Free kibbles

FREEDOM OF SPEECH:

The Lybian government shuts down the internet in hopes of stifling protests. How predictable.

EDUCATION:

Government schools are a scam. Like all government pseudo-services, government schools are designed first and foremost to loot the people and enrich the ruling class. Secondarily, they're designed to make students mindless drones who obey authority. Most people think government schools have been an abject failure, but those people don't understand the nature of government. They suffer under the delusion that government exists to provide services that improve our lives. On the contrary, government exists solely for the purpose of looting the people, and our government school system has been a fantastic success as this article shows.

"According to the 2009 OECD figures, the US government spends more per pupil than any nation in the world except Switzerland. The US spent an average of $149,000 for the K–12 education of every 2009 public high school graduate. That works out to $11,461 per year or so.So the solution is obvious: shut down the schools and invest the money instead. Just let the kids stay home and study on the Internet. Let’s even save some money to reduce the deficit, and only invest $11,000 per year. At 7% return, each child would have a $391,000 IRA when they’re 18. That way, even if they spend the next 50 years surfing or hiking the Appalachian Trail, they would all retire at 68 with $12,512,000 (assuming the same 7% average yearly return). This solves not only the education crisis, but the Social Security problem (they wouldn’t need it) AND the health-budget crisis (how much heart disease could there be, if everyone spent their time surfing and hiking?)So we are spending a really staggering amount of capital on public schools. How’s it paying off for the lucky recipients?Not so well. While at the top rank in funding, the US is not exactly at the top of educational achievement. In the 2010 PISA report, US students placed 25^th out of the 34 OECD countries in math."

Government schools cost more and educate less. Exactly as designed. There are many good teachers and administrators who actually try to education children, but they tend to fail because they system they labor under is designed for another purpose. Free children from government schools.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

House Republicans vote to stop funding the IPCC. That's good news.

POLICE STATE:

Singer arrested and facing sex offender charges for prank YouTube video.

The FBI complains they don't have enough powers to effectively wiretap all internet services. I thought that's what the NSA did.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Pat Buchanan describes how the US government is being kicked out of the Middle East, but too many people don't realize this is a good thing, something we should have done voluntarily long ago before we became universally hated.