Today I read another “Privatization is good” piece in our local paper. It is claimed there that selling our public roads is a brilliant maneuver in managing budget shortfalls. As this isn’t argued, detailed or proven in any way by appeal to facts or outcomes, it is clearly only rhetoric. The rhetoric is only intended to “sell” privatization. As if the citizens created the budget…
Against Sunset
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A Seasonal Gift of Skepticism: Markets Do Not Passeth Understanding
I suppose it would be fair to say I try to offer two things: an idea or vision of things we might do that could actually create non-destructive pleasure and fulfillment in our daily lives; and a skepticism of nearly everything that fits into our marketable world-view. I would like to think that the first tempers what many of us may certainly feel is a…
The Stone of Life Need Roll Nowhere
I am a relaxed person. Until I read the newspaper, or see links from Facebook posts, telling me what is being done around me. You see, I like not doing anything. That doesn’t mean I don’t work; I feel this writing is a kind of work maybe something Donald Hall terms “life work”: the work of being, the work of thinking, the work of creating….
Towards the Wide Ocean of Freedom
“To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessd, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have no right, nor wisdom or virtue… To be governed means that at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorised, recommended, admonished, prevented, reformed,…
Ignorance and Charity: One Man’s Garbage…
Correction in text–12/1, 12:38 This Foreign Policy blog post was put on the Facebooks today by a friend (h/t Kelly), “Haiti doesn’t need your old t-shirt.” True, too true. Here’s the gist, and it’s a good read and a good introduction to actually thinking about what you’re doing in the world, but it also leaves out quite a bit once the author decides to give…
The Birthday of Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain
Honestly, this one passed without recognition until a good friend asked me if I might post something today about it. I was somewhat surprised to be reminded how much of his life was lived in the 19th Century (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910); in my mind I always pair him somewhat with George Orwell which seems pretty silly considering all the steamboats about in…
Chastening Dissent: The Vulgarity of the Commoners
I’m sure you’ve seen the news that a teen tweeted her opinion that the Gov of Kansas “sucked,” including a hashtag #heblowsalot, but if not, here’s a news report from CNN, “Kansas governor apologizes for ‘overreaction’ to teen’s disparaging tweet.” Here’s a snippet: The teen made national headlines last week for a tweet she said was intended just for her friends. During a Kansas Youth…
Claims on Belief: The Greatest Show on Earth
My son is studying James Whitcomb Riley for school. Hoosier Poet or Children’s Poet depending on which books you like of his. In reality he appears to have been a very amazing comedian and story-teller. In other words, a performer, an actor. His poems make this clear. They cannot be read with much pleasure, you must imagine them coming to life in performance where the…
VP Biden’s Brother Frank Shovels for Mavericks in Education
When Lisa Rab outed Joe Biden’s brother, Frank, as a major force behind a for-profit education management organization (EMO) dead set on building 100 new charter schools across Florida,* it came as no surprise to anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention to the corporate school reform movement, the Obama/Biden/Duncan regime, or Florida. What was surprising was that Francis W. Biden told…