A Paradigm Shift in Education

Today's school system is less and less one focused on aiding the learner to reach full potential than one of industry and politics, of taxes and conformity. Today's learner is more capable than those of previous generations, and the one-size-fits-all Prussian model that was the template for what would become the system of today's education standards has become quite antiquated and inappropriate given the rise of learning technologies. Criticism of this rigid system abound, and for good reason, as innovators and entrepreneurs are showing us what the future holds for learners, bringing access to education to more students and at lower cost than ever before. This is an unfortunate flaw on the traditional state-education model, and will likely lead to a arabica shift. No longer will schooling be "free" and compulsory, it will be available and affordable, effective and competitive.

"Arguments about education are contentious enough without bringing partisan politics into them, but it is interesting to note in passing that in recent years our Prussian-based public school model has come under virulent attack from both the right and the left. Conservative complaints tend to center on the alleged usurpation by government of choices and prerogatives more properly left to parents; as it was put by author Sheldon Richman in his book Separating School and State: How to Liberate American Families, “the state’s apparently benevolent goal of universal education has actually been an insidious effort to capture all children in its net.”"

"Attacks from the left have tended to be surprisingly similar in tone, though the villain is not the government but the corporations that have the most to gain from a well-behaved and conformist population. Writing in the September 2003 issue of Harper’s, John Taylor Gatto urged that we “wake up to what our schools really are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands…. School trains children to be employees and consumers.”"

From Sal Khan's book The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined.

You had me at Florida

"Florida grandfather who murdered seven family members, including six children, had previously killed his eight year old son."
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/09/florida-grandfather-who-murdered-seven.html

Damascus Goes up in Smoke

Pro-war Americans: this is what an aggressive foreign policy gets you; more violence and bloodshed. Stop trying to choose winners and loosers in foreign conflicts. It has nothing to do with America and we have no legitimate business there. Supporting militants known for unabashed violence will only make a bad situation worse, further destabilizing a nation in turmoil. 

Hydro Growth Limited by Economics not Resources

Hydroelectric capacity is limited by the availability of flowing water. There are only so many rivers that can be dammed to produce energy. 

"A recent study conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy, the New Stream-reach Development Resource Assessment, finds that 61 gigawatts (GW) of hydroelectric power potential exists at waterways without existing dams or diversion facilities. This value excludes Alaska, Hawaii, and federally protected lands. ORNL's hydropower resource estimates contrast with the 2 GW of additional hydropower capacity projected to be added through 2040 in EIA's latest Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2014) Reference case. The difference in the two sets of numbers represents the significant gap between technical potential on the one hand and economic and operational potential on the other hand."

More: http://peakoil.com/alternative-energy/eia-projections-show-hydro-growth-limited-by-economics-not-resources

Rising global oil demand driven by US

"Global demand for oil will pick up next year as U.S. consumption reverses a four-year decline, and the United States will produce an increasing share of the world's supply, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Thursday."

More: http://peakoil.com/consumption/rising-global-oil-demand-driven-by-us

Obamacare: Still Failing | Making Healthcare Costs Rise as Expected

Of all of the problems and scandals plaguing the Affordable Care Act, the worst might just have been something that anyone could have seen coming.

"Perhaps the worst news is coming from states where next year’s insurance premiums have already been announced. This will undoubtedly come as a big shock to anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, but the premiums are going up. A handful of small and niche insurers are requesting smaller increases, and a few have lowered rates, news eagerly seized upon by Obamacare supporters. But, in reality, most of the major insurers are calling for double-digit increases next year."

The conspiracy theorist in me has been saying that this has been designed to be a controlled demolition of the private healthcare insurance market from the beginning, forcing private firms out of the market, then seeing the state step in to solve the problem it created through interventionist policy and bad laws.

"In Maryland, for example, CareFirst, the state’s dominant insurer, is proposing premium hikes of 23 to 30 percent for consumers buying individual plans next year. In Vermont, MVP Health Care has requested an average rate increase of 15.4 percent, while the only other insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, requested average hikes of 9.8 percent. The Ohio Department of Insurance reports that average premiums will increase by 13 percent for individual plans and 11 percent for small-business plans next year. In Virginia, insurers are seeking rate increases ranging from 3.3 percent to 14.9 percent in the individual market, while in Arizona, Cigna asked for average premium hikes of 14.4 percent and Humana requested a 25.5 percent increase. Some insurers in Washington State are seeking hikes as high as 26 percent."

"Apparently we will have to wait a little longer for that $2,500 premium reduction that the president once promised."

These increases in cost have been known effects of this sort of law, that increased regulation and compliance naturally drives up operating costs,  which result in higher costs for consumers, and a decline in quality of goods and services.

More:
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/obamacare-still-failing?utm_source=Cato+Institute+Emails&utm_campaign=544f6ab777-Cato_Today&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_395878584c-544f6ab777-142654397&mc_cid=544f6ab777&mc_eid=2033c8b5bc

So the result is the opposite of the intention of the law, not that it should be a surprise. Rockwell's Law...

2014 GDP May Reveal Another Recession

"We are on the verge of another recession. So says Shadow Stats economist John Williams, who warns that by the end of July it will become apparent to all Americans. That’s when the government will release its latest GDP economic figures and according to Williams those numbers, combined with revisions for the first quarter of 2014, will show negative economic growth for a second quarter in a row, the official definition for recession."

More:
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/the-recession-is-coming-economist-warns-its-beyond-control-i-dont-see-what-will-save-it-at-this-point_05222014

TEPCO reveals record cesium level in Fukushima No. 1 well

TEPCO reveals that cesium levels are at record highs under the Fukushima plant in Japan.

"A record high level of radioactive cesium has been found in groundwater beneath the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, it operator TEPCO revealed."

More:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheEuropeanUnionTimes/~3/ZGFMYEeKGB0

The problem with these tragedies is that the diesel generators which serve as backups for the cooling are not designed to effectively meet cooling needs. TEPCO has avoided addressing this question in any of its facilities, including those built in the United States under other names.

The Problem with Public Spending and Debt

Public debt has been a growing problem for decades, but the gap between funded (+$17 trillion and predicted to rise to $20 by 2018) and unfunded (most estimates are well over $100 trillion) liabilities should draw more attention than it does. Revenues are simply not keeping up with the increases in public liabilities, though federal spending far outstrips state and local levels. The debt to GDP ratio is rising to unsustainable levels. The efforts to close that gap will be through such avenues as you as you mention, but those austerity-like measures will hit the public sector hardest. Many public sector jobs are just not as economically-productive as the private sector. Regulation hinders profits more than it encourages them. 

Whether anyone agrees with the pension schemes of states and municipalities, the worry should be recognized. In the short term (the only way politicians seem to think), we are getting by, but it just takes a critical view to recognize what happens when those liabilities overload a system like Detroit when a recession hits hard, a trend that also seems to be slowly becoming more common. Some go down for obvious reasons, others seem unsinkable until they start to show signs of weakness. The rate of increase of the public debt unfortunately has increased, making tough economic times even moreso on the average taxpayer. Naturally, the rate of municipal bankruptcy filings has increased as well since 2008, to 8 cities or counties and 38 total municipalities by December 2013.

The positive side of all of this gloom is that we have numerous examples of the results of poor public policy that enables such out of control public spending and debt levels, which should encourage most municipalities to refrain from irresponsible levels of spending and debt. I try to be optimistic, but what I see in the news doesn't seem to be as encouraging. Perhaps it is time to consider something different, like Repudiating the National Debt?

Defending Cannabis by Blaming Racism

"Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin tells Remnick that in 2007, Obama explained, “I have no desire to be one of those presidents who are just on the list—you see their pictures lined up on the wall. … I really want to be a President who makes a difference.” But Obama’s approval ratings are mired in the low 40s, a reality he partially—and unconvincingly—attributes to racism: “There’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black president.” As HotAir’s Ed Morrissey notes, the existence of rump racists completely fail to explain Obama’s two electoral victories and his 60 percent-plus approval ratings at the start of his presidency. A far better explanation is simply that he’s failed to accomplish much of anything the public likes."

More: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/21/ending-the-war-on-pot-is-obama-s-last-chance-for-a-legacy.html

What a poor excuse from a lame duck president, that racism, when a large portion of minorities now disapprove of Obama, could be the problem, and ending another example of the inherent failure of prohibition by legalizing cannabis could be nothing more than a token (tokin?) gesture to appease those who have been most harmed by his partisan policies. Given the progress of the legalization movement, which effectively nullifies federal law under the Tenth Amendment and has been used since the northern war of aggression to end slavery on a state level without violence, institutionalized or otherwise. The president would do better to simply recognize reality instead of resisting it. Good ideas do not require force, nor do they need defending. But they do require indefatigable recognition. And is on us as individuals to promote the conscious solutions to predative, collectivist problems that a free society so greatly requires.