Life in Tornado Alley

A couple from our band is moving out to Iowa tomorrow.  The wife was working in New York City.  She was promoted to a job out in Iowa, with the appeal of more money and a lower-cost of living.  The husband is a volunteer firefighter and his services will certainly be welcomed.  Because the downside to this relocation is that they’re moving to Tornado Alley.

The first thing we suggested to his mother is to make sure they rent – not buy – a house with a storm cellar.  This was before we knew anything about the upcoming spate of tornadoes.  Not a house with wooden doors, either.  The EF5 that hit Moore, Okla., just ripped the wooden storm doors right of their hinges.

Apparently, the Three Little Pigs were wrong, too; the Moore tornado turned a neighborhood of brick homes to dust.  What did survive was the safe at a local bank.  The bank, evidently, was flattened, but the safe itself stood up to the tornado and told it to suck wind.  When we were talking about a house with a storm cellar, I remembered the scene from the film Twister, where the heroine hid with her family in the storm cellar while an EF5 roared overhead.  The father could hold the doors shut and he and the doors were scooped up into the tornado.

It’s time for the residents and engineers to start re-thinking how they live out in Tornado Alley.  Can’t blame this one on “Climate Change”; tornados have been happening there forever.  There just weren’t many people living there.  Now, in addition to Oklahoma City itself, you have the suburb of Moore.  Moore is no small town; it has a population of 55,000-plus.  When you plant a city of 41,000 in the middle of Tornado Alley, someone is going to get hurt.

The houses on the plains don’t have basements.  Some of the older homes have storm cellars, but not too many.  Since everything is flatted now, before the residents of Moore begin rebuilding their homes, they need to build 21^st Century storm shelters.  The kind made of the same stuff as the bank vaults.  They might want to think about sliding doors rather than hinged doors that can be stripped away, with reinforced tracks that can’t be crushed.

They might also want to consider the straight design of the cellar.  Build the waiting area away from the direct line of the door so that if it is somehow torn away, the occupants are blown away with it.

Tornado Alley residents seem to realize they need shovels and flashlights to dig themselves out.  They also need some sort of emergency signal, the kind the New York City Fire Department finally received years after 9/11 so rescue workers can find them if they’re trapped.

As for schools, they need to rethink their safety plans.  Obviously, in EF5 tornado, the center of the building is not the safest place to wait out the twister.  The Plaza Tower School’s concrete walls tumbled in on the children, killing a number of them.  Building underground shelters might cost the taxpayers a little more money but it beats the cost of a funeral for your kid.  If they decide to spend the extra money, don’t put the kids all in one place.  Put the shelters on the NEWS (North, East, West and South) side of the building.

Where are all the safety freaks who insist the kids wear bicycle helmets?  You put the helmets on the kids when they’re riding, creating a moral hazard (the kids think they’re safer, so they ride more dangerously).  Why not make them carry the helmets with them to school during the Tornado season (generally April through June)?  Take the helmets along when you’re driving somewhere, and keep them hanging on the route to the storm cellar.  And do as you say adults; carry and wear the darned things yourself.  Or do you need a hail ball the size of a grapefruit to hit you in the head?

This tragedy also makes one think about Smart Growth and its notions of high-density building.  They would say that this suburb was low-density, 21.7 square miles with a population density of 2,477.6 people per square mile.  Those houses were pretty close together.  When a catastrophe occurs in a region with a dense population (and a history of significant tornadoes [five] – October 4, 1998, May 3, 1999, May 8, 2003, May 10, 2010, and May 20, 2013), you’re going to have a high number of dead and injured people.

Moore was founded during the land-run of 1889. The early settlers came on train, horseback, wagons, and some, on foot.  According to local historians, the town’s original name was Verbeck as designated by the railroad company.  However, a railroad employee named Al Moore, reported to be either a conductor or a brakeman, lived in a boxcar at the camp and had difficulty receiving his mail.  He painted his name—“Moore”—on a board and nailed it on the boxcar.  When a postmaster was appointed, he continued to call the settlement Moore.  When the town incorporated in 1893, it used the name Moore to honor Al Moore. 

Maybe they need to change the sign.

The medical examiner has just lowered the death toll from 90 to 41.  That’s still a high number for a tornado.  Even with advanced technology, better warning times, and an educated public, when an EF5 arrives, nothing beats getting underground if you don’t want to be buried underground permanently.

Our sympathies to those who have lost loved ones, their homes and possessions, and maybe their faith.  God isn’t trying to punish you; but if one could read His mind, one would guess that He’s thinking:  ‘If you must live in Tornado Alley, build a storm shelter!’

Good luck, K and H!

 

 

 

The IRS and the Illegal Immigrants

There’s a link between the scandal-ridden IRS and illegal immigrants.  Who knew?  Well here’s one more bit of ammunition in the war against Obama and the IRS:

There is a law on the IRS books that illegal aliens can be taxed.  The IRS boys decided they were earning money (mostly illegal Mexicans), let’s tax them.  However, they have no SSAN (Social Security Account Number).  So they assigned them an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identity Number).  Now, illegal aliens can pay taxes.

But wait; the illegal aliens that get ITIN numbers don’t make much money.  But it turns out they figured out they can get thousands (often more than $10,000) on their returns by claiming “dependents” through the Additional Child Tax Credit.  Most of these dependents have never been to the US.  Claim a dozen or so sons/daughters/nieces/nephews as dependents and Jose gets a sizable check from the U.S.  Some $4.2 Billion (with a B) drained from the IRS.

We have a friend living outside the U.S. with dependent children.  He can’t claim EIC (Earned Income Credit) for them, but the illegal aliens can claim all their “dependents” living in Mexico, etc.

Why haven’t they closed this loophole?  Who’s benefiting from this (besides the illegal aliens)?

In March, a WTHR-TV Indianapolis investigative report exposed a fraudulent scheme concocted by the IRS to sending $4.2 billion per year to illegal immigrants as an “additional child tax credit” for children who don’t even live in the U.S.

Further, the IRS and Congress have been ignoring the scheme for years.  The Inspector General’s office has repeatedly identified the problem in audit after audit.  The Inspector General for the IRS, Russell George says, “The magnitude of the problem has grown exponentially,” but the IRS is doing nothing to stop it.

“It’s so easy, it’s ridiculous,” the tax preparer whistleblower who exposed the fraud admits.  Names are simply listed on the IRS form.  “The more you put on there, the more you get back.”  No questions asked…the check’s in the mail. 

Meanwhile, the IRS asked the Tea Party groups plenty of questions – 55 pages of questions about who their donors were.  What books they read.  Whether they were truly social welfare organizations.

 

The question is, is the Internal Revenue Service a social welfare organization?

 

 

 

The IRS Skill Set

Steven T. Miller was the right man for the right job to target Tea Party organizations – and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew had to know it.  If Lew knew it, then Obama knew it.

Steven T. Miller resigned yesterday (although he only had two weeks to go in his term) as Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue and Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement.  As Acting Commissioner, he presided over the nation’s tax system, which collects approximately $2.4 trillion in tax revenue that funds most government operations and public service. The IRS is comprised of about 90,000 employees, some of whom will be assigned to Health Care Collection duty.  The IRS has a budget of more than $12 billion.

When recruiting someone for a job, it’s important that they have the right skill set.  I went for a job interview yesterday with a big corporation, thinking they wanted someone with good communications skills when what they wanted was someone with design skills.  While I’m pretty good with PhotoShop, I know SharePoint, and I’ve been studying InDesign via a DVD tutorial, frankly I have no actual experience designing.  I’m a writer and a photographer.  This company wanted a designer and it’s not likely that I’ll get the job (I alerted a former colleague who is a designer about the position).

What did Jack Lew and Obama want out of their Acting Commissioner of Internal Revenue and Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement when they appointed him in November of last year?  And why didn’t they appoint him permanently?  Why was the job I interviewed for only a temporary position?

Let’s take a look at Miller’s IRS bio and find out what made him such a perfect fit for the position.  They begin with his current duties.

“As Acting Commissioner, Miller will continue to emphasize the necessity of maintaining a balance between taxpayer service and tax enforcement. His goals for the IRS are improving service to make voluntary compliance easier for taxpayers while at the same time enforcing the law to make sure everyone meets their obligation to pay the taxes they owe.

“As Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, Miller provides direction and oversight for all major decisions affecting the four taxpayer-focused IRS Divisions: Wage and Investment, Large Business and International, Small Business/Self-Employed, and Tax Exempt and Government Entities. He also provides the executive direction and leadership for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, which investigates income tax evasion and related financial crimes; the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility, which administers the laws and regulations governing the practice of tax professionals before the IRS; and the IRS Whistleblower Office, which receives information on tax cheating and provides appropriate rewards to whistleblowers. 

“Provides appropriate ‘rewards’ to whistleblower.’  There’s an interesting job description for you.

“Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement, Steve served as the Commissioner of the Large Business and International Division.  In this position, he had oversight for federal tax administration for domestic and foreign corporations and partnerships with assets of $10 million or more that have a United States tax filing requirement.  Previously, as the Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, Steve oversaw the administration of tax law relating to employee plans, tax-exempt organizations and various government entities.  Steve also served as the Director of Exempt Organizations and as the acting Assistant Commissioner and Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner, Employee Plans/Exempt Organizations.  Other prior service includes several years in Chief Counsel, serving as a Congressional staff member for the Joint Committee on Taxation and work in private practice. 

Steve graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University, and a Master of Laws degree in taxation from Georgetown University Law School.

 

The very first IRS Commissioner lasted about as long as Miller did:  George S. Boutwell.  He took office on July 17, 1862 and left office March 4, 1863.  His successor had a little better luck with the job, after two weeks, he was officially appointed Commissioner for two years.  The next guy in line was another temporary, William Orton, July 1, 1865 to Oct. 31, 1865.

The Act of 1862 established the office of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The Commissioner was given the power to assess, levy, and collect taxes, and the right to enforce the tax laws through seizure of property and income and through prosecution. The powers and authority remain very much the same today.

Tea Parties, Patriot organizations, 9/12 Glenn Beck Projects and pro-Israel organizations didn’t exist at that time.  But other charities did.  Notice Miller’s specialty:  “Previously, as the Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, Steve oversaw the administration of tax law relating to employee plans, tax-exempt organizations and various government entities.  Steve also served as the Director of Exempt Organizations and as the acting Assistant Commissioner and Special Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner, Employee Plans/Exempt Organizations.”

There’s the man for you.  The revenue collector for tax-exempt organizations.  As far as the IRS is considered, there’s really no such thing as an organization that is exempt from taxes.  Tax-exempt organizations have an income threshold, usually about $10,000, which they’re allowed to use without having to pay taxes on the money.  But, the organization has to account for every penny it spends, and there are numerous things the money cannot be spent on.  Some are obvious, like Tea Party vacations.

The Bloomingdale Cornet Band, the band I play with, incorporated, and our secretary/treasurer had to make an annual report.  The form certainly was long, as I recall, but it wasn’t 55 pages and it didn’t ask what music we played or what our members’ political affiliations were.

Miller claims he was just being “thorough.”  After all, it wasn’t his fault if Tea Party/Patriot/9-12 projects and pro-Israel groups outnumbered other charities.  We are quite numerous, which worried Obama.  He had to find a way to thwart our growing numbers.  The Media helped but discovered that the Tea Parties didn’t need the Media’s help to get their message across.

That must have been when Lew suggested Miller to Obama as his successor.  The election was over; it was Nov. 12.  Obama was officially a lame duck president and he couldn’t be hurt politically by such an appointment.  Miller had his orders and carried them out.  However, the Tea Parties were being targeted by the IRS long before Miller’s appointment.  Thus, logic would indicate that the word was about to go public and Obama needed a straw man to take the fall for him.  Who better than a revenue collector whose specialty was strong-arming non-profit groups.

Obama could then claim “outrage” and disgust at such unprofessional behavior on the part of the IRS.  What the heck; they already have a bad name amongst Americans.  Keep in mind, the IRS didn’t invent the income tax.  In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system. The amendment gave Congress legal authority to tax income and resulted in a revenue law that taxed incomes of both individuals and corporations. In fiscal year 1918, annual internal revenue collections for the first time passed the billion-dollar mark, rising to $5.4 billion by 1920. With the advent of World War II, employment increased, as did tax collections—to $7.3 billion. The withholding tax on wages was introduced in 1943 and was instrumental in increasing the number of taxpayers to 60 million and tax collections to $43 billion by 1945.  The 16^th Amendment was the creature of Pres. Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson’s bio in the World Almanac 2013 makes no note of that particular fact; Obama’s bio takes up three-quarters of the page.

Members of the Tea Parties and other groups have a certain skill set, too.  Far from being street theater activists, they nevertheless have the ability to organize, with relatively little money.  They’re experienced in organizing countless events from weddings, birthday and anniversary parties, to office parties, departmental meetings and even huge convention center conferences.

They’re well-educated, particularly their older members.  They pay property taxes, so it’s personal for them.  Those who work are privately employed; their employers pay taxes as well.  They know their way around the Internet; that’s how they organized, initially.  Once they made contact, then they met.

Finally, most of them have children.  Unlike the feminists who abort their inconvenient children, Tea Partiers have a stake in the future.  They’re willing to put in on the line for their grandkids.  Their kids aren’t so sure because of the self-esteem/peer pressure indoctrination they faced.  Unlike their World War II generation parents or grandparents, they don’t know what it’s like to fight for freedom.  They would say Civil Rights was a righteous cause, which it was.  But in fighting that battle, we signed away a good deal of our freedom.

The government can’t be caught shedding blood; not yet, anyway.  The best tactic is to hit the enemy in the pocketbook first.  Fining an adversary, and the more drastic method of even imprisoning them, plays better on the nightly news.  The only evidence is a bunch of older suburbanites carrying signs accusing the government of doing just what they’re doing.  Well, why do you think we were carrying signs, right in front of whatever cameras showed up at our rallies?  Was a television news crew likely to come to someone’s house and watch as they wrote a check out, as a representative of their group, to the IRS?

The grilling of Miller is gratifying.  But it’s still theater and Obama is still running the show.

 

 

There Is No There There – Literal Legerdemain

Originally dealing with the failed land deal years earlier known as Whitewater, Kenneth Starr, with the approval of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, conducted a wide-ranging investigation of alleged abuses including the firing of White House travel agents, the alleged misuse of FBI files, and Bill Clinton’s conduct during the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Arkansas government employee, Paula Jones.

In the course of the investigation, Linda Tripp provided Starr with taped phone conversations in which Monica Lewinsky, a former White House Intern, discussed having oral sex with Clinton.  At the deposition, the judge ordered a precise legal definition of the term “sexual relations” that Clinton claims to have construed to mean only vaginal intercourse. A much-quoted statement from Clinton’s grand jury testimony showed him questioning the precise use of the word “is.” Contending that his statement that “there’s nothing going on between us” had been truthful because he had no ongoing relationship with Lewinsky at the time he was questioned.  Clinton said, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.  If the—if he—if ‘is’ means ‘is and never has been,’ that is not—that is one thing.  If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.”  

Starr obtained further evidence of inappropriate behavior by seizing the computer hard drive and email records of Monica Lewinsky. Based on his conflicting testimony, Starr concluded that Clinton had committed perjury. Starr submitted his findings to Congress in a lengthy document (the Starr Report), and simultaneously posted the report on the internet, replete with lurid descriptions of encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky.  Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70 million on an investigation that substantiated only perjury and obstruction of justice.  Critics of Starr also contend that his investigation was highly politicized because it regularly leaked tidbits of information to the press, in violation of legal ethics, and because his report included lengthy descriptions which were humiliating yet irrelevant to the legal case.

At a press conference regarded the redaction of talking points about Benghazi in September 2012, Obama charged that the current storyline is politically motivated. “The whole issue of talking points, frankly throughout this process, has been a sideshow,” said the president. “Suddenly three days ago this gets spun up as if there’s something new to the story. There’s no ‘there’ there,” said the president.

Whatever clever legal legerdemain Bill Clinton was trying to use, Obama is less original in his address.  “There is no there there,” is a quote from modernist author, art collector and lesbian, Gertrude Stein.  She was talking about her childhood home in Oakland, Calif.  She was often given to uttering such non-sequiturs on the premise that she was simply so intelligent that her interlocutors simply didn’t possess equal intelligence to understand her.

Clinton was ultimately impeached for lying, when evidence was produced from Monica Lewinsky’s computer.  Democrat critics criticized Starr for spending so much of the taxpayers’ money on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice (the very charges brought against Pres. Richard Nixon).

Now we have Benghazi.  We have witnesses testifying that a stand-down order was given, preventing anyone in the military from rescuing Ambassador Stevens.  Liberals claim that the Pentagon says it never issued such an order.  But the order wouldn’t have come from the Pentagon but from the Commander-in-Chief, thereby alleviating the Pentagon from charges that they “issued” the order.

Obama can’t understand all the fuss over Benghazi.  Suddenly – three days ago – Benghazi gets spun up as if new information had appeared.  New information was revealed in the House investigation by way of witnesses.  Other witnesses have told news sources that their jobs and livelihoods will be imperiled if they speak.

Stein’s “There is no there there” is a mantra for the modernist and post-modernist school of philosophy.  In her book, “The Feel-Good Curriculum:  The Dumbing Down of America’s Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem,” Dr. Maureen Stout, a professor of Education at the University of British Columbia, wrote in 1993, “Cynicism is the principal characteristic of the post-modern condition because ideals are seen as nothing more than the myths we use to deceive ourselves about the possibility of progress.  The true post-modernist insists that there is nothing to believe in and no point in believing… He is, by definition, a cynic and, having made his ideological bed, he must now lie in it.

“But we do we really want to accept the post-modernist’s very gloomy picture of the human condition; accept, as Gertrude Stein once said, ‘there’s no there there?’  It does make one wonder why, for example, the nation got so caught up in the space program in the 1960’s…”

It’s the Wizard of Oz telling Dorothy there’s nothing to see here; go away.  Move on.  Don’t believe the witnesses.  Don’t believe the facts the Republicans have uncovered; the Republicans are partisan – this is just a politically-motivated witch hunt.  There’s nothing to it.  Nothing more to see than on the day it happened.

There’s nothing to redacting talking points – twelve times (you should have seen what one V.P. did to the speech my boss wrote for her).  That’s what people like Obama do.  When he went to bed, he thought all the fuss was about demonstration in Cairo.  Stevens was scared so we put him in the safehouse.  How was Obama supposed to know Stevens wouldn’t be safe there? 

The police chief of Benghazi told State that it was about the video.  Of course, your average protestor is more like to carry sticks and stones, and burn flags rather than rocket launchers that burn down a building.  It wasn’t even an official building, but a private house next door to the consulate (can’t you guys even get the building right?  It was a consulate.  We only have one embassy in any country, usually in the capital city.  Other government buildings are called “consulates”).  And this was an annex to that consulate.  And it isn’t “there” anymore.  Get it?

So what’s the big deal?  Obama got it wrong.  Or one of his minions did.  He doesn’t remember any serious cries for help from Benghazi.  This stuff about arms to Syria?  Completely off the wall, the stuff of conspiracy theories. 

Obama thinks he can say and do anything and that Benghazi will just evaporate like the stories about his relationship with Bill Ayers, the national debt crisis, and Porkulus.  His minions have even invented a new scandal about eavesdropping on the Associated Press to distract us from Benghazi.  What could the AP possibly have to say that would be dangerous to this administration?  They’re his head cheerleaders, for gosh sakes.  George McGovern had more to hide in Watergate, allegedly accepting campaign funds from foreign donors, than the AP has to hide from Obama.

Such a charge lends credibility to the Associated Press and the rest of the Obaminions.  It protects them from charges of collusion and excuses them from having to investigate Benghazi.  ‘We would never do anything to hurt you, Mr. President!  We won’t say another word about Benghazi!’

No, there’s nothing “new” to the Benghazi story that wasn’t true back in September.  The only thing “new” about is that it has made the news, thanks to the perseverance of Glenn Beck, the Conservative Republicans, the brave witnesses, and some damning video, about which there is nothing cartoonish.

There is a “there” there and the definition of “is” is that it is not over.  There is also a “truth” there or whistleblowing witnesses wouldn’t be under threat and ordered to keep silent.  What the government is doing is called “dissembling,” which means to hide under or put on a false appearance; to conceal facts, intentions or feelings under some pretense.  They’re being clever in the way they keep changing their language.  An embassy becomes a consulate becomes an annex becomes a diplomatic facility.  Soon, no one knows what’s going on anymore.  There is no longer there.

When the government dissembles, it’s time for the people to assemble.

 

 

Republican Fever

According to Atlantic Wire.com (whose motto is “What Matters Now”), President Obama told high-profile “donors like Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake, and Tommy Hilfiger that Washington gridlock is pretty much Rush Limbaugh’s fault Monday evening at a fundraiser at Harvey Weinstein’s house in New York’s Greenwich Village.

Obama admitted that his theory — that after the 2012 election, the Republican ‘fever’ would break, and they’d decide to co-sign some of his agenda — was wrong.

“My thinking was when we beat them in 2012 that might break the fever, and it’s not quite broken yet,” Obama said, according to the White House pool report.  The lingering symptoms of the fever are due to a certain “corpulent” radio host.

“I genuinely believe there are Republicans out there who would like to work with us but they’re fearful of their base and they’re concerned about what Rush Limbaugh might say about them. And as a consequence we get the kind of gridlock that makes people cynical about government.”

Again, that’s skeptical, not cynical.  Skepticism is the antidote to “Progressive Fever”.

“In June 2012, Obama had predicted that being a lame duck would actually be a perk. He told donors:

“I believe that if we’re successful in this election, when we’re successful in this election, that the fever may break, because there’s a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that,…

“My hope, my expectation, is that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama doesn’t make much sense because I’m not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again.”

And if Republicans refuse to cooperate? Atlantic Wire asked.  “Well, unlike the president, they (the Republicans) do face reelection. Obama suggested he would crush them in the midterms.

“If there are folks who are more interested in winning elections than they are thinking about the next generation then I want to make sure there are consequences to that.”

Obama was so interested in winning the election to the Illinois state senate that he used unorthodox, indeed, ruthless means, to eliminate his opponents, including revealing confidential documents regarding one candidate’s divorce.

Atlantic Wire reports that Obama left Weinstein’s home for another DNC fundraiser at the home of Alexandra Stanton in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, before a DCCC/DSCC event at the Waldorf Astoria, capping a busy day in which he addressed the dueling IRS and Benghazi scandals and maybe even cried.

The symptoms of “Republican Fever” include delusions, such as believing that Hispanics and feminists will vote for them; hallucinations, as in shaking hands with opponents across the aisle; self-destructive behavior, including signing dangerous legislation authored by Democrats and appearing on Democrat-slanted news shows; tremors, when they listen to skewed polls favoring the Democrats; denial; paranoia, i.e., they’re losing because of their Conservative base and discrediting radio and television pundits who are trying to help them get back on the right track.

Brain damage can occur.  Conservative therapists suggest such activities as reading the U.S. Constitution; re-reading John Locke, Alexander de Tocqueville, and Adam Smith; and watching movies like Braveheart, The Longest Day, and High Noon.  The first two are true stories.  Another therapy is to read the stories on the Medal of Honor website.  They must be encouraged to overcome their fear of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.  Meeting these two men in person would probably reassure them that their phobia is unjustified, the product of Democrat propaganda with no basis in reality.

Rush and Glenn have learned what they know from the Founding Fathers’ reading list.  They serve as broadcasting ombudsman.  Rush may seem singular, but he has a well-trained staff investigating the stories of the day for him, which he then analyzes and reports upon.  Glenn Beck’s broadcasting network is expanding.  His channel is to be broadcast on Optimum Cablevision in the New York City area by the end of the month, the very market area from which he was once evicted.  Rush’s broadcasting numbers are outstanding.  He’s so successful, he’s considering leaving the New York City market area because he doesn’t need it.

Conservatism is the antidote to “Republican Fever.”  The Republicans, in feverish denial, are resisting the cure.  Democrats are in a panic that Conservative researchers are on the threshold of a breakthrough in curing the brainwashing.

No wonder the Media reported that Obama was crying at some recent event.

 

 

The IRS Targets the Tea Parties

Do reporters even know the meaning of the word “deadline” anymore?  We know don’t know the meaning of the words “objectivity,” “research” or “truth.”  If you thought they were a little late reporting the truth about Benghazi, that’s nothing to sloth in reporting the fact that the IRS has been targeting the Tea Parties, as well as other groups.

Actually, what they’re reporting on is the IRS’ apology to the Tea Parties for harassing them, forcing them to fill out long, probing questionnaires about their meetings, their donors, their speeches, and even insisting that boards of directors of non-profit Tea Parties submit their resumes.

It’s about time the IRS apologized; but at least they apologized.  We’re still waiting for an apology from the mainstream Media which took every opportunity to mock, belittle and marginalize these citizen groups.  They’ve called us every name in the book:  fascists, racists, homophobes, misogynists, Truthers, Birthers, geezers.  You name it, we’ve been called that name.

The Big Tea Party organizations, the national groups, may have Big Money behind them, and so what if they do?  They can also afford to pay accountants and lawyers to handle the government paperwork.  IRSing the local Tea Parties is like auditing the local PTA.  How much did you make selling those cupcakes; and what’s in them?  The FDA is on your trail, too.

Our local Tea Parties initially operated on a zero budget.  Everything was voluntary.  Morristown Tea Party’s second president was/is a lawyer.  He saw to it that MTP obtained the proper non-profit designation.  There are two kinds; one has to do with community activities, the other, with promoting candidates for office.

Other than security, everything MTP did on its first rally was voluntary.  Someone volunteered to do sound, another to erect a podium.  Someone volunteered to rent tables.  One guy, the Flag Man, volunteered to set up small American flags all around the Morristown Green and picked them up again afterwards.  Then, after the rally, a group volunteered to restore The Green to its original condition, where flowers and plants might have been trampled.

Ringers appeared at the meetings trying to steer the Tea Parties away from their original course – that of a limited government on a limited budget.  The House of Representatives just passed a bill denying wage earners overtime?  Presumably, the Facebook post meant federal government wage earners.  Well, isn’t that just too bad?

There are more important issues to worry about than a long-overdue apology by the IRS.  At least now we’ve gotten the Media’s attention.  That can only be because average people are starting to pay attention.  Perhaps they’re having second thoughts about calling us lunatics, right-wing fringe nuts and so forth since the Benghazi story we’ve been trying to tell them about since before the election proved true.  Twelve redactions and we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of Benghazi yet.  Clearly, the Administration wants to draw attention away from the Libyan problem.

We also have the Obamacare problem.  The Common Core problem.  The Muslim Brotherhood problem.  The national debt problem.  The unemployment problem.  The Islamic terrorist problem.  The Smart Growth problem.  The abortion problem.  The gay marriage problem.  The gun-grab problem (The American President was on last night.  “I’m going to get those guns!” the movie president declared).  The illegal immigrant problem.  The government, with Janet Napolitano in the lead, is going to repurpose and re-title the illegal aliens.  They will now be called “Wealth Redistribution Specialists.”

That’s a lot of problems, isn’t it?  But our worst problem is The Ostrich Problem.  Too many Americans are sticking their heads in the sand (or in a cloud of marijuana fumes) and not speaking up.  Some don’t even realize these things are, and should be, problems.  They think aborting babies is cool and whether gay couples marry is none of our business.  Global warming or global cooling; what difference does it make?  The Northeast has been experiencing a cool spell the last few weeks.  Let’s hit the global panic button.  Let’s not remember that the Northeast experienced a similar cool spell in the Spring of 1977.  That year, there was a heat wave during my brother’s college graduation, and rain, rain, rain the week of my high school graduation.  In 1911, it was so cold in Buffalo, N.Y., that Niagara Falls froze over.

Gads!  This isn’t the first time I’ve had to bring my pansies and impatiens in overnight.  I’ll have to bring them in again tonight.  What’s the big deal?  That’s the trouble with fuzzy-minded people who believe emotional IQ is more important than intellectual IQ. 

Hillary Clinton was once considered the smartest person in the room.  She was supplanted by Obama, who once he ascended the throne, claimed the title.  He’s smart enough now to throw Hillary under the bus over Benghazi to gain the support of Democrat hopefuls for 2016.  He’s a rat.  She’s rat.  She did the groundwork back when Bill was healthier and president for universal healthcare, which now bears Obama’s name.  Twenty years ago, smarter voters were in charge.  We had a Republican (such as it was), reasonably Conservative Congress that shot it down and questioned her place, as First Lady, in making national policy.

She was given Middle Eastern bona fides for sporting the Muslim headdress and traveling around the area with Chelsea in tow.  But something went wrong in Libya and it’s going to be Obama’s head in a noose if it’s discovered that he was sending arms to Syria.  The Democrats tried to make that charge stick to Pres. Reagan but it didn’t work.  Obama’s a lame duck, but he’s got a lot of wannabees riding on his coattails.  Hillary’s going to get thrown under the bus and Obama will probably be made President of Harvard University or at the very least, the University of Chicago.

Oh…this post was supposed to be about the IRS apologizing for targeting Tea Party Conservatives five years ago.  Yeah.  Well, that train has not only left the station but they’ve torn up the tracks and turned the station into a museum.

 

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Cite No Evil

So goes the latest three monkeys cartoon about Immigration Bill S. 744.  The law gives preference the Secretary of Homeland Security “virtually unlimited discretion to waive any manner of crimes that would otherwise make an individual ineligible for legal status,” according to a letter Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) entered into the judiciary committee record.

According to CNSnews.com, the letter is “from law enforcement officials nationwide warning of the dangers of the immigration bill S.744 into the judiciary committee record today.  The letter to Congress from the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council of the American Federation of Government Employees Affiliated with AFL-CIO warns of the discretionary power the bill gives to “political appointees” and takes away from law enforcers.

“Congress can and must take decisive steps to limit the discretion of political appointees and empower ICE and CBP to perform their respective missions and enforce the laws enacted by Congress. Rather than limiting the power of those political appointees within DHS, S. 744 provides them with nearly unlimited discretion, which will serve only to further cripple the law enforcement missions of these agencies.”

They warn that the Senate immigration bill gives DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano “virtually unlimited discretion to waiver” prohibitions on obtaining legal status, such as criminal activity or previous deportation.

 “At least two of these standards appear undefined by S. 744 or current law, providing political appointees with broad authority to establish their own definitions of these terms and pardon criminal acts under almost any circumstance.”

“The bill states that individuals who have previously been deported or otherwise removed from the country are ineligible to apply for legal status. However, the Secretary is given the ‘sole and unreviewable discretion’ to waive that ineligibility for large classes of qualifying aliens.”

The letter concludes that ICE officers would continue to be “powerless” to protect the public and do their jobs if the bill becomes law.

“If this legislation were enacted tomorrow, ICE officers would continue to be powerless to effectively enforce our nation’s laws and provide for public safety as S. 744 does nothing to end these dangerous agency- and department-level directives.”

While the Democrats are busy accusing Republicans of “partisanship” in the investigation of the Benghazi terrorist attack, which they are now blaming on “incompetence,” they’re writing the agenda, in the Democrat-led Senate on immigration policy.  Not even the worst of crimes will permit ICE to deport illegal immigrants.

The Democrats are looking forward to the Congressional races next year.  With a burgeoning Latino population, born in this country, there will be few obstacles to getting their Socialist agenda passed.  This isn’t about “huddled masses yearning to be free;” this is about Democrats seeking to bolster their base past any hope of balance in the United States.  Any critics will be deemed “racist”.  With California playing a major role and social justice educators waving the Mexican War banner.  The real truth is the Mexicans didn’t want to live in the Southwest; they were terrified of the Indians.  The Mexicans waited for the U.S. Cavalry to dispense with those pesky aborigines before making any claims on the mineral-rich lands from Colorado to California.

The Americans who lived in Texas wanted to be Americans, not Mexicans (who can blame them?)  When it came to the vote, the residents of Texas declared their allegiance for the United States.  Now that the Progressives have considerably softened and tended the political soil, the Mexicans figure it’s time for what they think, and have fooled the gullible into believing, is payback.

Not only will they try to reclaim the lands from Texas to California, but they’ll be permitted to murder anyone who gets in their way.  War will be an easy matter for the Mexicans since the Administration is successfully implementing away Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

Shoot first and ask questions never.

 

 

Benghazi Boilerplate

No less than eight Congressional committees, according to Glenn Beck’s Real News reporters, are investigating the Benghazi debacle.  For months, Glenn has been offering ample evidence of a cover-up about the handling of the Benghazi attack on Sept. 11, 2012.  Redacted memos.  Statements by agents and other officials.  Cries from the families of the victims for justice.

The Mainstream Media lays a dubious claim to the title of journalists.  They behave just as if they were the public relations firm of the Administration or the Democrat Party.  On Glenn’s website, there was this article on the laissez-faire attitude regarding the on-going investigations:

Beck writes, “Yesterday I warned that GOP leaders on Capitol Hill could really drop the ball on the Benghazi investigation by making it a political issue. The best course of action for everyone involved here is to pursue the truth.  Period.  But before today’s congressional hearing even begins, the media is gearing up to write the whole thing off as a political stunt.”

“How?  With some carefully crafted language. Take a look at a sampling of this morning’s news coverage…  (all emphases mine)”

“CNN: This isn’t really a news story…

“’The Obama administration’s handling of the aftermath of the Benghazi terror attack has long sparked outrage from Republicans on Capitol Hill and fueled conspiracy theories on talk shows and across the blogosphere.

‘And those sparks are likely to touch off fireworks Wednesday, when three current State Department employees are expected to contradict their leadership in testimony before Republican Rep. Darrell Issa’s oversight committee.’

“The New York Times: Darn those pesky Republicans…

“’If there’s a story – or even a word – that’s more fraught with divisive American politics than ‘Benghazi,’ I’m unaware of it.

“’The attacks last fall on an American diplomatic mission and C.I.A. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four American government employees, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, have become a flash point for critics of the Obama administration who see what happened as proof of the president’s incompetence, or worse. They see the aftermath as a cover-up.

“NPR: The State Department would never lie to us… 

“’The issue has become a cause celebre among conservative media outlets.  On his radio show Monday , former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Hicks will testify that four special operations soldiers in Tripoli were not allowed to board a Libyan military cargo plane that was leaving for Benghazi.

“’We now know that special forces were poised and ready and had repeatedly asked for permission to go in and try to intervene, and they were told to stand down,’ Huckabee said. ‘I know that Mr. Hicks will testify that his jaw dropped when later Hillary Clinton said she did not know of any requests for assistance and that there were no requests for assistance.’”

“[Notice that they don't report the news about

the special operations team as from Hicks -- they report it as something Mike Huckabee said.]

“On the same show, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted Wednesday’s hearing could be a turning point.”

“’I think the dam is about to break, and you’re going find a system failure before, during and after,’ he said. ‘You’re going to find political manipulation, seven weeks before an election. You’re going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton.’”

“’The focus on Clinton comes amid speculation that the former secretary of state will run for president.  Asked Monday whether the House investigation into Benghazi was purely political, State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell replied, ‘It certainly seems so, so far. I mean, this is not sort of a collaborative process where the committee is working directly with us and trying to establish facts that would help, you know, as we look to keep our people safe overseas in a very complex environment.’”

“The Boston Herald: News isn’t news if it comes from Republicans…

“’House Republicans insist the Obama administration is covering up information about last year’s deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, rejecting administration assurances to the contrary and stoking a controversy with implications for the 2016 presidential race.’”

“The Washington Post: Republicans have to “tie” the president to his own administration…

“’Republican lawmakers, who have spent months seeking to tie President Obama to last year’s deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, are increasingly focusing their probe  on a new target: former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.’”

“Four dead Americans.  Countless unanswered questions.  Yep, just politics as usual, or something,” Beck concludes.

News, as the Mainstream Public Relations Corps defines it, is definitely not news if it comes from Republicans about Democrats.  This love affair dates back all the way to FDR’s administration when he would invite the senior editors and reporters to picnics to dictate what the headlines were going to be for the week.

The Public Relations Media is flexing its muscles in the Benghazi Investigation to prove that they are truly the gatekeepers of official information and public opinion.  In the film, The American President, Sydney Allen Wade (Annette Bening) tells a client, “The people think what I tell them to think!”

For a grossly Liberal movie, it had a number of great lines.  But this second quote, an exchange between the chief of staff and the speechwriter stands out in light of the Benghazi attack:

A. J. MacInerney: The President doesn’t answer to you, Lewis!

Lewis Rothschild: Oh, yes he does, A.J. I’m a citizen, this is my President. And in this country it is not only permissible to question our leaders it’s our responsibility!

Still, Obama wants us to reject “those voices” such as Glenn Beck’s who imagine “sinister” motives behind every move this administration makes, even when redacted memos are uncovered that reveal the truth about the government’s negligence in the attack, failing to provide timely security for the employees in the consulate annex.  Even in the face of the former Secretary of State’s noblesse oblige so-what attitude about the four deaths (“What difference does it make?” she shrieked), the Public Relations Media does its job of covering up for its handlers.  The message is:  Nothing to see here.  Change the channel.  Click on the story about the three naked ladies on dog leashes in a Cleveland neighborhood. 

“Death is just part of life.”

And lying is just part of politics and cover-ups a part of public relations journalism.

 

 

Obamulus: On Tyranny

At the commencement ceremony at Ohio State University today, Obama told the graduates:

“You’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.”

“We have never been a people who place all of our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours — and as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us; it’s about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government — and Class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.

But we have placed all our faith in government to solve our problems – and we have the programs to prove it:  Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and the latest, Obamacare.  Obama doesn’t think the government is the source of all problems; he lays our problems at the feet of Capitalists.

Those voices that the Class of 2013 has been listening to have been quoting no less than the Founding Fathers themselves:

“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”  Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”  Thomas Jefferson, 1816

“The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind.”  Thomas Jefferson, 1790

“We are all Republicans – we are all Federalists.  If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.”  Thomas Jefferson, 1801

“Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it; and this I know, m lords, that where laws end, tyranny begins.”  William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, 1770

 ”Freedom and not servitude is the cure of anarchy; as religion, and not atheism, is the true remedy for superstition.”  John Burke, 1775

“If men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences that can invite the consideration of mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of speech may be taken away, and dumb and silent we may led, like sheep to the slaughter.”  George Washington, 1783

“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, and perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”  George Washington, 1789

“The happiness of society is the end of government.”  John Adams, 1776

 ”Fear is the foundation of most governments.”  John Adams, 1776

“Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together.”

“All government – indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act – is founded on compromise and barter.”  John Burke

“In no country perhaps in the world is law so general a study [as in America].  This study renders men acute, inquisitive, prompt in attack, ready in defense, full of resources…  They augur misgovernment at a distance, and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.”  John Burke

 ”The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.”  John Burke, 1784

“People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors.”  John Burke, 1790

“Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third [“Treason!” cried the Speaker] – may profit by their example.  If this be treason, make the most of it.”  Patrick Henry, Speech on the Stamp Act, House of Burgesses, Williamsburg, Va., May 29, 1765

Have the students at Ohio State University ever heard these words?  What works are those who cite the Founding Fathers “gumming up?”  Let’s mark a few more of Obama’s words today:

“We have never been a people who place all of our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours — and as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us; it’s about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government — and Class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.

Lesson No. 1:  We’re a federated republic, not a democracy.  Secondly, we are not a self-government; we are a representative government.  If it’s not about what America can do for us, then what’s been happening that past five years or more? 

“You’ve been tested and you’ve been tempered by events that your parents and I never imagined that we’d see when we sat where you sit — and yet, in spite of all this or perhaps because of it, yours has become a generation possessed with that most American of ideas:  That people who love their country can change it for the better. For all the turmoil, for all the times you’ve been let down or frustrated at the hand that you’ve been dealt, what I’ve seen — what we’ve witnessed from your generation — is that perennial quintessentially American value of optimism, altruism, empathy, tolerance, a sense of community, and a sense of service.”

I’m old enough to be a parent of one of those students.  I never imagined that a child of mine would not be taught the words of the Founding Fathers, that they would be taught multiculturalism, pluralism, and Communism.  I never imagined that their speech would be curbed by political consideration or that a President of the United States would bow to foreign potentates.

Most importantly, I never would have imagined that they’d be taught that the country needed to be “changed for the better” or that “better” meant depriving them of their private property, their right to freedom of speech and to bear arms, or their belief that America is the greatest country in the world.

“Consider that today, 50 ROTC cadets in your graduating class will become commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. (Applause.) A hundred and thirty of your fellow graduates have already served — some in combat, some on multiple deployments. (Applause.) Of the 98 veterans earning bachelor’s degrees today, 20 are graduating with honors, and at least one kept serving his fellow veterans when he came home by starting up a campus organization called Vets4Vets. And as your Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of all of you. (Applause.)”

Did Obama understand that the applause was for the cadets and veterans, not for him?  We’re proud of our military.  But what mission has he sent them on?  To protect American interests or Chinese?  To serve the cause of freedom for America or to prepare the path for a global caliphate?  To die for liberty and freedom?  Or just to die?

“Consider that graduates of this university serve their country through the Peace Corps, and educate our children through established programs like Teach for America, startups like Blue Engine, often earning little pay for making the biggest impact. Some of you have already launched startup companies of your own. And I suspect that those of you who pursue more education, or climb the corporate ladder, or enter the arts or science or journalism, you will still choose a cause that you care about in your life and will fight like heck to realize your vision.”

Consider that the education majors will be going on to teach Common Core, a standardized program designed for the lowest common denominator of educating, ensuring that future citizens will be educated only for the task they can perform for the community and nothing more; certainly not to become informed citizens and voters.

“There is a word for this. It’s citizenship. And we don’t always talk about this idea much these days — citizenship — let alone celebrate it. Sometimes, we see it as a virtue from another time, a distant past, one that’s slipping from a society that celebrates individual ambition above all else; a society awash in instant technology that empowers us to leverage our skills and talents like never before, but just as easily allows us to retreat from the world. And the result is that we sometimes forget the larger bonds we share as one American family.”

There’s a word for Obama’s idea of “citizenship”:  communism, where individual ambition is discouraged, property ownership is outlawed, parental rights are severely limited, and wealth is redistributed from those who earned to those haven’t.

“But it’s out there, all the time, every day — especially when we need it most. Just look at the past year. When a hurricane struck our mightiest city, and a factory exploded in a small town in Texas, we saw citizenship. When bombs went off in Boston, and when a malevolent spree of gunfire visited a movie theater, a temple, an Ohio high school, a 1st grade classroom in Connecticut, we saw citizenship.  In the aftermath of darkest tragedy, we have seen the American spirit at its brightest.”

When Hurricane Sandy struck New York City and the Jersey Shore, what we saw was N.J. Gov. Christie hugging Obama.  What we saw in West, Texas came from citizens, not the government, with cameras.  What we saw in Boston was a Saudi Arabian talking to the older brother bomber, Tamerlan.  What we didn’t see were many citizens in Boston because they were in lockdown.  What we saw in Newtown was a very strange young man who should have been institutionalized.  What we saw at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin was an example of the kind of White supremacist ex-military man Obama wants us to fear (who mistook the Sikhs for Muslims and killed himself in the end), rather than the Islamic extremists who set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon.

“We’ve seen the petty divisions of color and class and creed replaced by a united urge to help each other. We’ve seen courage and compassion, a sense of civic duty, and a recognition we are not a collection of strangers; we are bound to one another by a set of ideals and laws and commitments, and a deep devotion to this country that we love.”

Not exactly.  Yes, we’ve seen a white supremacist kill innocent women and children in a temple.  We’ve also seen the Black Panthers intimidate voters in Philadelphia.  We’ve read books about a new educational agenda that will emphasize “white privilege” and enlarge upon white guilt.

“And that’s what citizenship is. It’s at the heart of our founding — that as Americans, we are blessed with God-given talents and inalienable rights, but with those rights come responsibilities — to ourselves, and to one another, and to future generations. (Applause.)

Just don’t try to invoke God’s name in a public place like the steps of the Supreme Court, a high school graduation (Obama did it; but then he thinks he is God, so it’s okay) or football game, or at a town meeting.

“Now, if we’re being honest with ourselves, as you’ve studied and worked and served to become good citizens, the fact is that all too often the institutions that give structure to our society have, at times, betrayed your trust. In the run-up to the financial crisis, too many on Wall Street forgot that their obligations don’t end with what’s happening with their shares. In entertainment and in the media, ratings and shock value often trump news and storytelling.”

We feel especially betrayed by those Wall Street institutions who gave enormous donations to Obama’s presidential campaign.

“In Washington — well, this is a joyous occasion, so let me put it charitably — (laughter) — I think it’s fair to say our democracy isn’t working as well as we know it can. It could do better. (Applause.) And so those of us fortunate enough to serve in these institutions owe it to you to do better every single day.”

Once again, we’re a representative republic, not a participatory democracy.  People just don’t have the time for it in a country this big.  Incidentally, Obama’s had five years.  Just when does he plan to begin making it “better.”

“And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we can keep this idea of citizenship in its fullest sense alive at the national level — not just on Election Day, not just in times of tragedy, but all the days in between. And perhaps because I spend a lot of time in Washington, I’m obsessed with this issue because that sense of citizenship is so sorely needed there. And I think of what your generation’s traits — compassion and energy, and a sense of selflessness — might mean for a democracy that must adapt more quickly to keep up with the speed of technological and demographic, and wrenching economic change.”

What does he want the graduates to do?  Walk up and down the streets of their towns and cities wearing sandwich board signs that say, “I’m a citizen”?  Does he want turn them into a militia of sorts, armed with a box of tissues, a package of crackers, a teddy bear, and a Hallmark card to make anyone who’s having a bad day feel better?

“I think about how we might perpetuate this notion of citizenship in a way that another politician from my home state of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson, once described patriotism not as “short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” That’s what patriotism is. That’s what citizenship is. (Applause.)

A good citizen goes to work (or school) every day, doesn’t break any laws, earns their salary, pays their bills on time, saves for the future, and teaches their kids right from wrong.  When there’s a problem, the good citizen lends a hand – or money, or donates blood or food.  The good citizen keeps their home and yard or apartment in good repair, curbs their dog, and goes home at night to be with the family and do whatever it is they want to do.  More conscientious, energetic citizens do go out to town council and planning meetings to keep an eye on the riff-raff we’ve elected.  Others would rather stay home and help their kids with their homework.  It’s a free country.

“Now, I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I’m not going to offer some grand theory on a beautiful day like this — you guys all have celebrating to do. I’m not going to get partisan, either, because that’s not what citizenship is about. In fact, I’m asking the same thing of you that President Bush did when he spoke at this commencement in 2002: “America needs more than taxpayers, spectators, and occasional voters,” he said. “America needs full-time citizens.” (Applause.) And as graduates from a university whose motto is “Education for Citizenship,” I know all of you get that this is what you’ve signed up for. It’s what your country expects of you.”

George Washington didn’t believe in partisanship, either.  But Karl Marx was before his time.  He hadn’t heard of collectivism and wouldn’t have approved of it if head.  He knew how the Pilgrims’ experiment with collectivism turned out.  He didn’t believe in giving a man’s earnings to someone else.  Neither did Abraham Lincoln.

“So briefly, I’ll ask for two things from the Class of 2013: to participate, and to persevere. After all, your democracy does not function without your active participation. At a bare minimum, that means voting, eagerly and often — not having somebody drag you to it at 11:30 a.m. when you’re having breakfast. (Laughter.) It means knowing who’s been elected to make decisions on your behalf, and what they believe in, and whether or not they delivered on what they said they would. And if they don’t represent you the way you want, or conduct themselves the way you expect, if they put special interests above your own, you’ve got to let them know that’s not okay. And if they let you down often enough, there’s a built-in day in November where you can really let them know it’s not okay. (Applause.)”

There used to be an old joke:  “Vote early and vote often.”  Just what sort of message is Obama sending the Class of 2013, anyway.  Too bad he didn’t give this advice to the Class of 2012, especially about giving the thumbs-down to special interests; Mr. Special Interests himself, taking money from Big Oil, Big Health Care, and Big Energy, would have lost.

But participation, your civic duty, is more than just voting. You don’t have to run for office yourself — but I hope many of you do, at all levels, because our democracy needs you. And I promise you, it will give you a tough skin. I know a little bit about this. (Laughter.) President Wilson once said, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”

Yeah.  Just try to revoke the 16^th (Income Tax, which was a Wilson amendment) or 26^th (lowering voting age to 18) amendments to the Bill of Rights.  Good luck with that.

And that’s precisely what the Founders left us — the power, each of us, to adapt to changing times. They left us the keys to a system of self-government, the tools to do big things and important things together that we could not possibly do alone — to stretch railroads and electricity and a highway system across a sprawling continent. To educate our people with a system of public schools and land-grant colleges, including The Ohio State University. To care for the sick and the vulnerable, and provide a basic level of protection from falling into abject poverty in the wealthiest nation on Earth. (Applause.)  To conquer fascism and disease; to visit the Moon and Mars; to gradually secure our God-given rights for all of our citizens, regardless of who they are, or what they look like, or who they love. (Applause.)”

To conquer fascism?  This from the man who juts out his jaw just like Mussolini as he nationalizes health care, education, and energy?  A man who supports minimalist transit villages where people will live in small, cramped apartments and won’t be able to travel anywhere except by government transportation?  A man whose bureaucracy has installed water regulating meters on our homes to monitor how much water we use?  Whose plan is to usurp all private open lands and place them under government jurisdiction?

“We, the people, chose to do these things together — because we know this country cannot accomplish great things if we pursue nothing greater than our own individual ambition.”

Who (other than Obama) said anything about choosing to do these things together?  The greatest kind of “team” there is, the bureaucracy, is notorious for accomplishing nothing great and making sure no one else does, either.  Rugged individualism is what made America great, not rugged bureaucracy or rugged  collectivism.

“Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems; some of these same voices also doing their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave and creative and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.”

Ah yes, we’re hearing voices and we should reject them.  The only voice we hear and should reject is Obama’s.  He’s leading the first generation of the 21^st Century down the primrose path, as the cliché goes.  You can ignore us, but we won’t stop speaking the truth or sounding the alarm about tyranny.  That was what the Founding Fathers mandated and passed on to us.

“We have never been a people who place all of our faith in government to solve our problems; we shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us; it’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. (Applause.) And, Class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process. (Applause.)”

And when the Class of 2013 discovers just what a difficult job running our monstrous, bureaucratic government is, they’ll beg for the help of Obama’s successors with tears in their eyes instead of cutting the size of government in half and doing things for themselves.  He’s counting on you, Class of 2013.

“The founders trusted us with this awesome authority. We should trust ourselves with it, too. Because when we don’t, when we turn away and get discouraged and cynical, and abdicate that authority, we grant our silent consent to someone who will gladly claim it. That’s how we end up with lobbyists who set the agenda; and policies detached from what middle-class families face every day; the well-connected who publicly demand that Washington stay out of their business — and then whisper in government’s ear for special treatment that you don’t get.”

That’s just an out-and-out lie.  The Founding Fathers did NOT trust us.  They did not trust anyone given power, least of all someone like Obama.  They did not trust the government; that’s why the Founding Fathers, with James Madison in the lead, wrote The Constitution – in order to limit its powers because a government with power can be trusted to do only one thing; enslave the people who voted them in.

“That’s how a small minority of lawmakers get cover to defeat something the vast majority of their constituents want. That’s how our political system gets consumed by small things when we are a people called to do great things — like rebuild a middle class, and reverse the rise of inequality, and repair the deteriorating climate that threatens everything we plan to leave for our kids and our grandkids.”

When a vast majority of constituents want a free ride, it’s up to a small minority of lawmakers to defeat such a quest.  Our political system got consumed by small things when it embraced bureaucracy instead of democracy.  As for the “deteriorating” climate, don’t listen to those sinister voices that are telling you the world is coming to an end.  Numerous administrations have had to relabel the environmental “crisis” from global cooling in the 1970s to global warming in the 1990s to the present-day “climate change” because there’s basis in their supposedly scientific theories.  Yes, there is Plastic Island.  There’s no denying that pollution existed.  Very disgusting, it is, too.  But the world coming to an end?

By the way, there isn’t going to be anything to leave your kids and grandkids, because you parents and grandparents are about to be divested of their retirement savings.  You won’t make enough money to leave anything to your children and grandchildren because you won’t be allowed to accumulate wealth.  Save the planet for your grandkids?  They won’t be able to see it because they’ll be alternately locked away in their minimalist cubicles at work and minimalist mini-apartments in the communes. In any case, they’ll be too hypnotized by latest technological entertainment to get a permit to hike in a forest at least an hour’s ride away by train to see a daisy they won’t be allowed to touch.

“Class of 2013, only you can ultimately break that cycle. Only you can make sure the democracy you inherit is as good as we know it can be.  But it requires your dedicated, and informed, and engaged citizenship. And that citizenship is a harder, higher road to take, but it leads to a better place.  It’s how we built this country — together.”

Class of 2013, what Obama what you to do is break the country, not the cycle.  The political cycle will go on as it has always done.  The road, by the way, will be harder because it will be narrower.  But you won’t have a car, so don’t worry about it.

It’s the question that President Kennedy posed to the nation at his inauguration. It’s the dream that Dr. King invoked.  It does not promise easy success or immediate progress — but it has led to success, and it has led to progress. And it has to continue with you.

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” Kennedy said.  I remember his speech, even though I was very small.  But that’s exactly what Obama has you doing – asking what your country can do for you.

“Which brings me to the second thing I ask of all of you — I ask that you persevere. Whether you start a business, or run for office, or devote yourself to alleviating poverty or hunger, please remember that nothing worth doing happens overnight.  A British inventor named Dyson went through more than 5,000 prototypes before getting that first really fancy vacuum cleaner just right.  We remember Michael Jordan’s six championships; we don’t remember his nearly 15,000 missed shots. As for me, I lost my first race for Congress, and look at me now — I’m an honorary graduate of The Ohio State University. (Applause.)”

That’s darned right.  Progressivism is incremental; it’s the boiling the frog experiment.  Obama doesn’t want you to give up building that prison wall around yourself.  The kids from Shanghai, China know.  They’re all into glittering, modern cities where they don’t really have to labor, as the peasants in the countryside do.  There’s no sense in voting, because there’s only one political party.  There’s no sense in protesting.  Look at what happened in Tianamen Square.

George Washington’s enemies remembered every single battle he lost.  The people only remembered his victory. As he traveled from Philadelphia to New York City for his inauguration, the man who didn’t want to be king was greeted by grateful citizens throwing flowers in his path during his entire journey through New Jersey. 

But Obama is being disingenuous and dishonest to the Class of 2013.  This modern world does not tolerate mistakes.  They don’t take them lightly and do not accept those who make them.  Pres. Richard Nixon basically made a mistake.  A really bad one, but that was it.  He was nearly impeached.  It depends on who makes the mistake.  Pres. Clinton had the bad taste to entertain Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office.  Other than being disbarred, he suffered no serious consequences.  Presidential candidate Mitt Romney made an awkward gaff about binders full of women.  Although it was only a blunder, not even a bad joke, he lost the election and America lost a potentially great president.  Instead, we got a president who advises college graduate to only listen to his side of the story.

“The point is, if you are living your life to the fullest, you will fail, you will stumble, you will screw up, you will fall down. But it will make you stronger, and you’ll get it right the next time, or the time after that, or the time after that. And that is not only true for your personal pursuits, but it’s also true for the broader causes that you believe in as well.”

You’ll be fired.  Trust me.

“So you can’t give up your passion if things don’t work right away. You can’t lose heart, or grow cynical if there are twists and turns on your journey. The cynics may be the loudest voices — but I promise you, they will accomplish the least. It’s those folks who stay at it, those who do the long, hard, committed work of change that gradually push this country in the right direction, and make the most lasting difference.”

We’re skeptics, not cynics.  Cynics are people who attribute all actions to selfish motives which, unless I’m mistake, Obama referenced several times in his speech.  Skeptics are doubters who believe the certainty of knowledge cannot be attained, such as the efficacy of wind turbines.

“So whenever you feel that creeping cynicism, whenever you hear those voices saying you can’t do it, you can’t make a difference, whenever somebody tells you to set your sights lower — the trajectory of this great nation should give you hope. What generations have done before you should give you hope. Because it was young people just like you who marched and mobilized and stood up and sat in to secure women’s rights, and voting rights, and workers’ rights, and gay rights — often at incredible odds, often at great danger, often over the course of years, sometimes over the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime — and they never got acknowledged for it, but they made a difference. (Applause.)”

Common Core will do an excellent job setting their sights lower.  Mom didn’t need a political platform to gain her equal pay in 1945; she just went in there and told the bosses, I’m doing the same job as the male reporters; give me the same pay or I’m out of here.”  And they did.  There are rights and there are licenses.  There’s no doubt as to the right to vote or have workers’ compensation.  But the “right” to abortion?  The “right” to gay marriage?  Workers in unions who don’t want to be actually have no rights.  Funny thing about these rights is that they just don’t seem very civil.

“And even if their rights were already secured, there were those who fought to secure those same rights and opportunities for others. And that should give you some hope.”

Redundancy;  the signal that it’s time to stop talking.

Where we’re going should give you hope. Because while things are still hard for a lot of people, you have every reason to believe that your future is bright. You’re graduating into an economy and a job market that is steadily healing. The once-dying American auto industry is on pace for its strongest performance in 20 years — something that means everything to many communities in Ohio and across the Midwest. Huge strides in domestic energy, driven in part by research at universities like this one, have us on track to secure our own energy future.  Incredible advances in information and technology spurred largely by the risk-takers of your generation have the potential to change the way we do almost everything.

Obama and his cronies are the ones who infected the economy in the first place.  The commuter bike is an “incredible advance in technology?”

“There is not another country on Earth that would not gladly change places with the United States of America. And that will be true for your generation just as it was true for previous generations.”

Why wouldn’t they?  We’re having fire sale, fueled by the burning of the Constitution.  We could hang a sign at the Statue of Liberty:  “Open for looting.”

So you’ve got a lot to look forward to, but if there’s one certainty about the decade ahead, it’s that things will be uncertain. Change will be a constant, just as it has been throughout our history.  And, yes, we still face many important challenges. Some will require technological breakthroughs or new policy insights.  But more than anything, what we will need is political will — to harness the ingenuity of your generation, and encourage and inspire the hard work of dedicated citizens.  To repair the middle class, to give more families a fair shake, to reject a country in which only a lucky few prosper because that’s antithetical to our ideals and our democracy — all of this is going to happen if you are involved, because it takes dogged determination — the dogged determination of our citizens.”

He’s a liar.  He hates the Middle Class and says as much in his bio, “Dreams From My Father.”

“To educate more children at a younger age, and to reform our high schools for a new time, and to give more young people the chance to earn the kind of education that you did at The Ohio State University, and to make it more affordable so young people don’t leave with a mountain of debt — that will take the care and concern of citizens like you. (Applause.)”

He means to indoctrinate more children at a younger age through Common Core, and lower the educational standards so that those who fail won’t feel like failures.  Children will be tracked, just as they were in the Soviet Union, for certain industries and jobs, and nothing more.  Studying subjects such as English literature, Latin and Greek, and even higher Mathematics will be part of history; which children won’t be studying at all.

“To build better roads and airports and faster Internet, and to advance the kinds of basic research and technology that’s always kept America ahead of everybody else — that will take the grit and fortitude of citizens.”

To build better roads you won’t be allowed to drive on, to build airports you won’t be allowed to fly out of, and to build a faster Internet that can track you are and what you are doing before you can shut the government snoops down.  Grit and fortitude?   Or just plain chutzpah?

“To confront the threat of climate change before it’s too late — that requires the idealism and the initiative of citizens.”

Not to mention gullibility

“To protect more of our kids from the horrors of gun violence — that requires the unwavering passion, the untiring resolve of citizens. (Applause.) It will require you.”

It will require them to – what?  Surrender their firearms?  Surrender their only means of protection against government incursion?  If the Class of 2013 really wants to protect their children from horrors, they’ll refuse to allow ghastly video games into their homes (via that faster Internet Obama promised) such as “Doom.”

“Fifty years ago, President Kennedy told the class of 1963 that ‘our problems are man-made — therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants.’  We’re blessed to live in the greatest nation on Earth.  But we can always be greater.  We can always aspire to something more. That doesn’t depend on who you elect to office.  It depends on you, as citizens, how big you want us to be, how badly you want to see these changes for the better.”

Only Obama just got through telling the Class of 2013 that it’s selfish to be as big as they want.  There’s a telling line for you, though.  “It depends on you, as citizens, how big you want us to be, how badly you want to see these things change for the better.”  How big we want the government to be?!  Yes, you tell them, future Obamaheads that you want a huge government, so big that our debts will never be paid.

“And look at all that America has already accomplished.  Look at how big we’ve been. I dare you, Class of 2013, to do better. I dare you to dream bigger.”

We see how big the government has become.  We dare the Class of 2013 to make it even bigger.  That’s not a dream; that’s a nightmare straight out of George Orwell’s 1984.

“And from what I’ve seen of your generation, I’m confident that you will. And so I wish you courage, and compassion, and all the strength that you will need for that tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

From what we’ve seen of this generation, we could sell them the Brooklyn Bridge for a buck.

“Thank you. God bless you, and God bless these United States of America. (Applause.)”

Wasn’t that just swell of Obama to ask God’s blessing for the Class of 2013 and the United States?  Well, we’re not going to leave the last word to Obama; not in this blog, not ever.

“The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosophers, as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful.”  Edward Gibbon.  Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.  [1776-1788].

 

The Social Justice in Education Bible

Are your children too “white”?  According to The Handbook of Social Justice in Education, a series of essays for teacher educators, they are.  They’re also too privileged, homophobic, racist, and Western.

Published in 2009 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, this 775-page ton of social justice entitlement theories, queerology, and race-bashing was edited by none other than William Ayers, with help from Therese Quinn from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and David Stovall, like Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The most horrible story comes towards the end of this seemingly endless book of divisiveness.  In Essay No. 43, entitled “Playing in the Light:  Experiential Learning and White Identity Development” by Gretchon Brion-Meisels.

 “Young White students rarely consider explicitly the experience of being White…Most White students interpret their experiences as completely outside the realm of race.  In our society, Whiteness is defined largely by what it is not; to be White is to ‘normal.’  Because Whiteness is not talked about explicitly, we are encouraged to pretend it does not exist.”

Brion-Meisels, according to the Contributors biographies at the back of the book, “grew up in Cambridge, Mass., where she ‘struggled’ to understand her own privilege in a diverse social context.  After writing her senior thesis on positive models of White anti-racism, she began teaching middle-school humanities.  In a Baltimore City classroom, she encountered the devastating effects of institutionalized inequity.  Her work continues to be driven by her desire to create equitable schools.  In 2007, she began her doctoral studies.”  [Heaven help her students.]

Ms. Brion-Meisels assigned her eight-grade students to become subject “experts” in a race other than their own.  One of the students, a white boy, breaks down crying and refuses to participate in the exercise any longer.  The other two boys are also white, but one had been in a previous African-American group where he had embraced “Black Power” (the other was an American Indian expert) and begins teasing “Jeffrey” about being a “slave master, plantation owner, and oppressor.”

The other two boys apologize and even the Black students ask another student why he’s apologizing.  “Why do you feel bad?” they ask in bafflement.  “It wasn’t your fault.”  Here, the author expresses immense pride in her African-American students.

HSJE sets its goal at nothing less than completely “transforming” the current educational system from one of learning Western culture from an ‘authoritarian White’ teacher to a student-centered classroom, focusing on their needs and feelings rather than on information and skills.  This transformation begins by indoctrinating the teachers.

“Social justice education,” the editors write, “rests on three pillars or principles: 

1.  Equity, the principle of fairness, equal access to the most challenging and nourishing educational experiences, the demand that what the most privileged and enlightened are able to provide their children must be the stand for what is made available to all children.  This must also account for equitable outcomes, and somehow for redressing and repairing historical and imbedded injustices.
2. Activism, the principle of agency, full participation, preparing youngsters to see and understand, and when necessary, to change all that is before them.  This is a move away from passivity, cynicism and despair.
3. Social Literacy, the principle of relevance, resisting the flattening effects of materialism and consumerism and the power of the abiding social evils of white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia – nourishing awareness of our own identities and our connection with others, reminding us of the powerful commitment, persistence, bravery, and triumphs of our social-justice seeking forebears [that should be forbearers], reminding us as well of the link between ideas and the concentric circles of context – economic condition, historical flow, cultural surround – within which our lives are negotiated.

“Social justice education embraces the three Rs:  Relevant, Rigorous, and Revolutions.  We change our lives, we change the world.”

Many of the essays tout something called “critical thinking.”  They do not mean critical thinking in the classic liberal sense.  These professors despise what they call the “neoliberals” intent only on creating a competent workforce to keep the Capitalist machine running.  They do not mean looking at both sides of the issue – Capitalism vs. Communism – and having the students decide for themselves which is right.  They mean for the students to criticize what has always been taught in America – freedom, individualism, prosperity – and tear it down through their personal, minority experiences.  The object is to examine how their “exclusion” whether through race, gender, or sex belies the promise of the American Dream.

Kenneth J. Saltman writes, “…public schooling remains one of the few places in a hyper-commercialized society where knowledge and information (largely produced and circulated by corporate media with financial and ideological interests in selling fleeting spectacle for passive consumption) can be investigated and debated as the basis for more complex and historically informed perspectives that can be the basis for greater individual and social understanding and public deliberation and action.  Put differently, public schooling is a crucial site and stake in the struggle for the making of a democratic ethos.  Yet in public schools, public democratic culture is under increasing assault by educational reforms that separate facts for underlying values and framing assumptions that disconnect claims to truth from the interests and perspectives of those making them, that view knowledge as static, discreet (sic) objects to be delivered to learners  to learners like units of commodity.”

That word should be “discrete,” Prof. Saltman.  He goes on to rail at standardized testing.

“In short, the intensified positivism of constant standardized testing, ‘performance-based assessment,” and standardization of curriculum undermine not only the curiosity and investigative powers of the student but also deny the dialogic nature of knowledge-making.  The new reforms see knowledge as exclusively needing to be enforced from above, determined by the experts – ‘the ones who know.’  Knowledge and schooling are alleged to be objective and neutral in this perspective.  There is, of course, a politics in the denial of the politics of education as the values, interests, and ideological perspectives of “ones who know” are concealed under the guise of objectivity and neutrality fostered by standardized testing, tracking, and grading.  The denial of underlying values and framing assumptions do more than threaten the development of critical individual capable of critically interpreting the world in order to act and change it collectively.”

He charges on.  “Such denials implicit in the positivist reforms also flatten history by falsely suggesting that ‘consecrated’ knowledge is universally, transhistorically true.  To recognize the partial, contextual nature of truth claims is not to deny objective reality but to recognize that truth claims are selected and mediated through subjectivity.  The positivism of the new reforms posits a false objectivism in which the role of the subject in interpreting the truth plays no part in shaping the object of knowledge itself.”

There is no truth, he asserts, and therefore knowledge cannot and should not be tested by those who, in the social justice universe, are considered “biased.”  The entire book is then divided into sections treating the subject of various minorities and the students’ perspective on the Western history they’ve been ‘force-fed.’ 

Glenn Beck was criticized by some reviewer for having “too many references and footnotes” in his new book, Control.  Essay No. 24, “Theorizing Disability:  Implications and Applications for Social Justice in Education” features eight (8) pages of references for its 15 page essay.  A number of the footnotes make reference to Karl Marx.

HSJE contains essays on homosexuality, feminism, disabilities, racism, economism.  There are even a couple of essays on “Queerology.”  Their word, not mine.  An essay on hearing disabilities insists that hearing disabled students should be taught in sign language rather than being taught to read lips and wearing hearing aids, or worse, getting the new hearing implant, the kind that Rush Limbaugh wears.

The son of a friend of mine wears two hearing aids.  He has 80 percent hearing loss.  Initially he wanted to go to a school for the deaf where he would learn sign language.  Fortunately, his parents said no.  They would get him whatever hearing aids and tutoring in lip-reading he needed.  They knew that learning sign language would only impair his career.  If he wanted to get along in the business world, he needed to learn to adapt and overcome his disability, not wallow in it.  Today, he’s an extraordinarily successful IT manager whose expertise is sought all over the world.

The book covers theories on student-centered learning and emotional exercises for white children, in particular, to get in touch with their inner racist, and expunge the demon of privilege.  As far as the editors are concerned, the whole Western academic curricula should be jettisoned and their students inculcated to be “agents of change” where they will be in charge of their own education (with their socialist teachers as guides) and ultimately, in charge of the world.

Social Justice educators wail and bemoan the standardized testing.  Yet, don’t be fooled.  Common Core actually meets their needs and desires precisely.  In their plans, the SATs will also be jettisoned and students will be tracked according to their skills and abilities, rather than their retention of facts and knowledge, useless things in the objective, communal world to come.

The current SATs are so watered-down that a 10 year-old from two or three generations ago could pass them.  Social justice education is already here.  Yesterday’s news reported that in a California classroom, the female students, about 13 years-old, were lined up in pairs in the front of the classroom and forced to act-out a lesbian-relationship, to see what it would be like to tell another woman that they “loved” them.

States are beginning to reject Common Core and from what Conservative professionals, who are concerned about educating not radicalizing their students, say, that’s a good thing.  Eliminating standardized testing for general and advanced knowledge is not necessarily a good thing.  The problem with Common Core is its target, the lowest common denominator of knowledge that a student can possess and still graduate from high school.

Our students should be aiming a little higher than that.