Share 9: How a Bipartisan Education Reform Effort Became the Biggest Conservative Bogeyman Since Obamacare

Curious about Common Core? It’s a long read, but well worth the info.

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/common-core-education-reform-backlash-obamacare

From the article:

“The educational initiative that has inspired such a remarkable outpouring of fury began as a bipartisan endeavor so anodyne, nerdy even, that it proceeded for years with virtual consensus among policymakers of all stripes. Republican governors once enthusiastically signed on to the initiative—but now they (especially those contemplating presidential bids) are scrambling to distance themselves, and around the country state lawmakers are seeking to halt the implementation of the standards. Perhaps second only to Obamacare, Common Core has become a rallying cry on the right, evoking the kind of anguish and horror once reserved for the so-called death panels. And unlike health care reform, Common Core has tapped into a vein of outrage on the left as well.”

Share 5: Gary North the Libertarian Taliban

Interesting article about stuff you should know:

http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/04/08/gary-north-the-libertarian-taliban/

Warning: some graphic images.

From the article:

Let this serve as a warning to the libertarian and Christian homeschooling communities: Gary North, the man who is writing and publishing the “Ron Paul Curriculum,” is certifiably nuts. North subscribes to an ultra-ultra-fundamentalist religious ideology called “Christian Reconstructionism,” which aspires to establish a global Christian theocracy and reinstitute all of Old Testament law. I am not exaggerating.

North, who has been lurking around the fringes of the libertarian community for decades, has reemerged from his cave to pen a homeschooling curriculum under Ron Paul’s name, based “first and foremost” on “biblical principles.” (Tom Woods, who has done some writing for Dr. Paul before, is also involved in the project.)

It only gets more interesting from there…

Share 1: The Capitalist Network That Runs the World

Here’s an oldy but a goody, thought I’d share. From NewScientist.com:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed–the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

From the Article:

“The work, to be published in PLoS One, revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships (see image). Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What’s more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world’s large blue chip and manufacturing firms – the “real” economy – representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.

When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a “super-entity” of 147 even more tightly knit companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. “In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network,” says Glattfelder. Most were financial institutions. The top 20 included Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and The Goldman Sachs Group.”

Thoughts, theories, anyone?

FYI, I’ll be posting a little bit of everything about anything and everything–so, it won’t just be all political.