[COLUMN] End art, history subsidies
In A.D. 80, the Amphitheatrum Flavium (usually Anglicized as Flavian Amphitheatre and known today as simply il Colosseo or the Colosseum), opened in Rome after about eight to 10 years of construction. It was the largest such structure in the Roman Empire and could seat some 50,000 spectators.
The Colosseum was yet another public works program by a government not always known as a good steward of the public treasury.
However, what is amazing about the Colosseum is that for 1,920 years, admission was free, subsidized by the government. It wasn't until 2000 when the government finally decided it was best to let those visiting the Colosseum pay for its upkeep and maintenance, at least in part.
During the days of the glorious Empire (I'm Italian so I can wax nostalgic about the glory days when Rome ruled the world), offering free entertainment in the Amphitheatrum Flavium was one tactic emperors employed to win and keep the hearts of the people.
Today, two millennia later, not much has changed. In the United States, another republic led by an emperor (or at least one who tries to act like an emperor), the government tries to win and keep the hearts of the people through similar tokens.
American taxpayers are often forced to subsidize all manner of entertainment and culture, ranging from parks and museums to bikeways and artistic endeavors and other ill-considered government boondoggles.
One such entity that relies almost completely on money forcibly taken from residents by the government (i.e., taxes) is the Ohio Historical Society.
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Karel Oxley still doesn't get it
http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=52207
Lima City School District Superintendent Karel Oxley still does not get it.
Nearly 200 children attending Lima's worst schools have applied for state vouchers that would allow them to escape their failed government school and attend one of the city's fine private schools.
Instead of showing concern for the best interests of the children, however, she simply repeats the same tired mantra that the money that would follow that child was meant for the government schools and should not be allowed to be used for a private education. She then continues to spread the same lie she has been telling that the school district is losing money because of these parents who want what is best for their children.
First, the money is not for the government school. The money is for the child to get an education. Government school advocates such as Karel Oxley believe the state has a responsibility to ensure that every child receive an adequate education. However, based on the government's own standards, Lima's three middle schools, Liberty Elementary and the Progressive Academy at the high school are all substandard schools that do not provide an adequate education for the pupils. Oxley, then, should neither be surprised nor complain when parents want to remove their children from those schools.
As for the lie, the district actually benefits financially when a child leaves. The district loses $5,200 per pupil for first- through 12th-graders leaving. It loses $2,700 for kindergartners who live within the district, but receive vouchers. The district receives $5,565 in state funding per pupil.
Therefore, for every pupil that leaves, the district receives $365 and has one less pupil to educate. In essence, the district is given $365 that it can use toward educating pupils who stay in that school, thereby increasing the amount of money it can spend per pupil, a figure that by far dwarfs what the local schools spend per pupil. Perhaps this is why the district claims it is in financial distress. Its superintendent has no sense of economic realities.
Ultimately, Oxley has the ability to stop the mass migration from the school district: Improve the performance of those schools. In other words, stop wasting so much time criticizing parents for wanting the best education possible for their children and stop wasting time trying to pass levies that are not needed and spend more time improving the academic rigors at those failing schools. If the schools improve, the pupils will not be eligible for those coveted state vouchers.
[COLUMN] State no judge of ‘normal'
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(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Adults and children, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gather beneath a covered porch at one of the structures at their temporary housing, Fort Concho National Historic Landmark, in San Angelo, Texas, on April 9.
The raid this month at a religious community in Texas is a symbol of everything that is wrong with American government today.
In the raid at the Yearning for Zion compound in Eldorado, Texas, authorities forcibly removed 416 children from their parents and took them into state custody. The families are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that disavowed the mainstream church in 1890 when it abandoned polygamy as a pathway to the highest level of heaven.
Apparently, religious freedom is limited to religious practices that government officials deem "normal." But what is "normal"?
Like most people reading this, I find the FLDS lifestyle hard to fathom, even somewhat repulsive. It is beyond my Midwestern, Roman Catholic upbringing.
Still, it is not my right, nor anyone else's for that matter, to judge them or prevent them from living the lives they choose to live. That means that parents, not the state, should choose how children should be raised. I can think of worse environments for children than a religious ranch.
Remember, this is not some apocalyptic cult that was collecting guns. This was a group of Christians living communally and leaving the rest of the world alone. In fact, when the police raided the compound driving armored cars, wearing body armor and toting machine guns, the members of the group responded by getting on their knees and singing and praying.
This raid is disturbing on many levels.
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[COLUMN] End Tax-Funded Broadcasting
I have a vice. Well, OK, I have many vices, but I only have one vice of which I am ashamed. In fact, I only engage in this vice when I am alone.
The vice?
I listen to public radio. After all, where else can you listen to a report titled "Gender inequity in ‘Whoville'"? Or, how about a report on a transgender radio talk-show host in India?
Great stuff.
I also enjoy public radio shows from NPR's fellow providers American Public Media and Public Radio International.
While I am most fond of NPR's news programs, such as "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition" and "Day to Day," I also enjoy the entertainment programs as well. From all the good-looking men, strong women and above-average children of Lake Wobegon, Minn., on "A Prairie Home Companion" and those jocular Italian auto mechanics on "Car Talk" to the fun and games on "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" and "Whad'Ya Know?," public radio has some great programming.
Now, in my defense, I spend about four hours a day in my car and the police don't much like it when you watch movies on your laptop computer while driving, so there is not much to do other than listen to the radio.
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DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Nicholas A. Robertson, 27, of Old Town, Maine, died April 3 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered April 2 while conducting dismounted combat operations in the Zahn Khan District, Afghanistan.
He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.
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