Spring Testing – Time For Hardball – An OptOut/Walkout

Missives Worth Reading

“Why do we protest one meaningless test and ignore the real harm being done day after day for years now? Opting out changed nothing for the children.” A Patchogue-Medford, NY, mom

And she’s right. Fighting today’s education reform battles with yesterday’s tactics is a feel-good waste of time.

“Nostalgia is a seductive liar.” Remember that.

imageHistory is full of one-hit wonders … on the scene one day, gone the next. Feasting off a single success … again and again … will turn one fat and flabby and slow and predictable.

That’s us. The anti-reform folks … with the playbook everyone knows.

The opt-out resistance has become a once-consequential opposition that feels good, but invokes no fear. It hasn’t stopped those hell-bent on destroying childhood in the name of educational reform. 

What’s changed inside the classroom for our children? Not much.

Even children who do opt-out of the state tests still…

View original post 244 more words

Think Again! Term Limits Threaten Voter Freedom

Term Limits MEME CAPITOLTerm Limits sound like a great idea. But quick fixes rarely are.
.
Ironically, the people calling for term limits are also the ones telling us we need smaller government, less bureaucracy, and fewer government mandates, as they simultaneously call for the government to pass a law to limit our ability to choose our own reps.
 .
Term limits would TAKE AWAY important choices from VOTERS and IMPOSE a government mandate on them, rather than letting WE THE PEOPLE, CHOOSE OUR REPRESENTATIVES, as is our Constitutional responsibility.
 .
Term limits would “throw out the baby with the bath water” and force out good and effective elected representatives, based on arbitrary dates on the calendar, rather than based on their merit as legislators. It is up to the voters to get rid of ineffective reps. ELECTIONS are intended to be TERM LIMITS!
 .
Another unintended consequence of term limits is the acquisition of even more power by the bureaucrats. As duly elected leaders cycle in and out based on the calendar, it will be the unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats who never leave, who remain and will have the most influence on long-term policy-making. Those unaccountable bureaucrats will have more seniority and more power than many incoming elected officials.
 .
And oh, by the way… term limits would create a permanent lame duck faction in our government. Imagine how much damage and corruption an unscrupulous Senator could generate, knowing he was not accountable to voters for an entire 6-year term!
 .
The problem that gives us ineffective ‘career politicians,’ was just demonstrated in Alabama, when an appointed Senator of a few months, was given the full support of the Senate’s GOP funding mechanisms, because they “protect their incumbents.” The same people black-balled challengers to the appointed ‘incumbent,’ threatening political consultants who dared work for the challengers (and endangering the ongoing funding of their other clients).  In the process, an effective GOP Congressman was smeared by his own Party’s $30+ MILLION expenditure, in the name of “Incumbent protection.”
 .
There’s your main problem: the unlimited pile of MONEY that makes it so hard for worthy challengers to effectively campaign against incumbents who are not deserving of the protection they get from their Party.
 .
As usual, it’s about the money! To stop career politicians, we need to stop making incumbents invincible, even when they don’t deserve it!
 .
Ineffective career politicians – and judges – are a problem. But it is not necessarily an issue that can be fixed by the calendar.

 

This Is Not JUST an Attack on Roy Moore

Bible constitution george washington statue of liberty

Judge Roy Moore.  Polarizing? Just a tad: He is loved and respected by the conservative Christian right. Hated and reviled by the liberal left.

He is loved for the same reason people of a different mindset hate him: He is a devoted Christian who proclaims his faith boldly and upholds its tenets. He is a staunch defender of the beleaguered U. S. Constitution, and follows it to the letter, even when the courts go off in a different direction, and it results in personal sacrifice for him.

There is no gray area for Moore.  He doesn’t “go along to get along.” He stands on principle, defending his faith and The U.S. Constitution without equivocation.  He has sacrificed his job for principle. Twice.

Moore represents an opportunity for conservative Christians to have a voice – and not just a whisper – at the U.S. Capitol.  And he will be a strong and relentless advocate to  return Constitutional fidelity to lawmaking.

Roy Moore will be a burr under the saddle of the elites who run roughshod over our Founding documents, infringing upon our First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion and constantly striving to undermine the Second Amendment.

The specter of Moore roaming the halls of the U.S. Capitol has caused more than a little angst among the left and the establishment elitists (from both Parties), who black-balled him and threw millions of dollars into the primary and runoff elections against him, in a failed attempt to override the will of the People of Alabama.

So it isn’t surprising that right on cue, a 38 year-old allegation crops up from a newspaper that has previously endorsed his Democrat opponent. The same newspaper that has trumped-up similar stunts to thwart the campaigns of other Republican candidates. Most notably, President Trump!

The story itself is an empty allegation. The accuser offers no proof.  But from Judge Moore’s perspective, it is hard to prove a negative. Especially when the allegation is decades old!

These are allegations that flip the usual order and render the accused guilty, until proven innocent. And in this age of social media, this empty, unprovable 38 year-old allegation has become a salacious fait accompli for the vicious left.

Right out of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. 

Former Democrat Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, when called out on an outright lie he’d told about Mitt Romney during his Presidential run, made no apologies. Senator Reid’s reply: “it worked, didn’t it?” And so goes the political game. No matter who it destroys.

With this empty allegation, they plan to destroy a Christian conservative icon, and they think they can stop the momentum of the conservative movement.

Getting rid of Moore would remove a supporter of President Trump’s agenda and a persuasive advocate for his conservative policies. It would make it harder to restore Constitutional order and overcome the judicial supremacy that threatens the balance of power and the very viability of our system of government.  Moore is one of the few even talking about stopping the judicial tyranny of the lower courts.

Make no mistake. Aligned with other staunch conservatives, Roy Moore will be a game-changer in the Senate. And that is why the left and the elitists are so driven to stop him. It’s not just about him. It is about his principled stand on the issues that matter to the people of Alabama who have nominated him to be their candidate.

Ironically, the loudest voices against Moore come from some of the same pundits who defend religions that marry little girls to old men, and condemn Moore for questioning the wisdom of having people who engage in the incompatible practices of those religions, serving in America’s government.

The left and the squishy establishment need somebody who’ll “go along to get along,” so they can hold onto their power, thwart President Trump’s agenda, and advance their globalist goals that weaken America.

Roy Moore is NOT that guy.  So they will stop at nothing to stop Roy Moore.

Debunking the ‘Bot-Net’ Allegation, Human Parents will Tweet to #StopCommonCore, April 17

 

twitter rally for education APRIL 17 meme GREENThe persistent grassroots Parents’ movement working to Stop Common Core is apparently getting to Bill Gates.  He’s funded a ‘report’ (not to be confused with a scientific study) on the impact of Twitter on the public’s perception of the Common Core State Standards.

Predictably, the Gates-funded report compiled by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), misrepresents and marginalizes the Stop Common Core movement’s methods and the relentless Parents who are working to protect their children from the unvalidated, developmentally inappropriate Common Core Standards, and to restore evidence-based educational methodology to America’s schools.

The patently false ‘bombshell’ revelation of the Gates henchmen, in the slick and obviously well-funded CPRE report, is that the Twitter-savvy parent-activists are actually a cadre of robots. Not parents and grandparents. Not even humans. Just unmanned computers generating tweets, and allegedly netting big money for the bot-net purveyor.

None of this is true, but it is in the report, so national media outlets that typically ignore the Stop Common Core movement, lapped it up gleefully (as with all rosy missives from Common Core-land) and issued their own hit-pieces aimed at crippling the (non-existent) ‘bot-net’ that was such a thorn in the side of the benevolent billionaire. Gates has reportedly spent upwards of $2 Billion to install and promote Common Core.

By contrast, the parent-activists behind the Twitter-borne opposition to Common Core, are expending their own time, money, and ingenuity to get Common Core out of their children’s schools. They are using – of all things – technology to rain Twitter misery all over the Common Core parade.

This is how it works: Various parents chip in $10 – $50 to fund the rallies which set them back all of $125. For that nominal sum, PJNET produces a live rally that includes a chat room where people gather to chat while they dispatch 50 ‘Featured Tweets’ with a click. PJNET utilizes a video platform to provide informational videos on the rally topic and music streaming from You Tube to keep the mood lively.

Featured Tweets to the rally’s hashtag are harvested from twitter and loaded into the PJNET tweet bank to be sent by clicking on the tweet’s button. Each tweet also has a retweet button. Included in the fee is an ‘Action Page’ that allows human tweeters to drop in at their convenience and dispatch featured tweets carrying the #StopCommonCore message, 24/7.

PJNET’s Twitter Rally tools are the brainchild of Mark Prasek, founder and engineer of PatriotJournalist.com. As sophisticated as they are, they are not “robotic.”  And the CPRE researchers knew this, because Mr. Prasek took one of them on a ‘tour’ of the PJNET site and explained how it all works. Yet they still characterized these diligent parents as a “bot-net,” to be disregarded.

Bad move.

After enduring weeks of scrutiny and marginalization, theeeeey’re baaaaaack! Even more human parents and activists  will be tweeting dozens of personal messages to say to President Trump, “please #KeepYourPromise to #Stop Common Core,”  starting at midnight, April 17.

Join in! A live rally will be conducted via PatriotJournalist.com from 9-11pm ET (click ENTER HERE).  The Patriot Journalist chat room will be filled with the sounds of music, videos about Common Core and the Federal role in education, along with real-time chat, and a live interview with a surprise guest!

PJNET’s system makes it easy to tweet – even for inexperienced tweeters – and it’s fun to gather with other parents and activists for the live event. PJNET tracks the number of tweets to the rally hashtag(s) so participants will know in real-time what kind of impact they are making.

Prior to the live rally it is suggested that you tweet or retweet others, throughout the day, from the Action Page.  PJNET’s Tweet Scheduler  allows you schedule tweets that you select to go out automatically, if you wish. But not one tweet will be dispatched unless you first select your tweet(s) and then set up the interval at which you would like them to go out. PJNET simply follows your instructions about which tweets to send out, and when.

NOTE: (There is already an existing Action Page with tweets that can be sent out now. These tweets will be updated right before the April 17 rally)

PJNET #KeepYourPromise ACTION PAGE: http://patriotjournalist.com/Action.php?Theme=KeepYourPromise&ChatRoom=RedMeat&src=Schedule

To learn more or get involved, join the Twitter Rally for Education  facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TwitterRallyForEducation/

Or

Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PEACCS/

This rally is funded entirely by grassroots Moms and Dads who want to Stop Common Core and get the Federal Government out of our children’s education.

Stop Common Core Moms will Tweet Again to Remind The President to #KeepYourPromise to #EndFedEd

Grassroots Stop Common Core Moms are not going away!
.
After a very successful Twitter Rally for Education on February 13, in which parents, grandparents, and teachers across America dispatched a combined 13,410 tweets, creating 77,201,943 impressions, they’re getting together to do it again on the last Monday in February.
.
Stop Common Core activists will tweet as a team, again utilizing PJNET’s Twitter technology and structured system to amplify their collective voices on Twitter.
.
As in the first rally,  tweets will bear messages to the President and newly confirmed Secretary of Education, imploring them to keep Trump’s campaign promises to stop Common Core and close the US Department of Education.
 .
Common Core is a controversial set of unvalidated national educational standards that 45 states were coerced to hurriedly adopt as a requirement for the Race to the Top Grant Competition.  Core opponents contend that the standards are not educationally sound, they create a ‘teach to the test’ culture in the classroom,  and that the Federal Government is overstepping its authority by usurping local control of education.
 .
Parents are worried that their children are wasting valuable time on the Common Core experiment. So they are speaking out on Twitter to a President for whom Twitter is an important communication channel.
.
The second installment of the Twitter Rally for Education will be held Monday, February 27 9-11 pm ET. To join the live rally, go to PatriotJournalist.com,  click Enter Here.
.
Featured Tweets to the hash tags #KeepYourPromise, #StopCommonCore , and #EndFedEd will be ready to go!  PJNET’s system makes it easy to tweet and it’s fun to gather with other parents and activists for the live event.
.
The Patriot Journalist chat room will be filled with the sounds of music,informative videos on the topics of Common Core and the Federal role in education, along with real-time chat and a live interview with a surprise guest!
.
Tweet with a click, before and after the rally on the PJNET #KeepYourPromise ACTION PAGE: http://patriotjournalist.com/Action.php?Theme=KeepYourPromise&ChatRoom=RedMeat&src=Schedule
 .
For more information, join the facebook groups Twitter Rally for Education: https://www.facebook.com/groups/211416412659573/ or Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PEACCS/
.
This rally is funded entirely by grassroots Moms and Dads who want to Stop Common Core and get the Federal Government out of our children’s education.

Twitter Rally for Education planned for Monday, February 13

Now that Betsy DeVos has been confirmed as the new Secretary of Education, we need to work with her.
.
Join us for The Twitter Rally for Education on Monday, February 13, to introduce the nationwide Grassroots Stop Common Core movement and explain our concerns to Secretary DeVos.
.
We will respectfully ask our President and Secretary of Education to #KeepYourPromise to #StopCommonCore!
.
Although many may not have supported her, this is NOT a REVENGE RALLY. The purpose is to respectfully hold President Trump accountable for his promise to us, and to implore Secretary DeVos to do what is needed to fulfill The President’s promise to get our kids out of Common Core.
.
A facebook group is being established to disseminate detailed information about the rally and instructional videos about how a PJNET Twitter Rally works. (It’s fun!)
.
Please join the group Twitter Rally for Education on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/211416412659573/
.
We will also be using the group Parents and Educators Against Common Core Standards as an information hub. Join PEACCS here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PEACCS/
.
Please tweet now to the hashtags #KeepYourPromise and/or #StopcommonCore, including a photo or meme in your tweet. The best grassroots tweets will become Featured Tweets in the PJNET Twitter Rally for Education.
.
This is a grassroots effort being funded entirely by parent activists. Please Join us!