- EverVigilant.net - "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." - John Philpot Curran
Just when you think public schools couldn't dumb things down any more than they already have, you run across a story like this:
Berkeley High School is considering a controversial proposal to eliminate science labs and the five science teachers who teach them to free up more resources to help struggling students.
The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High's School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.
Paul Gibson, an alternate parent representative on the School Governance Council, said that information presented at council meetings suggests that the science labs were largely classes for white students. He said the decision to consider cutting the labs in order to redirect resources to underperforming students was virtually unanimous.
If you wanted more proof that the main purpose of the public school system is to indoctrinate rather than educate, there it is.
Following the thwarted "terrorist attack" on an international Northwest Airlines flight, DHS head thug Janet Napolitano issued the following statement:
I am grateful to the passengers and crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 who reacted quickly and heroically to an incident that could have had tragic results. The Department of Homeland Security immediately put additional screening measures into place - for all domestic and international flights - to ensure the continued safety of the traveling public. We are also working closely with federal, state and local law enforcement on additional security measures, as well as our international partners on enhanced security at airports and on flights.
The American people should continue their planned holiday travel and, as always, be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior or activity to law enforcement officials.
Passengers flying from international locations to U.S. destinations may notice additional security measures in place. These measures are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere. Due to the busy holiday travel season, both domestic and international travelers should allot extra time for check-in.
Proposed policy changes included keeping passengers in their seats for the last hour of an international flight, not allowing them to hold anything in their laps, and turning off all in-flight entertainment.
In light of those idiotic restrictions, the Transportation "Security" Administration began to get some interesting feedback on its blog. Here's a small sampling:
It's hardly "unpredictable" when airlines announce lockdowns during the last hour of flight into the US. If this is truly the TSA/DHS recommendation as claimed, then whats the difference between the last 30, 60, or 90 minutes of a flight? Does it matter, or is this another knee-jerk reaction to some idiot to show that "something" is being done, just like the whole shoe fiasco...?
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ALL your layers of security failed yet again.
So what is the response of the TSA - to add even more confusion to the process with the hope that with any kind of plain dumb luck, you'll be able to flummox another idiot terrorist wannabe?
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I am an American Citizen with absolutely no crime history or affiliation with anything illegal. I've been traveling world wide for over 40 years. *I* am on a watch list. Where is Umar's name on this list? What's wrong with this picture?
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I think in failing this individual will have a greater impact on air travel than he would have had he succeeded.
Also re: the new "1 hour before landing, now sit quietly in your seats children" rule. Why does this only apply to international flights? If this is not just more theater it should apply to domestic flights also. Care to comment on that?
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With as annoying as it is getting to fly, soon the only passengers will be terrorists.
I really can't wait for high speed trains.
It's nice to know others out there recognize airline "security" for the scam that it is.
Diane Francis hates people, as do most of those who belong to the idiotic ranks of the climate change cult. She writes:
The "inconvenient truth" overhanging the UN's Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world.
A planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently of one million births every four days.
The world's other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity's soaring reproduction rate.
Ironically, China, despite its dirty coal plants, is the world's leader in terms of fashioning policy to combat environmental degradation, thanks to its one-child-only edict. ...
... For those who balk at the notion that governments should control family sizes, just wait until the growing human population turns twice as much pasture land into desert as is now the case or when the Amazon is gone, the elephants disappear for good and wars erupt over water, scarce resources and spatial needs.
The point is that Copenhagen's talking points are beside the point.
The only fix is if all countries drastically reduce their populations, clean up their messes and impose mandatory conservation measures.
This is beyond idiotic. It's entering the realm of the criminally insane.
Ms. Francis, is there any chance you and your cohorts would lead the way in reducing the world's population? Yeah, I didn't think so.
Considering that the Rand Corporation receives the bulk of its funding from federal, state, and local government agencies, it should really come as no surprise to read something like this:
Establishing security is the sine qua non of stability operations, since it is a prerequisite for reconstruction and development. Security requires a mix of military and police forces to deal with a range of threats from insurgents to criminal organizations. This research examines the creation of a high-end police force, which the authors call a Stability Police Force (SPF). The study considers what size force is necessary, how responsive it needs to be, where in the government it might be located, what capabilities it should have, how it could be staffed, and its cost. This monograph also considers several options for locating this force within the U.S. government, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) in the Department of State, and the U.S. Army's Military Police. The authors conclude that an SPF containing 6,000 people -- created in the U.S. Marshals Service and staffed by a "hybrid option," in which SPF members are federal police officers seconded to federal, state, and local police agencies when not deployed -- would be the most effective of the options considered. The SPF would be able to deploy in 30 days. The cost for this option would be $637.3 million annually, in FY2007 dollars.
You can read the entire publication in PDF format here.
Here's reason number 5,723 to keep your kids out of the local government-run indoctrination center:
It's a disturbing game with devastating consequences, and a new WTHR survey suggests it is rampant in Indiana schools.
"Ball tapping" is the act of intentionally hitting or kicking a male in the genitals. Earlier this month, an Eyewitness News investigation showed the game has become commonplace in some area schools, resulting in serious injuries for students.
As part of the investigation, WTHR also conducted a statewide survey of school nurses. The results are in, and they show the problem of ball tapping is more common and widespread than many school officials had realized.
Yes, your kids could be exposed to child and gay porn at school. But it's OK, because it's all in the name of "tolerance":
Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings was the founder, and for many years, Executive Director of an organization called the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN started essentially as Jennings' personal project and grew to become the culmination of his life's work. And he was chosen by President Obama to be the nation's Safe Schools Czar primarily because he had founded and led GLSEN.
GLSEN's stated mission is to empower gay youth in the schools and to stop harassment by other students. It encourages the formation of Gay Student Alliances and condemns the use of hateful words. GLSEN also strives to influence the educational curriculum to include materials which the group believes will increase tolerance of gay students and decrease bullying. To that end, GLSEN maintains a recommended reading list of books that it claims "furthers our mission to ensure safe schools for all students." In other words, these are the books that GLSEN's directors think all kids should be reading: gay kids should read them to raise their self-esteem, and straight kids should read them in order to become more aware and tolerant and stop bullying gay kids. Through GLSEN's online ordering system, called "GLSEN BookLink," featured prominently on their Web site, teachers can buy the books to use as required classroom assignments, or students can buy them to read on their own.
Read more about it here. (WARNING: very sickening, explicit content)
Blame for problems with schooling in America is often assigned to insufficient funding or the inherent failings of today’s kids. In rare cases, parents, teachers, and administrators are also implicated. However, all efforts to improve the quality of education are doomed to fail if the system itself is not examined and understood to be the most significant impediment. After over six years in the making, THE WAR ON KIDS reveals that the problems with public education ultimately stem from the institution itself. Astonishingly all efforts at reform consistently avoid even considering this to be a possibility and the future for children and American democracy are at stake.
In 95 minutes, THE WAR ON KIDS exposes the many ways the public school system has failed children and our future by robbing students of all freedoms due largely to irrational fears. Children are subjected to endure prison-like security, arbitrary punishments, and pharmacological abuse through the forced prescription of dangerous drugs. Even with these measures, schools not only fail to educate students, but the drive to teach has become secondary to the need to control children.
Can we please start calling public schools what they are: government-run indoctrinations centers?
Topping Foreign Policy magazine's list of the Top 100 Global Thinkers: Ben Bernanke, chairman of the criminal counterfeiting syndicate know as the Federal Reserve, "for staving off a new Great Depression."
I love how David Kramer of LewRockwell.com put it: "Saying that Ben Bernanke prevented the collapse of the U.S. economy is like saying O.J. Simpson prevented Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman from dying of cancer."
But that's exactly the opposite of what we're getting. The Federal Trade Commission is currently holding a workshop to explore ways the government might help save the journalism industry.
Make no mistake about it. The government already controls the press. It does so through licensing, enforcing "decency" and "fairness" standards, public funding, restricting access, and granting preferential treatment.
The feds have always been frightened of truly independent news reporting. That explains why we're seeing a strong effort to counter the effect the Internet has had on the mainstream media.
Berkeley High School is considering a controversial proposal to eliminate science labs and the five science teachers who teach them to free up more resources to help struggling students.
