Heartland Murmurs

Education 101

2010-03-10T18:27:00Z

Two friends were going back and forth on the local versus centralized role of government in education.

I look to Milton Friedman for guidance on such matters. Basically I agree with him that role should be limited to financing but not administration.

"Education is a simple case. It isn't the public purpose to build brick schools and have students taught there. The public purpose is to provide education. Think of it this way: If you want to subsidize the production of a product, there are two ways you can do it. You can subsidize the producer or you can subsidize the consumer. In education, we subsidize the producer—the school. If you subsidize the student instead—the consumer—you will have competition. The student could choose the school he attends and that would force schools to improve and to meet the demands of their students."
        - Milton Friedman

The longer the educratic status quo manages to sustain the illusion that funding and administration are one in the same, the longer it will remain the status quo.
        - Me

I will be forever mystified as to how otherwise intelligent people, many teacher friends for example, are so willing to put more faith in nameless bureaucrats in Washington than their own neighbors down the street, i.e. local school boards. It can't possibly be justified on past performance. So far as I can tell the entire Department of Education, in it’s entire history, has actually educated fewer people than have drowned in Ted Kennedy's car.

I would beseech them to point to the phrase in our constitution that makes education a federal concern. Per the 10th amendment items not specifically enumerated are up to the states, i.e. local. Surprise, surprise health care isn't mentioned either, but then again, neither is social security.

I agree that funding for schools is imperfect. That most of the property tax from a senior citizen who hasn't had a kid in school for 40 years goes to schools makes no sense at all, and the childless by choice folks get screwed even worse. How can fairness and equality advocates reconcile this? I would support switching to sales tax revenues, so long as it is accompanied by a corresponding property tax decrease, and at least half the proceeds would be available in vouchers, you know, to make it fair.

Key to maintaining the status quo is a steadfast refusal to acknowledge that more funding does not translate to higher quality. Washington DC is highest per pupil cost at nearly 20K+ and Milwaukee at 14K is highest in WI. Nevertheless, they are among the worst performing systems in the nation and state. Here in Milwaukee charter school vouchers, at $5k, are less than half, yet the results are at least as good and usually better.

The country, due to a combination of apathy and its fat ugly stepsister entitlement mindset, opted for and maintains a monopoly system over a competitive education market. In spite of compulsory participation and confiscatory funding advantages, government monopoly schools are consistently outperformed by private schools. Home schoolers, the most local of all, outperform both.

This shows an inversely proportionate relationship between the quality of education and government entanglement. This is no coincidence. It is the law of economics that an increase in choices invariably results in an increase in quality. (A private sector example would be the explosion of the telecommunications industry, which is still expanding from deregulation more than 20 years ago; the negative corollary would be the railroad system, strangled to death by the dark tag team of union and government.)

Speaking of choice, this is one of several tenets of left/lib theology that leaves me scratching my head; choice is a non-negotiable demand when it comes to having a kid, but nowhere to be found when it comes to educating them. WTF is up with that? Democrats: we put the “in here” in incoherence.

Conversely, it is glaring proof that centralization does not work and that more funding can’t change that. The obstinate persistence of misdirecting funds only makes it worse.

Money spent locally, be it on education or groceries, always serves the community better. The current education system is a case in point that the further you send your money the less value it has, and the less control you keep.

Even with the overwhelming roadblocks and regulatory disadvantages competition and choice keeps proving it is the superior model. We can only imagine how better off the kids would be should those burdens ever be removed. Perhaps not in my lifetime, but if current trends continue it will be today’s home schooled and charter kids that finally level the playing field.

Further reading:
Milton Friedman is known as the father of school vouchers.

This is his seminal article on the subject. It rings just as true as it did in 1955.
http://www.schoolchoices.org/roo/fried1.htm

Fun Mail

2010-03-06T16:26:00Z

First:
A contribution to the profound revelation wordplay conceptual series...
Thanks to buddy Red for sending along and a hat tip to Larry Powers for his forward. (Always like to credit originality so if either of you guys knows where this started please let me know)

anyway....

New Virulent Virus Strain

Very important information has just been made public that I think is something you should all be aware of:
Gonorrhea Lectim

The Center for Disease Control has issued a warning about a new virulent strain of this old disease.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim. It’s pronounced “Gonna re-elect ‘im.”

The disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior involving putting your cranium up your rectum.

Many victims contracted it in 2008 ….. but now most people after having been infected for the past 1-2 years are starting to realize how destructive this sickness is. It’s sad because it is so easily cured with a new procedure just coming on the market called Votemout!

You take the first dose/step in 2010 and the second dosage in 2012 and simply don’t engage in such behavior again, otherwise it could become permanent and eventually wipe out all life as we know it.

Several states are already on top of this like Virginia and New Jersey, and apparently now Massachusetts with many more seeing the writing on the wall.

Please pass this important message on to all those bright folk you really care about.

Next. From Buddy Jerry
Judge Napolitano remarks supporting Peter Schiff, an economist running for Senate. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change, someone in congress who actually knows something about economics. Hint, no "D" after his name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7n2m-X7OIuY

Finally from buddy Buck. Have no idea where this originated but am sure it is a viral powerhouse. The good ones usually are. This one exactly for the faint of heart, but then again, if you are faint of heart you shouldn't be hanging around these parts anyway...

WHAT TIGER SHOULD HAVE SAID
To my wife, I'm sorry. I fucked up but I'm not changing so
you'll either
need to put up with this shit or I'll stroke you the check
I agreed to in
the pre-nup....sorry.

To my fans, get over it. Where I stick my dick is none of
your business. If
you care....sorry. I don't need any of you in order to
make 10 times in one
year what you'll make in a career. I promise to continue
to hit 8 irons from
210 yards to within 10' of the hole and drop puts that you
couldn't read in
a million years. If that's not good enough for you, go
watch tennis.

To the media. You cocksuckers are the only ones more
two-faced than I am.
Kissing my ass for all those years and then ripping me
every chance you've
had since Thanksgiving. Fuck all ya'll. I'm glad I don't
have to take the
time to sit and answer the same bullshit questions over
and over again.

To the other golfers. Kiss my cablanasian ass! You
motherfuckers come out
ripping me when I've put more fucking money in your
pockets than you could
count. You think anyone's been paying to see
Jesper-fucking-Parnavik? Give
me a fucking break. I'm almost tempted to give up golf
just to punish you
guys but I think it's going to be more fun to practice for
the next few
weeks and get back to making you all my bitches.

That's all I got today folks.....see ya at Augusta !....Oh
and Bambi, if
you're listening I'll meet you at the Ritz in 45 minutes.

High Priest Comes Out of Hiding, Shares Theological Insights

2010-03-01T22:44:00Z

For many reasons I never truly felt the anthropologic global warming theory passed the smell test. The recent disclosure of questionable data handling, i..e. manipulation, came as absolutely no surprise.

Many were wondering where Al Gore had gone since all the bad news and over the weekend he stuck his head out his overly carbon producing domicile to tell us in essence that only the undoctored information matters and the evidence is still irrefutable. Whatever.

I have written previously on how belief in the governments ability to solve problems is every bit as, or even more, goofy as many religious beliefs - - especially in view of the mountains of evidence proving otherwise, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, postal service, public education, etc etc.

But at least the religious know they don't know. They just believe. That's why they call it faith. Bigspitwads live, breathe and work in the muck of their decades of failure and pretend it's a success. That requires a whole lot more than your run-of-the-mill suspension of disbelief.

Darleen over at Protein Wisdom elaborates, dissects and plucked out a quote that underscores this point, click over there to your right and scroll down to the Naked Progressive post and RTWT. Her links are also worth your time.

thus sayeth the Goreacle....

"From a standpoint of governance, what is at stake is our ability to use the rule of law as an instrument of human redemption"
Al Gore , New York Times, Feb. 27, 2010.

Get that? Wow. Just. Fucking. Wow. Forget that this is from the same side of the aisle that screams bloody murder should a public school have the fanatical zealotry to offer a frikken moment of silence. And ignore that for nearly two decades this clown has been preaching science. In the world according to Al Gore our failure to legislate against global warming will at best put an improvement of the human condition permanently beyond reach and at worst, I suppose, damn us all to hell.

An Orwell quote comes to mind: Only an intellectual could believe something so foolish.

My comment over at Protein Wisdom:
So I guess, in reviewing this: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, Gore, technically, is not really advocating a violation of the 1st amendment so much as he is suggesting that, handled properly, to the progressive mind at least, the state is or can be religion. I mean once a critical mass of the governing rules of law are reduced to politically correct progressive theology, pardon the redundancy, making laws to establish state religion won’t be necessary because they will have become one in the same.

Something I have long suspected about the left, but it is still nice to hear one of their high priests actually come right out and admit it. Who needs religion when you've got government?

All that hand-wringing about the separation of church and state matters not a wit when the church is the state. No wonder lefties hate religion, it's their competition.

Suddenly So Much of it Makes Sense

2010-03-01T22:17:00Z

This headline from Drudge explains a lot

PAPER: Obama doctors recommend 'moderation of alcohol intake'...

And here all along I thought he was just stupid. Turns out he's only drunk! Who knew?

As a fellow imbiber my respect for Obama has just increased dramatically.

Seriously though we have a lot to thank Obama for:

No right winger has ever energized the conservative base this well.
Gun and ammo sales have never been stronger.
No one has better exposed the fatal flaws of liberalism.
No president has illustrated the need for prudent fiscal policy more dramatically.
No president has ever debunked the credibility of Keynesian economics so well.
No Republican adversary has ever described the crass political depravity of the Democrat party in mere words as Obama has done by example.
Citizen activism is at a high not seen since the 60's.

All that and it's only his first year! Holy crap, what's he gonna play for his second set? Yeah, he sure has brought some change, and that list there is something I can believe in!

I know I know. It ain't pretty, but sausage-making never is, and that's what we've got.

Now, if the GOP can possibly come up with a better strategy than " we won't suck as bad" we're in business.

Stereotypes

2010-02-17T21:42:00Z

From the profound revelation wordplay conceptual series...

In trying to formulate a new label for the stereotypical liberal Democrat various letters were jumbling around the cranium..and then it hit me:

Big Government
Spend and Tax
Weak on Defense ....

hmmmm

B-G-S-P-T-W-D

THATS IT!

BIG SPIT WAD!

That this happens to connote both the relative substance and worth of their ideology, and the spit their general attitude toward anyone with an opposing view, well that's just cosmic coincidence.

From here forward Big Spit Wad will be interchangeable with liberal Democrat.

As you were.

Tea Anyone?

2010-02-11T00:14:00Z

The blogosphere seems to have a disproportionate amount of material on the Tea Party thing of late.
Proving their grasp of history sucks almost as bad as their grasp of fundamental economics the mainstream media is in a scramble to define the Tea Party Movement for us idiots here in flyover country, or to each other more likely, since they are bewildered at the hoopla and unaccustomed to seeing so many people when they look down their noses.

It never ceases to amaze however that when the furrowed brows have no clue about who or what they are talking about they are perfectly willing to assign any number of meanings, typically out of whole cloth and usually inferring something either conspiratorial or nefarious, you know to keep with the narrative that conservatives are stupid, evil, or both. It is so much easier you see, to deman and dismiss shit you make up than it is to actually , oh I don't know, challenge, or God forbid, seek to understand, an opposing view.

Dr. Zero has a lengthy and nuanced treatise you can click and scroll to the right over there, and as always John is worth the read for the sheer pleasure of reading.

On the other hand this can be blown way out of proportion with over thinking. The bottom line is people are pissed off. Newt Gingrich offered a great idea last night; instead of saying tea party say disillusioned voters, which is just a more venue appropriate way of saying pissed off.

A basic appreciation of history might give these hand wringers a clue that, as in colonial Boston, citizens today are tired of having their earnings forcefully confiscated at and for the pleasure of the ruling class. Period. It's as simple as that. Funny thing, that one really wasn't about tea at all, and neither is this one.

Another take at Big Journalism dot com pretty much says it all It's The Constitution Stupid That works for me.

The Fallacy of Fairness

2010-02-09T18:58:00Z

Dr. Sowell discusses what is quite possibly rhetorics most misused and least understood word ....

The Fallacy of "Fairness"

Like I always say, anyone who told you life was fair - - LIED

What's To Fear About Big Government?

2010-02-09T16:53:00Z

I mean other than it is antithetical to the constitution and framers design...

Dr Hanson weighs in here courtesy Pajmasa Media

Chicagobamanomics and Public Unions

2010-02-08T17:53:00Z

I first started reading Michael Barone when I subscribed to U.S. News and World Report back in the 80"s. Always appreciated the succinctness of his analysis. As the years progressed he has become known both for his encyclopedic knowledge of politics and in the particular the machinations of the electoral process. You want to find out the handicap on any district or candidate Barones the guy.

His current post in the Washington Examiner is headlined Public-sector Unions Bleeding Taxpayers
I said it's a headline, not that it's news.

some interesting points:

But union membership is still growing in the public sector. Last year 37.4 percent of public-sector employees were union members. That percentage was down near zero in the 1950s. For the first time in history, a majority of union members are government employees.

Why, you may ask, is this a problem? Don't mean to insult your intelligence by belaboring the obvious but try this on for size

Public-sector unionism is a very different animal from private-sector unionism. It is not adversarial but collusive. Public-sector unions strive to elect their management, which in turn can extract money from taxpayers to increase wages and benefits -- and can promise pensions that future taxpayers will have to fund.

Really? Would the Chicagobama spoils system really be so audacious and blatant, ya think? Barone divulges some numbers resulting from the stimulus plan:

While the private sector has lost 7 million jobs, the number of public-sector jobs has risen. The number of federal government jobs has been increasing by 10,000 a month, and the percentage of federal employees earning over $100,000 has jumped to 19 percent during the recession.

As I implied, to us news junkies none of this is really, you know, news. But when somebody like Barone fleshes it out with actual numbers it becomes much more powerful and, one hopes, will alert more people. Enter the Tea Party movement.

This is a good companion piece to the Dr Zero column on privatization. The longer we let government manage anything through tax confiscation and regulatory coercion that the private sector can provide more efficiently through fair and open competition the more we delay fiscal sustainability.

A Pair of Docs On Duty

2010-02-07T22:24:00Z

Dr. VDH weighs in with Civilization's Lies h/t pajamas media

Dr. Zero provides a lesson in econ 101 here The Answer to Socialism

Special weekend reading bonus the inestimable George Will has some hopeful speculation here Charting Our Way to Solvency
I think Mr. Will also has a phd but will have to verify. h/t townhall

Double bonus, from the give credit where credit is due department, Dennis Prager, not a doctor but a radio talk show host, author, columnist and Rabbi explains why he has never been so proud of the Republican party. Gotta admit I have to agree.
What I Said to the Republican Members of Congress h/t townhall

sample: Leftism is a substitute religion. For the Left, the "health care" bill transcends politics. You are fighting people who will go down with the ship in order to transform this country to a leftist one. And an ever-expanding state is the Left's central credo.

Enjoy the Superbowl
off to whip up a batch of my famous Jambalaya, not that I'm rooting for the Saints or anything, but if had to pick a city for it's food Indianapolis, a.k.a., Indanoplace wouldn't be one of the choices..

UPDATE: Opposites Distract

2010-02-06T22:13:04Z

Like I was saying Jacob Weisberg Is an Idiot a corresponding screed from one my favorite bloggers Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress. Visit his site, but remember who sent you, and don't forget to come back...

No sooner do I see a headline addressing a nagging conundrum like this:

Why Are Liberals So Condescending? In the Washington Post no less. (Some assistant editor is in for a tongue lashing.)

It is followed immediately by another headline proving the point:

Blame the Childish, Ignorant American Public typical fare for Slate Magazine

The first by Associate Professor of Politics at U of VA Gerard Alexander tries to explain what has become so painfully apparent to so many. Therein I noticed echoes of my previous post BTW:

...'This worldview was on display in the popular liberal reaction to the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Rather than engage in a discussion about the complexities of free speech in politics, liberals have largely argued that the decision will "open the floodgates for special interests" to influence American elections, as the president warned in his State of the Union address. In other words, it was all part of the conspiracy to support conservative candidates for their nefarious, self-serving ends.

Wish I'd've said that, oh wait a minute, I think I did...

The other is by Jacob Weisberg, Editor, Slate Magazine. You remember, the one who so sagefully pronounced in 2008 that the ONLY reason Obama could lose was racism.

Funny, I don't recall hearing anything from him on how non-racist America is since November 2008.

Seriously, is it any wonder why we talk past each other?

Abridging The Freedom of Speech

2010-02-06T18:43:00Z

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Ten little words, seven of which are single syllable, fairly simple, and still the subject of heated political debate recently stoked by the Supreme Court. Ten words I would like to have tattooed, in reverse for mirror gazing, on the foreheads of Russ Feingold, John McCain, Barack Obama, along with the 4 dissenters.

The fallout form the recent SCOTUS decision to enforce the constitutional right to free speech has all the usual suspects making all the usual suspect claims. Those who disagree with the courts decision, who I like to call free speech opponents, are renewing their fear mongering that there will a tsunami of money flowing into politics corrupting the system. To which a casual observer might ask, and that would be different how? These same folks already whine about too much money in politics, a specious claim at best since, according to George Will, who I am loathe to second-guess, advises that the amount of money spent on the last, most expensive general election ever, is roughly equal to that of what Americans spend on potato chips per year. Snack on that.

It’s not about the amount, it’s about the transparency. I find no inconsistency with the right to free speech in a law that would require full disclosure of every penny donated to every candidate. The web offers the perfect tool for such transparency and a free and open society, as ours is alleged to be, should embrace the opportunity to shed light on the deepest, arguably darkest corners of our political process. Divulge how much, to whom, from whom, and let the voters figure out whether it's kosher or not. But instead we get statist political careerists, but I repeat myself, promising to design new routes around the ruling and retrofit speech controls back into law. So much for that oath of office thing. Opponents of the first amendment, like their counterparts on the second amendment, are always about limiting someone else's rights and never about enforcing the plain text.

There are a couple of other curiosities about the debate. First, the predictable changing of the subject. Somehow the ruling has been reduced/transformed from an enforcement of the first amendment question to whether corporations should be allowed a voice in politics. Why should’t they? Corporations are made up of people, a group who, by common investment, are exercising their first amendment right to peaceably assemble. When corporate heads decide to advocate politically it should be at the behest and in the best interest of their investors. People invest in corporations to make money, not political advocacy, which they can do much more effectively on their own. If they don’t like who the corporation endorses they can and should dump the stock.

Transparency will show that overly generous corporations are trying to gain a legislative or policy advantage for their product or service. Astute business analysts and investors need to tune in to the idea that corporate/political system-gaming obfuscates that a corporations good or service must have shortcomings if they have to rely on legislative advantage to compete. Of course a curious media shining a light on these connections would be helpful, if they too weren't corporations seeking their own advantages. Look for an increasing role by the alternative media in this regard.

To allow the government any control over any political message is to stand the right of free speech on its head. I can’t be the only guy to notice this debate hardly ever includes the recipients responsibility in the roll of political donations. They are, after all, the ones who finally decide whether to accept or return those nasty donations. Political careerists who advocate for government control over political speech are admitting that they are incapable of making those decisions. Sorry folks, if you can't make that call your judgment on everything is suspect. Find another line of work.

I also find it a rather bizarre disconnect that those so dedicated to abridging the speech of corporations would never dream of not taxing them. Muzzling an entity on one hand while taxing them with the other is about as stark of an example of taxation without representation as you are likely to find. In what other arena than government would the concept of a mute payer even exist? With every transaction, even the payment of taxes, there is an implied warranty and assumption of good faith. The assumption with taxes is that it is for your benefit but also that, as the financier, you have a voice in determining what those benefits should be. I’m no constitutional expert like the President but it looks to me like taking money and then passing laws limiting the payers ability to comment infringes the right to redress grievances as well.

In the end the libertarian credo that the best thing for free speech is more, not less, speech. It is up to the individual listener to decide, tune in, turn off, or refute what they decide to hear - - not the governments which is steadily becoming the mother of all special interests.

Hey Big Spender

2010-02-05T17:37:00Z

The coolest things about a blog is that any passing thought that may occur to you eventually gets fleshed out by someone who is paid to research, think, and report about such things.

As an example I was pondering a post called They're Called Stereotypes For a Reason wherein I recognize how perfectly President Obama fits the old "Democrats-are-big-governmnet-tax-and-spend-liberals-who-are-weak-on-defense" stereotype.

The list of support for that assertion is growing by the hour, almost to the point where even those who "don't follow politics" are beginnig to notice.

Anyway, for a great expansion on that passing thought I direct you to a piece by Real Clear Politics columnist David Paul Kuhn Dems Haunted by Revived Stereotypes.
h/t instapundit

But, Friday is Krauthammer Day here at the murmur:

the nub:
This being a democracy, don't the Democrats see that clinging to this agenda will march them over a cliff? Don't they understand Massachusetts?

Well, they understand it through a prism of two cherished axioms: (1) The people are stupid and (2) Republicans are bad. Result? The dim, led by the malicious, vote incorrectly.

The line I wish I'd written:
For liberals, the observation that "the peasants are revolting" is a pun. For conservatives, it is cause for uncharacteristic optimism.

The brilliance of brevity.

to RTWT: Charles Krauthammer: The Great Peasant Revolt of 2010

In other business...

I got the following, much to my consternation, for the second time today. This time it pissed me off because it seems to have legs. Perhaps you've seen it...

There recently was an article in the St. Petersburg Fl. Times. The

Business Section asked readers for ideas on: "How Would
You Fix the Economy?"

I think this guy nailed it!
_____

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead
of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the
money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan.
You can call it the "Patriotic
Retirement Plan":

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them
$1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed..

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing
Crisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress pay their
taxes....

Mr. President, while you're at it, make Congress retire on Social
Security and Medicare. I'll bet both programs would be fixed pronto!

If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

If not, please disregard.

I got this once, heard Rush actually read on air and ALMOST posted it here. Problem is I hope to be taken seriously, I like to defy and frustrate random fact-checkers by citing a source or verifiable stat. So before posting this the first time I got it I did a little math.

Here's the problem: 1 million x 40 million = 40 TRILLION!!!

So instead of "if you think this would work, please forward....", buy a fucking calculator, use it, and think again. This isn't a common sense solution to our economic problems, it's a sure recipe for planetary financial collapse.

Rather than a conservative who knows what he's talking about the author of this letter is more likely a frustrated liberal whose only question is never whether to throw more money at a problem but only how much.

It's disheartening to see something like this get traction in conservative circles. It makes us look as out to lunch on fiscal sanity as the left.

Seriously people, when you get stuff like this give it a smell test. (it's pretty easy really, test my math now, google "how much is 40 million X 1 million") The fundamental ineptitude at basic arithmetic is a big part of the problem. Shit like this proves the point and doesn't help, which in a cynical way, sort of explains how it got by the editors at the St. Petersburg Times.

Get Out Of Our House

2010-02-02T18:01:00Z

"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."   Samuel Adams, 1776

Let's do this.

As recording secretary of the recently chartered C4 cabal I have been entrusted to formulate our endorsement of GOOOH, and to alert readers here and my personal e-mail list about the grass roots group www.goooh.com or Get Out of Our House.

This group has made it their mission to drive a dagger through the heart of political careerism by replacing the entire US House of Representatives in November - - THIS November.

Ladies and gentlemen, gird your loins and tighten your chin straps, the rebellion is about to commence.

Please click and browse www.goooh.com to find out more and join the cause, unless of course the status quo is OK with you, and in which case I would need to ask why in the hell are you hanging around here?

GOOOH is a non-partisan effort first organized during the Bush administration, though I am sure that won't stop certain elements of the loony left from equating them to the Klan, it's just how they roll these days, and even more predictable than it is pathetic.

The fundamental premise, one which I have held for years, is that a random group of everyday Americans cannot possibly do a worse job of running this country than political careerists.

Should you share that view click through the link, www.goooh.com  , sign up, and support the cause. Feel free to cut and paste the following as your requested testimonial. After that, cut, paste and circulate this memo, or send a this link www.heartlandmurmurs.co to your friends and ask everyone on your mailing list to join the cause as well.

                                                                PRO BONO INFINITUM!

The official C4 endorsement:

Whereas in recognition of the fact that we have a virtually unretractable and near hopelessly entrenched political duopoly that systematically and purposefully reduces electoral choices to a lesser of 2 evils and

Whereas said 2 party system has spawned, cultivated, and nurtured political careerism as the tyrannically wielded mechanism that prioritizes the perpetuation of incumbency over sound governance and

Whereas money = power political careerism has resulted in a cesspool of dirty money and governance -by-spoils-system on steroids and

Whereas the likelihood that the odds of a pack of self serving parasites will initiate correction, either self-imposed or by constitutional means, of this cancer on our republic is virtually non-existent so then

WE hereby wholeheartedly endorse GOOOH in its effort to
REPLACE EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES this election year, 2010, through grass roots, citizen-imposed term limits via the ballot box.

Dr. Sowell Says...

2010-02-02T16:30:00Z

Enjoy economics professor Dr Thomas Sowell somewhat scathing commentary and the cognitve disconnect between political rhetoric and economic reality. Not exactly news but still nice to have credentialed expert validate a long held and increasingly obvious suspision.

The nub: they pull stuff out of their asses routinely.

The nugget: "It is of course no secret that there is no free lunch. It is just an inconvenient distraction that gets left out of political rhetoric."

The whole thing:

Politicians in Wonderland‎

Ponderings on the fate of the Murmur

2010-02-02T02:06:00Z

My little intro page to the blog here tells me it's been 69 days since my last entry. No excuses but plenty of reasons.

First of all, I am enjoying how the overall debate is going in spite of my absence. Even though sausage making can sometimes be unsightly the overall direction of the argument is leaning right and, at the risk of dislocating my shoulder from patting myself on the back, many of my predictions are coming true. Saying I told you so gets a little tedious after awhile.

Secondly, others, a bevy of Doctors, Hansen, Sowell, Krauthammer, and Zero, to be exact are all saying most everything I can say except better and more consistently.

So I while I have been ignoring the actual log part of the blog I have been giving some thought on how to upgrade the web part in a way that keeps it interesting to me and both my readers, as opposed to both my readers and me.

That said it I have been lovingly admonished to just keep writing so I will endeavor to increase that for it's own sake. God musicians, and I have the privilege of having some close friends who surpass that description and then some, do not improve by keeping their instruments in the case. I expect the same is true for writers.

Third, the writing takes away time otherwise used for income generation. Growing kids eat more and there are three college tutitions in the not too distant fuiture. Ideally the aforementioned upgrades will involve a series of monetization options in the hopes that I could at least pay for site upkeep and hopefully at least some of the lost time. I guess getting the tip jar fixed would be a good place to start.

Anyway some changes are in store here at the murmur. First thoughts are to, at the very least, link to the good Doctors offerings with comment and or refutations on a more consistent basis. Another idea would be to disable the comment section ala Instapundit, or a register the the comment section like Hot Air. I also have to start a blogroll, link to facebook, get some advertisers etc etc.

So there you have it dear readers. The state of the blog address 2010.

Please feel free to opine on upgrade ideas while the comment thread is still open. Just remember what Grandma used to say, if if don't have anything nice to say - - shut the fuck up, or something like that...

Tomorrow: a word on GOOOH aka, get out of our house.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stubborn Things...

2009-11-24T22:06:00Z

Facts are..

This courtesy the Gentleman from Utah: Orrin Hatch
h/t Protein Wisdom (look around while you're there. Some choice comments on citizen Sarah)

I am going to spend my time before this historic vote to highlight some very important numbers, so every member of this chamber understands what they are voting to advance. Make no mistake, our actions today will not be without consequences. History and our future generations will judge us on this. Here are some numbers:

· 0 – the number of provisions prohibiting the rationing of health care.
· 0 – the number of government-run entitlement programs that are financially sound over the long-term.
· 10.2 percent – our national unemployment rate, the highest in 26 years.
· 70 – total number of government programs authorized by the bill.
· 1,697 – times the Secretary of Health and Human Services is given authority to determine or define provisions in this bill.
· 2,074 – total pages in this bill.
· 2010 – the year Americans start paying higher taxes to pay for this bill
· 2014 – the year when this bill actually starts most of the major provisions of this bill
· $6.8 million – cost to taxpayers per word
· $8 billion – the total amount of new taxes on Americans who do not buy Washington-defined health care.
· $465 billion – Cuts in Medicare at a time when it faces a $38 trillion unfunded liability to finance more government spending.
· $494 billion – total amount of new taxes in this bill
· $2.5 trillion – the real cost of the bill
· $12 trillion – our total national debt

The Bow

2009-11-17T15:19:00Z

Honestly, with all the problems we have to deal with, is a simple breech of protocol really that big a deal? I am noticing it's a lot of Obama's loudest critics, those who continue to point out he is all style and no substance, count me in agreement btw, that insist on making a huge deal out this strictly stylistic mistake.

This just shows his style is lacking too. Be content with that instead of carrying on like it's a faux pa of historic magnitude. Good Grief. Settle down people. These are signs of early onset Obama Derangement Syndrome and we've got 3 years to go. Pace yourselves as I am pretty sure we haven't seen the worst of it. Keep it up and you'll only appear as sane as those who suffered Bush Derangement Syndrome. Let's keep the crazy in it's proper home on the left.

I like Ramirez' take :

Obama Lied, Economy Died

2009-11-17T15:05:00Z

I gotta hunch those hidden college transcripts show 0 credits in fundamentals of economics. But who needs transcripts when the evidence of the brilliance is so apparent? To a critical mass looking and sounding smart is quite enough thank you.

Also found this interesting : Jobs Saved or Created in Congressional Districts That Don't Exist
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jobs-saved-created-congressional-districts-exist/story?id=9097853&page=1

Pretty amazing but I will give them credit for consistency. I mean the new statistical measurement of "saved" jobs was manufactured out of thin air, just like all these phantom congressional districts.

Since 80+ % of us are still working I presume we are all beholden to the dear leader for saving our jobs right?

For a Hint of What Public Health Care Might Look Like ...

2009-11-13T17:25:00Z

...all you have to do is take a look at public education.

Greg Forster at Pajamas Media fleshes out an idea I posited on a facebook comment when I asked someone why on earth would Americans find it acceptacle to let the Government unions AFSCME and SEIU do to health care what the government and UAW did to the auto industry and the government and NEA did to public education?

Needless to say, the prospect is something less than pretty RTWT here:

Health Care Reform Advocates: Take a Look at Public Schools