A Country Of Illiterates

I'm often left wondering what's wrong in this country. Why do people think the way they do. Act the way they do and, especially vote the way they do. Vin Suprynowicz, noted libertarian, author and editor at the Las Vegas Review Journal provides me with some answers to my questions. In past editorials he has taken teachers, their unions and the American educational system to task for their obvious failures. His detractors amongst the teaching elite, and their supporters are quick to whine and attempt to deflect blame away from themselves. It's difficult to admit when you're wrong. Even harder to admit that you have been responsible for damaging untold numbers of children over the years, too.

"Abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. According to the Connecticut census of 1840, only one citizen out of every 579 was illiterate, and you probably don't want to know, not really, what people in those days considered literate; it's too embarrassing. ...

"By 1940, the literacy figure for all states stood at 96 percent for whites, 80 percent for blacks. Notice for all the disadvantages blacks labored under, four of five were still literate. Six decades later, at the end of the 20th century, the National Adult Literacy Survey and the National Assessment of Educational Progress say 40 percent of blacks and 17 percent of whites can't read at all. Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, and white illiteracy quadrupled."

It's hard to argue with things like that, though people have tried to do so. The American "educational system" is broken and agenda driven and may not be able to be fixed at all. I live in a town that has a "good" educational system and even so I have noticed that there are teachers in it who can't spell, punctuate or create a grammatically correct sentence or paragraph. My sons third grade teacher was just such a one. She was, by any standard an example of a teacher who should not be allowed to "teach". Radical change is going to be necessary and it must come sooner rather than later if we are to avoid the inevitable slide into irrelevance as a first world nation.

Those currently in power have no intention, or interest in ever changing things. They are vested in the current system and applaud it's further degradation. It's much easier to rule the illiterate. They are at the mercy of those who can read and think and are much more likely to believe the words of pundits and populists. Just look at the last elections results. It also bodes ill for the literate, as well. When you're surrounded by those who can no longer think for themselves your lives and fortunes are also at risk. Easily manipulatable masses can be made to accept anything by the master manipulators who run politics in this country. We're losing generations of people to the current system and if we don't make changes, (other than throwing piles of wasted tax dollars at it) then we will be facing the direst of consequences, a populace that has lost the ability to think and reason.

The time is now. Not tomorrow.

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Education, Libertarian, Politics, Illiteracy

Take A Gun To School

.38 Special asks the right questions of teachers.

The Shape Of Things To Come III

With the inevitable advent of progressive inspired "health care" legislation in our near future, we can get a glimpse at what is headed our way. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Washington States health rationing panel and what it has done to people who are using their government inspired "health care" scheme. It's certainly not a pretty sight, but it is what's likely to be foisted on the people who choose to be part of the government plans or those forced into it. I pity those poor folks.

In other words, the Medicare commission would come to function much like the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, which rations care in England. Or a similar Washington state board created in 2003 to control costs. Its handiwork isn't pretty.

The Washington commission, called the Health Technology Assessment, is manned by 11 bureaucrats, including a chiropractor and a "naturopath" who focuses on alternative, er, remedies like herbs and massage therapy. They consider the clinical effectiveness but above all the cost of medical procedures and technologies. If they decide something isn't worth the money, then Olympia won't cover it for some 750,000 Medicaid patients, public employees and prisoners.

So far, the commission has banned knee arthroscopy for osteoarthritis, discography for chronic back pain, and implantable infusion pumps for pain not related to cancer. This year, it is targeting such frivolous luxuries as knee replacements, spinal cord stimulation, a specialized autism therapy and MRIs of the abdomen, pelvis or breasts for cancer. It will also rule on routine ultrasounds for pregnancy, which have a "high" efficacy but also a "high" cost.

Currently, the commission is pushing through the most restrictive payment policy in the nation for drug-eluting cardiac stents—simply because bare metal stents are cheaper, even as they result in worse outcomes. If a patient is wheeled into the operating room with chest pains in an emergency, doctors will first have to determine if he's covered by a state plan, then the diameter of his blood vessels and his diabetic condition to decide on the appropriate stent. If they don't, Washington will not reimburse them for "inappropriate care."

If Democrats impose such a commission nationwide, it would constitute a radical change in U.S. health care. The reason that physician discretion—not Washington's cost-minded judgments—is at the core of medicine is that usually there are no "right" answers. The data from large clinical trials produce generic conclusions that rarely apply to individual patients, who have vastly different biologies, response rates to treatments, and often multiple conditions. A breakthrough drug like Herceptin, which is designed for a certain genetic subset of breast-cancer patients, might well be ruled out under such a standardized approach.

It's appalling that so many people will be forced to suffer under such a plan, but it is almost inevitable that this will be the case. The politicians in DC are determined to do something to us, where insurance and "health care" are concerned. Even if it kills us.

Punk And Hockey

What more could you ask for? This one's for Mike.