Reading, Writing and 'rithmetic

We all know something is seriously wrong with education and that has been the case for many, many years. "Why Johnny can't Read" came out in 1955. Schools of education sprung into action causing the last 50+ years of students to become guinea pigs to the latest fashions in education, subjects of countless Phd. theses, while many of these same students were lost in the jumble. Only those who happened to have dedicated and real teachers managed to succeed in this system. And thank God, there were those teachers.

For almost ten years I worked with adults who could not read. This was an all volunteer agency. We had many successes. We used the Laubach Way to Literacy which was strong on phonics. Phonics was left by the wayside by some of those experiments which touted the whole word way to reading. Some very bright children managed to learn to read with that method, many were left behind.

I am writing this because I found this article in the New York Times, and while the title of the piece is 4,100 Students Prove ‘Small Is Better’ Rule Wrong, the premise of the article is back to the basics. Let's see what they actually say:

The committee’s first big step was to go back to basics, and deem that reading, writing, speaking and reasoning were the most important skills to teach. They set out to recruit every educator in the building — not just English, but math, science, even guidance counselors — to teach those skills to students.

The committee put together a rubric to help teachers understand what good writing looks like, and began devoting faculty meetings to teaching department heads how to use it. The school’s 300 teachers were then trained in small groups.

Writing exercises took many forms, but encouraged students to think methodically. A science teacher, for example, had her students write out, step by step, how to make a sandwich, starting with opening the cupboard to fetch the peanut butter, through washing the knife once the sandwich was made. Other writing exercises, of course, were much more sophisticated.

Some teachers dragged their feet. Michael Thomas, now the district’s operations director but who led the school’s physical education department at the time, recalled that several of his teachers told him, “This is gym; we shouldn’t have to teach writing.” Mr. Thomas said he replied, “If you want to work at Brockton High, it’s your job.”

Fear held some teachers back — fear of wasting time on what could be just another faddish reform, fear of a heavier workload — and committee members tried to help them surmount it.

“Let me help you,” was a response committee members said they often offered to reluctant colleagues who argued that some requests were too difficult.

Read the article for the whole story, but keep in mind what they are saying; reading, writing and 'rithmetic. The three basics you need to learn to reason no matter the size of the school.

Bookworm Room equates the Democrats with a bad massage

One when she did not get up and leave.  I found it very interesting.  We have to leave the bad massage of our government.  Here is what she says:

The Democrats and the bad massage

When I was studying for the State Bar exam, a long, long time ago, my mom suggested that I get myself a massage, to help me with the tension. It seemed like a good suggestion, I so dutifully took myself to a highly recommended masseuse. 

The masseuse began working on my neck, and I hit the ceiling: “Ow! That hurts, that hurts.” Her response was interesting. She could have said, Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were so stiff/sensitive. Let me change my technique.” (Adapting to failed circumstances.) Or she could have said, “Yeah, I know that hurts, but this is the only way to bring down the muscle spasm.” (Explaining why some pain was ultimately a good thing.)

What amazed me was that she didn’t do either of those things. Instead, she said, “This is not supposed to hurt, it’s supposed to feel good,” and proceeded with exactly the same painful technique. Narcissism in action. I, being wimp in action, lay there and let her hurt me. 

If you think about it, though, her approach is precisely the same approach we’re seeing from the Democrats with regard to the economy. They’re not stopping, examining the situation and changing tactics, despite the manifest evidence that their original tactics (spending America’s way out of debt) are not working. They’re not explaining to the American people that the current pain is a necessary step along the way to America’s ultimate economic recovery (perhaps because they can’t make that statement with a straight face). Instead, in the face of pain and failure, they’re telling us “this feels good, you’re getting better, this is the way it’s supposed to be.” 

Although I was a wimp, which meant I put up with the pain while I was on her massage table, I was still a consumer with mobility in a marketplace. Once I staggered out of there, I never went back. Instead, I found a gentler, more effective masseuse. (And I passed the Bar, which alleviated my stress considerably.) 

Americans, however, have a very limited marketplace right now. Unless they can get some Republicans into Congress post haste, they’re stuck with this bad massage until at least 2012. If they’re really unlucky, by 2012, their fiscal muscles will be so damaged, it will take prolonged therapy to remedy them, if it’s even possible. 

My point? Vote. Vote for the Republican. Ignore the fact that your Republican is being slandered by opponents and by the media. Ignore the fact that your Republican, who is a citizen new to the political process, may make some missteps. Ignore the fact that your Republican might have some ideas with which you don’t agree. In this unique election year, the only thing that matters is killing the Democratic majority.

I hate to admit I copied the whole thing, but it was soooo good  I wanted to make sure you read it.  Give her a click though, it will help suppost her blog.

A Reformation of the Republican Party

Marc Thiessen writing in the Washington Post speaks frankly about the need for reforming the party into a more conservative party.

Who cares about the Senate majority?

If Republicans fall a few votes short of taking back the Senate in November, the Tea Party's detractors have their headline already written: "Extremist candidates cost GOP the majority." So let me put it out there well before Election Day: Who cares if Republicans win control of the Senate come November? If enough conservative insurgents are elected to put Republicans back in power, wonderful. But if a few falter, and the Democrats manage to keep control, that's fine as well. The Tea Party isn't going anywhere. Better to wait another election cycle and make certain the next Republican majority is a fiscally conservative majority.

The uprising of 2010 is not about a Republican restoration; it is about a Republican reformation.

[.....]

Bottom line: Positive change in the Senate does not depend on the GOP taking the majority in November. Besides, even if Republicans were to win the House and Senate, President Obama is not likely to respond by declaring "the era of big government is over." The only way to end the era of big government is to elect a majority of fiscal conservatives.

If that requires a few election cycles, so be it.

This is an important editorial, read it all.

How Did Big Green Become So Powerful?

With tax dollars, of course.  This is from the Washington Examiner.

SPECIAL REPORT- Big Green: Global warming and EPA's threat to regulate everthing

by Mark Hemingway

In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency concluded that it lacked authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon emissions as the cause of global warming.

Because carbon emissions result from nearly all economic activity, the ruling made sense, as Congress never intended the EPA to regulate the entire economy.

But Big Green environmentalists were outraged. They teamed with allies in state and local governments to sue the EPA to force it to reverse its ruling in a case known as Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency.

The petitioners in the case featured multiple Big Green outfits that specialize in litigating environmental causes, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Conservation Law Foundation.

Litigants on both sides were astounded when in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the EPA does indeed have the authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. Critics called it a fundamentally flawed decision and predicted its reversal in the near future.

But until then, Massachusetts is probably the most significant legal decision in Big Green's history because it opens the door to the agency using global warming as a threat to justify its regulation of anything that can be remotely linked to carbon creation or use.

Among the least discussed aspects of the case is found in a search of the EPA grants database that shows NRDC, EDF and CLF received federal funding totaling $7,656,829 from the EPA during the past decade.

That meant EPA was in effect using tax dollars to help fund a lawsuit against itself that ultimately resulted in the agency acquiring unprecedented regulatory authority. Whether it will ever actually be able to exercise that authority is very much open to question.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

Rush had some Great Callers today.

We listened to the show as we traveled back from the Hill Country.  He was on a roll and so were his callers.  His stars of the day were Gayle from Birmingham  an independent who voted for Obama, and Ernie from Harlem, a staunch Black conservative.  They outdid Rush.  Both of them were ready to ditch any RINO.  But Gayle was the most upset and most talkative. She knew she and other independents had been played for fools.  She kept saying, "He's laughing at us!" They both were adamant that the current Congress and administration has to go.  We loved it.  I wish everyone could have heard it.

Thomas Sowell: Politics versus Gold

One of the many slick tricks of the Obama administration was to insert a provision in the massive Obamacare legislation regulating people who sell gold. This had nothing to do with medical care but everything to do with sneaking in an extension of the government's power over gold, in a bill too big for most people to read.

Gold has long been a source of frustration for politicians who want to extend their power over the economy. First of all, the gold standard cramped their style because there is only so much money you can print when every dollar bill can be turned in to the government, to be exchanged for the equivalent amount of gold.

When the amount of money the government can print is limited by how much gold the government has, politicians cannot pay off a massive national debt by just printing more money and repaying the owners of government bonds with dollars that are cheaper than the dollars with which the bonds were bought. In other words, politicians cannot cheat people as easily.

That was just one of the ways that the gold standard cramped politicians' style-- and just one of the reasons they got rid of it. One of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts as president was to take the United States off the gold standard in 1933.

Full article here

Voter registration fraud right here in Texas

From Gateway Pundit

Texas SEIU Member Registers 23,207 Fraudulent Voters

Posted by Guest Contributor

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member Steve Caddle of Houston, Texas has been caught registering 23,207 fake voters in Harris County alone due to the hard detective work of Catherine Engelbrecht and her “True the Vote” project.

This is one of the best examples of what good citizen activism inspired by Tea Party principles can do for their community.

Catherine Engelbrecht was sick and tired of the vote fraud perpetrated by unions and Democrats and set out to expose it herself. Along with many friends who donated their time, computers, and sweat, they’ve uncovered thousands upon thousands of illegal Democrat  voters in Texas.

Go here to read it all.

You didn't hear this on the radio - DOJ dismissed Black Panther case due to pressure

At least I didn't hear it on the radio. I've had it on all morning as I do a cleanup in our travel trailer.  I've heard plenty about Stephen Colbert , John Conyers, of all people was the hero there.
Anyway, Gateway Pundit is on the ball with this post.

Obama Justice Department Accused of Racial Prejudice; Dismissed Case Due to Pressure From NAACP
by Jim Hoft

Christopher Coates, former voting chief for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division testified today before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The lawmaker accused the Obama Administration of racial prejudice. He told the commission that the Black Panther Voter Intimidation case was dismissed due to pressure from the NAACP.

Gateway quotes Fox news with this:
Coates discussed in depth the DOJ’s decision to dismiss intimidation charges against New Black Panther members who were videotaped outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008 dressed in military-style uniforms — one was brandishing a nightstick — and allegedly hurling racial slurs…

…He said civil rights attorneys stick to cases that involve minority victims, and he said the Black Panther case was dismissed following “pressure” by the NAACP and “anger” at the case within the Justice Department itself.

“That anger was the result of their deep-seated opposition to the equal enforcement of the Voting Rights Act against racial minorities and for the protection of white voters who have been discriminated against,” he said.

UPDATE:  Just read this on Instapundit:

DISTRACTION: So, yesterday reader John Mark Williams suggested that the Colbert testimony was intended to distract from coverage of Christopher Coates’ testimony about the Justice Department’s racism scandals. If so, it’s worked. Front page of Daily Caller: Colbert. Drudge led with Colbert until the news of the Klein & Zucker firings came out. Limbaugh led off today talking about Colbert. NRO has covered Colbert at The Corner, but not Coates. Washington Examiner headline: Colbert. Looking around other sites, I see more about Colbert than Coates. Hot Air and Power Line did better. 

It sounds about right to me.

Morning Jolt comments on the Pledge

National Review Online's Morning Jolt . . . with Jim Geraghty  has a discussion on the "Pledge" that is worth reading. People at National Review are mainly pleased but have this to say about it:

It's interesting that the Pledge debate -- is it meant to rule or is it meant to fool? -- comes on the heels of the Great Conservative O'Donnell-Castle War, because once again we have what was once a relatively rare phenomenon, an issue or decision that appears to split the major voices on the right nearly down the middle.

But the battle lines are distinctly different: William Jacobson,....Andrew Roth of the Club for Growth, on the other hand, is disappointed,...

But I read this from Phil Klein of The American Spectator -- pretty much the opposite of the hair-trigger temper or fire-breather -- and I find myself drifting in his direction: ......

 But of all the reactions to the new GOP Pledge, this one, posted to the Corner by Kathryn, set me off the most: "While I support their attempt at redefining government, the politicians once again proved they cannot do anything with simplicity and eloquence. I read again the Declaration of Independence after reading The Pledge and was struck by The DoI's brevity and clarity -- two pages versus twenty some odd for The Pledge. The one launched the greatest nation the world has ever seen and the other . . . only time will tell.".....

Subscribe to Morning Jolt newsletter at National Review Online to get yours in  the mail every morning.

Something to thank A Kennedy for...no Emeritus for Bill Ayers

Christopher Kennedy, a son of Robert Kennedy, is chairman of the board of Trustees at the University of Illinois at Urbana.  He knows his history, he knows his father was assasinated.  Here is what he said:

"I am guided by my conscience and one which has been formed by a series of experiences, many of which have been shared with the people of our country and mark each of us in a profound way," Kennedy said.

He said he could not confer the title "to a man whose body of work includes a book dedicated in part to the man who murdered my father."

Kennedy was referring to a 1974 book co-authored by Ayers, "Prairie Fire," which was dedicated to a long list of people including Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan and "all political prisoners in the U.S."

Ayers became a controversial figure in Barack Obama's presidential campaign because they worked on a school-reform initiative together, leading opponents to say Obama was linked to a "terrorist." UIC was forced to release more than 1,000 files detailing the activities of that group. The university also faced questions in 2001 after Ayers wrote in his memoir about helping with the non-fatal bombings of government buildings.

According to the UIC faculty handbook, the granting of emeritus status is "based on merit" and is "an extraordinary title that is given for extraordinary service."

Kennedy said he hoped faculty, staff and Illinois residents "understand my motives and my reasoning" and concluded: "How could I do anything else?"

Other members of the board also voted against it. The article in the Chicago Tribune went on to say:

Ayers could not be reached for comment, and UIC School of Education Dean Vicki Chou did not return a call from the Tribune. She told the Tribune last month that Ayers has "been really a very good colleague here" and "the good far outweighs any negative press."

Thank you University of Illinois.Thank you Christopher Kennedy.
Read the whole article here.

What do you think of the Pledge?

Have you read it? I found it too long. I confess, I didn't read it all.  But if you want to read the whole thing here is a link to a pdf file.  
http://www.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/solutions/a-pledge-to-america.pdf

Tell me what you think.

The Waste of Recycling by Jeff Jacoby

"Far from saving resources," Benjamin writes, "curbside recycling typically wastes resources — resources that could be used productively elsewhere in society."

Popular impressions to the contrary notwithstanding, we are not running out of places to dispose of garbage. Not only is US landfill capacity at an all-time high, but all of the country's rubbish for the next 100 years could comfortably fit into a landfill measuring 10 miles square. Benjamin puts that in perspective: "Ted Turner's Flying D ranch outside Bozeman, Mont., could handle all of America's trash for the next century — with 50,000 acres left over for his bison."

Nor do modern landfills — which are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency — pose a threat to human health or the environment. They must be sited far from wetlands and groundwater, thickly lined with clay and plastic, covered daily with fresh layers of soil, and equipped for drawing off the methane gas created by decomposition (the gas, in turn, is collected and purified for sale). Eventually they are capped, landscaped, and turned into public parks or other open space.

Good article; read it here.

We've rattled their cages and they ARE reacting

The Democrats are feeling the heat and reacting as Democrats do, very badly.
In Florida they have an attack ad against Allen West that includes his Social Security number, a number their Saint FDR promised would be forever secure, yeah right!

From the Palm Beach Post we see this:
Dems include West social security number in flier, call it 'oversight'

From Fox news we find this:
DNC Caught Promoting Anti-Beck Tea Party Rally

CBS as an unofficial arm of the DNC:
CBS Befuddled by How Tea Party Candidates Have Survived Despite Their ‘Unusual Assertions’

And it must have been really bad for an MSNBC co-anchor to think they had gone a tad too far:

MSNBC Anchor Admits That Christine O’Donnell Witch Graphic Is ‘A Bit Much’
Folks, you have to know, when she admits it, it is way too far.

Holder's Dept of Justice lied about the Black Panther Party, Under Oath!!

From Pajamas Media:

Proof: New Records Show DOJ Lied About New Black Panther Dismissal
A FOIA request reveals contradictions in statements made to Congress, the Civil Rights Commission, and to the public. Some of these statements were made under oath
by J. Christian Adams.

Judicial Watch made an explosive announcement today about the Justice Department’s stonewalling in the New Black Panther voter intimidation case dismissal. Forced to bring a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit after DOJ rebuffed its public records request (so much for transparency), Judicial Watch obtained a privilege log from the DOJ last week.

It shows — in a rather dramatic way — that the DOJ has been untruthful about who was involved in the dismissal of the case.
[....]
Further, the logs show dozens of communications between senior DOJ political officials in the two weeks prior to the dismissal of the case.

Congress and the public have been told — for over a year — that the dismissal of the New Black Panther case resulted from nothing more than a dispute between lowly career civil servants. Lapdog reporters have repeated this lie, if they even covered the case at all. The documents uncovered by Judicial Watch expose the ruse.
[....]
As deputy associate attorney general — a senior Obama political appointee — Hirsch emerges in the privilege logs as the fulcrum around which the New Black Panther case was dismissed. Throughout April and May 2009, Civil Rights Division political appointee Steve Rosenbaum engaged in extensive legal analysis with Hirsch. In turn, Hirsch had extensive communications with Associate Attorney General Perrelli about the case. The emails are sometimes described as “deliberations” between the senior political appointees. These are deliberations which the DOJ inferred never existed. Nothing more than a dispute between civil servants, they repeated without equivocation.

The privilege logs show at least thirteen communications between Hirsch and Perelli in the two weeks before the dismissal on May 15.

This is a fairly long article with very important information.  Our DOJ is corrupted, we need to end this.  Maybe these FOIA documents will get to the bottom of the case.
Read it all.

Revisionist History at the Liberty Bell

As revealed by Bob Unruh in World Net Daily h/t Jim H. Little.  This has been ongoing through several presidents.

Christianity gets flayed at home of Liberty Bell
Guide: 'George Washington didn't even attend church!'
 A Christian chaplain has written to officials at the nation's historic Independence Hall in Philadelphia asking them to provide a better experience for visitors after a tour guide there dissed the Christian beliefs of the Founders, saying, "Washington didn't even go to church."

The letter from Pastor Todd DuBord, now the chaplain for the enterprises of actor, martial arts champion and philanthropist Chuck Norris, was sent to the superintendent of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, where some of the nation's founding documents were assembled and where the Liberty Bell now is exhibited.

DuBord for years has worked with tours of patriotic citizens who have visited Washington and other locations to see the markers of America's Christian heritage. He previously exposed when tour guides at the U.S. Supreme Court building were denying the multiple representations there of the Ten Commandments.
[.....]
There, he said, his tour guide was describing the marble frieze directly above the justices' bench: "Between the images of the people depicting the Majesty of the Law and Power of Government, there is a tablet with 10 Roman numerals, the first five down the left side and the last five down the right. This tablet represents the first 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights," she said.

"The 10 what?" was DuBord's thought.

Dubord began researching and found a 1975 official U.S. Supreme Court handbook, prepared under the direction of Mark Cannon, administrative assistant to the chief justice. It said, "Directly above the Bench are two central figures, depicting Majesty of the Law and Power of Government. Between them is a tableau of the Ten Commandments."

Further research produced information that in 1987 the building was designated a National Historic Landmark and came under control of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under the new management the handbook was rewritten in 1988. The Ten Commandments reference was left out of that edition, and nothing replaced it.

The next reference found said only that the frieze "symbolizes early written laws." Then in 1999, the handbook referred to the depiction as the "Ten Amendments to the Bill of Rights."
"The more I got into [his research], the more I saw Christianity had been abandoned from history," DuBord said at the time.

Read the original post to see all the discussion, this is what I saw as most important. Our history has been rewritten and it didn't just happen this year. It has been going on for decades.

Nobody listens to Obama Anymore

A quote from Instapundit quoting one of his HotAir folks, Dr. Zero.  But it is very, very good.  The fact is no one listens but he is still powerful enough to cause a whole lot of damage. Here is what Dr. Zero has to say:

DOCTOR ZERO ON HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED:
Let me put this bluntly: virtually no one in America gives a damn what Barack Obama says about anything at this point. What could be more predictable, and less interesting, than Obama’s opinion on any given subject? Who wants to contemplate the economic wisdom of a guy who looted the Treasury for a trillion dollars, with less benefit than we could have achieved by stuffing hundred dollar bills into random cereal boxes? Who’s excited to hear about the next plan to convert taxpayer dollars into Democrat campaign funds? Who’s hungry for another hour of tedious excuses about permanently broken markets and the titanic dead hand of George W. Bush? Who wants a lecture on ethical business practices from the titular head of the party that gave us Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters? What use is another hollow foreign-policy speech from a man who sees no global adversary to rival the menace of Arizona? Even Obama’s supporters don’t hear anything he says any more. There’s nothing left to hear.

Now, that's cold.

Thank You Glenn Beck, $5.8 Million for SOWF

This is from the military blog, The Thunder Run. I'm posting only portions so you can read it all at the website.

Glenn Beck Rally Raises $5.8 Million for SOWF

Through its partnership with radio/television talk show host Glenn Beck, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation is pleased to announce they have raised $5.8 million, far exceeding the original goal of $3 million, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Glenn Beck fans.

The public and businesses were moved by a series of radio and television promotions through the Glenn Beck Program which highlighted the foundation's programs to provide support and assistance to the families of wounded and fallen military special operations personnel. The SOWF was recently awarded its fifth consecutive 4-star rating for its financial efficiency. The promotion campaign, which included an online auction featuring collectible items, culminated with the Restoring Honor Rally held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on Aug. 28. 

You see, the people who went to Washington, and many of those who could not, definitely support our military and are happy to put their money on the table for those who serve.
Be sure to read it all here.

Unions - a super parasite killing their hosts?

Bookworm has a great post about this.

Union members apparently don’t want to kill the American goose that is laying their golden eggs

A deeply disappointed New York Times reports that the Democrats are not able to rely upon the union stalwarts in the upcoming election:

[...]

I wonder if the problem doesn’t lie only with failed Democratic promises, something that would definitely agitate the union leaders. Perhaps the real problem amongst the rank and file is that a lot of ordinary Americans who pay union dues, either from a weak commitment to the unions or because their job forces them to do so, are finally figuring out that unions can bring benefits to their members only if there is a fat and happy U.S. to generate those benefits — and that if you become a super parasite, your host will die, denying you the nutrition on which you feed.

Read it all, then read the rest of her blog.

Who is John Boehner?

The Telegraph UK has the story.

John Boehner: the second of 12 kids from Ohio who is Barack Obama's elitist target

The White House is attempting to cling on to Democratic control of Washington by portraying an Ohio congressman who grew up in near poverty as an elitist country club Republican controlled by wealthy lobbyists.

By Toby Harnden

President Barack Obama is doing his best to turn Representative John Boehner, the House minority leader, into Public Enemy Number One. If Republicans win back the House of Representatives in November, as polls indicate, he will replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

[...]

Yet Mr Boehner's life story is the type of classic up-by-the-bootstraps tale of the American Dream that can put a tear in a voter's eye. As his story becomes better known, the Democrats could even be drawing favourable attention upon him. Right now, most Americans have never heard of Mr Boehner, and fewer still can pronounce his name, which rhymes with Rayner. The alleged elitist country club Republican is an Ohio Congressman who grew up in near poverty.

Read it all, it is a true American, up from the bootstraps, story. And then wonder why I didn't see this until it came from Great Britain. Was it because it was underplayed here?

Why, yes, I think it was.

Is Sarah Palin the Lone Ranger

This is the last part of an editorial in the Washington Post
Has Sarah Palin saved the GOP?
By Paul Goldman

Simply put, Palin started as Tonto but has become the Lone Ranger. Instead of fading out last summer, she remained strong and stood by her party. She has become a bridge between the old Republican guard and the growing right-wing dissatisfaction with not just Democrats but also Republican officeholders. Palin's ability to advocate for using the GOP, not a third party, to channel this angst has allowed Republican voter anger to boil, yet not boil over.

Should Republicans run up the score in November, Sarah Palin will deserve a lot of credit she will never get.

Karl Rove, the "new Newt" or the new David Gergan?

This is one of my few opinion pieces.  We all watched in horror as the Republicans, even some we know to be conservative, trashed Christine O'Donnell.  Karl Rove was unrepentant last night as he was interviewed by Greta van Sustern.  With what he was saying I turned to my husband and said,"he's the new Newt."  Earlier in the day I had compared him to David Gergan and called him the new MSM "conservative spokesman."  I know the Democrats and media are loving him.

While listening to Rush on Tuesday someone called to inform Rush and his listeners that Karl Rove worked on Castle's campaign and had asked the Delaware Tea Party to back Castle as more electable.  This is from Michelle Malkin with a better take on it:

At O’Donnell’s victory speech, she invited a 9/12 patriot to speak. He sent a special message right back to Rove, recounting how Rove had met with Delaware 9/12-ers and Tea Party folks to try and convince them to back the “more electable” candidate. “No one is going to tell us how to take care of business,” the 9/12-er said he told Rove. And now, he observed, the “more electable” candidate Rove wanted them to vote for has been…unelected..

This is from the Freedomist:

Rove Tried to Cut a Deal For Castle With Tea Party- Teaparty News- The Collier Brothers

Sources at the Christine O’Donnell victory party revealed to The Freedomist that in December of last year Karl Rove met with Tea Party leaders in Dover, Delaware trying to get them to cut a “deal” in which they would leave Mike Castle alone and NOT support O’Donnell.

The Freedomist has also learned that Rove was allegedly acting as an operative, although in what capacity it is not known, even as he is playing the role of a political analyst on Fox New in a fair and balanced way.

Rove showed a blantantly defiant attitude on Greta, no remorse.  I thought his demeanor showed he knew he was wrong, but there was no backing down.  Just more bashing and saying why O"Connell could not possibly win.  A very elitist attitude by one of the Washington "establishment" who definitely wants to keep it that way.

Links for a busy day and week

Shock Audio: Facing ‘Obligations’ From Leadership, Democrat Congresswoman Leaves Voicemail for Lobbyist Cash - from Big government- read it -A couple weeks ago, House Member Eleanor Holmes Norton made a fundraising call to a lobbyist. The lobbyist wasn’t available, so Holmes Norton left a voicemail.

This one is actually funny:   Democratic Party Steals Logo From the Pizza Place Where I Used to Work  - This is from Chris Good at the Atlantic, go have a laugh, you probably need one.

From The Hill's Blog Briefing room:  Reid: Coons, 'my pet,' will win  un.be.lieve.able!

The Sweetest Picture from the Ground Zero Anti-Mosque Protest Rally

Posted at Towhall.com Tipsheet by Guy Benson.
She has wrapped herself in the flag.

In keeping with the theme of what the old folks remember

Arnold Ahlert has an opinion piece in the New York Post.  I agree with him.  I hadn't seen this when I wrote Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember 9/11 if I had I would have posted his column, he says and expands on the theme.

What Our Grandparents Knew

Dec. 7 and Sept. 11 are iconic American anniver saries. Both days represent our greatest failures to understand the true nature of evil. And while each day will be treated with a similar veneration reserved for national tragedies, there is one aspect that truly divides them: resolution.

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Four years later, they surrendered unconditionally. If one posits that the war against radical Islam began in 2001 (at least for us), we are in the midst of a nine-year-old conflict that shows no signs of resolution.

How is this possible? In terms of manpower and machinery, Japan was a far more formidable foe than the various umbrella groups that make up Islamic jihadism. Why are we having more trouble defeating them?

Because we've "sanitized" warfare. The same nation that detonated two atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer believes in victory, if such victory requires too much "collateral damage," a k a civilian casualties.

Sounds enlightened, does it not? Who could possibly prefer relentless onslaught and destruction over "winning hearts and minds" and "nation-building?"

Yet consider how out of phase such thinking is. How do you win hearts and minds or nation-build before the enemy is defeated? How do you convince Afghans during the day to risk their lives siding with us, when the Taliban kills them at night -- because they still can?

How do you maintain the morale and well-being of American men and women in harm's way by purposefully prolonging war?

How many lives would be saved by military ruthlessness?

War is ostensibly a last-resort option. It's supposed to be something so dreadful that it should be avoided at all costs. Do Americans ever wonder how far Islamic jihadists would continue to go if their every provocation were met with an annihilating response? Our grandparents knew the answer to that question.

Dec. 7 is a day of remembrance. Sept. 11 is an open wound -- courtesy of Politically Correct Warfare.

atahlert@comcast.net

Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember 9/11

I am old enough I do remember Pearl Harbor and of course I remember 9/11.  We were traveling like we do in August and September, and were camped in one of the RV campgrounds in Yellowstone National Park.  I get up early and could just barely get the NPR station from West Yellowstone which is a town outside of the park.  So I heard it all in real time.  I knew at once we had been attacked, airliners don't just accidentally fly into buildings. I was listening when the second plane hit. I woke my husband, and then went to their RV and woke my sister and her husband. I told them we had been attacked.

Today MSNBC was running the whole mornings events at the exact moments they happened with no commercials.  I found it strange that such a liberal station was running it.

For years they would not even show the towers falling or pictures of the plane hitting the second building.

Why are they running this today on the 9th anniversary.  Is it because they want us aroused in anger and sadness? Is it because of the mosque? I wonder? I remember.

Bloggers on the Tax cheats and Deadbeats

Seems there is a run on the news of people who don't pay taxes:

Deadbeats Among Us

Capitol Hill employees owed $9.3 million in overdue taxes at the end of last year, a sliver of the $1 billion owed by federal workers nationwide but one with potential political ramifications for members of Congress.

and there is this:

Still, those Congressional staffers are veritable pikers when compared to another group of deadbeats--Air Force Academy dropouts. A report obtained by Air Force Times shows that 130 former cadets owe the government an average of $107,000 for tuition (and other benefits) paid before they quit the "zoo." All resigned during their junior or senior years, before they graduated and could be commissioned as Air Force officers.

41 Obama White House aides owe the IRS $831,000 in back taxes -- and they're not alone
Over the years a lot of suspicion has built up across the country about Washington and its population of opportunistic transients coming to see themselves as a special kind of person, somehow above average working Americans who don't work down in that former swamp.

Well, finally, an end to all those undocumented doubts. Thanks to some diligent digging by the Washington Post, those suspicions can at last be put to rest.

The tax cheats blogs and articles were all linked back to the Washington Post article.
Now for the other scholarship scandal from the Congressional Black Caucus:
Another CBC scholarship scandal?  which leads us to this:

Sanford Bishop steered scholarships to family
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) awarded three scholarships from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to his stepdaughter and wife’s niece between 2003 and 2005, according to records from the nonprofit group.

Read more.

A Right to Free Speech

Ace of Spades blog has a post on the pastor who wanted to burn the Koran. Well, maybe he still wants to but a lot of pressure is being put on him not to do it. Including the FBI. Read this:

Why Was The FBI Dropping By The Wannabe Koran Burners?

by DrewM

I think I've made it pretty clear I'm not a real big fan of the whole Koran burning thing. What I'm even less of a fan of is government coercion of legitimate, if abhorrent speech.

FBI agents visited Thursday with a minister of a small Florida church that plans to burn the Quran on Sept. 11, as public safety became a paramount concern and President Barack Obama added his voice to the chorus of opposition.

...The FBI spent about a half hour talking with Jones, but church spokesman Wayne Sapp would not disclose what they discussed. Agents leaving the church wouldn't talk to an Associated Press reporter.

Jones said earlier this week that agents have visited him twice since he announced his plans in July, the last visit about two weeks ago.

Now, I suppose it's possible Jones is caught up in something else unrelated to the Koran burning plans that has the legitimate interest of the FBI. However given the nature of this story and the unprecedented involvement of government officials in this matter (more in a minute on that), I think AG Holder and/or President Obama need to come out right away and make it clear that federal law enforcement officers are not being used to intimidate Jones.

[.........................................................]

I hope Congressman Daryl Issa adds this to his list of things to investigate come January of next year.

Until it's clear that the FBI was there on unrelated matters, I'm not giving this administration the benefit of the doubt.

Go here to read between the ellipses.

American Thinkser's Thomas Lifson on the raising of the boy - Barry Sotero

This is another of the ideas some of us have discussed since the man first came on the scene, he was all but an abandoned child and that is bound to have shaped his view of America and Americans.  He was not really raised in the way most Americans were, he does not seem to think in the same way most of us do.  Here in America he is alone in his world view in many ways. 

I have told people, including my liberal son, that I consider him still to be "little boy lost" trying to please. I have no doubt he went to Chicago to find a world he felt he could fit into, one where he felt at home.  Unfortunately he found a place the rest of Americans did not approve, the world of Chicago politicians, they have used him for their benefit.  The same is true of the socialists who befriended him and have taught him their ways.  They have used him.  I have no doubt he truly believes we need to spread the wealth. 

Okay, I have said all those things, now read how very well Thomas Lifson lays out the facts.

The Grudge: Barry Soetoro's Indonesian Expatriate Hell

Where did Barack Obama acquire the self-evident disdain he has for major corporations, especially oil companies, and for the striving classes who have made America prosperous and strong? Many conservatives have noted Barack Obama's class envy, expressed both in his and his bride's resentment over their education debts and desire to live large in the White House, and in his intent, expressed to Joe the Plumber, to "spread the wealth around."

Obama also has made it clear that he is no believer in American exceptionalism -- that we are no more different than Greeks who think Greece is special, or Britons who think that Britain is exceptional. And his commitment of billions to the International Monetary Fund for global income redistribution without any constitutional authorization bespeaks an attitude that America owes the world a share of its wealth -- that we do not deserve the prosperity we have enjoyed. He has in the past told us that we can't have houses as warm as we want, or cars as big as we prefer. We must make do with less so that others may enjoy some of the goodies, in effect.

A few very astute observers have noted Barack Obama's immersion in the anti-colonialist ideology championed by his father, Barack Obama, Sr. On these pages, L.E. Ikenga explained in 2009 how Obama's policies resemble those of post-colonial African elites, full of resentment for the wealth allegedly drained from their societies and anxious to remake them along egalitarian lines with the state (i.e., themselves) in charge of the readjustment.

Read the whole article as he gives the facts of Obama's boyhood of a child who was treated as an outsider, a lower caste than the American's working in Indonesia, his unhappiness with where he was, and his lifestyle.

Did you Remember the Military Burned Bibles in Afghanistan?

Well, I didn't either, but Right Truth has the story.

Remember When the U.S. Military Burned Bibles in Afghanistan? here in May 2009. The Bibles were confiscated by military chaplains at Bagram Air Force Base north of Kabul and burned just in case any military person even thought about sharing the Gospel with a Muslim.

I wrote about it here in May 2009. The Bibles were confiscated by military chaplains at Bagram Air Force Base north of Kabul and burned just in case any military person even thought about sharing the Gospel with a Muslim.

Bibles printed in Pashto and Dari, the languages of Afghans, sent to American Christian soldiers and chaplains by private donors, which under Army regulations, could legally be given as gifts to Afghan citizens during the soldiers' off-duty hours and could be useful to U.S. soldiers in learning the languages of their hosts -- were confiscated and burned by the U.S. Military.

Doug Patton writes:

So, what are American Christian believers to conclude about their president? Is he truly a reasonable leader willing to listen to all points of view and to "disagree without being disagreeable"? Or is he a defender of Muslims, atheists and a culture of death at the expense of Christians and of the Christian faith he claims to embrace? His actions, combined with his irrelevant religiosity, seem to indicate the latter.

Read the rest here.http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2010/09/remember-when-the-us-military-burned-bibles-in-afghanistan.html

Another Big Hit by Victor Davis Hanson

We have all been talking about this, but he says it so well. We've all thought this man, our president, has been given everything in his adult life. No questions asked.  So VDH comes out with such a good essay on it. This is from the middle of his essay.
‘Like a Dog’: The Origins of Barack Obama’s Petulance

Yet Obama’s petulance, I think, more likely derives from a certain surprise — leading to anger — that originates from novel and sudden demands for accountability. Quite simply, no one has dared question Obama before — much less press him for deeds to match his mellifluous words.

Did he really think he could talk his way through four years of the American presidency?

Apparently, he did, and apparently he was almost right — given that rhetoric and sophistry earned him the presidency in the first place. In what follows, I hold some empathy for Obama’s pique; you see in some sense those around him suddenly changed the rules, and what in the past had been habit and custom no longer quite applied.

A part-time visiting law professorship at the University of Chicago Law school rarely leads to a permanent tenure-track position, much less a tenured billet– and never without a body of published articles and books. In Obama’s case those protocols simply did not apply. He was not only offered whatever he wanted, but as Justice Kagan reminded us, Obama was courted by Harvard Law School as well.

Most candidates for state office do not sue to remove their opponents from the ballot. Obama petitioned (successfully) that most of them be disqualified in 1995. It is likewise rare for the sealed divorce records of a front-running primary rival to be mysteriously leaked, prompting a veritable uncontested nomination. But after Democratic rival Blair Hull imploded from such revelations, so did Obama’s general election Republican opponent Jack Ryan, who dropped out of the race after his divorce proceedings were eerily likewise exposed. Lightning does strike twice in the same place for the blessed Obama.
 
I know you will want to read it all.

The Debt Tsunami

A very intersting post by Richard Fernandez at Belmont Club.
Rich Man, Poor Man

Robert J.Cristiano believes that at least one financial tsunami “began long ago and very far out to sea” when public sector employees voted themselves wonderful compensation and benefits packages that now threaten to throttle the tax base. Or maybe it began more prosaically, the way an unpayable credit card debt starts, with Good Times. And it comes a-cropper when the cash flow slims down and the cardholder finds he can’t pay for all the dreams he purchased on installment.

Cristiano is referring to the Trillion Dollar gap between “between the $3.35 trillion in pension, health care and other retirement benefits states have promised their current and retired workers as of fiscal year 2008 and the $2.35 trillion they have on hand to pay for them … aided in part by campaign contributions from the unions to elect Democratic Party candidates and generous pay packages and retirement plans passed by those same politicians in return.” It is a Gap being closed by States which have no arithmetical alternative but to turn on the very people who were promised these benefits. With every state except Montana and South Dakota running projected budget deficits, governments like once city in California are simply hacking away furiously at their financial commitments.

One Orange County city has already taken bold steps to correct its $10 million deficit. It may be a model for other cities and states across the country. Internally, it has decided it will not replace any city worker that dies, retires, moves or quits. The city will simply out source the employment to an outside service company and eliminate healthcare requirements and unsustainable pensions. Building inspectors will be out sourced as will city plan checkers, librarians and meter maids. Only essential services like top executives and cops will remain on the city payroll. The city staff will eventually decrease from 220 to approximately 35 personnel.

It is perhaps telling that government at its minimum consists of “top executives” and cops. What Cristiano calls a “deconstruction” — the bankruptcy of governments — will affect millions of families. But preventing a “deconstruction” will be painful too. Greece, which epitomizes state bankruptcy, is already riven by tension caused by cutbacks aimed at keeping that country in a currency zone it cannot afford to be part of. A German economist warned that by avoiding the rational in pursuit of the politically irrational, Athens has only made things worse.

Read the rest here.

Mallard Fillmore Endures

Cartoonist Bruce Tinsley's strip has been a consistent voice of reason for years now. Any day of the week. His simple truths deserve much more play. Below is today's.

How long has the US been helping Muslim Groups?

This was posted Tuesday at Corruption Chronicles, a Judicial Watch blog but I just found it today. Have a look.

U.S. Helps Radical Muslim Groups Get Taxpayer Dollars

In its fervent crusade to befriend Muslims, the White House will host special workshops this week to provide members of radical Islamic groups with direct access to U.S. government funding, assistance and resources.

While this may sound surreal, it’s reality in the Obama Administration, which has embarked on a never-ending mission to befriend the enemy. Previous efforts include secret meetings between Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and extremist Arab and Muslim groups to discuss national security matters and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special order allowing the reentry of two radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties have for years banned them from the U.S.

As contemptible as those moves may seem, the latest effort is even more outrageous. Various government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Education and Health will participate in the White House seminars which were exposed by an independent nonprofit dedicated to monitoring the nation’s security.

The goal is to provide the leaders of groups associated with the parent organization of Hamas and Al Qaeda (Muslim Brotherhood) with tips on cutting through “red tape” when seeking U.S. government access or money. In all 20 national Muslim groups with ties to the global Islamist organization that preaches Jihad are scheduled to participate. Their mission is to obtain cash and other resources from Uncle Sam.

While the U.S. government has kept the event quiet, it was announced in a newsletter by a Saudi-funded group (Islamic Society of North America or ISNA) that was a co-conspirator in a federal terrorist funding case a few years ago. Featured in a Judicial Watch special report on Muslim charities that finance terrorism, ISNA is firmly committed to spreading the radical form of Islam, which is the driving force behind Jihad.

Now the Obama Administration is helping ISNA and its radical Islamic counterparts access American taxpayer resources as well as top government officials.

Go here to read the comments and discussion on this.

Flight 93 blogburst: 9/11 Ride to Stop the Crescent Mosque

This is from Alec Rawls at Error Theory:
Flight 93 on 9/11: Ride to Stop the Crescent Mosque

Anyone live within driving distance of Somerset Pennsylvania? It's a beautiful place to visit and a group of motorcyclists from Indianapolis is already going.

Tom Burnett Senior and Alec Rawls are buying full page color ads in the Somerset Daily American for both Friday the 10th and Saturday the 11th, so anyone who makes the trip will have a ready made protest sign waiting for them. Just buy a newspaper, tape the ad to a piece of cardboard, and let the massed national media know what side you are on.

That's right. With Laura Bush and Michelle Obama both attending, it's going to be a media circus, and a rare opportunity to force coverage of our issue. Just self-organize. Ad-holders will show a core of united opposition (and the media might even be forced to read our brief expose).

A PDF of the ad will be posted in another blogburst next week for anyone who wants to make signs ahead of time. There is also a set of small posters that were put together for a previous talk by Mr. Burnett. Just print with tiling to make the finished product as large or small as you want:

Board 1: The giant crescent
Board 2: It points to Mecca
Board 3: The gigantic Islamic sundial
Board 4: The 44 glass blocks

Petition to stop the Flight 93 memorial passes 10,000 signatures
Including a spate of dozen or so by 9/11 family members that feature some very strong comments. (See pages 198 and 199.)



It Points to Mecca video nearing 20,000 hits

Thanks to big fat repostings by Creeping Sharia and Atlas Shrugs. Thank You!


Here are parts 2, 3 and 4 (also worthy):






IF you haven't been to Shanksville before, there really is no lovelier place on earth than an open field in that sprawling Sherwood Forest that is Western Pennsylvania. Drink it in. There is something in the air at that patriots' grave.
To join our blogburst against the crescent mosque, just send your blog's url to caoilfhionn1@gmail.com.

Its Obama's Economy now - Are we lucky or what?

I was making a comment over at Neoneocon's and though, "why am I not posting that on my own blog?"
Neo was saying this,

"Yesterday on this comments thread there was a smattering of schadenfreude towards young people who voted for Obama and are now out of work.

A number of readers felt that the high rates of unemployment among the young is a case of just desserts: serves them right. And although I want a great many young people to learn the lesson that voting for a con man, an empty suit with little or no experience who makes beautiful promises that mean little or nothing, is a bad idea—and that they retain the information for decades to come, so it doesn’t happen again—there’s no joy in my heart about the rest of it.

So this is the comment I was writing and I do believe it to be true.

I am not blaming these young people. It is Obama’s economy now. I think if McCain had won and we had at least some say in Congress we might have turned it around. We certainly would not have government motors.But we would still have quite a few out of work because of the housing and banking bubble. And we as conservatives, Tea Partiers and President Bush would all be getting the blame.

You know that's true, we were profligate spenders.  Not to the nth degree as Obama has been but we ran up quite a bill.

Baldilocks on the Islamic slave trade

A Reminder of the Other Black Genocide

In 2008, I posted the following video via YouTube. It had been part of a series which exposed the truth about the Islamic Civilization with special emphasis on the horrors of the Tran-Saharan Slave Trade. My intent was to counter the exhortations of Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the like-minded who continue to excoriate America and the rest of Western Civilization for past sins against black African Slaves and Americans of African descent.

The owners of YouTube, however, have blocked the account of John Alembillah Azumah--the man interviewed in the series and the author of the book, The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa: A Quest for Inter-religious Dialogue. One can guess that some people were offended by the series--a state of affairs which often occurs when the truth is told.

This particular copy of the video, entitled "Muslim Black Slavery - Islam Slave History of Black Africa," is now posted at MetaCafe by a third party.

Muslim Black Slavery - Islam Slave History of Black Africa - The best home videos are here

 
Go to Baldilocks to read much more on this.  MetaCafe has the narrative posted below the video if it will not play on your computer.

For the record, Theodore Parker is your man

OOPSIE!!! It is unbelieveable how President Obama can get so much wrong. But the new rug in the oval office?  It seems the quote attributed to Martin Luther King was actually from someone else.  From the Washington Post opinion section of Sat. Sept. 4th:

Oval Office rug gets history wrong
by Jamie Stiehm

A mistake has been made in the Oval Office makeover that goes beyond the beige.

President Obama's new presidential rug seemed beyond reproach, with quotations from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. woven along its curved edge.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." According media reports, this quote keeping Obama company on his wheat-colored carpet is from King.

Except it's not a King quote. The words belong to a long-gone Bostonian champion of social progress. His roots in the republic ran so deep that his grandfather commanded the Minutemen at the Battle of Lexington.

For the record, Theodore Parker is your man, President Obama. Unless you're fascinated by antebellum American reformers, you may not know of the lyrically gifted Parker, an abolitionist, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist thinker who foresaw the end of slavery, though he did not live to see emancipation. He died at age 49 in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War.

A century later, during the civil rights movement, King, an admirer of Parker, quoted the Bostonian's lofty prophecy during marches and speeches. Often he'd ask in a refrain, "How long? Not long." He would finish in a flourish: "Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

King made no secret of the author of this idea. As a Baptist preacher on the front lines of racial justice, he regarded Parker, a religious leader, as a kindred spirit.

But it seems that through the decades the true origin has been lost.  Read the rest of the story of the misquote here.  Apparently Parker was quoted by Lincoln also, and that too is written into the rug. It's good to know someone was paying attention.

Late Term Abortions

If you listen to a debate on late term abortions the pro abortion people always say how infrequent they are.  They also indicate how safe the modern  abortion is. This article surely indicates that is defintely not the case.  This is from the Houston Chronicle.

2 abortion Drs. ordered to stop after Md. injury
by Kasey Jones

BALTIMORE — Maryland health officials have ordered two doctors to stop performing abortions after a woman was critically injured during a procedure last month.

The state Board of Physicians ordered Dr. Steven Brigham to stop practicing medicine without a license in Maryland and suspended the license of Dr. Nicola Riley. Police raided one of Brigham's offices in Elkton looking for medical records, and found dozens of late-term fetuses in a freezer at a clinic.

Riley and Brigham brought an injured 18-year-old woman in a personal vehicle to Union Hospital in Elkton after a failed abortion Aug. 13, according to the board's orders. The woman was then taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where she was found to have a uterine perforation.

A Hopkins doctor filed a complaint against Riley, and along with a general surgeon, repaired the injuries to the woman.

Brigham owns American Women's Services, which has offices in several states.

The 18-year-old woman initially went to an American Women's Services office in New Jersey and met with Brigham on Aug. 12, according to the order. She returned the next day and was given pills to induce contractions, and told to drive 60 miles to the Elkton facility where the abortion would be performed.

Several days later, the Elkton police department, acting on a warrant for the woman's medical record, found a freezer with about 35 late-term fetuses. Elkton police didn't immediately return a telephone message Friday night.

Brigham is licensed in New Jersey, but not Maryland. Riley has a license in Maryland, but "poses a threat to her patients' safety and well-being and thereby represents a danger to the public," according to the board's order.

The board said Riley lives in Utah and flew to Maryland to work at the clinic.

A third doctor, George Shepard Jr., also had his license suspended. He ordered medications for AWS' Maryland facilities and knowingly took part in an arrangement in which abortions started in one state and patients were told to drive across state lines for completion of the procedure, the board said.

Voicemails left with Riley at her office in Utah and Brigham's office in New Jersey were not immediately returned Friday night. A message left for Shepard's lawyer was not immediately returned.

This article pretty well proves the case thatabortion is a huge business and has the full support of  most of the liberals.

Pat Condell on Ground Zero mosque: "Is it possible to be astonished, but not surprised?"

Watch this video of a Brit outraged on our behalf.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/06/pat-condell-on-ground-zero-mosque-is-it-possible-to-be-astonished-but-not-surprised.html

Black Liberation Theology

A discussion at American Thinker. Read abstract and comments here:

Beck's 'Obsession' with Black Liberation Theology Thoroughly Justified
By Kyle-Anne Shiver

You know liberals are scared whenever they use the O-word -- "obsession" -- to smear a conservative's effectiveness in an important argument. So when the Los Angeles Times published an editorial yesterday by Tim Rutten called "Glenn Beck's Liberation Theology Obsession," I was quite intrigued.Since I spent a whole year studying James H. Cone's Black Liberation Theology in the context of Latin America's liberation theology developed within the Catholic Church, I was quite curious to see what an esteemed LA Times columnist had to say about Beck's so-called... (Read Full Article)

Why Textbooks Matter

We heard a  lot of the Texas school book selections.  Much of it by the liberal press.  In my opinion  the state board is trying to pull back from the most liberal textbooks, particularly in history, and social studies.  All textbooks are, shall I use the word "tainted", with a liberal slant.  Zombie has just posted a third part of a series called, Indoctrination Nation. Here are a couple of excerpts from today's essay.

While the media generally goes into hysterics every time the Texas State Board of Education meets, with commentators hurling mockery, outrage and vitriol at the board members, there is a total lack of interest when other states’ boards of education meet for the same purpose. Yet Texas is not the only state that influences the content of American schooling: a few other states also determine textbook standards that end up being used in other parts of the country. California, in particular, is also an important textbook market for publishers. Yet mysteriously, one never hears of any controversy erupting when the California State Board of Education meets to decide the content of textbooks used throughout the state and in many other school districts around the country which shun the Texas-approved textbooks.

.......the textbooks approved by the California State Board of Education are even more politicized than Texas textbooks, and more ideologically biased. So: Why does the media ignore what happens in California textbooks? Because the state’s bias goes the other way. California-approved social studies textbooks are politically correct in the extreme, with multiculturalism and “social justice” as the defining characteristics. The pressure groups and board members setting policy for California’s (and hence a substantial portion of America’s) textbooks exceed their Texan counterparts in their extremism, but since California pushes the “correct” kind of extremism, you never hear about it.

As pointed out in this article written by a textbook editor,

To make the list in California, books must be scrupulously stereotype free: No textbook can show African Americans playing sports, Asians using computers, or women taking care of children. Anyone who stays in textbook publishing long enough develops radar for what will and won’t get past the blanding process of both the conservative and liberal watchdogs.

        More on this in a moment.

But first let’s look at another example cited in this essay by The American Textbook Council, illuminating what has happened to California’s (and the nation’s) curriculum in recent decades. If you’re young enough to have experienced this kind of schooling yourself, the example below will not be a surprise to you; but if you’re over a certain age, and haven’t been paying attention to changes in American education, you’ll scratch your head at some of the names in this textbook’s list of America’s greatest heroes:

Editors [at Houghton Mifflin] were put in the hands of revisionist historians, Islamist activists, and diversity counters. … Its eighth-grade history, Creating America, produced by Houghton Mifflin’s McDougal Littell imprint, … identifies ten representative American heroes:
Abigail Adams
Crispus Attucks
Andrew Jackson
Queen Liluokalanai
Abraham Lincoln
Juan Seguin
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
George Washington
Ida B. Wells
Zitkala-Sa

In fact this list is highly unrepresentative of American history. This “American history” cobbled together from “representative” national heroes conforms to multicultural ideology, but it fails. The continuing effort to make diversity along lines of gender and ethnicity into the essence of the national past comes up short and cheapens the narrative.

If you've read this far you know you need to read the rest, including Part I, and Part II.

Another of the things GB was talking about

The Anchoress has some wonderful people blogging for her while she heads to Rome.
Here is an excerpt from one of the posts on:

Vocation, Education, Digital Televisions: the Late Late Show
by Sally Thomas:

Back in the summer — it already seems like a hundred years ago — my teenager went to one of those college programs which promise the motivated high-school student an entire liberal-arts education distilled to a two-week elixir. She had a great time and came back talking about Flannery O’Connor, which I’d been trying to get her to do for, oh, ever or so.

One night over dinner with her twenty-six new best friends, the talk turned to the subject of what everyone wanted to be when he or she grew up. The girls, one by one, announced that they wanted to be lawyers. One girl said she wanted to go into politics, maybe. A few other girls thought they’d like to do some corporate kind of job.

At last my daughter’s turn came. “Well,” she said, “I want to be a mom.

There was a silence. Finally someone asked, “Then why are you here?”

“Because I think the basic unit of society ought to be educated,” my daughter said.

It makes you want to read the rest doesn't it? Go here.