jlc

It makes me feel good that you stood up for what was right. If the Board had been playing with a decent set of cards, you should have had a good chance of changing their minds. Much of the time, I find that if someone contests a poor decision, it collapses because it could only have been maintained by not being noticed.

So I do not think that it was a futile gesture. It might have worked.

Jan

I find this erosion going on as well. Recently, the receptionist at my vet's office told me I had to sign a waiver in order to buy my dog's drugs from somewhere other than 'their own pharmacy'. I told them that I believed that it was my legal right to have a prescription filled anywhere that was licensed to do so.

I refused to sign the waiver. I took the prescription out of the receptionists other hand and walked out - drove to Walmart and got it filled. I had words with the vet personnel the next time I went in. (NB The best veterinarian I have had in recent years works there. None of this took place in her presence.)

I still want to set up an appointment to go back in and talk to that (good) vet in person. I believe that she is the chief honcho there and I may be able to convince her that the waiver is borderline in legality (and marginal in ethics). (Normally if I have a problem like this, I just change vets...but this vet has Common Sense and I would like to keep her.)

Do you have any advice for me on this issue?

Jan

Good for you, MamaEmma. Screw them - with a broken screwdriver.

Jan

Abaco -

I would say, "Address the matter. Do so bluntly and at a meeting that has good attendance by parents." (If you know ahead of time of other parents who agree with you, be sure they attend.)

Do you think that all of the parents agree with Common Core? Many of them probably do not, but lack a catalyst. The members of the Board will not care what you say, but if a large number of parents chime in, agreeing with you, the Board will care what 'they' say.

The most probably direct outcome is still homeschooling, but there is a chance that you could trigger a massive reaction from other parents and actually effect a change. And even if you do not, you have stood up for rationality and free choice.

Jan

If there is a person, Person A, whom you love and follow and you do everything they say, then that person controls you. If you then decide that you hate Person A and you will do the opposite of what they say, then that person still controls you.

Freedom lies in the ability to pick and chose what you think are the pertinent benchmarks for guiding your life. (This, by the way, makes Person A irrelevant.)

Jan

If I can keep my temper under control it gives me a lot of energetic force. It is something I try to harness.

Jan

I have pointed you back up from the inexplicable 0. Your thoughtful and courteous comment does not merit down-pointing.

I observe a wide assortment in my acquaintances: one of my sisters is a liberal; the other is a socialist. A young man who was a runner-up in the AS essay contest when he was in HS is now a flaming liberal. Overall, most of the incredibly intelligent (measured genius) and imaginative people who I consider friends are liberals.

I do not know why.

I have observed that the people who tend to most strongly label themselves as Objectivists seem to be protectively exclusive of true believer status. They would not want me in their Gulch. Most of the people here with whom I am on best terms seem to have 'something Objectivistly wrong'. (They are religious; they are 90%-ers.)

From what I observe of the world, most people are genuinely not Objectivists, and would not be even if our ideas got 'equal time' in media and education. I think that we will not succeed if we fail to take this into account.

Jan

I loved Stranger when it came out (I was in HS). I read it a dozen times. But then I was 'read out' on it...and I have not reread it since. I probably should get a copy and read it again now, just to see what I think of it.

Jan

Stop it, stop it stopit...(whimper)....

Jan, has enough hobbies for 2 people already

Do you have a source on that?

Jan

Was Sixth Column a YA story???

Have Space Suit; Will Travel is wonderful and would make a great movie.

Jan

If robots are the models for ideal human behavior, then I Robot is not a good book. But I think that we are eventually going to be 'living on Solaria' (where the robots outnumber the humans ten thousand to one), in which social model robots are not idealized humans but are a type of product (/life) on their own. This leaves humans to be...well...human. Solaria is one vision of the post-affluent society, where all of your physical wants are taken care of and the question becomes, "What do you want to do with your life?"

Jan

We need to make brilliant movies, like Winter Soldier, that make it heroic to be competent and a proponent of freedom. If all a person has for their mental furniture is 'dystopias and socialism' they will not see welfare and the 'evil rich businessmen' as anything other than the mere nature of reality.

This is not tricking people, MM, this is 'untricking' them. We have to break their conditioning, and we have to do it within our own rules of appropriate behavior.

Jan

Certainly, if socialist philosophy is represented in textbooks, we should claim right to equal representation - this would be required reading (aka It's your Text Book). I think that people are only getting exposed to one side of the philosophical spectrum.

Jan

I hope he does this.

I hope it is great.

Jan

Various colonies had different restrictions: some required one to be a property owner, some required taxpayer, other allowed anyone who had been in military service to vote. Several colonies had religious restrictions; of course voting was universally limited to white males.

The religious restrictions were dropped fairly early, but many of the other restrictions remained up through the first quarter of the 19th century. And we all know how difficult it was to break the 'while male' rule.

Jan

As Mike indicates, we have enough jobs that do not require physical stamina that we could be a lot more comprehensive about enlisting everyone who volunteers. I also think that officers should all come up through the ranks. Transparency declaration: I am a third generation maverick (only I never made it out of the enlisted ranks, so I was personally just a proto-maverick).

Anyone who wants to volunteer for the military should not be disqualified for physical weakness or religious preferences. If someone has a religious/philosophical problem with respect to being in combat, then they can work in a hospital or shuffle papers in Admin. Disqualification for mental or moral grounds should still be acceptable/encouraged.

Jan

"Have Space Suit; Will Travel" was probably the second SF book I read. It is still one of my favorites.

Jan

The books themselves can be read by those people who want to read them, but what is the current alternative to the barrage of political correctness and social endowment that the texts discuss? It would be very refreshing for there to be a chapter on Heinlein in discussions of modern society.

Jan

Double Star was incredibly insightful. I picked that up in an airport (in Hong Kong) when I was about 15, and devoured it.

Jan

Heinlein is also one of my favorite authors - much of a bookshelf is devoted to his works in my library (though I have avoided some of his later works). He played around with many philosophies in his early stories and settings, but MIAHM is the most concrete depiction of his mature philosophy and storytelling. The themes of competence and freedom are strong in all of his stories...I think that his philosophy wandered around because he was using his writing to explore 'how best to achieve those goals'.

I find SM Stirling's "Island in the Sea of Time" series to be Heinleinian. (The Island of Nantucket ends up ~3000 years in the past. Cope with it.)

Back to Heinlein: Farnham's Freehold is probably my least favorite. I am quite fond of Tunnel in the Sky.

Jan

Good.

Jan

...so to speak - :>)

But I am talking about voluntarily employing methods to make myself more efficient. Perhaps I am prejudice against hiring older people for entry level jobs, even when they would be the best choice. I do not consciously have anything against doing this, so I eliminate 'age' as much as possible from my basis of consideration. This allows me to do a better job.

Another example: I am occasionally asked to judge various art/poetry entries. I really really do NOT want to know who wrote the verses or did the art. I do not want to feel myself having to deal with 'shall I give the point to a stranger or to my friend' situation: Having the entries be anonymous makes this a lot cleaner and lets me make a better decision, based on skill alone.

The orchestras that started using the 'tryout behind a curtain' technique have been pleased by the results, and more orchestras are voluntarily opting for this method of selection. The orchestra leaders did not realize that they had been crippling their own choices and selecting poorer players just because they fit comfortably in the conventional profiles.

I am all in favor of judgement and discrimination, but I am also aware that I can choose to engage tools that make me more effective than I would otherwise be. The 'double blind' test is one of these. I would like to diminish my fallibilities as much as possible.

Jan

Good tactic. I do not like getting angry, but I do not fear it either. I prefer that 'control' begin with 'self-control'.

Jan

One could start with "All government or public agencies must use Good Accounting Practices. Financial records must be available to the public." and go from there to, "All courts will be convened in the public eye. There are no secret courts. All convictions are appealable." (I put that last in because there is no process for appealing a Medicare ruling.)

Jan