We the People   

   Go ahead. Make fun of Florida's election foibles. 

   But while you're laughing about hanging chads and misplaced ballots, we the people are running rings around our legislature and special interests. We just pass amendments to the state constitution.

   This November, there were 12 proposals on the ballot, including: phasing out greyhound racing, restoring voting rights to most felons who did their time, voter control of gambling, and crime victim rights. We exceeded the required bar of 60 percent approval on all but one proposal, and 58 percent supported that one "failure."  

   This blogger is not qualified to judge all the merits, and we don't particularly like messing with any constitution. But, if the tortoises don't get anywhere, we'll be the hares. Yea!

   Maybe in 2020 we'll clean up the algae mess in South Florida. Sorry, Big Sugar. 

   Get ready. Ban Assault Weapons Now is collecting hundreds of thousands of voter signatures required to make the next ballot. The Miami group has to convince us this is not about disarming law-abiding gun owners.

   For starters, those who already own assault weapons would be exempt, just required to register. If Floridians don't want the ban, it won't pass. We the people, not politicians or special interests, will make the call. A win either way.

   Would this be a slippery slope to banning all guns? This year, some argued that banning greyhound racing could lead to the end of our fishing and hunting rights. Fact or scare tactic?

   After Parkland, 62 percent of Florida voters favored a ban on the sale of assault weapons. We can assume some of those polled believe in the Second Amendment. Many must be Republicans. 

   But, caution: Frequent amendments may work for awhile, but it's a dangerous departure from (honest) representative government. This approach on a national level would be a disaster. Hello, failed government.  

      Jimmy




    

Man Goes Shopping   

   Let me tell you a story about a normal man in his humble home on a routine day.

   It occurred to him, their anniversary was around the corner - figuratively speaking, of course. Being a normal husband - not too dimwitted, nor too wonderful - he backed out of the driveway and headed toward the mean streets of life. 

   Along the way, this normally self-centered man groused about his aging, aching back. About the sad state of politics. About tax cheaters. Spouse cheaters. Drunken drivers. Domestic violence. Kids with guns. About leaky plumbing and attic mice. About his own faults.

   That was only the first mile.

   At a normal store, Mr. frowny-face selected an appropriate card. Then he beheld a noble bunch. For the love of money, he checked the price. Not too little; not too much. 

   On the appropriate morning, his Mrs saw the card and the lovely dozen on her breakfast table. The fallen world was outside and out of mind. 

   This is truth for the heart, beauty by design - for the spirit.  



   The One and Only had provided the ingredients. He assigned normal men to plant, grow, cut, buy and present his gift to others. By this and other means He reminds us that despite all the tension and conflict, He is still on the throne. 

   Our normal man received above-normal approval. The dozen continued to praise God a week later, for Thanksgiving guests to enjoy as well. 

The End

   

The Smaller the Better?   

   Analysts and policymakers have debated for decades whether smaller classes are best for teaching and learning. 

   Parents and teachers are settled on the subject. Parents want their kids to have more one-on-one time with teachers. They in turn have an easier time managing fewer students.

   A few years ago in Florida they mandated class sizes be not larger than 30. Imagine the costs necessary to comply. Was it based on opinions, or evidence?

   A new worldwide study indicates lower student-teacher ratios have few benefits. With 127 studies in 41 different countries there was some improvement in a few cases, while others produced no effect. 

   Students benefited most from small class sizes in reading. In other subjects, those in small classes showed no appreciable advantage.

   Researchers suggest that school systems reconsider their emphasis on more construction and staffing. "Class size reduction is costly," they wrote. "The available evidence points to no or only very small effect. Moreover...small classes may be counterproductive in some subjects."

   Along with Florida, some 24 other states have implemented reductions in student-teacher ratios. Most of them have seen very little improvement in student achievement. 

   Researchers didn't advocate abandoning all class-size reductions, but urged educators to consider where their efforts might do the most good - special cases in individual schools. 

WORLD online

Fire: Fact or Fiction       

   A week ago we wrote of California's destructive wildfires, one in particular which killed more than 80 and destroyed more than 13,000 homes. All this - leading up to what should have been a pleasant 
Thanksgiving season out there. 

   You've probably heard that climate change is responsible for this and other (extraordinary) destruction, such as Hurricane Michael. 

   "Things like this will be part of our future," said California Gov. Jerry Brown. 

   Not so fast, says Gregory Wrightstone, author of Inconvenient Facts: The Science that Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know. 

   He said the number of wildfires in the Western Hemisphere is on the decline. California in particular has seen a decrease of about 50 percent. Cliff Mass of the U. of Washington agrees that in past decades the frequency of California wildfires has declined. 

   What has increased is the risk to humans. In 1940, there were 607,000 homes in high risk areas. By 2017, that number was 6.7 million. 

   President Trump was criticized for blaming forest management for some of the loss of human life and property. 

   Wrightstone backs him up. By limiting logging and suppressing lower-intensity fires, the U.S. Government gives fire more fuel to burn. "Californians are suffering not from Gov. Brown's 'new normal' but from ill-conceived policies of radical environmental activists who planted a time bomb that is now exploding," he adds. 

WORLD online

The Largest City     

   Underground. 
  
   Bigger than Minnesota. 
  
   Excavation volume equal to 4,000 pyramids of Giza. 
  
   About 200 million structures. 
      This "city" was not built brick by brick, but grain by grain. By termites. 
Over some 3,800 years.

   The only visible structures are conical mounds, each about 8 feet tall and 30 feet wide. They are spaced about 60 feet from each other. 

   How do generations of termites do that? Like, how do honey bees make perfect combs, working from the perimeter toward the center? 

   If you wish to visit 88,000 square miles of termite city, this is in Brazil. 
But, don't come back with any of its inhabitants as souvenirs!!!

Study published in Current Biology 

   

An Arrow for You; One for Me   

   Disregarding the honest prophet's warning, wicked King Ahab went to war. 
He wore armor, and further protected himself by going in disguise.  

   But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of armor. He died that evening. - I Kings 22:34  

   One of our local pastors said, "The devil has an arrow with your name on it. 
Troubles are not random."

   So, we put on the armor of Ephesians chapter 6, making certain there are no exposures between sections:

truth-righteousness-peace-faith-salvation-Word of God

   



   

Wisdom    

   "Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the medium of reason, that's all we have standing between us and the tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined feeling."

- Justice Felix Frankfurter

   "Let the human mind loose. It must be loosed. It will be loose. Superstition and despotism cannot confine it." 

- John Adams

   "The sacred rights of mankind ... are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power." 

- Alexander Hamilton

   "Our Constitution is in actual operation. Everything appears to promise that it will last. But in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes."

- Ben Franklin

   "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is a force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." 

- George Washington

And decipher this:

   "There is an upside to ignorance and a downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier."

- Author Michael Lewis