Opinion

Act 46 and the Quality of Education and Community

As far as I can see Act 46 is not going to have any measurable impact on the quality of education we provide to our children or, by extension, their lives thereafter.  

The driving force behind Act 46 is to hold down school taxes by reducing the per pupil cost of education.  This does not mean we will see lower education tax rates.  An expectation of a lower tax rate will only prove disappointing and frustrating. We will, however, be persuaded to agree that fewer buildings, higher teacher/pupil ratios and lower administrative costs must add up to more efficient operations. In the end we will sigh and shrug and accept that the Act ought to be beneficial because the cost after consolidation should logically be less than it would have been without consolidation.  If precedent holds there will never be any demonstrated evidence that our assumptions are correct.

     The Reformer headlined a story this past Monday about a report done by BDCC, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation on the closing of Yankee.  BDCC has for decades been the first and last word on the local economy and local economic development. The gist of the report was a review of the major problems associated with the closing of a nuke plant.   I also read part of the report itself.  Maybe I should have read it all.  However everything I read focused on what all the major parties involved in the closing and post closing affairs were doing since about 2010, two years before the plant was scheduled to close.

I noticed in the Commons. He makes interesting points about a town appointment that may not be very transparent, which of course raises questions.

DESCRIPTION:
Sec. Hillary oversaw regime change wars in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, S. Sudan, Syria, Yemen; should be asked to explain new Toyota trucks/heavy weapons coming to ISIS/other terrorists, who have been mass murdering US designated enemies in Assad’s Syria and Shiite wherever they are; why superpower US ‘fighting’ for 5 years can’t defeat ragtag force of 25,000; involved false flags attacks on US to prove innocence?

DESCRIPTION:
As Sec. of State Clinton oversaw US wars for regime change that continue in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen, and now threatens Russia and China. Her opponent says enough. (US regime change wars from Greece, Korea, Iran, Vietnam, Laos, Guatemala, Congo, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Cuba, Panama, Ethiopia Somalia, S. Sudan, Grenada, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen.)

A number of people I know are very concerned that Trump might be elected. I have a suggestion to take the wind out of his sails and make his service to the nation unnecessary.

Trump’s promise is to “make America great again.” If everyone steps up, works hard, and makes America great again before Election Day, he won’t be needed. As an added bonus, the newly re-greatized nation would remain that way, with Clinton maintaining the new status quo.

Here’s how I’d do it:

But would our government?

Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”

Bill Casey wanted to fool all of the people all of the time. Here’s a quote:

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false”

[William Joseph Casey was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community and personally directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).]

When playing serious poker, they say that if you can’t figure who the “patsy” is within 3 hands, the patsy is you.

Oswald thought he was doing something patriotic when he took the (CIA) job in the Book Depository.  No one was more surprised than he when he realized JFK had been shot. “Holy Sh*t” he said. “I’m the patsy”. “I better GTF out of here”. He didn’t succeed.

One of the primary elements of good science is to be challenged. Challenge is a welcome, necessary and learning component of all science. Change and new discoveries are expected by any good scientist. And, theoretical and practical sciences are the most self-correcting of all human intellectual disciplines. All of which helps to keep science alive and relevant.Too many non-scientists use those components, however, as a wedge or a club to make us think that science is unstable, unreliable, does not “know everything” and that science cannot reach proven conclusions because waiting around the corner is another change.

This article was inspired by a recent visit to a small, old New England town. An older and slightly larger place than here, where long ago the winding streets were laid out on hills for strollers and horse carriages, and everything ran to the sea. Those roads are barely wide enough for bicycles yet here we are in the twenty-first century, most people driving big rigs and SUVS, and many people in a rush all the time. (Saying nothing of the large number on their phones while driving) I did see many occasions of courtesy and an ethos of yielding, but it was hardly a given, and it’s the bad apple that spoils the barrel.

On several instances I witnessed ’accidents’. In these cases, that term is a gross misnomer. They weren’t accidents at all, they were pushy people driving killing machines and for whatever reason, demanded or assumed the right to go first, even if the protocol of the road didn’t warrant that. I see this all the time, especially on my motorcycle, where a larger vehicle will bully me with its mass, saying in effect, my metal is heavier, so back down or pay the price. In psych terms, compensation.

Recently in Brattleboro some “Townie” came up with the idea that trash pick ups will be done bi-weekly rather than weekly (this program, mind you began in the hottest month, July)  But that’s another story…

I think it’s a good idea but why stop there?  Why not cease all trash pick ups?  Forever!  Yes I am serious. 

We have major problems with trash – it pollutes and gathers in gyres in the oceans, now as big as Texas and getting bigger. It breaks down into small pieces and gets ingested by fish which then gets ingested by humans (ha ha – karma)  The population is growing yet we have done barely a thing to address the accumulating build up of trash. Indeed, we have only gotten more wanton.