Comments on: This Is Worth Your Time, A Good Read. – Grim https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896 The Blog of BartCop.com Wed, 14 Nov 2012 04:36:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9 By: Rainlander https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7038 Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:40:16 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7038 Grim,
I agree that government needs to be reduced in size dramatically and I hope that as the US reduces it dependance on foreign oil the need
to protect our interests in the middle east will
cause a reduction of force thus reducing the unfair tax burden on everyone.
A transparent government i believe would create more goodwill abroad and at home reducing the need for a KGB style DHLS and improving confidence and participation in politics with more favorable results in legislation,improved buisness oversight and more participation in infrastructure development.
Thanks,Rain.

]]> By: grimgold https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7035 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:44:55 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7035 Joe, you are absolutely correct in what you say. We are very well off. I suppose I’m speaking relatively in my dissatisfaction. As a conservative republican, I’m aghast at the repugs spending like drunken LBJ’s, and my president stubbornly refusing to do his job.
Where I live the public school system has done well. My older kid now has her degree (and likes Hillary – OUCH!) and the younger is a freshman at university. The high school did it’s job.
I hear, however, that inner city schools are not doing what they ought to. I like the free market (except with health care, perhaps) and think the charter schools should be able to compete with the govt schools, yes?
Your response was excellent, sensible, and not very liberal (hee, hee).

Rain, Democracy and Capitalism result in less war. The villians are too busy with their companies to have time to invade their neighbors! This is what I hope soon happens to China; that the dramatically increased standard of living we’ve seen there in the last few decades will result in a love of peace and prosperity.
The way our dollar has degraded and our national debt has gone through the roof is disguisting. I wish more economics were taught generally so this crap would not be possible. I really believe the reason the govt gets away with it is because econ confuses people.
Helpful thought: All govt contracts should be put up for competitive bid (with rare exceptions) and outfits such as the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers should be reduced to at least 1/10th their size and work strictly as oversite agencies. The levees in LA., for example, are an utter disgrace. They should be replaced by the marketplace not the govt.
One of the reasons I’m a conservative is because I want dramatically smaller, more transparent fed govt. In light of what you have written, I hope you agree. Grimmy

]]> By: Rainlander https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7032 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:29:30 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7032 I see a lot of wishful thinking in the original post and a hell of of a lot of truth to be fair.
What was left out of the opinion was the role the military spending has had.
My High School american history teacher had an interesting statistic that he used from time to time to shock us into a contemplative frame of mind and I’ll have to paraphrase here:
“More money is spent by the worlds governments on guns and ammunition in one week than it would take to feed,clothe and house every man,woman and child living today for an entire year.”
Dont get Me wrong though,I was raised in a thouroughly military household,I can trace my families participation in military ventures all the way back to the twelfth century in the crusades,but being the policeman to the world
has got to stop.
We simply now can no longer afford to continue
especially in light of the current deficit and foreign debt the current administration is so proud of,The crowning acheivement seems to be the DHLS,a program that is supposed to bring all the inteligence under one roof actually qradrupled the size of the US governemt and personally looks like the greatest threat
to the average citizens freedoms and right to be secure in both home and body from illegal search and seizure.I would beg the next administration to put pressure on the SCOTUS to declare this pork-laden travesty of justice un constitutional.
Here is a link to the military spending of the US since 1940 from wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

I just hate to see the greatest country on earth go the way of the old USSR.

]]> By: Joseph52 https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7031 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:46:10 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7031 Grim, I agree that the Bush Administration in particular is growing increasingly authoritarian.

The stats I have are in regard to the public school system’s performance, which is better than commonly believed. I used to be a conservative, btw. One of the big reasons I’m not is because of right-wingers constantly calling me the enemy because I taught in a public high school. The right wing wants to dismantle the public schools so it can “fix” our science education by telling children that Adam and Eve were real people.

The premise that people were better off in 1907 than in 2007 is bizarre, to say the least. Government-driven improvements in working conditions, the purity of food and drugs, protecting people in old age from poverty, eliminating widespread malnutrition, building vital infrastructure to help the private sector develop a modern economy, and not least, helping to build an infrastructure of sewers and water treatment plants (and Public Health departments) added immensely to our well being. And oh, the vast rise in mass literacy and the number of people completing high school, caused by the growth of the PUBLIC school system.

Government wastes a lot of money. There is terrible corruption in our government, I agree. The Bill of Rights is being shredded. But I do NOT want to go back to 1907. It was a tough time to be alive for most Americans, and our system can be fixed without regressing a century.

]]> By: grimgold https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7030 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:41:06 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7030 Joe, it was a mistake in uploading.

The fact is that not so long ago a woman could afford to stay home and raise her kids. Now both husband and wife have to work to make ends meet. You have stats to tell me that is wrong?

The IRS can burst into your home at 3:00, drag you out of your house and seize the property without due process. You have stats to tell me that is wrong?

Since our money was made into fiat currency we have had steady inflation. Inflation creates poor people, union workers to have to strike to keep up, and it pushes the middle class into rich man tax brackets. Inflation is only good for govt. You have stats to tell me that is wrong?
Now govt can seize property from individuals for a Wall Mart, not just for public projects. You have stats to tell me that is wrong?
Shall I go on?

]]> By: Joseph52 https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7027 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:12:03 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7027 By the way, I was a public school teacher for thirty-three years at an excellent high school, and this guy you’re quoting doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. I’ve got the stats to back it up, too.

]]> By: Joseph52 https://bartblog.bartcop.com/?p=1896&cpage=1#comment-7026 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 07:09:17 +0000 http://bartblog.bartcop.com/2007/12/12/this-is-worth-your-time-a-good-read-grim/#comment-7026 Grim, this is really hard to read. It’s all one block paragraph. Mistake in uploading?

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