American Gladiators II: A Painful Look Back…A Bright Future Ahead
The Following piece is the 2nd installment of an ongoing series here at The Conservative Reader. “American Gladiators†is a recurring feature focusing on the defining political issue of our generation: the crucial battle over Federal spending and the debt and...Supply and Da Man
U.S. markets closed off today, while foreign markets ended generally positive. A bright spot in the US economy was the release of new home sales, which were estimated to be up 7.3% in April, to 323,000 new homes sold. This represents the fourth month in a row of increasing new home sales, but we're coming off a dismal low. In 2005, 1.4 million new homes were sold.
The housing market reflects a classic supply/demand equation. The supply of housing far outstrips demand, and with a glut of foreclosed homes still in the market, the housing market is unlikely to return to 2005 levels for several years.
The markets seemed to be more concerned with the nation of Greece's ability to service it's debt. Keep in mind that about the only difference between Greece and the United States is 270 million people. Investors have yet to figure that out.
Chrysler today repaid $7.6 billion in government loans to the United States and Canada. Perhaps this will [...]
Arne Duncan and DOE’s End Around Congress to Change FERPA, Invade Student Privacy
This article was originally posted at Caffeinated Thoughts.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and the educrats at the U.S. Department of Education know that Congress would never vote to codify the changes they seek in the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) so they’re changing up regulations in order to do so. They want to allow private and invasive information to be gathered on students and families in order to supply the workforce.
This has nothing to do with improving the education that children receive. The sole purpose for these changes are to data mine and pass that information along to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Labor who will then provide it to the private sector workforce.
Public comment is open until Monday, May 23rd. You can make a public comment here. Missouri Education Watchdog provided a helpful information sheet that breaks down further which I’m including below.
OBJECT TO DOE’S PROPOSED INVASION OF STUDENT PRIVACY
The Department of Education (DOE) has proposed regulatory changes that would gut the primary federal student-privacy statute, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA imposes strict limits on how the government may use so-called Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected on students by schools or government education agencies. Under the proposed changes to the regulations issued under FERPA, DOE would [...]
The New Obama Concoction: Fairness and Protection
How is it possible to resist the charms of any elected official offering the dual benefits of fairness and protection? After all, is not being treated equitably, while simultaneously being spared the pain of those who would seek to harm us, not of ultimate worth? Fairness must certainly be the quintessential American value, right? And our entire system of justice; is it not specifically designed to bring both fairness and protection?
Over the next year and a half we will hear the word fairness as if the word encapsulates the complete and final animation of the American ideal. We will also be offered a basket overflowing with governmental “protections†from rapacious bogeymen, both known and unknown. This little “benefits package†will come neatly wrapped in the form of a vague threat that would have us believe any alternative to this package would immediately result in enslavement. It is only demons that would offer us, the American people, anything less.
The real wonder in all of this is how Thomas Jefferson seemed to have completely missed the significance of the beatific vision of the liberal left. To have settled for such suboptimal and simple notions as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must clearly validate the marked progression in our political thinking. Alas, we are talking about a couple of centuries of human achievement. If we can build an iPad, we must certainly be able to build a perfectly integrated, transparent, and high-functioning system of governance. We call this “political science,†as if it was somehow scientific.
Hope and change was the first chapter. Fairness and protection are now emerging as the second chapter. The only remaining question we now have is in determining [...]
Spewage
With the long overdue federal budget negotiations continuing to, well -- continue -- the vitriol spewing out of every crevasse of Washington is stunning in both its scope and in the absolute levels of personal animus that is on display. Even more stunning than the differences of opinion are the even more spectacular distortions of both the facts and the pertinent arguments attached to elements of the debate. It is one thing to have a contrary set of opinions. It is yet another to deploy a confrontation strategy of “justifiable-deception†(what used to be called “liesâ€) into that debate. The proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood that was announced last week (for their use in providing abortions) brought out vast quantities of this type of pernicious and despicable political deception.
The emotionally driven hate-speech coming from the self-described and sole protectors of women (the liberal legion in Washington), came so fast and furious that one might have been concerned that someone might have gotten hurt in their stampede to the cameras and microphones. It was a scene reminiscent of the chaos of a rock concert or a soccer game where all of the adolescent fans have designs on the front row.
Of the entire list of distortions associated with the defunding of Planned Parenthood, the one most hideous is the characterization that conservatives are [...]
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