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True
North Archives - March 16, 2010
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Featured
Articles
The
Source of American Individualism
 By
Robert Maynard
One theme from American civilization
that has attracted a lot of attention is the ideal of "American Individualism".
The modern notion that individualism = selfishness has come about because
we have lost sight of the biblical notion of the individual, upon which
the original American ideal of individualism was based.
(Editor’s Note: This is
the second in a series of pieces that are intended to be used as presentations
in Churches)
School
Choice: The Answer Under Our Nose
 By
Rob Roper
The public hearing at the
State House was supposed to gauge public support for consolidating public
school districts. It turned out to be a powerful outcry in support of school
choice in Vermont. Under current law and 140 years of tradition, parents
in some ninety towns enjoy (to varying degrees) the right to send their
children to any public or non-religious independent school of their choosing
with tax dollars following the child.
The
"Linguistic-Skills-of-Legislators" Theory Proven
By Martin Harris
 Even
though I have never encountered any denial or resistance from legislators
of my thesis that they are, indeed (with a very few easily identifiable
exceptions) far more intelligent and linguistically-skilled than the rest
of us, it may be useful to furnish a case-in-point as partial proof, on
the linguistic side. It showed up deep in the normally-dry pages of legislative
statutes and regulations, the language of the rulers now easily available
to the ruled in ways not imaginable prior to the may-I-say class-traitorous
invention of the Internet by one of their own a couple of decades ago.
Like the Vulgate Bible, translated from Latin to Old German by Martin Luther
and made available to the Late Middle Ages peasantry via Johannes Gutenberg's
printing press (don't presume to test your high school history student
on all this dead-European-white-guys stuff) the recent placement of actual
governmental language where the locals can read it has brought to light
all manner of interesting revelations.
# # #
Quotable
"Would socialized
medicine lead to socialization of other phases of life? Lenin thought so.
He declared socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist
state."
-- 1945 AMA Pamphlet Warning
# # #
Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
How
Much Tritium Leaked from Vermont Yankee Before the Leak was Stopped?
By Rod Adams Atomic Insights
March 13, 2010
Based on reading a number
of different articles and checking through the tables
provided by the Vermont Department of Health, the fluid that was leaking
into the ground contained tritium at a concentration of approximately 2.5
million picocuries per liter. That is equal to 2.5 x 10^-6 curies per liter.
The rate that it was leaving the pipe was roughly 100 gallons (370 liters)
per day. If the leak had been going on for a year before being detected
and stopped, the total quantity of fluid that left the pipe would equal
138,000 liters. The total activity released would be 0.35 curies.
If a single person consumed
every drop of that water, their whole body radiation dose would equal roughly
30 rem. According to a 1977
UNSCEAR study, the LD-50 (lethal dose for 50% of the population receiving
the exposure) for tritium in adult rats was determined to be 1000 Rad.
For the kind of low energy beta emissions that are produced by tritium,
a rem is equal to a Rad. A dose of 30 rem received over a 1 year period
would be unlikely to cause any immediate health effects, though it might
add an additional risk of developing cancer sometime during the person's
life. The magnitude of that risk could be computed using the conservative
linear, no-threshold dose assumption.
Vermont
Revenues 18% Below Expectations
From WCAX, March 8, 2010
New state revenue figures
out show Vermont's economic recovery continues to sputter. General fund
tax collections for February came in nearly $10 million short of projections.
That's an 18-percent shortfall. And it comes as a big surprise to state
officials who just agreed upon a new revenue forecast in January.
Risky
Business
By Art Woolf Vermont Tiger,
March 11, 2010
Where are the stories about
all the businesses and business ideas that fail due to changing market
conditions, poor or nonexistent business plans, bad marketing, lack of
capital, poorly conceived products, poor management etc.? Those are
all a part of entrepreneurship, in which failure is much more common than
success.
Starting a business is hard.
Making one succeed is even harder. That's why we don't want the government
involved in the risk-taking and failures that are a fundamental part of
business. It's what the private sector does much better than any
publicly owned or publicly backed entity. It's why we have the standard
of living we enjoy today.
Ideology
vs. Rationality
The Caledonia Record Editorial,
March 10th, 2010
Here we have the classic
collision between ideology and rationality. Shumlin, the ideologue, simply
won't be bothered with the facts, especially if they disagree with his
ideological obstinacy. Nuclear power is bad; Vermont Yankee produces nuclear
power; therefore, Vermont Yankee is bad and should be closed. The answer
to the power vacuum that closing VY will create is renewable, green power.
We don't have any yet, and we know that it will be several times more expensive
than nuclear power, but have faith. I know what's right. Trust me!
Dubie, the rationalist, says
go slowly, be cautious, wait for the facts, don't rush into a decision
that isn't necessary at this time and may turn out to be the wrong one.
Where would we be then?
Consolidation
Opponents Pack Statehouse
From WCAX, March 10, 2010
Parents and children packed
into Room 11and poured out into the hallways of the Statehouse, Wednesday
night. All were eager to share their thoughts on three bills that would
consolidate and redistrict schools.
Nearly every single one of
the more than 100 people who signed up to speak, spoke against consolidation.
Their main concern is that it will force children to attend a specific
public school and will eliminate the choice to attend independent schools.
"Allowing young people to
choose where they will attend school is vital in the success of many students
because the concept of one size fits all education does not work for all,"
said Nelson Richter, Executive Director of The Compass School in Westminster.
School
Board Protests Closed Meetings
From WCAX, March 8, 2010
A southern Vermont school
board is protesting the way the state is conducting a series of meetings
aimed at cutting education expenses. The meetings are being held behind
closed doors and the Dover School Board says that is undemocratic.
The meetings are part of
the recently signed "Challenges for Change" law, which asks for creative
approaches to budget challenges.
A group of state employees,
teachers, school superintendents, and more met Monday afternoon in Montpelier
for the first of seven meetings. They are the Education Design Team, tasked
with reducing administrative expenses while achieving better outcomes.
Earlier in the day, members of the Dover School Board sent a letter to
the state's education commissioner demanding the meetings open to the public.
'Choice'
Towns Decry School Plan
By Peter Hirschfeld, Vermont
Press Bureau, March 11, 2010
A public hearing on school-district
consolidation turned into a referendum on school choice as scores of residents
decried legislative proposals they fear will undermine parents' control
over their children's education. More than 200 parents, educators and students
crowded into a Statehouse meeting room Wednesday evening to weigh in on
legislative efforts to reduce the number of school districts in Vermont.
By and large, they condemned a plan they say looks to cut costs by constraining
choice.
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Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
Iraq's
Remarkable Election
The strategic benefits
of an emerging Middle East democracy.
The Wall Street Journal,
March 9, 2010
It takes a cynical mind not
to share in the achievement of Iraq's national elections. Bombs and missiles,
al Qaeda threats and war fatigue failed to deter millions of Iraqis of
all sects and regions from exercising a right that is rare in the Arab
world. Even the U.N.'s man in Baghdad called the vote "a triumph."
On Sunday, 61% of eligible
voters came out in Anbar Province, a former extremist stronghold that includes
the towns of Fallujah and Ramadi. In the last national elections five years
ago, 3,375 people—or 2%—voted in Anbar. The other Sunni-dominated provinces
that boycotted in 2005 saw similar numbers: over 70% turnout in Diyala
and Salaheddin and 67% in Nineveh, all higher than the national average
of 62%. American Presidential elections rarely have such turnout.
Al Qaeda as well as Sunni
and Shiite extremist groups were defeated militarily by the surge, and
this election continues the trend toward settling disputes through politics,
not bombs. The remaining terrorists, far weaker and organized in smaller
cells, tried hard to deter voting. Thirty-eight people died in various
mortar, rocket and bomb attacks on election day. But the attackers had
trouble getting near voting stations, and security in Baghdad and elsewhere
was good and Iraqis brushed off these threats.
Related: Iraq's
Cosmetic Election
Challenging
the Islamists: The ‘Other Muslims’ Have their Say
By Steve Emerson, Family
Security Matters, March 10, 2010
The "most important ideological
struggle in the world today is the battle over the future of Islam," writes
Hudson
Institute scholar Zeyno
Baran.
Baran is the editor of an
important new book, which goes on sale March 16th, entitled The Other
Muslims: Moderate and Secular – a compilation of personal analyses
from 10 American and European Muslims who warn of the danger posed by radical
Islamism.
American
Nationals Qaeda's Latest Weapons of Choice
By Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman
Rediff, India News, March 12, 2010
The arrest of Colleen R Larose
alias Jihad Jane, the American woman accused of providing material support
to terrorists and recruiting men and women on the Internet to wage 'violent
Jihad' in south Asia and Europe, was a rude wake up call for the United
States administration.
The involvement of Jihad
Jane and Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative David Headley in fomenting terror has
rudely reminded US intelligence agencies that the Al Qaeda had succeeded
in inducting even American nationals in its terror mission.
Indian security agencies,
which have bee keeping a track of these developments, warn that the LeT
and Al Qaeda will try to utilize such foreign operatives to further their
agenda.
New
Terrorist Weapon: ‘Lawfare’ Twists the Law
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, Israel
National News, March 14, 2010
The recently-formed "Lawfare
Project" has launched a new type of strategy to fight Muslim-led manipulation
of law in its war against democracy. The project was revealed at
the first-ever "lawfare" conference, held in New York late last week.
"Lawfare" is a relatively
new term for the abuse of legal systems to halt free speech against terrorism
while promoting the use of malicious lawsuits, harassment and complaints
against anyone who speaks on national security, Lawfare Project director
Brooke Goldstein told Israel National News. "The abuse is aimed
at achieving strategic military and political purposes."
Islamists
Respond to Terror Cases with Denial
By Sid Shahid, Islamists
Watch, March 14, 2010
As homegrown terrorism grabbed
headlines at the end of 2009, Islamist pressure groups like the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
Muslim American Society (MAS),
and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
felt the need to look as if they were responding forcefully. However, all
they offered was spin and denial of the very radicalism that they themselves
have helped breed.
First we witnessed the typical
smokescreen that attempts to paint Muslims as victims. For example, in
a November 6 press
release commenting on the Fort Hood massacre, Mahdi Bray
of the MAS Freedom Foundation strongly condemned the actions of Major Nidal
Hasan, but quickly segued into warnings about an anti-Muslim backlash:
"Let us be cautious, however, in drawing conclusions based on the ethnicity
of the perpetrator of this tragic incident. … The perpetuation of negativity
in such instances often unwittingly serves as an equally unnecessary exacerbation
of the atmosphere of hate, violence, and Islamophobia under which the Muslim
community already exists."
Exclusive:
The Resistance of Iranian Women: We Are All a ‘Neda’ Now
By Sara Ahmadi, Family Security
Matters, March 9, 2010
When it comes to Iran, it
is important for one to understand many things, especially considering
the events of the last few months. I always think that nobody will know
what our people – especially women – have gone through here in Tehran,
the heart of Iran.
The bitterest reality is
the presence of the mullahs who have imposed their rules on us. I was lucky
to see a few years less of the misery these mullahs have brought for us
because I was born a few years after the beginning of their rule!
Iran has attracted the attention
of the world after the righteous uprising of its people for freedom and
democracy; the decisive right of the people.
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From
Elsewhere
Vladimir
Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist
State."
By Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit,
March 8, 2010
"Would socialized medicine
lead to socialization of other phases of life? Lenin thought so. He declared
socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the socialist state."
--1945 AMA Pamphlet Warning
The Communist Workers Party
published an article recently in defense of state-run medicine like the
proposal that democrats are wanting to ram through in the next 10 days.
Climategate
Stunner: NASA Heads Knew NASA Data Was Poor, Then Used Data from CRU
By Charlie Martin, Pajamas
Media, March 10, 2010
Email
messages obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute via
a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that the climate dataset of
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) was considered — by the
top climate scientists within NASA itself — to be inferior to the data
maintained by the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit (CRU).
The NASA scientists also
felt that NASA GISS data was inferior to the National Climate Data Center
Global Historical Climate Network (NCDC GHCN) database.
These emails, obtained by
Christopher Horner, also show that the NASA GISS dataset was not independent
of CRU data.
Why
I Can Still Find Optimism in This Story
By Larry Kudlow, National
Review, March 9, 2010
So here we are on the one-year
anniversary of a booming stock market — the best in 75 years. That continues
to tell me things are getting better in the American economy, and that
the global economic story
is improving. Of course, I know that Washington is still going completely
in the wrong direction. Instead of embracing free-market capitalism, it’s
threatening to move toward statism, with its big-spending, over-regulating,
high-taxing, and economy-controlling "eat-the-rich" cannibalization of
successful investors and entrepreneurs.??
So while Washington has run
amok, I do believe that this great stock
market rally over the past year — the S&P 500 is up 68 percent
and economy-sensitive small-caps are up 95 percent — is in part telling
us that political regime change is coming our way this November.
California
Greenin'
From Investor’s Business
Daily, March 9, 2010
Global Warming: Remember
the promise that green jobs would flourish in California? Well, here's
the reality: The cost of going green is actually lost jobs.
Wrong
Bill At The Wrong Time
By Shikha Dalmia, Forbes
Magazine, March 10, 2010
Even if Democrats extract
the votes to put ObamaCare over the top, it will at best be a Pyrrhic victory
for them. Regardless of the outcome, this monstrosity might cost the Democrats
the Congress this November, ruin the party for a long time and prematurely
render Barack Obama a lame duck president for the rest of his term.
Related: Health
Care End Game Begins Monday
States
Launching 'Civil Disobedience' to National Health Care
By Tom Gantert, Michigan
Capital Confidential, March 11, 2010
Lawmakers opposed to President
Barack Obama's plan for national health care reform are hoping to spur
a nationwide "civil disobedience" that can derail Obamacare.
State Rep. Brian
Calley, R-Portland; State Rep. Justin
Amash, R-Kentwood; and State Sen. Wayne
Kuipers, R-Holland, have each introduced similar constitutional amendments
that seek to trump the national health care bills.
For example, Sen. Kuipers'
bill would prohibit a federal law from compelling any person, employer
or health care provider to participate in any health care system. It also
prevents anyone from being penalized for ignoring the federal law.
"Where this is going, I don't
know," Kuipers said this week. "You don't know until the states try to
do it."
According to a 10th Amendment
think tank, 26 states have attempted their own versions of Kuipers' bill.
Arizona has had its version passed by both houses of Congress, and it will
be voted on by residents in November. Virginia also had both houses of
Congress pass a similar bill, and it is awaiting the governor's signature.
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