meta-roj

Alexander Taylor, 1778

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years.

These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.

update: auf deutsch

betting on stupid and dishonesty do work in american politics.

bummer.

High School ID Badges Prompts Complaints [ap via abc news, november 2, 2004]

A new policy at a high school requiring students to wear identification badges has prompted some parents to complain and students to protest the move as an infringement on their rights.

ok, just another blip on the “your papers, please” trend… but then if you scratch the surface… interesting… but not terribly so, until we get a quote on this…

High School ID Badges Prompts Complaints [ap via abc news, november 2, 2004]

“We need to be able to identify people without having to walk up to them and ask if they are a student or a teacher,” said Sheldon Tyler, an assistant principal at the high school in this town of 16,700 about 150 miles south of St. Louis.

according to the poplar bluff r-1 schools Annual Public Report, 2002-2003, there were 1345 students in the high school in 2002-2003, so i imagine it’s still close to that this year. combine that with a 21-students-per-teacher ratio and a 229-students-per-administrator ratio, and we have 1345 / 21 = 64 teachers and 1345 / 229 = 6 administrators in the building.

i just have to say that if the assistant principal can’t identify 70 staff people in a school without id badges, they need a new assistant principal. i’m sure they expect the teachers to be able to recognize all the students in their classes.

now, i wonder why all this fuss over a little town in missouri?

President’s Remarks at a Victory 2004 Rally in Poplar Bluff, Missouri [the white house, september 6, 2004]

This young century will be liberty’s century. By promoting freedom at home and abroad, we’ll build a safer world and a more hopeful America. We’ll reform our systems to help our people, to help people realize their dreams.

the president visited the school. nahh.. no connection.

Sudan Army Surrounds Darfur Camps, Aid Agency Says [reuters, nov 2, 2004]

“Early this morning, police surrounded two camps and later on relocated a number of IDPs (internally displace people),” the World Food Program (WFP) spokeswoman in Nyala, Bettina Leuscher, told Reuters.

now, do they starve to death, or send in the machetes?

do something

hart’s location, new hampshire, 15-15-1 (bush-kerry-nader). in 2000 hart’s location went 17-13 for bush.

update: dixville notch went 19-7 (bush-kerry). 2000 was 21-5-1. the registered voting population in dixville notch is 11 republicans, 2 democrats and 13 independents.

today is the day. don’t let this election last a month.

ot quite in time for halloween, which is sad, really. i noticed this headline from the ap wire… Ohio Clinic Plans Human Face Transplant.

i think for now, i’ll stick to donating hair.

arch-terrorist bin laden has weighed in on the american presidential election. crafty little bugger, and with precise timing no less. the terrorists… the base (and by “the base” i mean al qaida, not karl rove’s “the base” – that’s for another day…) wins either way…

scenario a) bush wins. al qaida gets their recruiting poster child american imperalist president to wave in front of poor muslims and build up their base.

scenario b) kerry wins. al qaida gets to go in front of their exiting recruits and show off how powerful they are, that they can influence the american election.

crafty indeed.

to help save some space, and reduce the huge page loads here, i’ve condensed the monthly archives by providing only titles and general information on each post here. full posts are now limited to the category and individual archives, presumably where they are most useful.