In an article I just read, Ron Paul declares our efforts in Syria and Iraq to be illegal, as well as part of the problem. The rhetoric is clean, and feels well thought out. Reading his words I was lulled a bit into thinking "Yeah, why the hell should we care?" Many commentators on the article suggest that our country needs a man like Ron Paul Some one who looks at things clearly, and without all the hampering of political trappings.
I am lulled enough to almost agree... almost. Then I smell the burning.
If this guy was president, we would have zero foreign policy, no Department of Education, no EPA. no public schools, no SSI, no unemployment insurance, no medical research, no colleges. He's a Libertarian, and the Libertarian views always sound good when you are in the middle of struggles, because they ask, "why are you doing all this stuff? Just stop. It is not our problem."
"Finally, I think that the smallest level of government possible best performs education. Teachers, parents, and local community leaders should be making decisions about exactly how our children should be taught, not Washington bureaucrats." -- Ron Paul
Which sounds good. Until you see what is going on in Texas right now... where every social science book and history text melds biblical rhetoric (most of it wrong) into the fabric of every aspect of our history -- Moses was the founder of our Constitution. Jesus told our founders that everyone is equal under the law, Divine Mandate was our right for slaughter and slavery. Don't believe me? Look for your self:
Of course this presses for home schools or on-line schools, which is the real Libertarian goal for national education. Those of us in the Middle Class would only think this is a good idea if we were non-parents. The 1% just higher a teacher. No worries.
And getting rid of the EPA is a must because they are inconvenient for oil, coal, health, waste and profits because they insist that even if Climate Change isn't real, we still need to breath -- check out China's life without EPA.
However, Climate Change HAS to be false, at all costs, because if it is real, then the EPA has to remain and government has to be seriously involved in our industry and business. So, Climate Change can not be real. The Koch put out millions every year in propaganda and false studies, to insure we remain on the fence about that, and pay off congressmen so they'll act like idiots in hearings. The longer Climate Change is put off, the more money the 1% will make.
Never mind that as of 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement, no scientific body of national or international standing rejected the findings of human-induced effects on climate change. There are fringe people, most of whom do not show their processes or give peer review evidence (or are simply falsifying information), who continue to cry out differences, but no serious group has any doubt that Climate Change is happening, and that it is human-induced.
None of that matters. Business first, health and life second.
Interestingly enough, Ron Paul wants small government, a government with their hands off business and the market, but believes his personal feelings about abortion should be pressed onto women. Back off the Education, and the EPA and the FDA and anything else that stands in the way of a business man doing what he wants to do, but he'll keep is paws inside every woman's womb. Typical.
Ron Paul opposes the War on Drugs. Believes that drugs, and their legality should be a local community issue. -- Like that has ever worked any where in the world, ever.
Ron Paulsupports the elimination of the income tax and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He asserts that Congress had no power to impose a direct income tax and has introduced legislation to repeal of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on February 3, 1913.
"An income tax is the most degrading and totalitarian of all possible taxes. Its implementation wrongly suggests that the government owns the lives and labor of the citizens it is supposed to represent. Tellingly, “a heavy progressive or graduated income tax” is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto, which was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and first published in 1848." -- Ron Paul
Which sounds good, unless you believe the government should have things like a military, boarder patrols, roads, hospitals, emergency response for disasters, and just about anything else. And yes, Income tax is Plank #2 of the Communist Manifesto. So what?
In the year 10 AD, Emperor Wang Mang of the Xin Dynasty instituted an unprecedented income tax, at the rate of 10 percent of profits, for professionals and skilled labor. He was overthrown 13 years later in 23 AD and earlier policies were restored during the reestablished Han Dynasty which followed.
One of the first recorded taxes on income was the Saladin tithe introduced by Henry II in 1188 to raise money for the Third Crusade.
The inception date of the modern income tax is typically accepted as 1799. This income tax was introduced in Britain by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798, to pay for weapons and equipment for the French Revolutionary War.
... so it isn't an invention of the Communist Manifesto, as Ron Paul (the Transparent) implies with his statement.
Another thing Ron Paul isn't being Transparent about is that Libertarian politics is only a small step up from Anarchy. So no, he wouldn't engage in the Middle East, and he wouldn't care at all that your child needed to eat, or that a plague came into our country, or that medical research needed to be done to save millions. Let the world burn. He's fine with that.
According to an article on Chalk Beat, the topic of the AP History program in Colorado was already discussed by the State Board of Education only a short while ago (Sept 10, 2014) and matter settled. How is it that the Jeffco School Board, and Julie Williams are able to bring this up again? What is the grounds Julie Williams is using to disregard the State Education Board who have already discussed and approved of these lessons, and discuss them again?
The new AP “framework” for U.S. history has become a cause celebre among some conservative critics, who claim it presents a slanted and negative view of American history...
Board chair Paul Lundeen, a Republican from Monument, last month proposed a resolution criticizing the AP framework and urging the College Board, which runs the AP tests, to delay the new program for a year. (See this Chalkbeat Colorado story for background.)....
...Democrat Elaine Gantz Berman of Denver said, “People are always going to be dissatisfied” with presentations of U.S. history. And after a bit more back and forth between Krieger and Fischer, the board moved on to the next agenda item.
Done. Over. No more Discussion. The matter was settled long before Julie Williams brought this back up. What is the point of the State Education Board settling a matter if the lesser boards are going to continue to ignore the finding, and bicker among themselves?
damage the good reputation of (someone); slander or libel.
By Krieger's own admission, there is nothing false or misleading or untrue inside the AP material. So,like the rest of the article -- his Title is designed to create an insult where none exists, and then fan the flames. If you read his article, you will find that he often incites hatred and division without cause or actual fact. His rhetoric is confused, and misleading -- with all the dazzle of a con-man. But we need to keep in mind that Larry Krieger owns InsiderPrep, which is a business that creates and sells books and materials to help a student prep for the AP classes and tests. -- Well, it did. See, Larry's Prep course is based on the old study methods, where memorizing is more important than critical thinking. The AP History program has changed drastically, in that it is only a Framework now, not a full course like it was in the past. So, there is no ...series of chronological chapters that match the sequence of topics in the College Board’s official APUSH Course Description booklet. Which is how Larry Krieger's program is developed. No. Now it is a comprehensive, adaptable Framework.
The Course and Exam Description (.pdf/1.81MB) includes the concept outline, curriculum framework, and sample exam questions. These resources, alongside state and local requirements for American history courses, help teachers build their syllabi.
A new Curriculum Framework Evidence Planner helps teachers customize the framework by specifying the historical content selected for student focus. It can also be provided to students to track the historical evidence examined for each concept and as review for the AP Exam.
Schools and teachers develop their own curriculum for AP courses. Submitting a syllabus to the AP Course Audit ensures teachers have a thorough understanding of AP U.S. History course requirements and are authorized to teach AP.
Oops! Since Every school, indeed every teacher can create her own syllabi, paying attention to areas and focuses of history which are most in line with the state and local focus-- Larry Krieger's chapter by chapter Insider program, is no longer useful. So Larry has nothing to sell and his publications are no longer marketable. -- Unless he talks you into believing that the new AP Framework design is somehow bad. This is very difficult to do, because there is nothing false, misleading or wrong with the facts or the framework. So, he has to go after something with a lot of emotion behind it, something that will cut through logic and the extra cost of putting together their own AP classes.
Thus begins Larry's impassioned campaign against AP History, where he takes out the examples of the New AP, twists some things up, reads a little too much into what is not really there -- since none of it has to be there, it is all up to the teacher and the school what to build with the Framework -- and begins screaming Leftist Democrats!
To Larry Krieger and Jane Robbins,
After reading your article New College Board US History Framework Defames America, I'm appalled by your actions and your rhetoric. If the student doesn't already know and understand the points of history that you keep harping on, she's not going to be in an AP class, is she? Is there any way -- using any stretch of the imagination -- that a student who is ready for Advance Placement isn't going to know who George Washington was and what he was to our country? Or about the soldiers in WWII? Or about Martin Luther King Jr.? Your arguments are blatant falsehoods.
It is, however, very likely that she will have not been introduced to the full scope of slavery, or to the existence of the Black Panthers. Or to the fact that American citizens who were Japanese were put into camps during WWII, and all of their businesses and lands seized.
Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada, created by the College Board, which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities often grant placement and course credit to students who obtain high scores on the examinations.
The College Board collected criteria from 3000+ colleges and universities. Using those combined criteria they created a test. Passing that test fulfills what the 3000+ universities and colleges expected a student to know. Who gave them the authority? That question can only be to incite fear, doubt and distrust. It's dishonesty is bitter.
The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity.
Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education.
Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools.
You know these facts, and that is the damming part of everything. It is obvious that your intention is not what is best for the students, or the country. Your primary purpose is to cause dissent. You are inciting parents and school boards with meaningless verbiage. City upon the hill?
(1) Diversity among people allows for a variety of ways in which God may be honored. (2) Acts of kindness by the rich toward the poor - and a spirit of obedience by the poor toward the rich - further manifest the spirit of ideal public life. (3) Common need among individuals with different qualities is necessary to society.
...soe the way to drawe men to the workes of mercy is not by force of Argument from the goodness or necessity of the worke for though this course may enforce a rationall minde to some present Act of mercy as is frequent in experience, yet it cannot worke such a habit in a Soule as shall make it prompt upon all occasions to produce the same effect but by frameing these affeccions of love in the hearte which will as naturally bring forthe the other, as any cause doth produce the effect.
"History will not judge our endeavors—and a government cannot be selected—merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required... " -- JFK
I read your examples in the News Week. It was like listening to con-man, or a fortune teller. as you stretched your illogical explanations to fit across the test questions and 'wrong answers' to make a drum to beat on. You are not a teacher. Teachers care about their student's future. You only care about your past. You offer only a scam, and you are spreading fear and intolerance where none exists.
This part really gave me a laugh:
To his continued horror, Manifest Destiny suffered the same fate as the Founders. An idea Krieger taught for years as “the belief that America had a mission to spread democracy and new technology across the continent” was described in the framework as “built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority.”
Which from the outset Manifest Destiny—vast in program, in its sense of continentalism—was slight in support. It lacked national, sectional, or party following commensurate with its magnitude. The reason was it did not reflect the national spirit. The thesis that it embodied nationalism, found in much historical writing, is backed by little real supporting evidence In 1845 John L. O'Sullivan coined the term "manifest destiny" in reference to a growing conviction that the United States was preordained by God to expand throughout North America and exercise hegemony over its neighbors. In the United States Magazine and Democratic Review (July–August 1845, p. 5) he argued for "the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.
O'Sullivan's original conception of manifest destiny was not a call for territorial expansion by force. He believed that the expansion of U.S.-style democracy was inevitable, and would happen without military involvement as whites (or "Anglo-Saxons") emigrated to new regions. O'Sullivan described the agency of Manifest Destiny as a "irresistible army of Anglo-Saxon emigration," supported the Confederacy and the idea that slavery was the only way for whites and blacks to live together. I'd say the current AP characterization is pretty accurate.
So.. what part of "built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority" is mis-represented? It sounds more like you have been teaching this wrong to hundreds of students for your whole career, and now you wish to compound that misguided definition even further.
They also disagreed with the College Board over how children should learn, with Krieger and his allies preferring a curriculum based on memorizing facts to one based on critical thinking.
I'm not going to even try to make that statement anything other than it is -- robot non-thinkers are your goal. But I forget. You aren't a historian, you are a high school teacher. You are not an expert in education, or someone qualified to actually judge a full curriculum. You are only qualified to follow one, and from all that you have said, you aren't very good at that either.
Your partner, Jane Robbins, has used this statement several times:
Except she's lying. Flat out lying, like she does many times in her writing. "What's wrong with a leftist slant" is never said by the College Board. The Framework can just as easily be used to create a Far Right Conservative course. Again,your statement is only there to incite, to cause anger about something that doesn't exist. Also, just because you don't like the answer "teachers will have flexibility" does not make it invalid or unacceptable, and having you say this over and over, doesn't make it any more valid.
Heartland Institute is the hand puppets of the Koch brothers. That's all this is -- another Koch brother propaganda machine. Their goal, which they have stated proudly, several times, is the removal of the Department of Education, and to push publish schools out of existence. More here. This alteration you are promoting is designed to diminish the ability of public schools so that they become ineffectual.
You are making this a political agenda, when it has nothing to do with politics. The College Board is not a government agency. They are a business. A business which is offering students a step up into college. They are professionals who gathered the criteria and made the program to fit that criteria.
History will remember this: the propaganda, the Koch brothers, you and the false front businesses and groups you have created. That list of people you have in this article? I've researched them all. I'm amazed they haven't run you out of the state.
The students will remember this, and they will not remember you kindly, when they achieve no credit, no placement and arrive to college unprepared.
The Department of Justice filed a brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stating the Northern District of Alabama District Court erred when tossing a case filed on behalf of a Sparkman Middle School student sexually assaulted in a school restroom.-- So it looks like this girl is going to at least get some of the therapy and help that she needs. The idea that anyone, for any reason would use a special needs girl, who was only 14 years-old as rape bait seriously boggles the mind. But for the school to have a 'need to catch him in the act' policy for sexual assault is even more baffling. This child of 14 has been injured in a way that has continued to hurt her -- she continues to suffer from depression, her grades continue to be affected. She is not getting the help that she needs -- likely due to the expense of the therapy she will require. Even after therapy and several years of healing it is very possible that she will continue to be acutely effected by this trauma. These injuries, were caused because she believed in the authority figures of her school. She trusted the officials of the state. Then, she was not only injured, she was dismissed -- dehumanized, made into a non-person -- by the officials of this state who claim they have no responsibility "on the grounds of immunity for state officials and employees" This is why there is a Department of Justice, and a Federal Department of Education. This is why there are oversights and watch dogs. Because at the state level, we still don't seem to get it. Apparently at the state level, we turn into bureaucratic, heartless monsters who commit atrocities without a care in the world... then go home have a beer and watch the late show.This is not the only state in the Union with these troubles. This kind of management and decision making, especially around our children, at their schools, is popping up in the news with alarming frequency. ** Note: Even now, the school board, the administrators and everyone else in involved in this sordid mess continues to refuse to accept any responsibility for the injury of this child, and in fact continue ot dismiss her existence as a human being. They don't even accept the the responsibility that they were given by Putman,the last judge, claiming that they were all vindicated-- which they were not. Not by any wild stretch of the imagination could anyone with an ounce of honesty make that claim. http://whnt.com/2014/09/23/madison-county-school-board-to-discuss-litigation-involving-sparkman-middle-case/
This list is 21 key traits of best-selling fiction excerpted from The Writer’s Little Helperby James V. Smith, Jr. If you find them interesting, or helpful the author has several more great tips in his book.
Utility (writing about things that people will use in their lives)
Information (facts people must have to place your writing in context)
Substance (the relative value or weight in any piece of writing)
Focus (the power to bring an issue into clear view)
Logic (a coherent system for making your points)
A sense of connection (the stupid power of personal involvement)
A compelling style (writing in a way that engages)
A sense of humor (wit or at least irony)
Simplicity (clarity and focus on a single idea)
Entertainment (the power to get people to enjoy what you write)
A fast pace (the ability to make your writing feel like a quick read)
Imagery (the power to create pictures with words)
Creativity (the ability to invent)
Excitement (writing with energy that infects a reader with your own enthusiasm)
Comfort (writing that imparts a sense of well-being)
Happiness (writing that gives joy)
Truth (or at least fairness)
Writing that provokes (writing to make people think or act)
Active, memorable writing (the poetry in your prose)
A sense of Wow! (the wonder your writing imparts on a reader)
Transcendence (writing that elevates with its heroism, justice, beauty, honor)
To sell your fiction, you must pay attention to the Key Traits of Best-Selling Fiction. FYI, the twenty-one traits are arranged in a kind of rough order.
Appeals to the intellect. The first five: utility to logic. To you, the writer, they refer to how you research, organize, and structure your story. These are the large-scale mechanics of a novel.
Appeals to the emotions. From a sense of connection to excitement. These are the ways you engage a reader to create buzz. Do these things right, and people will talk about your novel, selling it to others.
Appeals to the soul. Comfort through transcendence. With these traits you examine whether your writing matters, whether it lasts, whether it elevates you to the next level as a novelist.
Where do the 21 key traits come from?
They come from the most prolific, most complete, most accessible, most reliable survey of book readers in the world. They come from my study of the thousands of reader reviews on Amazon.com.
Reliable? Yes. Why? Because most reviewers visit a page to write reviews based on their emotional reactions to books. They either love a book or hate it. They were either swept away by the characters and story and language. Or they felt cheated by the author. Either way, they have to speak out.
You can duplicate my research. I analyzed reviews of bestsellers, the good reviews, the bad, and the ugly. I found patterns in the way people responded and sorted reader remarks into categories.
Go ahead. Find the best-selling book in the area where you want to write fiction. Find your own patterns in the first two hundred reviews. I’d be astonished if they were far from my list. These are readers telling writers what they want—or in the instance of a bad review, what they don’t want. You can learn a ton from this kind of market survey. Give it a go.
The story in the Wall Street Journal shows that hundreds of schools are receiving firearms, grenades and combat vehicles from a government program. The 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense, including small arms and ammunition, that the Secretary determines is— (A) suitable for use by such agencies in counter-drug activities; and (B) excess to the needs of the Department of Defense.” It was called the 1208 Program. In 1996, Congress replaced Section 1208 with Section 1033.
I'm seriously appalled that a Republican candidate for President whose platform includes doing away with the Department of Education was at the top of the polls last month. Rick Perry wants to do away with Commerce, Education and Energy. Could it be possible that he is a Mouth Piece Drone for the Koch brothers? He deferentially acts like a mouth piece drone. Cracks under pressure too.
Other frightening aspects of Perry include - he is for the idea of people beating children. He sees a world where everyone is free to pray to his god in school. In fact that should be mandatory. His state (TX) has the worst school performance in the country and he cut huge amounts away from the schools. Then he turned down $700 Million in Federal aid for the schools of his state, because he didn't want to bring his schools up to the standards set by the Federal Education.. like getting the right books for kids to learn from and stuff.
This man.. this man who is a direct adversary against your child's ability to gain a basic education in public schools was at the TOP OF THE POLLS last month.
I'm not sure what TV Ads are telling you about Perry, or Obama or any candidate, but I'm very sure, they are lying to you. Find Facts! It's not that hard on the Internet. Seriously. Websites like the one I have above are very easy to locate and deal with direct quotes about the issues. I have several good research web sites listed on the side bar of this blog. Check them out.
FACTS Not Fox *NOTE : This was written before I realized that TEKS was already in place, and the State Board of Education had already fallen into the hands of extremist. My reaction to Perry at the time of this writing was Deep Concern and Caution. Now that I've learned more about his actions, goals and about the current status of his State, my reaction has leveled out at Horrified.
Most of the time we don't want to be overt with our descriptions of the inner world of our characters. Character flaws are always better when they are demonstrated a few times before we name them, or discuss them in dialog. We don't want to stop the story, for example, to point out:
"Bob was tormented by nightmares, caused by sleep apnea, both of which keep sleep from being rejuvenating. His denial of the importance of either condition causes him to suffer from memory lapses, lack of attention and depression."
Money can now buy the political marketing strength of TV. If this is the case, then TV ads must be discredited. All of them. The truth is TV political campaign ads are under no obligation to use facts anyway. I can simply say, "Look at the mess that Obama has brought us to." then look sad, and pet a puppy whileshedding a single tear in my eye. "When will we make America great again?"
No matter what my party, I'm under no obligation to present any justification for any of these implied claims. I don't have to be factual about America's condition. Great or not. I don't have to state the condition I'm referring to . I do not have to define 'mess'. I don't even have to confirm that it is President Obama I am referring to with any of these implied claims.
All of it, from the coloring, to the tonality, the hesitant breath, the voice modulation of 'fear being brave', and every word is a lie. All of it. It is created by someone much like myself. It is crafted using proven manipulation techniques of the highest form. No propaganda engine in the history of our species comes close to the empathy inducing cult messaging we are capable of today. We are already trained from birth (those raised during and after Nixon at least) to hate the current president, no matter what the problem, or economic condition. It is practically unAmerican to not to believe the current president is always wrong and doing wrong things. It's kind of a running joke, right? Except it takes the simplest of efforts to take this inclination and twists it into serious hate.
So, with that in mind, TV ads, all of them, have to be discredited. They have to be seen as fraudulent. People need to turn to the Internet for their views. To websites with citations and references. They have to be able to turn to each other and say, "Is this really happening in Detroit, where you live?" Verify what you believe. Find real sources of information. Don't allow Koch brothers to buy your vote.
