Education Reform and Boiling Frogs
Gary North at LewRockwell.com - Stage Three in Education Has Arrived: real education reform, of course, begins with the elimination of the government school. Mr. North tells us why this is inevitable, by comparing the development of the school with natural economic trends: oligarchy -> democracy -> Individualism. [lew]
The Internet now threatens to smash the state’s monopoly of education. The classroom model is now being undermined by new technologies. What parents have at their disposal today is technology that will enable them – mainly mothers – to become effective tutors. Soon, there will also be teachers who sell their services to hundreds of families at low prices, using electronic grading to do their grunt work, and hiring teaching assistants to do the grading on more personalized examinations and term papers.
Los Angeles Times via Dallas Morning News - Uruguay president seeks drug legalization: a little over a month since Narco News reported it as I linked to on 2000/12/27 thanks to grabbe, the story of Jorge Batlle's call to legalize drugs hits the U.S. press. [unknown market]
Harry Browne - Mr. Clinton's Mantra: a rerun of an article that Harry ran in 1993.
Bill Clinton is without a doubt the most engaging, persuasive president this country has had in my lifetime -- which goes back to FDR. Neither Ronald Reagan nor John F. Kennedy, each widely praised as a presidential charmer, could hold a candle to Mr. S. Willie.In an interview, a news conference, or a prepared speech, Mr. Clinton comes across as sincere, down-to-earth, humble, extremely knowledgeable, and passionate about his beliefs.
But it's also true that, in a profession in which dishonesty is the first and foremost qualification, Bill Clinton stands head and shoulders above the pack when it comes to telling whoppers. I have never in my life seen a man for whom lies roll off the tongue with such ease.
James N. Markel at Liberzine - No occupancy in Fairfax: someone in Fairfax, Virginia wants to pass an ordinance forbidding using any room but the bedroom for sleeping. The idea is to cut down on people who cram lots of folk into a small house. The result, which I think won't happen, would be yet another erosion of property rights. [market]
William Stepp at the Ludwig von Mises Institute - Outcompeted: even with its gun-in-your-face monopoly (the bottom line of all laws), the U.S. Postal "Service" can't compete with private enterprise. [market]
Stephen P. Halbrook - Nazi Firearms Law and the Disarming of the German Jews: I didn't read this (it's long), but it looks like a worthwhile reminder of how easy it is for the state to "boil a frog". Let's not let this happen here, eh? [lew]
This article addresses German firearms laws and Nazi policies and practices to disarm German citizens, particularly political opponents and Jews. It begins with an account of post-World War I chaos, which led to the enactment in 1928 by the liberal Weimar republic of Germany's first comprehensive gun control law. Next, the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 was consolidated by massive searches and seizures of firearms from political opponents, who were invariably described as "communists." After five years of repression and eradication of dissidents, Hitler signed a new gun control law in 1938 which benefitted Nazi party members and entities but denied firearm ownership to enemies of the state. Later that year, in Kristallnacht (the Night of the Broken Glass), in one fell swoop, the Nazi regime disarmed Germany's Jews. Without any ability to defend themselves, the Jewish population could easily be sent to concentration camps for the Final Solution. After World War II began, Nazi authorities continued to register and mistrust civilian firearm owners, and German resistence to the Nazi regime was unsuccessful.
Elliotte Rusty Harold extols the virtues of his new book, XML in a Nutshell, over at Cafe au Lait today, complete with links to 4 different on-line bookstores. [cafe]
