kennnnnli

Protests in Athens

2011-06-23T00:37:00.002-10:00

Went to see what was going on with the protests
at Syntagma Square in front of the Greek Parliament...

To be brief, it was upsetting. There was an understandable
anger towards the politicians, but absolutely no clear ideas
on what they would prefer. Yes, a referendum might get rid
of these particular people... but without changing attitudes
and the system, there is nothing to say that the next people
put in power will be any better!

Worst of all, there weren't any plans to actually solve their
problems. As one sign said: "You've got the disease, we've
got the solution: Revolution!" Other protesters were demanding
to keep their inflated wages, without any consideration to
where that money is to come from. It was far worse than even
UK Uncut, because at least in England crisis may seem intangible,
where as here you cannot even pretend it's not there.

In any case, watch some of the footage from the
demonstrations that I put together:

This is a stick up!

2011-04-04T05:46:00.004-10:00

In these days of spending cuts, there are many cries from
the public sector that 'the banks and tax avoiders in the
private sector are responsible for this, so it isn't fair
that the public sector should be paying for it.'

However, where were these people during the times of expansion?
Why didn't we hear them protesting then saying 'Well, the
private sector is responsible for this growth, so it isn't
fair that it's being spent on the public sector!' HA.

UK Uncut believes that levying higher taxes on banks and
reigning in tax avoiders would be sufficient to forgo having
cuts, not even thinking about how silly it is to attack
those who create wealth. Nonetheless, this was the cause
of the 'few' violent protesters the other day, who attacked
businesses in London.

To me, being upset with tax avoiding firms is as if a group
of muggers were to scold their victims for trying to run away.
As a warning, the scarier the muggers and the UK tax system get,
the more precautions victims will take to stay in safer parts
of the world.

If you also believe that debt is a serious issue, and that it
shouldn't be tackled by strangling firms, be sure to make it
to the Rally Against Debt on May 14th.

Also, make sure to read UK Uncut Unravelled by Tim Worstall
published by the IEA, which talks about the cause to attack tax avoiders.

Will stupidity enslave the children?

2011-03-28T01:06:00.009-10:00

Prior to the protests against spending cuts in London last weekend,
this advertisement was released to help drum up support. It starts
off with a reasonably accurate analogy, but ends with an entirely
nonsensical conclusion that: a reduction in spending in order to
reduce the debt will somehow be what leaves the next generation with
a mountain of debt.

Watch the video here:

News sources reporting on the protests focus primarily on the fact
that it was mostly peaceful, with just a few exceptional cases of
vandalism and violence. While this may be the case, I find this much
less important to discuss than what their message was.

Contrary to arguments made by UK Uncut, there is no doubt that the
government is in debt. Yes, they got us in to this mess through lavish
unnecessary spending; but No, the answer is not to keep doing it!
By looking at the budget, one can see that the UK spends £50bn on debt
interest annually, which is more than it does on defense (£36bn)! This
is an incredible amount, and I really shouldn't have to stress further
why it is important to reduce the debt, for the sake of future generations.

It is important to note that the cuts are not just necessary, but desirable!
The aim is to reform and make permanent change, not just a temporarily
tightened budget.

I spoke on this topic last year at a conference, where I outlined the
idea that crises can be beneficial by being an opportunity to achieve
reform; as well as why in such times reform and an assessment of the role
of government is essential, not just small cuts here and there.

You can watch my speech here:

Now I know my (budget) ABC's...

2011-03-25T01:10:00.002-10:00

Here is a more unique budget briefing that
took place at UHY Peacheys, an accountancy firm:

Osborne the Magician

2011-03-25T00:22:00.005-10:00

On Wednesday, George Osborne revealed his budget for the year.
This was the first political press conference I've taken the time to
watch in its entirety. The whole affair was pretty amusing, as with
every statement the crowd of MPs reacted very audibly: cheering
or booing, and regularly requiring Osborne to quiet them down.
... I suppose at least they were listening and not falling asleep.

The following day the TaxPayers' Alliance and Institute of
Economic Affairs hosted a budget briefing event to discuss
what it really means for people.

Some of the most notable points to me were:

- Many of the announced changes were in fact just reversing
previous budget decisions made in the past couple of years.
So even though these measures are being taken to promote
investment and business, it doesn't, as uncertainty is one of
the greatest discouragements to investment. Companies will
not leap to investing in the UK because of the reduced tax
levels and other incentives, for they cannot be sure that things
won't just change back when the next budget comes around.

- Enterprise zones, though seemingly good for businesses, are
likely to not be beneficial. If they are effective, with great enough
incentives to influence firms, it will cause distortions in the
market and regions. If the incentives are not sufficiently large,
then they will not be effective, and there is thus no point to have
them. As Philip Booth wittily concluded,
there should just be one enterprise zone: the UK.

- Booth also asserted that regulations imposed since 1998
alone have cost business £90 billion; thus at just 0.4% of this
amount, the £350 million that businesses stand to gain after the
budget is really nothing compared to the total cost of regulation.

____
There were many tricks up the government's sleeves that were
exposed at the talk. It's amazing how without knowing the whole
picture, one can be taken by the declarations of support for
business and growth.

Coeliacs in London

2011-03-23T06:19:00.003-10:00

The topic of this post is quite different from my general theme,
but hey, I thought I'd share anyway:

_There are some people unfortunate enough to have a particular condition
as a result of which they are unable to eat products with wheat and gluten.

I wasn't aware of this until recently when I began living with some people
who have this issue. As a result I compiled a brief list of restaurants
in London that cater to such needs, so that I could find places where they
could eat out. In any case, if you live in London and are a Coeliac then
perhaps this can be of use to you!

There are definitely more out there, but a bunch of them were vegetarian
restaurants... and my friends really like meat.

Be sure to comment if you have any opinions about the restaurants I've listed,
or if you have more to suggest to me!

Giving Obamacare proponents the finger.

2009-09-04T09:40:00.003-10:00

The healthcare debate is sure getting heated these days
as a 65-year-old man who was against socialised healthcare,
had his pinky finger bitten off in an argument at a healthcare rally.
To be fair, he did punch the other guy first, but was biting
off a finger in return really called for?

Internet responses to this incident have shown many proponents
of socialised healthcare laughing at the irony that the bitten man
went to the hospital afterwards and Medicare was used to cover him.
Some have even suggested that if he were really so against socialised
medicine that he should have refused treatment.

Well, after 65 years of the government taking money from him
to pay for social security and medicare, it's rather understandable
that he would be willing to accept something back for it all.
If he hadn't had so much taken from him by the government for such
things he might have been able to afford private coverage of his own.

This is a clear example of why the public option means no option.
Though competition may be allowed, it is nowhere near fair competition.
We are forced to pay for the public option, making it more difficult
to afford a private alternative. In addition, it is impossible to compete
with a firm that has a continuous supply of income from taxes regardless
of what it does and can offer "free" service.

Even those who are opposed to the government provision of healthcare
may not be wealthy enough to afford private healthcare on top of
the healthcare taxes they’re required to pay in the first place.

Hawaii's healthcare townhall meeting

2009-08-27T12:15:00.000-10:00

Charles Djou hosted a townhall meeting here to discuss Obama's
healthcare plans. There were half a dozen people in the back of the
room with signs declaring "Healthcare now!" the rest of the 200+
people at the event however were opposed to socialised healthcare.

There were three panelists: an MD in favour or tort reform, a policy
analyst (from Grassroot Institute of Hawaii) promoting reform, but not
by public option or employer mandate (where employers are forced to
provide health insurance to their workers), and a representative from
the AARP who was in favour of Obama's plan.

Linda Rasmussen, the speaker for tort reform had some good arguments,
but she seemed willing to be fine with any side of the debate as long
as it included tort reform. Though I can see that tort reform may be
valuable, as I have researched a bit on the impact it has had in Texas
by bringing more doctors to the state, I do not believe that it would
redeem a socialised system.

The represntative of the AARP, Bruce Bottorff, faced a very tough
crowd, and was often booed for his statements. Yes it may have been
rude, which is why I abstained from doing so, they were generally
called for. If someone lies about things in a statement it is
understandable that this would be upsetting. Bottorff gave "myths"
about Obama's plan and would then simply say that they were false,
with no real rationale or proof that this was the case. For example,
there was the myth that Obama's plan would lead to rationing. He
attacked this saying that this was not going to happen because there
was nothing about it in the bill. This is not a solid argument at all,
because even if there is no mention of rationing in the bill, it is
still a possible consequence of a socialised healthcare system. It
cannot be prevented in a clause of the bill just as competition cannot
be created in a clause of a bill. As much as legislators would wish it
to be so, things never happen exactly as they are foreseen, which is
why the strict codes of government legislation do not work. In the
private sector there are feasibility studies to make predictions as to
how things will work, but actions are still left up to adjustment in
case things do not work exactly as planned.

The state is unqualified to educate Hawaii's kids

2009-08-19T15:21:00.010-10:00

Hawaii has the lowest number of highly qualified teachers
(as defined by No Child Left Behind) in the country. Only
68% fit that description compared to the national average
of 95%*. In 2008, $1,573,852.23 was spent to send 644
public school educators to a conference on the mainland.*
The Kealakehe high-school took full advantage of the event,
sending 27 teachers out of their total of 79 (2006 figure)*,
and costing taxpayers $28,465.00. What this means is that the
state is hiring unqualified teachers, and is then paying
a great deal to have them trained

Even while 32% of the state’s public school teachers are under-
qualified they receive salaries and benefits per pupil of $6,517,
which is much higher than the national average of $5,867.* With
an expenditure of $11,060 per student, the 14th highest in the nation*,
this is higher than the tuition of many of the state’s private schools.
The tuition of Hawaii Baptist Academy for example is less, at only
$10,725*; that expenditure enabled the school’s students
to achieve an average SAT score of 1671*, which is 22% higher
than the state’s SAT average of 1370.* So spending less money
than in the state system, students in private schools
are performing at a much higher level.

The cost of health

2009-08-18T10:58:00.004-10:00

Through research on the impact of tort reform in Texas
I came across some interesting articles on the situation
of healthcare. Some of them diverged from the issue and
attributed unrelated failures in the medical system to reform.
One New Yorker article investigated the state of the extremely
high costs of medical treatment in McAllen, Texas.
It was calculated that the Medicare costs in this city
were almost twice that of the national average.

The journalist discovered that the doctors were racking
up costs by regularly calling for the most expensive procedures
that were largely unnecessary. They did this because they
either 1) were entirely unconcerned with cost or 2) earned
money from the use of expensive treatments. The author
of the article thought that this showed many areas in which
Medicare costs could be cut down as a part of universal healthcare.
What I got from it however was rather different.

Since Medicare covers the costs of medical treatment
patients are often unconcerned with whatever the price.
This means that they will readily agree to take the
most expensive procedure assuming that higher prices
mean higher quality (as it sometimes is in other sectors).
In healthcare however this rule does not apply, and
costlier does not mean better. If patients were paying for
their own treatments they would have to be aware of the
costs and would go for expensive options only when
absolutely necessary. This would save a tremendous
amount of money that is wasted on unneeded procedures.

Government programs such as Medicare and that which is
proposed by Obama just go to take responsibility and
pragmatic thinking away from patients.

One article mentioned government plans to create
incentives for living healthy. That in itself is a horrible
concept, but which shows how much impact government
intervention can have on how people live. The current
system of medical care for which consumers do not
have to pay at all are incentives to 1) live unhealthy
lifestyles and 2) abuse the system and waste money.
As the article acknowledged, "Every incentive in the
system is an invitation to go the way McAllen has gone."

Once again it is shown that when people pay for what
they use, they are more responsible with how they use it.

This John Stossel bit about health insurance and responsibility
is excellent, and it has John Mackey!

That government is best which governs least.

2009-08-07T13:52:00.002-10:00

I am interning at a free-market policy institute:
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. At the moment I am doing
research on renewable energy because the state has made
a great deal of legislation in that area (over 160 in the last 8 months!).
So for the legislative guide that we are working on, it is
obviously one of the issues. While doing my work on these
projects I am glad that I am doing something to prevent the
government from doing bad things and wasting our money.
The problem with politics however is that the answer is never
to do nothing, or to eliminate legislation; thus what my work
here is doing really is to advise the government how to better
spend taxpayers' money. This is a contradiction in terms for
me however, because there is NO good way for the
government to spend money for it is theft regardless.

Happy 97th Birthday Milton!

2009-08-04T10:29:00.007-10:00

DOX museum, Prague - "Welcome to Capitalism" exhibition"

Members, non-members, and legislators alike
gathered together to honour the birthday of
Milton Friedman. The luncheon held at the
Japanese Cultural Centre and hosted by the
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii was a spirited meeting
with good atmosphere and conversation.
High-school students representing their campus
economics clubs were also present, and had an
opportunity to learn about a view of economics
that is not taught in most schools.

Speaker Clint Bolick, the director of the Goldwater
Institute in Arizona, painted a warm picture of his
friend Milton Friedman: a man who wrote a response
to every letter he ever received and who insisted
on reading a book cover to cover before writing
it a review. Bolick had come to know Friedman
through their efforts to encourage voucher
systems as a means to improve public education.

In his speech, Bolick also shared stories of cases
where individuals have been protected by their
state constitutions such as that of the City of Mesa v. Bailey
concerning private property and eminent domain.
He described the fighting spirit of Arizonians to
protect their individual rights, something that
will hopefully be inspired further here in the islands.

ma.....CHINGA!

2009-07-09T10:46:00.004-10:00

Yet another marvellous week has just passed
in a liberty english camp in Lithuania. This one
was titled: Casey Youth Conference on Liberty
and Entrepreneurship (CYCLE) [check it out at:
profitfromfreedom.org]

It was very exciting for me this time, because
though I had been a teacher in previous camps;
the teaching had always been done in small group sessions.
This time however, I had my first opportunity
to give a large group lecture for over 50 people!
I was nervous, but I think it went well, and I was
very happy about it. My talk was on the different
classifications of goods and services (rivalrous
and excludable), and particularly public goods.
I gave examples of public goods that people
generally assume must be provided by the government,
and how they are morally and practically provided in
better ways by the market. Roads were one example.
Then I encouraged them to always consider how
the market should be the solution; entrepreneurs
are incredibly creative and with the incentive
of profit serve consumers best. Thus, such principles
should be applied to even the toughest of issues where people
automatically think that the government must be involved.

The talent show was even more magnificent
than those last year, which I thought would be
near impossible to beat. One tradition that carried
on was that of the "laughing contest" which was absolutely hilarious:

Finally, the group picture looks just about the
same as last year (same colours and all)
but I am including it anyway:

Overall it was marvellously fun stuff.
There was a greater emphasis put on entrepreneurship,
with some real live extremely successful investors
to inspire us. My head is filled with business plans
and the intentions to 1) discover opportunities
and 2) execute! Hopefully the inspiration lasts.
Oh, and I even bought a 1/2 oz. of gold from Lobo.
It was all definitely a great experience, but one that
was very different from the extreme intellectual and
philosophical stimulation that took place during previous camps.
And, I still might have to concede that nothing could beat last year's camp...

Dear communists,

2009-05-25T13:00:00.003-10:00

According to Marx, communism is achieved
after first having feudalism (thesis) then capitalism (antithesis).
Capitalism will eventually collapse and socialism will occur (synthesis).

In this case, in order to gain a natural socialist system
you should encourage capitalism to its fullest extent. This will
advance the progress towards its collapse and bring about socialism.

If capitalism were allowed to function freely, and it capitulated
as an unsustainable system; then sure, I'd be down to try socialism.
As for now however, let capitalism happen without interference, give it a chance.
Trust me, according to Marx it's all a part of the recipe for a lovely socialist society.

Love, Kenli

elevator music.

2009-03-05T08:03:00.004-10:00

People have mentioned to me before that their level
of effort in classes depends greatly upon their teachers
and whether or not they were inspired by them.
I had never really thought this to be the case with me,
but I am starting to realise how incredibly it actually is.

Last term I had two wonderful engaging lecturers
and I absolutely loved attending their sessions and
doing the work for their courses. The professor for
my third course was quite dull but not entirely miserable,
and I discovered that I was doing only the bare minimum
(in my standards anyway) for his class. Luckily I had
taken the subject previously so I managed to do well
without spending much effort.

Also, one of the professors I enjoyed was actually not
even that great at teaching, but his passion and liveliness
were enough to inspire me to study on my own. So though
I may not have actually learned all that much from his
lectures themselves, I still learned a great deal more
just because his attitude made me appreciate the subject.

This term I have the more incredibly dull professor.
Her lectures are like elevator music in that it goes on in
a unexciting monotone that no matter how much focus
is paid to her nothing she says is memorable in the slightest.
Not only that, but she does not add a single thing
to her powerpoint presentations, and thus her lectures
are entirely not worth attending.

This provides quite a dilemma for me because I
am accustomed to attending all my lectures and tutorials,
but for once I truly think that either sleeping through
those two hours or spending that time just reading the
textbook would be vastly more beneficial.
Ah, what to do, what to do?

25 random things about me

2009-02-20T00:22:00.004-10:00

Sorry to let you down, but I'm not actually
going to do the survey. This is thing on
facebook that is annoying so many people
because they're getting tagged so many times.
You know, I really don't mind. I actually quite enjoy
reading them sometimes, provided that the
content is funny and not just like 14. I like travelling.
I think however, I'll save my answers for the next of such
fads, because hopefully the topic will be better :)

Well here's one random fact:
25. I've dyed my hair almost every colour on the spectrum:
yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue, green, and black.
yepp, I have actually.
ANYWAY, I bring this up because I'm in the process
of dyeing my hair right now. It's been over a year
since I have, because I suppose I've changed over time.
I realised it over the break when George said to me:
"Why don't you dye your hair any more?
Have you like, grown up or something?"
Hahh, well perhaps I have. Which could also be why
even though I'm dyeing it, it isn't something
oh so radical as i would have done before.
Kekoa even said to me that he remembered
when I had yellow hair, and he said "that's when I first fell in love!"
jokingly of course, but I do admit that it is strange
that I've drifted so far from my previous trademark
of a new colour every week. It's funny how things
change like that, but it's to be expected.

Here's the most vibrant picture I can find:

déchiré!

2009-02-19T08:26:00.005-10:00

Je suis déchiré comme Phoebus.
Hahha, pas vraiment, mais un peu.
Je sais que j'ai beaucoup de chance,
et je suis très heureuse pour ça.
Mais avec beaucoup de choix sont
trop de décisions. Peut-être je peux
comprendre pourquoi des gens ne
veulent pas trop de résponsabilités
dans ses vies, parce qu'ils doivent penser.
Et plus, ils doivent vivre avec les
conséquences. C'est une chose dificile.
C'est comme Dostoyevski a écrit dans
sa texte << Les Frères Karamasov >> qui
est un de mes livres favorits.
Je sais que les décisions sont dificiles
mais je pense surtout que je les veux.
Avec la liberté, il y a beaucoup de
responsabilités; mais je préférais de
me décider plus que la gouvernement
décider pour moi. Je sais ce que je veux
plus qu'ils savent.

[C'est amusant que j'ai commencé avec
le sujet d'amour, et comme toujours j'ai
parlé de la sujet de la liberté. Mais les deux
sont liés. Qu'est-ce qu'on pense de la liberté
déterminer tout.]

Maintenant je suis contente avec ce que
j'ai choisi, mais il y aussi les autres choix
qui j'espère que je peux choisir aussi.
Si je peux vivre les vies multiples je serai
vraiment satisfait! Malheureusement, j'ai
seulement une vie, alors je dois décider et
aussi prendre des resultats. En fin, je suis
vachement contente avec la vie. C'est le
première fois que je suis heureuse avec quelqu'un!
Quelle surprise!

Je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais cette vidéo ne marche
pas sur mon blog, alors regarde-la ici:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3KSuVtvhmU

there's no business, when there's snow business

2009-02-10T09:27:00.005-10:00

[blog title credit to Alec :)]

ANYWAY, there has been brilliant amounts of
snow these past days here in England. It hasn't
snowed this much here for some 18 years I think.
Transportation and businesses were closed across
the country, and they even ran out of salt for
de-icing the roads!

It has been absolutely fantastic for me to experience
seeing that I never had any snow in my childhood.
I grew up with movies about snow days and winter
adventures, but never had them myself.
We used to make sand angels and have sandball
fights, but that's nothing compared to snow!

PS. Watch the video I made for Ire:
[I made it because he finds the way americans
say "Laboratory" to be absolutely hilarious]

VAT

2008-12-03T01:04:00.002-10:00

Walking down the street to Tesco
I noticed that many shop windows advertised
action regarding the recent lowering of the VAT.
I even got a text from O2 saying that
they would give me back a few pence with
each top-up because of the VAT policy.

This all made me think of Robert E. Lucas'
assertions on rational expectations. I wrote about
this not too long ago in my macroeconomics essay
for uni, and it was a really interesting concept to me.
According to Lucas, rational expectations negated
fiscal policy actions because humans were not
so easily fooled by the policies and continued
to act according to the reality of the economy.

For example, the government may put forth policy,
such as the lowering of VAT in order to make things
cheaper, which using Keynes' model they expect
to stimulate spending in the economy with a multiplied effect.
Nonetheless, people are not imbeciles,
they do not just see the lower tax rate and
say "Ooh, I think this means I should go on a shopping spree!"

The present situation of Marks and Spencers
is a testament to the ineffectiveness of the fiscal policy:
"The swift repeat of the M&S sale day suggests that
high street stores have seen little impact in their tills
of this week's 2.5 percentage point cut in VAT."
-So good it is doing it twice The Guardian 3 Dec 2008.
(see the article here)

Particularly in the current situation, the news of
the credit crunch and recession have been so
widely discussed that all are aware of it.
Therefore even though people know that they will
save a few pence on their groceries, they are not
going to drastically change their spending habits
because they know that the economy is not looking good
in the near future so they must be cautious.

In any case, what is so wrong with being cautious?
There is a atrocious amount of debt in developed countries
from the excessive use of credit cards. Perhaps
people should take this opportunity to give their
credit cards a rest and have a lesson in saving.

copyright

2008-11-30T13:17:00.002-10:00

I discovered that someone [with a PhD!]
had written an article in response to one of mine,
and that he actually referenced me in it!
With the amount of research and referencing
that I've been doing for my political theory essays
lately, it is so unbelievable to think that someone
is taking information from something I've said!
It is such an exciting feeling, and I hope that this
is just the start! This really makes me want to
write some more articles. I resolve to do so
during my break, and in the future. I suppose for
my age I'm already decently well-published,
my first article published was when I was 12.
Nonetheless, it is not enough! I need to be more proactive! :)

Anyway, you can read the articles that were
written in response to mine here.
OOH I'm so proud! ^___^

thanksgiving

2008-11-29T14:00:00.003-10:00

This was my very first Thanksgiving without my family,
which was tremendously sad, but it's lucky I have my
substitute uni family :)

Even though none of them are American, they helped me
to celebrate this occasion. We had everything from
Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mash and veg
to the sweet potato I made the style my mum would.
Topped off in the end with apple pie and ice cream!
Ono-licious ^___^

Nonetheless, I still miss my mother's amazing cooking,
and their presence on one of my favorite holidays. Sigh.

praha!

2008-11-29T13:34:00.006-10:00

Remember my post about getting a fantastic deal on a flight
to Prague? Well, that trip was fantastic as well!
I was reunited there with a bunch from the Liberalni Institute
Summer University seminars in 2006:

Hahha, oh and my favorite comparison between the two events
is the CHAMP foosball team :))

Anyway, it was a brilliant weekend, filled with
beautiful sights [charles' bridge]:

delicious food [traditional czech bread dumplings]:

classy bars [bar&books-truffletini <3]

and awe-inspiring art ["welcome to capitalism" modern art
exhibition at DOX-a wall of real stacked books!]

it was a magnificently "satisfactory" weekend,
and i CANNOT WAIT to return.
Prague is an amazing city, and very romantic as well.
If you know where to go. There are lovely romantically lit
walks that one can take, and cozy teahouses and cafés that are wonderful.
It can be overly touristy in parts, but go with a local
and see the wonders!

It was a really strange feeling for me when I first got there,
because i realised how at home I feel in Eastern Europe.
After spending awhile in Lithuania this past summer, it
feels familiar and comfortable in such a place. In everything
from the grocery products [i was able to have the cereal
I used to eat in Lithuania! <3] to the transportation systems
to the people. It felt wonderful.

let it snow

2008-10-29T01:14:00.002-10:00

Last night I saw my first snow fall, It was brilliantly exciting.

I ran to Linval across the hall and breathlessly asked him
what was happening outside.

He took me to the window and said in his British accent from Essex,
"Darling, this is what we call here snow."

I grabbed him and we dashed outside
(a little exaggeration here, because i did need a coat).

I caught snowflakes in my hands and they landed on my face;
it was gorgeous.

The people here accustomed to cold are rather gloomy about the whole affair,
because this is just the start and it's going to get so much worse they tell me.
For the time being however it's delightful!

There was still a little bit on the grass this morning when I woke up.
Now though it has been melted away by the sunshine.
Another amazing thing here, sunshine! hahah.

libertarian alliance conference

2008-10-28T06:26:00.004-10:00

This past weekend the Libertarian Alliance hosted a conference
at the National Liberal Club, One Whitehall Place

There were some really great speakers at the event,
among the best known were: David Friedman and Hans Herman Hoppe.
Friedman is a wonderfully good speaker, and his topic
of technological possibilities in the future and how they can
affect our freedom was quite interesting.
Hoppe talked about an anarcho-capitalist world,
where insurance companies can be used to fill the roles
of moderating amongst individuals in the absence of government.

Two other lectures were particularly of interest for me because
they covered subjects that I used for teaching in the camps this summer.
These were: education and privatising roads.
James Stansfield discussed the situation in Africa where
even in the slums private education had sprung up to compensate
for the inadequate government school system.
Not only did these private schools exist, but they were
much better at educating the children.
Parents in these areas were willing to pay 10%
of their incomes in order to have their children educated,
and this is in one of the poorest areas of the world.
This was a perfect example for me to use in future discussions
about education!

A few of us from the Polish camp were reunited at the conference,
which was good fun. A lot of people came up asking about the LLI camps,
so perhaps we'll have a few new teachers next year :)
One guy had even taught at the Slovakian camp these past two years.

Anyway, it was a marvelous event, hopefully i'll be able to go to more in the future.

random acts of spontenaiety

2008-10-20T14:28:00.003-10:00

this morning, after my shower i looked into the mirror
and figured it was time to cut my hair. so i took out my
scissors and snip snip it was done. it's a little short
for my liking, but it feels so much fresher and smoother.
a few years back i used to change my hair in times
of either elation or melancholy. it always would occur
at odd times of the night 3 or 4AM. randomly new
colors and lengths. sometimes i regretted it the next
morning, but at least it was exciting! then perhaps one
day i decided that i cared a bit more about what people
thought; so i stopped. what a silly thing to think! ha.

next off, while i was taking a break from my studying
i decided to look up some flights to berlin to visit
frederik. the available ones were a bit pricy and he
also said that he was a bit busy unexpectedly these days
so perhaps it wouldn't be a good time. anyway, i then
started looking around at other things. voilà! i found
a flight to prague for £0! all I had to pay was £10 in taxes.
(ugh tax!) but still that isn't all that bad. so i up and bought it!
[insert ryanair.com propaganda here]
then i asked my friends in prague that i bought the tickets
for the purpose of visiting if it'd be alright with them.
they said OF COURSE, and instantly began making plans
for my weekend there.

so basically life is good, and i'm ecstatic that i'm going to
prague a few weekends from now! you will definitely see
a post about that, because it'll be unbelievably brilliant!

and then i lost five quid.

2008-10-08T11:40:00.002-10:00

i felt marvelous today because even though i lost the game
of ping pong, some really brilliant players said that i'm the
best female player in the university. chee pono.

well i am basically broke here in university, and i had five quid left.
and it was in my pocket, and i lost it somehow while walking :(
this is bloody miserable.

this is a pretty good summary of uni life so far:
plenty of ping pong, not so much money.

NSS victory party

2008-10-05T09:28:00.001-10:00

Well now I have started attending the university of buckingham.
I'm moved in to my room and am having a marvelous time.

Friday night was a party to celebrate the university winning the
National Student Survey for top satisfaction once again.
It was a fun night filled with free champagne, which I didn't
take advantage of, but it was alright. Live music:

The dancing was alright, Jamie did a good set of techno.

Anyway so far I'm enjoying myself at the university, and have
fell into being comfortable quite quickly. It's small and everyone
is quite friendly so you get to meet people without delay.
I am having some problems with my course load in that it isn't
very challenging and I have taken the courses before, but
hopefully that will all get sorted out soon. I hope to also get
a job soon, so that will likely fill up my schedule.

Basically uni life so far has been: ping pong, pizza, and proper drunkenness.
The ping pong room at OTM is basically my second home,
because we spend a ridiculous amount of time up there.
Pizza, because it is always being eaten by someone somewhere
around me. I've eaten it a fair number of times so far.
So far though Minori and I have been doing alright in
cooking for us and our friends. Hopefully we'll become pros soon enough.
Also proper drunkenness because there are parties every night
so far, and alcohol each day since I've gotten here.
They say that Buckingham is so boring that all you can
do is drink. I really hope that I don't turn in to that,
I have had it more than usual so far, but still not so much.

nemokėsim!

2008-09-22T11:19:00.004-10:00

This morning as I left my house I was greeted
by a large mob of student protestors waving
little flags embellished with the phrase "nomokesiu!"
which in Lithuanian means "i won't pay!"

So basically these students were demanding
state-provided free education. It disgusted me.
These students think that they are being cool
and politically active with their cute signs,
loud techno music, and by demanding the government
to take money from everyone to pay for their education.

Since when has the idea that one must pay for what
they use disappeared? One of the essentials in the
marketplace is that if something is worth it to you,
then you will be willing to spend the money to have it.
That determines its value.

Now-a-days, when people want something they
often think, "hmm, maybe I can get the government to
pay for this for me instead" so they work to get it nationalized
or government provided. They'd rather give up
their freedom and the control of their money in order
to not pay for things at the door.

What will make them realise what they are doing?

autumn solstice!

2008-09-21T11:45:00.004-10:00

Tonight is the autumn solstice, when the day is as long as the night.
This weekend in Vilnius there was a festival for street performances.

Tonight my friends and I came out of my house and heard some music,
so we decided to follow the music. This led us to the bridge.
You can see all the people lined on the bridge with their umbrellas.

On the banks of the river Neris were candles lit in the shapes
of pagan symbols and people dancing with rods on fire (like samoans ^__^).

Then we walked in another direction and heard more music,
so we followed that and were led to a DJ in the middle of a park.
Then soon there were some people in strange costumes
who came and started dancing.

After they left, the DJ was still there so we continued dancing
on our own in the slight rain.

It was a delightful sunday evening. My last night in the Vilnius.... at least for now.

man aštuoniolika!

2008-09-20T13:54:00.003-10:00

yes that's right, I just had my golden birthday :)
this was my first birthday away from home, parents, and my childhood friends.
nonetheless i enjoyed it!

i got a bouquet of the longest stemmed red roses that
i have ever seen in my life. though something about the ones
i got last year made me a tad more pleased. but that was for different reasons ^__^

i also hosted a party at my flat, which was jolly good fun
and with delicious pupus thanks to trained chef jurgis :)
you can see that people instantly dived for the food:

i love my draugai (friends), lithuania is definitely my second home now.
i'm feeling rather sad about leaving, which is quite surprising
seeing that i was excited when leaving hawaii. luckily though
i'm just a hop, skip, and a jump away from vilnius in the UK
so I should be back sometime soon.

my friends were even so thoughtful as to prepare me
for the harsh winter that i will be introduced to this year for
the first time; with a dash of lithuanian pride to protect me:

polish camp!

2008-09-20T13:37:00.006-10:00

so this is a rather belated entry, but i felt that
it still needed to be mentioned.

anyway, i had my final liberty camp of the year
in Ponikiew, Poland.
this camp was quite different from those prior
for a few reasons. the main difference was that
almost all of the campers were libertarians or
at least close to it. this varied immensely from
lithuania where maybe half at most were libertarians
and georgia where absolutely none were at the start.

the gender balances in the camps all were completely
different as well. at the lithuanian one there were about
30 girls to 5 boys. in georgia it was roughly even (though
like last year no females from azerbaijan. hmm) while at
this polish camp there were about 20 males to 5 females.
i really wonder how that all came about. i enjoyed each
combination nonetheless :)

well, this camp was quite intellectual, particularly given
the level of alcohol intake each night. it was kind of
amazing to me how much some people could drink.
if you are in poland though, i do recommend their honey vodka
it's rather nice :)

summer summary

2008-08-30T01:15:00.003-10:00

Well today I googled my name, which inspired me to keep up my blog.
I know it is a rather strange relation, but it's the truth and I shan't elaborate further.

Right now I am in Vilnius, Lithuania, where I am being introduced to autumn.
The weather is getting drearier these days, but nothing I can't handle :)
When I first got here to Lithuania I was teaching in a Language of Liberty camp
which was marvelous fun. The majority of the students there were from
Belarus however, so that didn't really enable me to make friends for here.

Then I went to Tallinn, Estonia for a few days, which was marvelous.
Our friends took us around on a express tour around the area. It is a really beautiful place.

After that we were off to Bakuriani, Georgia, which we were a bit hesitant about (as you
can see from my previous post) Luckily our fears weren't realised while we were
there, and we had an absolutely fantastic time. The camp there was also brilliant.
At this camp, there were barely any liberals to begin with, unlike the at the Lithuanian
one, but by the end many had become so. It was quite a success :)

Then we were off to Baku, Azerbaijan for a few days. It was dreadfully hot, but it was
great seeing old friends and recent ones.

We stopped off again in Tbilisi, Georgia for two days before going back. There it was
also incredibly hot, but we still had a lovely time because Avto showed us all around.
We also ate wonderfully and even drank chacha with our breakfast. HAH.

Then finally back to Vilnius, Lithuania, where it feels like home.
My parents went back to Hawaii after sometime, so I am getting used to living
on my own (I'm living with my friends, but that is still very different from with parents).
I have two jobs teaching english and with another organisation. At first I wasn't
enjoying myself that much. I didn't have too many people to spend time with.
Now however, things are getting much better. My colleague Vytas makes work
quite a hilarious event, and I'm gaining more friends. The clubs are great on the
weekends. Last night I danced until 4AM without taking any breaks. :)
Also, a couple weeks ago I had some friends from the first camp (Belorussians)
come to visit and that was absolutely fantastic.

So that is all for now, an extremely brief recap of my marvelous summer.
I will try to post more regularly from now on. Even though I won't be travelling
as much. I do have one more camp in Poland coming up and then to the UK for uni!
You'll be hearing about it at all ^_____^

georgia and russia.

2008-07-13T11:57:00.006-10:00

Tomorrow I leave for Georgia, which
is unfortunately prepared for war with Russia.
I know that they have been in conflict
for quite some time, but tensions really seem
to be heightening at the moment.

I will be in Bakuriani, which you can see is to the left
of Tbilisi. The conflict is further north in Abkhazia and
South Ossetia; as well as basically the whole Russian border.
Hopefully we are a far enough distance from
the trouble areas, but still. If everything were to shut
down and we weren't able to get out, then my would
that be a dreadful situation.

In any case, I am hoping for the best. Admittedly
it is pretty exciting to think that I will be going to a
dangerous place. If anything does in fact happen to
me, I just want to let all my friends and family know
that I love them! I hate to be over dramatic, but it
doesn't really hurt to be.

love love love!

2008-06-09T14:23:00.000-10:00

D-day.

2008-05-06T00:37:00.001-10:00

that was today for me literally
in the sense of doom as well as
the letter day of the cycle. HA.

anyway, today i survived a miserable
two AP exams. I am so utterly relieved.
the french one was a joke. not in the
sense that it was easy but in that my
french proficiency is so incredibly lacking.
and the gov test was, well, it just was.
four essays are always miserable.
as well as 40 minute ones in french. HA.

in any case, they are now over.
and it will be quite some time until i
receive my results. my my.
now i have one more day to study for
calculus, which i just cannot bring myself
to do. neither for euro. HMM.

this evening, in an attempt to avoid
studying or thinking altogether i sewed.
i sewed basically the worst quality piece
imaginable. i was tired and impatient.
thus, crap. oh well, with a bit of ironing
i think it will do. i still have a tad more to do. HMM.

well tomorrow i have no choice but to
get to school two hours earlier than i need to
due to the lack of a ride. but no matter, i can
actually get something done perhaps.
i really could not bring myself to accomplish
anything more this evening. HMM.

good night everyone. be thankful that
you didn't have two APs today! HA.

je n'aime que toi.

2008-04-30T21:40:00.002-10:00

En haut, c'est ce que je fait. Ha.
Pas vraiment.
Mais maintenant je commence d'étudier
pour mon examen de français AP.
Oui, je sais que c'est un peu tard pour le
commence, mais c'est meillure tard que jamais
n'est-ce pas?
J'espère que ce m'aide pour l'examen,
mais je ne suis pas sûr que il m'aiderai
parce que personne ne corrige pas ce que
j'écrit. Alors, peut-être tout ceci est incorrecte.

Ce soir j'ai appris comment dit-on "only"
en français. C'est une phrase très importante,
alors c'est bizarre que je ne l'ai pas su.
En français, le voie de dit "only" est par
utiliser "ne... que". Donc, si je voulais dit
"I study only French", je dirais "Je n'étudie que français". ha.
Bien, je sais que on peut utiliser aussi: "J'étudie seulement français"
mais je pense que "ne...que" est plus littéraire.
Je ne sais pas si les françaises pense le même.

moanalua gardens

2008-04-22T23:45:00.012-10:00

i fell in love with this place:
[all these pictures were taken with my phone]

j'ai la fière de ce photo, parce que
je n'ai pas utilisé de "zoom" pour ce prendre!

aloha salads :)

2008-04-22T23:02:00.002-10:00

il y a une semaine que j'ai un nouvel métier.
maintenant je travaille a aloha salads. j'aime
travaille là-bas, les personnes avec qui je
travaille sont vachement sympas et amusants.
l'autre jour un de mes collègues m'a donné
sa vielle robe du prom, alors je ne dois pas
achéter plus. cette année je vais aller aux trois
proms, donc j'ai besoin de trois robes.
maintenant j'ai deux, je dois chercher un plus.

aujourd'hui j'ai réalisé que je travaille près de
trente heures par semaine. ça c'est vraiment
beaucoup! si "full time" est quarante heures
par semaine, après les examens AP je travaillerai
"full time". très bien :) car je vais travailler
beaucoup, je vais payer pour ma dortoir et
aussi tout mes dépenses (pour les nourritures,
des livres, et voyager par example)

je suis très excité parce que, je projette de
travaillerai pour un mois dans l'angleterre
avant je commencerai l'école, alors je vais
gagner de l'argént en pounds pas dollars.
donc je vais gagner plus là-bas, que je
gagne maintenant parce que le pound est
plus fort que le dollar.

flower child.

2008-04-12T12:54:00.000-10:00

I have discovered that I have a slight
obsession with flowers. I especially
enjoy the bright colors and particularly
when there is an abundance of them.
Like when there are so many flowers
that the tree or bush is more color than
green.

I will miss the constant blooming when
I'm in jolly old grey England.

1 timothy 4:4

2008-04-07T23:29:00.002-10:00

I taught sunday school last week,
it was quite a hilarious experience at times.
The memory verse was:
"Everything God created is good."
One girl, who always felt the
need to be contradictory said,
"no, everything God created is bad!"
so i said, "well God created you,
so does that mean you are bad?"
she didn't argue with me after that :)

this isn't the girl, but this was another of my students:
[they made me make crowns for them :)]

Orage Mécanique

2008-04-02T00:58:00.003-10:00

so basically this evening i fell in love with a band,
les shades. they were my friends on myspace,
but i just really listened to their stuff for the first time.
the music is great, though i honestly have no clue
what they are saying since it is in french.
they are also quite attractive, like most french guys
are expected to be :)

so yes, watch a video of theirs and see:

hey batta batta batta

2008-03-29T00:45:00.001-10:00

I'm not particularly good at pingpong
or anything, just relatively decent.
I always attribute any skill to being
Chinese. It is rather true that Chinese
people tend to be better at pingpong
than most, at least among my friends.
That could also be due to the
abundance of Chinese friends I have.
Ha.

Look how hardcore I am in this picture.
You should be intimidated by my battle
stance! :)

2008-03-17T15:26:00.001-10:00

senior I mean junior function!

2008-03-08T18:19:00.001-10:00

izumi's going away party

2008-03-07T21:50:00.000-10:00

japanese themed: geisha to FOB.
aroha zoom zoom, you are
my first, my last, my everything!
aishiteru <3

putin propaganda.

2008-02-28T23:27:00.001-10:00

in AP Euro we watched a movie that
showed examples of propaganda in
Russia being used to gain support for
Putin. Well one example is this music
video glorifying Putin and making him
seem like a cool pop figure.

[this is the english version, but it's still
a bit hard to understand]

lyrics:
My boyfriend is in trouble once again:
Got in a fight, got drunk on something nasty
I've had enough and I chased him away
And now I want a man like Putin

A man like Putin, full of strength.
A man like Putin, who doesn't drink.
A man like Putin, who doesn't hurt me.
A man like Putin, who won't run away.

I've seen him on the news last night
He was telling us that the world has come to a crossroad
With one like him, it's easy to be home and out
And now I want a man like Putin

A man like Putin, full of strength.
A man like Putin, who doesn't drink.
A man like Putin, who doesn't hurt me.
A man like Putin, who won't run away.

luck be a lady tonight.

2008-02-23T22:00:00.001-10:00

the punahou jazz band concert tonight
was absolutely fantastic! we danced
the night away!

state-of-the-city address

2008-02-21T11:32:00.002-10:00

My AP US Government & Politcs
class got out of a few classes today
to go to the state-of-the-city address
given by Mufi Hanneman.

He opened his speech with a song!
It was quite unexpected. Hah.
He spoke for almost an hour and he
wasn't a bad speaker. He was
pretty confident. The content however
was rather less impressive. The mayor
seemed most proud of his work when
he mentioned how much money the
city government was spending. As if
extravagant use of taxpayer money is
a good thing.

2008-02-19T15:51:00.001-10:00

This morning I woke up at 3:30am
after going to bed at midnight. I
just could not sleep! :(

At around 7:30am I looked out my window and saw the most dazzling and
beautiful tree. It was perfectly lit and
golden in the sunlight, and aligned
precisely between the houses for me
to see.

This picture might not capture the
sight's full glorious essence, but I had
to do my best to share this beauty
regardless.

take the eek out of economics.

2008-02-17T11:39:00.001-10:00

During the current election process,
it is often claimed that the most
important issue is the economy.
Of course I agree with this,
but I realize that for most people,
when they are talking about the
economy they really mean their own
situations. In other words, their idea
of a good economy is better wages
and whatnot. It is true that a strong
economy would bring that, but it
really isn't everything. It is amazing
how little people know about the
economy and how it works.

gong hee fat chee hee!

2008-02-06T21:35:00.000-10:00

i steh one chinese brah!

i love this holiday:
food, firecrackers, and money!! :)

de sang froid

2008-02-05T22:19:00.000-10:00

par une groupe qui s'appelle Quidam en France.

j'aime bien, mais le vidéo est un peu bizarre.
j'espère que je peux lui verrai un jour. :)

do you really want it?

2008-02-05T22:14:00.001-10:00

punahou carnival and variety show were both magnificent!
though the carnival was muddy, the food was delicious.
i ate an incredible amount over those two days.

oooh, and i was the first on the zipper! fabulous non? :)

variety show was great fun. i really do like performing!
the last hour of carnival was the best however, after our
last performance: watching ourselves on the screen and
singing, shouting, and dancing along with it!

Who is Kemal Ataturk?

2008-01-29T22:08:00.000-10:00

The phrase: "Who is Kemal Ataturk?"

[taken out of context, for he was just saying that
people outside of Turkey might not know who Ataturk is]
is what just got a Turkish family friend of mine a
15-month prison sentence for insulting "Turkishness".

Ataturk is hailed as the hero (and founder) of
secular Turkey, and one cannot say anything against him.
This is just one example of repression of
free speech by governments in the world.

My grandfather was in prison for over a year
during the cultural revolution for making a comment
about Mao's wife. It wasn't even an insulting comment.

Realize how important free speech is;
ALWAYS fight for your right to it!

If you want to read the story of my friend Dr. Yayla
click here.

be ye angels? nay we are but men.

2008-01-26T22:19:00.001-10:00

today i realized just how modest i am with my clothing at whatnot.

when changing for variety show today,
guys were walking by while the door was
open to our dressing room. we were all
in our underwear and whatever and I frantically
attempted to cover myself. then i noticed
that the girls around me weren't bothered at all.

then it came to me that i'm really modest with my
body. it's funny because when i was younger
my mom would try to get me to wear halters
and short tops, and I refused because i thought
they were too revealing. I really wonder how
I came out like this. I don't really mind, because
there are enough girls who wear ridiculously
skimpy clothes to make up for me. but still, it
makes me wonder why. and am i overly so?

walk idiot walk.

2008-01-25T07:34:00.001-10:00

there was an idiot on NPR today. He
labelled himself as a "Libertarian Republican

like Alan Greenspan". It was absolutely apalling.

He talked about why he is voting for McCain.
He is voting for him solely because he
thinks that McCain is the only one
"electable". He paid no attention to
ideas in the slightest. Why the hell did
he have to include the word Libertarian
in his introduction? People are ridiculous
sometimes. -___-

this farm will end up in fire.

2008-01-24T22:26:00.000-10:00

i just found a belgian band named:
"girls in hawaii"
this made me laugh :)
their music is pretty-laid back.
like hawaiian people. hah.

anyway, watch the video:

zimba zimba zaia

2008-01-24T20:12:00.001-10:00

if you are going to Punahou Carnival
this year, I recommend going to
Variety Show solely for scene three!
I'm not even in that one, it's just that
good. It is absolutely hilarious :)

power persuing persons.

2008-01-23T23:41:00.001-10:00

Those who govern me have been
even more disappointing than usual
today:

Governor Lingle said that she wants
the state to buy Turtle Bay to prevent
more from being built there. In other
words, she doesn't want to provide
more jobs for locals and boost the
economy in Hawaii through the tourist
industry.

President Bush is offering more arms
to Saudi Arabia as an incentive for
them to cooperate with America in
whichever way he wills them to.

we shall cause a sensation, for I shall dress to match.

2008-01-22T21:41:00.001-10:00

today was the first day of the semester,
and i am already afraid for the rest of
the year :(

every class talked about getting down
to business in studying for AP exams!
I suppose it is about time.

It has only been one day and I am already
overwhelmed with work, and have not
followed through with my second semester
resolutions! how pathetic.

ps. today fred thompson dropped out
of the presidential race and heath ledger died.
good news and bad news.
I would have never expected such an
ending to such a wonderful actor's life!

her lips are devil red and her skin's the color mocha.

2008-01-21T14:45:00.000-10:00

after finals, lisa, sasha and i shopped for deborah's
birthday present. we ended up buying her a (prom?)
outfit. black dress complete with red heels, red lipstick,
and red nail polish. it is gorgeous. as you can see above.
so happy :)

[today i spent the entire day at school for variety show >_<]

hey! you're awesome. have a great night! (shaka)

2008-01-20T19:08:00.000-10:00

city love + junk food + 4 hours of sleep = lock-in

hush hush eye to eye.

2008-01-19T14:32:00.000-10:00

today my father taught me how to shoot :)

it was fantastic! I was shaking at first.
I'm really glad that I know how to shoot now.

today i also made a resolution to take
better advantage of my beautiful surroundings :)

i will fail yet i will try.

2008-01-18T23:28:00.000-10:00

beowulf:
don't see it. >_<

olivia the band:
definitely see them!

it was the first time i had really moshed in quite a long time.
and i was so happy. it was amazing :)

arkeo definitely should have played rhythm of the burning lights though!
they are also another band you should hear.

that's plagiarism.

2008-01-17T18:30:00.001-10:00

"There is nothing a free man is so
anxious to do as to find something to
worship." --Fyodor Dostoevsky

I have FINALLY finished the Brothers
Karamasov. It was fantastic.
I recommend it to everyone!
The Grand Inquisitor will change your
life!

it's electric

2008-01-16T23:53:00.000-10:00

I feel utterly elated as of 2:30 today!
My last highschool finals everrr! :)

The math test wasn't all that bad,
and then after that I was free as a bird!
After variety show practice and a
piano lesson of course.

Then I went shopping with Sasha
and Lisa for Debbie's birthday
present. I'm excited, for it is PERFECT!
I also bought a few things for myself.
I didn't want to, but they were on sale,
and I'm in a good mood :)
Bright yellow shoes and a beautiful
white cardigan.

I'm delighted!

Oh, and if you aren't doing anything tomorrow
then come to the movie museum at 8
with me!

ni yue lai yue piao liang

2008-01-14T21:15:00.001-10:00

Tiff is visiting!

space boy please come home

2008-01-13T21:39:00.000-10:00

Today I have been making an attempt
to study for my French final, but that
is entirely impossible considering that
M. Canfield was extremely vague in
his description of the test and not
informative in the slightest.
Oh and there is also the fact that we
haven't learned a thing this year.
My French was definitely better last year.

This evening was the libertarian party
executive committee meeting.
there was a guy from the democratic
party that wanted us to start a lawsuit for
him there. I didn't care all that much for him.
I'm not sure if we will comply.

brevity is the soul of wit.

2008-01-12T23:53:00.000-10:00

I finally have submitted to caffeine.
I had always avoided it for I don't relish
the idea of fooling my body into thinking
that I am awake.

In any case, I had no choice last night
because I had to work on an essay for the
Intercollegiate Studies Institution competition.
I was up until 5 am writing about George
Washington and the role of commander-in-chief.
I had to wake up again at 8 am after only
a short nap's worth of sleep to go over it again
before submitting it before noon.
Boy, was I in a daze.

I really want to win this competition,
it would prove to myself that I am capable
of writing research essays and it would earn
me $1000 for college. I would definitely
prefer £1000 however. Hah.

I just bought a shirt from my cousins' brand
Apolis, and you should too! Go to their site:

ceci n'est pas une pipe.

2008-01-12T02:12:00.000-10:00

versus

Best shirt ever.

Kenli Schoolland [2/3]

2007-10-16T21:02:00.000-10:00

America is known to be a world leader in many aspects. The United States of America is undoubtedly high-ranking in terms of literacy, but it is definitely not the highest. Finland is continuously ranked at the top of the list, with 100% literacy rate and the highest reading literacy test scores. [1] Finland is doing well economically with a 4.9% GDP growth rate[3], while America has a growth rate of only 2.9%. [3] Even so, it is not traditionally known for its educational standards. All of Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland) has incredibly high literacy rates, from 99-100% in each. [2] What is it that they are doing better than America?

Another high performing area of the world is Russia, including the former Soviet states. The Republic of Georgia has the highest literacy rate, 100% and the all of the rest have a literacy rate greater of equal to that of America. When one typically thinks of the Soviet Union, the idea of socialism and poverty comes to mind. Living standards might not be at its best in Russia, but things are definitely improving. Its GDP growth rate is 6.7% [3], more than double that of the United States. Georgia has an even more outstanding growth rate of 9.4%.[3]

GDP growth is definitely not the main contributor to high literacy rates. Egypt has a literacy rate of 71% with a GDP growth rate of 6.8%.[3] Ghana has a literacy rate of 57.9% with a GDP growth rate of 6%.[3] These countries both have much higher economic growth than America, but much lower levels of literacy. America has been growing economically for centuries, so it has had a head start. If the economies of these African nations continue to succeed, their living standards are sure to as well.

Educational possibilities accompany economic development. If focus is set on improving the living standards of people around the world, then improved literacy rates will follow. Improved living standards cannot be government imposed; instead it could be gradually attained by adapting to the world market. This way, the economy of the country will match the living standards. The advancement of economies in poorer countries can be achieved by allowing free trade. Free trade would enable these developing countries to trade with richer countries, in effect, vastly benefiting the struggling economies of developing countries. Once their economies improve, more focus can then be turned to advancing the educational opportunities for the people.

Many people in developed nations are concerned with the living situations in the third-world countries. The easiest solution always seems to be to send government aid to these struggling countries. This is not the best method, and there are plenty of negative repercussions from such foreign aid. If one truly cares about these less fortunate people then the best solution is free trade. It would lift a far greater number of people out of poverty (and consequently away from illiteracy as well) than tax dollars could ever do.

1. [1] "How Educated Are We - International Literacy Comparisons"
2. [2] "Literacy - Total(%) 2007"
3. [3] The CIA World Factbook

Just for your information:
The Republic of Georgia, a nation with 100% literacy, uses a completely different alphabet from English.
The writing looks like this:

There are 33 characters in their alphabet compared to english's 26.
Not only this, but many people there still know Russian, because they used to be part of the USSR.
Russian is written in cyrillic, which looks like this: кенли ис радицал
Amazing that even with all of these added difficulties, they still have a 100% literacy rate! How did they do it?

Kenli Schoolland [2/3]

2007-09-27T18:14:00.001-10:00

Even though Hawaii’s education is floundering as a state, could the national level be better?

According to School Data Direct, the national proficiency scores are incredibly substandard. Less than 40% of students in each age category are proficient in their math and reading levels.[1] It is horrible to think that less than half of the 50 million students in America are even relatively competent in their intellectual abilities.

The U.S. is now falling behind in educational competitiveness: “American 15 year-olds rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in mathematics, literacy and problem solving”.[2] America was once a leading nation in intellectual capabilities, but now it is starting to drop in comparison to other countries.

All of this is happening when the nation is spending about $9,881 per student.[1] This is even more than the Hawaii expenditure of $8,100 per student.[3] If $8,100 is not enough to educate the students of Hawaii, would almost $2,000 more do the trick? Apparently not, judging from the results. If $9,881 is not enough either, then what is the necessary price to educate America’s children?

The idea of a public school system is to provide poorer children with an opportunity to be educated. This seems like a noble idea, but the methods are not successful. If that $8,100 is not taken from families (in the form of taxes) in the first place, then the family would have that money to spend toward quality education.

One reason for the failure of the national public school system is that there is no incentive for them to improve the educational standards. Public schools do not need to earn their funding, it is promised to them from the government. The people who pay for the public education system (taxpayers) are forced to give their money to the schools whether they are good or bad.

Also, students who live in a certain area and cannot afford the available private schools are forced to attend the government ones in their district regardless of their quality. Private schools need to provide a good education in order to gain consumers (students). If parents have the choice of which schools to send their children to, then the superior schools will be rewarded, and the inferior ones would be forced to improve or go out of business.

John Stossel: Stupid in America

[1] School Data Direct: National Overview of United States Public Schools & Districts
[2] Ad Council: "What Makes People Care About Education?" -- Peggy Conlon
[3] The Heritage Foundation

Kenli Schoolland [2/3]

2007-09-10T22:52:00.001-10:00

How bad is the education in Hawaii?

Isn't it rather pathetic that a majority [56%] of 8th grade Hawaii students have "below basic" knowledge of Science.
Mathematics and Reading are only slightly better with more than 40% of Hawaii students in the "below basic" knowledge category in those subjects.

These are abysmal results, and one wonders who is at fault. Hawaii consistently ranks in the lowest 5 states in the nation for the quality of education. How can this be when the government [in 2002-2003] was spending $1,489,092,000 on education?[1] Where does this money come from? Why from the taxpayers of course! The National Education Association, or NEA, conducted a study of the individual states and found that with a 2% increase in government spending on education, the results of the increased consumption [or sales] tax would decrease the number of jobs in Hawaii by at least 500.

The NEA concluded that:
“The results of increasing consumption taxes on each
state’s level of employment appear in Table 3. At this stage
of the analysis, tax revenues are simply being taken out of
the economy and not being respent. As would be expected,
an increase in taxes affects jobs negatively in all states and
in all years. This negative effect on jobs increases over time,
as businesses and individuals continue to make location
decisions favoring areas offering greater opportunities.” (10-11)[3]

The people being affected by such a poor education system and decreased number of jobs are primarily those of poorer incomes. Also, those who can afford to send their children to private schools still have to help pay for the miserable public school system as well, even when they aren't using it. Is that fair? I don't think so.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, at least 15% of the students in Hawaii attend private schools,
which is one of the highest proportions in the nation. This is no wonder considering how poor the government school system is on the islands.[2]

The government spent an average of $8,100 per student in 2002-2003 [most likely that amount has grown in recent years]. That is sufficient for tuition in quite a few private schools in Hawaii. According to a recent article on private school tuition costs in the Star Bulletin, $8,100 could cover the tuition for Sacred Hearts and Damien for example.[4] Undoubtably the quality of education in those schools are much higher than in government institutions.

Wouldn't it be best for people to keep that money that the government spends for them and choose their own schools? If the government still wanted to make sure that education was compulsory for all minors then they could return the money to the rightful owners in the form of vouchers. These vouchers would go towards tuition for private schools, and then the government would no longer need to waste money on its failing school system.

The voucher system would help the education of Hawaii's students tremendously. One article in the Hawaii Reporter talks about the possibility of the voucher system:

"School Choice and Competition Offer Solution

Fifty years ago, Economist Milton Friedman proposed education vouchers and the idea that parents should choose the appropriate education for their children, not government bureaucrats. The Milton and Rose D. Foundation now reports the following progress:

• 7 states offer tax-funded voucher plans with 48,165 students enrolled in these voucher plans;
• 3 states offer tax deductions or credits for private education expenses with 542,910 families benefiting;
• 3 states offer tax-funded private scholarship programs, benefiting 57,391 families;

Eight studies on the benefits of these choice initiatives find significant academic benefits for students using the programs to attend private schools. No studies found adverse consequences for public-school performance.

No studies have found that public schools do a better job of promoting tolerance, civic participation or racial integration. Charter schools in Hawaii are saving taxpayers about $34 million per year in per pupil costs, because the state funds charter students at only half of traditional public school students. Miraculously, charter school students still outperform traditional public school students, despite operating on a shoestring budget.
Hawaii’s charter school success only hints at the heights to which student achievement could soar if a wide range of choices were available to parents -- including public, private and home schooling -- through tax-credits, vouchers and scholarships."[5]

Milton Friedman was a highly revered economist and a nobel prize winner for economics. I think that he was definitely wise in his advice about moving away from government schools to private schools. A voucher system is one way to acheive that, but definitely not the only way. If the government really wants to help the children of Hawaii, then that is the best first step.

*Note: For more thoughts on this subject by me click here.

[1] The Heritage Foundation
[2] United States Government Census 2003
[3] The National Education Association's Statistics on School Funding
[4] "Isle Private School Costs to Continue Steep Rise" by Dan Martin
[5] "School Choice - A Better Solution for Hawaii" by Laura Brown