before Mike Tomlinson reported on examination reform, everyone agreed, and competed at agreeing, that British state education was a mess. Schools all over the country are turning out generations of innumerate, semi-literate proles. They have become places notable for bullying, truancy in its various shades, drugs, unwise sex, the occasional murder, and a pervasive contempt for achievement. Yes, there are those whose job it is to disagree with this proposition. Naturally enough, there are the teachers and educational bureaucrats; and there are the relevant Ministers, who every summer put their names on news releases lauding the latest set of examination results. But everyone knows they are talking nonsense. If examination results were an indicator of excellence, we should be living in a nation of Shakespeares and Newtons. In fact, grade inflation and a continuous debasement of the whole examinations system have made the results largely worthless. We can no more make people educated by giving them pretty certificates than we can make them rich by giving them bags of forged banknotes. State education is a mess.                (click to read more)

If Iraq is So Bad, Why Aren’t We Pulling Out of Detroit?            By Justin Darr 

Antiwar protestors and car alarms have a lot in common.  They are obnoxiously loud, get set off too easily, and alert you to situations far less serious than they sound.  There is also one more; they are usually ignored by everyone around them because their noise never seems to end. 

In an otherwise slow news summer, Cindy Sheehan, the soon to be forgot pawn of the left, has tried to fuel the antiwar cause through personalizing the losses of American troops in Iraq.  So, every American soldier who has fallen in Iraq has a mother; there is a news flash.  And, in yet another example of investigative journalism at its best, the main stream media has determined that most of these mothers have been devastated by the loss of a child in the War and wish it had not happened.  However, the left’s concerns for the mothers of the fallen and their propaganda that American casualties indicate a loosing war effort are disingenuous at best.  They are far more concerned with embarrassing President Bush than portraying anything accurate about the War or giving the proper honor and support to the families of the fallen.                (click to read more)

Terry’s Tidbits           By Terry Gray

August 22, 2005

Overheard from a prison warden after an escape:  “You can’t watch them all at one time and besides, it was dark.”

Louisville Smoking Ban

Here is a link to a copy of the ordinance with my comments in red:  http://www.terrystidbits.com/new_page_83.htm                (click to read more)

Should The Stones Be Taken Seriously?           by Jonathan David Morris

Next month, the World’s Oldest Rock Band—which is now so old that even the old jokes are getting old (and even the jokes about the old jokes getting old are getting old)—will release a new album called A Bigger Bang. That band is, of course, the Rolling Stones. And the only reason I feel the need to talk about their album is because it’s set to include a song called “Sweet Neocon,” an apparent swipe at George Cowboy Bush. While the Stones insist “Sweet Neocon” isn’t about the president, in particular, you wouldn’t know it from the lyrics, which go a little something like this:                 (click to read more)

"You must...understand that the advice you give your children -- whether good or bad -- will be remembered. Your power to influence your family's attitudes about the culture should be seen not as a burden but as an innate quality that is always active. You must never, ever forget that it is impossible to choose inaction on your part in the arena of influence. A decision to go with the cultural flow -- a decision on your part not to fight the culture, to stay away from the conflict and take the easy route, to just lay low -- does not negate the influence you have on your children but results in your influence being a negative one. A decision to not make a decision is still a decision. Inaction, in itself, is an action. In other words, you are not a neutral force in your household; your action or perceived neutrality is a force that will shape your home and the personalities, choices, morals and values of your children for the rest of their lives. ... [Y]our kids don't need you to be just another friend. They need you to be their parents." --Rebecca Hagelin

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