AN ESSENTIAL STEP IN SAVING AMERICA

About 159 years ago someone named Karl Marx sat down to put his dream to words; his dream of a communist state that was to become a worker's paradise. Somehow it didn't work out all that well, but it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort. Tens of millions of people died in Russia, China and elsewhere to show what an incredibly bad idea Marx had.

It's ironic to me that the countries who suffered under the rule of Marx' worker's paradise have largely rejected so many of the tenants set forth in his Communist Manifesto, while the one country that held communism at bay for over 70 years and eventually destroyed it still embraces many of those ideas.

We've gone through this before, but once again (hey, there might be new Nuze readers!) let me tell you of just two of the essential elements of a communist society as set forth in Marx's work:

1. A progressive graduated income tax.

2. Government education of the children.

Countries across Europe, especially former communist countries, are moving from a progressive income tax to either consumption taxes or a flat tax. Ever heard of the Irish Miracle? And across Europe more and more people are being allowed the freedom to choose where their children shall be educated. They choose the school, the tax money follows. And yes, more and more this is including private schools.

I want you to focus your attention for a moment on a quote by C.S. Lewis that someone sent to me over the weekend. Read it .. perhaps a few times .. and then try to tell me with a straight face that C.S. Lewis, who took the eternal celestial dirt nap 44 years ago, wasn't talking about government education in 21st Century America:

"What I want to fix your attention on is the vast overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence -- moral, cultural, social or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how 'democracy' (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient dictatorships, and by the same methods? The basic proposal of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils. That would be 'undemocratic.' Children who are fit to proceed may be artificially kept back, because the others would get a trauma by being left behind. The bright pupil thus remains democratically fettered to his own age group throughout his school career, and a boy who would be capable of tackling Aeschylus or Dante sits listening to his coeval's [of the same age] attempts to spell out A CAT SAT ON A MAT. We may reasonably hope for the virtual abolition of education when 'I'm as good as you' has fully had its way. All incentives to learn and all penalties for not learning will vanish. The few who might want to learn will be prevented; who are they to overtop their fellows? And anyway, the teachers -- or should I say nurses? -- will be far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching. We shall no longer have to plan and toil to spread imperturbable conceit and incurable ignorance among men." C. S. Lewis

Now don't you want to go back and read that again? I guess I read it 20 times over the weekend ... just amazed at how well a man who has been dead for so long has perfectly nailed our current system of government education and what it is doing to our children. And referring to government school teachers as nurses? Brilliant! Absolutely effing brilliant! (Excuse me, I got carried away there for a bit.)

This country is in trouble. No, I'm not talking about the threat from outside - the biggest element of which would be Islamic radicalism. I'm talking about the threat from inside. The men who marched in bare feet wrapped in rags over frozen ground in 1776 - leaving a trail of blood for the British to follow - would scarcely recognize us. They put their lives on the line for independence, far too many of us strive for dependence. They embraced freedom. We embrace security. The men of 1776 were extraordinary. We reject the extraordinary for the mundane.

Our schools are turning out perfect little government subjects who have been taught that, somehow, it is bad to excel, but virtuous to simply fit in.

Do you think the men and women of just two generations ago could ever imagine a school system where children aren't allowed to play tag because it involves chasing and unwanted touching? Of course you don't want to be touched! That makes you "it!"

How about a school system that won't honor a valedictorian because other students might feel slighted or left out? Read again that sentence from C.S. Lewis where he says that the "nurses" are "far too busy reassuring the dunces and patting them on the back to waste any time on real teaching."

We have schools now that grade with shapes instead of letters. "What did you get on your math test today dear?" "I got a square, mom!" In some schools teachers won't use a red pen to grade papers because red denotes errors or a bad grade, and they don't want the precious little students to get upset.

All you have to do is look around you to see what a miserable failure our government schools are. A huge percentage of entering freshmen at state colleges and universities have to enroll in remedial courses in order to bring them up to college speed. In Georgia we have students who, thanks to rampant grade inflation, graduate from their high schools with better than a B average who can't handle freshman-level courses in college without first going through a remedial program.

Our kids are being taught by the worst of the worst in their government schools. Check out the education school at most major universities. The freshmen who chose to pursue a degree in education come from the lowest level of the entering class; and those who go on to pursue a graduate degree in education come from the lowest ranks of their undergraduate class. This is how you get teachers sending home report cards that read "Johnny are learning to spell good."

If we don't do something to break the grip of these government schools, and the teacher's unions that run them, we are going to lose this entire country to mediocrity. We are going to continue to churn out generations of mind-numbed government subjects who can readily identify the faces of the current pop culture, but who couldn't tell the vice-president from the speaker of the house if their iPods depended on it.

The answer is competition. We need school choice. If you want to continue with taxing the stuffing out of the people to pay for education, fine. Just let the money follow the children, as they do in much of Europe. Let the parent investigate the choices and then make a decision as to where their child will go to school, public or private. Then send the money chasing after the child. Only competition will drive these schools to strive for excellence. The security of government mandated attendance will only foster laziness and complacency.

Several weeks ago Hillary the Hideous loudly proclaimed that "privatization isn't the answer to anything." As I said at the time, this means that Hillary Rodham must think that government is the answer to everything ... including education.

The teacher's unions heard her loud and clear. Last week the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary. No surprise. Look for the National Education Association to fall in line.

If we are to save our Republic we must create a generation or two of independent-thinking young adults who value freedom over security and who know the truth of what it was that made this country great. We will never get this from our government schools. Putting it bluntly, government schools and the teacher's unions that control them, and our politicians, are killing this country.

Man ... I got rather long-winded on this one, didn't I?

THE AMERICAN SOLUTIONS FAIRTAX WORKSHOP

We received this email over the weekend from Danny:

"I have been a supporter of the fair tax ever since I first heard mention of it on Hannity's show. Problem was, I simply did not know how to get the idea across to thers, or properly discuss it with detractors. Thanks to this workshop which I viewed at the American Solutions website, I now feel I am sufficiently informed to not only do both, but do them with confidence. I love your show, we get the first 2 hours here on tape delay from 12-2 on KVOL 1320 in Lafayette, Louisiana. I also wish John Linder were my congressman. Keep up the good work and keep spreading the good news of the fair tax." Danny Bamburg

If you would like to watch the workshop that Congressman John Linder and I conducted for Newt's American Solutions Day at West Georgia University you can click right here. We can't do this without your help.

IRAN'S AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ

Petraeus says that the ambassador is a Quds Force member. This is the covert operations arm of Iran's revolutionary guard. The US military accuses them of helping Shiite militia in Iraq sectarian conflict. But now that he has diplomatic immunity so he is not subject to scrutiny.

The ambassador's name is Kazemi Qomi and he is the first Iranian ambassador appointed to Iraq since 1980. While Ahmadinejad says that his government is not arming terrorists in Iraq, last month US soldiers seized Iranian-made surface-to-air missiles that were being used by insurgents.

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani says at least 100,000 US troops could leave Iraq by 2008. Talabani says that he envisions troop reductions to happen much more quickly than the US predicts. He also proposes that three US bases remain in Iraq ... but Bush isn't interested.

MSM BURIES GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ

If you noticed, few media outlets seemed to think that the sharp decline in casualties in Iraq was newsworthy. CNN's Howard Kurtz discussed this with Robin Wright of the Washington Post and Barbara Star of CNN. Both of his guests actually supported the burying of the good news by the mainstream media.

After the introduction, Kurtz asked, "Robin Wright, should that decline in Iraq casualties have gotten more media attention?"

Her response: "Not necessarily. The fact is we're at the beginning of a trend -- and it's not even sure that it is a trend yet. There is also an enormous dispute over how to count the numbers. There are different kinds of deaths in Iraq."

Barbara Starr then goes on to say that news of death tolls rising would have "inevitably" been reported. She says, "I mean, that's certainly -- that, by any definition, is news."

So .. a reduction in deaths isn't news, but an increase is. Now why would that be? Could it possibly be because the lamestream media I invested in bad news from Iraq? Could it be that there are some elements in the media that are much more anxious to report news that would hurt Bush and Republicans, and less eager to report news that might validate the surge and help the GOP?

Nawwwwww. That could never happen, right?

MUSLIM MEDICAL STUDENTS

Muslim medical students in Britain are refusing to learn about illnesses related to alcohol and sexually-transmitted diseases. Why?? Well, clearly, because it goes against their religious beliefs. Some of them are even refusing to examine patients of the opposite sex. They claim that this is forbidden by the Quran.

Can you believe this nonsense? What the hell kind of doctors do we get when Muslims go to medical school?

The General Medical Council regulates doctors and maintains the medical register. They have, luckily, made it clear that doctors cannot opt out of any part of their training despite religious objections. Yeah ... let's see how long they stick to that mandate. Pete Rubin is the chairman of the General Medical Council's education committee. He says that, "prejudicing treatment on the grounds of patients' gender or their responsibility for their condition would run counter to the most basic principles of ethical medical practice."

Well .. some Muslims run counter to the most basic principles of human decency ... why should we be surprised.

Here's a question. We have a Muslim teenaged girl who has been stoned because her family thought that she was having an inappropriate relationship with a young boy. Would a Muslim doctor treat her?

What a religion!

'HOMELESSNESS' ON THE RISE

Just remember that if someone is homeless ... it is all the government's fault. Massachusetts is reporting that there are 1,800 homeless families in Massachusetts last week. That would be up from 1,400 in June 2006. State officials are blaming the growing number of families in shelters on cuts government assistance.

Well sure! You certainly wouldn't want to blame a rise in homelessness on a rise in the number of useless and worthless people, would you?

Now take a look at this story about Lisa. First of all, Lisa has four children. While she went through an unfortunate case of abuse, she is considered 'homeless' because she cannot find an apartment for herself and her four children. While she has the education to work as a medical receptionist, Lisa is, instead, living off of her government Social Security and Transitional Aid funds. She gets $1,400 from the government every month.

There's a catch here. The same government agency that gives her money as a transitional family won't let her spend more than half of her government money on rent. So she remains "homeless."

The state of Massachusetts, by the way, also spends $30 million each year on rental subsidies. A number which many complain is not enough.

AND NOW .. HOW ABOUT A LITTLE QUIZ?

A little history lesson: If you don't know the answer make your best guess. Answer all the questions before looking at the answers. Who said it?

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid!

WTF?

In our WTF? segment today, it seems that our military has spent some of our hard-earned money to come up with a gay bomb. That's right ... a weapon that turns you gay.

Now ... just give me some time and I'm sure we can all come up with some really sensitive comments about this one.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

If you're a redneck into skateboarding and snowboarding, you might just try something like this. "Hold my beer and watch this." More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS!

Catholics held their annual silent protest against abortion on the streets of Atlanta yesterday. No problem. That's a very American exercise. However --- if those had been people standing there with FairTax signs instead of anti-abortion signs there would never have been a story like this in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hillary Clinton is now boastfully taking credit for starting the children's healthcare program back in 1997. Well, if it has anything to do with government control of your medical care (or your children's) Hillary would be the one.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is accusing the United States of illegally torturing terror suspects. She says violent interrogation methods do not work and protecting Americans should be done in a way that is "within the law." Remember now ... much of this depends on what the definition of "torture" is. Not letting someone sleep is not torture.

The US is going to give $1 billion to Mexico to help them fight their war on drugs. It's being called "Plan Mexico." How about "Plan Estupido!" Mexico is rich in resources and they have no small amount of money from their oil. They have no willingness to do anything about the drug problem .. and we're being played for saps.

Here's Jonah Goldberg on how Democrats (using Media Matters) plan to take down Rush and O'Reilly. Dammit! Left out again!

Bush says that he is still willing to increase spending on children's healthcare .. by $5 billion dollars (that's $30 billion short of what the Democrats want). Sure! Bush is always ready to increase spending!

On Tuesday the Supreme Court will be looking into more anti-terrorism policies including a case involving US secret prisons overseas.

A Muslim inmate is suing a Missouri jail for violating his religious rights by feeding him jelly sandwiches. I can think of something else we might feed him, but we don't want to get Pelosi's thong in a bunch.

New York City mayor Bloomberg tried to use a profitable property-tax collection program to pressure legislators to create tougher collection methods ... needless to say, it isn't working and now he is in a lose-lose situation.

Looks like the Swiss are having a pretty feisty national debate over immigrants in their country and what it means to be Swiss. How do you say "Press 2 for Spanish" in Romanch?

Senator Larry Craig is being inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame! Are we speaking Ebonics here?

A US scientist is about to announce that he has created the first new artificial life form. And guess what?? He is excited because his breakthrough could combat ... global warming!

A 20-year-old Marine recruit dropped and did 50 push-ups in court ... prosecutors dropped the charges against him.

The Japanese created a Wellness cellphone that can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. They forgot the breathalyzer thing.

A woman is suing Kmart for $100 in damages plus court costs after the Kmart collected sales tax on a pack of toilet paper.

A man stole a doughnut from local store in Missouri, and now he faces up to 30 years in prison. OK .. how many times has he stolen doughnuts before?

Remember the classic Chevy that Neal donated to Care-A-Thon last year? It has been donated again and is up for raffle. Find out more here.

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