Opus 2015-60: Jimi Hendrix, Role Model?

As part of our annual celebration of Black History month the school highlights various people who became famous or successful and were black.  This week we received a hand-out with a word search on the back for someone that I guess is supposed to be a role model for students:  Jimi Hendrix.

I am not a fan of his style of music but I know who he is and his reputation.  I also know that he died of a drug overdose.  The hand-out made no mention of his drug use or cause of death but when I asked, the kids knew.  He may have been a fabulous musician but he is hardly the best choice for a role model for middle school children.

This is an example of the discernment that your local educators have.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-59: CCC: Mediocre Is the New Excellent

Common Core Curriculum (CCC) continues its march toward mediocrity, or worse.

I was attending our bi-weekly faculty indoctrination and we had a special speaker.  She was special because we were told she was special.  In the usual patronizing speech of gurus she told us that she was not really the expert.  We the teachers were the experts.  She was not here to lecture us on what we were supposed to do.

She then proceeded to lecture us on what we were supposed to do.

Part of the tremendous wisdom that was imparted was that we can’t expect the students to write in cursive, read, speak or make complete sentences if they didn’t feel like it.  That is counter productive.  You can’t teach someone unless they are doing it their way.  Fun is assumed.  There is a joke I tell sometimes.  It goes like this.  “What is a four letter word, ending in ‘k’ that is considered a dirty word in middle school?  The answer, “Work.”

The reason they didn’t feel like it was not because they were lazy, but because they had a unique learning style that we needed to accommodate.  We were told that cutting edge teaching under the new Common Core Standards meant that the students needed to study what they wanted to study using the methods they were most comfortable with and produce results in the format they were best at doing. 

Using this logic when you go to a restaurant and order egg plant parmigiana you should be happy to get a scrambled egg if that is what the chief felt like making or a Big Mac if he didn’t feel like cooking at all.  When you get on an airplane for Dallas the pilot may be in a mood for some Cajun and take you to New Orleans. 

As I looked around I felt like I was in my history class.  A large number of the teachers were playing with their cell phones.  A few more were on their lap tops.  I am sure they were taking notes.  Most of the rest had a dazed look on their faces.  When later I shared some of the things that had been said with another teacher I got the response, “You were actually listening!”

That was the voice of shock.

I think we may be approaching the day when mediocre is considered the new standard of excellence.  Oops, that was another dirty word.  It speaks of judgement and inequality.

Shame, shame.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-58: Esther and the Second Amendment

Who would have thought that the principles of the Second Amendment would would be demonstrated in the Old Testament?

I am listening to Alistair Begg preach through the book of Esther.  For those who have not read it recently, it is a short book that tells of a young woman who risked her life to save her people. 

It is on pages 532 to 540.

The bad guy in the story, Haman, had conned the king of Persia.  He had convinced the king to give him authority to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. 

(Esther 3:9 NAS77)  "If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business, to put into the king's treasuries."

And the king gave him the authority.

It is not a long book.  You can read it in one setting if you want.  My point deals with the solution.

Esther, who was queen, was a Jew.  She used a convoluted method to get the king to turn agains Haman, but that left a problem.  When the king of the Medes and the Persians made a declaration and put his seal on it, it could not be revoked.  Esther and her adoptive father, Mordicai, came up with a solution.

(Esther 8:11 NAS77)  In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil,

The answer was to allow people to arm themselves.  The followers of Haman who wanted to follow the get rich quick scheme suddenly realized that the victims were armed and dangerous.  Somehow the permission they had been given to slaughter the Jews lost its luster.

The average citizen was not allowed to have weapons.  They were not highly trained and were being attacked by professional soldiers.  Being allowed to arm themselves was enough.

The same should apply today.  We as citizens were originally guaranteed the right to defend ourselves.  The same would work today.  You don’t need to be a ninja or Navy Seal.  If the criminal knows you can fight back he will look for an easier target.

“A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Maybe the Founders knew something the Progressives are trying to hide.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-57: Ode to Old: Saving Water

I remember when my mother was getting toward the end of her life.  One of the changes that took place in her life was trying to economize by not flushing the toilet.  I understand this is a common practice among the elderly.  Don’t worry.  I am not there yet.

What strikes me is that our Progressive (aka Liberal, Democrat, Rino, Socialist, Communist) environmentalists seem to be going down the same road.  We are running out of water in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia.  One solution that is being proposed by these champions of progress and public health is to not flush the toilet so often.

I am still wondering if all this water being conserved will cause the sewer system to get clogged up because there is not enough fluid moving to wash the pipes.  Will this cause an increase in disease?  Will this cost millions in maintenance? 

Could it be that the Progressives are exhibiting signs of dementia and paranoia?  It would certainly explain a lot of what they advocate.

So please flush.  Show me that you are sane.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-56: Black History Assembly, Part 3 of 3, Advocates of Revolution

Spend a little time at the sight.  If you follow the links to the Ten Point Program and Rules of the Black Panther Party you find some goals that seem worthy.  It talks about freedom and opportunity.  But keep reading.  For instance take point two.

“2.  We Want Full Employment For Our People.”

Sounds noble.  Who could argue with that?  Keep reading about how they want to do it.

“We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the White American businessmen will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.”

Communism didn’t work when they controlled the Soviet Union.  It didn’t work when they controlled China and ran it according to their principles.  It isn’t working in Cuba.  Communism wants to guarantee a “high standard of living” even to people who have not earned it.  What happens is the political bosses live high and the rest of the people stand in bread lines.

I could go on.  It shows a willful blindness and ignorance, if not evil intent, to glorify the Black Panther Party to a bunch of middle school children who are even more ignorant than the adults in their lives, if such a thing is possible.

What is also interesting is the extensive quotation of the Declaration of Independence at the end.  I have to hand it to them there.  It advocates revolution.  So do they.

Should we be listening?

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-55: Black History Assembly, Part 2 of 3, The Snake in the Rocks

Or maybe it should be the cat in the weeds.

Let’s get a view of who the Black Panther Party really is.  We will look at the Communist understanding of the Black Panther Party, since they were very supportive of the group.  For more, you can go to a Communist site, the Marxist Internet Archive.  Keep in mind that this is the Communist web sight and has the best possible spin on this group.

The opening paragraph gives a good summary of who The Black Panther Party was.

“In October of 1966, in Oakland California, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs. The party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation — a party whose agenda was the revolutionary establishment of real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines.”

The Marxist website considers the Black Panther Party to be a supporter of Communist revolution and worldwide domination.  If you are too young to remember and too lazy to read, the Communist Party was dedicated to the goal of overthrowing the United States Government by violent rebellion.  Read the paragraph above and notice all the references that have the United States as the enemy.

They are not sharp enough to edit what they write to avoid giving away the game.  For instance, in a paragraph that was supposed to demonstrate police brutality you find the following:

“In a 90 minute gun battle, an unarmed Bobby Hutton Bobby Hutton is shot ten times dead, after his house is set ablaze and he is forced to run out into a fire of bullets.”

How was there a 90 minute gun battle if Bobby Hutton was “unarmed?”  If he was unarmed, why didn’t they just walk into the house and arrest him?

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-54: Black History Assembly, Part 1 of 3, A Good Time Had by All

For the most part a good time was had by all but the Brain Wash Cult can’t resist the chance to slip in distortions.

We have an annual assembly to emphasis Black History Month, or in modern politically correct language, African American History Month.  Some years it is really educational.  Some years it is mainly reinforcing racial stereotypes:  American blacks can dance and sing.  This year was a party with a bit of history mixed in.  The kids had fun, the teachers were good sports about surrendering their dignity and numerous black Americans who have made contributions in science and business were mentioned.  I don’t remember any emphasis on sports.  Good job.

As I said, a good time was had by all.

But the Progressive Brain Washers can’t keep their sticky fingers off history.  Did you know that the Black Panthers were warm hearted community organizers.  We saw a lot of slides of these noble creatures giving out free lunches and being kind and generous.

Of course if you are old enough to have lived through those days you remember the violence and death that was dished out.

At this point we move beyond the assembly to why praising the Black Panthers is inappropriate.

To be continued...

homo unius libri