“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.”
“I have not yet begun to fight!”
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For the last 22 years, I’ve had school-age kids. None of them went to a public school; instead, we homeschooled.
Though my children certainly didn’t cost Virginia’s state and local governments the more than $10,000 a year they spend on each public school student, I sure never got a letter from the government apologizing for not “earning” my tax payments or a reimbursement check for taxes paid.
Which went through my mind when I read an email from the Virginia PTA — the Parent Teacher Association. The group’s Janet Ciaravino urged its cadre to: “Let [legislators] know that public school is your choice and team sports are a privilege you earned and expect them to protect.”
The Virginia PTA has come unglued at the thought that House Bill 947, known as the “Tebow Bill,” may pass and allow homeschool children to try out for public school sports. To avoid that unthinkable prospect, the PTA pushes politicians to “protect” their privileges at the expense of homeschool kids who simply want a try-out.
Then come horror stories, unimaginable hypothetical situations designed to overwhelm our emotions. For instance, the PTA email posed a harrowing question, “What’s next? Drama, debate, electives?”
If we’re not careful, public education could break out.
The PTA’s orthographically deviant slogan is “every child. one voice.” Why not allow every one of those children his or her own voice? And an equal chance to win a spot on the team.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
A newspaper report brought a smile to my face and a strange sense of . . . relief, reassurance. A group of hackers known as Anonymous has apparently cracked into and tape-recorded a conference call held between the FBI and Britain’s Scotland Yard.
The call was to discuss the international investigation of the Anonymous hackers.
“The #FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal [communications] for some time now. #OpInfiltration,” read a taunting tweet about the audio file.
An FBI agent, insisting on speaking anonymously, said, “It’s not really that sophisticated.” The anonymous government agent explained that the Anonymous group had somehow intercepted an email with the call’s information. The agent offered that the FBI is “always looking at ways to make our communications more secure.”
Apparently, Anonymous has quite the work ethic. Shortly following the penetration of FBI/Scotland Yard security (so to speak), down went websites for the Greek Ministry of Justice, the Boston Police Department, and the lawyers representing a U.S. Marine implicated in the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians.
Now, I don’t generally support hacking into government computers or taking down people’s websites. I’m more laissez-faire. But, actions by Anonymous to force government transparency are helpful, may even sport a certain revolutionary justice.
Is Anonymous on my side? More so, I bet, than this scary national security state that now thinks it can assassinate or incarcerate an American citizen without charge or any legitimate judicial process on the orders of one man: the president.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
On Feb. 7, 1775, Benjamin Franklin published “An Imaginary Speech” in London, responding to comments made to the Parliament that the British need not fear the colonial rebels, as “Americans are unequal to the People of this Country in Devotion to Women, and in Courage, and worse than all, they are religious.” In his thoughtful counter, Franklin slyly recalled that the population in the colonies had increased, while the British population had declined, and, therefore, American men must be more “effectually devoted to the Fair Sex” than their British brethren.
On Feb. 7, 1907, the first large march – known as ”the Mud March” – was organized by Britain’s National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), with more than 3,000 women slogging through the cold, muddy streets of London, from Hyde Park to Exeter Hall, to advocate for women’s suffrage.
On Feb. 7, 1990, the Central Committee of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union agreed to endorse President Mikhail Gorbachev’s recommendation that the party give up its 70-year monopoly on political power. A Communist Party official noted, “Society itself will decide whether it wishes to adopt our politics.”
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Paul Weyrich
“Policy makers still think that if we just hand out more money the world’s problems will be solved.”
On Feb. 6, 1959, Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.
On Feb. 6, 1989, the Polish Round Table Talks began in Warsaw, Poland. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest. The talks ended on April 4, 1989, with the legalization of independent trade unions and the introduction of a representative legislature, including the office of President, which annulled the power of the Communist party general secretary. In elections that June, Solidarność won almost every single seat on the ballot.
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Voters with Zombie Power
Americans overwhelmingly support term limits for Congress. Nonetheless, last week, three-fourths of the U.S. Senate said, “Hell no, [they] won’t go.”
By a 75 to 24 vote, Senators defeated an amendment introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) to express support for a constitutional amendment limiting congressional tenure as a “sense of the Senate.”
Term limits killed again — but with zombies currently all the rage, could the issue reach back from the grave for revenge . . . hungry for incumbent flesh?
Yes.
Senate races in Indiana, Missouri and Montana feature incumbents in very tight re-election contests who voted against the term limits the citizens of their states enthusiastically endorse.
Sen. Claire McCaskill’s campaign is reeling from scandal — her office billed taxpayers $76,000 for 89 chartered flights on a plane she co-owned. If profiting from expensive jet-setting on the taxpayers’ tab isn’t enough to defeat her, the Senator’s vote against term limits just might do the trick.
In Montana, Sen. Jon Tester claims to be a populist, but voted to allow incumbents to stay in office just as long as they live. What will Montana voters think about that . . . if they were to find out?
In a competitive GOP primary in Indiana between 36-year incumbent Sen. Dick Lugar, the third longest-serving senator, and State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, Lugar’s vote against term limits may be Exhibit A to show that he is an out-of-touch career politician — a part of the problem, not the solution.
Given a choice, voters favor candidates who favor term limits, who understand that power must come with limits.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Roger Williams
“Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.”
On Feb. 5, 1631, Roger Williams immigrated to America, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts. Williams went on to establish the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities, start the first Baptist church in America, and advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans.
On Feb. 5, 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
On Feb. 5, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur returned to Manila. He had said he would.
On Feb. 5, 1958, a hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb was lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.