et respondens rex dicet illis amen dico vobis quamdiu fecistis uni de his fratribus meis minimis mihi fecistis

And the king answering shall say to them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me

Lost a SAM at New Ruskin College.com

Where have all the Libyan surface to air missiles gone?

Gone to terrorists everyone,  when will we ever learn?

Lecture Notes   10-21-12

To: Mr. Romney

Subject:  Obama’s failure to secure surface to air missiles in the Libyan stockpiles.

Someone should ask the President why he did not take control of the Libyan surface to air missiles.

Was it because the former academic, community organizer, machine politician, was unable to direct the U. S. M. C. into harms way to secure these weapons?    Too timid to take action?  Note that it took months to give the order to attack  OBL even though they knew the Al-Qaeda messengers were coming and going from the safe house.  (The US learned the name of the messenger from water boarding the terrorists.  (In WWII the US charged the Japanese for water boarding its personnel.  The difference is that our troops were in uniform, in accordance with international law.  When these troops moved they carried their national flag for all to see.  Their actions were proclaimed in a declaration of war and their actions were set against the uniformed enemy.  The US abided by the Geneva Conventions.  The terrorists do not wear uniforms, they target civilians, they act in secret.))

With Mr. Obama in office we will find out where the surface to air missiles are when the air planes start falling from the sky.

PS  And I think that Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must  be overthrown.

Lecture Notes
9-17-12

To: Mr. Romney

Subject: The First Policy is the Economy, but it is not the only Policy.

I am a Republican because I recognize that the first policy of government must be to get the economy right. If you do not get the economy right none of the other policies matter. However the difference between the two political parties with respect to the economy has narrowed in recent years. And not just in America but in Britain as well. The so called New Labor Party represents an open acknowledgement that the Socialist Dreams have been replaced by economic realism.
Since Billy Clinton led the Democrats back to the center on the economy, the debate between the two Parties turns less on economics and more on the other issues which divide us. For example welfare had been for at least three generations thought by Democrats as an alternative or substitute to gainful participation in the economy. Welfare reform under Billy Clinton is another open acknowledgement that welfare was no substitute for work. Both Parties had come to see that the culture of welfare was ruinous to the human spirit.

(As I understand the position of Doctor Professor Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on welfare reform, it came down to one issue: will we guarantee the children of welfare absolute protection? Dr. Gingrich is the only political leader to answer Dr. Moynihan’s position. Dr. Gingrich offered the idea of creating orphanages. (I had previously recommended we call orphanages “24 hour schools,” as a more up to date term.) But Billy Clinton turned a blind eye on the plight of the children of welfare. No guarantees for the children were forthcoming. They “rolled over Moynihan” as one administration staffer said.)

But the fact remains that before welfare reform the Republican Party held the leading position on that issue and the culture of dependency . The Democrats for over three generations aligned themselves with that poisonous culture of welfare. (The recent movie Precious showed the lives of welfare recipients.) However, the point I am making is strategic: as the Democrats move to the center the argument for Republicans grows weaker. 

Had the Republicans followed Dr. Gingrich’s suggestion the Republicans could have once again taken the moral high ground by offering 24 hour schools for troubled youths. There are 19,000 children in New York Cities’ homeless shelters. You may feel that these are just part of the 47% who are dependent on the government and you don’t care about them.

However, the 5% to 10% you identify as being in the center and who may be amenable to our arguments are concerned about the homeless, and about the 50 million without insurance coverage, and about the 23 million unemployed or under employed or just to discouraged to look for work.

If you want to persuade the middle 10% you must concern yourself with the bottom 47% for the middle 10% of voters are looking at how you would treat “the least of them,” before giving you their vote.
PS And I think the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.

Americans disappointed by Humanity at New Ruskin College

Lecture Notes:  10-13-12

The Florida state Board of Education passed a controversial plan to set reading and math goals based upon race.

News  Tampa CBS

October 12, 2012 11:32 AM

Florida State Board of Education, John F. Kennedy Middle School, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach Post

Palm Beach, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race.

On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.

The plan has infuriated many community activists in Palm Beach County and across the state.

“To expect less from one demographic and more from another is just a little off-base,” Juan Lopez, magnet coordinator at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, told the Palm Beach Post.

JFK Middle has a black student population of about 88 percent.

“Our kids, although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they still have the ability to learn,” Lopez said. “To dumb down the expectations for one group, that seems a little unfair.”

Others in the community agreed with Lopez’s assessment. But the Florida Department of Education said the goals recognize that not every group is starting from the same point and are meant to be ambitious but realistic.

As an example, the percentage of white students scoring at or above grade level (as measured by whether they scored a 3 or higher on the reading FCAT) was 69 percent in 2011-2012, according to the state. For black students, it was 38 percent, and for Hispanics, it was 53 percent.

In addition, State Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen Shanahan said that setting goals for different subgroups was needed to comply with terms of a waiver that Florida and 32 other states have from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. These waivers were used to make the states independent from some federal regulations.

“We have set a very high goal for all students to reach in Florida,” Shanahan said.

But Palm Beach County School Board vice-chairwoman Debra Robinson isn’t buying the rationale.

“I’m somewhere between complete and utter disgust and anger and disappointment with humanity,” Robinson told the Post. She said she has been receiving complaints from upset black and Hispanic parents since the state board took its action this week.

Robinson called the state board’s actions essentially “proclaiming racism” and said she wants Palm Beach County to continue to educate every child with the same expectations, regardless of race

PS  And I think Iran’s nuclear program must be destroyed and the regime should be over thrown. 

No end to it at New Ruskin College

Lecture Notes:     10-12-12

To:  Mr. Romney

Subject:   Dr. Milton Freidman’s last words

I previously explained the reason for how a Conservative could support minimum wage laws.

I pointed out the things we have done to limit the freedom of action for the poor:  push carts in the downtown are outlawed,  even such occupations as florists, hair dressers, and manicurists all require testing for state and local government’s licensing.  One could also include the closing of the Great Frontier;  the heavily capitalized farming industry displacing small farmers;  the loss of low value added industries    as they moved to overseas;  the loss of manual labor jobs from construction sites to the factory floor.

Perhaps nothing has been so damaging to the laboring classes as the huge bureaucratic project of exclusionary zoning and its single use doctrine.  City planners have imposed anti-market controls based on an esthetic that they have learned at the elite schools.  At these schools they learn to regard people as “congestion;”  tall buildings as a kind of pollution and their residents as “aliens;” and mixed use zoning as old fashion.

What is most notable about exclusionary zoning and building codes is the across the board acceptance by both Right and Left.  The Left can at least claim that they believe in government and its ability to direct the economy.  But even conservatives see nothing wrong with denying private property owners  the full use of their property.   As Dr. Edward Glaeser has said in his important new book The Triumph of the City,   Boston, New York City, and San Francisco all Left controlled for the last 60 years are leaders in zoning out the poor.

Cities have been so successful at zoning out the poor that they now have no place for those low income workers that are needed by the city.  The City of Santa Barbara, for example,, has turned over church and city parking lots for people who are living in their cars.  The homeless are nannies, housekeepers, gardeners, bus drivers etc.  

Given all of this interference with the free market  what is a minimum wage law?  An unacceptable interference with free enterprise?  Of course this attitude is foolish.  But not so foolish that Rush Limbaugh can’t proclaim it.  (I once posted a series of posts on modular construction which is outlawed by most cities with exclusionary building codes.  Rush Limbaugh went on the air and said he would not want a mobile home next to his mansion.  (Note there is a difference between planned communities where the deeds include such covenants that limit what can be built, and even what color it can be painted, and cities with no deed restrictions. ))

All these examples are just a few that could be used to show how we the people, acting through the state, have undermined the position of the laboring classes, i.e. the poor.  The creation of a minimum wage law is just a pitifully small way we can counter balance all this and give aid to the poor.

Milton Friedman was asked what he thought of the logic of this argument.  He replied in an exasperated  way saying ‘There will be no end to it.  The government is involved in so many ways in the market  that there will be no limit to demands to counteract the interference in the market.’

I am reminded of a New Yorker cartoon showing a doctor and a nurse standing at the window of the nursery with the caption of the doctor saying  “Where will it all end Nurse Smith. . . where will it all end.”

PS  And I think Iran’s nuclear program must be destroyed and the regime should be over thrown.