Students First, a vehicle for radical change in TN schools

Students First, a vehicle for radical change in TN schools

02/06/2014
1024 am

Students First is a radical PAC, a lobbyist group with a socialistic leader as it’s front!

That leader is Michelle Rhee, ex wife of Haslam education czar Kevin Huffman.

Ladies and gentlemen we are in the midst of a revolution and we are not even engaging the enemy of this assault at our front door.

Parents, teachers, taxpayers, citizens, Principals, teachers, administrators, school boards, elected officials and all adults who may dare stand in the way of this nationalization of our schools are not included in this evolution towards socialistic reform in our state. Please step aside, you are now an afterthought and an obstacle to real change.

Students first using it’s platform to change everything about our schools is using big money to buy this change in Tennessee that are you witnessing.

Kevin Huffman, the education secretary in TN, the Haslam appointee, who used to be married to Michelle Rhee of whom they share children and founder of Students First is the radical socialist in charge of betraying the students of TN and subjecting them to the iniquities of a failed agenda that has faced controversy and failure everywhere she has attempted to inject her extreme agenda.

Who is Michelle Rhee? She is a child that has not been able to grow up! She was perhaps the sheltered child that never met her parents expectations and rigid standards customary of her culture. She obviously, in my opinion, never quite measured up to their rigid curriculum of her parents. So with youthful and reckless abandon she somehow thinks she is qualified to lead radical reform inside TN and across the nation injecting her childhood hurt into Tennesssee schools. 

Her childhood has somehow left her with a radical agenda and an unsolicited entry into our school system with the audacity to think that her unproven ways are the sole solution to fix our schools shortcomings.

Reeling from her DC ultimate failure and cheating scandal she sought to bring a brand of education that obviously doesn’t work inside a free republic. Moving children aggressively beyond where they were created an environment and culture that promoted cheating resulting in falsely inflated results.

As a Teach for America fellow at an inner-city Baltimore school in 1993 she reminisces, “Day in and day out, I struggled with my students,” she writes. “They simply wouldn’t listen. I would routinely spend the day alternating between screaming at the children, bribing them, and giving them the silent treatment for their misdeeds. None of it worked.” It was even reported that at one point in her career she resorted to placing duct tape over their mouths so they would listen. For Gods sake she was not even a teacher, she was a Bureaucrat placed in a classroom, a place where only a “real” teacher need be!

During her tenure at DC Public Schools, 2007 to 2010, she gutted the standing system and began to overhaul it. Radical anti teacher, anti union, and basically anti school measures took place. 

Sure one could reduce that all this change was necessary and essential. But the results were not as radical as the changes to
The system and they were definitely  not longstanding. Among the critics it was stated that her change did not last after she was run out of town by a new Mayor. It didn’t have legs and didn’t produce any real change. We are now relying on her unproven and controversy riddled system to work inside Tennessee!

Governor Haslam, several legislators and Senators have taken multiple thousands of Students First lobby money to implement the changes that are so controversial to us today. 

Can you believe any politician would give up his or her soul for Michelle Rhee and Students First to enact the failed system that she advocates for the minds and lives of our children. It would really surprise you at those folks who gladly accepted thousands  of dollars to enact socialistic change and pacify a Governor that is way past his day of reckoning. Perhaps in another blog do I dare address that issue!

Remember, she has no proven system or one that has endured the test of time, yet we in Tennessee migrate to her as if she is the messiah. 

But all we are really interested in is the money she hands to buy your compliance. Michelle Rhees and Students First legacy still haunts her and follows her wherever she goes.Her greatest achievement to date is that perhaps any gains in standardized testing performance was produced at her own hand, by cheating or providing the culture for it.

The embattled Rhee was implicated in the largest cheating scandal in our educational history. She was tagged with having the largest erasures from wrong to right answers on standardized tests in DC. A charge that today she denies. But the legacy follows her and leaves doubt as to the validity and substantiality of her radical reform measures. She has even attempted to cover this ordeal up but her memos and conversations  with educational leaders has crippled her efforts to hide this fiasco.

191 teachers, 70 schools, public and charter were involved in a mass 
cheating scandal that rocked Rhees legacy and offered many doubts as to the effectiveness of her change of cheating as the policy.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3070623

As John Merrow of AFT reflects on the failure Washington DC, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers concluded, “Rhee’s overzealous fixation on testing and measurement, and her efforts to silence and fire anyone who questioned her reckless, destabilizing strategies, ultimately failed D.C.’s kids.” 

“Under Rhee’s tenure, DC-CAS scores showed little or no gain, and the performance gap between low-income and upper-income students actually widened. Schools were destabilized by the constant churn of teachers and principals being fired, relocated or leaving out of frustration. Our children deserved better.”

Rhees response to the widespread cheating when confronted answered with a memo that states: What did Rhee do when the evidence in the memo was presented to her?

Apparently she followed Sanford’s number one recommendation as listed in the memo, she was quoted saying “That we keep this Erasure study really close hold. No more people in the know than necessary until we have more conclusive results.”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/12/why-not-subpoena-everyone-in-d-c-cheating-scandal-rhee-included/

Concerned with Michelle Rhees and Students First legacy? Here are a few disturbing facts. 25, the number of D.C. schools closed during Rhee’s tenure,
 which began in June 2007 and lasted until October 2010. Twenty-three schools were closed in 2008 alone.

1/3, 1 333.3 Teachers of the 4,000 teachers on the DCPS payroll on Sept. 1, 2007 were gone by 2011, through firings, layoffs and attrition.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/book-review-radical-fighting-to-put-students-first-by-michelle-rhee/2013/02/08/562df41e-671e-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

You think through her plan to better American schools she is actually relying on parents to assist and guide the education of our children? Think again. She said this when asked about her goals to turn around education. “My goal is to ensure that laws, leaders, and policies are making students – not adults – our top priority!”

In her book, Radical: Fighting to put Students First she says, “Rhee’s awakening to the potential of every child is blessed with a great teacher, her rage at realizing that adults with special interests are blocking badly needed change.
http://www.studentsfirst.org/pages/about-michelle-rhee

Using the StudentsFirst State Policy Report Card (SPRC), a tool of radical change, to facilitate States to take over our schools, and not in a good way. This reform measure takes our schools and teachers away from local school boards, superintendents and discourages parent or teacher involvement, essentially removing those obstacles called Adults or Teachers from the equation by manipulation, performance measures thus tightening control and eliminating their voice. 

This overtaking of our educational system with no decision making from those pesky “Adults” can only lead to a recipe for disaster, complete control of our schools by our “state led” and eventually fed led and nationalization of our schools. Can you see a pattern developing here. 

She went on to say, remove the obstacles (adults, parents) and real change can take place.
http://www.studentsfirst.org/blog/entry/more-states-taking-over-struggling-schools

In essence what she is saying is “Let’s take our schools away from the teachers, adults, parents, school board, taxpayers, Superintendents and principals and turn them over to the state and DOE and we can have real education reform.”

From her bio on the StudentsFirst website Ms. Rhee is partnering with school districts, state education agencies, non-profit organizations and unions to transform the way schools and other organizations recruit, select and train highly qualified teachers in difficult-to-staff schools.

Another radical change that has been enacted in TN is the teacher performance evaluation that allows a teacher to be evaluated to keep their licensure based largely on how a student performs on standardized tests. A 5 tier grading system largely based on how well a student does on a standardized test that will put their employment, licensure and careers at great risk.

Again, adults removed from the equation, caring locally invested teachers, many who have grown up and been raised in the community they teach, plucked out of their schools and replaced with radical robots with a six week summer training course under their belt using  compliant “adults” brainwashed and made to conduct accordingly via the TFA, Teach for America, or Rhees very own. TNTP, The New Teacher Project.

Interesting to note, teachers from these two organizations do not need to be teachers, trained in education or certified as education instructors, to be inserted into these school replacing these “bad adult teachers” , they just need to have a strong desire to educate and a degree .

In fact, although boasting an educational background, Michelle Rhee has a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell University and a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Hardly a teacher, yet given the authority to change our states educational grid. 

We have a bureaucratic stooge deadset on the nationalization of our schools and an eventual takeover of our schools by the federal government and the Department of Education.

We are in the midst of takeover. Your child is the victim. Our elected officials have played you and I and we have given up our student sovereignty for the almighty dollar.

We rushed into RTTT with its millions to create change. Who had called for this change? A politician leading the charge? We can trace this societal change back to a few visionaries blinded by greed and the ability to “bring the bacon” back to Tennessee. 

Surely we can agree that perhaps we need to focus on areas for improvement. Yet I think we can agree that replacing what we have with a moronic scheme of deprivation and inadequacies is hardly the answer!

Making the illegal, unconstitutional case against Common Core State Standards

MAKING THE CASE AGAINST (THE ILLEGAL) COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS

August 5, 2013 by Thais M. Alvarez

There is growing controversy over the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) throughout the United States.  Grassroots movements are springing up everywhere in an attempt to educate voters who have never heard of the CCSS, hoping that they will join the ranks of those fighting against the CCSS.  Political activists’ efforts have also sought to address and educate school board members and other elected officials, such as county commissioners, representatives, senators and governors of the dangers of CCSS.  The greater goal for these activists is to gain the political commitment of elected officials for the repudiation of the already (emphasis added) implemented CCSS.
At this juncture, one may ask why political activists have to educate voters, and more specially, elected officials.  The answer is simple: mainstream media, for the most part, has not reported on the CCSS.  Moreover, the federal government has conducted a stealth campaign and strong-armed the states into adopting the CCSS. 
In effect, if states do not adopt and implement the CCSS, they are ineligible for federal funding.  Federal funds, which are in essence the tax dollars of citizens, should not be used to bribe or to threaten states into taking certain action, especially when acceptance strips states of constitutionally protected rights.  Likewise, the federal government abuses its power by making the receipt of federal funding conditional on the adoption of federal policies, again, when those policies strip the states of constitutionally protected rights. 
At first glance, although uprooting the CCSS may seem like a daunting task, since it has already been implemented, it should not be challenging for the simple reason that the CCSS are illegal.  Once the states and all of their elected officials are made aware of this, they will realize that they have a duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution, as well as other federal, state and local laws.  Elected officials should be held accountable by U.S. taxpayers, if they fail to dismantle the CCSS program.  More specifically, elected officials should be held accountable for acquiescing into adopting illegal policy that will, in fact, waste billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars.  Elected officials should know better.    
This article makes the case against the Common Core State Standards. 
 
PART I.  “GOOD” LAW
The Constitution of the United States
The U.S. Constitution is also referred to as the “Supreme Law of the Land”.  Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which speaks to the powers vested in Congress, does not enumerate education as one of the powers vested in Congress.  Likewise, Article 2, which outlines the powers of the executive branch, or the president, does not assign to the position the authority to speak to matters of education.  Article III which speaks to the powers of the judicial branch does have the answer, well, at least in part.  Article III, which creates the judicial branch of the federal government provides that if there is a conflict or a question of law arising as to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court shall decide on the issue.  Since the U.S. Constitution is silent on the matter of education, the issue has been addressed and resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, as explained below.[1]
The Supreme Court of the United States
In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court held that education “is not among the rights afforded explicit protection under our Federal Constitution.  Nor do we find any basis for saying it is implicitly so stated.”  This coupled with Article X, otherwise known as the 10th Amendment, of the Bill of Rights which provides that “powers not delegated to the U.S. by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States,” establishes that  the creation of education policies is reserved to the state and local governments.[2] 
The Constitution of the State of Florida
Consistent with the foregoing holding from the U.S. Supreme Court, Article IX of the Florida Constitution speaks to the matter of education. 
More specifically, Section 1(a) provides that education is “a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provisions for the education of all children residing within its borders.”  Section 4(b) further dictates that: “[A] school board shall operate, control and supervise all free public schools within the school district.”[3]   
Given the fact that local school board members are elected officials, it follows that the citizenry directly influences local educational policies through their power of the vote.
The Florida Statutes
The Florida Legislature is vested with the power to enact statutes to carry out the intent of the Florida Constitution.  To that end, Title 48 of the Florida Statutes provides for the Education Code which states as follows:
 
Public education is a cooperative function of the state and local educational authorities. The state retains responsibility for establishing a system of public education through laws, standards, and rules to assure efficient operation of a K-20 system of public education and adequate educational opportunities for all individuals. Local educational authorities have a duty to fully and faithfully comply with state laws, standards, and rules and to efficiently use the resources available to them to assist the state in allowing adequate educational opportunities.[4]
This should speak for itself, without the need to embellish.   
PART II.  “BAD” LAW
It happens all the time.  Judges make “bad law” from the bench when they apply or interpret the law incorrectly.  Likewise, uninformed or corrupt legislators propose bills that are enacted into laws that are either blatantly unconstitutional, or at the very least, serve as the impetus for governmental abuse.  The later is what has happened as it relates to the law of education as a result of the enactment of the three (3) federal education acts, as explained below. 
It could be argued that these laws are, in and of themselves, unconstitutional for the simple reason that they seek to control matters related to education.  And, as the foregoing legal analysis demonstrates, the state and local governments, not the federal government, should be involved in the matters related to education.  
Elementary and Secondary School Act of 1965 (ESEA)
With the stroke of a pen, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson, changed the extent to which the federal government would be involved in education.  At the time the law was enacted, during the Civil Rights Movement, the law was deemed necessary in that it would seek to address the issues of the time.  The law reads: 
 
Nothing in the Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or employees of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or control a State, local educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of State and local resources, or mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under the Act.[5]
Department of Education Organization Act (DEOA)
This is the Act which created the Department of Education (DOE) in 1979.  At the time, many members of the U.S. Congress expressed their concerns over the creation of the DOE.  Today, many assert that the DOE should be abolished because, through the years, it has developed policies and programs that encroach on the constitutional rights that state and local governments have over matters of education.  The DOE has done this in violation of the letter of the law, as well as in disregard of its legislative history and intent.  
The DEOA provides that:
No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any discretion, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system, except to the extent authorized by law.[6] 

When analyzing any legal primary source, one would be remiss if one only reads the letter of the law.  That is, to fully understand the spirit of the law, one also needs to read the written commentaries or the legislative history that follows.  In the instant case, as it relates to the DEOA, in Finding 4 of the DEOA, Congress underscored that:
[I]n our Federal system, the primary public responsibility for education is reserved respectively to the States and the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States.[7]

It should also be highlighted that Congress made its intentions clear when it said:
It is the intention of the Congress in the establishment of the Department to protect the rights of State and local governments and public and private educational institutions in the areas of educational policies and administration of programs and to strengthen and improve control of such governments and institutions over their own educational programs and policies.  The establishment of the Department of Education shall not increase the authority of the Federal Government over education or diminish the responsibility for education which is reserved to the State and local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States.[8]

A close reading of the ESEA and the DEOA juxtaposed with the CCSS, especially the implementation of the CCSS, make it clear that the federal government is in fact mandating, directing and controlling curriculum. 
Although proponents of the CCSS argue that the CCSS only impose “standards,” rather than “curriculum,” professionals in the field of education understand that curriculum is developed from standards, and therefore, to impose a certain set of standards, as the federal government is doing through the CCSS, is tantamount to also imposing curriculum.  Moreover, assessments are based on the curriculum which assess whether students achieve demonstrated proficiency of the CCSS standards.  Standards, curriculum and assessments are all intrinsically linked, such that, the effect is that they are all one and the same. 
To make the point take into account what the educational experts say:      
Dr. Greene has stated, “To make standards meaningful they have to be integrated with changes in the curriculum, assessment and pedagogy.”[9] 
The Federal Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has also acknowledged the nexus between standards and curriculum when he stated that “curriculum can only be as good as the academic standards to which the assessments and curriculum are pegged.”[10]    
Thus, for the federal government and the proponents of the CCSS to conclude that the CCSS do not dictate curriculum and assessments, both of which the federal government is prohibited from doing, is to lie to the American people.  
General Education Provisions Act (GEPA)
Similar to the above-mentioned laws, GEPA provides:
No provision of any applicable program, shall be construed to authorize any department, agency, office or employee of the United States to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, or over the selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed material by any educational institution or school system, or to require the assignment or transportation of students or teachers in order to overcome racial imbalance.[11]
In addition to the above-stated commentaries relating to curriculum, it is noteworthy to underscore that this Act goes a step further to limit the power of the federal government over the “selection of library resources, textbooks, or other printed material by any educational institution or school system.” 
This notwithstanding, the federal government has given two state consortia, Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Consortium (PARCC) and SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC), $330 million dollars to begin the development of digital tools and libraries. 
To use their words, the two consortia have stated as follows:
PARCC has stated:
 
PARCC’s initial proposal calls for the development of a digital library of tools…the broader set of tools in the library will provide choices and supplemental materials (beyond the instructional units) for teachers to use.  The development of the library also will identify materials that can be used to inform the development of the instructional units or even become the instructional units, perhaps with minor modification.[12]
SBAC, also provides that it will:
 
[D]evelop curriculum materials…contract with professional organizations, universities and non-profit groups…to adapt their curriculum materials to SBAC specifications to upload to the digital library.[13]
The stated intentions of both consortia juxtaposed with GEPA clearly violate the letter of the law.  There is no need for further analysis.     
Case Closed:  Common Core State Standards is Illegal
In light of Part I, one questions why there was ever a need for Part II.  After all, Part I speaks for itself in that the federal government should not be involved in matters as they relate to education.  Even the federal statutes, explained in Part II, confirm that.  The Acts’ language is superfluous and their enactment arbitrary.        
As stated above, it should not come as a surprise for the reader to learn that at the time Congress set out to enact the DEOA there were numerous members of Congress who objected to its enactment.  These Congressional leaders, in their infinite wisdom, could anticipate and foresee what is happening today with the implementation of the CCSS when they stated their objections to the enactment of the DEOA andthe consequent creation of the DOE.  They accurately predicted:
 
If we create this Department, more educational [decision-making] as to course content, textbook content, and curriculum will be made in Washington at the expense of local diversity.  The tentacles will be stronger and reach further.  The Department of Education will end up being the Nation’s super [school board].[14]
Almost a quarter of a century after those words were memorialized, their prophetic nature becomes apparent.  The tentacles of the DOE are infringing on local diversity, such that it is now acting as a national school board.  To that end, not a single local school board in the nation had an opportunity nor the intention to place the issue of whether “the” local shareholders approved of the CCSS before them. 
But, fret not, we, the people, are here.  We are here to send a clear message to the local school boards across the nation objecting to this insidious, subversive and stealth campaign, otherwise known as the Common Core “State” Standards.
It should be pointed out that the title, Common Core “State” Standards, begs the question:  Why is the word “State” part of the title when the states had nothing to do with their creation or development?    
The more pressing question, however, is:  Will elected officials heed to the voices of, we the people, and uphold the sanctity of this Constitutional Republic, remembering that the source of their power was granted to them by, we, the people?
 
[1] U.S. Const.
[2] San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
[3] Fla. Const. art. IX, § 4(b).         
[4] § 1000.03(3), Fla. Stat. (2012).
[5] 20 U.S.C. § 7907(a).
[6] 20 U.S.C. § 3403(b).
[7] 20 U.S.C. § 3401(4).
[8] 20 U.S.C. § 3403(a).
[9] Robert S. Eitel and Kent D. Talbert, The Road to a National Curriculum, Pioneer Institute, August 5, 2013, http://pioneerinstitute.org/download/the-road-to-a-national-curriculum/
[10] Id.
[11] 20 U.S.C. § 1232a.
[12] PARCC PROPOSAL FOR SUPPLEMENTAL RACE TO THE TOP ASSESSMENT AWARD 1 (2010), availableat http://www.edweek.org/media/parccsupplementalproposal12-23achievefinal.pdf
[13] Robert S. Eitel and Kent D. Talbert, The Road to a National Curriculum, Pioneer Institute, August 5, 2013, http://pioneerinstitute.org/download/the-road-to-a-national-curriculum/
[14] H.R. REP. No. 95-1531, at 47 (1978). 

Source of info: This site is chocked full of informative goodness, please subscribe to and visit this site frequently.

http://bwcentral.org/2013/08/making-the-case-against-the-illegal-common-core-state-standards/

Common Core: RNC/GOP passes resolution against “one size fits all” nationalized education curriculum

Common Core: RNC/GOP passes resolution against “one size fits all”  nationalized education curriculum

This week the RNC, the Republican National Committee, passed a resolution to stop Common Core during their annual spring meeting in California.

In what can be best be described as a top down federally mandated curriculum with communistic ties and a push to socialize our country by taking over the minds of our children, the RNC has delivered a devastating, if not fatal, blow to the Obamas, Ayers, Gates, Duncan nationalized curriculum.

Many parents, bloggers, concerned citizens, certain legislators and activists have done an excellent job of bringing to light the evils of this education mandate and have hopefully spearheaded its eventual death.

The mainstream media, the major news channels and the Department of Education have avoided this story like the plague and have reported or commented on it rarely, if any.

With all the sad unfortunate bombings and ricin mailings eating up the airways, the Common Core mandate has suffered a silent major blow with very little reporting.

While many in the mainstream have chosen to ignore this resolution the blogosphere and everyday mouth to mouth reporting outlets have gotten the information to the masses.

The RNC has stepped up in a major way, now is the time to use our grassroots synergy to spur and create change at the state levels, thus influencing the entire nation. 

Our combined efforts to stop Common Core has been tremendous and continued pressure is needed. 

The local grassroots activist must continue to expose this attempt by our own government and globalist of this elaborate coup and takeover of our educational system and the minds of our children.

Continue to talk to each other, spread the information and demand that our elected representatives get their hands out of the federal pie. 

Let’s allow the free market and parents to direct our children’s curriculum, not federal mandates with plenty of implementation money.

In Tennessee, particularly Bradley County, this “change of mind” will be extremely hard to do considering we have an ultra liberal progressive Governor, Senators, Legislators and local representatives that accepted a 500 million dollar bribe for the roll out of RTTT with acceptance and implementation of Common Core, sight unseen. 

Many within this group will do whatever the Governor requests or demands, so letting our liberal Governor know you are unhappy may be a great place to start then work your way down to the local level. 

Attend school board, council or commission meetings and let the administrators know that Common Core is not acceptable for our children.

This willing marriage to a huge federal grant for a mandate is a terrible precedent to establish and is sadly driving the decision making throughout the country at all levels.

Common Core and its removal by our elected reps will be difficult but not impossible. 

As public opinion shifts, pressure mounts and parents become aware of it’s dangers, change will come.

Tn Governor Bill Haslam and his many state, local lap dogs and useful idiots will stand firm initially because of personal pride but the real results can come as you let them know you want Common Core and it’s implementation and further funding stopped immediately in your community.

Hearing their constituency send a strong message can change their ways. Fear of  surrendering their coveted and prosperous elected seat may awaken them to this federal takeover of our educational system and provoke change. 

I know many will not dare stand tall against their own party recommendations as this may spur the RNCs failure to support them come time for a re-election bid. The breech has been softened, time to attack.

The Resolution to stop Common Core by the RNC:

RESOLUTION CONCERNING COMMON CORE EDUCATION STANDARDS

WHEREAS, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a set of academic standards, promoted and supported by two private membership organizations, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) as a method for conforming American students to uniform (“one size fits all”) achievement goals to make them more competitive in a global marketplace, (1.) and

WHEREAS, the NGA and the CCSSO, received tens of millions of dollars from private third parties to advocate for and develop the CCSS strategy, subsequently created the CCSS through a process that was not subject to any freedom of information acts or other sunshine laws, and never piloted the CCSS, and

WHEREAS, even though Federal Law prohibits the federalizing of curriculum (2.), the Obama Administration accepted the CCSS plan and used 2009 Stimulus Bill money to reward the states that were most committed to the president’s CCSS agenda; but, they failed to give states, their legislatures and their citizens time to evaluate the CCSS before having to commit to them, and

WHEREAS, the NGA and CCSSO in concert with the same corporations developing the CCSS ‘assessments’ have created new textbooks, digital media and other teaching materials aligned to the standards which must be purchased and adopted by local school districts in order that students may effectively compete on CCSS ‘assessments’, and

WHEREAS, the CCSS program includes federally funded testing and the collection and sharing of massive amounts of personal student and teacher data, and

WHEREAS, the CCSS effectively removes educational choice and competition since all schools and all districts must use Common Core ‘assessments’ based on the Common Core standards to allow all students to advance in the school system and to advance to higher education pursuits; therefore be it

RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee, as stated in the 2012 Republican Party Platform, “do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and local level,” (p35)(3.), which is best based on a free market approach to education for students to achieve individual excellence; and, be it further

RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee recognizes the CCSS for what it is– an inappropriate overreach to standardize and control the education of our children so they will conform to a preconceived “normal,” and, be it further

RESOLVED, That the Republican National Committee rejects the collection of personal student data for any non-educational purpose without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent and that it rejects the sharing of such personal data, without the prior written consent of an adult student or a child student’s parent, with any person or entity other than schools or education agencies within the state, and be it finally

RESOLVED, the 2012 Republican Party Platform specifically states the need to repeal the numerous federal regulations which interfere with State and local control of public schools, (p36) (3.); and therefore, the Republican National Committee rejects this CCSS plan which creates and fits the country with a nationwide straitjacket on academic freedom and achievement.

Sources of info:

1) RNC passes resolution to stop Common Core:

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/rnc-passes-anti-common-core-resolution-at-their-spring-meeting/

2) RNC Draft resolution:

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/rnc-draft-resolution-on-the-common-core/

3) RNC passes resolution to stop Common Core:

http://truthinamericaneducation.com/common-core-state-standards/rnc-passes-anti-common-core-resolution-at-their-spring-meeting/

4) Senator Chuck Grasey (R-Iowa) is asking fellow Republican Governors to ask Senate Appropriation Committee to cut all funding for Common Core that the Obama Administration is using to cajole States into adopting the CC Standard/Curriculum:

http://www.politicalchips.org/m/blogpost?id=4095899%3ABlogPost%3A166100

5) GOP blasts Obama backed national education standards:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/15108-gop-blasts-obama-backed-national-education-standards

6) Grassroots, bloggers, concerned parents, elected reps, national activists spearhead drive to  stopping Common Core:

http://educationviews.org/conservatives-spearhead-drive-at-rnc-meeting-to-stop-common-core/

For further information, continue to comb through this blog and insert in the search area “common core” and several articles on the devastating effects of Common Core will pop up. 

You keep reading, I’ll keep reporting.

Common Core: 30 years of progressive education reform being led by Bill Ayers

Common Core: 30 years of progressive education reform led by Bill Ayers

 Ayers and his fellow “reformers” are to Dewey what Lenin was to Marx. 

Marx was an intellectual who wished to undermine Western civilization. 

Lenin was a thug who sought to bring Marxist principles into full practice through propaganda, armed revolution, and sophisticated lies. 

Likewise, Dewey hated American liberty and individualism and wished to undermine them through socialist education. 

Ayers is Dewey’s less civilized, more “practically minded” disciple.

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/02/american-education-rotting-the-country-from-the-inside-2571798.html

On the homefront:

In Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam with an assist from Achieve, Inc are the patsies being used locally to deliver the forbidden fruit to our children!”

Governor Bill Haslam is being handed the baton of progressive education called Common Core for the state of Tennessee. He has willingly, proudly and actively accepted this challenge. 

I doubt he knows or even cares to know Bill Ayers. But one thing is for sure he is assisting him at least indirectly in it’s implementation.

His past, at least formally, with Mayor Bloomberg of New York and Multi-Billionaire Bill Gates of Microsoft, a puppet of UNESCO and a huge catalyst and contributor of hundreds of millions to Common Core and it tenets at least shows he is a willing and knowledgable host, if not a conspiring puppet.

This evolvement of a pedagogical educational system which started with John Dewey has shaped into what we now call Common Core.

For more than 30 years this gradual ascent to Common Core has  come directly from the mind of terrorist, anti American, Anti Capitalist, Communist Bill Ayers and is now being passed to our children by willing Governors who will gladly take a few dollars to implement federal mandates for a complete overhaul of our school system.

The originator of this process was masterminded by John Dewey and completed by Bill Ayers and his proteges.

Today Bill Haslam, as others, are pushing the implementation of Common Core in Tennessee for a 500 million dollar bribe under the guises of RTTT and under the watchful eye of Achieve.

Governor Haslam, using his board position on Achieve, a leftist, big money think tank and lobby front for Common Core is definitely forging the path for our children’s minds in Tennessee. Many other Governors across the nation are also participating.

This is not just a benign program only being presented in our state and across the nation as a way to “assist” our states to perform better on standardized tests.

It is a deliberate and intentional step to take over the minds of our children and prepare them for thinking and functioning inside a global world where socialism and the needs of the collective are the accepted norm and are expected above and beyond their own needs thus completing the works of John Dewey and his disciple Bill Ayers.

A world where capitalism does not exist as a means of economic growth or stability. 

A world where all Americans are on a level playing field, no reward for high achievers, just a recognition that your ability to rise above others is a form of social injustice.

I recently stumbled upon this 30 or so year history while researching this takeover of our educational system by the Feds and communists. 

This artful and skillfully put together history was the creation  of Danette Clark, a blogger and further enhanced by this blog.

Many have asked me recently “Can you make a connection to Bill Ayers and Common Core and can you correlate that with the origins of Common Core?” I believe I have managed to do that.

The following is that link, that progression to what today is known as Common Core with assorted references to support these claims.

Our state and nation is at an extremely pivotal turning point. 

The acceptance of Common Core into our public schools by progressives, communists and globalist is completely unacceptable.

The Top down federal nationalism of our school system is a tragedy and this indoctrination called Common Core must be stopped. 

I believe we are one generation, one term, perhaps 4 to 10 years from being a Socialist country. The tool will be our children and the education they are now receiving.

The Socialists and Communists have perfected the tool, the program, the curriculum, the standards, the indoctrinating tool now evolved into and known as Common Core. 

The indoctrination program is underway and being implemented in our schools today.

I realize I may not convince you of this indoctrination with one blog, I do encourage you to take a few minutes, read it and make your own decisions based on this information. 

The decision to know it exists but not acknowledge it’s origins and intent is completely up to you. I prefer to look further than on the surface.

The History

The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES), a progressive education reform model rooted in the pedagogy of Paulo Freiere and John Dewey, was started by Theodore Sizer in 1984.

http://www.essentialschools.org/resources/69

CES was originally housed in Brown University. In 1993, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform was established at Brown, with Theodore Sizer as its first director. The institute built on the work of Sizer’s Coalition of Essential Schools with a mission to expand that work to schools across the country.

In 1996, the Annenberg Foundation launched the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) education initiative, which was led in part by Bill Ayers. At the time, Ayers was already working with a Coalition of Essential Schools affiliate organization in Chicago.

(The Wall Street Journal connects the dots.)

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/a/SB122212856075765367?mg=reno64-wsj

Ayers appointed Obama as CAC board chairman and over the next few years, they invested millions into the expansion of Sizer’s CES schools.

http://mobile.wnd.com/2008/09/76022/

Ayers’ Small Schools Workshop also received Annenberg money to aid in transforming existing schools into CES member schools (also referred to as ‘small schools’, ‘smaller learning communities’, ’small autonomous schools’ and ‘schools within a school’). Ayers and his organization provided curriculum resources, hands-on professional development, and grant development.

(Even Jared Lee Loughner attended one of Bill Ayers “small school projects”)

http://mobile.wnd.com/2011/01/249429/

A total of $500 million was donated by Annenberg nationwide, providing the first big boost to the expansion of CES schools. The most recent boost is Common Core.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Annenberg_Challenge

In between, CES schools received heavy funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Soros’ Open Society Institute, Carnegie Corporation, and through CSR, Title 1, and smaller learning community grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/US-Program/College-Ready-Education

CES (likely under the advice of experienced community organizers, Barack Obama and Bill Ayers) recruited ACORN workers to manipulate and elbow their way onto local school councils and scream for reform. Chicago ACORN was paid to identify and train community members to become teachers in CES schools.

http://www.nationalledger.com/news-tech/the-barack-obama-william-ayers-145570.shtml

Acorn Woodland Elementary, Oakland, CA
Established in 2000 by ACORN and the Coalition of Essential Schools

Today, CES is a nationwide network of almost 3,000 schools, all of which are provided curriculum material, professional development training, and staff support through CES regional training centers and partner universities. CES uses the Annenberg Institute “as a forum for sharing resources and amassing political weight”. Read more about CES growth and structure below.

http://www.essentialschools.org/resources/43

The Evidence

So with CES behind CSCOPE, and Linda Darling Hammond, a long time board member and disciple of CES schools, behind Common Core, does this mean Common Core is as bad as CSCOPE?

For those who don’t necessarily agree that one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, how about several bad apples?

After reading Michelle Malkin’s recent article that places Achieve, Inc. behind Common Core, the dots finally began to connect.

http://michellemalkin.com/2013/03/01/rotten-to-the-core-part-iii-lessons-from-texas-and-the-growing-grassroots-revolt/

Linda Darling Hammond isn’t the only Common Core developer whose roots are firmly planted in the progressive agenda of the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Not only is Achieve, Inc. made up of several CES/Annenberg foot soldiers, it was literally established through an (unofficial) partnership of the National Governors Association and the Annenberg Institute.

(Our very own Governor Bill Haslam is on this board. The board has been involved all the way back to 1996. Coincidentally this progressive was also on the very liberal Mayor Bloombergs Coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, but resigned in 2009 and joined the NRA….hypocritical and progressive? Another blog! Now onto Achieve, another progressive think tank with big money influence.)

http://www.achieve.org/our-board-directors

Here is the who and the how:

• Louis Gerstner, Jr., Chairman Emeritus of Achieve, Inc., was appointed to the first Board of Overseers of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform in 1995.  Remember, Theodore  Sizer, founder of CES schools, was Annenberg’s director at the time.

http://brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1995-96/95-028.html

Gerstner and Tommy Thompson, former NGA Chairman and former governor of Wisconsin, called for and led the first National Education Summit in 1996 wherein Achieve, Inc. was created.

Click to access 1996NationalEducationSummit.pdf

• Jeffrey Wadsworth, Achieve, Inc. board member, is president and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute. In 2006, Battelle partnered with the Coalition of Essential Schools, Ohio State University, and KnowledgeWorks Foundation to create a new  CES school, Metro High School in Columbus, OH.

http://www.essentialschools.org/resources/484

• Michael Cohen, President of Achieve, Inc., wrote a report in 2001 recommending smaller learning communities and refers to the Coalition of Essential Schools as a program that has “a clear focus and purpose”.

Under Cohen, Achieve, Inc. has partnered with the Alliance for Excellent Education on several initiatives. The Alliance is led by former governor of West Virginia Bob Wise, who is an advisory committee member (alongside Linda Darling Hammond) of CES’s Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools.

Click to access highschools.pdf

Linda Darling Hammond is an Alliance for Excellent Education governing board member.

http://www.all4ed.org/about_the_alliance/leadership/Governing+Board

http://educationviews.org/linda-darling-hammond-bill-ayers-cscope-lucy-calkins-ccs/

Although Cohen is not specifically listed or named as a board member, his photo and bio can be found on the Alliance for Excellent Education website under “About the Alliance”.

http://www.all4ed.org/about_the_alliance/michael-cohen

Don’t forget to go here to see which CES-ers are behind CSCOPE.

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2013/03/03/more-proof-that-ces-a-nationwide-progressive-organization-launched-in-part-by-president-obama-is-behind-recent-controversy-in-texas-schools/

So there you have it — Common Core is the culmination of a 30 year old progressive education initiative still being driven by the ‘irrelevant’ Bill Ayers and implemented by Obama as America’s national standard in education.

http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=335&ViewID=97313D1D-A9CF-4646-A5A5-0C355FBAC071&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=841&PageID=543

Here in Bill Ayers own words of his plans for our schools using Common Core and it tenets: “we should be looking at what we have complete access to, our schools, classrooms, communities and farms, If we want real change!”

Read about some of the outrageous things taking place and being taught in CES schools at the links below:

Racist PB&J Sandwich Rationale Courtesy of Obama-Launched Education Reform Movement

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/racist-pbj-sandwich-rationale-courtesy-of-obama-launched-education-reform-movement/

Discovery Channel Communications Company Partners with Radical Progressives to Bring Anti-American Curriculum to the Classroom

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/discovery-channels-communications-company-partners-with-progressives-to-bring-anti-american-curriculum-into-the-classroom/

‘Radical Math’: Social Justice Indoctrination in Your Child’s Math Class

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/radical-math-social-justice-indoctrination-in-your-childs-math-class/

U.S. State Department and Department of Education Give Islamic Terrorists Access to Your Children

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/u-s-state-dept-and-department-of-education-give-islamic-terrorists-access-to-your-children/

To read about Obama’s continued involvement in the promotion and expansion of CES schools, go to Where #OccupyWallStreet Really Began — Obama’s Hand in the Movement.

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/where-occupywallstreet-really-began-obamas-hand-in-the-movement/

Also, see some of the socialists, communists, and maoists behind CES schools at Name Names (several more will be added to this page in coming weeks). These are the faces behind CSCOPE and Common Core.

Please do skip over this list of radicals at the helm of Common Core! Kathy Wilkerson (Weather underground) Howard Machtinger (Co-founder, Weather Underground), Bill Ayers (Weather Underground founder), Tim Wise, Grant Wiggins, Jeremiah Wright, Barrack Obama, Kevin Jennings, Cornel West, 

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/name-names-2/

You can also read about federal funding of the Coalition of Essential Schools and some of the organizations and schools involved by picking up a copy of Red Army: The Radical Network that Must Be Defeated to Save America by Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062069241/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/177-8664771-2336043

Source of info:

http://danetteclark.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/unravelled-the-30-year-agenda-behind-common-core/comment-page-1/#comment-495

Who is John Dewey?
http://www.who2.com/bio/john-Dewey

http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

This content is a result of my research and my opinion based on fact. I realize if you are a vested  party or willing participant, I’m perhaps not gonna change your mind, but I do want you to see these facts and realize that you one day may be held accountable for your actions in the court of public opinion.

Many Americans seeing Medical Excise Tax sticker shock as OBAMACARE costs kick in

It is true! Many Bradley Countians as well as many Americans are starting to see a new tax being applied to the purchase of many products to include medical devices as well as items that you would not think would be categorized as medical devices.

When the Medical Device Tax started hitting the retail stores yesterday, January 1, 2013, people began scratching their heads at the new tax at the bottom of their reciept of 2.3 percent. “I didn’t buy a medical device, I bought Q tips, a fishing rod and some ammo for my Ruger and I got taxed an additional 2.3 percent.” One consumer was overheard saying at the checkout counter recently.

Congress recently voted to tweak the bill because the bill came across as purely another retail tax. The ever encompassing IRS code and FDA labeling codes are what is driving the hordes of extra items categorized as “medical devices.”

When I think of medical devices I think of splints, stents, prosthetic hips and walkers. The IRS and our Federal Government sees “medical devices” as fishing rods, bows and arrows, ammo, Q tips and gas guzzling cars.

The new medical device tax started yesterday will be one of many planned taxes, that will take precious income away from many hard working Americans and place it into the US Treasuries pockets and assorted other coffers to assist in funding the dreaded unconstitutional, socialistic OBAMACARE Healthcare system.

The medical device tax is expected to raise upward of 40 billion dollars every decade to offset the cost of providing care for the influx of 30 to 40 million presently uninsured Americans.

As the OBAMACARE health system is fully implemented in 2014 with it’s many non restraints such as the unlimited pre existing provision, costs are expected to sore into the 100s of millions perhaps trillions some analysts say, over the next decade. This will leave many unemployed, broke and desolate, looking for government handout
to just survive in the environment the fake president has directed us with his hugely expensive healthcare tax.

Aside from the cost to us, our grandchildren and their grandchildren extensive job loss will be a fallout, numerous “medical device companies” closed, pack up and move overseas via outsourcing or simply close their doors.

The medical device industry employs around 420,000 state side
and millions world wide. Analysts are predicting a loss of 42,000 jobs in the first year as Americans begin to find out what items are taxes heavily and begin to dodge the tax and many companies that may only see a 2 to 3 percent profit margin will simply have to shut the doors.

Some say, just don’t label your products as medical devices and avoid the tax, well the IRS and the Feds have that covered also. If a company attempts to avoid the excise tax which to date has very loose guidelines as to what a medical device is will be faced with up to 10,000 dollars, more likely a daily fine of
1,000 dollars a day for trying to manipulate the system to their benefit.

The death spiral of our economy is just beginning and with each new tax the Senate, Congress and this fake president pile up on we are one step closer to the socialist utopia many of our elected and nonelected bureaucrats have been trying so hard to create.

Our present tax structure will be dim by comparison to the one that is coming in the next decade. I have often joked that eventually the government will receive 100 percent or more
Of my paycheck just as the Cloward-Piven strategists have predicted. Overload and overwhelm our economic system and you will have created a socialist America with Communistic overtones.

Please continue to read the links below directly from the IRS website. What you will not see in most cases is strictly medical devices but an array of assorted retail items and that list is only expected to grow as the extra capital is needed to fund OBAMACARE. what you will not see directly, but you will see higher prices for the products you purchase daily, is the import/export taxes and the extra taxes on manufacturers up to 10 to 12 percent just to make “medical devices!”

The following discussion of manufacturers taxes applies to the tax on:

Sport fishing equipment;

Fishing rods and fishing poles;

Electric outboard motors;

Fishing tackle boxes;

Bows, quivers, broadheads, and points;

Arrow shafts;

Coal;

Taxable tires;

Gas guzzler automobiles; and

Vaccines.

Q1. What is the medical device excise tax?
A1. Section 4191 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes an excise tax on the sale of certain medical devices by the manufacturer or importer of the device.
Q2. When does the tax go into effect?
A2. The tax applies to sales of taxable medical devices after Dec. 31, 2012.
Q3. How much is the tax?
A3. The tax is 2.3 percent of the sale price of the taxable medical device. See Chapter 5 of IRS Publication 510, Excise Taxes, and Notice 2012-77 for additional information on the determination of sale price.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Medical-Device-Excise-Tax:-Frequently-Asked-Questions

http://www.natlawreview.com/article/excise-tax-kicks-jan-1-certain-medical-devices

http://beforeitsnews.com/gadgets/2012/12/the-diabolical-medical-device-excise-tax-2443956.html

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-medtech-companies-face-job-cuts-excise-tax-190739057–finance.html
http://m.mddionline.com/node/9528

Des Moines Iowa: UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon tells youth to look beyond America, serve the World

The UN is concerned about World Hunger. This is a given. Americans are worried about feeding our own and higher food prices. The UNs Secretary General is in Des Moines Iowa this week to promote World Hunger Day.

The UN sees Iowa as the heartland and a gateway to large portions of our food and it’s production. This stealthy display of humanism shows the world that the UN is securely in our country and we have the elected officials that are pulling out the welcome wagon. The UN surely sees the opportunity for Iowa and other states to “spread the wealth” to other countries to feed the poor.

I’m not against helping others, but I am a firm believer we must take care of our own also. We are far from solving the homelessness and hunger in the United States, why must we rely on the UN for assistance.

The churches and private organizations used to be the go to guys when the needy hungered for a meal, but even our church leaders have fallen under the spell of the UN while forging ahead to create a socialist type utopia under a New World Order with the popular UN poverty eradication program called MDGs-Millennium Development Goals, an Agenda 21 program.

Think about this. The UN is in Iowa and no bells and whistles going off. Little to no coverage on the local or world news. Really? The UN in our country asking our Youth and Women to look beyond America, forget about America and I find very little coverage of these events.

Where are our watchmen on the wall, our Patriots, our elected officials that should be saying “get the hades out of my country with your rhetoric and brainwashing of my children.” Perhaps the reason they don’t speak is they are complicit and in the know.

The following article being shared is from a site called UNDPwatch, please see the links below and vist their site frequently.

Ban Ki-moon tells American youth to “look beyond america and serve the world”
(Translation: Forget about building a stronger America)

“Young Americans should look beyond the United States to become citizens of the world,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told 500 Drake University students Friday morning.

“My message to you: See the world, serve the world, be a global citizen and shape the world we want,” Ban said in a presentation on international affairs.

Ban is the first sitting secretary-general of the United Nations to visit Iowa, he said. He came to Des Moines to address World Food Prize attendees Thursday night.

In the audience in Old Main’s Sheslow Auditorium were Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and U.S. Ambassador-at-Large Stephen Rapp, another Iowan.

http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/detail.jsp?query=identifer:532/532579

Tells youth forget about America!
http://undpwatch.blogspot.com/2012/10/ban-ki-moon-tells-american-youth

http://www.indystar.com/article/D2/20121020/NEWS02/310200042/U-N-secretary-general-urges-students-look-beyond-U-S-?odyssey=nav%7Chead&gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

UN’s Millenium Development Goals: Ushering in the Antichrist and One World Religion?

We are living in perilous times. The economy is bad, the future looks bleak, poor people are lined up around the block in every soup kitchen in the US, homeless are strewn all over our city streets, the housing market has imploded leaving many with their only hope of recovery is to reach out to God almighty and his appointed leaders for help.

The poor, the middle class and quite frankly the upper income earners are having to tighten their belts just to make ends meet in todays economy.

Families are looking for help. Three meals and a cot are your most basic needs and even those are difficult to attain.

Who can help us? Who can get us back on our feet? The government? The Church? The United Nations?

This overwhelming “global poverty” dilemma is sadly being approached by all three of the aforementioned entitities and in partnership with each other.

The vehicle is Agenda 21 and the United Nations Millenium Development Goals or MDG’s abbreviated.

What can be bad about assisting the poor? Churches and spiritual leaders have done it for centuries. Why do they need to associated with the UN to continue this mission quest? Did the system of helping your poor and afflicted all of a sudden break down and is no longer functional? Why are we seeing the UN now cry out to our elected and spiritual leaders for help in eradicating poverty? I believe the answer is simple. There is an alternative motive to our religious leaders linking up with the UN. Continue reading and my intent is to show you the untold story.

We are arguably seeing the end of our society as we know it come to an end. The culmination of these combined efforts to not only stamp out poverty but implement Agenda 21 into every community in the world is the catalyst.

I believe we are witnessing the development and genesis of a “One World Government”, a “New World Order” and a “One World Religion” under the complete control of the United Nations and they are relying on our gratitude and servitude to achieve their deviant plan.

The eight Millennium Development Goals that came out of the UN Millenium Summitt in 2000 and again in 2010 is one leg of a many legged beast that will eventually lead to World Dominance by the United Nations over every facet of our existence.

The MDG’s are a direct initiative of the UN from the international program known as Agenda 21, specifically Chapter 3 of the 40 chapter plan to completely morph our world into a Socialist, Marxist Communistic and Godless society run by elitist with no other goal than the elimination of a sovereign and free people.

Before you tune me out and decide that this will never happen take a look around you and see that even locally, in your community, many of the MDG and Agenda 21 goals have been implemented and many more are on the way and have already occurred. I have taken the liberty to step outside a narrow minded thought process to piece the whole puzzle together. Before you take offense to what I am saying consider my motivation. My goal and many know this, my children and their children and in fact your children will be living in this environment that is being created by our esteemed religious leaders. I can’t bare to leave this to my lineage. The attacks on me because of my stances are certain to come and will come from those involved and those that usually have something to hide or have come to the conclusion that what I am saying is unfounded without researching it themselves. I am really ok with this. I sleep very well at night knowing that I have at least drawn attention to a very sinister plight.

Agenda 21 via the MDG’ is insidious and admittedly clever. The actions of the UN are enticing, prolonged and consistent. Who doesn’t want to see poor people get a helping hand, a womans equal rights observed, a healthy baby delivered, a home built for a poor family, an improved educational system or the eradication of Tuberculosis and HIV from the surface of the Earth. Very few people would deny these needs to the afflicted. Sadly, this is not the whole story.

Our devoted and spiritual local church leaders have bought into this fix for the worlds problems and are being manipulated on the world stage for the gain of many that have not fully yet been recognized as being the catalyst to our demise. I personally doubt few have looked behind the organization that is driving these initiatives or goals.

Even our local Tn State Representative Kevin Brooks has been drafted into this UN agenda 21 approach to eradicate global poverty although just last year drafted a resolution in the Tennessee state house to rid ourselves of the insidious program called Agenda 21. This would appear as hypocritical but I honestly dont think he has taken the time to evaluate the complete package that he is incessantly pushing into our community using his church affiliated base for implementation. If he did, I think his approach would be different.

Our local Chamber of Commerce whose international organization has “Chief Consultative Status” with the United Nations is playing a huge part of the implementation of Agenda 21 in our community. The Chamber of Commerce is a willing and knowing partner in this endeavor and will go to any length to make sure if its success. Their partnership with the UN is undeniable at this point and their true motives are not hidden.

Local church leaders such as the honorable T.L Lowery who initiated the MDGs into our community and was wined and dined by Ban Ki Moon at the UN in New York to facilitate this into our lives.

My beloved pastor Mitch Maloney has been recruited for implementation of certain aspects of the MDGs and has even donated needed water/sewer lines in slums in Cambodia.

The World Church of God and North Cleveland Church of God has direct involvement.

Our own Cleveland Mayor Tom Rowland and his seven city councilmen recently gave a notable horrendous dictator the key to our city in support of the MDGS.

People for Care and Learning, the UNs Habitat for Humanity, elected officials and spiritual leaders all over our community are being drafted into this evil empire that many have claimed is the direct path to the unveiling of the Antichrist and the facilitation of the end times.

Involvement of our community church leaders does not make them bad people. In fact, quite the opposite. These leaders have done more good for this old world in a day than many in a lifetime. Their continued association knowingly or unknowingly with a ruthless evil organization like the UN is where we separate and their ongoing support becomes questionable and would cast doubt to their credibility and intentions.

I believe our community leaders have been co opted by the United Nations to implement this scheme to eradicate global poverty via Agenda 21/MDGS.

Our leaders have failed to recognize the reality of joining hands with a very dangerous and powerful world power called the United Nations, that is gaining momentum with every assist from our leaders is a calculated risk that many seem to indulge despite numerous warnings.

Linking with the UN to implement these goals that go beyond eradicating poverty to implementing sustainabilty and environmental controls on our country, as demonstrated in goals 7 and 8 of the MDG’s is a very dangerous game to play with the lives of your congregations and constituents.

Take the time to acquaint your self with the information below and ask the question, who and what organizations are pushing this agenda and why. Simply expelling your involvement because you think it is impossible and is untrue, your naievete is no longer acceptable. The repercussions on the citizens of different communities are the ones that will suffer from your decisions and your continued participation.

The educated response and the knowledge you now attain through this blog and the information provided now puts you in the know. No longer can you be a participant in this deviant plan without the knowledge that you are doing the devils work through Agenda 21 and the MDG’s. No more excuses.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals are:

eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,
achieving universal primary education,
promoting gender equality and empowering women
reducing child mortality rates,
improving maternal health,
combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
ensuring environmental sustainability, and
developing a global partnership for development.

Each of the goals has specific stated targets and dates for achieving those targets.

Debate has surrounded adoption of the MDGs, focusing on lack of analysis and justification behind the chosen objectives, the difficulty or lack of measurements for some of the goals, and uneven progress towards reaching the goals, among other criticisms. Although developed countries’ aid for achieving the MDGs has been rising over recent years, more than half the aid is towards debt relief owed by poor countries, with remaining aid money going towards natural disaster relief and military aid which does not further development.

A UN conference in September 2010 reviewed progress to date and concluded with the adoption of a global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by their 2015 target date. There were also new commitments on women’s and children’s health, and new initiatives in the worldwide battle against poverty, hunger and disease.

Government organizations assist in achieving those goals, among them are the United Nations Millennium Campaign, the Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., the Global Poverty Project, the Micah Challenge, The Youth in Action EU Programme “Cartoons in Action” video project and the 8 Visions of Hope global art project.

The aim of the MDGs is to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in the world’s poorest countries. They derive from earlier international development targets, and were officially established following the Millennium Summit in 2000, where all world leaders present adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

The MDGs originated from the Millennium Declaration produced by the United Nations. The Declaration asserts that every individual has the right to dignity, freedom, equality, a basic standard of living that includes freedom from hunger and violence, and encourages tolerance and solidarity. The MDGs were made to operationalize these ideas by setting targets and indicators for poverty reduction in order to achieve the rights set forth in the Declaration on a set fifteen-year timeline.

The MDGs were developed out of the eight chapters of the Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000. There are eight goals with 21 targets, and a series of measurable indicators for each target.

Please look closely at these goals and you will quickly see where this is about more than eradicating global poverty.

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1A: Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day
Proportion of population below $1 per day (PPP values)
Poverty gap ratio [incidence x depth of poverty]
Share of poorest quintile in national consumption
Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People
GDP Growth per Employed Person
Employment Rate
Proportion of employed population below $1 per day (PPP values)
Proportion of family-based workers in employed population
Target 1C: Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age
Proportion of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Target 2A: By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and boys
Enrollment in primary education
Completion of primary education
everyone will get into school
MDG Monitor:Goal 2

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament[13]
For girls in some regions, education remains elusive[14]
Poverty is a major barrier to education, especially among older girls.
In every developing region except the CIS, men outnumber women in paid employment
Women are largely relegated to more vulnerable forms of employment
Women are over-represented in informal employment, with its lack of benefits and security
Top-level jobs still go to men — to an overwhelming degree[14]
Women are slowly rising to political power, but mainly when boosted by quotas and other special measures

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates

Target 4A: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate
Under-five mortality rate
Infant (under 1) mortality rate
Proportion of 1-year-old children immunized against measles[15]

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Target 5A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
Maternal mortality ratio
Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel
Target 5B: Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
Contraceptive prevalence rate
Adolescent birth rate
Antenatal care coverage
Unmet need for family planning[16]

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Target 6A: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
HIV prevalence among population aged 15–24 years
Condom use at last high-risk sex
Proportion of population aged 15–24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS
Target 6B: Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it
Proportion of population with advanced HIV infection with access to antiretroviral drugs
Target 6C: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
Prevalence and death rates associated with malaria
Proportion of children under 5 sleeping under insecticide-treated bednets
Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs
Incidence, prevalence and death rates associated with tuberculosis
Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment Short Course)[17]

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 7A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
Target 7B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
Proportion of land area covered by forest
CO2 emissions, total, per capita and per $1 GDP (PPP)
Consumption of ozone-depleting substances
Proportion of fish stocks within safe biological limits
Proportion of total water resources used
Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected
Proportion of species threatened with extinction
Target 7C: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water supply)
Proportion of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural
Proportion of urban population with access to improved sanitation
Target 7D: By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers
Proportion of urban population living in slums[18]

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

Target 8A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system
Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally
Target 8B: Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDC)
Includes: tariff and quota free access for LDC exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA (Official Development Assistance) for countries committed to poverty reduction
Target 8C: Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
Through the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the twenty-second special session of the General Assembly
Target 8D: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term
Some of the indicators listed below are monitored separately for the least developed countries (LDCs), Africa, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States.
Official development assistance (ODA):
Net ODA, total and to LDCs, as percentage of OECD/DAC donors’ GNI
Proportion of total sector-allocable ODA of OECD/DAC donors to basic social services (basic education, primary health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation)
Proportion of bilateral ODA of OECD/DAC donors that is untied
ODA received in landlocked countries as proportion of their GNIs
ODA received in small island developing States as proportion of their GNIs
Market access:
Proportion of total developed country imports (by value and excluding arms) from developing countries and from LDCs, admitted free of duty
Average tariffs imposed by developed countries on agricultural products and textiles and clothing from developing countries
Agricultural support estimate for OECD countries as percentage of their GDP
Proportion of ODA provided to help build trade capacity
Debt sustainability:
Total number of countries that have reached their HIPC decision points and number that have reached their HIPC completion points (cumulative)
Debt relief committed under HIPC initiative, US$
Debt service as a percentage of exports of goods and services
Target 8E: In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries
Proportion of population with access to affordable essential drugs on a sustainable basis
Target 8F: In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.

Telephone lines and cellular subscribers per 100 population
Personal computers in use per 100 population
Internet users per 100 Population.

Challenges and what does it cost?

Although developed countries’ aid for the achievement of the MDGs have been rising over recent years, it has shown that more than half is towards debt relief owed by poor countries. As well, remaining aid money goes towards natural disaster relief and military aid which does not further the country into development. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2006), the 50 least developed countries only receive about one third of all aid that flows from developed countries, raising the issue of aid not moving from rich to poor depending on their development needs but rather from rich to their closest allies.

Many development experts question the MDGs model of transferring billions of dollars directly from the wealthy nation governments to the often bureaucratic or corrupt governments in developing countries. This form of aid has led to extensive cynicism by the general public in the wealthy nations, and hurts support for expanding badly needed aid.

Over the past 35 years, the members of the UN have repeatedly made a “commit[ment] 0.7% of rich-countries’ gross national income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance.” The commitment was first made in 1970 by the UN General Assembly.

The United Nations has requested that 0.7 percent of our GNI, Gross National Index, in the trillions and only second to Chinas to be donated in support of the UN and their goal to eradicate debt across the globe.

As mentioned very little of this “relief” gets to the nations that need it. A part of the agreement is to also “forgive” or “relieve” other nations debts. This is clearly redistribution of wealth that will eventually destroy our own economy and “equalize” us into just another third world country thus eliminating the “great Satan” of it’s wealth in the name of promoting social justice.

Each economically advanced country will progressively increase its official development assistance to the developing countries and will exert its best efforts to reach a minimum net amount of 0.7 percent of its gross national product at market prices by the middle of the decade.

The UN “believe[s] that donors should commit to reaching the long-standing target of 0.7 percent of GNI by 2015”.[46]

Many organizations are working to bring U.S. political attention to the Millennium Development Goals. In 2007, The Borgen Project worked with Sen. Barack Obama on the Global Poverty Act, a bill requiring the White House to develop a strategy for achieving the goals. As of 2009, the bill has not passed, but Barack Obama has since been elected President.

The United Nations Millennium Campaign is a UNDP campaign unit to increase support to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and seek a coalition of partners for action. The Millennium Campaign targets intergovernmental, government, civil society organizations and media at both global and regional levels.

The Millennium Promise Alliance, Inc., or Millennium Promise, is a U.S.-based non-profit organization dedicated to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and founded in 2005 by renown international economist and Special Advisor on the MDGs to the UN Secretary General, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, and Wall Street leader and philanthropist, Ray Chambers.

Millennium Promise coordinates a project, the Millennium Villages Project, in partnership with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the UNDP that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving the Goals through an integrated and community-led approach to holistic development. The Millennium Villages Project currently operates in 14 sites across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Global Poverty Project is an international education and advocacy organisation using its multimedia presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons to educate people about the Millennium Development Goals and our capacity to end extreme poverty within a generation. They travel to workplaces, schools, universities, community groups and churches around Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States to equip people with the knowledge and resources they need to encourage the achievement of the MDGs.

The Micah Challenge is an international campaign that encourages Christians to support the Millennium Development Goals. Their aim is to “encourage our leaders to halve global poverty by 2015.”[60]

The Youth in Action EU Programme “Cartoons in Action” project created stop motion animation videos about MDGs, a video channel “8 gol x 8 Millennium Development Goals” and 21 Videos about 21 MDGs Targets using Arcade C64 videogames [61]

8 Visions of Hope is a global art project that explores and shows how art, culture, artists, musicians as positive change agents can help in the realization of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Development Education Unit of Future Worlds Center envisions, designs and implements development education awareness campaigns, trainings, conferences and resources since 2005. Leads a number of European-wide projects such as the Accessing Development Education and TeachMDGs.

You can see the enormity of this project on the world scene. If this were just about eradicating poverty this could be seen as a gratuitous project. It is about much more than just poverty eradication it’s about big money, sustainable development and world power through domination.

Sadly, our church and elected leaders are only seeing this as a mission field at which they can throw their effort and hard work into.

They are either complicit in this scheme, naive in their approach or are in denial that they are dealing with the devil and some may say ushering in a “One World Government” and facilitating the rise of the Antichrist.

You decide where you wanna be when that day happens. I know which side I want to be on.

Partial source of information:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals#section_8

http://www.UN.org

UN Carbon Map just released from Earth Summit in Rio!

An interactive, color enhanced, “moving map” with details of how our world is not being sustainable has just been released at the United Nations Earth Summit/Rio+20 Conference in Rio de Janiero, Brazil just hours ago!

A carbon map has just been released so you can now graphically “see” your personal carbon footprint and how many tonnes of CO2 you omit and your ranking against the world!

The Carbon Map!
http://www.carbonmap.org/sources.html

Cutting edge technology directly from the United Nations out of Rio! Go to the site above and play around with it, listen to the 1:27 minute audio introduction. It’s quite entertaining to see how the US seems to be the reason that all things are bad in the world as most all of the data is configured to show the US in a bad light! An interesting fact from the Carbon Map: We do have the second highest GDP, second only to the European Union!

Our countries successes must be shown in a negative light! Why? Because this is where a great percentage of the UNs money comes from and where heavy EPA fines will be levied against corporations! Our wealth must be distributed equally to promote social justice in the rest of the world to “eradicate poverty!”

Remember, US success and wealth equals more money to the UN and their partner the International Chamber of Commerce using the EPA fines to grow this bear called Agenda 21/SD21!

This map shows me the level of intensity they are approaching this Earth Summit and forewarns of the devastating impact this Rio+20 conference will have on the world.

We are fixing to see a huge concentrated effort post Rio with a definitive plan to push Agenda 21 into every household in the World, real soon!

We must prep our elected leaders for this expected onslaught! We must get the UN out of the US, we must defund them, we must send strong messages to our local leaders who are allowing consultants to use the local Chambers of Commerce and Planners to adopt Growth plans that are straight out of the book written to specifically implement Agenda 21 locally! JUST ENCOURAGE YOUR ELECTED LEADERS TO SAY NO TO THE UN IN OUR COUNTRY!

Enjoy the map and the explanations below of the map!

The Carbon Map!
(must copy and paste link)

http://www.carbonmap.org/sources.html

Data sources, notes and explanation

Area map

Description: Land area (sq. km)
Definition: Land area is a country’s total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site.
World Bank indicator code: AG.LND.TOTL.K2
Notes: Greenland data substituted with figure from data.un.org so that it includes the area under the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Population map

Description: Population, total
Definition: Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship–except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. The values shown are midyear estimates.
Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. 2009. World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision. New York, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (advanced Excel tables). Available at http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp2008/index.htm. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) World bank estimates based on the data from the sources above, household surveys conducted by national agencies, Macro International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and refugees statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
World Bank indicator code: SP.POP.TOTL
Notes: Data for 2010.
Wealth map

Description: Total GDP (PPP, current international $)
Definition: PPP GDP is gross domestic product converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP as the U.S. dollar has in the United States. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current international dollars.
Source: World Bank, International Comparison Program database.
World Bank indicator code: NY.GDP.MKTP.PP.CD
Notes: Most data for 2010, but with some infilling of blanks from 2009.
Extraction map

Description: Potential CO2 emissions from extracted fossil fuels
Definition: Potential CO2 emissions from annual fossil fuels extraction.
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011, converted to CO2 by Duncan Clark, using the following conversion factors: CO2 figures are based on the following conversion factors: oil, 3.07 tonnes CO2 per tonne; gas, 2.35 tonnes CO2 per tonne of oil equivalent; coal, 3.96 tonnes per tonne of oil equivalent.
Notes: Data for 2010 for significant extractor countries. Data from non-significant extractors have been estimated by diving the remainder for each continent or region between the remaining countries in proportion to their land area.
Emissions map

Description: National CO2 emissions, 2010
Definition: Total emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel burning and cement production in each nation.
Source: Glen Peters et al., Nature Climate Change 2, 2–4 (2012) doi:10.1038/nclimate1332.
Notes: This dataset was updated in March 2010 by Glen Peters. Missing data for countries with low levels of emissions have been estimated by Duncan Clark by distributing unallocated emissions between countries in proportion to their national GDP (PPP, 2010).
Consumption map

Description: Carbon footprint of all goods and services consumed, 2010
Definition: Total emissions of CO2 (from fossil fuel burning and cement production) released in the provision of goods and services consumed in each nation. This is calculated by subtracted the estimated carbon footprint of exports from each nation and adding the estimated carbon footprint of imports.
Source: Glen Peters et al., Nature Climate Change 2, 2–4 (2012) doi:10.1038/nclimate1332.

Notes: This dataset was updated in March 2010 by Glen Peters. Missing data for countries with small footprints have been estimated by Duncan Clark by distributing unallocated emissions between countries in proportion to their national GDP (PPP, 2010).
Historical map

Description: Cumulative CO2 emissions from energy use
Definition: Total emissions of carbon dioxide from energy provision, 1850–2008.
Source: Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) Version 9.0. (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, 2012) (free registration required).
Reserves map

Description: Potential CO2 emissions from fossil fuel reserves
Definition: This dataset estimates how much CO2 would be released if the fossil fuel reserves for each country were extracted and burned. “Reserves” refers to proven oil, coal and gas reserves that could be extracted economically in current conditions.
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011, converted to CO2 by Duncan Clark using the standard BP conversion factors: CO2 figures are based on the following conversion factors: oil, 3.07 tonnes CO2 per tonne; gas, 2.35 tonnes CO2 per tonne of oil equivalent; coal, 3.96 tonnes per tonne of oil equivalent.
Notes: Data for reserves as of 2010 for countries listed by BP. Data from other countries have been estimated by diving the remainder for each continent or region between the remaining countries in proportion to their land area.
People at risk map

Description: People exposed to droughts, floods and extreme temperatures in 2010
Definition: A drought is an extended period of time characterized by a deficiency in a region’s water supply that is the result of constantly below average precipitation. A drought can lead to losses to agriculture, affect inland navigation and hydropower plants, and cause a lack of drinking water and famine. A flood is a significant rise of water level in a stream, lake, reservoir or coastal region. Extreme temperature events are either cold waves or heat waves. A cold wave can be both a prolonged period of excessively cold weather and the sudden invasion of very cold air over a large area. Along with frost it can cause damage to agriculture, infrastructure, and property. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot and sometimes also humid weather relative to normal climate patterns of a certain region. Population affected is the number of people injured, left homeless or requiring immediate assistance during a period of emergency resulting from a natural disaster; it can also include displaced or evacuated people.
Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database: http://www.emdat.be, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels (Belgium), World Bank.
World Bank indicator code: EN.CLC.MDAT.ZS * population
Notes: Original dataset was % of population exposed in the period 1990–2009. This has been multiplied by the 2010 population to give an estimate of the people currently exposed.
Sea level map

Description: Population living less than 5m above sea level
Definition: Population below 5m is the total population living in areas where the elevation is 5 meters or less.
Source: Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Place II dataset.
World Bank indicator code: EN.POP.EL5M.ZS * population
Notes: Original dataset was % of population. This has been multiplied by the 2010 population to give an estimate of the total population currently living below 5m.
Poverty map

Description: Population living below $1.25 a day
Definition: Population below $1.25 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.25 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.
Source: World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/jsp/index.jsp).
World Bank indicator code: SI.POV.DDAY * population
Notes: Calculated by multiplying the 2010 population total by the % of population living on less than $1.25 in the most recent year for which data is available.
Emissions change shading

Description: Change in CO2 emissions, 1990–2008
Definition: Carbon dioxide emissions are those stemming from the burning of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement. They include carbon dioxide produced during consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring. Data are in million metric tons.
Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, United States.
World Bank indicator code: EN.ATM.CO2E.KT
Notes: Data for some unavailable countries added in based on estimate from Peters et al (see Consumption source above).
Emissions per person shading

Description: CO2 emissions per capita, 2008
Definition: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita are carbon dioxide emissions divided by midyear population.
Source: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, United States, and World Bank and United Nations population data.
World Bank indicator code: EN.ATM.CO2E.PC
GDP per person shading

Description: GDP per capita, 2010
Definition: GDP per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP GDP is gross domestic product converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP as the U.S. dollar has in the United States. GDP at purchaser’s prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current international dollars.
Source: World Bank, International Comparison Program database.
World Bank indicator code: NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD
Notes: Data from 2010 with limited gap-filling from 2009.
Population growth shading

Description: GDP per capita, 2010
Definition: Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship – except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of the country of origin.
Source: Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. 2009. World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision. New York, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs (advanced Excel tables). Available at http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp2008/index.htm. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) World bank estimates based on the data from the sources above, household surveys conducted by national agencies, Macro International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and refugees statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
World Bank indicator code: SP.POP.GROW

HJR 587- Anti Agenda 21/ICLEI resolution passes another hurdle, on to floor today

HJR 587 jumps another hurdle on it’s way to final approval! Another vote will take place today, awaiting results! I know State Representative Kevin Brooks has been all over this resolution as it has gained greater than 30 sponsors in a short amount of time!

The United Nations Agenda 21 is being recognized as the evil plan that it is! In Bradley County we have in less than a year gone from “you are out of your minds” to a resolution being passed in the State Legislature to get it and ICLEI out of our community!

The RNC has made this effort their number one concern for 2012 and have also endorsed legislation to get the UN out of TN and the country! They were even as bold as to say that if you do not make a stand against Agenda 21 they would not endorse you for office next election! That is a very bold statement and has gained and spurred many bills and pieces of legislation to be created!

Our Bradley County,Cleveland City Mayor, city and county planners along with consultants McBride Dale and Clarion, commissioners and councilmen need to realize that their efforts beyond this date are futile. State and RNC legislation should be followed! We are done with our expensive and expansive growth plan and all the “green” efforts that are being implemented without the peoples approval!

We are no longer alone in this process! We now have teeth and we are asking our local leaders to jump on the bandwagon and stop looking beyond the will of the people! Stubbornness and thoughts of that’s the way we have always done things are no longer the status quo! At this point, you are alone and acting as if their are no stop gap measures in place. Continued action is irresponsible and possibly illegal. We keep hoping they will do the right thing, but we will see!

Listen to the sweetness of this resolution below sponsored by State Representative Kevin Brooks! It really is music to my ears and sends a definitive message to the local press that mocked us for daring to make this an issue long before any one knew about it. I’ll reserve my judgement for another day! The following resolution was created by a State Representative that dared to step out and act while others were hiding under mommas skirt tale too scared to stand up with the will of the people!

An email from Kevin Brooks!

A good morning fellow patriots,

This morning HJR 587 passed Calendar & Rules and was placed
on the Regular House Floor Calendar for Thursday, March 15th.

I am very grateful for the support and co-sponsors of this HJR.

Please spread the word to contact your Legislators to vote YES
on HJR587 on Thursday morning, March 15, 2012.  

For Liberty!

Kevin D. Brooks
Assistant Majority Leader
State Representative Dist. 24
104 War Memorial Building
Nashville, Tennessee 37243
(615) 741-1350
(800) 449-8366 x11350        

HJR 587, by K. Brooks

A resolution relative to United Nations Agenda 21.
Whereas, the United Nations Agenda 21 is a COMPREHENSIVE PLAN of extreme environmentalism, social engineering and global political control that was initiated at the United Nations conference on Environmental and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and

Whereas, the United Nations Agenda 21 in being covertly pushed into local communities throughout the United States of America through the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) through local “sustainable development”, polices such as Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, and other “green or alternative” projects and

Whereas, the United nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so called “sustainable development” views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices and privately owned farms all as destructive to the environment and

Whereas, according to the United nations Agenda 21 policy, social justice, is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment which would be accomplished by socialist/communist redistribution of wealth, and

Whereas according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, national sovereignty is deemed a social injustice, now, therefore, be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the one hundred seventh general Assembly of the State of Tennessee, the Senate concurring that the general Assembly theat the General Assembly recognizes the destructive and insidious nature of United Nations Agenda 21 and hereby exposes to the public policy makers the dangerous intent of the plan.

Be it further resolved, that neither the United States government, nor any state or local government is legally bound by the United Nations Agenda 21 treaty in that it has never been endorsed by the United States Senate,

Be it further resolved, that the Federal government and State and Local governments across the country be well informed of the underlying harmful implications of implementation of United Nations Agenda 21 destructive strategies for “sustainable development” and we hereby endorse rejection of its radical policies and rejection of any grant monies attached to it.

Breathe in deeply Bradley County and the rest of Tennessee! We now have a representative that is willing to stand in the gap!

Next step, based on the recommendation of our own State Legislature let’s take our reps resolution and demand legally that the Regional, Comprehensive plan, the BCC 2035 Growth plan are dead in it’s tracks!

Let’s tell the consultants hired by ICLEI out of Chattanooga that are currently directing our local growth plan to go home! You are fired! We do not want you here no more! Your outdated, cookie cutter plan has already cost us too much money!

Mayors, commissioners, councilmen and the Chamber of Commerce you no longer legally have the right to keep implementing this Agenda 21 plan in our community!

We can develop our own growth plan! We do not need the United Nations, the Chamber of Commerce or a group of ICLEI led Consultants spending billions of our tax dollars on sustainable development and placing the burden on me, my grandchildren and beyond!

“Slippery slope” of taxing the poor and shifting costs to the middle is Bradley County wheel tax dilemma

Have you ever walked on ice? Have you ever walked on ice in dress shoes? You know the kind with no grip! Just pure leather and once it gets cold and hard it is almost impossible to stand! Now add a grade to that, attempt to stand at the top of the hill and maintain ground! Next to impossible! Right?

Well the Bradley County Commission has once again chosen to walk the slippery path instead of just simply putting their house in order! The slippery slope (Wheel tax exemptions) has been identified and it is going to be pretty much everyone that doesn’t have a job or is making under the poverty line for income, which leaves the
middle hardworking class to foot the bill!

What do I mean? Let me attempt to tell you! We are talking about the “wheel tax”, yes the same ole tax that failed a few years ago by referendum because the commission has once again chosen to put the debt on you the citizen they are supposed to protect and represent.

We are talking of tax exemptions to be exact, who is exempt from paying the wheel tax, that slippery slope, so to speak! The term used by no less than 3 commissioners and others on a few occasions. The decision to tax the poor and impoverished or tax the working class! It seems it always one or the other, not both! Pretty much the way Washington is sticking it to the working class! Either way, a new wheel tax leaves many unhappy!

Yes folks, the first vote of the commission was to tax the poor as well as the middle and the upper incomes! ” It’s a fair tax for everyone, it’s a bold move by the education committee” as Martin Ringstaff, Director of Cleveland City Schools, has been recorded as saying in past meetings.

“We have got to show the people why we need it!” , Chairman of the School Board Charlie Rose was overheard saying also.

The people, everyone, fair tax for all! That is the problem! It shows a disconnect from the people who represent us and the people who are doing the representing! With obviously no accounting for the impact a new tax has on the repressed and unfortunate in this City and County!

While researching the raw data, in this case, the US Census data, it is easy to distinguish who the poor are in Bradley County and who by County Commission vote who will end of footing the bulk of the new wheel tax! The middle class!

Here is my version of the “slippery slope !”

The data displayed below is easily confirmed by US Census data and can easily be googled for easy verification and I will even conveniently provide a few links below at the bottom of this blog.

In Bradley county we have a few more than 98,000 people in our community. The following is a breakdown of the demographic of that population according to the latest US Census data that will either be exempt or taxed heavily with a new wheel tax.

There are 23 percent that are under the age of 18 years old, of those 16 to 18 year olds probably make less than poverty level income. So, the first people attacked are the kids! Those in high school, struggling to get gas much less another 32 dollars for a wheel tax, granted a parent may go ahead and pay but the burden is still there.

14.1 percent are over the age of 65, again on fixed incomes and hating another tax bill.

16 percent in Bradley County live below the poverty level, many of which will be those with very little expendable income. 7,740 Veterans in this county! Many of which are disabled and below the poverty line or homeless.

8 percent of the county workforce are self employed, entrepreneurs or just laborers just getting by with occasional day to day work.

3.6 percent are illegal immigrants with no defineable income and no tax status whatsoever except when they consume. 1,407 live in college dorms and are probably struggling to make ends meet and have probably registered dads or moms car in another state anyway.

2 percent are either in nursing homes, in a local jail, or are in a group home or have been deemed mentally impaired.

If my math is correct this accumulates to about 60 percent of the population of Bradley County that are poor, repressed, at poverty level income, homeless or mentally incapable of making their own decisions! Roughly 60,000 people are affected and poor!

Initially, they are the ones being targeted for yet another tax. After much talk about who is exempt or not, some talk about who in the heck are we going to tax, it now appears the bullseye is hovering over the working class, the middle income earners who are trying to make their way and rely on hard work to support our families with minimal to no assistance from the government!

You may be saying not all of them drive! This tax doesnt affect them! At one point in the year all these mentioned will need a vehicle to either go to church, the grocery store, a group outing, leisure, vacation, a doctors appointment or simply a trip to the hospital and etc! They all rely on someone else for that transportation, in most cases close family or just do gooders wanting to contribute. Many of which are in the same boat as them. So fairly, it is safe to say they are all represented by a vehicle that is getting taxed!

There are 86,000 vehicle registered in Bradley County along with 3,000 motorcycles! With those numbers, you can say that roughly 70 to 80 percent of the people in Bradley County will be affected by this tax! Although many poor will be affected, in reality, most of the working class have two or more vehicles and will receive the yearly 64 to 160 dollar wheel tax bill! Most of the tax burden!

With the median home income rate of around 39,000 dollars you can see easily how another tax lifted and placed on you will further burden a “middle incomer” causing greater harm to you, while your government reaps the benefit of you punching the clock!

The Chattanoogan reported this morning and quoting Mayor Gary Davis, “the county wide wheel tax cannot happen the way it is currently written!” Mayor Davis went on to say “you want to give tax exemptions to low income elderly using the list from the trustees office, which doesn’t include them all! There are a lot of low income elderly that live in apartments, they are not property owners. I assume you want to give all low income elderly the same exemption, but it is not addressed that way in your resolution!”

Jeff Yarber referred again to that “slippery slope” again. He said, “This is that slippery slope that I was talking about. My thought processes on that was to not use the trustees list, but to use the process that the trustee has. The burden of proof falls on the individual!” Really? The burden must fall on the citizen to prove they are poor, in-firmed, repressed or homeless to be exempt from a wheel tax!

It was even suggested at one point to go ahead and tax the poor then on the backside the poor taxpayer will have to prove to the government that they are indeed poor and then they can get reimbursed! Really? This is taxation without representation! Have you ever tried to come up with 32 dollars when you don’t have it? Come on guys! Let’s get real!

Amy Moore, said “to gather names of low income elderly would require additional county staffing!” Here the door is being opened for yet another tax!

County Chairman Louie Alford added “Once you start down that slippery slope, it’s hard to get stopped!” The slippery slope started when you decided to tax the poor, the middle class in a very down economy! The slippery slope gets slicker when bureaucrats would rather tax the peasants than make the hard decisions needed to right our problem!

After last nights meeting this resolution was suggested it get referred back to the education committee then I am assuming will come back to the commission for a revised vote!

A side note! While back in the education committee I encourage you to look at why this problem of “no money” really exists in our school system! I believe if you look methodically at the problem you will find it!
Here indeed comes that slippery slope of taxing your poor in Bradley County! These folks are struggling to stay alive! To feed their 2.8 children or more is becoming a bigger and bigger chore!

My heart reaches out to these folks! They are truly in need! They need more in one day than I may need in one year! With that said, if we further exempt certain veterans, homeless, mentally challenged, poor, poverty level, illegals immigrants the burden shifts to the middle income! Me and most of you!

While compiling this data and defending the elderly and the poor I soon realized that the majority of this wheel tax will fall on the people who are broke on a different level after the numerous exemptions are made. A lose lose for all!

Many of whom after paying bills and taxes have very little in the form of spendable income! This my friends is a shift called social engineering, a tax shift to distribute income equally among the poor! Socialist call this redistribution of wealth or social justice! Many on the commission will fade away from this acknowledgement but this exactly what it is! Taking from those that have and distributing to those who have not!

Roughly 39 percent of the population in Bradley County make 100,000 down to poverty level! About 5 percent make 150,000 or more! The shift of all the taxes to this group greatly makes the burden heavier for the middle incomers and a little harder for them to provide for their own!

Don’t fool yourself to think a family income of 100,000 is alot! With college tuition rising, groceries and mortgages to include property taxes and other taxes, very little is left over once the bills have been paid!

Wealth distribution, socialism, takes from the “rich” and gives to the poor! This seems to be the expressed mantra of our elected leaders!

A tax is a tax! A slippery slope is a slippery slope no matter how you slice it! We are facing billions more in debt because of recent “growth plans” being proposed! This will not be the only tax in our near future!

This is merely a gateway tax, a tax that only opens the door for more taxes! This in my opinion is where the slope gets really slippery! Many hard working taxpayers and citizens start slipping down that “slippery slope” of poverty because of the government placing tax after tax on it’s wage earners! One tax may not tip the scale of a middle incomer into the poverty ranks, but one thing for sure is eventually the steady stream of new taxes will eventually tilt the scale and begin the fall of a hardworking citizen. Soon, that taxpayer is punch drunk and lying on their backs looking up to the government for a handout! This is true socialism Bradley Countians! Burden the free citizen till they slip and fall, while being forced to cry out to the ones who just cut both hands off, you have socialism perfected!

The schools are asking for a few new classrooms, a new school or two and past debt in the amount of around 30 million, the city will get their share of about 12 million to help build another school, my goodness will it ever stop!

We have a school board that allows students from surrounding counties and a few states to go to school here in Bradley County, why don’t we restrict the students to the schools they are zoned for and I bet we won’t have such a big problem! I would safely say hundreds of kids are in our system that don’t belong there!

My issue is this, it seems ok to absorb all these out of state and county students till you start asking the citizens to pay for another counties financial burden with more taxes!

City Councilman Bill Estes summed this whole situation up pretty well, he said ” A wheel tax is unbelieveably regressive and hurts the poor!” But he went on to advocate for a property tax.

County Commissioner Ed Elkins has said “people are saying they would rather have a property tax than a wheel tax!”

To all listening, the majority of Bradley Countians and Clevelanders are tired of paying more and more taxes! We are tax heavy! Great percentages of our income is taxed and Bradley County is not making it any easier on us to live here!

I challenge each and everyone of you to rethink any new taxes! We are in a down economy and most everyone is struggling! The debt that education is placing on it’s citizens cannot be carried much longer. A 60 plus million dollar education debt is enough! The debt burden on the horizon in the billions will only get larger as we shift costs to the massive growth plan already in the works!

Let’s simply ask the schools to look into why they are in such debt and spending unwisely! Let’s ask them why is it that no matter what amount of money we spend on our schools we get the same mediocre results? I believe the answer is easily out in the open if someone dare look!

Let’s get all our houses in order! We are out of control! It is time we get people in office to do the work that will not be done by the ones we have chosen to represent us! The time is right!

We must take steps to save our county, put our children’s future in sight and say any decisions must be well thought out and the first response should not be to raise taxes on the poor and not shift that cost to the middle class!

NO NEW TAXES, LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE FREEDOM!