Anti-Positivist

Thursday, July 16, 2009
If once the people become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington [1787]

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:30 PM 0 comments links to this post

From the July edition of Educational Leadership -- You can sense where this nonsense is going. -- Jim

4. Arrange "Concern Meetings"
During a concern meeting, a counselor and two or more peers privately confront a student who has fallen down academically or behaviorally, expressing concern and probing for how that student might do better and what supports the student may need. The choice of peers in a concern meeting is crucial. If the erring student does not perceive all participants as caring friends, there is a good chance that this student will experience the peer pressure during the meeting as harmful rather than helpful. When the confronted student believes the confronters are on his or her side, however, that student can make remarkable changes.At Hyde Leadership Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. (a National School of Character finalist), several educators and four students held a concern meeting with an 11th grade girl whose grades had taken a downturn and who was speaking disrespectfully to teachers. The girl first blamed the teacher present for not being fair, but one of the boys said softly, "I think you're pointing the finger at other people. I've done that myself. The sooner you address this as your problem, the sooner you'll solve it." Another student told her, "I've been where you are. Last year I got myself into a similar predicament because of my attitude. But I've known you for a long time. I know your work ethic. I know you're much better than this."

By the meeting's end, the girl's defensiveness was gone. There were some tears, and her four peers spontaneously hugged her. With the dean's encouragement, she made goals for her coursework and community service and set a time to check in with the group and report on how her plan was working

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 12:37 AM 1 comments links to this post

Jefferson Predicts America in 2009

“If we run into debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they do now, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves out to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.”

(Jefferson to Samuel Kerchival, March, 1816)

(The Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1900, pp. 234-235)

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# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:27 PM 0 comments links to this post

Pink Slip Congress - Today

It's time for them to come home. They spend money we don't have. They pass bills without reading them. They watch as thousands of innocent people are thrown out of work for no just cause and businesses are destroyed. They are conspiring to take over your healthcare and strip you of your choices. They have abandoned the principles of the Declaration and Constitution and cast aside the rule of law.

So why should they claim to be representing you?

We are sending every member their Termination Notice. It's time to let them know we are finished. It's time for them to come home. You can download this pdf file, print it and send copies to the local district office of your Representative and Senator.

Then copy and paste the pink slip text into an email and send it to the DC offices of your Representative and Senators. You can find their contact information here on this site.Or you can call the Congressional Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask for your House Member and Senators. Ask each office for an email address and fax number for your Members.

So you send hard copies to the local district offices and email copies to Washington D.C. Hold onto this contact information for future emails, faxes and mailings you will want to send in the coming months ahead.

Contact information for your members of Congress is right here.

Then call the local office and the DC office and ask them if they got their Termination Notice. If not, ask them for their fax number and send them another copy. They'll get the message.

More Messages to Congress

We will be sending more messages to Congress in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for downloads on how to send more important information like: Moving Companies they should contact, Resume Services, Move-out checklists, etc.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:17 PM 0 comments links to this post

Mom or government?

It's tornado season here in Ohio.

This afternoon as a few funnel clouds were forming miles from my house, I received a call from my mother living in Florida. Seems she was not about to wait for her son to make his yearly Mother's Day call as she had urgent news. CNN and other news outlets were reporting funnel clouds and tornados in Central Ohio, with my county noted as a likely target. This was sometime before 2:00. I turned on the TV and hit the web for detailed updates. Luckily, the storms passed overhead without even a significant touchdown.

With the menace long gone, I received another phone call; an automated call from the county 911 department notifying me of the tornado warning. This was 2:25, with the warning to expire at 2:30. And, more importantly, with the storms no longer in the county, or even a threat to adjoining counties.

Then I learned that Franklin County -- just to my south -- also had a delayed tornado warning because "Franklin County EMA deputy director Jim Leonard said the communications room is not manned during weekends and holidays, but there are two people on-call at all times."

Do I complain to management? No way. Those folks are looking for complaints as a means to justify additional funding. Do I keep my mother happy? You bet! Her warning was neither delayed nor costly.

Remember mom, and not just on Mother's Day.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:15 PM 0 comments links to this post

Castle says officials evaluating use of public resources for '08 levy
Tuesday, June 30, 2009 6:41 PM
By GAIL MARTINEAU

ThisWeek Staff Writer
New Albany-Plain Local Schools Superintendent Steve Castle said any use of his district e-mail account to conduct business for the New Albany for Kids political-action committee was "minimal and inadvertent."

He also said district officials are looking into policies regarding use of district e-mail accounts.

Castle and other school district officials used their district e-mail accounts to conduct business for New Albany for Kids during last November's levy campaign.

District e-mail accounts are taxpayer-funded.

ThisWeek obtained records indicating Castle's use of his New Albany-Plain Local School district e-mail address, scastle@new-albany.k12.oh.us,to conduct levy-campaign business.

According to the Ohio Revised Code section 3315.07, "No board of education shall use public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy or bond issue or to compensate any school district employee for time spent on any activity intended to influence the outcome of a school levy or bond issue election."

He sent an e-mail at 5:07 p.m. Nov. 3 -- the eve of election day -- to New Albany for Kids members and to former district communications director Carole Dorn-Bell, district treasurer Brian Ramsay and board members Diane Goedeking and Mike Klein from his gmail account, informing them of the use of AmeriContact, a local calling service, to place "get out the vote" calls on Nov. 3. He also sent the e-mail to his NA-PLS e-mail account and to Ramsay's public e-mail address.

Castle told ThisWeek via e-mail June 23 that his role with NAFK was as a private citizen, not as the superintendent.

"Obviously, a superintendent has a role with all citizen advisory committees, which is a valuable means of having citizen input," he said. "However, there is no doubt that I played a role as a private citizen and, like the majority of those who voted in November, wanted to see the operating issue pass."

He has said the NAFK campaign committee was a citizens advisory committee authorized by the board. NAFK have countered that the committee was entirely separate from the school district.

Castle said he does not think he violated Ohio law by using district e-mail accounts.

"I am aware of the statute. It is the reason why we had separate e-mail accounts, contracts, a committee structure and agreements in the first place," he said.

The separate e-mail account was a gmail account from which the Nov. 3 e-mail originally was sent.

"A separate account was set up and used for campaign purposes," Castle said. "To the extent any campaign use of the district account occurred, it was very minimal and inadvertent and probably occurred in the heat of the last few days of the campaign. We are currently reviewing whether any inadvertent use of district resources took place, reviewing our policies and will address any identified issues."

NA-PLS board members heard an introduction of a new e-mail-use retention policy during their June 22 business meeting. Members are expected to adopt the new policies in July.

Kelly Neer, an assistant campaign-finance administrator with the Ohio Secretary of State's Office, said the issue of legality comes down to the appropriate use of public tax dollars.

He said legality is determined by the time of day a specific situation occurred and whether public equipment, such as a computer, smart phone or e-mail server, was used to conduct PAC business.

Debbie Klug, NAFK treasurer, said that when she received the e-mails, she was more concerned with the fact that Castle had made a decision for the PAC's campaign committee without consulting its members and less concerned about the e-mail account from which his message had come.

Cheri Lehmann, former head of the NAFK campaign committee, agreed.

"We had an understanding of Ohio law, and for that reason, we were not comfortable meeting in the superintendent's conference room and during school hours," she said.

Lehmann said no meetings were held on school grounds during school hours.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:37 PM 0 comments links to this post

Rule by the majority is beneficial only to those who happen to always be in the majority. Otherwise, democracy is no better than any other form of control. -- Jim

Friday, June 19, 2009
There probably are as many persons coerced into acting, not as they want, but as others want, through majority rule as through totalitarian dictatorship.
— John C. Sparks, The Freeman [May 1971]

This is the very same game now played by both sides of the aisle. -- Jim

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Naturally the common people don't want war.... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.... All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism.
— Hermann Goering

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:31 PM 1 comments links to this post

Todd Hanks, in support of his “buddy” Jordan, funded Jordan’s plan against longtime members of Central Committee by using $6,000.00 he pirated out of his auditor campaign fund that he converted to his “Todd Hanks for Central Committee” fund. No campaign reporting is required for central committee races – Hanks found a new way to steal! We acknowledge that Hanks won his Central Committee race; however, he never had a challenger. Hanks won’t be on the ballot again until 2010, but has received Party funds in the past and continually has fund raisers for himself while endorsed candidates are trying to beat Democrats (and who need the limited money available from contributors today). Hanks is the leading contender to claim Jordan’s office – if he wins. (see the tax trouble situation in "Brenner.")

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:51 PM 3 comments links to this post

A Nation of Ratfinks
by Jim Fedako

Ludwig von Mises: "A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper. He must free himself from the habit, just as soon as something does not please him, of calling for the police."

Totalitarianism used to be the product of the Hitlers and Stalins of the world, but your neighbors are beginning to grasp the power of a centralized government that exists exclusively to metastasize its evils throughout every human endeavor — a government that never sleeps and is always ready to put its nose into anyone's business. Just give the feds a call, they're ready and willing to assist with any effort that increases their power and influence. 24/7.

Are your children whining over carrots in their school lunch bag? Are you tired of hearing that Mr. and Mrs. So-And-So down the street let their children eat Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs for lunch? Does the local school cafeteria serve chocolate chip cookies to anyone with 50 cents to spare?

If the answer is yes, what do you do? Do you take control of your own family and lay down the laws of the household? Or do you blame this whole situation on those of the ilk of your neighbors, the So-And-Sos?

Taking control may cause some hard feelings for a few days, maybe even a week or two, but blaming the So-And-Sos gets you off the hook right away. See, if only the So-And-Sos joined you in your health crusade, your children would be forced to join; you know peer pressure and all of that. You hit the first bump in your road toward the Progressive Utopia when you realize that the So-And-Sos living down the street are not really that friendly with you and are unwilling to follow your marching orders. Ok, next option.

How about your best friend? He agrees that Ho-Hos are the devil's fruit but he's not certain about the Ding-Dongs; they do taste good with a tall glass of cold milk.

Your crusade just isn't working and your kids are still crying about their friend Johnny's lunch snacks.

How about petitioning the local school board? Ask them to ban all unhealthy foods — at least those foods that you deem unhealthy. What is to be considered unhealthy is simply those foods that you don't want your children to eat.

Alright, the list of foods has been defined, but how to get the school board to agree. Go to a meeting and call them all uncaring hypocrites. How can they sleep at night after claiming that they want the best for children all the while knowing that little Johnny crinkles the snack wrapper at lunch — in the school's cafeteria nonetheless?

Those crusty yahoos on the school board don't even smile as you speak, they've got their own agenda to push. Those who struggle with their own parenting somehow become omniscient once elected to a school board or hired as an administrator. Sure they pray that their own efforts will result in happy, health offspring, but they will not let that stop them from becoming the uber-parent of all who attend the local schools. Omniscient and omnipotent? Certainly. Free and compulsory? Absolutely. Interested in this specific agenda issue? Sorry, no.

A brick wall. Your crusade has stopped. Well, for a minute or two anyway. Then the idea hits; call your state representative. Put the pressure on him. Tell him that you are a strong party member who wants the best for all children. Doesn't he realize that a health crisis exists? Children are dying. Yes, dying. Not just those eating the snacks but also those experiencing the secondhand affects of snack attack. They are bound to suffer a lifetime of pre-snack-desire syndrome.

Your representative listens politely on the phone but really doesn't sound interested in tilting at this windmill. Come on now, there are more pressing concerns that can be used to further the interventionist agenda. This just isn't one of them.

So you are an unsatisfied constituent. Not to fear, you do have a congressman who delights in media coverage. He smells front page because the local paper likes to write about any Don Quixote who tilts for the masses. You've got the hook, time to land the fish. He'll gladly support your efforts because children are dying; it's all right there in the latest research by the Americans Against Unhealthy Foods Institute.

The congressman takes up the banner and enlists a eager bureaucrat in the Department of Health and Human Services to help craft the bill. This bureaucrat wants to make a name for himself. Sure he sneaks the odd Hostess cake at the gas station, but a statist career awaits him.

It is election time and enough House members are looking for the headline and public poll spike, and children are always a winner. Before you can find you way through the cellophane wrapper of a Twinkie, your bill is signed into law and now no one can serve their children snacks deemed unhealthy by a coalition of farmers, health food store owners, bureaucrats, and sundry statist do-gooders.

No longer can the school birthday party include cupcakes with icing. A vegetable tray with low fat dressing has to be served beneath the poster of Mr. Carrot and Ms. Broccoli stomping the Rat Snack.

Sounds unbelievable? Well it's real, and it is fast becoming the American Way.
I've seen a parent who was shocked that the average student in the local schools eats 10 candy bars at lunch during the school year. Can you believe that? Ten candy bars a year. Certainly she is correct in calling this a travesty and a crisis; the papers agreed with her. She soon caught the ear of state officials, for a while anyway. A bill was kicked around but the enthusiasm quickly waned. Bills like this never really go away though, they all return in a modified form when the timing is better.

The woman's crusade did not catch the current fancy of local and state officials but she is lucky enough to have a congressman who saw fit to work with FEMA so that three homes in Columbus, Ohio could be declared a disaster area due to minor land subsidence.[1] I fully expect her to be heard in Washington and the big paws of central government will find their way into all school lunch bags and boxes.

That neighborhood crank that we all try to avoid will most likely be testifying before a House committee about the health crisis she perceives to be affecting her neighborhood and the nation. You pay her no mind, at least until she receives a pen from the President at the signing of the Unhealthy Snack Food Act, to be known as Our Children Come First Initiative. Yesterday's crank is now your Gulag commandant.

Consider your options. Don't want to eat at a restaurant that allows smoking? You can either tell the owner that you are leaving because the smoke offends you, or you can work to force an outright ban on smoking. Approaching the owner is uncomfortable, but calling the local office of your congressman is easy. In fact, it will be a positive experience. Trust me, the elected ears want to hear your complaints. The constituent services worker in any congressional office loves these ideas. She'll listen attentively and be willing to work with you. Isn't it all about children, health, etc? No, it's all about interventionism and coercive power. But in this instance coercion is on your side.

Will your idea withstand judicial review? Certainly. The courts have already declared private property that exists for commercial purposes to be places of public convenience. The judges will have no problem accepting a law that bans smoking in all restaurants and bars. Nor will they consider a ban of Snickers in the lunch bag a violation of personal property rights.

You'll also be on the side of externalities and econometrics. Studies will appear that banning snacks in the school lunch bag will result in an annual x% increase in the local and national economies.

Don't believe them? Prove them wrong, or at least try to prove them wrong. You will find that their arguments morph as fast as those from a cornered Keynesian. Every time you think they're pinned, a new argument will wrestle itself free. No matter that each new argument refutes a prior one. Polylogism is the name of the game and logic for some ebbs and flows like tides in the Bay of Fundy.

The National Bureau of Economic Research will host conflicting correlative studies that not only contradict each other but stand outside of a priori logic. With conflict and contradiction comes a new government panel or commission, or both. Something has to give, and that something is your liberty.

I have to admit that prior to reading Critique of Interventionism, my first book by Ludwig von Mises, I was apt to vacillate with the argument of the times. Fighting against the statists and their supposed concerns for children and the general heath and welfare are tough without strong backing. After reading that book, along with Human Action, Bureaucracy, and the Rothbard classic, Man, Economy and State, I gained the knowledge to see through the statist haze.

Unlike most schools of economics and philosophy, the Austrian School has stayed true to its beliefs. Mises, a cultured gentleman, did not advocate that all be forced to live as he lived his life. No, he believed that private property was the essence of liberty. He's right!

Now back to my Ding-Dongs and hot chocolate.

Notes:

[1] "Home on North Side Sinking into Ancient Bog: City agrees to spend $570,000 to buy, demolish houses that are in danger," Columbus Dispatch, June 20, 2005

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:14 PM 1 comments links to this post

"That erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all, it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else." -- H. L. Mencken

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:16 PM 0 comments links to this post

Monday, June 15, 2009
But it happens that, at the same period and amongst the same nations in which men conceive a natural contempt for the rights of private persons, the rights of society at large are naturally extended and consolidated: in other words, men become less attached to private rights just when it is most necessary to retain and defend what little remains of them.

— Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America [1835]

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:11 PM 0 comments links to this post

Who benefits from democracy? To believe the standard reply, the masses — the demos — benefit from majority rule. I no longer accept that notion.

I recently finished Étienne de La Boétie's The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude. The book is powerful, indeed. The essence of his argument is that the tyrant rules by the will of the people, as no other means exists for one man to control the fates of millions.
While the whole book is challenging and thought provoking — a truly wonderful read — it was a small section of Part III that pulled me in and launched me on a tangent.

La Boétie notes that the tyrant and his chiefs rarely live out their natural ends. No, they tend to die at the hands of those closest to them. What accounts for this state of affairs? It is the fear that one's supposed allies are real threats — they likely are. And it is this fear that drives the power-seeking toward nighttime adventures and assassinations.

Since power is ever and always intoxicating, is the order of government the issue? While it is true that, as power increases and becomes more centralized, the dagger becomes the likely means to transition from oppressor to oppressor, does it necessarily follow that democracy is a better arrangement?

Democracy has allowed for peaceful transitions from one ruling elite to another (or, between different factions of the same elite). It is likely the most suitable arrangement to transfer power without bloodshed. But what is the benefit of democracy to me, the common man? Is it to celebrate those rare occasions when the majority views the world as I do? For even a tyrant will occasionally rule in my favor.

Democracy is no benefit to those enfranchised. A man may cherish democracy during his time in the majority and worship it when his views are no longer in the majority. But is this freedom? Is liberty nothing more than accepting the majority at all times, under all costs?

Liberty requires the ability to use one's body and property in any manner, as long as those actions do not collide with the liberty of others. And when collisions occur, a judge or arbitrator decides each case based on property rights, and property rights only.

In a democracy, liberty is simply the right to cast a vote for or against an issue or candidate, and then to accept the decision of the majority under threat of the apparatus of coercion and compulsion. Here, in essence, the political die is cast, with the singular vote having no effect. The voter must abide by an outcome even though he disagrees, and will likely lose property and property rights in the end. This arrangement is no different from one where the voter casts a symbolic vote, a vote that remains uncounted, with the outcome predetermined by the whims of the tyrant.

In either situation, the voter must accept the will of someone else. The right to vote, and the right to have that vote counted, changes nothing.

It would appear that democracy benefits the rulers, as democracy alone has provided the most consistent means for those formerly in power to sleep and die in peace.

And the same holds for the courtiers, nomenklatura, and apparatchiks. These sycophants need no longer dread midnight's knife and muffled cries, and the subsequent crowning of a new king. The elite and bureaucracy can retire to their farms and while away their passing years without fear — their riches and posterity intact.

As I see it now, democracy is not to the advantage of the demos, it is to the advantage of the power elite. Something to think about.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:11 PM 0 comments links to this post

City income-tax backers woo retirees
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 3:08 AM
By Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Roberta Johnson says it seems as if the emergency-medical squads reach her Near East Side senior-housing complex within seconds of a call for help.

And an increased police presence around Mount Vernon Plaza makes her neighbors feel safe enough to sit outside again on warm summer nights, she adds.

Johnson, who is 67, thinks older residents place a high value on Columbus city services that officials warn are in danger unless voters approve an income-tax increase Aug. 4.

Yesterday, she helped deliver a message that tax backers hope will win over the high-turnout bloc of voters: Higher taxes won't take a cent out of their pensions or Social Security checks.

Johnson and other supporters of the special-election ballot measure formally kicked off their campaign yesterday outside a Franklinton fire station. Citizens for Strong Neighborhoods and Good Jobs includes neighborhood leaders, labor unions and elected officials.

In addition to making the case for protecting police and fire protection, the supporters emphasized who would -- and wouldn't -- feel the pinch from a tax increase that would cost people an additional $50 for every $10,000 earned. The measure would increase the income-tax rate from 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

"Those who can afford it will pay the most," Johnson said. "Those who are poor will pay the least. For those of us living on pensions, we won't pay anything at all."
Retirees are among a number of groups exempt from Columbus' income tax. Pensions and Social Security aren't subject to the tax, nor are military pay, disability payments and income earned by children.

"They're trying to peel away groups of people," said Heidi Samuel, an East Side resident who started an anti-tax group called Not Right Now. "I don't think for one minute seniors are going to overlook the burden it puts on their neighbors," Samuel said.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:50 PM 0 comments links to this post

From the Education Intellegence Agency

4) Contract Hits. Wherein we highlight a contract provision from the current agreement between the National Education Association and its largest staff union. This is Article 17, Section 4, subsection (a):

(a) Progressive discipline shall not be required with regard to the following, which shall constitute just cause for immediate discharge:

i) habitually being under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs during working hours to the extent that the employee is unable to perform adequately his/her assigned functions;

ii) theft;

iii) willful falsification of official documents;

iv) gross insubordination, except where compliance would jeopardize the employee's health or safety;

v) unprovoked assault on or threats to an NEA representative or another employee during working hours;

vi) deliberate destruction of the property of NEA or of another employee;

vii) failure to comply with the provisions of Article 27 of this Agreement;

viii) sale or distribution of a controlled substance on the premises of NEA;

ix) deliberate destruction or misappropriation of electronic data or other proprietary information belonging to NEA;

x) deliberate misrepresentation of one's position at NEA for personal benefit or for the purpose of providing false information for the benefit of another; or

xi) aggravated sexual harassment."

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:57 PM 1 comments links to this post

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them
imaginary."
- H. L. Mencken

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:51 PM 0 comments links to this post

As I've written before, I'm not against unions in principle. There's no question that unions played a big part in getting worker safety addressed.

But the post WWII boom is over, and we need to recalibrate to a global market. Teachers and cops and firefighters may not think they're competing globally for jobs, but those of us our here in the private sector - the folks who pay the salaries of those unionized public employee - certainly feel that competition.

Things have to change.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 9:29 PM 0 comments links to this post

In general, I would say most teachers agree with that sentiment. I know few teachers who complain about pay. They chose the work they do and they know that just because a kid fresh from an MBA program can pull down a six-figure salary in his/her 20's while most teachers work 30 years and often don't reach that figure with the same amount of education, they are okay with it. It comes with the territory. I know a lot of teachers who just wish the state would fix the funding system so they wouldn't have to rely on taxes (teachers pay them, too).

When they say it's about the kids, they are talking about making sure high-quality teachers are in the classroom-- that usually translates to making sure salaries are competitive. Any district's payroll usually takes the lion's share of the budget. It is a people-intensive business.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 11:32 PM 0 comments links to this post

Tuesday, June 2, 2009
No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has plunged us.
— Ludwig von Mises, Socialism [1922]

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:43 PM 0 comments links to this post

Friends of Sara Marie Brenner
Sara Marie Brenner for Powell City Council in '09

Why Are Blogs Attacking Sara Marie Brenner?

Since the May 26th announcement, those against conservative fiscal policy and good government have already begun attacking Sara Marie Brenner. Yes, for a City Council race, people are already in attack mode! Various blogs and individuals are making up hateful lies just to try to make you think that Sara is something she's not. She cares too much about the City of Powell and good government in general to let them get away with it. Sara supports transparency and truth, and she will be happy to combat the lies that come out about her all through this campaign.

Show these people that you support Sara Marie Brenner by making an online donation to support Sara's campaign for Powell City Council. What a way to say "thank you" to the people who are posting the hateful lies!

So, let's get the record straight about the Delaware County Political Reporter blog, Topix blog, and other blogs out there that just like to spew hatred. First of all, they are all anonymous. While we have a pretty good idea of who it is, the people behind them don't come out and announce who they are or provide any proof. If they're so right, why don't they make themselves public and provide the proof? If Sara has something to say, she'll make sure you know she's the one saying it.

The Delaware County Political Reporter blog went through several of the people on Sara's campaign web site and attacked them individually, as well, just to try to scare them into retracting their endorsements. Are we going to let these people get away with these kinds of tactics? Fight against the dirty tactics of coercion and hatred by supporting Sara Marie Brenner for Powell City Council.

In addition, one of our county-wide elected officials to whom Sara sent an email asking for support posted the email on a blog, saying that they were "speechless" about receiving the email. Is this person that unconcerned about the job they were elected to do that they have time to contribute to a blog? As Powell City Councilwoman, Sara will be above politics and the 'cat and mouse games' that go on behind the scenes. Sara believes we all need to work together, especially in these times, to get things done for our constituents! The bickering and back-stabbing has to stop - it's a waste of time and resources for everyone.

A blog has also made a comment regarding Sara's support of keeping the Powell Chamber of Commerce separate from the Delaware Area Chamber of Commerce when the proposed merger was being discussed. Somehow, the blogs think that this means Sara doesn't support actually working together. To the contrary! Chambers of Commerce can partner in many ways, but that doesn't mean that they have to officially merge. The merger wasn't necessary, and it was best for Powell at the time, and continues to be best for Powell, for there to be a separate Chamber of Commerce supporting Powell's many businesses. Blogs' claims that this is "contradictory" is nothing but a far-fetched falsehood.

And now, the Delaware County Political Reporter blog is claiming that Sara's husband, Delaware County Recorder & Legislative Candidate Andrew Brenner, is "laundering" money through Sara's company for his campaign. We ask, prove it! When the campaign finance reports are filed, the world will be able to see that this is another lie attempted to demean to two public servants who have the best interests of the citizens at heart. The Brenners are working and will work hard to protect taxpayers dollars.

All of these blog claims are false and baseless, and written by Sara's opponents who don't want for she or her husband to be successful public servants. Just as Andrew has been able to cut his own budget while in office, Sara supports fiscal conservativism, as well, and looks forward to bringing those principals to the City of Powell. She can't help it if her opponents want the status quo of lawsuits, voters feeling they aren't being heard and bickering between the township and city. Help Sara Marie Brenner stop the lawsuits, keep taxes low, listen to constituents, work to better handle traffic and congestion, and move forward with balanced growth and development!

To combat these groups and individuals, Sara Marie Brenner will need the campaign funds for mailers, yard signs, literature pieces and other necessary materials to get the word out about her positive campaign. Please make a secure online donation and support her campaign!

We will continue to refute the false claims we find. For more information on Sara Marie Brenner, please visit www.SaraMarieBrenner.com and you are always welcome to contact the campaign. We will be happy to answer any questions you have about Sara, Andrew or the campaign at any time. Just call or email!

Together, we will send a clear message to those trying to undermine Sara Marie Brenner's campaign.

Friends of Sara Marie Brenner

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 9:04 PM 1 comments links to this post

American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper
by Stanislav Mishin

This article originally appeared in Pravda. It is reprinted with the permission of the author.

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the backdrop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blinds the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega-preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo-Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breathtaking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beaten our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motors) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self-given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western-sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

May 18, 2009

Stanislav Mishin writes for the blog Mat Rodina.

Copyright © 2009 Stanislav Mishin

(Editor: This article was abridged)

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:28 PM 2 comments links to this post

Where is the outrage? Are we all just sheeple?

From FoxNew.com (HT LewRockwell.com):

Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit
Thursday, May 28, 2009

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News.

"We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a Bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

For David and Mary Jones, it's about more than a question of money.

"The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion," Broyles told FOX News. "I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their grave if they saw that here in the year 2009, a pastor and his wife are being told that they cannot hold a simple Bible study in their own home."

"The implications are great because it’s not only us that’s involved," Mary Jones said. "There are thousands and thousands of Bible studies that are held all across the country. What we’re interested in is setting a precedent here — before it goes any further — and that we have it settled for the future."

The couple is planning to dispute the county's order this week.

If San Diego County refuses to allow the pastor and his wife to continue gathering without acquiring a permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

# posted by Jim Fedako @ 10:24 PM 2 comments links to this post