The Train Keeps A Rolling

In continuance of their tired attacks on those evil Koch Brothers and in effort to slam the GOP, did those on the left forget to note that without the pipeline the oil is currently transported by rail and who is among those profiting from it?

That would be our favorite ukulele playing uncle, Democrat Warren E. Buffett of Omaha, a significant backer of Barack Obama.  In 2010, Buffett sold stakes in other rails, inclusive of Union Pacific (UNP:NYSE) and Kansas City Southern (KSU:NYSE), to purchase Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which became a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Buffett friend Bill Gates has also taken large equity positions in railroads.

I do not have an issue either way where investors legally find return on investment, just pointing out what DemoNews.org failed to be transparent about.

With transparency in mind, full disclosure would note I am a native Nebraskan and have been a longtime shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE). The train keeps a rolling! #GBR!

Warren Buffet with Nebraska Cheer at BRK Annual Meeting

Core of Destruction

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.--Abraham Lincoln.

 

America is under attack from within.

 

As often as we have including that wording in one of our blog posts, it has the feel of some kind of catch phrase.  Be advised it is not.  By design, no doubt strongly enhanced by the Cloward-Piven Strategy, the tentacles of attack are so numerous you would think you were in battle with an octopus.

 

The avenue of approach employed by the Obama administration and their progressive partners, inclusive of more than a handful of GOP members, on each tentacle, has the sting of a Man of War.

 

Fitting we mention the word war, as it is becoming apparent America is in a form of Civil War, only it is on the battlefield of ideology rather than dodging bullets on a vast parcel in western Kentucky.

 

Each of the avenues of attack are uniquely dangerous, and as Obama planned, transformative. 

 

Perhaps the most destructive is attack is one currently target bombing our education curriculum in the public school system.  This initiative is supported by heavy hitting Republicans and Democrats, inclusive of Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush from the GOP to Bill Gates, Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, former Intel CEO Craig Barrett and companies such as State Farm Insurance and Exxon-Mobil.

 

We did an extensive blog post, A Real Rotten Core, a year ago outlining how dangerous to our freedom and liberty the initiative is.  The Common Core Standards seek to transform the system of teaching. The basis presented to the public establishing the need for the new standards center on the ability to streamline educational efforts, standardizing curriculum standards across the nation and to give our students help in competing with students around the world enabling them a more prosperous future in competing in the global economy.

 

Cloaked inside that reasonable objective is extensive data mining of our children, which as presented is an invasion of privacy and in violation of the fourth amendment.  Common Core places student in a box, limiting their potential to advance beyond the scope of the designed curriculum, emphasizing globalism and social justice over individualism and free market capitalism.

 

At the core, pun intended, Common Core is much more about control of the citizenry and indoctrination of our youth than it is about building a more productive public school system.

 

In an article at The Corner, Stanley Kurtz examines a quiet but devastatingly effective effort to replace the teaching of traditional American history in our high schools with a new, centrally-controlled, and sharply left-leaning curriculum.  As Kurtz, whose reputation is concrete solid, reports, The College Board, who issues the SAT and various AP exams, has created elaborate new framework for he AP US History Exam, will effectively force nearly all American high schools, public and private, to transform the was they teach US History.

 

I got a news flash for you.  These folks are charter members of the blame America first crowd, thinking, like our President, that American prosperity was ill gotten through thievery and oppression.  Social justice, fairness and equality will the emphasis, contrary to the foundations and principles of our Constitutional Republic.

 

Think your child can sideswipe the changes?  False.  Prospective college students will be required to satisfactorily pass the SAT, which will be heavily based on the new framework.  Indoctrination.

 

Many states, risking the loss of heavy governmental funding, are backtracking from accepting the Common Core standards.  If the public really knew the nuts and bolts of Common Core, it would overwhelmingly be rejected.  Same with the US History framework Kurtz has warned us about.

 

This Tuesday, July 22, presents a golden opportunity for you to become more knowledgeable on this subject, and physically participate in helping defeat it. Glenn Beck will assemble a cast of interested parties, pro and con, for a lengthy interactive experience live from his studios in Las Colinas, Texas.

 

As Beck puts it, WE WILL NOT CONFORM is a chance for anyone who’s tired of sitting idly by as the federal government continues its takeover of our schools to come together and do something about it. Among the parties scheduled to participate are David Barton of WallBuilders, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe and Michelle Malkin, who has been leading the charge in opposition of Common Core.  

 

Common Core can be defeated, but we need all hands on deck.  While it has supporters on both sides, it also has opponents on both sides.  Therefore, this provides an opportunity to find common ground with those who we are normally at odds with, which is integral in reversing the downward spiral our country is in.

 

Please make time to find a theater presentation in your neck of the woods and join us in fighting those who seek to limit our freedom and liberty.  WE WILL NOT CONFORM!

 

WE WILL NOT CONFORM

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.

Global Food Fight

Although I have never met Microsoft's (MSFT:NASDAQ) Bill Gates, he is someone I have always liked and respected. Furthermore, Gates, a close friend of Warren Buffett, is a board member of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B:NYSE), of which I am a shareholder.

About the time the H1N1 virus was the talk of the town, I came across this video of Bill Gates discussing ways to reduce the onslaught of global warming. I have always thought global warming was a hoax and a vehicle for the global transfer of wealth, but the content of this video I found very troubling. Take a listen:



Now, I know years of Bud Lite consumption has indeed killed a lot of my brain cells, but did I in fact hear Gates discuss, in an effort to combat global warming, curbing population growth through vaccination?

I think I heard it right. Certainly, it seems apparent that the Gates Foundation does great work in fighting hunger and educating women on birth control among other things through innovations in health in the third world. However, I am uncomfortable with Gates, or anyone else, including governments, deciding who is fit for existence and potentially eliminating those deemed not worthy by vaccination, born or unborn. But really, could this could not possibly be as potentially nefarious as it sounds?

Unfortunately, yes.

I will give Gates and his foundation the benefit of the doubt, but many organizations and individuals have been on this bandwagon for years, including some well known people, such as playwright George Bernard Shaw.



As an arm of the completely worthless United Nations, we find the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) which seeks to regulate over population through various ways. For more on UNFPA, see the following videos: 1 2 3 4. Throughout time, it seems the socialists thrive on using fear driven by a crisis of the imagination such as the myth of overpopulation and now the greatest hoax in history, global warming.

Back in January, with the United States economy in freefall, Hillary Clinton announced the launch of a new program, the Global Health Initiative, which will, and I quote, become "the centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy". The focus will be to improve family planning and prevent pregnancies. The centerpiece of our foreign policy, mind you.

This past week, Congress, uncharacteristically moving at warp speed, passed the Food Safety Modernization Act. Come again? Are there issues with our food I am unaware of? Glenn Beck has some thoughts on that.


The global warming alarmists, a group basically engaged in stealing the wealth of our country to spread it around to third world countries under the imminent threat of the demise of the world due to global warming, met last week in Cancun, Mexico. Certainly during afternoon recesses, the conference attendees were not afraid of escalating water levels while sunbathing. Anyhow, scientists at the event called for rationing in developed world. To cap off the event, academics called for much tougher measures to cut carbon emissions.

Anytime we have academics and intellectual elites attempting to dictate governmental policy, particularly on inflated claims of an emergency, it is an immediate threat to free market capitalism, which is our best path to prosperity.

With the recent elections here in the United States, efforts by this crowd face much stronger opposition. The socialists smell blood in the water, and I fear they will pull out every stop, including violence, to attempt to create chaos and further their radical agenda. Should chaos in the form of civil disobedience rule the day, seemingly legitimate cries for the government to assist will be made.

Think again. This plays right into the hands of the socialist movement. Freedom is under attack! Under the premise of an emergency, the government will seize power and chunks of our freedom will lost to the ash bin of history. As Ronald Reagan said, Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free