Re: The Phoenix has landed!

Féachadóir <F?ach@d.?ir> wrote:
Scríobh Paul J Gans <gans@xxxxxxxxx>:
Earle Jones <earle.jones@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <EZKdnfgQpr7GC6fVnZ2dnUVZ_sTinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Robert J. Kolker" <bobkolker@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

TheBicyclingGuitarist wrote:


fnord

Well Bob, IF we find life on Mars, it will help us understand more
about EVOLUTION, and that can have many applications to help not just
this nation but all humanity (provided the religious fundamentalists
don't blow us all to hell first by their craziness). fnord

What does finding life on Mars have to do with national defense or the
protection of the rights/property of U.S.A. citizens?

I have no objection to Mars exploration per se. I object to it being tax
funded. Taxation is theft and we should have as little of it as national
survival requires. Curiosity is not an itch that tax payers should be
required to scratch.

Bob Kolker



*
What about the potholes in the street by my house? Should the
government use my tax money to fill those holes? Or perhaps each
homeowner should get out with his shovel and fill them?

What about the education of my children? Should the government use my
tax money to fill those holes?

Of coursd we've done the education experiment. Public free education
is a rather recent innovation as these things go. I believe that the
evidence is that the entire nation benefitted by having an educated
populace.

Based on the posts in this newsgroup, the evidence is that large
portions of the USA do not have an educated populace.

There is that.

On the other hand, education is *funded* by the state. It
is not, however, actually *run* by the state. USians
understand this, but since it is ideosyncratic among nations
let me explain a bit.

Almost everywhere in the US education is run by local school
boards. These are usually elected, but not always. Their
area of control is of a school district. Size varies, but
most of the time there are five or more per US county. That
means that the average state will have hundreds of local
school boards.

These boards hire school staff, including teachers, allocate
money and set educational standards. Thus they have almost
complete control. Many, if not all states set overriding
educational policy. These are often general statements of
what sort of things should be covered in class.

There have been attempts to legitimize creationism by
getting it recognized in these state directives. This has
(mostly) failed. But what is left is often a very general
statement about "widely accepted biology", which pretty
much lets local school boards do what they want.

Civilized nations have national curricula set by some
responsible central government agency. While this certainly
has its problems as well, it does tend to keep the looney
tunes quiet.

There's a lot more, of course, but that's the general idea.

--
--- Paul J. Gans

.

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