Who is Pope Francis? Perhaps his ‘Transformation on 9/21/53’ may help us understand him better?

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Today’s million dollar question: Who is Pope Francis?

I refer to our Holy Father as a Holy Catholic Enigma.

Hope all is well on this day after “Pope Francis’ 61st Anniversary of his Conversion & Call to Religious Life”. Yes, it occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the Feast Day of St. Matthew (September 21st, 1953), some 61 years ago, when a troubled, 16 year old Jorge Mario Bergoglio walked into church for confession. The rest is history…and, the rest is a bit confusing and perplexing – especially the last year year and a half of his 77 years here on earth.

Pope Francis has been at it for 18 months now, as our Holy Father – CEO of 1.2 billion Catholics world-wide. He hit the Vatican ground running on that Feast Day of St. Joseph (March 19th, 2013), as he took the baton from our beloved Pope Benedict XVI Emeritus, who thought it was wiser to resign from his post at age 85, allowing the younger cardinal from Buenos Aires to take it from there. First time we have seen that in the Vatican in 600 years, since Pope Gregory XII resigned in 1415. Wise move from a very wise retiring pope, who gave it his all in his nearly 8 years as our 265th pontiff.

And, if we were to take a national survey today – 61 years after Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s confession & conversion – we would probably see a wide assortment of answers when asked that million dollar question: “Who is Pope Francis”?

Friends: Where does one begin? How does one describe what you have seen, heard and watched from Pope Francis in his short, 18 month tenure so far? Why is it that this pope has caught the attention of billions (as in B) all over the world, as in a stark contrast to his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who quietly took over after Pope John Paul II’s incredible 27 years? Is it because Pope Francis was elected so quickly by the 121 cardinals and because it was after the resignation of a pope, which we have not seen in 6 centuries? Is it because this pope is from the Americas – South America – of all places? Is it because he has a “chip on his shoulders” and wants to embrace the entire world to the religion of Catholicism like it was meant to be – just like Jesus ordained it to be over 2,000 years ago?

Or is it because this is what GOD ordained and what GOD considers part of the Big Plan? If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked “Willy, what is your take on Pope Francis”, I would be able to buy new text books for all 100 Catholic dioceses in this country who unforgivably adopted the Curse of Common Core and I would get the curse out of every one of those schools immediately.

Friends: Keep in mind that every time Pope Francis answers a question from the media, it is interpreted hundreds of different ways in hundreds of different languages. And, that is why the secular, liberal media love this guy. They get to twist & turn every one of his words and they, for some reason, always take his comments way out of context. That is one reason why he was voted “Person of the Year” last year and why he appeared on the front cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine…not “Roll away the Stone” magazine…The secular media see Pope Francis as a rock star…but, millions of faithful, die-hard Catholics all over the world do not.

And, that is where it gets sticky, confusing, perplexing, frustrating, and some times, down right excruciating. The “old school” Catholics don’t care for the pope being named Person of the Year. They don’t read Rolling Stone magazine. But, they do read the interviews on the pope. They do read his comments on abortion, contraception, same sex marriage and wealth vs. poverty. They saw him wed 20 different couples at St. Peter’s Basilica two Sundays ago (hearing that several of those couples had lived together and a few had babies out of wedlock).  And, the majority of people in this country, alone, still do not know what to make of his ever-famous quote given 3,000 feet up in the air on his return trip from Rio de Janeiro after World Youth Day when our Holy Father uttered his “famous last 5 words”:

WHOM AM I TO JUDGE?

So, with all this being said and with this “enigma-laced” question above still dangling for everybody to interpret – “Who is Pope Francis” – what do we make of all this? Like I told the Palm Beach Post almost a year ago when they interviewed me: “Pope Francis is doing a ‘Global Open House’, where he is inviting EVERYBODY to the table – the haters, the sinners, the homosexuals, the atheists, the outcasts, etc., and is simply getting their attention to be able to sit them all down at one time in about another year and show them what Catholicism teaches – what the Holy Catholic Church truly teaches”…I pray that I am right.

This has been my prayer ever since I heard his interview when he told the reporters “Who am I to Judge”? Believe me, friends, those 5 words do not sit well with me because like I said last year in that same interview – they can be interpreted a million different ways…and, they have been. It sent out mixed messages and truly confused the Catholic faithful. The pope opened up more than a can of worms when he uttered those 5 simple words and many of the Catholic die-hards lost it about then. And, many left the Church and refuse to come back.

And, while Catholic lay evangelists like Matthew Kelly, Dr. Scott Hahn and Tom Peterson are trying their best in “Calling Catholics Back Home”, damage has been done and those “old school” Catholics who were not patient enough to see when Pope Francis is going to elaborate on all of these “new school” expressions (not Catholic doctrine or teachings), may have left prematurely as the Church has lost numerous patrons who said they had seen enough.

And, Catholics are stubborn by nature…So, to ease your minds, please take a good look at this article below, which makes a ton of sense when speaking about Pope Francis. It honestly allowed me to relax a bit and not be so impatient with the pope. It gave me a different perspective on the pope’s perspective. The sections on “personal encounters” and “forgiveness” says a lot about our Holy Father and gives you the sense that he truly does believe in compassion and embracing even those who transgress us. Deep down, I honestly believe that the pope is simply trying to follow in the footsteps of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, but, he does add a bit of flair and drama to his evangelization and preaching, thus, keeping everybody honest and a bit off balance…some more than others.

Enigma: Look it up on Google and see if it says “Pope Francis” under synonyms…He is like the Holy Rosary…a mystery to so many Catholics…a joyful one, though.

All Eyes on Francis

September 18, 2014

All eyes are on Pope Francis.

People around the world are watching what he is saying and doing and trying to understand what it means.

A friend called today from Switzerland: “What do you make of this alleged ‘irritation’ of the Pope over the new book defending traditional Catholic teaching on marriage?” he asked. “And his allegedly asking Cardinal Mueller not promote the book? What’s going on?”

Another friend emailed from New York. He had just spoken with an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi who is well-known in the pro-life movement. “I have been talking to a mutual friend — Rabbi Yehuda Levin, who spoke at the March for Life for several decades. He is a strong supporter of the Catholic Church’s stand against abortion, and for traditional man-woman marriage, etc. He is a spokesman for the Rabbinical Alliance of more than 800 Orthodox Rabbis. He feels that if the Church waffles or retreats on abortion or homosexuality or marriage at the upcoming Synod, this will have an adverse effect on Orthodox Judaism and other strong family religions. He is very concerned about the upcoming Synod.”

And another friend wrote, in response to my email of yesterday: “Excellent run down on the issue and cardinals involved. Prelates encouraging or advocating change are gradually ruining the authentic true Catholic Faith. The Roman Catholic Church is not supposed to be a ‘feel good’ Church, waxing and waning to current social issues. It is tragic, that the once prestigious Roman Catholic Church, is now dysfunctional, divided, depleted, contentious and infiltrated.”

And another reader wrote: “Many thanks — was hoping for more clarification on this issue! Will watch this space. Any comment on Cardinal Burke’s new job?” (Note: There have been unconfirmed reports that Pope Francis has decided to move the American Cardinal Raymond Burke from his post in the Roman Curia, as head of the Apostolic Signatura, to a post outside the Curia, as head of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta: see the report on this by Sandro Magister, the Italian Vaticanist, at link).

So many Catholics, and some Orthodox Jewish rabbis, in many countries around the world, are watching Pope Francis, and wondering what he is doing, and what he will do next…

Understanding Francis

Pope Francis, I think, is attempting to make a slight adjustment in the Church’s pastoral focus.

Not to change Church doctrine, but to review and reform how the Church deals with, and cares for, fallen human beings.

This attempt is rooted in both personal experience, and in theological conviction.

Francis is persuaded there is a need to reach out to suffering, wounded, disoriented sinners in part because of a personal experience.

He had a personal, life-changing experience, a mystical experience, of God’s forgiveness of his sin.

It came after he went to confession, at the age of 16, in a church in Buenos Aires.

He has even told us the date: on September 21, 1953 — the Feast of St. Matthew (for this reason, Francis is fascinated by the painting of Caravaggio called The Calling of St. Matthew in the Church of St. Louis of the French near Piazza Navona in Rome; in past years, he often would go there when visiting Rome). This is how the Vatican put it in a biographical sketch published at the time of the Pope’s election last year: “Following a confession, he felt his heart touched and sensed the descent of the mercy of God, who with a look of tender love, called him to the religious life, following the example of St. Ignatius of Loyola.” In these few, spare words, we are told of an experience which transformed the life of young Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He felt his heart “touched” and he “sensed” the “descent of the mercy of God.” He felt, “in a very special way,” the “loving presence of God in his life.”

This experience is part of the reason the Francis wishes to deal with human frailty and sin, not through a restatement of why the sinner is in sin, or in a recitation of the Church’s judgment that the sinner’s choices and actions are sinful, but with mercy, with forgiveness, and so, with an opening out to new life.

There are also theological convictions at the base of Francis’ vision for the pastoral care of Christians — and for all human beings.

Francis is persuaded that the Church is a Mother, that the Church nourishes and protects and supports her children.

He is persuaded that the Lord Jesus, Founder of the Church, still present in the Church, in the Eucharist, in His Word, in his ministers and disciples, and in the love of the members of the Christian community for one another, wishes — as He did when He walked on this earth — to pardon sinners, to forgive them and heal them, not to condemn them and cast them out.

Francis believes in the “personal encounter” — with persons, with a “Mother”… a “Father”… a “Brother” who walks beside us, with us.

And he regards a certain type of “moralism,” which can seem to set laws and precepts and anathemas above such a “walking with,” as something to be avoided, a possible trap for believers.

He doesn’t want to “change the rules” about what is good and evil. Rather, he wishes to forgive those who transgress those rules, and repent, and seek forgiveness.

And he senses that he must privilege this attitude, and this action, or he may lose many souls, who will, sadly, perhaps in despair, turn aside from the way of the Christian faith, unless the Church reaches out to them with arms to embrace and forgive.

And precisely today, Francis spoke about this very personal vision of human life, human morality, and human sin, in his morning homily at Mass in the chapel at his residence, the Domus Santa Marta.

In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis said that it is precisely in one’s sins where one meets Jesus. (Here is a link to a Rome Reports video of parts of the homily: Link)

The Pope said that in recognizing our sins, we are able to experience Christ’s loving forgiveness. He said: “This is why the ability to acknowledge our own sins, to acknowledge our misery, to acknowledge what we are and what we are capable of doing or have done, is the very door that opens us to the Lord’s caress, His forgiveness, to His Word ‘Go in peace, your faith has saved you!” The Pope concluded his homily saying that those who feel themselves sinners open their hearts in confession and experience the mercy of God.

Vatican Radio provided these further excerpts: “He (Christ) only says the word salvation — ‘Your faith has saved you’ — to the woman, who is a sinner.

“And he says it because she was able to weep for her sins, to confess her sins, to say ‘I am a sinner’, and admit it to herself.

“He doesn’t say the same to those people, who were not bad people: they simply did not believe themselves to be sinners.

“Other people were sinners: the tax collectors, prostitutes… These were the sinners. Jesus says this word — ‘You are saved, you are safe’ — only to those who open their hearts and acknowledge that they are sinners.

“Salvation only enters our hearts when we open them to the truth of our sins.”

“This is why the ability to acknowledge our own sins, to acknowledge our misery, to acknowledge what we are and what we are capable of doing or have done is the very door that opens us to the Lord’s caress, His forgiveness, to His Word ‘Go in peace, your faith has saved you!’, because you were brave, you were brave enough to open your heart to the only One who can save you.”

One can see clearly in these words the influence of the Pope’s personal experience of September 21, 1953, which continues to shape his understanding of how he should deal, as Pope, with the issue of moral evil and sin, and with the reality of God’s loving mercy which can forgive such sin.

6 Reasons Why the U.S. Should Not Arm the Syrian ‘Moderates’ [+ Videos]

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The Free Syrian Army is on the wrong side. Here’s its bloody track record and disturbing alliances.

In PJ Media I explain why this plan that both Democrats and Republicans is a recipe for disaster:

6. The Free Syrian Army terrorized the Christians of the Syrian village of Oum Sharshouh.

In July 2013, Free Syrian Army fighters entered the Christian village of Oum Sharshouh and began burning down houses and terrorizing the population, forcing 250 Christian families to flee the area.

Terrible things happen in wars, of course, and the FSA’s terrorizing of a Christian village doesn’t necessarily mean that it wouldn’t be effective against the Islamic State. But given this behavior, what kind of a society might the Free Syrian Army establish in Syria, were they to come to power? Apparently not one that would secure the rights of religious minorities, for the terror attack at Oum Sharshouh was not an isolated incident…

5. The Free Syrian Army murdered Christians in the Syrian town of al-Duwayr.

Worthy News reported that just two days after the attack on Oum Sharshouh, Free Syrian Army rebels, targeted the residents of al-Duwayr/Douar, a Christian village close to the city of Homs and near Syria’s border with Lebanon…. Around 350 armed militants forcefully entered the homes of Christian families who were all rounded-up in the main square of the village and then summarily executed.

4. The Free Syrian Army is proud of its attacks on Christians.

In September 2013, a day after Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Free Syrian Army as “a real moderate opposition,” the FSA took to the Internet to post videos of its attack on the ancient Syrian Christian city of Maaloula, one of the few places where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken.

3. The Free Syrian Army attacked the Lebanese border town of Arsal in conjunction with the Islamic State and the jihadist Nusra Front.

Investigative journalist Patrick Poole reported in PJ Media that “multiple media reports indicate that the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) is operating openly with ISIS and other designated terrorist groups.”

Indeed. The New York Timesreported in August that, according to Abu Osama, a member of a Nusra Front brigade that participated in the attack, the Arsal assault was “a combined operation involving fighters from the Free Syrian Army, the Nusra Front and ISIS.” The Times was skeptical:

Abu Osama’s remarks could not be immediately verified, and such cooperation between the F.S.A., the Nusra Front and ISIS would be unusual; the groups have clashed in bouts of rebel infighting in Syria.

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2. The Free Syrian Army has admitted that it is working with the Islamic State.

The Times’ skepticism was unwarranted. Bassel Idriss, a Free Syrian Army commander, said in early September: “We are collaborating with the Islamic State and the Nusra Front by attacking the Syrian Army’s gatherings in … Qalamoun.” Perhaps aware his group is supposed to be full of “vetted moderates” who are ready to fight the Islamic State, not work with it, he added: “We have reached a point where we have to collaborate with anyone against unfairness and injustice. Let’s face it: The Nusra Front is the biggest power present right now in Qalamoun and we as FSA would collaborate on any mission they launch as long as it coincides with our values.” What mission and what values? “Our battle is with the Assad regime, and it is on Syrian lands only.”

In other words, they have no plans to go to battle against the Islamic State in Iraq, no matter what Barack Obama says.

1. FSA members have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and handed over its weapons to Islamic State jihadis.

People love the strong horse, said Osama bin Laden, and that applies to at least some members of the Free Syrian Army. Jordan Schachtel reported at Breitbart in July that “several factions within the Syrian opposition force known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have pledged services to the Islamic State, the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Sources and eyewitnesses said that the FSA has handed over its weapons to the Islamic State in large numbers.”

Now the House and the Senate have given Barack Obama the green light to give them even more weapons, and the Senate is certain to agree. Will those, too, end up in the hands of the Islamic State?

Placing hope in and giving weapons to the Free Syrian Army to take down the Islamic State is the pinnacle of Obama’s fantasy-based policymaking. If only we had a viable opposition party in Congress – then this mad scheme might have been averted.

EDITORS NOTE: After this column was written the U.S. Senate passed the funding bill allowing President Obama to support the Free Syrian Army.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants To Jail His Political Opponents – Accuses Koch Brothers of ‘Treason’ – ‘They ought to be serving time for it’

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Environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lamented that there were no current laws on the books to punish global warming skeptics. . “I wish there were a law you could punish them with. I don’t think there is a law that you can punish those politicians under,” Kennedy told Climate Depot in a one-on-one interview during the People’s Climate March. The interview was conducted for the upcoming documentary Climate Hustle.

Kennedy Jr. accused skeptical politicians of “selling out the public trust.” “Those guys are doing the Koch Brothers bidding and are against all the evidence of the rational mind, saying global warming does not exit. They are contemptible human beings. I wish there were a law you could punish them with. I don’t think there is a law that you can punish those politicians under.”

Kennedy saved his most venomous comments for the Koch Brothers, accusing them of “treason” for “polluting our atmosphere.”

“I think it’s treason. Do I think the Koch Brothers are treasonous, yes I do,” Kennedy explained.

“They are enjoying making themselves billionaires by impoverishing the rest of us. Do I think they should be in jail, I think they should be enjoying three hots and a cot at the Hague with all the other war criminals,” Kennedy declared.

“Do I think the Koch brothers should be tried for reckless endangerment? Absolutely, that is a criminal offence and they ought to be serving time for it,” he added.

Kennedy previously called for jailing his political opponents. Kennedy Jr. lashed out at skeptics of 2007 declaring “This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors” In 2009, RFK, Jr. also called coal companies “criminal enterprises” and declared CEO’s ‘should be in jail… for all of eternity.”

At today’s climate march, Kennedy defended his actions. “You need to use some of that rhetoric because the press has accepted some of the orthodoxies of the oil industry and the Republican echo chamber,” he explained.

This is not the first time global warming activists have sought to try their opponents with treason or jail them. In 2014, the warmist Gawker website wrote: ‘Arrest Climate-Change Deniers’ – ‘Those denialists should face jail’ – ‘Criminally negligent’ – ‘It’s time to punish the climate-change liars’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants To Jail His Political Opponents – Accuses Koch Brothers of ‘Treason’ – ‘They ought to be serving time for it’

In 2009, New York Times Paul Krugman accused Congressmen who voted against climate cap-and-trade bill of ‘treason against the planet!’

‘Execute’ Skeptics! Krugman’s sentiment joined by fellow climate fear promoters

In June 2009, a public appeal was issued on an influential U.S. website asking: “At what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers.” The appeal appeared on Talking Points Memo, an often cited website that helps set the agenda for the political Left in the U.S.

The Talking Points Memo article continues: “So when the right wing fucktards have caused it to be too late to fix the problem, and we start seeing the devastating consequences and we start seeing end of the World type events – how will we punish those responsible. It will be too late. So shouldn’t we start punishing them now?” (For full story see: ‘Execute’ Skeptics! Shock Call To Action: ‘At what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers’ — ‘Shouldn’t we start punishing them now?’ – June 3, 2009)

After all the attention drawn to it by Climate Depot, the Talking Points Memo article was later pulled and the website published a retraction and apology, but the sentiment was stark and unequivocal and has significant company among climate fear promoters.

On June 5, 2009, Joe Romm of Climate Progress defended a posting on his website warning that climate skeptics would be strangled in bed for rejecting the view that we face a man-made climate crisis. “An entire generation will soon be ready to strangle you and your kind while you sleep in your beds,” warned the message posted on Climate Progress.

Romm, a former Clinton Administration official, pulled the comments after Climate Depot drew attention to them. “The original was clearly not a threat but a prediction — albeit one that I certainly do not agree with. Since some people misread it, I am editing it,” Romm wrote.

Small sampling of threats, intimidation and censorship:

NASA’s James Hansen has called for trials of climate skeptics in 2008 for “high crimes against humanity.” In 2006, the eco-magazine Grist called for Nuremberg-Style trials for skeptics. In 2008, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki called for government leaders skeptical of global warming to be thrown “into jail.” In 2007, The Weather Channel’s climate expert called for withholding certification of skeptical meteorologists.

A 2008 report found that ‘climate blasphemy’ is replacing traditional religious blasphemy. In addition, a July 2007 Senate report detailed how skeptical scientists have faced threats and intimidation.

In 2007, then EPA Chief Vowed to Probe E-mail Threatening to ‘Destroy’ Career of Climate Skeptic and dissenters of warming fears have been called ‘Climate Criminals’ who are committing ‘Terracide’ (killing of Planet Earth) (July 25, 2007) In addition, in May 2009, Climate Depot Was Banned in Louisiana! See: State official sought to ‘shut down’ climate skeptic’s testimony at hearing.

November 12, 2007: UN official warns ignoring warming would be ‘criminally irresponsible’ Excerpt: The U.N.’s top climate official warned policymakers and scientists trying to hammer out a landmark report on climate change that ignoring the urgency of global warming would be “criminally irresponsible.” Yvo de Boer’s comments came at the opening of a weeklong conference that will complete a concise guide on the state of global warming and what can be done to stop the Earth from overheating.

October 28, 2008: License to dissent: ‘Internet should be nationalized as a public utility’ to combat global warming skepticism – Australian Herald Sun

U.N. official says it’s ‘completely immoral’ to doubt global warming fears (May 10, 2007) Excerpt: UN special climate envoy Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland declared “it’s completely immoral, even, to question” the UN’s scientific “consensus.”

Weather Channel Climate Expert Calls for Decertifying Global Warming Skeptics (January 17, 2007) Excerpt: The Weather Channel’s most prominent climatologist is advocating that broadcast meteorologists be stripped of their scientific certification if they express skepticism about predictions of manmade catastrophic global warming. This latest call to silence skeptics follows a year (2006) in which skeptics were compared to “Holocaust Deniers” and Nuremberg-style war crimes trials were advocated by several climate alarmists.

Understanding the real Gaza War in 5 Minutes

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Colonel Richard Kemp, Britain’s former armed forces commander in Afghanistan, talks to Jerusalem University about the double standards in the treatment of Israel during the recent Gaza conflict.

Larry Elder Speaks at Combat Veterans For Congress

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This is Larry Elder the best-selling author and radio talk-show host’s speech to the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC’s gala event in San Diego, CA on September 6th, 2014.

Elder’s latest book is “Dear Father, Dear Son: Two Lives…Eight Hours“. Here is a synopsis of the book:

A man’s relationship with his father — every boy, every man lucky enough to have a father in his life has to figure that out.

My own father?

I thought I knew him — even though he seldom talked about himself. And what I knew I hated — really, really hated. Cold, ill-tempered, thin-skinned, my father always seemed on the brink of erupting. Scared to death of him, I kept telling myself to find the courage to “stand up to him.” When I was fifteen, I did. We did not speak to each other for ten years.

And then we did — for eight hours.

Dear Father, Dear Son takes a journey of American history through the eyes of a father — from his dirt-poor Jim Crow Southern childhood, to the segregated Marine Corp. of World War II, to a janitor turned California businessman. Hard memories.

One man discovered a son he never really knew. And the son found a man, a friend, a father who had really been there all along.

Florida’s Deceptive Common Core Implementation and Teacher Training

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Despite Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order (Executive Order 13-276) replacing the Common Core and withdrawing Florida from PARCC, teachers are still being trained in Common Core as the Florida Standards are essentially the Common Core State Standards with another name, slight renumbering of standards, and a few additional standards.

In an email sent to me from Cheryl Etters (FLDOE Spokeswoman) as a response to a media inquiry, she termed my assertions rooted in fact as “opinions,” which is one of their dismissive tactics when the FLDOE and State officials are called on to explain their deceptive and misleading campaign to stealthily implement the Common Core State Standards in Florida schools and the continued training of Florida teachers in the Common Core State Standards.

Why are Florida teachers, including me, being trained in the Common Core State Standards a year after Gov. Scott’s executive order when they were replaced by the Florida Standards?

The simple answer is that they are one and the same with minor differences- a plan meant to appease President Obama, Jeb Bush, and the testing industry (AIR, Pearson).

To satisfy your own mind, read and compare for yourself: Common Core ELA Standards and the Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS); and Common Core Mathematics Standards and the Mathematics Florida Standards (MAFS).

It’s amazing that Gov. Scott, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, and FLDOE personnel cannot come clean and respond whatsoever to these claims- because they cannot in an honest fashion!

I have been waiting about a week for a response to our media inquiry; but when faced with fact and evidence, a response is difficult for them to formulate.

Beacon Educator, through FLDOE regulation, is the largest online provider of professional development courses and still offers training in Common Core but not (and has not as of yet) the Florida Standards.

Why is Beacon Educator not offering professional development courses in the Florida Standards? By continuing to offer professional development courses in the Common Core, is this an admission by the FLDOE and the State that the Florida Standards and Common Core are one and the same?

Ms. Etters’ response was: I’m not quite sure how to respond to your opinions. A mention on Beacon Educator – they appear to be a private vendor and are not associated with the Florida Department of Education. What do you mean by “through FLDOE regulation?”

            If Ms. Etters consulted the Beacon Educator website, she would know.

Concerning Beacon Educator, Beacon has three disclaimers suggesting they adhere to/meet FLDOE requirements and that it received past funding through the FLDOE:

“Beacon Educator provides facilitated online courses for busy educators. These courses comply with the National Staff Development Council Standards, Florida Department of Education Professional Development Protocol Standards, and the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates.”

“Forming a consortium with other districts including Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Gadsden, and the PAEC districts, Beacon Learning Center received the U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant (2000-2006). Other funding sources included Bay District Schools and the Florida Department of Education through grants including the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, (1997-2000), Florida Goals 2000 (1998-99), and other Florida Department of Education grants (2002-2003).”

Furthermore, Beacon Educator is not a private vendor, but a public one: “Beacon Educator, the professional development division of Beacon Learning Center, is a self-supporting, internet-based enterprise within Bay District Schools.”

Given that, the Bureau of Educator Recruitment, Development and Retention within the FLDOE approves each school district’s Master Inservice Plan to offer professional development: “The master plan shall be updated and approved by local boards on an annual basis by September 1 of the current year with written verification submitted annually to the Commissioner of Education by October 1 of the current year.”

Bay County Public Schools has an approved Master Inservice Plan from the FLDOE, hence FLDOE regulation, and thus offers professional development through their owned entity- Beacon Educator.

Doesn’t Ms. Etters and the folks at the FLDOE know this?

Notice the attached Weekly Briefings (May and August 2014) from Miami–Dade County Public Schools and the associated flyers (May and August 2014).

Both briefings offer the exact same courses, but the Briefing from May, under Online Modules, says in the second bullet: “New Florida State Standards (Common Core).”

The proof is in the pudding! I took all of the courses and earned credit in them per my Beacon Educator transcript and M-DCPS Staff Development (SD) Record– eight months after Gov. Scott’s executive order supposedly ending the Common Core in Florida.

Notice the credit entries say “Common Core” and not “Florida Standards.”

There’s no denying- Common Core is going full steam ahead with disastrous results unless appropriate action is taken.

By appropriate action, I mean taking action at the ballot box: Adrian Wyllie for Governor.

Both former Gov. Charlie Crist and Gov. Scott support Common Core and its implementation.

Charlie Crist gave us Common Core; Rick Scott is implementing them.

Crist, who likes to be liked, stands for nothing and forced it on Florida to appease President Obama and Jeb Bush.

Gov. Scott, like Crist, is implementing Common Core, and lying to us in the process, under the guise of the Florida Standards to appease Jeb Bush and the testing industry- his base and support. He has to under false pretenses (Florida Standards) for political survival and in a way that is acceptable to both president Obama and Jeb Bush.

Moreover, both of them do virtually nothing to those caught cheating on standardized tests, and you know cheating will take off like wildfire on these new Florida Standard Assessments.

Therefore, if you are in true opposition to Common Core, then the appropriate course of action is to vote for Adrian Wyllie unless you want Common Core under Gov. Scott or Common Core and PARCC under Gov. Crist.

Florida will have 1,789 pot shops if Amendment 2 passes

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The Florida Department of Health has estimated that Florida will have 1,789 pot shops if Amendment 2 passes. The five counties with the largest estimated number of pot shops are:

  1. Miami-Dade with 239
  2. Palm Beach County with 126
  3. Broward County with 168
  4. Hillsborough County with 118
  5. Orange County (Orlando) with 112

In states like Washington and Colorado pot shops out number Starbucks in some areas.

Pot shops are coming to Florida should Amendment 2 pass. It is a booming business in other states. Growth is exponential.

Does this sound like medical use only?

Is Obama whitewashing Bergdahl’s treason?

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“A senior Army official told me court-martialing Bergdahl would ‘make the president look bad.’” And so a political embarrassment is shoved under the rug. “Is Obama whitewashing a traitor?,” by Paul Sperry, New York Post, September 20, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

…Obama in May presented Bergdahl as a hero in announcing his release in a Rose Garden ceremony featuring Bergdahl’s mother and father. The next day, his national-security adviser added another coat of varnish when she proclaimed the AWOL soldier “served the United States with honor and distinction.”

His platoon mates, however, say he did nothing of the kind. “Bergdahl is a deserter, not a hero [and] needs to answer for what he did,” said former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow, who served with Bergdahl and was present the night he vanished from his Afghan post.

Like Buetow, more than 60% of respondents to a recent Military Times survey believe that Bergdahl should be court-martialed for walking off his post in 2009 and costing the lives of six fellow soldiers who died searching for him.

But a senior Army official told me court-martialing Bergdahl would “make the president look bad.” In spite of damning evidence against him, the official expects Pentagon brass to separate him from the military with a less-than-honorable discharge, sparing Obama total embarrassment.

In a sign Bergdahl may indeed get off with a slap on the wrist, the Army has delayed its AR 15-6 investigation into his disappearance — a development that Bergdahl’s attorneys see as helpful to their client.

The Army investigator, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, was supposed to submit his findings to brass last month but has asked for an extension. The probe was limited to a 60-day window, which ended Aug. 15. There’s no longer a deadline attached, which means the investigation could drag out past the November election.

Dahl last month interviewed Bergdahl at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, in what his lawyer described as an “entirely nonconfrontational” meeting.

Critics doubt Dahl has the skills to conduct a proper interrogation. “No general does this. They have no training,” said the Army official, who requested anonymity upon describing Dahl as a “yes-man.”…

The evidence against 28-year-old Bergdahl is overwhelming. Here’s a bill of indictment:

Before slipping away, Bergdahl shipped much of his gear, including a personal computer, back home to Idaho.
In e-mails to his parents, excerpted in Rolling Stone, he complained he was “ashamed to even be American” and was “sorry for everything here,” adding: “These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live.”
When he left his outpost near the Pakistan border, he left behind his body armor and weapon and only took with him water and a backpack with a camera, notebook and writing materials — bizarre, given the hostile territory around his post.
He left a farewell note in which he stated he was deserting and explained his disillusionment with the war, according to The New York Times; other reports say he sought to renounce his American citizenship.
Within 24 hours, the Taliban confirmed they had picked him up, whereupon he expressed his displeasure with his countrymen and “wanted to accept Islam,” two Afghans who were Taliban commanders at the time told NBC News.
Bergdahl converted to Islam during his captivity and declared himself a “mujahid,” or warrior for Islam, according to secret military documents obtained by Fox News.
Soon after his rendezvous with the Taliban, the improvised explosive devices the enemy used to attack US convoys became more accurate and lethal. “IEDs started going off directly under the trucks; they were getting perfect hits every time,” Beutow recalled, suggesting Bergdahl shared military intelligence with his captors.
Bergdahl had a history of leaving his post and most likely walked away on his own free will, concluded an initial investigation conducted by an Army officer in July and August of 2009. The Military Times first revealed the findings of his 35-page classified military report in June.
The Pentagon never classified Bergdahl a POW during his five years in captivity.
The president may think Bergdahl deserves a parade, but retired Army Sgt. Jordan Vaughn, who went on some 50 dangerous missions searching for Bergdahl, told Fox that “He belongs in shackles for what he did.”

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Prepare for a Deluge of Climate Change Hype

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Despite the several thousands who will participate in a Climate March and the world leaders who will do so in a UN Climate Summit this week, is there anyone who seriously believes that humans have any impact or control over the climate? Or even the weather? The answer, unfortunately, is yes.

In utter contempt for the intelligence of people here in the United States and around the world, a Climate Change Summit will be held on Tuesday, September 23rd, by the United Nations, the source of decades of lies about “global warming” and—since the Earth has not warmed in the past 19 years—the new name “climate change.”

To advance this greatest of lies, the lead-up to the event will be a massive march in New York on Sunday, Sept. 21st. The purpose, as David Rothbard of the think tank, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) says, is an avalanche of “Scary doomsday ‘science’ and the need for ‘urgent international action’ backed by a ‘People’s March’ of thousands of radical Green activists in the streets.

AA - Climate Hype ExposedCFACT has released “Climate Hype Exposed”, a report that exposes the global warming campaign’s junk science, wasteful policies, and the threat to freedom and prosperity it represents. You can download it

What the mainstream media have largely failed to report were the nine international conferences on climate change sponsored by The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank. The most recent in July featured 64 speakers from 12 countries, all providing science-based lectures that disputed global warming. Heartland’s “Climate Change Reconsidered” reports are filled with the science that debunks the doomsday scenarios.

Heartland CoverNumerous Green groups have been making plans to be in New York for the march. More than 750 organizations are sponsoring the People’s Climate March to coincide with the UN summit. Reportedly it will involve 950 organizations. There will be 63 other events in North America, six in South America, 54 in Europe, 10 in South Asia, and 32 in Australia.

They include, of course, the likes of Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, and lesser known groups like the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network that will be there with the message that “industrialization, fossil fuel combustion, land use change and social and ecological exploitation have compromised the planet’s equilibrium in notable and dire ways.”

This is totally absurd, a matrix of lies that ignores the role that industrialization, the jobs and products it produces; and fossil fuel use, the essential element that provides energy in the form of petroleum to power cars, trucks, and other vehicles, as well, of course, coal that provided half the electricity on which our entire way of life depends until the Obama administration unleashed a “war” on it. The other verbiage about “ecological exploitation” is aimed at all forms of development that contribute to the economy, including the building of homes for a growing population.

The UN Summit is, we’re told, “intended to mobilize international political will needed to achieve an ambitious climate change agreement” at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP-21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which is scheduled to meet in Paris in December 2015.

The week ahead will be filled with many events; some will be sponsored by major corporations such as Lockheed Martin and Hewlett Packard. Even so, it is the corporations that are a target of the climate change proposals to reduce energy use and the alleged pollution it is said to generate.

A number of major nations will not be represented by their leaders. Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister, Narenda Modi” will not attend. Both nations have been engaged in building a vast network of coal-fired plants to generate the electricity they need for development. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be attending, nor will Germany’s Angela Markel.

President Obama has been trying to convince Americans that climate change is a greater threat to the world than the emergence of the radical Islamic State (ISIS) that has seized a vast swath of land in Syria and Iraq. His response has been tepid, consisting of a few “targeted” air strikes and “no boots on the ground.” It is doubtful most Americans think the ordinary climate phenomena that have been a part of the Earth’s existence for 4.5 billion years pose a greater threat than the barbaric agenda of ISIS.

As the media report the march and other events, along with the UN Summit, it is essential to keep in mind that it is all lies. There is no basis in science to support the claims Greens have made for decades, all coordinated out of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Primary among those lies is the assertion that carbon dioxide is responsible for global warming when, of course, there is NO global warming.

Tom Harris, the executive director of the International Climate Science Coalition, along with Bob Carter, the head of the School of Earth Sciences at James Cook University in Australia, in a recent New York Post commentary flatly stated that “There is essentially zero evidence that carbon dioxide from human activities is causing catastrophic climate change.”

They noted that the Earth’s sea level is not rising in any significant fashion, “averaging about 1 millimeter per year” and that “satellites also show that a greater area of Antarctic ice exists now than any time since space-based measurements began in 1979. In other words, the ice caps aren’t melting.”

As reported by The New York Times, “The Obama administration is working to forge a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fuel emissions, but without ratification from Congress.” Fuel emissions are not warming the planet. The U.S. Constitution requires that any such treaty would be legally binding only if is approved by two-thirds of the majority of the Senate.”

“To sidestep that requirement,” the Times noted, “President Obama’s climate negotiators are devising what they call a ‘politically binding’ deal that would ‘name and shame’ countries into cutting their emissions.”

Ignoring the science and ignoring the Constitution go together for this President, but it will be hard for Americans to ignore the deluge of global warming/climate change lies with which they will be assailed over the weekend and into the week ahead. The mainstream media will see to that.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

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Let the Children Suffer

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Why does AIDS research get the lion’s share of medical research money?

Get Your Politics Off Our Kids!

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The Texas social studies textbook adoption process has turned into a political fight, just as many predicted it would.  That’s a shame.

This past week, a reporter for a local San Antonio news site interviewed us about the politics behind education.  However, when her stories came out, it was party-line politics once again.  Included in her two stories were the following:

  • One article cites, without skepticism, a review by the partisan National Center for Science Education (NCSE) that perpetuates debunked claims about scientific consensus. The NCSE openly attempts to inject its special interest politics into education. It is not a scientific organization.
  • Both articles quote the highly partisan Texas Freedom Network (TFN) as saying that the publishers are not to blame for problems in the textbooks, only the State Board of Education (SBOE) is.  But the TFN has made it very clear that its primary aim is to discredit and defeat politically certain elected members of the SBOE.
  • Finally, one of the articles mimics a TFN complaint about political cartoons that appeared in one proposed text and joked about affirmative action via a story about space aliens.  Apparently, neither the blogger nor TFN realized that this cartoon is provided as a primary source and the lesson is designed to encourage critical thinking about affirmative action.  While the related questions might be lacking, the idea of having a cartoon as a primary source, it is perfectly acceptable to use political cartoons – which will always insult someone – as primary sources in critical thinking exercises.

All textbooks have problems, and many of these proposed Texas textbooks are particularly inaccurate or biased.  The state adoption process should be about correcting these problems before the books are published and handed to students.

It is forever disappointing when partisan groups hijack this process to further their political goals.  In the end, the children suffer when politics and special interest control the content of educational material.  Verity Educate continues to expose these influences and the inaccuracies and biases they perpetuate.

#GetYourPoliticsOffOurKids

WATCH: U.S. Marines Chant, ‘There’s No God Like Jehovah!’

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Oh boy, this here video is surely going to send the head chucklehead of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein, into a apoplectic state of frothing hysteria. And you can imagine that the leadership of the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation is running about gnashing their teeth and tearing at their clothes. This video taken at Camp Pendleton shows U.S. Marines at a Christian worship service singing the upbeat Christian song, “Days of Elijah.” And as you will see, they are very enthusiastic about the song.

As reported by The Blaze, “A description of the video, which was first posted to Facebook Sunday by a woman named Merrie Pardee Baldwin, reads, “Participatory worship. I love how excited the men get to sing this song & the camaraderie.” Baldwin posted the video again Monday on the Facebook page for the Caruso Memorial Chapel at Camp Pendleton, giving a little more information about the clip’s origins. “This is one of my favorite things about coming each month for the Faith Warrior service,” she wrote. “I love to see the camaraderie & how participatory worship is. They bless me MUCH more than they know.”

And this blessed me as well. You see, I truly don’t worry about America. What I am concerned about are the sheep who lead these lions.

Enjoy the video and please pray these young Marines — who volunteered to serve — have the freedom of religion and the free exercise thereof, especially since they stand as the sentinels protecting that right for us all.

Be careful, you progressive socialists, about complaining about this. I’m sure y’all supported repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

EDITORS NOTE: This video originally appeared on AllenBWest.com.

LGBT movement organizing to mandate “gay history” in schools across America

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In California already. Starting now in Massachusetts. Their goal is to force it into schools nationwide.

The push to require that “gay history” be taught in the nation’s is already in place in California and is now making headway in Massachusetts. The LGBT teachers conference brought in techniques that activists can use to expedite that process around the country.

The homosexual movement is organizing and strategizing to achieve their latest goal in the schools.

This is the sixth part in our series on this year’s annual GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) Conference held in Boston in April 2014 which brought together LGBT teachers, school officials, and education activists (and their “allies”) — along with children as young as fifth grade — where they outlined their latest tactics for the schools.

Why a push for “gay history” in schools?

“Gay history” is an important psychological tool that homosexual movement uses to convince schoolchildren that homosexual behavior is a normal and positive influence in society. By making it part of the school curriculum — with lectures, exams, term papers, etc. – it becomes ingrained in kids’ minds. Thus, students would never question its legitimacy — and legitimacy is an obsessive goal of the homosexual movement.

Perhaps more disturbing, “gay history” introduces deviant figures such as Harvey Milk (a sexual predator of teenage boys), pro-NAMBLA activist Harry Hay, and other“gay pioneers” (some of whom were pornographers) as legitimate historical figures worthy of admiration. Plus it often teaches kids the unproven political “quackery” that famous people such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Julius Caesar, and even Abraham Lincoln were homosexual.

For example, soon after the California law was passed, one LGBT social studies teacher in San Francisco in an interview with a high school newspaper gave a taste of what what “gay history” should include:

In considering the possibilities, [the teacher] described potential lesson plans featuring rumored gay authors such as William Shakespeare and Walt Whitman and famous court cases involving gay defendants like that of Lawrence v. Texas, a 2003 court case that ended Texas’ sodomy law.

Gaining steam since the 1990s

That “gay history” push has been slowly but steadily progressing. Since the 1990s individual “gay activist” teachers have woven homosexual themes into their classes, including history lessons. Over a decade ago “gay history month” displays began to appear in “progressive” school districts, and that has spread across the country. For over a decade, national LGBT groups have trained teachers how to incorporate “gay rights” into history classes (example from 2001). (NOTE: This link is from the MassResistance blog – which Google still partially blocks!) But the goal has always been mandating it across the country.

This handout at the workshop shows some of the LGBT activists over the years that they intend to portray as heroic “historical figures” to schoolchildren.

California becomes first state to mandate “gay history” in schools

In 2011, California passed Senate Bill 48, the Orwellian-labeled “FAIR Education Act.” It requires that the “historical contributions” of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” be included in courses, instructional material, and textbooks in California Public Schools. Furthermore, the law includes prohibition of any “materials that reflect adversely” on LGBT persons or the movement. This onerous law was the result of a well-crafted campaign by the homosexual lobby, spearheaded by a homosexual activist state legislator, and actively supported by the liberal press.

This was such an abrupt change that Grades K-8 have been given until July 1, 2015 to comply, but high schools are required to move as fast as possible. Many California high schools are rolling out their new “gay” curricula this month –September 2014.

The conference workshop: Strategies to do it . . .

This year the conference had a special workshop to show teachers and activists how a “gay history” mandate was successfully effected in one school district in Massachusetts. Here’s how the conference program listed it:

2.5 Reversing the Erasure of LGBT History
Using Los Angeles Unified School District and Lowell School District as case studies, this workshop examines strategies for introducing vital LGBT inclusive history curriculum into schools.

Presenter(s): Debra Fowler, Debbie Costello & Erin Kehoe, Lowell High School

This was one of the best-attended workshops of the conference. The room was full. The main presenter was Debra Fowler, who teaches English as a second language at Lowell High School.

The workshop was largely a how-to description of how Fowler and others were able to pressure Lowell High School in Lowell, MA to make “LGBT history” mandatory in the 11th grade. She is also the producer of a very slick and emotional video,“Through Gay Eyes”, which is also now a required part of the Lowell High School curriculum and was shown at the workshop. And they are taking steps to push this statewide (and eventually nationwide).

Debra Fowler’s slick, emotional video, “Through Gay Eyes.”
See trailer here. Facebook page here.

How they got the Lowell politicians & administrators on board

Fowler showed her video “Through Gay Eyes” to the workshop. Some of the messages in the video, which Fowler also talked about) are:

  • Kids need to know they have a gay teacher.
  • The teacher was uneasy about coming out to students, but did anyway.
  • Boston TV News Anchor Randy Price “married” his boyfriend on the State House steps.
  • The world is evolving and changing.
  • It’s wrong to oppose people’s beliefs when they don’t affect you.
  • Children shouldn’t have to worry about growing up with a gay parent.

Fowler described her successful strategy for getting the politicians, school administrators, and faculty all to sign on to requiring “gay history” (and more) at Lowell High School. She said her emotional video “Through Gay Eyes” was used as a “catalyst.”

Starting in August, 2013, she made sure that as many students as possible — and also the key politicians, administrators, and faculty –attended a screening of the video. Although the messages from the video do not have a direct relationship to “gay history” it gave them an emotional attachment to the cause, which was even more important. Then she had hundreds of students and faculty sign two petitions demanding that the video and “LGBT history” be included in the curriculum.

The final step was the Lowell School Committee. At the November 20, 2013 meeting she arranged to have the necessary items on the agenda, and she packed the room with supporters. The two petitions were presented to the Mayor, superintendent, and members of the School Committee to sign themselves, which they all did. All their agenda items were passed unanimously. Thus, the following was accomplished by Fowler and her activists:

  1. Lowell High School would require “gay history” in the 11th grade, starting in September 2014.
  2. The video “Through Gay Eyes” would be required in the middle and high school health curriculum.
  3. The School Committee officially endorsed proposed changes to the Massachusetts Common Core curriculum to include LGBT individuals and events in 11th-grade U.S. History courses statewide. That is the next big push for the LGBT lobby in Massachusetts, they’ve said.
After the School Committee vote, Fowler (left) posed triumphantly with the headmaster of Lowell High School. The photo was circulated on LGBT education sites.

At the workshop, Fowler acknowledged that she got a help from “gay” educators and activists in California. One important thing she told the group: “The lessons are not ‘stand-alone’ lessons,” she said. “The lessons are seamlessly woven into history.”

In closing, Fowler told the workshop, “Reach out to people who can make changes in curriculum. You have the power!”

Below is from the handout that Fowler passed out at the workshop describing their successful strategy. You can also download it here.

National group has already prepared LGBT history curriculum

The homosexual movement is not leaving anything to chance. They are already preparing course material for “gay history” mandates, as well as supplying it to individual activist teachers. GLSEN, the well-funded national organization that organized this LGBT teachers conference, is at the forefront of creating LGBT curriculum for all grades.

GSEN is very serious about supplying your schools with “gay” history.

At the workshop, GLSEN passed out some materials, and they have been posting much more on their website. Here’s a sample of what’s being offered now to schools across America. From the GLSEN web site:

“Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month.” 18-page document passed out at the workshop. Exhaustive list of LGBT-themed books, websites, and course material targeting schoolchildren. Also includes strategies for introducing it into the schools and weaving it into regular class lessons.

How harmful are the recommended resources in this GLSEN document (above)? To point to just a few:

Kevin Jennings, former Obama “Safe Schools Czar” and founder of GLSEN, edited a gay and lesbian history source book for high school and college classes, Becoming Visible. Included is a chapter praising NAMBLA supporter Harry Hay, along with a portrayal of “gay cruising” (anonymous homosexual sex acts in public places) as a “civil rights” issue!

Another recommended book is Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg.Massachusetts Youth Pride honored Feinberg in 2005, inviting her to lead the youth parade. Besides being a radical transgender activist, she is openly communist and was then editor of Workers World.

At Massachusetts Youth Pride 2005: “Transgender warrior” and communist editor Leslie Feinberg (left of banner) leads the youth parade.
[Mass­Resistance photo]

Can this be stopped?

It can certainly be daunting that major US corporations like Google, Wells Fargo, McDonalds, Target, CitiBank, Disney, Mattel, IBM, and others are funding the homosexual agenda in the schools. But nevertheless, parents and citizens can do amazing things to stop this.

It’s entirely possible keep this from happening. The biggest problem on our side (besides funding) has been that parents have been unaware of what’s happening, are not armed with good information to counter the activists, and have no effective strategies for counteracting their slick lobbying effort.

We at MassResistance are working to help with that.  Exposing this is the start.

Scarier than Global Warming: Capitalism vs. Climate

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this changes everything klein

This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein, Simon & Schuster.

“The most important book yet from the author of the international bestseller The Shock Doctrine, a brilliant explanation of why the climate crisis challenges us to abandon the core “free market” ideology of our time, restructure the global economy, and remake our political systems.” (Amazon.com)

“This is the best book about climate change in a very long time—in large part because it’s about much more. It sets the most important crisis in human history in the context of our other ongoing traumas, reminding us just how much the powers-that-be depend on the power of coal, gas and oil. And that in turn should give us hope, because it means the fight for a just world is the same as the fight for a livable one.” (Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and co-founder of 350.org)

“Journalist Klein is a resolute investigator into the dark side of unchecked capitalism. . . . This comprehensive, sure-to-be controversial inquiry, one of the most thorough, eloquent, and enlightening books yet on this urgent and overwhelming subject—alongside works by Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Diane Ackerman—provides the evidence and the reasoning we need to help us shift to a ‘worldview based on regeneration and renewal rather than domination and depletion.’” (Booklist (starred review))

Well, there you go. Saving the climate (from what?) will be easy. Who ARE these people? Bill McKibben is the founder and leader of a group called 350.org, whose crusade is to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million by volume (ppmv). That’s what it was in 1988, when Dr. James Hansen testified to a Senate subcommittee that anything higher would lead to catastrophic climate change. It’s presently 400 ppmv and going up with each new coal-fired generator China and India bring on line, about one per week. Klein is a board member of 350.org. Would you be surprised to learn she comes from a family of communists? Needless to say, she has no scientific training, but she almost completed a degree in journalism. Almost.

Many of us who recognize there is no scientific evidence for anthropogenic global warming (AGW), let alone catastrophic AGW (CAGW) have suspected it’s a club to attack capitalism and Western prosperity. Ms. Klein deserves credit – I suppose – for making this quite clear. Her previous books simply attacked capitalism, per se; this one seeks additional acolytes in the holy name of “saving the Earth.” Want more from Ms. Klein? Don’t buy the book; it has only one message, which you can read in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.

So why has Ms. Klein written a new book, pouring the old wine of anti-Capitalism into the frayed wineskin of Environmentalism? The cynical suspect an attempt to capitalize (yes, pun intentional) on the UN’s Climate Summit  (23 Sept) and the People’s Climate March on Sunday, 21 Sept.

The list of attendees is notable: Ban Ki-Moon, Barack Hussein Obama, John F. Kerry, Gina McCarthy, the President of Zimbabwe, Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, and thousands of other morons.

The list of NON-attendees is even more notable: President of China Xi Jinping, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Japan Abe. Merkel, whose “green” country is building 28 new coal-fired electricity generators, has a new problem; Italy is forecast to go broke in two years, and France (with the EU’s only Socialist President) is soon to follow.  Zimbabwe has already announced it will need $10 billion to wage the good fight against climate change. You should resist any cynical thought that Zimbabwe knows a sucker (see attendee list above) when it sees one; Zimbabwe’s request is a pittance in the “entirely affordable” effort. $4 trillion will do it easily.

The “climate change” fraud, and the money to keep it going, is a difficult line to walk. It has to always be “the last possible minute to save the planet.” If the fraudsters were to admit we have another twenty years to gradually reduce our greenhouse emissions, government might cut back on next-year’s financing. On the other hand, if it’s already too late, they might cut back the financing altogether. Can’t have that either. You’ll be surprised to hear the latest estimate from Lord Stern is that we still have 15 more years to get the problem under control. Whew! Glad to hear that!

I guess I should stop and assure you (and Dr. Swier) I am not making any of this up. Meanwhile, in the real world (not that of Ban Ki-Moon and Naomi Klein):

antarctic.seaice.color.000.thumbThe extent of sea ice around Antarctica is at a new record high, 7.6 million sq miles or 20.0 million sq kilometers (according to ABC News, Australia). That’s three times the area of Australia, and twice the area of the contiguous USA. This is the third year in a row of a new record high.

We’re nearing the Solstice, Fall in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring in the Southern. Record high ice extent has more effect in the sunlit hemisphere (Spring, Summer) than in the dark (Fall, Winter), because it reflects sunlight, that would otherwise warm the ocean. One way to change Earth’s temperature is to change the albedo of the Earth. A change of Earth’s albedo caused by increasing or decreasing ice and snow cover meets that criterion. Incidentally, there are people suggesting spraying sulfuric aerosols into the stratosphere – in order to stop CAGW.

The interesting thing about increasing ice and snow is that this is one of the few positive feedbacks in the climate system. Increased albedo due to ice and snow causes a temperature decrease, leading to more ice and snow, causing a further temperature decrease, leading to more ice and snow, and so to a cascade of colder conditions. At some point, the process becomes a runaway. I wonder how close we are?

Well, as you see in the picture, the tip of the Palmer Peninsula, the northernmost point of Antarctica, is about 60 degrees South. It looks like the sea ice fills the 60 degree circle of latitude. It’s never done that before – that we know of.

And in the Northern Hemisphere, Arctic sea ice is back to normal, in spite of “forecasts” by Al Gore and many, many others that the Arctic would be ice free this Summer.

Perhaps the most worrisome event is the continuing outpouring of molten lava from Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland. Volcanologists are beginning to compare it to the 1783-1784 eruption of Laki, which killed  20,000 farm laborers in England in the Summer of 1783. How? The sulfurous fumes from Laki mixed with moisture in the lungs of outdoor workers, burning them with sulfuric acid.  In all, it’s estimated Laki killed six million people globally, including one-fourth of the population of Iceland. It was followed by

the longest period of sub-zero temperatures in New England, the icing-over of Chesapeake Bay, and freezing of the Mississippi at New Orleans. The smell of sulfur is becoming apparent already in Norway.

But, as we all know, thanks to Naomi Klein and John Kerry, warming is the thing to worry about.

RELATED ARTICLE: Capitalism in crosshairs as Socialism promoted at opening event of People’s Climate March

Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards says “Suspend High Stakes Testing”

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Meetings of The Greater Consortium of Florida School Boards are not usually big news, but this meeting, Friday September 19, in West Palm Beach, Florida was an exception as parents have become a volcano of discontent and school board members are rising to address their concerns. The Consortium is eleven school boards which team together for the purpose of lobbying the state government. Forty two percent of the K-12 children in Florida attend their schools.

In fact, many school board meetings are now the “hot” places to be as pressure mounts against the maniacal testing demands which come with Common Core. News this week included hundreds of new tests to be administered, costing each district millions and crowding out precious learning time. It is estimated that over 40% of class time is already spent on testing alone. Schools have gone so far as to end recess in K-6 so that more time can be spent testing.

Eruptions have occurred in local school board meetings all around the state. In Lee County, there was a vote to “Opt out” of state mandated tests altogether. Hundreds of parents jammed into the board meeting wearing red in solidarity and gave passionate testimony about the disastrous effects of Common Core and high stakes testing.

Now, the rebellion has swelled and the Consortium voted unanimously to include a main plank in their legislative agenda to “suspend high stakes testing.” This will be confirmed by a vote in each school district and will be used as a lobbying platform.
The move was stunning as all districts must agree on issues in the platform which usually results in only non-controversial proposals, not bold statements. But big problems require bold action.

The state, itself, has admitted there are many problems with the deliver and administering of tests. Just last week the Florida DOE ended the K-2 “FAIR” test.

What is “high stakes” testing? Why the aversion to tests? Isn’t “accountability” important?

In the “old days” when schools worked, certified teachers taught in accredited schools and the teachers gave final exams and evaluated the body of student work to produce a grade which was entered in the report card. Students were accountable for their results.

Since 1994, criticism of results led some legislators to say “Let’s raise the bar.” Let’s impose “higher standards” and base teacher pay and tenure on student results. This is “outcome based education.” And this was a big mistake which got bigger as time went on.

The federal government passed No Child Left Behind in 2002. This required tests to show ALL students would progress at a certain rate, or schools would be taken over. Teachers would be paid and fired on results. This led to frustration, teaching only to the test, and widespread cheating scandals.

Of course, accountability for one’s actions is important. But we should not be accountable for results we do not control. That is what we have done to teachers and schools. Lessons are scripted and teachers are not allowed to slow down or speed up as their lessons are “paced.” Bright students get bored and those who don’t catch on right away are left behind.

The state dictates the standards and curriculum must match because pay and even their jobs depend on getting good results on tests the state mandates. Students are not measured on a body of work, but can have life changing decisions made for them on the basis of a single test. Third graders are held back a year, and high schoolers must pass one test in order to graduate. State mandated End of Course (EOC) exams count for 30% of the yearly grade in core subjects.

We should also not be rewarded and punished using unattainable goals as in “No Child Left Behind.” Here’s a simple example: I can reward someone five feet tall millions of dollars to beat a seven fool tall NBA player at basketball and it is nearly impossible for him to attain that goal no matter how hard he tries. I can punish him when he fails, and there is no positive result from either to the shorter player. There would be an enormous negative effect, deflating the ego of the player and discouraging him from trying at all.

Realizing all of this, and examining the disastrous empirical results, we must support the bold move supported by the Greater Consortium of Florida’s School Boards, and press the Governor and Legislators to stop this unworkable, unwise, and unaffordable method of meaningless measurement.

Unwinding the bloated bureaucracy in which corporate cronies such as Pearson PLC, Bill Gates and Jeb Bush have benefitted massively, won’t be easy. But we must free our children of the tests which line their pockets and steal nearly half of their class time for learning.

It is OUR responsibility to raise our children, not the village, not the state, and certainly not Washington DC.

We, the People, must take back our parental rights and demand that the schools, our state, and our nation remember they serve at the CONSENT of the Governed, not the GOVERNOR.

We must be free to teach the truth and America will once again be that Shining City on the Hill where American Exceptionalism is common…

Not Common Core.

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