I recommend reading the "Little House in The Prairie" collection wherein there was a one room school house and a twelfth grade grad taught it. If she made it thru high school, she knew enough to pass along her education. My mother went to "Normal School" A Normal School was a two year, post high school program. Year one was spent in a classroom learning how to teach. Second year was spent in a classroom observing and being observed by an experienced teacher. She went on to college and law school but ultimately chose teaching. She pretty quickly advanced to principal. I greatly admire those who home school. I could not begin to do that despite having a fist full of degrees.

I'm nearly 64 and could answer most of the questions. I'm going to forward Mr. Payne's article to our daughters and sons. All but one have collegedegrees ; two have advanced degrees. Our older son is a CIA graduate (he's a chef) and knows more about geopolitics and history than I'll ever know. Obviously, given the generation gap, I expect all of them (except the chef) will know far less than I. My husband had the advantage of being able to take Latin courses in junior and senior high so his grasp of etymology is far greater than mine. As a result he is able to learn foreign languages (well Romance languages) far better than I. Anyone remember diagramming sentences in elementary school??

Ah, and there's the Law of Unintended Consequences. There is a nearly perfect inverse correlation between cutting the percentage of smokers and the increasing rate of obesity. It's pretty much a toss up as to which costs society more in terms of health care costs. I certainly don't drive more recklessly using seat belts and, having raced sports cars in Marlboro, MD as a teenage girl, I'd not get behind the wheel without one. Helmets? No. If I drove more long distance I'd install a Bondurant five-point belt in the driver's seat. Back in the day, I too raced my bicycle at high speed with no protective head gear. I drove a 1942 Harley without a helmet. What next? Helmets required in the shower?

It is incredibly difficult to get disability payments. SSDI has a virtual Berlin wall of denial. I was fortunate to find an attorney specializing in this matter. I'm sure that many people have scammed the system, but people who are truly disabled would love to go back to work and simply can't. I'm a self admitted idiot when it comes to calculating true unemployment rates but even I can see the craven manipulation practiced by the current administration. Question. Certainly O isn't the only POTUS who has brought out this trick pony. More info please.

Darn it, cut on characters again. S'up? Anyhow, the guy scares the billy bejabbers out of me. He seems so jejune. No idea of what his edicts will harm. No idea of the cost of thousands of regulations. No idea about biz in general. Community organizers are generally dumb in the extreme and he personifies ignorance. He is so anti-biz that he presents a clear and present danger to commerce as we know and love it. I'm so very, very weary of this. As a freelance writer I must file quarterly and estimate my anticipated earnings for next quarter, I pay a price if I under estimate and pay both portions of my Social Security hit. I hope for change when he's voted out of office. Damn, cut off again.

I don't know if POTUS is a Muslim or a Rastafarian. I do appreciate the fact that he doesn't stick us for the tab of dog only knows how many thousand$ to go to any sort of church service. As for his million$ buses for his recent campaign tour... well, need I say more? College grades not revealed? I'd no idea. I will tell you frankly that I got a solid "D" in pre-med bioscience at George Washington University. I went back years later to get an "A" in real people biology. Wish I could find the article I read about the abysmal costs of regulations, rules and ridiculousness paper/time loads. Know what I'd really like to see? POTUS making eye contact with soldiers at the foot on the stairs or AF 1 or helicopter. Make eye contact.

I've never understood why our government, greedy for ever more tax money to fund gargantuan Fed and state gov't programs, doesn't legalize drugs and tax them like every other product we folx buy. It would be a robust source of money and zap the crime rate in the U.S. as well as thump the cartels.

My uneducated guess is that consumption rates wouldn't change much. Banning drugs, like Prohibition creates a stunning black market. We're seeing this happen now with cigarettes. You can buy them on line from Native Americans and pay no state tax. I've looked into this one and on average people in Texas pay about $30/carton less buying from these sources. In New York the savings are even greater.

So what do we do? Screw the...

Whoops, meant POTUS. Wonder if SCOTUS will chime in on inevitable legislation.

Sorry for this mistake.

SCOTUS seems to be in a terrifying rush to increase a nation of dependents. I'm left to wonder if they're clumping in 'health care/life" in their interpretation of our Declaration of Independence, but that hardly fits the current model of metastasizing dependence. And, of course, that flies in the face of liberty. As for happiness, it is not itself a right. The pursuit is the right. It would seem to me that this speaks to meritocracy.

For some odd reason, I think that we could all meet in a very large diner over pancakes and coffee and come up with a health care plan of less than a dozen pages. Perhaps only two with carefully crafted bullet solutions. You know the drill -- insurance across state lines, no penalties for not...

No, not on the balance sheet, but in the Bible. I've a version that highlights words attributed to Jesus. Makes for interesting reading. I'm sure most of you know that the Bible is an edited document, with many books omitted (notably the Gnostic Gospels, wherein IIRC "Jesus kissed Mary Magdeline on the lips"). I'm not a big fan of the Bible, but absolutely do believe that having a Lord is a fine idea. All religions have a holy boss/philosopher -- Allah, Christ, Buddha etc

I simply do not understand the war on Christianity. If you're not a believer you can wish your friends a happy, healthy holiday season. No need to sneer at 'Bible thumping ignorati'.

I love Christmas. It's fun to decorate and enjoy the company...