A Real Rotten Core

Early in June, The Central Florida Education Summit, hosted by the Central Florida Partnership and sponsored by the Orlando Regional REALTOR Association, took place at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport focusing on the implementation of Common Core State Standards in Florida's K-12 Education System. 

The Central Florida Partnership, an organization backed by heavy political and business leaders in greater Orlando from both sides of the political aisle, join an astonishing number of their counterparts across the country in seemingly blinded support of this rather deceiving and cruel initiative.

Nationally, the Common Core Standards, which have been adopted by 45 states, are supported by The Obama administration, former Florida Governor and potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush, the National Parent Teacher Association, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mike Huckabee and the National Education Association, who have previously informed us their goals center around their power and NOT the children.

While Common Core is a brainchild of the Progressive movement, many Conservative individuals and groups have backed the initiative.  The National Review came out in favor of Common Core, and in an educational presentation of the evidence, Glenn Beck of The Blaze offered a rebuttal of note.

Companies including Microsoft, General Electric, Intel, Boeing, Aetna and State Farm Insurance are on board in full support.  Exxon-Mobil, who run a petroleum company under harsh scrutiny from the Obama administration, are proud supporters who felt compelled to venture outside of their corporate initiatives entering in educational advocacy and through purchasing expensive ad time for a thirty second national ad, which you can see HERE.

Although the Common Core Standards are not federally mandated, the federal government strongly encourages participation.  For those states that refrain from participation, the federal government will offer financially layered incentives and support in effort to provide entitlements masking as assistance. Ultimately, the federal government can and will withhold financial grants, aid and program assistance should a state opt out of the initiative.  We have seen the same tactics manifest themselves with regard to Obamacare.

The advertised goal from the implementation of the Common Core Standards centers around placing common standards aiming to make curriculum standards consistent across the nation aligning the standards and measuring student achievement while measuring and holding accountable teachers and schools.  Well, that does not sound so bad.  After all, we want our students nationally to excel.

Certain states have been documented as routinely failing to meet the standards demanded by the citizenry as noted by The Fordham Institute, who has received sizable grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the implementation of the Common Core Standards will likely force improvement in these states.  However, will states currently highly achieving is this arena experience regression to the mean and have their accomplishments decrease?

 As noted in an article in the Tallahassee Democrat, Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett said the 2013-14 school year will be “the year of Common Core” in Florida public schools, as the new standards make their way into classrooms at every grade level.

An article in the Tallahassee Democrat outlined differences in the currently implemented standards versus those of Common Core, which you can reference HERE.

I found the high school example particularly illustrative, which is reprinted below:

High School Math:

Common Core: Recognize and explain the concepts of conditional probability and independence in everyday language and everyday situations. For example, compare the chance of having lung cancer if you are a smoker with the chance of being a smoker if you have lung cancer.

Sunshine State: Determine probabilities of independent events. Understand and use the concept of conditional probability, including: understanding how conditioning affects the probability of events and finding conditional probabilities from a two-way frequency table.

The Common Core example astutely recognizes the statistical probabilities that exist and draw conclusions from the data sample that hold sizable merit and would be noted as reasonably correct.  The Sunshine State example also examines those same statistical inferences and recognizes the findings as reasonably accurate.  However, the Sunshine State is not limited in scope by inference that the probabilities outlined in the data are mutually inclusive.  The Sunshine State allows for critical thinking, where opportunities to examine less probable chances and outcomes are possible.  Independent events, not necessarily tied together, occur, as evidenced by the number of citizens who have been diagnosed with lung cancer who have never smoked.  The chances of finding a cure will be strongly enhanced by the educational opportunities that exist in the Sunshine State example rather than the reasonably correct interpretations found from the boxed in and limited Common Core example.

It can argued Common Core Standards provide a sound educational platform from which to operate, one that will assist lower performances to reach higher levels.  That sounds good when you say it fast, but in a brilliant piece presented last week, the impact of the Common Core Standards being implemented in The National Football League is examined.  It is not good.

While the academic side of the Common Core Standards is concerning, a much more troubling aspect has been discovered centering around data mining.  This is big in the news right now, with the NSA spying on American Citizens through phone, cable and internet properties seemingly in violation of privacy rights of the citizenry.

If you are just learning of Common Core during this read, please be advised you are way behind the eight ball in your educational efforts.  Michelle Malkin has written extensively on Common Core, and has presented very troubling information regarding data mining.  Glenn Beck also covered the topic in great detail.

However, a real world example of how far along the government is in the implementation of Common Core is noted in the following news story.  In Polk County Florida, which nestled between the Tampa and Orlando markets, without parental notification, local school officials conducted illegal iris scans on students.  This program, labeled eyeswipe-nano, is a clear violation of the privacy rights of the children and their parents as outlined in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. 

It should be noted the lawmakers currently in charge do not respect the Constitution, the rights of the citizenry and the law of the land.  Therefore, we must conclude they are dishonest brokers who cannot be held in a position of trust, particularly when it comes to the education of our children.

A link to a governmental site outlining the data mining techniques to be utilized, inclusive of arm bracelets, iris scans and seating able to measure body heat and movement, has been taken down. However, I did read it in its entirety and can completely understand why it was taken down, as you would join me in being beyond alarmed if you read it.  Thankfully, Glenn Beck to the rescue.  Beck has an entire program dedicated to Common Core, where he actually shows you the pages which outline this material.  See the following:



The Common Core Standards place the curriculum in a box, curtailing efforts to advance beyond the scope of the designed curriculum.  By the way, who is setting the curriculum?  Perhaps those old members of the blame America first crowd?  An example of the curriculum in the literary arts is rather than classic literature an examination of executive orders, including one regarding strengthening federal environmental energy and transportation management, indoctrination right our of the UN Agenda 21 doctrine progressives seek to implement.  Sticking with the UN theme, Common Core emphasizes globalism, eliminating Americanism by removing value language.  Free market capitalism and entrepreneurship shifts to social justice, respect and fairness.  When learning of influential people in American history are children taught about Barack Obama, George Bernard Shaw, Margaret Sanger, and Doleres Huerta or Barry Goldwater, George Patton, Arnold Palmer, Billy Graham and Vince Lombardi?

While many are useful idiots who remain unaware of the evil nature of these standards, many supporters know exactly what the real reasons behind the effort are.  At the aforementioned summit, Orlando Regional REALTOR Association Chairman Steve Merchant offered "School quality is a powerful driver of property values, so anyone who owns property — or is considering purchasing property — in a community should have a strong economic interest in having good schools,” said Merchant. "Studies have consistently shown that properties near schools with higher ratings are far more likely to have higher values than those near schools with lower ratings often.”  Higher rated schools do positively impact property values, but under Common Core, the goal would be for all schools to score equally, thereby negating those higher values and eliminating incentives for under performing school districts to make effort to improve.  I will go with useful idiot on this one.

Similar to Obamacare, Common Core is much more about control of the citizenry that building a more productive public school system. It is the federal takeover of the education system, providing the basis for indoctrination of our youngsters. While robbing children of their free agency, it boxes them in and is prohibitive to critical thinking. 

It is the same as the federal takeover of the health care industry, similar to the deep governmental intervention and control of the financial markets and environmental standards, which in short can be defined as the best practices of socialism.

Lifetime Lessons Learned on Gridiron

Fairness. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, then candidate Barack Obama talked about fairness, and how he would work tirelessly to make things more fair. I assume, in all his scholarly aptitude, he would be the decision maker as to what is fair.

The Dictator in Chief would determine how much money you could make, what you will be allowed to eat, what type of cars you can drive, when, where and with whom you can seek health care and God forbid, how many touchdowns your team can score.

Now them are some fighting words here in the deep south! Think I am kidding? Meet Demias Jimerson.



Jefferson, obviously quite a young man on and off the field, is being tackled by government intervention. After scoring three touchdowns in a game and if his team leads by two touchdowns, Jimerson is sidelined by "The Madre Hill Rule". Hill, a superstar player from the area who back in the day before turning heads at the University of Arkansas, torched defenses around the area, prompting the thinkers in governance, in the name of fairness, to limit his effectiveness.

Certainly, we cannot have him dominate and leave his opponents having to deal with failure.

In the piece, Principal Bryant says other players are just left out, with it being all Demias. Ms. Bryant is quite ill informed, and would be typical of those who will be happy to make decisions for you, as they know better.

First of all, many of the lessons we should learn in life are found on the gridiron. These lesson include but are not limited to discipline, responsibility, desire, leadership, work ethic, aggressiveness, execution, defeat, preparation, compassion, commitment, performance, class and teamwork. After all, there is no "I" in team, and unbeknownst to Principal Bryant, football is a team sport. Not forgotten is sportsmanship, and as former Florida State football Coach Bobby Bowden said, “Sportsmanship to me is going out and playing as hard as you can within the rules.”. That's exactly right.

What Ms. Bryant, and countless other champions of socialism fail to understand, that lessons learned in defeat and failure are invaluable to developing the mentality and intestinal fortitude to succeed. Success comes with a price, and that price is commonly paid through lessons learned.

Unfortunately, the slow creep of socialism is gaining speed in all facets of our lives. Free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity, and as former Georgia Bulldog and Minnesota Viking and NFL Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton points out in a tremendous article in The Wall Street Journal, as a comparison between the Teachers Union and the NFL drastically points out.

When Demias Jimerson signs a scholarship to attend a major college program, I hope he joins the long list of other phenom backs, from Eric Dickerson to Marcus Dupree, from Herschel Walker to Bo Jackson and from Barry Sanders to Earl Campbell in tremendous success. I would love to have him on one of my teams, but if he plays for an opponent of one of my teams, I hope my guys can rise to the challenge of stopping him. Most would be lucky to stop him, but luck is where preparation meets opportunity in the color and pageantry of college football, and life.

Actions Admission of Failure

Obamacare, much like the conditions on last weeks disabled cruise ship so accurately pointed out by Investors Business Daily's Michael Ramirez, is starting to really stink. Recall, we had to pass the bill to find out what is in the bill, and the more we uncover, the more we don't not like.

Almost immediately, many corporations, some of whom helped craft the legislation, quickly realized the burden the legislation would have and sounded a loud alarm. McDonalds led the way.

Of course, many of us recognized this from the get go, including Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who spoke yesterday on the subject. The lovely Shannon Bream of FOX News has the story:



As noted by Bachmann, certainly among my favorite currently elected officials, some 111 corporations and unions have been granted a waiver in terms of adhering to the biting regulatory grip of the legislation. Obviously, once again, the government under this administration is picking winners and losers, which is in violation of free market principles. I run a handful of small businesses, but, seriously Dude, where is my waiver ?

While rising costs and the prospect of a restriction on choice seem apparent, the problem is much worse than recognized by the average American.

Today, Donald Berwick, recently appointed by President Obama to be the nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, finally was formally introduced to Congress. Be advised, much like the NEA is not about the advancement of public education, the new healthcare plan is not about improved healthcare nor cost containment, but rather the redistribution of wealth. Don't buy it? Take a listen:



Berwick thinks government can more efficiently run health care than the private sector. No doubt, Berwick missed Reagan's proclamation that government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem.

Additionally, the new heatlthcare bill contains measures allowing for death panels. I know you remember the intellectually hampered Sarah Palin getting lambasted by the mainstream media for having the gal to incite the public by claiming the formation and implementation of death panels existed within the bill. Golly, Palin is just so lacking in "intellectual curiosity".

I know facts are hard to come by when you live your life on the left side of the street, but perhaps if you favorite Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman describes that death panels are in fact part of Obamacare, and he did just that this weekend, you may recognize Palin posting on Facebook beat the New York Times to the story once again. Investors Business Daily slams Krugman on the nations top editorial page

Thankfully, due to the results of the recent election, which decimated the Democrats, the brakes will be slammed on the accelerated onslaught of crony capitalism under President Obama's transformation of America.

The country is in great peril due to the insane policies of this administration, and the sooner we put an abrupt halt to the implementation of said policies, the better.