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baldeagle wrote:

jayinsat wrote:My wife and I homeschooled our children for the majority of their K-12 education and internet based education will become a mainstream feature. Universities are all now offering degree plans via web-based education. I've seen advertisements similar to this for k-12 web based education. I do believe it is the future, provided the NEA doesn't completely block it like all other viable alternatives they see as a threat to their tenure.

The NEA can only block what they control. They can't control (yet) what you do with your own children, and enough people do it, the government wouldn't be able to stop it.

That's exactly the point.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:If one opts to cyber school their offspring, do they get a commensurate reduction in that portion of their property taxes that goes to their respective ISD. Just askin'....?

That would be fair, but the government isn't interested in fairness. What Bill Whittle was saying was basically, "kiss the money goodbye. You're not going to get anything for it, but you have to pay it anyway to stay out of jail. So pay it, quite whining, and get about the business of ignoring the government and living as if it didn't exist."

Thanks, I'm long out of the kids in school business but I am still in the paying property tax business. FWIW, it chaps my bottom to be paying school taxes in an ISD jurisdiction where I, or any relative, never have nor never will have a student. That said...

The Annoyed Man wrote:Anyway, I agree with Bill Whittle that the government is currently like the Titanic. The ship's captain and crew observed the iceberg for some period of time before hitting it. They reversed engines and threw the rudder hard over to port, but a ship that size has so much mass that it continues on its path for quite a distance before it imperceptibly at first begins to veer off that path. In the case of the Titanic, those inputs came too late, and it hit the iceberg anyway, and everyone knows what happened. This is an accurate illustration of what is currently happening with our government.

Is it? It seems to me the current captain's plan is flank speed to intentionally ram the iceberg in the belief we're too big to fail. Sadly, the Republicans' choice for captaincy seemed to think we should slow to standard speed but maintain the same heading.

apostate wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Anyway, I agree with Bill Whittle that the government is currently like the Titanic. The ship's captain and crew observed the iceberg for some period of time before hitting it. They reversed engines and threw the rudder hard over to port, but a ship that size has so much mass that it continues on its path for quite a distance before it imperceptibly at first begins to veer off that path. In the case of the Titanic, those inputs came too late, and it hit the iceberg anyway, and everyone knows what happened. This is an accurate illustration of what is currently happening with our government.

Is it? It seems to me the current captain's plan is flank speed to intentionally ram the iceberg in the belief we're too big to fail. Sadly, the Republicans' choice for captaincy seemed to think we should slow to standard speed but maintain the same heading.

apostate wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Anyway, I agree with Bill Whittle that the government is currently like the Titanic. The ship's captain and crew observed the iceberg for some period of time before hitting it. They reversed engines and threw the rudder hard over to port, but a ship that size has so much mass that it continues on its path for quite a distance before it imperceptibly at first begins to veer off that path. In the case of the Titanic, those inputs came too late, and it hit the iceberg anyway, and everyone knows what happened. This is an accurate illustration of what is currently happening with our government.

Is it? It seems to me the current captain's plan is flank speed to intentionally ram the iceberg in the belief we're too big to fail. Sadly, the Republicans' choice for captaincy seemed to think we should slow to standard speed but maintain the same heading.

Agree about the current captain. I was merely pointing out that even if we elected a perfect government today, the existing size and momentum of it would take many years or even decades to dissipate enough to be able to reverse direction. Just imagine how many completely unnecessary laws are on the books right now, and what a huge task it would be to get them all repealed........and that's just a small part of the problem.

The Annoyed Man wrote:Agree about the current captain. I was merely pointing out that even if we elected a perfect government today, the existing size and momentum of it would take many years or even decades to dissipate enough to be able to reverse direction. Just imagine how many completely unnecessary laws are on the books right now, and what a huge task it would be to get them all repealed........and that's just a small part of the problem.

I see no path other than collapse. We don't have decades to dissipate anything because the size of our debt is leading straight towards hyperinflation and collapse of the current structure.

Think Weimar Republic and a grocery bag of currency to purchase a loaf of bread.

The only reason the US dollar hasn't already collapsed is its unique status as the reserve currency for the planet. There are no reserve currency alternatives today.

However, the Chinese are long term planners. If you look behind the scenes, every single gold mine in the world that has come up for sale in the last seven years has been purchased by China. Their long-term plan is to convert the Yuan from being pegged to the dollar to have it backed by gold. When the Yuan becomes a gold standard currency, then it will quickly assume global reserve currency status.

At that point, we are toast and the dollar hyperinflates.

Jumping Frog wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Agree about the current captain. I was merely pointing out that even if we elected a perfect government today, the existing size and momentum of it would take many years or even decades to dissipate enough to be able to reverse direction. Just imagine how many completely unnecessary laws are on the books right now, and what a huge task it would be to get them all repealed........and that's just a small part of the problem.

I see no path other than collapse. We don't have decades to dissipate anything because the size of our debt is leading straight towards hyperinflation and collapse of the current structure.

Think Weimar Republic and a grocery bag of currency to purchase a loaf of bread.

The only reason the US dollar hasn't already collapsed is its unique status as the reserve currency for the planet. There are no reserve currency alternatives today.

However, the Chinese are long term planners. If you look behind the scenes, every single gold mine in the world that has come up for sale in the last seven years has been purchased by China. Their long-term plan is to convert the Yuan from being pegged to the dollar to have it backed by gold. When the Yuan becomes a gold standard currency, then it will quickly assume global reserve currency status.

At that point, we are toast and the dollar hyperinflates.

That's exactly right...and (being a Christian man) it reminds me of Revelation 6:6. So it's biblical too! Haha!

Jumping Frog wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:Agree about the current captain. I was merely pointing out that even if we elected a perfect government today, the existing size and momentum of it would take many years or even decades to dissipate enough to be able to reverse direction. Just imagine how many completely unnecessary laws are on the books right now, and what a huge task it would be to get them all repealed........and that's just a small part of the problem.

I see no path other than collapse. We don't have decades to dissipate anything because the size of our debt is leading straight towards hyperinflation and collapse of the current structure.

Think Weimar Republic and a grocery bag of currency to purchase a loaf of bread.

The only reason the US dollar hasn't already collapsed is its unique status as the reserve currency for the planet. There are no reserve currency alternatives today.

However, the Chinese are long term planners. If you look behind the scenes, every single gold mine in the world that has come up for sale in the last seven years has been purchased by China. Their long-term plan is to convert the Yuan from being pegged to the dollar to have it backed by gold. When the Yuan becomes a gold standard currency, then it will quickly assume global reserve currency status.

At that point, we are toast and the dollar hyperinflates.

And then the Democrats will be able to boast that they really helped the poor and the downtrodden.

Worth a read

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/ ... erica.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The comments are also quite revealing.

Agree that the education system is a near total disaster. The reason I use the 'near' qualifier is that there are still SOME teachers in the system who swim against the stream. But in general, the SYSTEM tends to indoctrinate the 'entitlement' mentality into kids. Had a long talk with a lady deputy about that. A lot of the people she has to cuff and stuff for theft/shoplifting/etc don't see what they're doing as stealing. They feel entitled to what they take. They feel they should have it because they 'need' (desire) it and someone else is 'rich' enough to afford it. A couple generations of teaching entitlement mentality has given us a rising tide of 'looters' (as Ayn Rand described them). Heck, even when they DO get a job, they think they should start with a six-fugure salary and have to work maybe 20 hours a week. Because, why, on TV everyone has nice clothes, a new car, latest cell phone, and plenty of free time during the day to run off to a tryst or some such nonsense.

And I've read that now something like 49% of all households receive some form of gov't assistance. Add in those who are part of the gov't that hands out the checks, and the believers of the socialist line, and now you have a winning coalition. And as was said after the election, it's tough to win an election when your opponent is Santa Claus. When we talk of the cost of all these programs, the looters care not. They're not responsible (yet) for paying for it. When we talk of $16T of debt, their eyes glaze over and simply say "just tax the rich more to pay for it". They think we can simply print more money to pay for things. And we can, to a point. But few, if any, have been taught about how a currency collapses (Weimar, Zimbabwe, etc.) since that hasn't been a plot on any 'reality' TV show. Add to that, they've never heard of the morality of being a looter. Given half the population pays no income taxes (or even receives a 'refund' of monies they haven't paid) they're isolated from it. No one has taken from them. Take away their ObamaPhone, or their subsidized (free) housing to give to someone else. They haven't been 'mugged' by other looters (yet). They don't think that Robin Hood was a crook, they think he was a saint. But they've never had gov't come take what's "theirs" and gift it to someone else. So they see nothing wrong with it.

But I don't feel that withdrawing is a winning strategy. Eventually we (or our kids) will run out of places to which to retreat. Once the looters have finally chased those that disagree from the public schools, does anyone believe they then won't turn their focus on going after the home schoolers? What's needed are good people to run for office, local school boards especially. Then fight to turn the education system. We didn't get here overnight, so it's not going to get fixed overnight.

XinTX, for years I shared your sentiment. But when more than half of the nation are looters, we are past the tipping point. There is NO return from this. It is a self-perpetuating phenomenon, and those noble souls who are engaged in swimming upstream in the educational system are doomed ultimately to failure.....if they stay in that system. When a self-perpetuating system is large enough, there can never be enough noble souls to overcome the statist momentum. Think of them as inertia, as friction in a machine. Friction can never be reduced to zero, but it can be reduced to the point where it no longer requires application of large amounts of force to overcome that friction. Of course the statists will try to wrest control of private education, and the means will be far more simple and less confrontational than a brute force takeover. It will simply be the passage of laws requiring the teaching of certain doctrines in all schools, private or public.

But even that works for us, because in a private school it provides an opportunity to compare the viable to the not-viable, the idiotic to the intelligent, and the immoral to the moral, and to point out the absurdity of the not-viable, idiotic, and immoral. People have been opting out of public education for a long time now. I attended a private prep school (Webb School for Boys) when I was in high school back in the 1960s. Why? Because my (extremely liberal) parents realized that I would get a better education in a (conservative) private school than I would get in a public school. Those that have been able to afford it all along have often opted to put their kids in private schools, and for decades now, public schools have been recognized as the educational alternative for those who could not afford to buy better. Subscription based parallel systems simply make that affordable to everyone.

My wife and I could not afford traditional private school for our own son, so our task became that of identifying those teachers at his schools who were among the noble souls, and making sure that he got into their classes. That may still be possible today, I don't know. Our son is going to be 24 in January, so he's been out of the public school system for a little while now. But for sure, that is an increasingly more difficult strategy as more and more right-thinking educators are either retired, forced out, or abandon the system. And, as the parallel system becomes more and more available and viable, you can probably expect many of these committed educators (as opposed to indoctrinators) to seek employment in the private sector.

I am more convinced than ever before that the system currently in place, and its government backing, is headed for collapse.

I'm more than a little surprised by the selection of items that Whittle decided to base his analysis/proposition on. The education system is an obvious target if we wish to regain control someday. But the space program seems a trivial 'co-conspirator" next to education. Don't misunderstand, I'd love to see the U.S. back in the space-race, but it seems unimportant next to regaining control of the education system.

And the claim by NASA that their purpose is to highlight the scientific accomplishments of the Muslim community is absolute insanity.

sjfcontrol wrote:I'm more than a little surprised by the selection of items that Whittle decided to base his analysis/proposition on. The education system is an obvious target if we wish to regain control someday. But the space program seems a trivial 'co-conspirator" next to education. Don't misunderstand, I'd love to see the U.S. back in the space-race, but it seems unimportant next to regaining control of the education system.

And the claim by NASA that their purpose is to highlight the scientific accomplishments of the Muslim community is absolute insanity.

I think that he was using space exploration as an example, to say that there really is no limit to what the private sector can do if there is enough interest and people willing to pay for a subscription to it. Even the national defense depends ultimately on those "rifles behind every blade of grass" which are so often apocryphally referred to when people really mean "the militia." In fact, Whittle made some reference in that recording to gun ownership. The Patriot Post's Mark Alexander made that a keystone to yesterday's emailed newsletter, titled "American Patriots and Guns" (http://patriotpost.us/alexander/15685):

On the most recent "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, which has become the biggest commercial sales day of the year, despite the continuing economic decline, there were record sales in one notable product category: Guns.

...........[snip].........

With that as a backdrop, I was asked this week if Patriots have an obligation to arm themselves -- to be gun owners, and be proficient at the use of arms. I thought at first the question was rhetorical, but after some consideration, I realize that there are millions of grassroots Patriots who are NOT among the 60 million plus Patriots who are already law-abiding gun owners.

Apparently, the question needs to be addressed, as the answer may not be as obvious to some folks as it should be. By way of responding to this question, let me first briefly reiterate the historical and enduring case for gun ownership, which is as relevant today and tomorrow as it was at the dawn of our national founding.

..........[snip].........

Thus, all American Patriots today, those imbued with the spirit of Liberty that has motivated Patriots since 1776, must be prepared to support and defend both individual and corporate Liberty, to secure the Rule of Law over the rule of men.

Of the ability to defend Liberty, James Madison wrote, "The ultimate authority ... resides in the people alone. ... The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition." (Federalist No. 46)

..........[snip]...........


So, given that Liberty must be supported and defended at all hazards, and given the current assault on gun ownership, consider again the question, "Do Patriots have an obligation to arm themselves -- to be gun owners, and be proficient at the use of arms?"

The answer is, emphatically and absolutely, YES.

Does anybody think for one minute that this truth is being taught in the nation's public schools? If not, why not? After all, they are teaching other things.....IMPORTANT stuff........like how to have safe gay sex, how to put on a condom, how to ignore the Constitution, how to avoid judging, how there are no losers, only winners, how to accept mediocrity as the price of diversity instead of insisting on excellence in all things, etc., etc.—all things which are far less important to the nitty-gritty survival of the nation in a national emergency than the ability to fight back and to understand and defend our founding principles. The answer is obvious......the government does not want an armed citizenry. The government does not want a citizenry well versed in constitutional civics. The government does want a people who believe that anything good they have in life can only come from government........not God, or private free enterprise, or innate superior talent, etc. If that is the case, why is it so? If you follow this line of reasoning, it can only lead in one direction, and denial is not the option that is going to prepare one for the inevitable collapse of federal structures.

The logic of it is inexorable. After the election results earlier this month, I was profoundly depressed for a while about the nation's future and I saw no alternatives to the eventual disintegration of national authority. It seemed that the only way to avoid it was to become a hermit.......something which is increasingly impossible in a world where they lock you up for not paying your taxes. I am still convinced that the nation is headed off of a cliff, and that this election boiled down to the difference between hitting the brakes or the gas. The voters chose to hit the gas.

So be it, and given that reality, I agree wholeheartedly with Bill Whittle.