Politics: Onward from New Hampshire

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by sgtclub
So did I.

Wait, which side of the "home schooled kids think more independently than public schooled kids" debate are you on?

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Originally posted by sgtclub
What's funny to me about this is that the Left is only progressive on issues with respect to which it has a contrary position. I guess the same can be said for the right, though.

I guess.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Wait, which side of the "home schooled kids think more independently than public schooled kids" debate are you on?

I don't really have a skin in that game. I just don't like the monopoly the government has on education and the politicly correct shit that is being taught in the public schools.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Let's be clear. We do not support prescription drug coverage for seniors.

But you are going to subsidize raouaouaouaoal and paigow's pot, acid and stuff, right? Funny how the libertarians are only anti-government on certain issues, huh.

Note, this was a JOKE, joke, joke. No, I do not think that libertarians would have the government subsidize drugs; I am aware that it is a legalization thing not a providing thing.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by bilmore
I was responding to my perception that both you and 'da fish think that homeschooled kids are lockstep copies of Mom and Pop BibleBelt. My experience tells me that homeschooling results in some extraordinarily freethinking kids.

FWIW, there's a bestselling book out that came out last year written by a homeschooled kid named Christopher Paolini. (Go look it up on the Amazon link.) It's very well written, and it's currently number one on the NYT children's bestsellers list. Kid wrote it when he was 15 years old. He's 19 years old now, and he says that he would have never been able to write it he had been in a conventional school. I don't get the impression that there's anything fucked up about this kid, other than the fact he's going to be very, very wealthy before he's in his 20s. His book is a fantasy book, so SD probably will put him in the dorks and losers category, though.

I have a colleague whose husband homeschools their three children. She and I have very similar political philosophies, and her kids don't seem particularly maladjusted.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I don't really have a skin in that game. I just don't like the monopoly the government has on education and the politicly correct shit that is being taught in the public schools.

Like creationism? You need to be accurate as to what you have experience with and say "California public schools."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I continue to believe that the only way we could get a third party that represents "us" is if the GOP melts down and libertarians with name recognition bolt. Once that happens, I believe such a party could grab the large majority of the "middle."

Originally posted by Not Me
If you were truly a Libertarian, you would advocate that the government get out of the marriage business.

'Nuff said.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by sgtclub
What's funny to me is the lack of significance of coverage this is getting in the press. Clinton got far more significance of coverage for shaking hands with Arafat in the Rose Garden. Maybe that's a good omen.

I hope the quiet is indeed a good omen, although frankly I saw a lot of stories about this over the weekend. Part of your impression of the lack of coverage may stem from the fact that the Shiites' last minute objections postponed the singing until Sunday, US time, so it may have snuck under your radar amidst all the nice weather (you're in CA, aren't you?).

[Not Me]

Originally posted by andViolins
Panel OKs disputed 10th-grade biology plan

http://www.cleveland.com/debate/inde...4742102330.xml

The problem isn't that life is so complex it has to have been created by a higher being. The problem is that some people are too stupid to understand biology and probabilities and have no concept of just how long 4 billion years is and how many random chemical events can occur during that time.

Although the existence of biological life forms doesn't prove the existence of a god, the very existence of the Universe baffles me. This is my limitation, though.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Like creationism? You need to be accurate as to what you have experience with and say "California public schools."

This has been debated on numerous times, but I don't think creationism, if taught properly, is contrary to evolution and, in fact, believe they should be presented side by side - and I am perhaps the least religious person on this board.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
This has been debated on numerous times, but I don't think creationism, if taught properly, is contrary to evolution and, in fact, believe they should be presented side by side - and I am perhaps the least religious person on this board.

They want to teach something that is contrary to evolution. The kind of creationism you are talking about is nothing more than a religious belief that has no place in public schools.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
I hope the quiet is indeed a good omen, although frankly I saw a lot of stories about this over the weekend. Part of your impression of the lack of coverage may stem from the fact that the Shiites' last minute objections postponed the singing until Sunday, US time, so it may have snuck under your radar amidst all the nice weather (you're in CA, aren't you?).

I am not quibbling over the amount of coverage, just the way it has been positioned. Although a lot of work remains and things still very easily could go sideways, this is a truly historical event of momentous proportions, and the significance of this has, in my mind, been downplayed or at least not realized to date.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
FWIW, there's a bestselling book out that came out last year written by a homeschooled kid named Christopher Paolini. (Go look it up on the Amazon link.) It's very well written, and it's currently number one on the NYT children's bestsellers list. Kid wrote it when he was 15 years old. He's 19 years old now, and he says that he would have never been able to write it he had been in a conventional school. I don't get the impression that there's anything fucked up about this kid, other than the fact he's going to be very, very wealthy before he's in his 20s. His book is a fantasy book, so SD probably will put him in the dorks and losers category, though.

I have a colleague whose husband homeschools their three children. She and I have very similar political philosophies, and her kids don't seem particularly maladjusted.

Probably whatever school those kids went to -- public, private, homeschooled -- they would be well-adjusted and above average because their parents take a strong interest in their educations. I went to shitty, shitty, shitty public schools for several years but nonetheless stayed way ahead of things because my parents/sibling/friends of parents/pretty much everyone I was exposed to outside of school were well-educated, interested in engaging kids in things, and invested in making me think.

I'm just saying. Home-schooling is not a panacea and, like charter schools or whatever, the stellar examples of home schooling are also examples of cherry picking the kids most likely to be creative and smart etc. out of other schools where they might just expose kids who aren't surrounded by creative smart people to such people.

On the other hand, I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket and therefore don't really go for the whole procreation thing. So several grains of salt are in order.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
They want to teach something that is contrary to evolution. The kind of creationism you are talking about is nothing more than a religious belief that has no place in public schools.

What I am talking about is a "theory" that a nondenominational diety created the universe or set evolution in motion. I do not back bible, torah, koran teachings in public schools.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by bilmore
If they give me enough drugs, you guys can marry parrots, for all I'll care.

Depends on what you mean by give you the drugs. Government subsidies, even for drugs, are anti-libertarian.

I don't care if they marry parrots, either. I just don't want the tax code to be used for social engineering.