The American "education" machine is broken!





Latest Analysis, Commentary and Opinion*
(The title of each article is linked to the complete article)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

America’s Security Put in Peril by Failing Schools
   EdukShun piece by Offsite (3/11/10)

Today, Washington is so focused on expanding the size and influence of our federal government at the expense of taxpayers that they are overlooking one of the greatest security risks facing our nation - our failing education system.

Poll: Americans say textbooks are too PC
   EdukShun piece by Offsite (3/11/10)

A new poll shows 60 percent of Americans with children in elementary or secondary school say most school textbooks are more focused on being politically correct than ensuring accuracy.

District sues parents ... to shut them up!
   Big Brother piece by Offsite (3/11/10)

Defendants had demanded, gasp!, public records - A school district in Arizona has filed a lawsuit against a handful of taxpayers seeking a court ruling that they have no right to ask for public records, sue the district or even complain to anyone about the educational institution’s activities.

‘What Are They Teaching America?‘
   EdukShun piece by Thomas D. Segel (3/11/10)

Harlingen, Texas, March 10, 2010:  There is a lot of noise being made these days about what is being printed in Texas textbooks.  Reviews show a distinct secular and liberal bias in some of the writings.  The concern is because the annual buy of the Lone Star State is in excess of 48 million books.  This volume almost assuredly dictates what will be printed for the remaining 49 states.

Doublespeak: The Language of Deception, Part 4
   DoubleSpeak piece by Guest: Marsha West (3/11/10)

The Church - “The gospel’s most dangerous earthly adversaries are not raving atheists who stand outside the door shouting threats and insults. They are church leaders who cultivate a gentle, friendly, pious demeanor but hack away at the foundations of faith under the guise of keeping in step with a changing world.“ – Phil Johnson

National I. D. Card = A Police State
   Police State piece by J. D. Longstreet (3/11/10)

The National I. D. Card will guarantee the federal government’s complete control over every man, woman and child in the US, period!

‘I-VAWA: Set-Back for Women?‘
   United Nations piece by Carey Roberts (3/11/10)

The International Violence Against Women Act – I-VAWA for short—has recently been introduced in Congress. Certainly we all wish to see an end to domestic violence around the world.

Christian Newscast Gaining Viewers
   Information piece by Rev. Miles (3/11/10)

The Mountain View Christian Center Newscast (MVCC-Oakley) is getting the attention of more and more viewers. The newscast format features a team consisting of Angelia Baxter (who never dreamed that she could develop into a television personality), and this writer.

This Chick Does Flicks: Alice In Wonderland
   Entertainment piece by Ann "Babe" Huggett (3/11/10)

With all the feel of a 21st Century, living color, high tech reinterpretation of Arthur Rackham’s Alice In Wonderland illustrations with LSD flashbacks courtesy of Timothy Leary, Director Tim Burton’s masterpiece movie, Alice In Wonderland, furthers Alice’s adventure storyline in a manner that even her originator, Lewis Carroll, would find appealing…weird but appealing.  However, a word of caution here: Burton’s Alice In Wonderland is a movie that needs time to take in because right from the very start you are bombarded with social commentary, prefigurative omens, an odd sense of lurking insanity, recurring childish nightmares, and that’s all before an adult Alice falls through the rabbit hole on her return trip to Wonderland!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Rise of the Tea Party
   Politics piece by Guest: David Huntwork (3/10/10)

In less than a year well over a thousand independent groups have sprung up around the nation to organize and demonstrate against the attempted government takeover of entire industries, high taxes, crippling debt, and the agenda of President Barack Obama. While many have ridiculed and guffawed about the “teabaggers,“ these motivated and angry voters have very quickly shown the ability to raise millions of dollars, target specific political races, grab headlines and media exposure, stage large rallies, and mobilize volunteers.

Hasan Gets Promoted, McCabe Gets the Shaft
   Political Correctness piece by Jayme Evans (3/10/10)

The primary job of the US military is to bring as much force to bear as is necessary to implement the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States. We recruit, motivate, train, pay, equip order and expect those brave enough to answer their country’s call to go anywhere around the world at a moments notice to kill or capture those who stand in the way of achieving those objectives. The least we, as a nation can do to support them in their mission is to refrain from second-guessing their every battlefield decision. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what America’s future politicians, the armchair quarterbacks of the JAG Corps, are doing to yet another of America’s bravest, most dedicated warriors.

You can lead healthcare providers to reforms, but you can’t make them think
   Health Care piece by John David Powell (3/10/10)

All of the politics, posturing, and punditry in Washington surrounding sweeping healthcare reform fail to consider one sad, yet important, fact:  you can’t legislate common sense and customer service.  Give away health care, hand out free prescription medication, provide total access to every living human being on the planet, and you’ll still have people and processes that fail to do the jobs for which they’re paid or for which they’re designed.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Sarah Palin is one of a kind
   Politics piece by Guest: Ted Belman (3/9/10)

Sarah Palin is a self made woman who marches to her own drummer. Its easy to come down on her for her couple of bad interviews or for her English grammar errors or her former ignorance of international and national politics and …oh, is that all?

Evolutionists: An Embarrassment to Real Scientists!
   Science piece by Don Boys, Ph.D. (3/9/10)

Hey, it’s getting embarrassing! Another “missing link” is still missing after a few months exposure to science and common sense. I am referring to Ida, revealed last spring by Norwegian paleontologist Jorn Hurum and his colleagues who assured us Ida was “an unusually complete prehistoric primate fossil.“  The dog and pony show that followed in May of 2009 on “ABC News,“ “Good Morning America,“ “Nightline,“ “A & E,“ “The New York Times,“ etc., portrayed Ida “as a blockbuster discovery nothing short of an “eighth wonder of the world” that would offer a look at one of mankind’s earliest evolutionary ancestors. Afraid not.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Terrorists at Fla. Atlantic U Are O.K., Young Americans for Freedom VERBOTEN
   EdukShun piece by Warner Todd Huston (3/8/10)

We send our young adults to university to be educated in the ways of the world, we all know. Following that well-worn path, young James Schackleford decided on the publicly funded Florida Atlantic University(1) for his edification and boy did he learn a lesson about modern education last week. Mr. Schackleford learned that the FAU administration prefers on its campus Islamic terrorist supporters over representatives of the conservative Young Americans for Freedom(2) organization. He also learned that it’s open season on all conservatives at our American universities.

Today’s Revolutionary Aristocracy
   Progressivism piece by Thomas E. Brewton (3/8/10)

Liberal-progressives are a self-annointed aristocracy that presumes the right to impose its will upon our nation.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Losing Jobs with Green technology
   GreeenIsm piece by Guest: Dennis T. Avery (3/7/10)

CHURCHVILLE, VA - President Obama has allocated $4 billion in “stimulus funds” to help advance the “smart grid,“ which is intended to seamlessly integrate all our new solar and wind power into the national supply of electricity. Much of the $4 billion will be spent to install 20 million new digital “smart meters.“ These meters will instantly tell the power company how to deploy its varied generating sources most effectively.

‘Could Washington Threats Spell Double-Dip?‘
   Economics piece by Offsite (3/7/10)

There’s a lot of loose talk on Wall Street right now about the risk of a double-dip recession. I’m not buying it. Now, I’m the first to admit there’s a good debate about the overall strength of the recovery rebound. But the recession ended last June, and I’m still thinking a 4 percent growth rate in 2010 is likely. That could spell another large rally in stocks.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Virginia Decommissions the “Arts”
   Bird-Brain Flu piece by Guest: Michael R. Shannon (3/6/10)

The Lord God Almighty grants eternal life in the hereafter, but on earth it’s politicians who control immortality. So when the Virginia House of Delegates passes a budget that executes the Commission for the Arts, it’s big news.

Inflexible welfare model keeping young Swedes out of work
   MustRead piece by Offsite (3/6/10)

There are those who believe that Sweden has a low level of unemployment. This is far from the truth. The combination of high taxes, generous government benefits and a regulated labour market has led many Swedes to rely on handouts rather than work. The system does succeed in one thing: hiding true unemployment figures.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT 12 -vs- Picture Publisher 10
   Software piece by Malcolm T. Hedges (3/6/10)

Corel bought Picture Publisher 10 from MicroGrafx and “Picture Publisher and iGrafx Image: now available as Corel PHOTO-PAINT”.(1)  However Corel PHOTO-PAINT 12 is missing many of the great features of Picture Publisher 10?

Illinois Dangerous ‘Presumed Consent’ Organ Donor Bill
   Big Brother piece by Warner Todd Huston (3/6/10)

Illinois State Senator Dale Risinger(1) (R, Peoria) has offered a bill in Springfield that drives our society further along the path of making parts of the human body a commodity, undercutting the sacred status of human life.

‘Panic on Wall Street?‘
   Economics piece by Don Boys, Ph.D. (3/6/10)

One of the oldest French banks, Societe Generale, tells clients how to prepare for potential global collapse within the next two years according to a headline in London’s Telegraph, Dec. 2, 2009! That was a “global” collapse! And some of my friends suggest that I am an extremist! Yes, I have said that panic (an out-of-control response to economic collapse) was coming to the U.S. and the world economy not because I am a prophet but because I can connect the dots. Moreover, I expect the panic to reach Main Street where chaos will reign.

The American System Is Not a Democracy
   The Republic piece by AynRandInstitute: Leonard Peikoff (3/6/10)

WASHINGTON—Today(March 5, 2010) marks the 66th anniversary of the German Nazi party’s rise to power—not through a bloody coup, but a democratic vote. It achieved 44 percent of the vote, enabling it to join with the Nationalist Party and achieve a parliamentary majority. No one would accept that a democratic vote justifies Nazi atrocities, yet today many people believe that the U.S. government is entitled to do anything the majority pleases, regardless of whose rights are violated—from forcing individuals to buy health insurance to stripping unpopular financiers of their bonuses to banning incandescent light bulbs.

Coloradans take aim at U.N.
   Guns/Self-defense piece by Offsite (3/6/10)

A month ago I wrote about the Obama administration’s decision last October to participate in the writing of a United Nations treaty to regulate the small-arms trade. Given the Obama team’s ideological commitment to that agenda, we need to develop a strategy to stop that treaty from ever reaching the United States Senate.

Clash over ‘global warming’ ratcheted up another degree
   ClimateGate piece by Offsite (3/6/10)

The clash over “global warming” has been ratcheted up another degree this week, with one member of Congress demanding U.S. taxpayer funding for the research be halted and scientists who have been accused of slipshod and deceptive work planning a campaign of retaliation against their critics.

Friday, March 5, 2010

‘Panic on Main Street?‘
   Economics piece by Don Boys, Ph.D. (3/5/10)

U.S debt is massive, now well over $12 trillion; that is $40,000 plus for every person in America!  It is not unthinkable or unprecedented although unlikely that the government could default and repudiate all debts including Social Security obligations, Medicare coverage, and military pensions along with all foreign debts. If that happened, millions of over-fifty people would storm the White House and Congress producing anarchy and maybe a Second American Revolution. Emulating the Reign of Terror in France in the 1790s, they might bring back the guillotine for procrastinating, privileged, and prevaricating politicians. Remember that the bloody French Revolution was precipitated by a looming bankruptcy as the politicians spent far more than their income. “But that could never happen here,“ says the naive one. Of course not!

Global warming plan could leave humans extinct
   GreeenIsm piece by Offsite (3/5/10)

Forget climate change - the real threat to the planet and all of us riding on it comes from screwball scientists and their schemes to “save” us from nonexistent threats.

‘We Are Not Ashamed; Are You?‘
   Progressivism piece by Guest: Nathan Tabor (3/5/10)

School administrators in Texas face a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of three students, accusing the school district of refusing to allow children to carry or read the Bible.

Climate scientists plot to fight back at skeptics
   ClimateGate piece by Offsite (3/5/10)

Undaunted by a rash of scandals over the science underpinning climate change, top climate researchers are plotting to respond with what one scientist involved said needs to be “an outlandishly aggressively partisan approach” to gut the credibility of skeptics.