Sunday Morning

Clarice writes about the Tea Party and Chick-Fil-A.

In London all of England will watch Andy Murray battling someone or other for the men's tennis gold. That is 9 AM Eastern for "Breakfast at Wimbledon II".

Usain Bolt and and his buddy Yohan Blake will run this afternoon in the semis (2:45) and final (4:50)  of the men's 100. This might be bigger than Beijing, which was incredible. NBC will probably televise it on Monday night for better ratings.

Comments

[peter]

Am I first? I haven't even had my coffee

[MarkO]

Clarice gets the Gold.

My money is on Federer.

[Clarice]

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Barone sees it rather as I do.http://washingtonexaminer.com/barone-supporters-of-ted-cruz-and-chick-fil-a-break-news/article/2503879

[narciso]

Great summary, Clarice, not like the ACME rocketsled indemnification, that I get in my local fishwrap.

[Strawman Cometh]

Marko,
You are probably correct. But Murray looked sharp against Djokovic and Federer played the = of a full 5 sets against Del Potro.

[narciso]

Of course, they leave out the treehouse, and other more reputable sites,

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/04/2933157_p4/the-trayvon-martin-truth-squad.html

[Captain Hate]

Axerod on FNS looked so pathetic I almost didn't wish he'd die in a fire. He was hyperventilating so much he looked like a drowning rat gasping for air. Btw, would somebody please tell me where Romney's additional tax on "the middle class" is all about? Asswipe Chris Wallace wouldn't interrupt his yammering about that with any explanation and I keep hearing it in every ad by the JEF.

Ted Cruz is now on slicing like a hammer.

[narciso]

reputedly it's the removal of the mortgage exemption and other rules, Captain,

[Captain Hate]

Removing the mortgage exemption would hit the upper class at least as hard. As usual the JEF is telling half truths.

Oh dear God, Ed Rollins is on the Sunday panel. Top.Men.

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

Clarice,

What I find amazing is that every Sunday I wake up and while I'm thinking "where am I? what day is it? What do I have to do today? I also think: "Yippee! It's Sunday! Time for Clarice's Pieces. That's pretty much the biggest compliment I can think of.

[centralcal]

Two things I always look forward to on Sunday mornings: Clarice and her Pieces; and Captain Hate's recap of Fox News Sunday! I sometimes decide whether to watch it or not, based on his review!

[narciso]

Kessler, at the Kaplan loss leader, was nearly breaking his arm, patting himself on the back, about a Tax Policy study, that follows that premise.

[Captain Hate]

I must admit Ed Rollins was doing quite well UNTIL he urged Romney to release more than 2 years of tax returns. This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of against the most unvetted President ever about whom even Brokaw admits they don't know a damn thing about his past and we know what a stuttering clustereff of a miserable failure he is as a president.

Dumb dumb dumb dumb..... Kimberley Strassel gets it.

[AliceH]

CH: I googled "Romney's tax on middle class" and up popped this ABCnews article.

The short version is Romney argues the spur to the economy will pay for some portion of his proposal to cut everyone's tax rates and elimination of a host of deductions, and the opposers claim is based on a) no economic growth plus b) total revenues must be maintained or increased and c) asserting the revenue shortfall necessitated by their two false premises will be made up only through increasing the burden on the middle class - no adjustments at all to the rich.

Even shorter: they calculate with different rules, then they pretend there is only "solution", and it hurts only the middle class.

[Ignatz]

Excellent Pieces clarice.
The Chick Fil A episode demonstrates Tom Bethell's equation that the left equals a bee hive.
When Queen Barry sends out her pheremones that gay marriage is now safe to attack, previously dormant drones wake up and are on Chick Fil A like it was a bear that just swiped a paw through their honeycomb.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks AliceH; they're more dishonest than even I thought. Another opportunity for a Romney ad.

[Ignatz]

The independent "study" ABC was referring to in your link, Alice, was the Brookings one, a co author of which was, until recently, one of Barry's staffers.
Transparency, full disclosure? You betcha.

[MarkO]

Fed's down a set and a break. I may be losing imaginary money. It would be something for Murray to win the Gold.

[rse]

Well Clarice I said on the other thread I was going to check on something. Model T showed up again except apparently they now fund the Phoenix Fund for Worker Justice to try to give some separation of just how much community organizing and action pushes they are funding.

Interesting to read the organizers bragging about their CA work in the 90s as a model for other metro areas. Now some of those mentioned are the cities hitting the bankruptcy queues.

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/what-happens-when-looters-and-moochers-outnumber-workers-and-producers/

Somebody more techno savvy than me can pull out the cartoon from the link. I keep thinking how many students getting degrees in urban planning (I can tell when I buy used what was used as a text) have read some of what I have read recently except they wouldn't know we have false attribution of the relevant causes of what happened to the inner cities.

There are so many degrees out there now that amount to being conveniently credentialed in errors and myths.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

This is my favorite Pieces and seeing Barone's backup article provided a nice cherry on top. We need another word to identify the floating scum in the political, academic and media areas. Elite denotes cream and if it were cream rather than scum floating, politicians, academics and media mouthpieces would not be held in such disrepute nor would the institutions they purport to represent be in such precipitous decline.

If Barone had waited two more weeks for the results of the Missouri and Wisconsin primaries, he would have had two more names to add to the Tea Party Senate Caucus list. McConnell is going to have his hands full as Majority Leader.

[Bruce]

I do hope that Clarice and Barone are right about the Tea Party, and both Ted Cruz and Chick-fil-A are positive indications that it isn't dead.

I don't know if suppression of information about the Tea Party, etc. was because the MSM and cultural elites thought this through consciously or it was more due to cognitive dissonance on their part.

I, for one, was a bit discouraged this last year, thinking that maybe the movement had lost steam, with the new members of Congress elected as a result of the movement seemingly losing their way so quickly, and selling out to the Washington, D.C. establishment. At least some of the old bulls in the House GOP managed to come out on top, and my least least favorite of them is Lamar Smith, who seemingly sold himself, lock, stock, and barrel to the big money interests in ramming his signature patent reform bill through. And, Eric Cantor didn't cover himself with glory there either.

I think that I, and maybe a lot of others, just wanted them to say "No" to the spending, and shut down the government if the Senate couldn't be brought to heel. No such luck. Instead we got the grand bargain and blue ribbon deficit reduction panel, that the Dems running the Senate most likely knew was destined for grand failure. And, now, we are facing a major cut in defense spending, and most of the new spending added by the Dems in the 110th and 111th Congress is untouched. They crank up spending by 5% of GDP, and then compensate for that by cutting defense spending. Not good.

So, was the rest of the Tea Party as dispirited as I was? That is, I think, where all this suppression of news was about, to convince all those who were so enthusiastic two years ago, that it had fizzled out. I kept hoping that we would see the (completely peaceful) protests we saw two years ago, etc., and we haven't. Or, if they have popped up, they have been studiously ignored by the MSM and powers that be.

AS my conservative friends and I have become increasingly angry over the increasing abuses and now blatant lying of the Dems in power, and their MSM lackeys, the polls haven't seemed to budge. Many polls still show Obama neck and neck, despite his economic performance and running this country into the ground, driving up energy and food prices, while throwing in ObamaCare, the dirtiest DoJ of memory, etc.

And, yet, this time around, I know of almost no one who will admit to supporting Obama and the Dems. Last time, many of those around me who did, spoke of the Bush Administration problems, and how the Republicans in Congress had sold out as bad as the Dems had (and so they voted for the Dems? Made no sense to me).

My thoughts right now is that we are going to see more and more Tea Party activity as we get closer to the election, as those who were so involved two years ago rediscover that this is winnable, and sitting on the sidelines, or just voting "R" is not enough, if we want to have a decent future in this country.

[narciso]

Firefox, is odd that way, Typepad is just byzantine in it's workings, rse.

http://danieljmitchell.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/asay-cartoon-slave-driver.jpg

[Melinda Romanoff]

Bruce-

The members of the Tea Party that I know have never slowed down. Don't know where you're getting your information but you need an upgrade.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 20 at Raz today.

Trails Romney by 2.

Wonderful, Clarice--inspiring.

[Clarice]

Thank you all very much. Rick, my guess is most of the print newsies are too far in the bubble to really catch the rebellion. You have to read online accounts from around the country to get it. As for the TV news readers, they seem to be relying utterly on clueless 21 y.o. producers who are dishonest and rather blinkered.Their time is not spent studying events but going to the gym, trying on clothes, getting their hair and makeup done.

[sbwaters]

Clarice, your piece is a better summary than any columnist I have read. Loved it!

[Ignatz]

The Tea Party IMO has largely and properly abandoned the national stage to concentrate on local influence. That's why it seems invisible until another one of its candidates win again.

I think it's also why Michael Tomasky can predict a possible landslide for Barry; they refuse to believe a real grass roots organization exists and is effective.

[M. Simon]

Tom,

If you and Clarice want to learn how the NWO uses the Drug War against you read my:

Terrorists Dealing Drugs

Especially follow the Catherine Austin Fitts links.

[Bruce]

The Chick Fil A episode demonstrates Tom Bethell's equation that the left equals a bee hive. When Queen Barry sends out her pheremones that gay marriage is now safe to attack, previously dormant drones wake up and are on Chick Fil A like it was a bear that just swiped a paw through their honeycomb.

Should this difference between top down and bottom up surprise anyone? The philosophy of the left has long been that if you just get the best and brightest in charge of the government, that they can plan better than the private sector and the rest of us. And, those of us on the other side, see that crowd sourcing and the private sector are almost always going to do a much better job.

We have seen this time around, with the Obama reign, how badly this leftist mindset works when they do get the chance to run the government. We have a Nobel Laureate running Energy, who doesn't own a car, and a former Sec. of Commerce driving a Japanese car. And, the great GM bailout is likely going to destroy the company far faster than if it had been allowed to properly go through bankruptcy. And, why anyone believed them that this would be the most transparent and honest Administration in history is beyond me - the left and the Dems operate based on graft and corruption far more than Republicans. This has been true for a long, long time, with their close ties to organized labor and the inner city machines (and, here, think esp. Chicago).

Central planning, when it comes to control of the political narrative apparently can work fairly well, at least for awhile. Eventually, as we saw in the Soviet Union, everyone gets to a level of cynicism that nothing the power elite says is believed. But, when you can get all of the MSM outlets, Dem politicians, etc., speaking in lockstep, and getting the proper narrative out quickly to the public, it can effectively drown out opposing views.

But, this time around, I think that we are seeing the weakness of this approach. Obama is, by nature, hesitant, and as a result, his campaign has been unable to effectively respond to attacks and the like quickly enough. Rather, you will see it floundering around for a bit, with this being tried, and then that, but with the uniformity of the floundering becoming apparent, their messages have become both mixed and distrusted.

Meanwhile, the right seems to be increasingly able to respond quickly and effectively, utilizing crowd sourcing instead of central planning. One of my favorites this last week have been all of the so-far-undenied allegations and rumors of Harry Reid's pederasty. (Which, BTW, has had the fortunate side benefit of putting the spotlight on how he could go from being dirt poor in Searchlight Nevada to being rich, and having made his five kids rich too, all while being on a government salary).

[Bruce]

The Tea Party IMO has largely and properly abandoned the national stage to concentrate on local influence. That's why it seems invisible until another one of its candidates win again.

But is this rational? Think about what another four years of Obama would be like, with him not having to face another election?

I think it's also why Michael Tomasky can predict a possible landslide for Barry; they refuse to believe a real grass roots organization exists and is effective.

That is the issue though here - do they not believe it? Or, are they trying to take the steam out of the movement by convincing everyone that it is dead? In other words, how smart and manipulative are they?

I don't really know the answer to that. There have to be some in the leftist elite who fully appreciate the danger of the Tea Party to their hold on power. But, I think that a lot of them just operate in a bi-coastal bubble, with little real interaction with the masses in fly-over country.

[Rick Ballard]

I won't fully ascribe the Gallup 84% Hold Congress In Contempt rating to the Tea Party but I believe the responsibility for the failure to rebound after the Deaniac commie attacks in '05-'06 lies more heavily with the Tea Party than with the Sorcerer's Apprentice aspect of what the Deaniac commies have wrought over the past six years.

The Deaniac commies' "plan" had us entering the Age of Aquarius at this point. Instead, we're trying to find the translation for Lasciate Ogni Speranza - the typical experience after every single "progressive victory".

[Strawman Cometh]

This could be the biggest beat down of a number one since .. last week.

[narciso]

Well M. Simon, that's one interpretation, of course say with Afghanistan, the failure of the Morrison Knudsen dam in the Helmand did facilitate the conditions for opium growth

Ruppert and Fitts, scream moonbat to me, anyways.

[Danube of Thought]

So Serena did the Crip Walk after winning her gold at centre court. Great.

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

Bruce,

I've not gotten dispirited by the new tea partiers in Congress, frankly because I haven't had the time to watch them closely and the ones I see, Chavetz, West, Rubio, Tres Gowdy, are doing just fine.

The local emphasis is essential, particularly in off years. The democrat machine runs very deep on the local level - at least around here - and there is a lot of work to do.

I know I had a few months of burnout, but the SC Obamacare tax decision brought me back in full steam. I think if we win in November the tea party will just get bigger and hopefully stronger. If we lose there will be some slinking away and giving up.

What state are you in? (if you don't mind saying)

[Neo]

As originally written, the relaunched Red Dawn was only slightly less silly. The bad guys were Chinese. And while China has no discernible intention of invading anyone, much less the U.S., Beijing at least commands a $7.3-trillion economy and an increasingly modern, two-million-man army. But it’s bad business to portray one of the world’s fastest growing film markets as brutal world conquerors, so the producers swapped in North Korea, a country no one counts on for ticket sales.

[Captain Hate]

More of this please: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/rnc-chair-reince-priebus-calls-harry-reid-a-dirty-liar-for-romney-tax-claim/

[Danube of Thought]

First Mo Farah, now Murray. This is some storybook stuff for the Brits.

[Voldemort Delenda Est ! Sandy Daze]

CONGRATS TO ANDY MURRAY, STRAIGHT SETS ON GRASS !

SWEET !

[MarkO]

Murray was incredible.

[Clarice]

Rasmussen Poll of Indiana: Romney 51 Obama 35

Remember BO won this state in 2008

[Ranger]

Obama's spending campaign money woes are so bad, even the NYT is noticing:

Record Spending by Obama’s Camp Shrinks Coffers

But now Mr. Obama’s big-dollar bet is being tested. With less than a month to go before the national party conventions begin, the president’s once commanding cash advantage has evaporated, leaving Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee with about $25 million more cash on hand than the Democrats as of the beginning of July.

The rest of the article tries to spin all this as a positive... But as that official from one of the bankrupt CA cities noted, "the enemy is Algebra."

Obama will be out of money by late September or early October at the latest.

[Chubby]

I can't sort out if the outpouring of support for Chick Fil A was fuelled more by moral outrage about gay marriage, or by outrage about the threat to free speech rights. Two separate and different issues, imo.

[Ranger]

I can't sort out if the outpouring of support for Chick Fil A was fuelled more by moral outrage about gay marriage, or by outrage about the threat to free speech rights. Two separate and different issues, imo.

I think it was much more about free speach. In fact, I bet a significant number of people who showed up on the appriciation day either supported gay marrage or were indiferent to it. This was about peole being tired of the government picking winners and losers in the economy. The Chick Fil A dust-up was just the most recent and most blatant example.

[narciso]

I'd say the latter, Chubby, although the former played a part.

[AliceH]

Re: Tea Party health

FWIW, Google search of "The True Conservative" results as follows:

March 2009 to Nov 2010 = 4,210
Nov 2010 to Dec 2011 = 12,600
2012 YTD = 12,400

The Overton window has been shifted. The Tea Party message is still being delivered - and received - that a platform including cutting spending/limiting government is a winner. These are more than just slogans to be reeled off - it's evident to me the themes are still reverberating and being EMBRACED by national candidates. Meanwhile, hundreds - perhaps thousands -- of amateur candidates are stepping up and campaigning city/county/state level office.

So what if there aren't enormous national rallies? Those are one-offs which, though critically important, have had greater impact in spurring the lauch of uncounted local activism. First, revolution - now evolution.

"The Tea Party is Dead -- LONG LIVE THE TEA PARTY!"

[Danube of Thought]

For me it was a reaction to this new, virulent strain of political correctness: you either support us or you're a hater.

[narciso]

But they want to focus on the latter;

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/03/2930460/why-gore-vidals-some-jews-the.html

[Jim Eagle]

The Tea Party on the local level elections has got to be a little bit smarter down where I am.

The local Tea Party had a "hobnob" and straw ballot that we will all start voting on early tomorrow. One of the items is to renew a 1/2% sales tax that is designated for public school technology and media programs. The straw poll came out 65% against renewal. Now the leadership is appealing to the rank and file to reconsider when they go the polls.

It seems that 25% of sales taxes collected in this county come from outside (tourists, commuters, etc.) and if this measure is defeated the local school board will make it up with ad-volorem property taxes that only the residents pay.

It one thing to be for lower taxes, balanced budgets and fiscal sanity but at the same time you need to be more analytical in how you approach a policy or political decision. This is where the Tea Party needs reflective and sound leadership. IMHO.

[narciso]

Btw, JIB knowing Odebrecht's reputation, do you know how the Arsht Center could have incurred a billion dollars in damages, after
a moderate rainstorm,

[AliceH]

JiB: Isn't it possible that a vote against retaining a tax might be due to support for cutting spending elsewhere and redirecting it to the desired end?

It frustrates me that so often that the alternative to tax X is presented as being increasing tax Y.

[peter]

OK, I admit it. I am a square and didn't know what a crip walk is. Fortunately there's a wikipedia entry.

[Clarice]

DoT, that's my thought, too.

I remember in the mid-60's when there were big anti-war demos at the Univ of Wisconsin. My brother and brother-in-law were students who rarely got up for morning classes, but once the demonstrators started pulling kids out of their classes, they both got out of bed, washed up, got dressed and went to school.
Americans do not like to be bullied and we can spot power grabs disguised as moral crusades better than anyone else apparently.

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

Obama will be out of money by late September or early October at the latest.

I have no doubt he has access to enough stimulus money to keep the campaign going. He isn't paying his debts now and really hurting local communities that have to pick up the tab for him when he visits and fails to pay. He's a deadbeat.

My nephew in NH said there were a bunch of gays at chick-fil-a to show support. I think it was hugely a free speech issue at least around here.

[Donald]

I was just watching Dan Patrick introduce Craig Sager at the Olympics.

I have partied with them at a place called Timothy Johns more than once!

This was before Craig's (And Randy Wittman and Scott Hastings) sports bar.

[narciso]

Ah, remember when this was a cause celebre;

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2012/08/04/ap-story-ex-ala-gov-siegelmans-return-prison-avoids-naming-his-party

[Clarice]

Yes, narciso, that was the second time we were told to watch Rove being frog marched to jail or something.

[Army of Davids]

Los Angeles shell games (and probably fraud like Compton, San Bernardino) to put off bankruptcy.

Mayor Villagairosa...champion of social justice to chair Democratic Convention.

Greek Columns just as appropriate for 2012 as they were for 2008.

California Proud.

[hit and run]

Wow. I slept in until 11:30. I'm quite certain that hasn't happened in over 20 years.

In Other News: I am beginning to think that the Dirty Dish Fairy isn't real. No dishes have been magically cleaned while I slept in over two weeks. Not a single one. So disheartening. It's like a part of that little boy inside me has died. Maybe I'll pull out a tooth just to prove that the Tooth Fairy still exists to help restore my faith.

[Jim Eagle]

narciso,

Buildings aren't Odebrecht's cup of tea (you might say:). Their number one expertise if refinery and petrochemical. Then we led them into Infrastructure, road, rail, bridges and water. Now they wanted to be like my old company and thought they could do everything. Plus they're pretty cheeky. They want to do work here but not according to our laws. They are currently suing Florida because of Cuba and Syria restrictions.

Wait until 2016 when all the new buildings they are working on for the Brazil Olympics begin to leak:)

[rse]

When I first heard of the July 2011 Building One America conference that Kurtz was to be covering in his book, it sounded like a good fit for other things I could prove. A little searching and I quickly found the education vision sought by the Regional Equity Movement.
Yet another terrible idea with much of the funding coming from the Model T foundation that Clarice reminded us is also bolstering up the WaPo.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/distributive-justice-is-not-enough-we-must-break-the-illusion-of-the-unitary-self/

I also had some good quotes from Ayers on point but ran out of room. Like powell and ldh, he is interested in ed being about "imagining" a "more humane social order."

He also sees "freedom" in much the same way. As a "refusal of the fixed, a reaching for possibility, an engagement with obstacles and barriers and a resistant world, an achievement to be sought in a web of relationships."

In other words, the goals he was willing to bomb to achieve but the damage is less visible and he cannot be arrested and he gets paid for it.

Now you know why they hate content. It reenforces a world they want to leave behind. Education means they can push this political transformation without taxpayer consent.

[Jim Eagle]

narciso,

Was that the one where the storm pipe broke? Not from Debby so the roof and window walls held. Back in May, right?

[boris]

"moral outrage about gay marriage"

I think that misstates one of the factors. An assertive defense of a natural meaning for marriage is not anti anything.

[Frau Erziehungsverbrecher]

From the front page and in large format, CA and Common Core. Of course, CA did *not* get fed $$$ to implement, so a bankrupt state gets what it deserves and Californians struggle to pay.
"Common Core creates a set of expectations for every student
The way that teachers teach and students learn is about to undergo a radical transformation at school districts nationwide. Students will start learning basic algebra and geometry skills in kindergarten. Multiple-choice tests will be replaced with complex essays, taken and scored by computer"
LUN

"Guilty as hell and free as a bird."

[Jim Eagle]

Frau,

Sometimes Frederick thinks education (school) is a crime against humanity:)

[Danube of Thought]

Imagine if something comparable to this were going on in the GOP, viz., the party's voters nominate a Senate candidate with liberal views on abortion, taxation etc., and the state party refuses to support him:

"The party of Cordell Hull, Estes Kefauver and Al Gore Sr. and Jr. won’t have a standard-bearer — or at least not one it can stomach — in Tennessee’s next U.S. Senate race.

"Less than 24 hours after a man espousing conservative and libertarian views surprised the state’s political scene by winning the Democratic nomination, the Tennessee Democratic Party disavowed him, saying he’s part of an anti-gay hate group.

"The party said Friday that it would do nothing to help Mark Clayton, 35, who received nearly twice as many votes as his closest challenger in Thursday’s seven-candidate primary, winning the right to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker in November."

You can be sure E.J. Dionne would be proclaiming the breakup of the Republican party, brought to ruin by its intolerance of diverse ideas.

[Frau Erziehungsverbrecher]

More Core:
"Students may read several different sources on the same topic to form their opinions," said Karla Wells, assistant superintendent of learning and teaching for the Ontario-Montclair School District. "In addition, students will be reflecting on their reading through writing complex papers that express their reasoning and analytical skills."

In King Co WA, my granddaughter's 9th grade teacher chose to supplement the textbook's lesson on robber barons with Howard (May his eternal rest be eternally disturbed) Zinn's propaganda. My granddaughter decided to use Zinn's version for her report. She got another lesson from me later about Howard Zinn, whom I ridicule in her presence
whenever I can.

[JM Hanes]

M. Simon!!!

How fantastic to see you here!

I have serious reservations about legalizing truly hazardous addictive drugs, but I've always thought that the only way marijuana qualifies as a "gateway" drug is because people who have to purchase it illegally are plugged right into a criminal enterprise from the start, and that includes large numbers of particularly vulnerable teens.

Regardless of where the primary support for the official War on Drugs resides, there is still widespread belief that the long term effects of marijuana use are more insidiously dangerous than alcohol, and that legalization for ostensible medicinal purposes is nothing more than a transparent attempt to get a foot in the door.

I don't think Lame Cherry advances the case for wholesale legalization with a conspiracy theory that posits the Bush family and Obama as international drug lords of the 1st order -- just for starters!

[rse]

Frau-King Co, Fan Fran/ Bay Area, Cleveland, Boston, ATl, Denver are all ground zeroes for this Regional Equity Movement. And by the way they say all 3 words are important. Movement means action. It came originally out of Minneapolis/St Paul which is also who came up with the idea for the duplicitous charter for schools and districts about the same time.

Now that I am meeting the AtL REMers through their words I can see how it fit with what Bev Hall was pushing. I have talked enough with people from Seattle to know how bad it is there. Partly as that's where Goodlad's NNER is based.

REM and the actual Communitarian emphasis of the Common Core implementation fits perfectly. More engrenage.

[Frau Erziehungsverbrecher]

I'm shocked! The TN Dem Party apparently does not recognize the will of the people in their state.

[JM Hanes]

Frau:

And they'll call deep-sixing their own candidate "democracy in action."

[Sara]

"moral outrage about gay marriage"

I have given this serious thought in trying to come to terms with my own feelings on the subject because on the surface I don't give a farthing about what two adults choose to do in their sex lives as long as it is consensual between adults. And yet, the term "gay marriage" makes me shudder every time I hear the term.

I've heard all the arguments about how gays being allowed to marry or use the term marriage doesn't effect my marriage or any heterosexual marriage. I agree. And yet, the term "gay marriage" makes me shudder every time I hear the term.

I agree that two people who have a loving relationship is a good thing, gay or straight. And yet, the term "gay marriage" makes me shudder.

I could go on and on with every argument.

So why does "gay marriage" make me shudder every time I hear it? After much thought, it boils down to what I believe and my own right to be offended every bit as much as any other person/group. And when all is said and done and all the arguments have been considered, I have to admit that I have always separated in my own mind a union where vows are made to God and a union where the vows are made to the State. One is a marriage, the other a civil union. Hetero or homo, if you go to the courthouse to form a union, you have agreed to a civil union and that isn't marriage. The law equates the two, but in my mind, even if it is a distinction without a difference, it is how I feel. To me marriage is a sacred union of two people. So I am offended by the term "gay marriage" because it isn't a sacred union, it is a civil union. There is no loss of standing within the law of a civil union vs a sacred union, but it still offends me when anyone, again gay or straight, equates a civil union with a sacred union and insists that I do the same. I would never lie to God, but to the State, who knows? I took my marriage vows very seriously because I didn't make them to a man or to the State, I made them to God about promises to the man I married. I don't know if this makes sense to anybody else, but it is deeply seated within me and frankly, I find it extremely offensive that anyone should belittle how important I hold vows made to God and try to force me to hold vows made to the State as equal to those made to God. As a person of faith, I take seriously the First Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. To put the state on equal footing with God doesn't hold weight with me. So I resent when the State insists I put them in first position and forces me to put my vow to God to be less or equal to a contract with the State.

If you don't believe in God and prefer to worship at the altar of the State, go for it and establish your own terms and leave marriage as it always has been, a union between a man and a woman, sanctified by God. If you are gay and feel discriminated against because you can't have a sanctified union, then take it up with God and figure out how you can justify giving the State an equal position with God and how that violates not only the First of the Ten Commandments, but also violates the commandment in Gen 1:28, "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..."

[Voldemort Delenda Est ! Sandy Daze]

Regarding the CFA, I recall a saying,

I disagree with what you say but I defend to my death your right to say it.

most often attributed, perhaps incorrectly, to Voltaire.*
My sense is that that sentiment was strongly reflected in the CFA Appreciation last Wednesday.

Personally, I disagree, strongly, with the concept of "Gay Marriage." That's my opinion. I should be free to express myself in the public marketplace of ideas. If I want to hold that opinion, but hold it privately, that is okay too. If others disagree, and believe "Gay Marriage" is right and just, that is their opinion. We can agree, one hopes, to disagree.

What was going on at CFA was a response to the unstated but omnipresent suggestion that their can be no/No/NO disagreement with this idea of "Gay Marriage." Either conform or be pilloried.

That's just not on.

[laura]

Frau and anyone with high school age children, grandchildren nieces nephews or even children of friends that you might care about, I highly recommend "The Myth of the Robber Baron's" by Burt Folsom of Hillsdale College. He discusses in a very engaging and entertaining style the contributions of Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Schwab and Hill to the enterprise we call American exceptional-ism. He also very clearly points out not only the folly but inherent corruption of "political entrepreneurs" who manage to game the system with subsidies and regulations. His last chapter is a review of the most widely used high school texts in regard to their discussion of the men above. It's also a fairly short book but meticulously footnoted. On amazon.

[Bruce]

Frau-King Co, Fan Fran/ Bay Area, Cleveland, Boston, ATl, Denver are all ground zeroes for this Regional Equity Movement.

I think that this is Blue State wishful thinking. Denver is definitely not going anywhere - sure, it has segregated pockets, but that is mostly by the inner city, and the city has less and less power, now being less than 1/6 of the state's population.

Maybe they can guilt the eastern libs in Boston into this, and the loonies in San Francisco are always willing to jump aboard. Beyond that, they are asking the suburbs to shoot themselves in their feet academically just to assuage their collective liberal guilt for belonging to the party that has actively espoused and supported racism for most of its 200 years.

At the 100th anniversary of Milton Friedman's birth, I watched a bunch of his videos, and the one with I think Phil Donahue, and was struck by his point that we are all greedy, if you define greed as putting yourself and your family first. Which is why Donahue couldn't respond - those best and brightest that he wanted ruling us are just as interested in taking care of themselves and their families first, as are the rest of us.

Point being that appealing to people's altruistic nature only works for so long. In the end, when the local schools are destroyed, a lot of people are going to vote with their feet - which is why the inner cities have most of their problems in the first place.

[Agent J]

I may not post a lot, but I sure do lurk. Sara @1:51..You are so correct, in my opinion..

Big road trip west starting tomorrow..Will be lurking..

[Voldemort Delenda Est ! Sandy Daze]

dear Clarice,

With regard to the rise of the Tea Party, I believe it well predates, at least as a "gut reaction" Mr Santelli's rant from the floor of the Chicago Exchange (which I am very glad for having occurred.)

I'll suggest that the proto-teaparty was in evidence at the 2006 elections. Conservatives were fed up (I know I sure as hell was fed up) with the spendthrift ways of the Republican Congress and 43 with his prescription drug, NCLB and other spending that drove us to deficits in the USD $400 Billion + range.

The rebellion gained steam from the 2004 elections and was in force in 2006 when conservatives said STOP, damn it, STOP THE SPENDING.

Even the threat of a Nancy Pelosi was insufficient to dissuade the seething majority from the rebellion. Mr Santelli gave it a voice on the 19th February 2009, a day that--for the non-conservatives--will live in infamy.

If it had not been Mr Santelli, I feel certain there would have been another spark to light the fire, but maybe it has always been burning. . .

Take good care.

[MarkO]

"moral outrage about gay marriage"

To the contrary. The purported moral outrage is about traditional marriage.

I wonder how these folks will respond to the next phase: polygamy?

[Frau Erziehungsverbrecher]

Thanks rse-
Doing remedial cleanup, I had my granddaughter read and discuss Tom DiLorenzo's 2006 short article "The Truth about the Robber Barons." LUN

[Clarice]

M Simon, how nice to see you here again! I'm not sure how I feel about legalizing drugs, but I'm capitalist enough to know that it drives up the cost of the product substantially and when we are surrounded by such poor countries, we are certainly contributing to the breakdown of law and order there.

If a nickel bag really cost a nickel Latam farmers would find better paying crops.

[Clarice]

**enough to know that it [the war on drugs]drives up the cost of the product substantially and when we are surrounded...*

[Frau Erziehungsverbrecher]

Have a wonderful trip, AgentJ.

And thanks, Laura. Hillsdale is the best!

[Danube of Thought]

If you don't believe in God and prefer to worship at the altar of the State

I deplore these false choices.

[JM Hanes]

Chubby:

"I can't sort out if the outpouring of support for Chick Fil A was fuelled more by moral outrage about gay marriage, or by outrage about the threat to free speech rights."

I'm sure that a great many people showed up in support of Dan Cathy's views, but I think we owe the stunning scale of the outrage to the brazenly punitive abuse of government power. That outrage was exacerbated exponentially, not just because the abuse was an assault on free speech, per se, but because it comes on the heels of the Obama Administration's flagrant abrogation of our freedom of conscience and religious practice, at the most fundamental levels, with the contraception mandate.  It's not just supporters of traditional marriage who can see what the writing on that wall portends for us all. These are the people who are not willing to ending up looking back years from now saying, "First they came for...."

[rse]

Bruce-The Regional Equity Movement gets driven by federal fund matching mandates and Agenda 21 provisions. Kurtz worries about the presence of ldh as obama's advisor and her being in charge of the assessments to interpret they will be coming after suburban schools. He also says we don't know what the curriculum will look like. I do. I have seen it and described it and the promulgated activities to fit the published standards is tangential at best if you count being in spitting distance on one corner.

My point is the suburban schools are already toast under Common Core. That's the whole point. You cannot get to equitable outcomes and incomes and wealth with differences in knowledge.

ldh was extremely specific on that point in the same book I took that Ayers quote from.

If you are in Colorado, NNER has an agreement with every ed school in the state and has for over 20 years. Similar to SC. Goodlad's vision runs strong there in addition to the influence of McREL, the Mid0Continental Regional Ed Lab.

[Chubby]

((I disagree with what you say but I defend to my death your right to say it.))

just "saying" it is one thing; when the "saying" manifests itself as fundamental changes to social and legal infrastructure, I think the argument has to change to match that reality, (ithat is, if one is opposed to such changes to the social infrastructure.)

[Chubby]

oops, H&R, I was responding to Sandy Daze.

[Chubby]

Sandy, want to add:

I remember many arguments that were against gay marriage that were based on the slippery slope idea of gay marriage going to intrude on other rights, precisely freedom of expression and religious freedom. ISTM that at least part of the lesson of Chick Fil A was to vindidate those arguments. Early times yet, and contra opinion is still acceptable but will it be so when gay marriage is fully enshrined all over? I think it is naieve to think that in that situation anyone opposed to the institution of gay marriage will not be relegated to the fringes as a "hater", if not a criminal in need of a fines, jail time and/or reeducation.

[Sara]

Point being that appealing to people's altruistic nature only works for so long. In the end, when the local schools are destroyed, a lot of people are going to vote with their feet - which is why the inner cities have most of their problems in the first place

We got out of the South Bay of San Diego and moved 60 miles to the North County of San Diego for one single reason. We had a 1st grader who wasn't being served well in the school system and the (at the time) sleepy little town of Poway, CA had the highest rated school system. That was 1974. Recently, I saw Poway highlighted as still having the best system in the area.

However, that said, neither of my children got anywhere near the education I got in the public schools of Western Penna. 2 1/2 decades earlier. Today, I would go out on a limb, based on comparing my own scores with the test scores of those graduating from our most elite universities, including Hahvahd, and say that even the top colleges are not graduating students that got anywhere near the education I got in the secondary schools of Western Penna. I'd like to see a study as to why this is true and I bet such a study could only conclude that the good old-fashioned term "comportment" is the primary reason why. Today, political correctness is conflated with comportment. Political correctness (especially this crazy craze for diversity) rewards for everyone being the same with no incentive to rise above the lowest common denominator. Comportment has built in the terms: etiquette, civility, form, manners, Ps and Qs, courtesy, decorum, politeness, amenity, etc.

[Rick Ballard]

I read the Ras Indiana poll as push back against the Quinnipiac nonsense. He "proved" he could publish nonsense (what's the value of a 400n sample with an MoE of 5) and arrive at a result closer to being believable (Obama at 35% is supported by the Gallup Indiana approval rating of 38%) than Quinnipiac did with their 53% Obama number in Pennsylvania, where Gallup has BOzo's approval at 46%.

It's an interesting tactic and I hope he uses it again, as long as everyone understands it's propaganda polling.

[Danube of Thought]

Breitbart:

More NOH8: Virginia Kruta reports that yet another Chick-Fil-A restaurant was vandalized by anti-speechers, this time in St. Louis at the Des Peres location. Mere hours after I left the Des Peres Chik Fil A location last night, after the business had closed for the evening, the anti-Chik Fil A protesters showed their true colors. Those who had been too cowardly to stand up for their beliefs in front of paying customers and evening news reporters came back under cover of darkness to say what they were too, well, chikin to say in the light of day.

[Clarice]

After CFA's non coverage and the lies about the tea party, I expect the attempt to dispirit the right with phony polls will have not have that desired effect. People who want Obama out are not listening to Quinnipiac, Pew or Brian Williams. That's all so yesterday.

[Clarice]

Sara, here certainly are easy majors at Harvard any area studies or English lit comes to mind), but I think you are wrong as a general rule. You are especially wrong when it comes to the hard sciences.Trust me. The students are getting a more rigorous education in a far more competitive atmosphere than you got 2 1/2decades ago in high school.

[C.R.]

Thanks Laura. I just ordered that for my high school junior. I was disgusted to have to fork our money for Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" for her AP US History Class this year.

[Voldemort Delenda Est ! Sandy Daze]

Chubby - The problem as I see it, is that the left/elites will not also accept my right to my opinion. My opinion must be squashed, like a bug, which is apparently what they think of anyone who disagrees with their constantly evolving believes on anything.

Who was it who was recently recalling being at a meeting of historians (I think it was in a recent VDH column), the question was put to the assembled group, based upon what they know about the past, is it possible to predict what will happen in the future?

At some point in the ensuing discussion a Russian Historian from the USSR responded that

the hardest thing for a Soviet historian was to predict the past. . .

With regard to gays, what is the approximate number in the population, IIRC most estimates come to approximately 1.5%-2%. Somehow or another we are upending a civilizational construct developed over multi-millenia to assuage the feelings of inadequacy and impotence for a relatively small group of persons. This group cannot be satisfied to be ignored, they demand that not only do they have a place at everyone's table, they demand to sit at the head of everyone's table.

[Sara]

I deplore these false choices.

Snort. Of course you would. To you they are false choices, and the use of the word false is offensive to the extreme. Man's law vs God's law, to me there isn't even a choice there, let alone a false choice. However, because I believe as I do, I recognize that God gave us all free choice/free will and therefore, your choice, although vastly different from mine, is still your choice and therefore I would never offend you by calling it a false choice, even if I thought you an idiot for making the choice in the first place.

[hit and run]

For Those Keeping Score At Home: It is nearly impossible to create a list of last place finishers in Olympic events. I tried. Thought it would be fun. It wasn't fun, and it basically wasn't possible.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

I read the Quinnipiac polls as a sales tool for OFA's desperate money grubbing rather than as a futile attempt to discourage the majority from throwing the bum out. It's Dem rube bait, designed to minimize the actual effect of the President's imbecilic utterances as he panders to the dwindling crowds of lackluster supporters.

I was saddened to read President Bowser has once again been muzzled. He's so much more honest and open when they don't tie his leash to the teleprompter.

[boris]

Sara, one example of a flase choice would be you either believe in Santa or you believe in Jack O'Lantern.

Maybe I don't believe in either one.

[Sara]

The students are getting a more rigorous education in a far more competitive atmosphere than you got 2 1/2decades ago in high school.

Oh, Clarice, I'm not arguing the rigorousness or depth of the curriculum, especially in the specialties. I don't think you can compare high school to university level materials as to specifics or sophistication of the subjects taught. I am relating it more to the atmosphere and this idea that we all work to the lowest common denominator. In a rigorous high-level university course, the lowest common denominator might be a 3.8 gpa student. But a student who graduates with a 3.8 from a high school that creates an atmosphere where learning is stressed over p.c. and a student who graduates with that 3.8 from a school which practices grade inflation so that no one feels bad about not doing as well as everyone else are not equal. When pc and diversity play a larger role than learning, whether in the specialties at Harvard or anywhere else, those graduating are not equal either. Call it education vs indoctrination, or credentialed vs educated. You, of all people, know that Washington is full of credentialed morons but finding a learned man/woman is not an easy task even when looking at those with the same degrees from the same universities.