VIDEO: This country is in trouble!

When watching this video, a segment on The O'Reilly Factor called "Watters' World," your first reaction may be shock. Are our schools that bad, that kids can graduate without knowing basic American history, and perhaps still manage to get accepted into college? Really?

But then another thought has occurred to me. In the video, you'll hear Jesse Watters telling O'Reilly that it isn't hard to find these people, because they usually approach him. That could be the smoking gun. Is it plausible to believe that these people being asked the easy questions are just trying to get their 15 seconds of fame on TV? Could they possibly just be acting dumb so that Watters includes them in his clips?

So, either kids are not getting a good education these days, and they really are that clueless in many cases, or, the rest of us are just a bunch of gullible suckers that believe just about anything we see on TV. Either way, this country is in trouble! Just sayin'...


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Post by Johnny2k's America.

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As an additional feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will be including videos that have been posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page! Videos can sometimes say more than what can be expressed in text.  Be sure to visit the archive with hundreds of videos to peruse!

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Don't be afraid!

WE the PEOPLE

are the MOB
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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VIDEO: The troubling gaffes by political candidates is getting worse!

To be fair, when asked about David Perdue's comments, this is how campaign spokesman Derrick Dickey responded:

David was simply making the case that he is the most qualified person in this race to help get our economy back on track so that we can start paying down the massive federal debt. His comment was based on facts that are a matter of public record.

I further learned from the Atlantic Journal Constitution column by Jim Galloway that Handel's campaign manager Corry Bliss responded to the email in this way:

It is disappointing that David would demean someone who—by no fault of her own—moved out of an abusive home at age 17, and with her own hard work and determination, is the embodiment of the American Dream.

Karen is an example of how, with great perseverance and sheer will, the circumstances under which you grow up do not dictate your ability to succeed.

While David boasts about all the time he spent living in Europe and Asia, and all of the millions of dollars he intends to spend on this race, this election is about who conservatives can relate to and trust to get results in the United States Senate.

Look, what David Perdue said about Karen Handel was possibly worse than what Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) managed to do by disparaging Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) because he doesn't have a law degree. At least what Braley said only matters to liberals that agree with him, such as trial lawyers that don't want tort reform.  In Perdue's case, it was a drastic political error, because he was dividing Republicans by purporting to be "above" Karen Handel only because of his education level. 

Yes, it is very disturbing, not just to me, but to even the hosts of The Five.  Greg Gutfeld says in this segment, "This woman is actually overqualified by not going to college."  And Dana Perino very eloquently says that the voters in the Republican primary in Georgia have their answer when it comes to picking the right person to be their candidate.

A long story short?  If you are running for a political office in a Republican primary, don't go divisive like the typical liberals do, especially when it is one of your own!  I can't wait to see if Karen Handel gets a large bump in the polls.  I suspect that she will.  Republicans that do the liberal kind of things, like disparaging opponents, and acting like global elitists, are what I call RINOs.  Just sayin'...

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Post by Johnny2k's America.

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As an additional feature here on Blogging In Our Time 2 Escape, this blog will be including videos that have been posted on the johnny2k's America Facebook page! Videos can sometimes say more than what can be expressed in text.  Be sure to visit the archive with hundreds of videos to peruse!

Please note:  To see the johnny2k’s America videos on this blog, you must be logged in to Facebook.

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Don't be afraid!

WE the PEOPLE

are the MOB
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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Tea partiers to the rescue ~ By Henry Lamb

The tea party is gathering the strength necessary to reclaim local governments and fumigate Washington. Progressives are beside themselves, mystified by the popularity and growing power of what they regard as the dregs of society. Progressives have no intellectual defense against the principles of freedom. Their typical response is to vilify, denigrate and demean the character of anyone who dares challenge their "enlightened" wisdom.

The staggering number of progressives in the media and throughout the community is a tribute to their effectiveness in public schools and universities over the years. While today's freedom fighters were earning a living in what they once knew to be a free society, the progressives were taking tax dollars to fund education policies and non-government organizations that worked to transform the free society into a Marxist society managed by government.

Message from tea partiers to progressives: "Get the hell out of the way or get squashed; you will not steal our freedom!"

The message that the progressives least want to hear is that the Tea Party is not dead. NOT DEAD!

Oh, did Henry mention that progressive Republicans (RINOs) will not have support from the tea partiers? No, he didn't mention that. But I just did. The victory over the RINOs - progressive, establishment Republicans - is going to have to take place in the nomination process.

Henry Lamb has it right! The Tea Partiers will come to the rescue by not allowing another RINO to get the GOP nomination. Tea partiers aren't ordinary people. Tea partiers are far from assuming room temperature! They are just freedom fighters that aren't going to allow the woosie media pundits to choose another lame candidate that would have no chance, and would be little to no change from what we already have. I'm just sayin'...

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Tea partiers to the rescue

HENRY LAMB

By Henry Lamb

June 04, 2011 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

Editor's note: Listen to this column online.

Whenever America gets into trouble, it is the ordinary people who come to the rescue. It's not the government. It's not the Hollywood stars who think their opinion is required to make the sun rise. It's not even the matriculated messiah in the White House. It is the ordinary, hardworking people who see their country in trouble and organize themselves into ferocious freedom fighters against whom the gates of hell cannot prevail.

The current version of this uniquely American response to danger has been labeled the tea party.

On one side of the battlefield are the progressives, who embrace the socialist/communist philosophy of Karl Marx. On the other side is everyone else, most of whom just want government to leave them alone, get out of the way and to stop stealing their money through ever-increasing taxes and fees.

Progressives believe that government power must be invoked to manage and control all the people. Freedom fighters believe that government must be limited in its power to accomplish only those tasks the people direct it to accomplish. Specifically, freedom fighters want first and foremost their government to protect their God-given, Constitution-guaranteed, unalienable rights. They want their government to protect them from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. And they want their government to enforce the laws the people make through their elected representatives.

Progressives, on the other hand, want first and foremost government to guarantee that all people experience "social justice," which translates to equal benefit from the earth's resources. Progressives believe that government power must take wealth from people who accumulate more than they need and redistribute it to other people who need it.

Freedom fighters believe that the earth's resources are a gift from the Creator to be used by all creatures, including man, to achieve the highest plane of earthly happiness possible. Progressives believe that the earth's resources are finite and are exploited only by man, whose use of the earth's resources must be limited and controlled by government.

In growing numbers, freedom fighters are recognizing that over the last several decades, the progressives have taken charge of governments in the United States, at the local, state and the national levels. Consequently, freedom fighters are organizing themselves into battalions of brothers who are bonded by their belief in the principles of freedom enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

Without any top-down chain of command, the tea party across the nation appears to be following a higher inspiration, focusing on two primary objectives in an unspoken but coordinated strategy: 1) reclaim local government; and 2) fumigate Washington.

READ MORE at WND.com

Don't be afraid!

WE the PEOPLE

are the MOB
ONE NATION UNDER GOD

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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The tyranny of socialization ~ By Patrice Lewis

Naturally, homeschooling parents who want to protect their children from some of the negative socialization that takes place in schools are viewed as sick, twisted and controlling. Apparently, no one has ever bothered to actually ask homeschooled kids whether they regret not mingling with their publicly schooled peers.

Now that my girls are both teens, I believe homeschooling socialization skills are more important than ever. In a few short years, they'll be leaving the nest and facing the job market in the real world. In this tough economy, it's important for young people to possess basic manners, have vocabularies greater than 800 words, know how to dress neatly and speak respectfully, and have solid academic credentials. It is not important that they know how to use drugs, hook up, get on welfare, or create more children to be dumped into school-day care to complete the cycle.

Call me weird.

Are we crazy? Why are we allowing the socialists to socially engineer our children in the public schools to be the way they are, as discussed in this amazing column by Patrice Lewis? Is there a way to stop this nonsense perpetrated by the Left?

Well, of course there is. But do we have the courage to make the necessary changes? What kind of changes would need to be made? An end to public education? Yes! That would be a great start! But just how would we ever get that done? I really don't know. I am not sure any of us know the solution at this time, but, don't you think we should start considering it?

I refuse to say that we can't turn it around. However, to be honest, the situation seems to be pretty bleak. The teachers' unions are very powerful. The Democrats will continue to give them strength by their actions in order to get their votes. Was that not obvious when the State Senate Democrats went AWOL in Wisconsin?

We know what mass "re-education" of the the people, one generation at a time, by "educators" that have been indoctrinated in the left-leaning "higher learning" institutions, will lead to: Tyranny. I'm just sayin'...

RELATED STORIES:
The altar of indoctrination ~ By Patrice Lewis

• Click here for more related stories!

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The tyranny of socialization

PATRICE LEWIS

By Patrice Lewis

May 14, 2011 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

Have you ever noticed that socialization has now become – apparently – the sole and exclusive purpose of education? Every single homeschooler on the planet, it seems, has heard the question: "But what about socialization?" (The proven quality of homeschooling be damned.) The implication is that unless children attend public schools, their socialization skills will atrophy to the point where they will become drooling blobs unable to mingle with their coworkers at a cocktail party when they grow up.

And naturally, the ONLY place where "correct" socialization is possible is in government schools.

We have elevated this mythical necessity for "socialization" into an oracle-like status. What child can exist without government-approved social skills? How will they learn to chat, volunteer, work, shop, date, marry, or partake in any other activity unless they're inculcated with the values taught in school?

Many years ago I heard a radio interview between a homeschooling advocate and a bewildered host who asked that age-old question, "What about socialization?" The guest gave an answer I'd never considered before: "What is the purpose of school? Is it to teach academic basics, or is it to teach socialization?"

The answer, it seems, is very much the latter. To this observation I'll add that the apparent emphasis on socialization is presumably because the public schools are failing in every academic aspect. But since socialization is hard to quantify, it's therefore easy to demand.

An extreme case in point for the emphasis on socialization came out of Quebec recently in which a judge ordered three homeschooled children (ages 5, 7 and 9) into public schools so they could be socialized. In what seems like a tyrannical abuse of power, the judge then ordered the family's 3-year-old son into day care so he, too, could be socialized.

I know nothing more about this particular case except what was reported through the article. But the specifics are not the focus of this column. The tyranny of socialization is.

According to the dictionary, socialization is "a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior and social skills appropriate to his or her social position."

That sounds great. I have no objection to this definition. What I object to is the type of socialization found in public schools with which government officials seem entranced and without which they feel homeschooled kids will be unable to function.

READ MORE at WND.com

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Here's a conspiracy for you ~ By Erik Rush

Sabotage the family unit, then offer government dependency as the cure. Stultify commerce, blame capitalism, and offer socialistic remedies to a fearful populace. Precipitate an environment that fosters violent crime, then point to guns as the cause and curtailment of their availability as the solution. Provide an abysmal education, and the people won't have a sufficient knowledge of history to realize what's happening to them.

If you feel that Erik Rush cries out too often about Communism, socialism, and progressivism, let us remind you that the "substantiation lies not only in the actions of progressives in government, but in the presence of avowed Marxists occupying high places therein at this very moment."

This column will help to educate the many Americans who may not yet be aware of how America is being conquered by those who all to often use the feel-good, pleasant sounding progressive phrases such as "Social justice, economic justice, sustainability..." to "appeal to Americans' sense of civic responsibility and stewardship."

Here's a conspiracy for you

ERIK RUSH

By Erik Rush

January 20, 2011 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2011

Although there was great weather and good spirits at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day march I attended this week, the experience was somewhat tainted by the liberal use of the phrase "social justice" on the part some participants. Indeed, I have seldom seen my case for the radical left having hijacked the civil-rights agenda (as I detailed in my book, "Negrophilia: From Slave Block to Pedestal - America's Racial Obsession") more clearly demonstrated.

If there is any conspiracy or dark "New World Order" sort of design to which Americans feel compelled to subscribe, I've got one for them:

For starters, let us look to the black community in America. Every social infirmity from which this demographic suffers can be traced to the efforts of progressives. The liberal application of social programs, which were eagerly supported by blacks (and many others) as "restitution" for injustices, contained poison pills that sickened the black community, particularly in lower-income areas. The exploits of activists within black churches subverted the doctrine thereof, turned blacks' worldview on its head and wildly spun their moral compass. In the same manner were other institutions in the black community targeted. Grievances on the part of blacks and their leaders concerning this ongoing malaise were met with pleas for extended power and resources on the part of their ostensible benefactors – the political left. So the cycle continued.

This is the common modus operandi progressives have used in their wide-ranging subversion of America, since outright conquest was impossible: Create conditions that give rise to difficulty, then impose solutions calculated to coalesce liberals' political power.

America's economy was not only the world's shining example, but that of history as well. So, after propagandizing citizens in the area of commerce and business interests for a time, they were able to impose increasing amounts of regulation upon all wealth-generating sectors of the economy.

All of the difficulties we are currently experiencing in our economy have been by design, the result of impediments to business and commerce. This can easily be seen in the ongoing political battle over health care, which resulted in passage of the cyclopean socialist health-care bill in 2010. Health-care regulation and ancillary expenses resulting from the efforts of left-aligned trial lawyers brought about high costs, which liberal politicians stepped in to ameliorate with socialized medicine, wholly ignoring market remedies and deregulation, which obviously would have proved self-defeating.

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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Pointing out the obvious ~ By Patrice Lewis

My understanding is that public education in many European countries is far superior to American public education (at least in terms of academics, if not values) for the simple reason that funding is attached to the child, not the school. The child's parents decide where to send their kid – religious, secular or government-run schools – and academic institutions must therefore compete to attract students.

I was very lucky yesterday. I saw a great segment on Fox & Friends that may not have been talking about homeschooling vs. public schools, but it did do a great job explaining how competition can improve education opportunities. So, let's take a few moments to watch this segment which I uploaded to youtube:

The assault on education continues - Schools for profit under attack

Video provided by TheREALjohnny2k

In this column, Patrice Lewis brings up the brilliant idea of funding being attached to the students rather than the educational institutions in order to get schools to compete, which can only improve the quality of education. That was why the above segment caught my eye. The for-profit colleges compete against the public community colleges. The competition brought about new innovations, such as online courses. And so, why is the government now targeting the for-profit colleges?

Well, to answer that question, Don Soifer had it right when he asked, "...or is it just another part of a strategy to get Americans addicted to government?" Of course it is. That is the whole point of public schools (indoctrination centers), isn't it? So, why stop at K-12? Just sayin'...

But introduce a little competition, and it's astounding how much a product or service can improve. Schools are no exception.

This solution – introducing competition by attaching funding to the child – is so simple that it astounds me not one of the teachers interviewed for the article on how to improve public education made the connection. I've met many dedicated, wonderful teachers and do not wish to question their integrity, but let's face it – they're not about to espouse a policy change that may jeopardize their control and might even cost them their jobs.

It should be abundantly clear by now that the government has no interest in improving the academic standards of our children. However it has the strongest possible interest in making sure our children grow up worshiping government and believing in its goodness, charity, mercy and (most of all), its authority. How else can the government increase its anti-constitutional strength and control? This also accounts for the government's hostility toward homeschooling. Beyond the obvious – how a bunch of uncredentialed yokels are cleaning the clocks of public schools – I know of very few homeschooling parents who are in favor of increased governmental strength and control. (Ooooh, free-thinkers – can't have that.)

Pointing out the obvious

By Patrice Lewis

Posted: September 04, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010



We have two daughters, ages 12 and 14. We've homeschooled them from birth because we believe it is our God-given responsibility to transfer our core values and educational requirements to our children. Most of the time this decision is applauded by those we meet, but once in awhile we're asked, with a touch of defensiveness, if we think we're "too good" for the public schools.

Well, yes. Of course. I think that's obvious. Public schools do not reinforce the values we hold, nor do they uphold the educational standards we feel are important. Ergo, we homeschool. Case closed.

Now I happen to think it's not the federal government's place to be involved in education at all (Hello? Tenth Amendment?), but that's a whole different issue and not the subject of this column. However this leads to the interesting question of, where have schools gone wrong?

If you look at schools during Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" childhood, you would never find the educational establishment teaching how to apply prophylactics to fruit or why America is an oppressive hellhole. (Possibly because there was no "educational establishment" during Laura's time. Just a thought.)

Recently I read an article in which award-winning teachers gave their advice on how to "fix" public education. The suggestions they make are not necessarily bad or wrong, but they miss the point entirely.

The public-school system in America is failing for two very basic reasons. One, they're public. OK, for the moment we can't help that. But two, they're a monopoly – and that can be helped.

READ FULL STORY

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Don't mess with Texas … textbooks! ~ By Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris writes about the Texas State Board of Education and their 11-4 decision to go with the draft of text book curriculum that doesn't change history.

Before you start reading, here is a video that will give you a little additional background regarding this debate:

Video provided by TheREALjohnny2k

Our right to liberty includes our right to educate our children as we, not the government, prefer. Indeed, our founders would be appalled if we surrendered this right, which they took for granted in their own time.


It's a travesty that we have even come to this point that we have to protect our children from the public-school systems, by policing their policies, testing their textbooks and combating their biases to education. But such is the sign of our times.


My personal warning to educational tyranny and tyrants is this: best not to test or mess with Texas. If you thought we fought hard for the Alamo, wait until you see what we can do for the right to educate our children. You can hide behind your No. 2 pencils, but our branding irons will find your tail sides.

By Chuck Norris

Posted: March 15, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

By now, you most likely know that Texas has become ground zero for the latest battles in the textbook wars. While conservatives and progressives take their stands on the issue, I wondered, what would America's founders think about this feud?

For those who have somehow dodged the news, the 15-member Texas State Board of Education, or SBOE, has been hearing and debating variances of opinion regarding what to include and exclude in the social studies curriculum and subsequent textbook. Not surprising is the full range of progressive issues that liberals want the SBOE to include: from emphasizing equity and tolerance for all minorities to erasing key conservative figures and events from history and whitewashing the Judeo-Christian convictions of our founders.

Though not a perfect system, the Texas curricula decision-making process is actually quite sound and fairly representative of the 24 million Texans and 4.5 million students. It all begins by the input of literally hundreds of teachers who write the first set of standards. They are overseen and report to 15 elected state board of education members who appoint six expert reviewers. These six experts review all that the teachers have recommended, then give all their findings and suggestions to the 15 SBOE members, who, in turn, review all the presentations, listen to hundreds of hours of more testimony, then rule on a proposed draft as the state curriculum.

On Friday, the SBOE members began to wrap up the process by endorsing a draft proposal of the state's social studies curriculum with a 11-4 vote. A copy of the curriculum will be posted online for a month so citizens can comment, and then the SBOE will meet in May for more debate and a final vote. Again unsurprising, the four dissenting voices claimed that the proposed standards water down the contribution of minorities to American history and culture.

The reason every American should be concerned about this issue is because the Lone Star State is the No. 1 purchaser of textbooks in the country and even the world. And Texas textbooks are used in 47 of the 50 states – more than 90 percent of America's textbooks are based on Texas' curriculum.

I'm proud that Texas (along with only Alaska) opted out of the federal curriculum standard mandates, as the 10th Amendment to the Constitution prescribes for us. Texas refused to participate in order to keep control of what is taught at our public schools. We certainly don't need the federal government's help raising or educating our kids. That is what has allowed us to be independent and autonomous over our curriculum. For example, while federal courts have banned educational options like intelligent design in biology, many who are involved in the curricula decision-making process in the Lone Star State believe there is a place for it somewhere in academia, if even in classes on government. If God were good enough for our founders and Creator-language important enough to be in pivotal documents like the Declaration of Independence, then why can't our kids be educated about that Creator from at least their original documents?

READ FULL STORY at WorldNetDaily.com

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Rewarding failure – only in Washington ~ By Star Parker

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Star Parker

Posted: February 06, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern

© 2010

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said recently, "Our K-12 agenda can be summed up in one word: reform."

Would were it true.

But what Mr. Duncan calls reform is indeed putting lipstick on a pig. In this case, the pig is Washington's never-changing formula for solving everything – spending ever increasing sums of taxpayers' money.

"Reform" means generating new ideas about how to spend and coming up with clever new titles for programs.

So today it's called "Race to the Top." Mr. Duncan has been handed $4.35 billion, taken out of last year's $830 billion stimulus bill, and given personal discretion for dispensing it to states that propose education reform ideas that strike his fancy. It's the largest discretionary sum ever given to an education secretary.

This past week, 40 states submitted proposals.

How do we know that Mr. Duncan can identify good ideas? We don't.

He says he likes charter schools and performance pay for teachers. He's open to new colors of lipstick that the pig has not sported before. But a pig is still a pig.

There appears not a shred of evidence that funneling more taxpayer dollars through Washington to states improves education. Data compiled by Heritage Foundation analysts shows that since 1970, federal spending per student, adjusted for inflation, has more than doubled with no discernible change in test scores.

Now a new study released by the Department of Health and Human Services shows that the Head Start program – the federal program started in 1965 aimed at getting pre-school low-income children prepared for school – has no impact.

Some $166 billion of federal funds has been poured into Head Start. Yet this new study shows that first graders who have been through the program perform essentially the same as those who haven't.

READ FULL STORY >

The United States: An oppressive hellhole? ~ By Patrice Lewis

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Patrice Lewis Posted: January 09, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 While Americans struggle with their day-to-day activities – working, raising families, coping with a bad economy, worrying about the future – a little-noticed but pervasive influence has invaded our hallowed institutions and poisoned the wells of our future. No, for once I'm not talking about the current administration's lunatic policies. I'm referring to institutes of higher learning. It has recently come to light that the University of Minnesota attempted to pass a policy requiring its teacher applicants to believe in various politically correct doctrines before they are granted admission. Applicants would be screened for their political and ideological views. Those with incorrect values and opinions would be "re-mediated," and degrees would be withheld from those who resist "re-education." And the University of Delaware's Office of Residential Life was caught requiring students to participant in a program that taught "all whites are racist." Graduates from these schools are then unleashed upon society – in the case of the University of Minnesota, into public school classrooms – to spread their message on the evils of "white privilege," the "myth of meritocracy," the "history of white racism" and the dangers of adopting "white, middle-class, Christian meanings and values." It seems that these universities are trying their best to convince students that this country is "an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic," in the words of Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten. Translation: America sucks, and we're going to brainwash students into agreeing that America sucks. Hooray! Welcome to the Oppressive Hellhole of America. This message, naturally, is reinforced by Hollywood, which has teamed up with educators to air a series of History Channel programs that "rail against white oppressors, the free market and the military." In other words, leftists push to re-write history by applying their progressive, politically correct standards to the events of 200 years ago. It baffles me how people can so easily dismiss our history and tradition of opportunity with such contempt. Yes, of course we've had dark spots in our nation's past, but we're one of the few countries that have acknowledged those errors and attempted to correct and rectify them. Don't you find it amazing that those individuals who are the most privileged – educated, intelligent, influential, successful and (in the case of Hollywood) wealthy and famous – are the quickest to criticize the very country that afforded them the opportunities to use their gifts and get where they are today? These are the people that utilized the capitalist system to achieve their success. There is no government mandate that we must buy their product, see their movie, attend their concert or enroll in their universities. These people (who are so disgusted with America) have ironically made their mark in the world using the free-market principles and the constitutional freedoms they are guaranteed – the same principles they denigrate as evil. If we are such an oppressive hellhole, I challenge anyone – anyone at all – to explain to me how it is that penniless immigrants can come to this country with nothing more than the shirts on their backs, and within a decade become citizens, business owners, homeowners and begin putting their children through college without the use of social services or welfare. Opportunities in this country are open to everyone who works hard, lives frugally and puts their priorities in the right place. My immigrant grandparents did this. My three foreign-born sisters-in-law and their families did this. My husband and I did this. My ghetto-born friend in college did this (he's now a brain surgeon). I assume university educators and Hollywood stars have done this, too. People can't do these things in "oppressive hellholes." READ FULL STORY >

Celebs to kids: America stinks!

From WorldNetDaily

'55 rich white men drafted Constitution to protect their class – slaveholders' By Drew Zahn Posted: December 14, 2009 ~ 8:49 pm Eastern © 2009 WorldNetDaily Hollywood celebrities and education gurus have teamed together to distribute to schools across the country a dramatic new curriculum that casts American history as an epic march of victims seeking to shrug off the shackles of the warmongering, racist, capitalist, imperialist United States. The History Channel's airing of the "The People Speak" last night marks the public coming-out party of a movement that has been in place since last year to teach America's school children a "social justice" brand of history that rails against war, oppression, capitalism and popular patriotism. The television special featuring performances by Matt Damon, Benjamin Bratt, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Bruce Springsteen and others condemns the nation's past of oppression by the wealthy, powerful and imperialist and instead trumpets the voices of America's labor unions, minorities and protesters of various stripes. The accompanying curriculum guide for schools that show "The People Speak" in classrooms, for example, highlights an 1852 reading from abolitionist Frederick Douglass:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

The program and discussion guide is the most ambitious resource among many offered to America's schools by the Zinn Education Project, a collaboration of Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, as part of a push to encourage history instruction based on educator Howard Zinn's 1980 tome exposing the abuses of America's past, "A People's History of the United States." The project states its goal is to "introduce students to a more accurate, complex and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. … Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States' emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people's choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter."

Government-school 'edjikation' ~ By Patrice Lewis

From WorldNetDaily

By Patrice Lewis Posted: October 24, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 A few months ago, a homeschooling friend called in tears. The curriculum she'd purchased for her three children was patently unsuited to her 16-year-old daughter, Jane. Jane was rebelling for the first time. "She tells me she doesn't want to learn physics," my friend sobbed. "Does Jane know what she wants to do when she grows up?" I asked. "Yes. She wants to be a paralegal. She's wanted to do that for years." "What's wrong with being a paralegal? That's an excellent career choice." "Nothing. I'm proud of her. But she won't know any physics." "What does a paralegal need with physics?" I asked. My friend was silent a moment. "Nothing," she admitted. After a lengthy discussion, my friend decided her daughter was mature enough to choose her own studies, which she could tailor toward her career choice. End of rebellion. This conversation led me to give some serious thought about the purpose of education, especially for older teens. Is it to cram every subject down every adolescent's throat, despite his natural talent, interest, or future career plans? Or is it to prepare a teen to enter the adult world as a useful, productive member of society? Needless to say I'm inclined toward the latter, not the former. Obviously, there are things children must know. I happen to think it's useful if a 12th-grader knows where the United States is on a map and can multiply 12 x 12. I believe a working knowledge of history and science come in handy no matter what career they choose. I believe the ability to communicate in English, verbally and in writing, is critical. These are the foundations for education. But most children eventually reach an age – like Jane – when the foundations are achieved. What's left is higher learning in various subjects. Then what? If your daughter wants to be a paralegal, is it necessary – really necessary – for her to know physics? If your son wants to be a physicist, is it really necessary that he knows the imports and exports of Zimbabwe? I know a lot of you are sputtering right now, particularly the physicists. Doubtless some of you think I'm an unedjikated troglodyte, unappreciative of the finer points of a sound education. Let me assure you that my husband and I both have master's degrees in the sciences and a passion for history. Our admiration for academics is second to none. But I believe most kids, given sufficient time to think it through, have a pretty good idea what they want to be when they grow up. After the foundations are achieved, why not let them decide what areas they should study? Why make them miserable forcing them to "learn" subjects they may grow to hate because they're being, well, forced? [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]

Raising drones of the state ~ By Patrice Lewis

From WorldNetDaily

By Patrice Lewis Posted: October 17, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 President Obama is pressing to increase the number of hours students spend in the classroom, both per day and per year. He says "American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe. … But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." The president wants schools "to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go." My my. Who needs parents when the government is willing to take over the job? Our schools are unquestionably failing, especially compared with other countries. Therefore, in a typical government solution, Obama's proposal involves taking this failure and multiplying it. Of course, these extra hours would deprive children of any semblance of family time. Which, come to think of it, might be precisely the point. Parents can be so annoying about wanting to impart their own personal values on their children. Three hundred more hours of non-parental supervision per year ought to quash that quaint notion. Besides, with the flood of sexually-transmitted diseases rampant among our young people, it's clear they're not spending enough time learning to put condoms on bananas. With all the proposed extra school time, the possibilities for acquiring new "skills" are endless. I'm certain other students around the globe have achieved such high academic standards because of their military precision in applying prophylactics to fruit. As usual, there are some parents who welcome the idea of extra school time. These are the parents who blindly send their children to government indoctrination centers for most of their waking hours, then seem surprised when their kids emerge from high school unable to read or cipher with any competency. But at least they will possess an inflated self-esteem and a superb grasp of manufactured environmental calamities. I think this is because a lot of parents have visions that school still consists of diligent children sitting obediently at their desks, heads bent over math and science books, dutifully absorbing important information that will lead to superior performances on tests. Think of the descriptions of schools in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and you'll get the idea. Schools are places of discipline, respect and high academic standards, aren't they? NOT. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]

Dismiss the Threat at Your Own Peril ~ By John Kubicek

From johnny2k Is Home

By John Kubicek September 1, 2009 Is there a threat to our God-given liberty in the country once known as the United States of America? Nah, didn't think so! Or, really... do we have anything to worry about? Well, honestly, if you answered the question(s) above with a "NO" - I guess I can relate somewhat to that. On September 10, 2001, many of us weren't thinking about what "could happen," right? What? Planes flying into the towers or the Pentagon? Oh, that would be CRAZY to think that could or would ever happen! So, with what I've wanted to tell you for a long time, I was just a little apprehensive about the recourse of divulging what I believe to be the greatest threat to our freedom since WWII started, and we were fighting Adolph Hitler and his minions. What I believe CAN happen, I knew, is very frightening. People just don't like the idea of "CHANGE" (and oh, do I really wish people would have thought about that a little more before the last election!). Because, here it is, a few "little changes" that might just mean a life very different than what you have known. [CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE COLUMN]

The great escape from responsibility ~ By Thomas Sowell

From WorldNetDaily

By Thomas Sowell Posted: August 25, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 Many of the issues of our times are hard to understand without understanding the vision of the world that they are part of. Whether the particular issue is education, economics or medical care, the preferred explanation tends to be an external explanation – that is, something outside the control of the individuals directly involved. Education is usually discussed in terms of the money spent on it, the teaching methods used, class sizes or the way the whole system is organized. Students are discussed largely as passive recipients of good or bad education. But education is not something that can be given to anybody. It is something that students either acquire or fail to acquire. Personal responsibility may be ignored or downplayed in this "non-judgmental" age, but it remains a major factor, nevertheless. After many students go through a dozen years in the public schools, at a total cost of $100,000 or more per student – and emerge semi-literate and with little understanding of the society in which they live, much less the larger world and its history – most discussions of what is wrong leave out the fact that many such students may have chosen to use school as a place to fool around, act up, organize gangs or even peddle drugs. The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior. Differences in infant mortality rates provoke pious editorials on a need for more prenatal care to be provided by the government for those unable to afford it. In other words, the explanation is automatically assumed to be external to the mothers involved, and the solution is assumed to be something that "we" can do for "them." [READ ENTIRE COLUMN]

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, Calif. He is the author of 28 books, including "Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy."

A truly "Moranic" idea ~ By Joseph Farah

It's called the "Tuition-Free Public Service Academy Bill" sponsored by the aptly named Rep. Jim Moran, D-VA. Yes, one of the dumbest members of the House has introduced a bill that would, at your expense, train a whole new breed of public employees who would be recruited by the president and members of Congress. And it already has 33 co-sponsors! read more | digg story

The decline and fall of private education ~ By Chuck Norris

Parents deserve educational choices. Government control and monopoly of education or anything else is just another avenue for usurping power and control on the slippery slope to socialism. Just remember, the private choice of homeschooling was outlawed by the Soviet State in 1919, by Hitler and Nazi Germany in 1938, and Communist China in 1949. Coincidence? read more | digg story

Bush: I Quit!

I found this over at the COVERTRESS blog this morning, who had found it at My FOX Colorado, and was apparently sent in an email, author unknown. It's pretty good satire, but also has a lot of truth, when you really think about it. (NOTE ... the email was written before the election.) Cutting to the chase, I love it! So, here's how it begins: Normally, I start these things out by saying 'My Fellow Americans.' Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer. I'll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: There's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office. The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people. I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too lazy to do your homework and figure it out. - Read the rest here! If you click to read the rest, you'll be treated to special bonus photo when you are there! It gives some extra meaning to this cleverly rousing post. (I'm just trying do the honorable thing and not be swiping all the great stuff COVERTRESS does, as usual, but instead, get you to her site!) And don't forget to digg the story, submitted to digg.com by covertress!

Don't subject your kids to horrors like this - by Joseph Farah

Do you want to know why we are losing the American Dream? Today's column by Joseph Farah will explain it for us:

Maybe I sound like a broken record when I advise parents to yank their kids out of the government indoctrination centers we euphemistically refer to as public schools.

Nevertheless, I'm going to keep sounding that alarm.

Do you want to know why we are losing the American Dream? Do you want to know why our kids are unable to think for themselves? Do you want to know why Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between right and wrong?

There are a number of contributing factors, without doubt. But the biggest factor without question is the government stranglehold over "education."

I could cite all kinds of statistics for you.

I could tell you personal experiences.

I could present the history behind what is ultimately a conspiracy to steal the minds of your children and to steal your authority over them.

But I've only got a thousand words to write today, so let's make this simple. I would like to ask you to watch this short video, made in May by a Swedish crew, of an Asheville, N.C., classroom before the election:

UPDATE: Superintendent William C. Harrison responds to YouTube video of political discussion between teacher and students.

read more | digg story

Ayers: Radical loon when Obama was only 47 - by Ann Coulter

The media are acting as if they completely and fully vetted Obama during the Democratic primaries, but in fact, the mainstream media did no vetting. They seem to have all agreed, "OK, none of us will get into this business with Jeremiah Wright, 'Tony' Rezko, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, or an angry Michelle Obama on 'The Jerry Springer Show'".

read more | digg story

Ayers/Obama Update: David Blaine Award Goes to NYT Magic Act

That real story is the ball the Times must hide because it leads inevitably to the conclusion that the fundamental political world view of Ayers, not his tactical foray into bombings for a few years, is influencing the Obama candidacy. So what is the evidence of the influence of Ayers' world view on Obama and his presidential candidacy? (Submitted by magecko at digg.com) By Steve Diamond of Global Labor and Politics The Sulzberger family has been in the newspaper business for a very long time. When they decide that they want to shape public perception they know how to do it. Theirs is an important, even awesome, power in a mass society like the United States but it is a delicately balanced power - if they abuse their power they can lose their legitimacy and thus their power. That happened most recently to the Times when they promoted the idea that, indeed, Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. That helped lay the groundwork for a war the Times now believes was a mistake. Thus, when they decided recently that the relationship between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama (a candidate already advocating another dangerous war!) was too important to ignore, yet at the same time so critical for their political purposes to debunk, their method had to be pitch perfect. How did they do it? Continue reading | digg story