Star Parker: Time to shut down the Department of Education

Not only is it one of the largest banks in the U.S. creating the next bubble (student loans), but it is also destroying our values.

Nothing could provide a better example (of misplaced power in DC) than the newly issued guidance letter that the Department of Education, jointly with the Justice Department, just sent to public school districts across the country, threatening to cut of federal funds if public schools do not comply with guidelines for treatment of so-called transgender students.

The first paragraph of the directive provides a toll-free phone number to call if you don't know the English language well enough to read the letter and then serves up this same paragraph in six different languages. Our own Department of Education is apparently of the view that familiarity with the English language is not among the responsibilities of American citizens.

The guidance letter lists requirements with which public schools must comply to demonstrate that they do not violate the alleged civil rights of transgender students.

Among these requirements are assurances that transgender students be allowed access to restrooms and locker rooms "consistent with their gender identity."

"Gender identity," according to the letter, "refers to an individual's internal sense of gender. A person's gender identity may be different from or the same as the person's sex assigned at birth."

According to a new Cato Institute report, Department of Education spending on K-12 education now stands at $40.2 billion, ten times greater in inflation-adjusted dollars than the $4.5 billion where it stood just prior to the creation of the education department. Over this period, despite the prodigious federal spending, test scores in reading and math have hardly changed. Adding in spending from federal departments other than the Department of Education on K-12 education, the total stands at over $80 billion.

 http://www.urbancure.org/mbarticle.asp?id=787&t=Time-to-shut-down-the-Department-of-Education

Trump's Supreme Court list

"Today Donald J. Trump released the much-anticipated list of people he would consider as potential replacements for Justice Scalia at the United States Supreme Court. This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.

"Mr. Trump stated, “Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice. His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms. He was a Justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country. The following list of potential Supreme Court justices is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as President, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.”

Steven Colloton of Iowa, a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; 

Raymond Gruender of Missouri, also a judge on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals; 

 Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.  Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, a judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals;
William Pryor of Alabama, a judge on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals;
Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, a judge on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The state supreme court jurists include:
Allison Eid of Colorado;
 Joan Larsen of Michigan;
Thomas Lee of Utah;
David Stras of Minnesota;
and Don Willett of Texas.

 Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-list-supreme-court/2016/05/18

Success of black immigrants in the U.S.

I've been reading some glowing reports about foreign born black immigrants--education level, income, extending to 2nd generation. But that's not what Pew Research reports, although foreign born blacks do much better than native born, especially in marriage rate and education they don't necessarily do better than other immigrant groups. The difference may be Pew figures  include blacks from all over the world including South American and Caribbean and the other reports may be just Africa. The fact remains, many American blacks, like our President, do not have slavery in their history. And many American blacks are descended from families that did own slaves.

 

 http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/04/09/chapter-1-statistical-portrait-of-the-u-s-black-immigrant-population/

 

 http://www.atlnightspots.com/african-immigrants-have-the-highest-academic-achievement-in-the-us

 

 http://atlantablackstar.com/2015/06/26/survey-shows-black-immigrants-educated-make-money-african-americans/

 

"First- and second-generation immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, though only 13% of the nation’s blacks as a whole, represent 41% of all those of African descent at 28 selective universities and 23 % of the black population at all public universities." Their children excel at higher rates than any other American immigrant groups. This is reported in a number of publications, including Pew Research and the Census. But all the others sources mention that the marriage rate is much higher for immigrant blacks. Washington Post (this source) doesn't.
 

Need hymns for Memorial Day services?

Need hymns for Memorial Day? This time of year, it's my most popular blog post. They are from a 1964 Methodist hymnal that I found at a book sale for ten cents.  And remember! Memorial Day (which began to honor Civil War dead) is for deceased; Veterans Day observed the end of WWI (11th hour of the11th day of the 11th month) and is for all veterans.

 Hymns for Memorial Day Observance

Also some news about veterans.  There's a bill to allow WWII women veterans into Arlington Cemetery.  I didn't know anyone was keeping them out, but apparently some Democrats were.

http://www.speaker.gov/photo/women-wwii-deserve-be-arlington

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and honored the war dead of the Civil War with flowers on their graves. After WWI it became Memorial Day and honored all war dead, or even all deceased friends and family depending on your customs.

When I was very young, I sold paper red poppies with my siblings to raise money for the American Legion, of which my dad was a district commander in Illinois. When I was older I remember attending services at the band shell in Mt. Morris, where a senior student was chosen to recite the poem, "In Flanders' Field." First my grandparents would decorate my uncle's grave (died in China in 1944) at the Ashton, IL cemetery; then later my mom and her sister; and after they died, my father went to the cemetery with the flowers. Now they are all gone, and I think my brother who now lives in Franklin Grove has continued the tradition.

Back Wrecker #3: Absentmindedness During Daily Activity

Numbered print by Alison Adams, 1958

 I told my husband that the back pain websites don't mention bending over to pick up your shoe, but here it was #3--absentmindedness.  I know from experience not to sit on anything and bend over to pick something up from the floor, whether in the car or house. Zap, zing, pow, snap. I blame it all on my horse sitting on me when I was 11 years old.  So although it wasn't absolutely awful yesterday, today I'm practically crippled, and will call off my volunteer stint at the pregnancy clinic.  I'm trussed up in one of my two back braces and wore it all night.

Train yourself: A simple way to do that is to pull your navel toward your spine and imagine you're wearing a corset that pulls the sides of your abs inward. Doing that throughout the day -- and especially when lifting or bending -- strengthens and supports your back, says Esther Gokhale, author of 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back and owner of Esther Gokhale Wellness Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

Today, I look like a slob because I need something loose--the $2 pants I bought a few weeks ago--and I'm wearing slip on sandals even though it's awfully cold (for May--not bad if it were February).  But, probably I won't be leaving the house.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/features/how-to-wreck-your-back

What is socialism, dad?

Bret Stephens' son Noah looked over his shoulder at the disturbing photos of chaos and poverty from Venezuela, and asked, "What is socialism?"

"I told him it’s an economic system in which the government seizes and runs industries, sets prices for goods, and otherwise dictates what you can and cannot do with your money, and therefore your life. He received my answer with the abstracted interest you’d expect if I had been describing atmospheric conditions on Uranus.

Here’s what I wish I had said: Socialism is a mental poison that leads to human misery of the sort you see in these wrenching pictures."  (Wall Street Journal)

If you are still a Democrat and you've seen what Obama has done to us, and what Hillary and Bernie promise, why do you want that sort of world? Both German National Socialism on the right and Russian and Chinese Communism of the left are socialism run amuck.  It's all about state control whether Nazis or Communists, Hitler or Stalin or Mao or Chavez. 

"There are lesser names to add to this roll call of dishonor— Michael Moore, Sean Penn—but you get the point: “Democratic socialism” had no shortage of prominent Western cheerleaders as it set Venezuela on its road to hyperinflation, hyper-criminality, water shortages, beer shortages, electricity blackouts, political repression and national collapse. Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, gained prestige and legitimacy from these paladins of the left. They are complicit in Venezuela’s agony. . .The Sanders campaign is no stranger to accusations that its brand of leftism is cut from the same cloth that produced Chavismo."

Identify as a person

Were you one of the millions suckered by DaVinci Code lies?

"The Da Vinci Code is significant not for what it says about the Catholic Church, but for what it inadvertently says about the state of Western culture at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The positive reception accorded to The Da Vinci Code reveals a society in deep denial of reality. The book came out to its warm reception after 9/11. The film version came out after the Beslan school massacre, after the Madrid train bombings, after the London tube bombings, and after three weeks of Muslim rioting in 275 French cities. The movie hit the theaters at just about the same time that news of the Mumbai train bombings (which killed 200 and injured 700) hit the news.

Yet such was the public mood that millions of gullible readers and moviegoers were willing to accept the thesis that the greatest threat to human happiness lay in the supposed machinations of powerful figures within the Catholic Church. Future historians will no doubt be amazed at our capacity for self-deception. That presumes, of course, that future historians won’t be under the thumbs of the Ayatollahs and Muftis—a presumption that can no longer be safely entertained."

 http://www.crisismagazine.com/2016/breaking-the-code

Is this worth it?

Not much nutritional information on the package.  Maybe there's none to report?  70 calories.  32 Organic Whole Food Extracts, Mixed Berries, Kale, Barley Grass, Beets, Wheat Grass, Blue Green Algae, with Aloe & Dairy Free Probiotics.  About 14 servings, which makes it about $1.00 for an 8 oz. drink.

So I had to look elsewhere, and found several blog posts about super green supplement drinks, but not this brand. http://www.greendrinkreviews.com/wp/2007/08/14/green-super-foods-drink-to-your-health/

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/super-greens

Little Sisters of the Poor and the Obama mandate

"The Little Sisters of the Poor deserve more than a victory in court. They deserve relief from this Obamacare mandate and an end to this ordeal. The administration should resolve this as soon as possible so the Sisters can go on serving the poor in peace as they have for so long. I am proud to stand with the Sisters, and all those who work every day to protect religious liberty. "  Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

 http://www.lifenews.com/2016/05/16/little-sisters-win-supreme-court-tells-lower-courts-to-protect-them-from-hhs-mandate/

 http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/435446/little-sisters-poor-just-beat-obama-administration-supreme-court

Representative Diane Black of TN doesn't think much of Obama's directive

Black called the Dear Colleague letter from the Department of Education and Department of Justice an “attempt to bully our local schools into submission to the Obama Administration’s agenda” and added that she believed “the Obama Administration is now directly responsible for endangering our students.”

“This attempt to bully our local schools into submission to the Obama Administration’s agenda is shameful and a gross abuse of the federal government’s power,” Black said in a statement. “It has nothing to do with compassion for minority student populations and everything to do with political opportunism for the next election.

“We all agree on the rights of students to be treated with dignity and respect,” Black emphasized, “but that right must also exist alongside the rights of students to maintain their privacy and safety in their own schools.”

Black added that as a grandmother of young girls, she believes “the Obama Administration is now directly responsible for endangering our students.”

“It is worth noting that this directive does not carry the force of law and I would encourage Tennessee school officials to continue following their consciences,” she said.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/lauretta-brown/rep-black-slams-transgender-restroom-access-mandate-administration-now

“Norma, I was wondering how in the world you survived in the librarians' world.”

The only librarians he knows are his two cousins and they are very liberal, so he asked me and I responded.

Norma demonstrating CD-ROM system in 1988

"Until 2000 I was a Democrat. That was the year I retired. However, I was actually apolitical, and all my core values were the same as now—pro-life, pro-business, creationist, Christian. Because I had always been concerned about the poor, racial issues, various injustices, the environment, the Democrats seemed the logical party since that was what they preached. I never voted for Reagan, or Ford or Bush I. But the worm had been turning actually since my husband went into business for himself in 1994 and I was the researcher and staff.  Slowly, slowly, along with some personal problems in our family, I learned about “enabling behavior” and how much of the good we think we do for others,  we do for ourselves to control them or the circumstances. I began to take Matthew 25 very seriously, and realized in those passages about meeting Jesus in person, we are never told that the other people will change or that we will change the circumstances of their lives—poverty, prison, hunger, etc.

Aside from all that, I know now I would not have been promoted or published (I was Associate Professor at Ohio State University when I retired) if I had been an open, out of the closet, conservative. My publications are/were apolitical, a lot of stuff about journals and 19th century women writers for farm journals, articles about veterinary titles, how to use databases, etc., but if I had been as outspoken then as I am now (social media wasn’t an issue although I was on Usenet) my career would have been toast. A conservative faculty member will not get grants, office space, research time, or appointments to important committees in most of academe. It’s not dissimilar to the problem blacks had in the 1920s when there was a quota in almost all universities (I also did research on black veterinarians turn of 20th century). Conservative faculty are tokens. 

Academic libraries are a little different than public libraries, (the profession has 4 types—school, special, academic and public).  Politics may not be as important for a health librarian or a physics librarian—some of the publications they purchase might have a political edge, but most would be straight research. Fields like Education, Women Studies, Black studies and social work would be much more political. But public librarians? 223:1 liberal to conservative (2004 figures). That’s higher than Hollywood or the ACLU. You can imagine how the budgets are spent for those libraries! 

For years and years I battled our local public library. They flooded the shelves with anti-Bush titles during his term—I think they purchased every one ever published. For instance, there are 3 large Lutheran churches in our area, and there was one book on Lutheranism copyright 1945 on the shelves. It was easier to find a new title on the occult than anything Christian. Even main-line. Lots about the Amish titles, who are sort of considered “cute” and interesting around here, but don’t actually live in our town. Any book on Martin Luther King, Jr. was classified as Christian, so that’s how “balance” was achieved. Everything Michael Moore ever did was available in multiple copies and formats.

It has improved somewhat, and I now see popular titles by well known TV Christian preachers or best sellers on the shelves, but I think most Christians learned years ago to just go to the book store or Amazon and avoid the library. My public library had about 50 journal titles on various technology/computer topics, everything from popular computer stuff to high tech production, and only three Christian titles. It was good enough for a small college library. And when I pointed this out and made suggestions, their reasoning was those publications I recommended were not on their lists of reviewed titles—you see, the same people control the review publications that control the library systems and it’s a closed loop. 

Your cousins don’t even realize the “liberal privilege” their profession provides. Their own publications and professional organizations protect them. It’s really the same complaint that blacks have about “white privilege,” in that when you live in it and it is your life, career, and friendships, it is just normal, not privilege. But to add to the mix, I’ve never met a librarian who wasn’t also a missionary for the importance of information and knowledge (can no longer say reading, too old fashioned). Their personal beliefs and values strongly affect their professional lives. 

If this doesn’t sound like the librarians you know that’s because most of the staff you meet in your public library are not librarians. They may be highly skilled para-professionals or shelving clerks or interns, but the librarians with a double master's or PhD are in the back room with the door closed working on the budget or a local committee report or a snag in the computerized circulation system or a speech for the next professional meeting.

So, that’s why you don’t know any conservative librarians (other than me)."

(Spacing is off because I copied this from an e-mail to my friend.)

Twenty five million still don't have health insurance

May 15, 1525, The Peasants' War

It’s only recently I learned about the Peasants’ War which began in May 1525. Imagine. Forty years as a Lutheran, and not a word or sermon on an event that killed over a hundred thousand and in many ways involved Martin Luther. As I’ve watched the Trump phenomena unfold, I thought back to this--exciting the masses about injustices and then flip flopping.

Martin Luther added to the unrest that had been going on for years—at least the hopes that ordinary peasants had for liberation from both the clergy and the ruling classes. There were many societal and economic changes happening, a rising middle class, the creation of free towns, displacement of agrarian workers, the importation of precious metals from the "new world," the rise of banks and money becoming the source of wealth instead of land, and rampant inflation. The feudal system of the old Roman empire in Europe had become like slavery by the fifteenth century—the peasants couldn’t even marry without approval of their lord and if the head of household died, the lord could take the best property from the family for his own use They couldn’t hunt or fish on the lord’s properties even though there were ancient agreements to this freedom that were being ignored. (Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?) The nobility classes were growing by creation of titles and becoming impoverished, with the poorest taking offices in the church because there was no more land. The clergy also had both wealthy and poor classes.

And then Luther declared Christians no longer had to answer to Rome or any other man. I don’t know how common the ability to read was among the peasants, but through their radical and extremist leaders they knew about Luther’s The Freedom of a Christian and his Babylonian Captivity. Those pamphlets in that day were like social media flare ups of today.  Luther declared that “no Christian was under the obligation to comply with any law which was enacted upon him by another man.” For thousands of peasants looking for justice for losing their rights, that was like throwing gasoline on the glowing embers of a simmering revolution.

At first Martin Luther encouraged the Peasants, who themselves were divided among the radicals and moderates and had many justifiable grievances going back a century, and he criticized the nobility and princes for being oppressive. He said he was one of them, even bragged about being from a family of peasants. But then he did an about face, “with the release of his pamphlet Against the Murdering Robbing Rats of Peasants. In it, he provoked and encouraged the nobles to shed blood in order to suppress the revolt, “stab, kill, and strangle.” Luther publicly exhorted the princes to exterminate the peasants. He called peasants pigs, stupid and incorrigible. He went as far as publicly proclaiming that the princes were not only ‘God’s swords’ but that it was also their sacred duty to preserve law and order on earth by punishing these most heinous and atrocious criminals [the peasants]. He believed that perjury, rebellion and hypocrisy called for harsh punishment.” (The Inconsistencies of Martin Luther Before, During, and After the Peasants’ War, 2011)

On May 15, 1525, and its aftermath, over 100,000 peasants were massacred—they were no match for their nobles’ soldiers. Luther, who had vowed to stand by the peasants, betrayed them and took the side of the nobility. Some reformers, who originally were Lutherans but abandoned Luther, said the new Lutheran church had less freedom of speech than the Turks (Muslims) and that Luther was taking more power than the Pope.

http://www.oakwood.edu/historyportal/Ejah/2011/The%20Inconsistencies%20of%20Martin%20Luther%20Before.htm

 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11597a.htm

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgZzuY4NSCE

 http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/Luther-Peasants.html

 http://store.afcanada.com/store/product/1584/Luther-Works-Volume-46

Today's New Word--Leonine Sacramentary

"The oldest of the Latin sacramentaries or liturgical books. It was erroneously attributed to Pope Leo I and was in use from the fourth to the seventh centuries. It contains neither canons nor the Ordinary of the Mass, but many propers, collects, prefaces, secrets, postcommunions, and orations, together with ordination forms. Many of these prayers are still in use today." https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=34561

"The popular, though incorrect name for the earliest surviving collection of Roman Mass formularies and ordination prayers that scholars have called the Sacramentary of Verona (Sacramentarium Veronense ). The name "Leonine Sacramentary" is misleading, since it is neither a sacramentary, nor was it composed by Pope Leo I. More accurately, it is a compilation of individual libelli missarum in a single manuscript. It is a unicum, i.e., it exists in a single MS, Codex LXXXV (80) of the Chapter Library at Verona. E. A. Lowe dates it, on palaeographical grounds, as written in the first quarter of the 7th century. J. Bianchini published it in 1735, in v.4 of his Anastasius Bibliothecarius, under the title Sacramentarium Leonianum. In 1748 L. A. Muratori reedited it under the same title, but in 1754 J. A. Assemani, who gave it the title Sacramentarium Veronense, vulgo Leonianum, edited it again. In 1896 C. L. Feltoe published a handy, but inaccurate, edition, with the old title. The most recent edition is that of K. Mohlberg, who has rightly again called it Sacramentarium Veronense (Rome 1956). …" http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3407706637/leonine-sacramentary.html

I came across this term in reading something from the Prayer Book Society, which "exists to promote Anglican belief and worship as expressed in the Common Prayer tradition and Anglican formularies since the first Book of Common Prayer of 1549 in the Church of England, on through the 1928 Prayer Book down to the present day." http://www.pbsusa.org/

Obama and the Transgender social experiment

"You may not have realized it yet, but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school. Without an act of Congress, without a ruling from the Supreme Court, and without even going through the motions of the regulatory rule-making process, the administration issued a letter drafting every single public educational institution in the country to implement the extreme edge of the sexual revolution."

 http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435379/transgender-school-edict-public-schools-need-conservative-reform

 

Make-over, please

I may sound as catty and juvenile as our President back biting at the Texas Lt. Governor, but really, Debbie Wasserman Schultz desperately needs a make-over. It must be naturally curly hair, because no one could get a bad perm that consistently year after year.

 http://hotair.com/archives/2016/05/12/wasserman-schultz-running-scared-from-liberal-challenger/

 

Trump on the #bathroomwars

Trump has come out with the classic conservative line—"It’s up to the states to decide (bathroom policies)." And his followers are saying, "See! See! He really is a conservative." Well, poop on that (pardon the pun). The Republicans used that on women’s rights, minority rights, educational standards, abortion, etc., and the feds ALWAYS won. Civil Rights was the Republican party cause for 100 years, and the Democrats even stole the credit that one! The executive branch has zip nada zilch power to command this under threat of losing school money (which the taxpayers sent to DC). Radicals tried for years to mess up Title VII and Title IX and Congress blocked them, so they just went over their heads to the Executive branch. Although it's possible Title VII got "sex" accidentally in 1964, it has protected women all these years, and the Obama administration threatens to undo that progress of 50 years. 

The LGBT mafia must have something hanging over Obama’s head, because just like the 2012 election, until a few months before the election he was all traditional marriage, yada, yada, now all of a sudden he’s so into the big lie, that there’s no gender at all, just choice. Whatever scandal they know about (and the Clinton campaign in 2008 dug up a lot), at this point it would just be a resume enhancer.

Every religion in the world has core beliefs on this, so it isn’t just Christians, Jews and Muslims. I’ll probably have to break my vow not to vote for Trump because Democrats are paving the highway to hell, and they’ve just about added the last bag of sand and rocks and are poised to dump.

Wedding dresses and bridal gowns--retro

Got your attention?

This lovely dress is 61 years old, made by my talented mother and worn twice, in 1955 and 1960.  But I think it could be remodeled and redesigned into something today's bride would love.  White satin and tulle with little pearls, all hand sewn.

                                                            Photo from Davidsbridal.com

More misinformation on TV tonight

We're still hearing twisted statistics about cops killing blacks. (Just watched the Ferguson story on CBS.) People want any unfortunate killings to reflect percent of population, but black males between the ages of 14 and 17 commit homicide at 10x the rate of white and Hispanic youths. Obviously, they will encounter police more often as the police protect people.

In New York City blacks are 23% of the population but commit 75% of all shootings, 70% of all robberies and 66% of all violent crime. Whites are 33% of the population but commit fewer than 2% of all shootings, 4% of all robberies and 5% of all violent crime. This means when police are called out on a gun run, the chances are they will encounter black men looking for trouble. 

The anti-cop campaign of the last 2 years puts police in danger and also the people they are supposed to protect. Crime fell dramatically the last 20 years, now it's creeping back up as the number of police killed in shootings doubled in 2016. The chance of a police officer being killed by a black is 18.5x higher than the chance of an unarmed black getting killed by a cop. From "The danger of the Black Lives Matter Movement" by Heather MacDonald, April 17, 2016, speech.