Saturday, May 18, 2013

Episode 50: More on the IRS; Privileged Journalists; Sheriffs Sue Colorado

Music Free Static Episode 50

1 0:00:00 Introduction

Welcome to Music Free Static. This is episode 50 recorded on May 18, 2013. I'm your host, Randall Smith, bringing you all the static of those other podcasts but none of the music.

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2 0:01:56 More on the IRS Scandal

3 0:16:06 Why Should "Journalists" Get More Protection?

4 0:38:55 Sponsor: Audible.com

6 Copyright

Creative Commons License
Music Free Static Video Podcast by Randall Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Posted by Randall Smith at 15:32
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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

New Graduation Requirements to Ensure Students Actually Know Something

Colorado's graduation requirements are much like any other state's. All a student has to is manage to spend enough time in various classes and they get a diploma. A state advisory council is looking to change that. Rather than so-called "seat time", the new requirements would actually prove that prospective graduates have actually learned something.

Kurtz noted that, rather than impose a single state test for graduation readiness, these proposed guidelines offer multiple ways to satisfy requirements that he termed "quite generous."

In English, for instance, a high school student could meet the standards by attaining a certain "cut score" on the state's TCAP test, achieving an ACT score of 18, earning a 3 or higher on an International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement exam, or getting a grade of C-minus or better on a concurrent enrollment college course — among other measures.

I know, it's a novel concept actually testing to ensure that Colorado gradates have learned something after sitting in a classroom for 13 years. "But wait!" you say, "If a students passes a class, doesn't that mean they've learned something?" Not necessarily.

One only has to look at the stats for a view school districts in schoolview.org to see the problem. Many school districts are posting 70+ percent graduation rates despite failing to get even half of their students to a proficient level. Those schools aren't doing their students any favors.

One of the things that we've seen at Adams State is that many high school graduates have to take one or more remedial classes. Of course, those classes are pretty much useless. Students stuck in remediation rarely graduate from college wasting both time and money. (Taxpayers are also on the hook for those costs.)

The problem needs to be fixed before those students graduate. Letting them graduate without having mastered the basics gives those students a false sense of their own abilities. These requirements would help prevent these students from racking up huge amounts of student loan debt unnecessarily (and wasting taxpayer dollars).

Posted by Randall Smith at 21:23
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Monday, May 13, 2013

Would I Have Signed?

I just finished watching "1776" and was struck by the bravery of the men who signed the Declaration. They were not, as a whole, men who were there for their own glory. The pledge of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor was not idle. They knew the risks they were taking and the dangers ahead yet they signed anyway. It was the right thing to do and they did it.

I have often wondered, over the years, whether there are men serving in Congress today who would have stood with Adams, Franklin and Jefferson to sign the Declaration of Independence. I have yet to answer that question. There are, probably, some who would yet, I think, they would be vastly outnumbered by their colleagues who would sit with their fingers in the air waiting for the next public opinion poll. Cowards they would have been called then and such I would call them now for only a coward would refuse to stand for his convictions unless he knew that a majority of the people agreed with him.

And yet, I wonder. Would I have been brave enough to stand in the oppressive July heat and sign what was tantamount to my execution order? I flatter myself to think so for I love liberty dearly. But I look at my family -- my children playing peacefully unaware of what such a choice would mean for their lives -- and I doubt.

I fear what would happen to them if the government were to seize me as a rebel. I fear what would happen if the government chose to persecute them for my choice. I think on my fears and I falter.

Those men in Philadelphia, I have no doubt, faced the same fears. Some of them already had had family arrested and property seized because of their convictions. They signed anyway. The odds were against them at every step but they signed anyway. Every day of their lives from July 4th, 1776 until the end of the war, those men faced the wrath of the most powerful nation on Earth. They signed anyway.

I don't know that I would have.

The day will come soon, I fear, that Americans will have to make the choice to stand at a modern Lexington Green and with the Founders in Philadelphia. Many will choose to stand with the patriots against a tyrannical government where their very lives are the cost.

I don't know that I'll be one of them.

With every fiber of my being, I wish that I would be brave enough to join then. "... It is better to die freemen than to live slaves." I believe that. Few statements ring more true for me than that line from Jefferson's Necessity of Taking up Arms. Yet, for all that, when I look at my family, I don't know that I could put them into the danger that my choice would bring down on them.

My dad often asks, what would bring a man to stand on Lexington Green? There's no doubt that Americans suffered under a long train of usurpations. What brought them to the point that would arm themselves, risking their lives and the welfare of their families to face down the might of their government? What would it take for me to join them?

I don't know.

I hope never to find out.

Posted by Randall Smith at 23:33
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Saturday, May 11, 2013

Episode 49: Guns; IRS; Choice; DMCA Reforms

Music Free Static Episode 49

1 0:00:00 Introduction

Welcome to Music Free Static. This is episode 49 recorded on May 11, 2013. I'm your host, Randall Smith, bringing you all the static of those other podcasts but none of the music.

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2 0:01:59 Gun Crimes Drastically Decrease

3 0:18:52 IRS Targeted Tea Party Groups

4 0:31:52 Sponsor: Loving Hands Crochet

Choose from hundreds of crocheted afghans, hats, scarves and more.

Loving Hands Crochet - http://lovinghandscrochet.etsy.com

5 0:34:24 Choice

6 0:47:18 Copyright Reform Proposed

7 0:54:10 Copyright

Creative Commons License
Music Free Static Video Podcast by Randall Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Posted by Randall Smith at 19:21
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Monday, May 6, 2013

Dems Seek to Kill the Internet in Rural Colorado

Not content with driving gun manuactureres and energy producers from the state, Colorado Democrats now have their sights set on the Internet. HB 287 is an attempt to speed deployment of broadband services in rural areas by diverting part of the "High Cost Support Mechanism" from phones to Internet providers. That would be fine if they had stopped there. Sadly, they decided to do more.

HB 287 would grant the Public Utilities Commission authority to regulate IP-based services such as Voice over IP.

"That's the purpose of the Public Utilities Commission — to provide some oversight to assure that the service is affordable if we have determined as citizens in our state that a particular service is something we want to have available to everybody, kind of like electricity or phone service in the past," said [Sen. Jeanne] Nicholson, a lead co-sponsor of the bill.

This is the same PUC that refused to allow Mile High Cap to operate in Denver while granting existing cab companies permission to expand. It's also the same PUC that killed off Black Hills Energy's plan to build a larger natural gas plant to replace an existing coal plant.

Nicholson's attempt to limit the VoIP regulations to "under served" areas proves that 1) she doesn't understand how Internet services work and 2) that she hates rural Colorado. VoIP providers are don't have to be the same ones providing Internet access. In fact, they're rarely one and the same. That's one of the great things about the Internet. By saddling rural Colorado with intrusive regulations, she is ensuring that it's harder to provide service in those areas. The small, local ISPs that might try to serve those areas will be buried under new regulations.

Congratulations, Senator. You've crafted a bill that will have the exact opposite effect.

Posted by Randall Smith at 07:14
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Saturday, May 4, 2013

Episode 48: Who Cares?; Combat Piracy Without Legislation; Going Mad (and Green)

Music Free Static Episode 48

No video today due to technical problems.

1 0:00:00 Introduction

Welcome to Music Free Static. This is episode 48 recorded on May 4th

  1. I'm your host, Randall Smith, bringing you all the static

of those other podcasts but none of the music.

Subscribe to Music Free Static:

2 0:00:49 Who cares?

3 Sponsor: Audible.com

4 0:17:28 Combat Piracy Without Legislation

5 0:45:32 Going Mad (and Green)

6 0:56:11 Copyright

Creative Commons License
Music Free Static Video Podcast by Randall Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Posted by Randall Smith at 16:59
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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Dems: Let's Take More of Your Money so We Can Give it Back to You

This is, sadly, typical of progressive "logic".

For the earned-income tax credit, an amendment to the bill requires that the state collect money in excess of its spending limit under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The state isn't expected to reach this limit — which is expected to be more than $12 billion in the general fund — until sometime after the fiscal year 2015, according to state economic analysts.

Not since 2001 have taxpayers in Colorado received a state earned-income tax credit. That year, about 211,000 people received an earned income tax credit of about $159.

For accuracy's sake: A TABOR refund is not an "earned-income tax credit". It's a refund because the state took more from taxpayers than they were allowed.

For the state child tax credit to take effect, Congress would first need to pass the Market Place Fairness Act of 2013 [aka We Hate Small Businesses Act of 2013] that requires online retailers to collect and pay sales taxes to states. Moreover, Colorado's legislature must pass a bill to adjust the state's laws so that Colorado can collect those taxes. House Bill 1295, sponsored by House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, qualifies for this requirement.

In case you missed it, here's the thinking. Democrats decide that they want to give an earned-income credit and a child tax credit. To do so, they first have to pass new taxes to confiscate the money needed to pay for the credits. It's like saying, "Give me five bucks so I can buy you lunch," or, more accurately, "Give me 20 bucks so I can buy you a Big Mac and I'll keep the change."

I'm sure Colorado Democrats feel great pride in their generosity but any reasonable person can see it's a scam. Perhaps they should stop taking policy advice from Nigerian doctors who have an urgent need to use your bank account.

Posted by Randall Smith at 07:03
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