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.