September 23, 2004 - Some random thoughts...

A column I read today discusses a school district in Muskegon County Michigan that is doing a mock terrorist attack drill. In the statement, the "terrorist" group is called "Wackos Against Schools and Education" (who believe everyone should be homeschooled). It's true, here's the link:

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040922.shtml

We will probably not homeschool but I commend those who do. Ever notice that the kids who win spelling bees and geography bees are almost always homeschooled? Not only to these kids' parents take on a tremendous undertaking they actually teach the kids something they don't teach anymore - competitiveness. Today's "everyone wins" attitude in schools is disturbing. Teaching a child to do his/her best has all but disappeared from the American educational system. Of course, being able to spell or locate Egypt on a map seems to be another component of education that has disappeared. In addition, parents who homeschool probably contribute a lot more to our society's well-being than most people. Raising our children to value education and be competitive is a must. It's no longer smart Americans competing against dumb Americans for jobs. It's smart Americans competing against smart Asians for jobs.

Why is CBS getting a free pass? Had Fox News passed off forged documents that discredited John Kerry there would be a mass movement to pull the plug on them.

Driving around here in PA sometimes I see road signs that warn me to look out for DUI drivers. This makes me think that 10-20% of drivers are drunk at any one time. There were around 35,000 DUI arrests in PA last year. That's 96 a day. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are 119,642 miles of road in PA. That's one DUI per 1,246 miles of road. If I'm driving on a 13 mile stretch of road why do they act like DUI drivers are all over the place? Plus, I bet that half of those arrests come at random checkpoints set up to make citizens prove their innocence.

Only in America - why are tobacco companies forced to tell people not to use their products? Parents should tell their kids not to smoke. Tobacco companies should not be forced to waste their time and money trying to tell us voluntarily putting smoke in your lungs is bad. Besides, tobacco is one thing we do well. American cigarettes are a big export item. In a time of big trade deficits we should be encouraging our big exporters to keep on rolling. The same people probably complain about SUVs too but if Ford or GM were to close an SUV plant and lay off 1800 people ... well that must be Bush's fault I guess.

In the news recently was a story about people allowing insurance companies to put black boxes in cars to monitor their driving in order to get a better insurance rate. Also, people are beginning to put RFID chips in themselves and their children. We don't have to worry about the government invading our privacy; we are voluntarily giving it up.

A lot of people in their 20's and 30's are concerned about jobs being outsourced. Maybe some of those people should look in their garages.

Harvey Wheeler recently died. He co-authored the novel Fail-Safe. I first read it when I was a teenager and Reagan was President. The scenario in the book, even though it was published in the 1960's, was still plausible in the mid 1980's. I highly recommend it.