The Village of Lake Bluff celebrates Memorial Day in a big way!

Posted by Nancy J. Thorner , May 26, 2014 at 06:58 PM

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Wreath laying ceremony – Lake Bluff Memorial to those who have sacrificed their lives.

In an atmosphere reminiscent of a New England town complete with a gazebo, it was a picture-perfect day as Lake Bluffers flocked to the Lake Village Green to observe Memorial Day as a US federal holiday to remember the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.  Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.  By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service.  The Lake Bluff event was sponsored by American Legion Post 510, David Cimarrusti, Commander.

Just down the road from Great Lakes Navy Base on Sheridan Road, the Village of Lake Bluff is honored each year to have the 21-gun “Salute to Fallen Comrades” performed by the Marine Air Control Group 48 Firing Detail.  Resplendent in their military uniforms. the ceremony never fails to capture the undivided attention of both young and old alike.

This year’s guest speaker was Lt. Col. Stacy Flippin, Staff Judge Advocate, United States Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM), headquartered in North Chicago.  There are 65 MEPCOM locations throughout the U.S. through which men and women must pass on their way to basic training.

Lt. Col. Flippin spoke about the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, as a “slice of life” in the military not captured on TV on in the movie theater.  The Army JAG corps was founded by Gen. George Washington in 1775.  Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called Judge Advocates.  They serve as legal advisors to the command to which they are assigned, also serving as prosecutors for the military when conducting court-martials.  As Judge Advocates, members are soldiers first and lawyers second.   As a way to keep the commitment and sacrifice of seven JAG Corp members alive who died while serving their county, Lt. Col. Flippin highlighted their service and the year of their ultimate  sacrifice.

Other highlights included the participation of Lake Bluff Boy Scout Troop 42 in the raising of the flag; recitation of the “Gettysburg Address” by Ursula Nugent, Student Council president of the Lake Bluff Middle School; and the Lake Forest High School Band conducted by Jenene Kessler.

Noteworthy, and a Memorial Day tradition, was the reciting of “In Flanders Fields,” by long-time  Lake Bluff resident, Esther Fetherolf, a poem written during the First World War.  Despite Esther’s age and her obvious frailness, her voice was strong and filled with pride as she recited the poem from memory.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In the absence of State Senator Julie Morrison, D-29th District and State Representative Scott Drury, D-58th District, the Necrology was read by Thomas Dickelman, Minister, Community Church, Lake Forest-Lake Forest and Kathy O’Hara, President, Lake Bluff Village Board.  Senator Morrison and Representative Scott Drury were needed down in Springfield to vote on whether to make permanent what was billed as a temporary income tax hike, as well as a possible vote on The Equal Rights Amendment — approved by the Senate last Friday — which would have destructive effects on both women and men, their families, and our society.

Prior to the Wreath Ceremony, Post 510 Commander David Cimarrusti had these closing thoughts to say, but not before reminding those gathered not to forget our Wounded Warriors who have paid a lasting and sometimes horrific price for their service.

“We are fortunate to have an all voluntary force to take up arms. Thanks for being here to honor those men and women who gave so much through the ages.  May we never allow to slip from our minds that freedom is not free.”

ERA, harmful to both women and men, must fail in IL House

 

Phyllis Schlafly

By Nancy Thorner & Elizabeth Clarke – 

Of importance is knowing the history of the Equal Rights Amendment, yet unfinished business for the Constitution, as a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA was written by suffragist leader Alice Paul in 1923 as the next step after the woman’s right to vote was guaranteed by the 19th Amendment in 1920. Between 1923 and 1972 the ERA was introduced into every Congress, when it finally passed and was sent to the states for ratification. The original seven-year time limit in the ERA’s proposing clause was extended by Congress for three years to June 30, 1982.  But even with the controversial extension of an additional three years, only 35 states had ratified ERA by the 1982 deadline, three states short of the 38 required to add to the Constitution (States that that did not ratify the ERA amendment back in 1982 were:  Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.).

Should Illinois and two other states ratify the amendment to net the required 38 states, its constitutionality is in question. Receiving a death blow back in 1982 when ERA could only muster the votes of 35 states despite the problematic extension, resurrecting the amendment would call for Congress to start the process all over again.

A conservative icon, Phyllis Schlafly, has been on hand since the ERA amendment was first introduced in the Illinois Capitol in 1972. As related in an Illinois Review article on Thursday, May 22, the day the Equal Rights Amendment finally passed the Illinois Senate, forty-two years later it took two Republicans to provide the 39 votes required to pass ERA despite the Senate Democrat’s super-majority. Providing the two votes were Minority Leader Christine Radogno and State Senator Kirk Dillard.

With a 39-11 vote, the Illinois Senate voted by more than the necessary three-fifths margin of elected senators, as required by state law, to ratify ERA. If it moves forward in the state House, Illinois will become the 36th state to ratify the ERA.

As said Illinois Senator Heather Stearns on the Senate floor who has previously supported proposals for the state to adopt the amendment:

Ratification is not just a hugely important symbolic step but a move to establish women’s rights as a bedrock principle in the Constitution.  From equal pay to equal access to health care, freedom from gender-based discrimination should be the law of the land and not subject to political whims. Equal rights are not a fad; they’re in the fabric of our nation, and the ERA confirms that.

Senator Stearn’s statement is a bogus claim being kept alive by feminists and others. There is already equal pay for men and women who work at the identical job with the same number of hours!  In a recent May 22, 2014 Heritage Foundation report experts Rachel Grezler and James Sherk highlight the success of free enterprise in shrinking the gender pay gap. Their new report shows how differences in pay reflect not systematic bias, as liberals claim, but different choices made by individual men and women.

On May 23, a subsequent article was published at Illinois Review that suggested the ERA revival was a back door to legalizing same sex marriage nationwide.  Phyllis Schlafly was quoted with a simple argument which seems somewhat outdated given the way the time-tested and Biblical  definition of marriage is presently being redefined.

ERA would make all federal and state laws sex neutral.  If two men show up and say we want a marriage license and [the person] says ‘you’re both men, I’m not giving it to you,’ that would be discriminatory.

Few realize that the Equal Rights Amendment approved by the Illinois Senate of Friday, May 23, and which the House will shortly take up, is the same amendment that failed to garner the required votes of 38 states back in 1982.

Given the number of Democratic women in the Senate who voted for the ERA amendment, with the lone Republican Minority Leader Christine Radogno, were they all of mistaken persuasion that ERA only stands for women’s rights. Shame also on Republican State Senator Kirk Dillard for not understanding that ERA also affects men in adverse ways.

This brochure, “ERA — Do You Know What It Means?”, was originally written and published in the 1970’s by the National Council of Catholic Women.  It is still accurate today.  Instead of giving rights to woman (ERA invalidates all state and federal laws which impose different obligations on men and women.), ERA would harm woman in multiple ways. Sixteen areas of harm to women are presented in this brochure. 

Elizabeth Clarke, a long-time friend of Phyllis Schlafly, fought the good fight with Phyllis back in 1972.  Following is what Elizabeth shared with me.

The IL. House is going to vote on a Constitutional amendment soon.  Constitutional amendments are permanent.  They are the supreme law of the country, so should be researched, thought about and considered, “do I really want to live under a completely sex blind system?  Might there be some places men need privacy from women? Or women needing places where men cannot go?”  

The proposed Equal Rights Amendment was researched by Yale College Law professor Thomas Emerson.  His conclusion is that “the amendment MUST BE APPLIED COMPREHENSIVELY AND WITHOUT EXCEPTION”. 

For example, I was at the mall walking along when a good looking young man came out of a store.  He was furious!   I went into the store to ask what had happened? The store had a big “help wanted” sign in its window.  It was a maternity shop.  The owner said the young man wanted the advertised job.   But she refused him.  She said her customers would not want him in the dressing room with them as they tried on maternity clothes, or helping them fasten corsets so she would not hire him.

If ERA were the law of the land she would HAVE to hire him.  Many people tell me, “Oh, but there would be exceptions for those situations”.  NO THERE WOULD NOT.    

Do we really want such an inflexible law?  Do we really want all sports teams required to try out women or men on women’s teams?  Do we really want patients in hospitals assigned to rooms on the basis of their ailment without consideration of whether the roommates would be of the same sex?

Illinois liberal lawmakers showed their corruption and willingness to break Senate rules of procedure by rushing the ERA to a Senate floor vote.  Normally the Senate rules require three separate days of ‘reading a bill’ during a Senate session before they bring it up for a vote.  Rather than follow the rules, they rushed the bill to the floor, held a brief debate for such a monumental issue, and voted to pass the bill by 39 votes (with the help of Radogno and Dillard) with 11 voting against and 9 voting present or not voting, which equals a no vote. Some chose to protest the bill by refusing to vote.

As the bill is already in the house, there will likely be an effort to push quickly for a vote. Please contact your state representative immediately by both email and phone to urge them against this destructive amendment.  Then reach out to all you know to encourage them to speak up.  This bill will have tremendously destructive effects on women, their families and our society, and will also affect men.

Please also take a moment to thank your state senator if they voted against the bill by voting “no” “present,” or “not voting.”  They deserve our thanks!  Call the Capitol switchboard after 1 p.m. on Memorial Day at  217-782-2000 and ask to be connected with your own State Representative, urging a No vote on ERA.

Sunday, May 25, 2014 at 02:37 PM | Permalink

Technorati Tags: ERA, Illinois Review

Shocking Far Reaching Tentacles of Common Core

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

By Nancy Thorner – 

For most individuals, what is next revealed will be the most shocking aspect of Dr. Duke Peta’s revelations during his presentation titled, “Common Core: Dangers and Threats, as the featured speaker at a Northern Illinois Patriot’s meeting on Tuesday, May 13: “The National Sexuality Education Standards – Core Contents and Skills, K-12”, published January, 2012. These standards were developed to address the inconsistent implementation of sexuality education nationwide and the limited time allocated to teaching the topic. As with the Math and Language Arts, the idea is to create a universal standard.

Does the federal government have any business teaching sex? Five and six year old students must be able to define different kinds of family structure. By seven, students must be able to define how boys and girls are supposed to act. Might this infer that a boy is a boy or a girl a girl simply because culture made them that way? The National Sexuality Education Standards won’t be introduced as a separate curriculum, but will be woven into the teaching of other Common Core subjects.

On page 12 of The National Sexuality Education Standards: By the end of 2nd grade, students should be able to: Use proper names for body parts, including male and female anatomy.

On page 14:  By the end of 5th grade, students should be able to: Describe male and female reproductive systems including body parts and their functions. Identify medically-accurate information about female and reproductive anatomy. Define sexual orientation as the romantic attraction of an individual to someone of the same gender or a different gender. 

On page 9 under “Guiding Values and Principles”: Students need opportunities to engage in cooperative and active learning strategies, and sufficient time must be allocated for students to practice skills relating to sexuality education.

A father was rightly upset with this sexual education poster hanging in the classroom of his 13-year old middle school student with this title: “How do people express their sexual feelings?”

Then there is the privacy invasion of Data Mining which was created as part of the nationalized Common Core standards scheme, funded with Obama stimulus money, with grants also coming from the liberal Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The feds want to use schools to catalog “attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, and intrapersonal resources, independent of intellectual ability,” all under the guise of education. Per agreement, every state signing on to receive 2009 stimulus funds were mandated to share student information with the federal government. Personally identifiable information will be extracted from each student, including parents’ names, address, Social Security Number, date of birth, place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.

Under “Guidance for Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS),” a detailed plan for “data stewardship” in education, sensitive information will likewise be gathered which delves into the intimate details of students’ lives, such as 1) Political affiliations or beliefs of the student or parent, 2) Mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family, 3) Sex behavior or attitudes, and 4) Religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent.

It gets creepier yet!  There have been reports of the use of student-monitoring techniques such as “functional magnetic resonance imaging” and “using cameras to judge facial expressions, an electronic seat that judges posture, a pressure-sensitive computer mouse, and a biometric wrap on kids’ wrists.”  These devices are not yet in use here in Illinois, but they are being employed in states where Common Core standards have been around for several years.

Many states are experiencing sticker shock at the cost of implementing Common Core. It is estimated that states will spend up to an estimated $10 billion up front, then as much as $800 million per year for the first seven years that Common Core is up and running. Much of the additional cost is for Common Core-aligned textbooks and curriculum, as well as teacher training, technology upgrades (computers are needed), testing and assessment. This additional expense comes at a time when many states and school districts are struggling to stay afloat. These massive, unfunded mandates will undoubtedly fall on the backs of taxpayers.

According to child psychologist, Dr. Megan Koschnick, Common Core standards are developmentally and age inappropriate. You can watch the video here of Dr. Koschnick’s full presentation given at a conference held at the University of Notre Dame on September 9 by the American Principles Project (APP), in conjunction with thePioneer Institute and the Heartland Institute.

As related by Dr. Megan Koschnick during her presentation;

Instead of thinking about what’s developmentally appropriate for kindergarteners, they are thinking [college] is where we want this kindergartener to end up, so let’s back track down to kindergarten and have kindergarteners work on these skills from an early age. This can cause major stress for the child because they are not prepared for this level of education.

Heartland Institute’s Joy Pullman had this to say:

Dr. Koschnick’s analysis makes it clear what other early childhood professionals have said: Common Core asks small children to behave like little adults, and they are not little adults. Anyone who cares for a small child could tell you this. This is a further consequence of the Common Core lead writers’ lack of experience and professional reputation, and of its committees excluding experts in early childhood.

Educators are under so much pressure to prepare students for the upcoming Common Core-aligned standardized tests – the PARCC exam to debut in 2015 – they are ramping up math and reading instruction and eliminating a number of other activities from the school day.  The result: Students in the early grades are feeling so “bogged down” that “during the last hour of the day, they’re unteachable.”

As to the stress students are experiencing, young elementary students are hiding out in school bathrooms as a way of coping with stress when faced with confusing math problems and other new learning approaches required by Common Core.  Chicago-area parents and a veteran educator aren’t surprised by the recent revelation that one of the city’s pre-K-8 schools is cracking down on kids’ bathroom breaks in order to “maximize student learning and reduce the loss of instructional time.”  Students are also complaining of having headaches or stomach aches.

There are states who are now rethinking the Common Core State Standards they signed up for back in 2010.  But not so fast!  It will not be easy to opt out of Common Core.  As with Obamacare and the push for manmade Global Warming, the Left, and some on the Right, are not going to allow their long-held dreams to be terminated without fighting tooth and nail to keep the programs in place.  Too much time, effort and money has been invested to bring the programs to fruition.  The controversial programs also align with U.N. Agenda 21, which grew out of the Rio Conference of 1992.  G. H. Bush represented the U.S.A at the Conference.

With Common Core, the Gates Foundation has spent more than $170 million to develop and promote the Common Core Standards.   As its biggest nongovernmental backer, Bill Gates is worried about the “bumpy” implementation in some states and some of the political attacks that have been lobbed at the Common Core.  In an attempt to beat back “false claims” lobbed by critics, Bill Gates told several thousand educators gathered for the inaugural conference of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards — a nonprofit organization that runs a voluntary system to certify teachers — to help parents understand the new Common Core academic standards.  Gates suggested that critics were uninformed.

“We the People” still have a voice.  We cannot allow our children to become puppets of a socialist Leftist agenda without putting up a fight.  Our nation’s survival as a free and liberty-loving country depends on what we do today.  Talk with your neighbors and friends, especially those with children in public schools; speak out at school board meetings against Common Core; express your concerns to legislators, state and federal; and write Letters to the Editor to local newspapers about the chilling truth behind Common Core State Standards.

Article 1:  Thorner: Chilling Truth Behind Common Core State Standards, May 20, 2014

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/05/ready-thorner-chilling-truth-behind-common-core-state-standards.html#more

Thorner: Chilling Truth Behind Common Core State Standards

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

By Nancy Thorner – 

On Tuesday, May 13, the Northern Illinois Patriots , President Greg Clements, sponsored Dr.  Duke Pesta, Freedom Project Education Academy Director — an online school offering a complete classical education for students from Kindergarten through High School, free from public school spin and Common Core indoctrination — as its featured speaker at Austin’s Saloon and Eatery, 481 Peterson Road in Libertyville. Dr. Pesta’s topic:  “Common Core:  Dangers and Threats.”

As a teacher himself, Dr. Pesta is not anti-teacher despite his negative opinion of Common Core.  If truth be told, many teachers oppose Common Core but are told to keep quiet or lose their jobs.  Pesta received his MA in Renaissance literature from John Carroll University and his Ph.D. in Shakespeare and Renaissance literature from Purdue University.

He has taught at major research institutions and small liberal arts colleges, and has been active in education reform, developing and implementing an elective Bible course that is currently available for public high school students in Texas. Currently he is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh in addition to his role as Academic Director of Freedom Project Education.

The chilling truth behind the new national standards are sure to terrify you, as they did to those who attended the Northern Illinois Patriots event.  A question Dr Pesta asks at the beginning of each of his events is how many are familiar with Common Core?  As is the case most often, 90 to 95% are still foggy about the nature of Common Core.

Dr. Duke Pesta, using research done by others, presented Common Core as the drive it is toward complete government control of our children’s education through a series a slides and commentary titled,  “Common Core:  Dangers and Threats.”   Dr. Pesta considers Common Core a hugely bi-partisan problem. In Wisconsin Republicans refused to allow a vote to be held on Common Core legislation.  Nationally, Jeb Bush and Chris Christy are in total support of Common Core, as is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Duke Pesta divided his presentation into three parts

Part 1:  How did Common Core come about?   a Research Fellow in Education at the Heartland Institute

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) implies that that all states were consulted before they signed on to Common Core, as though it were a democratic thing instead of Banana Republic tactics. Not so!  Joy Pullman, a Research Fellow in Education at the Heartland Institute, traces the writing of Common Core back to five individuals.  One of its writers, David Coleman is considered the chief architect of Common Core. According to Dr. Pesta, Coleman is not qualified to write on any subject. Worrisome is that Coleman has since moved on to become president of the College Board where he will integrate the AP assessments with Common Core standards.

Hence, the curriculum was written by a small group of individuals and then copyrighted by two Washington lobbyists group, making it devoid of any government ownership. This is important because the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Acts was the first federal attempt to regulate and finance schools. In 1979 the law that created the Department of Education forbids it to exercise “any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum” or “program of instruction” of any school system.  The mechanism of control were the tests all students had to take to be written by the people who created Common Core. To pass the tests, the Common Core curriculum had to be taught. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $170 million to support the creation and implementation of Common Core State Standards. To date they have contributed $2.5 billion.

But there is no way Common Core could have been brought into the nation’s schools given that it was the product of a small group of activists supported by billionaire Bill Gates.  As background, in 2001, President G.W. Bush came up with “No Child Left Behind” which he gave over to Senator Ted Kennedy to write.  “No Child Left Behind” was a disaster from the beginning as it was based on “outcome” education, which is akin to socialism.  Every single child was expected to meet the same arbitrary standard through high stakes testing.

Fast forward to 2009. President Obama is now in office. It was in 2009 that President Obama took $5.1 billion of taxpayer money and offered it to states to sign on to his “Race to the Top” program.  The catch:  If states accepted “Race to the Top” money they had to accept Common Core State Standards (CSSS) sight unseen.   Additionally, a waiver was granted to states so they could opt out of Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program if they signed on to Obama’s” Race to the Top” program.

Forty-four states agreed to trade their K-12 math and English targets and tests for those of the Common Core’s State Standards yet to be written. Now that CC is in place, in some states longer than others, Dr. Pesta looks upon Common Core as “No Child Left Behind of steroids.” He also refers to Common Core as a social justice curriculum that comes before the ABC’s.  Remaining at its core is a one-size fits all definition of education.  But what if the high standards can’t be met?  It becomes obvious that the only way to get more children to the same place is in time to lower standards.

Part 2:  Nature of Common Core Curriculum

Although it is often said that Common Core is not a curriculum but a set of standards, Common Core standards are being put into textbooks which then become curriculum.  Pierson, as the largest education product sales company on earth, has a monopoly on education products, including textbooks.  This month Bill Gates — the second richest man on earth who almost single-handedly funded and marketed the entire Common Core movement going back to UNESCO and its goal to bring a master curriculum worldwide — has joined forces with Piersen to create a one size fits all curriculum.  Although it is claimed that states can deviate 15% from what is being taught in other states, if this were true there would have to be a different test for each state.

Dr. James Milgram, professor of mathematics at Stanford University, and Dr. Sandra Stotsky, professor emerita at the University of Arkansas and former Senior Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Education, as members of the Common Core Validation Review Panel were the only experts on the panel in their subject area.  Both Milgram a math expert and Stotsky an English expert refused to give Common Core Math and English standards, respectively, a good recommendation as did the rest of the panel.  Both have gone on to testify with a warning voice to state legislatures and school boards about the inadequacy of the standards.

Hear Dr. Milgram talk about “What happened to Math education and why Common Core won’t help.”

James Mlgram points out these flaws of the new Core Curriculum math standards:

• By the end of fifth grade the material being covered in arithmetic and algebra in Core Standards is more than a year behind the early grade expectations in most high achieving countries.  By the end of seventh grade Core Standards are roughly two years behind.

• Core Mathematics Standards are written to reflect very low expectations and do not reflect the mathematics education that underlie the results in the high achieving countries.  The explicitly stated objective is to prepare students not to have to take remedial mathematics courses at a typical community college.

Common Core applies a never before seen methodology in the way common math problems are solved.  Parents can no longer help their children with simple addition and subtraction not understanding the system. Staking of numbers is no longer permitted, instead children must draw dots, circles, squares, etc., to come up with the answer.

Dr. Pesta used as a demonstration a Champion News video of a Grayslake D46 Curriculum Coordinator relating how under the new Common Core math system if a child determines that 3 + 4 is 11, that’s perfectly fine if the child is able to explain how he arrived at the answer. Even if a child can do math beyond his grade level, he must stay put and not try to move to a higher level.

Dr. Sandra Stotsky has come to refer to Common Core standards as propaganda.  Hear Dr. Sandra Stotsky describe “What are the major problems with Common Core English Standards?”

Dr. Stotsky’s concerns about Common Core can be read here.

• Common Core is a step backwards for English Standards.  The architects of Common Core’s English Language Arts standards never claimed that their standards would do so; rather, they claimed the standards would make all students “college-ready,”

• Common Core English standards require English teachers to emphasize skills, not literary or cultural knowledge, such as how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text at all grade levels, which may lead to a decreased capacity for analytical thinking.

• Common Core standards require English teachers to teach “informational” texts over 50% of their reading instructional time rather than literary texts.  There are, however, 30 book sexually unfit for high school kids to read on the Common Core approved reading list, one such book for the 11th grade: The Bluest Eye.

• Writing is emphasized more than reading, but kids only learn to write well after they can read well.  When writing they will most likely write what they read in their textbooks such as the global warming threat, ways to save the planet, or a denial of American exceptionalism.

Here is Dr. Pesta’s anti-Common Core Speech similar to the one he presented at Austin’s on Tuesday, May 13.

Article 2:  “Shocking Far Reaching Tentacles of Common Core” as referenced in 3rd part of Dr. Peta’s presentation on Common Core sponsored by Northern Illinois Patriots Tuesday, May 13.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 10:00 AM | Permalink

 

 

 

Thorner: Kibbe’s key to liberty – “Don’t Hurt People And Don’t Take Their Stuff”

By Nancy Thorner – 

Freedom Works’ CEO Matt Kibbe’s new book Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff was the topic of discussion Tuesday at Heartland Institute, and due to flight delays and re-direction the author himself had to reschedule his presentation for Wednesday. However, having read Kibbe’s book Joe Bast, CEO of the Heartland Institute, and Jim Lakely, ably filled in for Kibbe’s absence in a discussion about liberty.

Joe Bast described Kibbe as a full-fledged, hard core libertarian, who, as his book reveals, came to his libertarianism through the music of Rush. The title of the first cd Kibbe bought was “2112” in 1977 when he was only 13.  Thereafter, Kibbe became obsessed with the music of Rush. Two songs that intrigued and inspired Kibbe on “2112”  were, “You don’t get something for nothing” and “You can’t buy freedom for free.”

Bast then went on to describe, as set forth in Chapter 8 of his book, Kibbe’s twelve-step policy agenda to promote positive, innovative ideas that would improve people’s lives by letting them be free, by spending less of your hard-earned money on someone else’s favors, by letting you choose, and by treating us all equally under the laws of the land.  Such ideas might be considered radical stuff to some!  Bast described the twelve steps as “a quick agenda for what conservatives and libertarians want to achieve.”

1. Comply With The Laws You Pass.
2. Stop Spending Money We Don’t Have.
3. Scrap The Tax Code.
4. Put Patients In Charge.
5. Choice, Not Conscription. 
6. End Insider Bailouts.
7. Let Parents Decide best educational needs for their children.
8. Respect My Privacy without fear of government snooping.
9. End The Fed Monopoly with its lack of supervision or oversight. 
10. Avoid Entangling Alliances.
11. Don’t Take People’s Stuff.
12. Defend Your Right To Know.

Joseph Bast thereafter invited Jim Lakely into the discussion by inquiring, “Jim, What do you think?”

Lakely let it be known that Rush didn’t influence his political conservative leanings, although as a drummer in his youth he was familiar with the music of Rush. Jim Lakely rightly chose to speak about Matt Kibbe’s’ six “Rules for Liberty” as set forth in Kibbe’s book, for according to Kibbe, “Everyone should be free to live their lives as they think best, free from meddling by politicians and government bureaucrats, as long as they don’t hurt other people, or take other people’s stuff. . . These rules don’t permit gray-suit middlemen to rearrange things for your special benefit, or against your personal preferences arbitrarily.”

1. Don’t Hurt People.
2. Don’t Take People’s Stuff.
3. Take Responsibility.
4. Work For It.
5. Mind Your Own Business.
6. Fight The Power.  (As Lord Acton warned:  “Power tends to corrupt” and “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”)

How totally different, expressed Jim Lakely, were Kibbs’ “Rules for Liberty” in comparison to community organizer Saul Alinsky’s thirteen “Rules for Radicals” as created for his followers, among them being two of his fellow Chicagoans, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Alinsky’s rules are all about destroying anyone who gets in the way of reorganizing society.

Jim Lakely considers Alinsky’s Rule #13 as being the most dangerous.  It is the rule used by Global Warming alarmists against The Heartland Institute, a denier of manmade Global Warming stemming from CO2 emissions, as a means to the end of getting all opposition out of the way.  Demonizing the opposition, said Lakely, also allows “your [global warming alarmists] people to think of themselves as angels.”

 Alinsky’s Rule #13: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Following comments by Joe Bast and Jim Lakely, Bast opened up the discussion to those in attendance, but not before acknowledging that there were both conservatives and libertarians in the room, and that there could be many issues concerning liberty about which both groups of individuals would be in strong disagreement with each another. It was then that Bast reminded all how Ronald Reagan described his political philosophy when questioned by Manny Klausner of “Reason” magazine in 1975, the account of which is on pp. 217 – 218 of Matt Kibbe’s book:

If you analyze it. I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.  I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories.  The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

Questions addressed to Joe Bast and Jim Lakely:

• Of the internet and how the very concept of the Internet is libertarian? Joe Bast had some negative views of the Internet such as 1) the infiltration by Wikipedia by radical groups and 2) how Google is becoming more influential behind the scenes (When googling “Global Warming,” there are many pages to go through before the work of the Heartland Institute is ever mentioned.).  Jim Lakely, however, pronounced the Internet as a way to gather information quickly and easily in a process that before the Internet took a long time to do by using the library and the encyclopedia for research.  Agreed upon was that although the Internet is a useful way to exchange ideas, it has also made easy the dissemination of hate mail.

• Of the lack of respect for the institution of marriage that has endured from the beginning of time, how those believing in marriage are now labeled homophobic, and how the conversation has become so much more course in the public debate?  Also noted was how Kibbe’s book didn’t discuss the sanctity of marriage.   In reflecting Joe Bast reasoned: Conservatives and Libertarians felt for a long time that not having much of a stake in elections, they didn’t need to come out in force to vote, resulting in a loss of ground to the other side.

• Of the tendency among conservatives and libertarians not to fight back? Jim Lakely pointed out how tolerance isn’t tolerated the way it used to be.  Lakely then inquired as to when the determination was made that debate was no longer possible? Now all is a matter of life and death and when political views offensive to the other side can cost you your job.  A word to Republicans:  We are not in a debate, we are in a war!  The Left is attempting to stamp down counter opinions that defy what it believes and that which it wishes the public to believe. 

Download here a free chapter of Matt Kibbe’s book, Don’t Hurt People And Don’t Take Their stuff (A Libertarian Manifesto), as well as how to place an order and to listen to video interviews of Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and others. Matt Kibbe’s “New York Times” Bestseller was in stores on April 1, 2014, and can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and Books-A-Million.

Friday, May 16, 2014 at 09:22 AM | Permalink

Technorati Tags: Heartland Institute, Illinois Review, Matt Kibbe, Nancy Thorner

Thorner: Com Ed’s smart meters poke holes in privacy walls

Friday, May 09, 2014

By Nancy Thorner – 

Historical background: It was on January 17, 2008 that President Obama said, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Cap-and-Trade legislation was voted down in the U.S. Senate in April of 2009, despite the heaviest in the nation lobbying efforts by Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (John Rowe, CEO at the time.) to pass Cap and Trade legislation. Commonwealth Edison, commonly known as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, serving the Chicago and Northern Illinois area. It is a unit of the Chicago’s Exelon Corporation. As such, Exelon supplies the power; ComEd sells the power.

With the failure of Cap-and-Trade legislation, so-called smart meters (representing a power takeover), are being forced upon consumers by electric utilities, including Illinois’ ComEd, as just another technology that will achieve government-sponsored extortion of American citizens. It was in 2009 that the U.S. government allocated $11B of taxpayer funds from the 2009 bailout package to develop a “smart” grid, including “smart” meters for every home’s electricity, gas and water. Accordingly, smart meters have now become an integral part of the infrastructure to implement U.N. Agenda 21, the resulting document of the 1992 Rio Conference in Brazil (Informal name: The Earth Summit), whose principal themes are the environment and sustainable development. President George H. Bush represented this nation, along with 172 other nations, 108 at the level of heads of State or Government.

Smart meter defined:   Smart meters are digital meters utilities are using to replace current mechanical meters. As smart meters can control the amount of energy used, their use ties in with the Obama administration’s efforts to reign in CO2 emissions as the cause of manmade Global Warming.  While both look similar, a mechanical meter has a rotating wheel to calculate energy usage in contrast to a smart meter which uses a digital read out.  That is where the similarity ends.  As this article cites:

Smart meters may be “smart” but they are not private.  Once a smart meter is attached to a home, it can tell how many people live in the house, when they get up, when they go to bed, and when they aren’t home.  I can tell how many showers they take and loads of laundry they do, how often they use the microwave and how much and what kind of TV they watch.  The information gathered from your house is sent to a neighborhood smart meter which then wirelessly transmits your information to a municipal network and to the national network which is the Smart Grid.

Where smart meters have already been installed, some utility companies have already established three main time categories at which kilowatt hours will be billed:  on peak, mid-peak and off-peak, with peak time almost twice as expensive as off-peak time. As off-peak is often given at 9:00 at night, keeping electric bills down would mean cooking, bathing, running the washer or dryer, having heat or air conditioning until after 9:00 at night. There is every possibility that eventually the utility companies will control how much energy we use and when. Going a step further, it is not unreasonable to believe that in the future smart chip-equipped appliances could be developed that could be shut off remotely.

Evidence of health and property damage:  There are already hundreds of thousands of cases against various utility companies because of the detrimental health effects of smart meters.  As stated by Dr. De-Kum Li, a respected Kaiser Permanente scientist, “Utilities and industry simply haven’t done any studies to show that “smart” meters are safe.  Not one.” Heed this report as to the evidence of health damage:

Tens of thousands of individuals are reporting officially, to governments and utilities, that they are experiencing illness or functional impairment following the installation of ‘smart’ meters.  Reported symptoms include headaches, sleep problems, ear ringing, focus difficulties, fatigue, heart palpitations, nausea and statistically abnormal recurrences of cancer.  According to court-ordered documentation, and independent testing, utilities have been proven to be lying about how often “smart” meters transmit bursts of microwave radiation.  Depending on the utility their claims is typically something like ‘4 to 6 times per day’ (Pepco), or  ’45-60 seconds per day’ (PG&E)  —  whereas courts and independent testing reveal that meters are transmitting in the range of 10,000 to 190,000 pulsed microwave transmissions per day. 

The amount of transmitted microwave radiation has been measured up to 200 times greater (if one is standing next to the meter) than the Building Biology standard threshold for ‘extreme concern.’

Incredible as it may seem almost none of the meters, mostly made in China, have been tested or approved by UL or an equivalent standards body, leading to well over a thousand home fires linked to smart meters and tens of thousands of other individuals experiencing appliance breakages in their home.  Because there is no UL approval of smart meters, homeowners have no guarantee of coverage and often are left to deal the expense of damage and repair.  Since everything we plug in has been tested and checked before we purchase it, why would smart meters not require the same UL approval?  It just so happens that the federal government has waived that requirement for the utilities.

As with the phasing out of the Edison light bulb only to be replaced by mostly imported CFL bulbs from China which are not to be disposed of in the normal way because of the mercury they contain, the push for smart meters over mechanical meters and CFL light bulbs over Edison light bulbs has all to do with controlling the amount of energy we use to limit CO2 emissions, which has become the culprit of manmade climate change with the Obama administration, dovetailing with U.N. Agenda 21.

Commonwealth Ed is coming for you!  ComEd’s Smart Meter Roll-out will affect its customers throughout Illinois.  While ComEd is accelerating the deployment of Smart Meters here in Illinois, the largest Massachusetts electric utility has declared Smart Meters as “irrational.”    With most things our Government gets involved with, it is a lose lose situation for the consumer and for taxpayers   Com Ed is offering a temporary op-out, but the utility has made it very difficult for those wishing to do so.  A fee is also being imposed for opting out.

Bonnie O’Neil, a co-writer with Thorner of a series of six U.N. Agenda 21-related articles published at Illinois Review and Vice President of Eagle Forum in CA, sent me the following information about her hometown and smart meters.

Without any warning, a smart meter was put on all the homes in Newport Beach (and most of the County).  It was located right outside of my office.  The biggest problems regarding health issues surrounding smart meters is usually associated with the meter being by a bed or in an area where there is lots of contact.   I decided to use the “opt out” program to have my meter replaced with one like I had been using previously.  I had to pay a fee and I continue to have an extra fee on my electric bill as a result.  I believe the “opt out” program was allowed in Ca. because there was a growing controversy about smart meters.

Smart meters are not mandated by the federal government.  According to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the utilities may “offer” them and install them “upon customer request” but not force customers to have one installed.

Analog Meters (mechanical meters) function as electro timers and have been safely used for decades, and they still work. Smart meters are extremely hackable and customers suffer increased utility bills virtually across the board immediately following a “smart” meter installation.  Weather-proofed do not install smart meter sign can be placed next to your mechanical meter.   Six signs are available for purchase, among them, Say NO to Health Effects from Radiation and Say NO to increased utility costs.

Time for pubic action!  A public meeting and screening of “Take Back Your Power,” Josh del Sol’s award-winning documentary, is being held at National Louis University, 850 Warrenville Road, Lisle, IL (Room #145) on Tuesday, May 27.  The program is being sponsored by West Suburban Patriots & Americans for Prosperity.  A Q/A workshop will follow the film. Showtime is 6:45 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.  Although free, donations will be gratefully accepted.  DVD’s of Take Back Your Power, which investigates the erosion of rights in the name of “smart” and “green,” will be available for purchase for $20.  Check out this youtube movie trailer.

The good news is that this master plan of control as envisioned by U.N. Agenda 21, of which one aspect is to install smart meters in virtually all western countries, cannot be achieved if enough individuals simply op out of participating in this nation. The bad news is that Illinois legislators are not interested in addressing the issue. Why? Because their bread is often buttered through campaign donations from ComEd.

What’s at stake is our basic right to life, health, choice and freedom itself.  Say NO to ComEd when it wants to install a smart meter in your home.  Also inform all you know about what smart meters are and why they too must op out.  And by all means, contact your Illinois House and Senate representatives!

Friday, May 09, 2014 at 10:30 AM | Permalink

Thorner: Will House GOP leaders slip a Trojan Horse into National Defense act?

By Nancy Thorner – 

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a United States federal law specifying the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense. This year’s NDAA bill (S.1197, 113 Congress) would become the next in a long series of 51 NDAA bills in a row.

The House Armed Services Committee began its debate of the NDAA bill at the end of last month, with a full committee vote planned for Wednesday, May 7th. It is one of the major pieces of legislation produced out of the House Armed Services Committee.

Of concern is that several Republican House members, Congressman Eric Cantor among them, desperate to pass some sort of legalization of illegal immigrants ahead of November’s elections, have indicated they want to slip this small legalization known as “Enlist Legislation” into the NDAA bill, a sneaky plan indeed! The bill would grant amnesty to illegal aliens who join the military. More importantly the bill could be used as a Trojan Horse by Majority Harry Reed as a vehicle to grant amnesty to millions more once the bill goes to the Senate. Confident in knowing that the NDAA law would have to be passed, Senator Harry Reid could expand this piece meal bit of amnesty into one that would be more sweeping in scope.

It is estimated that the number of people benefiting would be miniscule. The American Legion has already shot down the idea of linking immigration to military service. Isn’t there already a statutory means of allowing illegal aliens to enlist to obtain amnesty?

During Allan West’s one term in Congress representing Florida, he served on the House Armed Services Committee.  As expressed by Alan West last month:

So, it is with great concern that I read reports regarding an addition of language to the House 2014 NDAA that would grant amnesty, something totally unrelated to the mission and requirements of the US military.  It seems politicians are trying to enact a backdoor action and shamefully, they seek to hold hostage the authorization of our military’s operations and support to its vital programs.

We should pay heed to the lesson of history when the Roman army stopped being manned by Roman citizens and was hired out to outliers.  We should NEVER seek to use American citizen ship as an incentive to individuals who have disrespected our borders and are here illegally.

Democrats are salivating at the idea that several House members are seemingly on board for slipping language into the NDAA law that could open the flood gates for granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, which would, in turn, result in millions of more Democratic voters.

It was over the weekend when Vice President Joe Biden extolled immigration as crucial to American innovation” at a college ceremony at Miami Dade College in South Florida. Biden also remarked that a “constant, substantial steam of immigrants” is important to the American economy, urging citizenship for immigrants living in the U.S. and further claiming that “these people are already Americans.”

It is true that immigration is a plus for the economy and for American innovation, but it is legal immigration and not those who sneak across the border illegally who then become a financial drain upon the U.S. economy.  Robert Rector and Christine Kim of the Heritage Foundation calculated that an average low-skilled immigrant household costs federal, local, and state governments $19,588 per year more than it pays in all taxes.

In the 113th Congress the House Armed Services Committee is led by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), with Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) serving as the Ranking Member. Time is running out. Call Rep. Buck McKeon and other Republicans listed as members of the House Armed Services Committee. Tell Republicans “no” to the piecemeal immigration measure that could act as a Trojan Horse for Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.  For that matter, insist on “no” to talking about any  immigration reform until after the southern border is secure.

Monday, May 05, 2014 at 09:15 AM | Permalink

Technorati Tags: Illinois Review, immigration, Nancy Thorner, National Defense Authorization Act

Why Teachers, Parents, and a Comedian Want to “Can Common Core!”

Thursday, May 01, 2014

By Nancy Thorner and Bonnie O’Neil – 

Common Core is appropriately named. It is indeed “common”, and not the exceptional education system its promoters promised. Digging into its core we find problems with its design, philosophy, tactics by which it was implemented, and specific ideology which is liberally peppered throughout the various subjects.

One might speculate how this unproven program was sold to the governors of 45 states, without their having actually seen any of the Common Core curriculum. Much like the Affordable Care Act, Common Core was approved based on lofty promises and without a shred of proof it was superior to the program it replaced.

We do know states accepting Common Core were “forgiven” their contract with “No Child Left Behind”, which was appealing, because many school districts had not met their commitments to that contract and were eager to be excused from their obligations. Also, there was a financial “carrot” via “No Child Left Behind” federal money.

 Big money speaksBill Gates and other big business tycoons saw an opportunity to make millions from the new system and donated huge amounts to help launch and promote it.  However, that was only part of Gates reason and not his real passion. When interviewed on national television, all Gates offered as to why he supported the new education system was the tired standard Common Core talking point that American students needed to compete globally. Hey, our country is a World leader; we already are competitive. What Gates failed to mention is his close association with the United Nations and that he bought into their one-world globalist agenda, which is directly tied to U.N. Agenda 21, Chapter 36 under Education, Public Awareness, and Training”. Common Core is the surreptitious takeover of public education by a handful of liberals, with Bill Gates prominent among them.

Would governors have approved Common Core if they had known beforehand that it embraces the “three E’s of Agenda 21” which will become evident in an article to follow when discussing Common Core standards for Math, Language Arts, History, and Science: 1) Equality, meaning Common good, not individual rights; 2) Economy, meaning redistribution of wealth; and Environment, meaning animals have equal rights or even more rights than humans. That certainly does not sound like the philosophy under which our nation has prospered for centuries

Government control over state violates Constitution

“The philosophy of the classroom of one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next” is a wise statement attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Our wise forefathers knew the potential problems of a federal government or any “elitist” group dictating what every school child learns in classrooms across America, which is why they gave the responsibility of education to each individual state. There is an inherent danger in one small body of people deciding what every student in America will be learning in our schools.

How can any reasonable person not be concerned when Common Core violates the very intent of our Constitution and forefathers warnings? What happens if Common Core proves its critics right and test scores in all 45 states are lower, not higher? We know states, such as New York, that have been using Common Core for a couple of years, have experienced plummeting test scores, unhappy children, and furious parents. A large N.Y. teachers union blamed Common Core for creating education chaos in their state. How do students get back those wasted years?  How will our country redeem the loss?

Little impact on student achievement

A study published last month by the Brookings Institution concluded that the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) will have “little to no impact on student achievement.” Two statistical analysis of states with math mandates like Common Core and those with mandates unlike Common Core found that states whose standards were less like Common Core performed better on national assessments. As to states never adopting the standards (Alaska, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia), the difference in test scores were not noticeable in comparison to those states considered strong implementers of Common Core standards.

Author and journalist Dean Kalahar writes:

Common Core . . . may look delicious, but before you take a bite out of the apple, it might be a good idea to know a razor is inside; furthermore, the foundational philosophy of Common Core is to create students ready for social action so they can force a social-justice agenda.  Is that really what American citizens want for their children’s future? Have we not learned from the mistakes of other once prosperous countries that declined due to their experimenting with Socialism?

Critical thinking emphasized, even if age inappropriate

A prominent claim of Common Core is that students are being taught to be critical thinkers. However, minds of children develop at different paces. Educators have understood that for centuries, which is why curriculum in the past was designed with an age appropriate concept that is lacking in the new program.

The inconvenient truth is our children are being used as guinea pigs. Teachers have not been given appropriate instructions for teaching the new system, and rather than wait until it was thoroughly tested and teachers provided the necessary tools they needed, the experimental program was inflicted on an entire generation of American students, the majority of whom may suffer for many years.

A major concern is the reduced emphasis on memorization skills. Students now have to connect the dots and apply critical thinking in what experts are calling higher-order thinking necessary for preparing students for life after high school. The concern is how much the curriculum actually leads students into forming the author’s pre-planned conclusion. Are they being carefully guided into a desired thought pattern?  Evidence to support those parental concerns will be discussed in a subsequent article.

Remembering the plot of a short story is no longer good enough for children in the elementary grades. Today’s students are being asked to apply critical thinking, even in Kindergarten and 1st Grade.  Consider the American classic “Charlotte’s Web”.  Common Core requires First and Second grade students to understand and explain how the characters see the “world differently.”  Why does Fern see Wilbur in a different way than the Narrator does?  Young students are asked to explain situations beyond their scope of understanding.

Consider a Common Core school assignment which asked children in the 6th grade to remove and replace two of the first ten amendments of the Constitution. The assignment stated that the Bill of Rights is outdated and may not remain in its current form any longer. This would be an impossible task for a 6th grader having no prior training as to how to amend the Constitution, further leading them to believe all that is needed to change the Constitution is a special committee.  In fact, why are young students being given the idea there needs to be changes in our Constitution in the first place?  We were taught that America’s Constitution was a remarkable document which provided us with the most amazing government in the history of our mankind? Curriculum should be planting seeds of national pride, not seeds suggesting a need for change.

Moral teachings questioned and compromised 

Comprehensive sexuality education often goes unchallenged, that is, until people discover what it teachers. A Kansas father was shocked after discovering his 13-year-old daughter’s health curriculum — part of her middle school’s approved curriculum — included a poster on which were references to vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and touching each other’s genitals, only later to discover that it was in line with what other schools around the country are also teaching.  Reporters dubbed this program “x-rated.”  Chicago, the third largest school district in the nation, is leaving no stone unturned. Within two years sex education will be coming to Chicago kindergartners as part of an overhaul of the Chicago public schools sexual health program.

Parents have been expressing concern that part of the critical thinking project is designed for young children to question the morals and teachings they have received at home and church.  One example occurred during a student independent reading time where kids were required to read a book that is “just right”, one girl’s choice was the Bible, but a teacher promptly took the Bible away. Parents encourage their children to respect and obey their teachers; what does an action like that suggest to a classroom of vulnerable minds?  It feels a lot more like what one would expect in Russia, China, or Afghanistan, not the United States of America. Why, what or who would encourage that extreme behavior from a teacher?

Dr. Terry Bratton testified before an Alabama State Education Committee that “the new education measure has a specific and radical agenda.”  He accused Common Core of promoting an acceptance of homosexuality, alternate lifestyles, radical feminism, abortion, illegal immigration, and the redistribution of wealth. That certainly sounds like a liberal’s dream platform.  He went on say that“Alabama places a priority on family and Christian values. We don’t want our kids taught to be anti-Christian and anti-Catholic and anti-America,” said Bratton. “We don’t want our kids to lose their innocence, beginning in preschool and kindergarten, by being taught that homosexuality is okay and should be experienced at an early age.”  I think he speaks for most American parents!

Bratton also railed against what he called ideas of “social justice” woven into the Standards. He said such teachings are “contrary to traditional American notions of justice in the United States Constitution” and lamented that kids were told “America is an unjust and oppressive society that should be changed.” It is unclear if Dr. Bratton provided proof of all his claims.  However, we do know that there is a strong connection between the authors of Common Core and extreme radical education groups whose goal is to teach social justice to students in our schools. This website explains that connection in more detail.

What does history tell us?  (Need to find the link, Bonnie.)

Historian David Barton of Wallbuilders has also made some important points worth considering.  He suggested we look back in history and consider Americas’ first teaching principles. The primary goal was to “teach religion, morality and knowledge”. The second goal was the role of faith in teaching important thinking skills.  The historian noted that religion was so important that new states being admitted to the union were required to embrace “religion, morality and knowledge,” which is why these elements made it into many states’ constitutions.

Barton blamed the 1960s Supreme Court decision for changes that stripped religion out of schools and morality out of society. Soon after that decision, other laws were amended or enacted which allowed for more sexually implicit media opportunities. STDS, underage pregnancies, and violence skyrocketed. The unfortunate “cause and effect” of that specific court decision is obvious and remains evident today. We are all reminded that elections have serious consequences that reverberate through society for decades, causing us to more fully appreciate the importance of an educated voter. While morality is best taught at home, to be more effective, it should be reinforced at school and throughout every other avenue of learning opportunities. Common Core is another step down in our nation’s declining moral state.

Concluding thoughts

You know something is really wrong, when a comedian can no longer laugh or joke about an issue. Consider Louis C.K., who is also a father, and whose children have been adversely affected by Common Core. Check out his story in the New York Daily News.

In conclusion, there is little doubt in our minds that Common Core was developed by a determined group of liberals in accordance with a United Nations education agenda.  No wonder our state governors were not given any facts, examples of curriculum, or proof that this new education system matched their expectations.  But now that the facts are known, where is the massive outcry to stop this radical new education program? Oh, its out there in most every state and gaining momentum.  But there needs to be an even louder and stronger opposition. Will you dedicate some of your time to be a part of that essential movement to stop this liberal agenda?  Contact your state representatives and educate them on the facts, and ask for their help in closing the door to Common Core.

Summary of U.N. Agenda 21 related articles by Nancy Thorner and Bonnie O’Neil: 

Article 1: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/03/thorner-oneil-un-agenda-21-designed-to-spawn-a-one-world-government.html#more

Article 2:  http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/03/thorneroneil-are-you-under-attack-by-un-agenda-21.html#more

Article 3: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/03/un-agenda-21-impacts-private-property-rights-and-freedom-article-3.html#more

Article 4:  http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/04/preamble-common-core-dates-back-to-the-marxist-socialist-paradigm-of-un-charter.html#more

Article 5: http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2014/04/ready-thorner-and-oneil-how-common-core-caused-moms-to-become-activists.html#more

Thursday, May 01, 2014 at 01:30 PM | Permalink