Bees and ‘Bots: Homeschoolers Once Again Win Big

This year, homeschooled students have again won academic recognition all out of proportion to their numbers.

On May 25, the National Geographic Bee — a competition involving five million United States students — was won by 13-year-old homeschooler Nathan Cornelius. Nathan, from Cottonwood, Minnesota, says his interests include photography, piano, and classical guitar, but “I think geography is my favorite subject.”

On June 2, another young homeschooler, 11-year-old Samir Patel of Colleyville, Texas, tied for second place in the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.

And on April 9-10, two robot-building teams made up of homeschooled students won first and third place in the prestigious international 12th Annual Trinity Continue reading →

Government Schools Producing Legions of the Ignorant

Evidence continues mounting that government schools are failing in their most fundamental responsibilities.

One of the latest examples comes from New York City, where an incredible 81% of eighth-graders flunked the state’s basic social studies exam last year.

Even worse, the scores have gone down every year since the testing began in 2001. In 2001-02 the failure rate was “only” 62%.

Across the state of New York the scores were also horrendous, though not as bad as NYC. 55% of the state’s eighth-graders flunked, up from 35% in 2001-02.

The test measures knowledge of basic history and government

A sample question:

“European Jews and other groups were killed in large numbers by Nazi Germany during World War II. Which term Continue reading →

Government Preparedness and Response

“This is now the focus of this administration.” declared the president today during a press conference on hurricane Katrina and natural disasters in general. “We will root out all of these evils—hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, avalanches, tornadoes—we must not allow them to cause devastation unhindered. We will fight this war on natural disaster, and we will not stop nor back down until we have succeeded. It is this country’s obvious duty to ensure every person in the world is safe and secure, because all have a right to live life without the fear of being exposed to any harm or calamity.”

(Note: the previous selection is entirely fictional. If you happened to believe it, you are officially gullible.)

Seriously though, Continue reading →

Federal Government Loses $25 billion

“Oops! Sorry, we misplaced $25 billion of your dollars.”

So says the federal government. (Well, except for the “sorry” part.)

As federal budget expert Brian Riedl of the conservative Heritage Foundation reports:

“[T]he federal government cannot account for $25 billion it spent in 2003. That’s billion with a “b.” Federal auditors know that $25 billion was spent by someone, somewhere, on something, but don’t know who spent it, where it was spent or on what it was spent. ***That amount is more than the total federal taxes paid by all of the residents in each of 28 states.*** It’s enough to fund the entire Department of Justice budget.”

Riedl also notes that mention of the loss is “buried in the Department of the Treasury’s 2003 Continue reading →

“It Can’t Happen Here…?”

“In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical question with regard to the onslaught of government growth in the post-September 11th era: Is America becoming a police state?

“The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined.

“[T]he new intelligence bill … moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a full-fledged national ID card…

“Those who believe a police state can’t happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain Continue reading →

Tax Freedom Day

Each year the Tax Foundation in Washington calculates the number of days that Americans work to pay their federal and state taxes. Their “Tax Freedom Day” is the day on which the average American, if he were required to pay off all of his taxes before collecting any income himself, would finally be able to start working for himself.

This year, the Tax Foundation says that, for the average American, Tax Freedom Day was April 17.

That 107 days makes taxation the biggest expense for the average American — more than food and transportation (31 days), household expenses (65 days), and healthcare and clothing (52 days)… combined.

The latest-ever Tax Freedom Day was May 3, 2000. Four years of federal tax reductions have pushed that Continue reading →

Ron Paul on the War in Iraq

Some things to think about:

(The following is excerpted from a much longer speech delivered before the U.S. House of Representatives on April 6 by Congressman Ron Paul, R-TX.)

Whenever the administration is challenged regarding the success of the Iraq war, or regarding the false information used to justify the war, the retort is: Aren’t the people of Iraq better off? The insinuation is that anyone who expresses any reservations about supporting the war is an apologist for Saddam Hussein and every ruthless act he ever committed.

How much better off are the Iraqi people? Hundreds of thousands of former inhabitants of Fallajah are not better off with their city flattened and their homes destroyed.

Hundreds of thousands are not Continue reading →

Alienating Our Youth

Chris Frappier, investigator with Vermont’s state public defender’s office…

“So our kids, our children, who feel lost, disenfranchised—they join gangs! And why not? I mean, look at the communities in this state that wage war on kids. We kick them out of our parks, we ban them from skateboarding…What I’m seeing in recent years it the total and complete alienation of our youth. And it is not coming from them; it is coming from adults who are not bothering to reach out to them…And that is terrifying.” Quoted from “Hurt” by Chap Clark.

(Thanks to neohippy for sending this out to me.)