"The Greatest Fraud"

The Common Core or College and Career Readiness System is masquerading as good reform but is in fact,” the greatest fraud being perpetrated upon the American people,”and is dependent upon data collection for the total implementation of it. In the 2013 Department of Education Report entitled, “Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance”, the federal government recommends the use of data mining techniques that use physical responses from biofeedback devices to measure mood, blood volume, pulses and galvanic skin responses, to examine student frustration, and to gather “smile intensity” scores.  Using posture analysis seats, a pressure mouse, wireless skin conductors, schools are encouraged to learn which students might lack “grit, tenacity, and perseverance,” in engaging with, or in believing what is being taught.   Welcome to Common Core/Obama Core!

The Alabama State School Board approved a new resolution which Superintendent  of Education Tommy Bice says will protect students’ privacy.  It will instead open up a Pandora’s Box, allowing even third parties to have students’ personal family information to use and sell for any reason!

In December 2011, President Obama changed without congressional approval, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.  (FERPA)  All Personally Identifiable Information and Records on students and their families taken at the local level may legally be accessed by government and non government agencies .  The Longitudinal Data system is capable of tracking student information over multiple years in multiple schools.  Federal funding is provided to aid the design and implementation of such systems through the State Longitudinal Data System Grant Program.  

Added to the FERPA changes President Obama made is the definition:  “Biometric record,” as used in the definition of Personally Identifiable Information.  Automated recognition of our children can be obtained through one or more measurable biological or behavioral characteristics, including fingerprints, retina and iris patterns, voice prints, DNA sequence, facial characteristics and handwriting.  Personally Identifiable Information includes but is not limited to:  students’ and parents’ names, addresses, dates and places of birth, social security and students’ numbers, mothers’ maiden names and biometric records.  Is this really for better education?

 Alas, Alabama has signed on to Obama Ed, and no meaningless resolution is going to change that.

I AM THE FLAG

I don't know who wrote this but I love it and think that you will, too.

"I AM THE FLAG

I am the flag of the United States of America.
My name is Old Glory.
I fly atop the world's tallest buildings. 
I stand watch over America's halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world.
Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.
I stand for freedom.
I am confident.
I am arrogant.
I am proud.
When I am flown with my fellow banners, 
my head is a little higher, my colors a little truer.

I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped; I am saluted.
I am revered.
I am respected and I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war 
for more than 200 years. 
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg, 
Shiloh and Appomattox.
I was there at San Juan Hill, 
the trenches of France,
in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome
and the beaches of Normandy, Guam.
Okinawa, Korea and KheSan, Saigon, Vietnam know me,
I was there.

I led my troops,
I was dirty, battle-tested and tired, 
but my soldiers cheered me
And I was proud.

America has been attacked by cowardly fanatics
And many lives have been lost
but those who would destroy me cannot win
For I am the symbol of freedom,
Of one nation
Under God
Indivisible
With liberty and justice for all.

I have been burned, torn and trampled
on the streets of countries I have helped set free.
It does not hurt, for I am invincible.

I have been soiled upon, burned, torn 
and trampled on the streets of my country. 
And when it's by those whom I've served in battle it hurts.
But I shall overcome for I am strong.

I have slipped the bonds of Earth
and stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space
from my vantage point on the moon.
I have borne silent witness
to all of America's finest hours.
But my finest hours are yet to come.

When I am torn into strips and used as bandages 
for my wounded comrades on the battlefield,
When I am flown at half-mast to honor my soldier,
Or when I lie in the trembling arms 
of a grieving parent
at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,
I am proud.

MY NAME IS OLD GLORY
            LONG MAY I WAVE"   



  

FLAG DAY IN AMERICA!

FLAG DAY

The American flag has been heralded as the symbol of freedom, opportunity, and the wonders of mankind!  What a country and what a flag!

I think about the millions of American soldiers over the years who have fought for and defended freedom, and who have proudly saluted that beautiful flag.  I've been inspired and profoundly touched as I've witnessed many of our older veterans stand so straight, so tall, as they've saluted the flag they love so much.

Looking back, I'll mention a few of the many historic events where our flag was flying first and foremost in the world. 

Rear Admiral of the Navy, Robert Peary, labored long and hard for over 23 years to plant the American flag at the North Pole, the first and only national flag to fly there. That flag was lovingly sown by his own wife, and determinedly carried next to his heart by Robert Peary, through ice, snow, storms, deprivation, and every imaginable hardship!  It reached it's destination, the North Pole, in 1909.    

On November 29, 1929, at 1:14 A.M., Rear Admiral of the Navy, Richard Byrd, with his fellow explorers, accomplished the long dreamed of goal of flying over the South Pole.  They were the first to attempt and attain this incredible feat!  An American flag, weighted by a large stone, was dropped to mark the spot.   

In 1969 Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that Commander James Lovell, Jr. landed on the moon and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked and planted the American flag.  No man and no flag had been there before.  The event was described by Armstong to a listening world on live TV as, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

What better way to close a tribute to our glorious Red, White, and Blue emblem of hope than with the simple words of a great American hero, David Crockett, who said, "There's just something about that flag that makes me feel good all over!"   
  

The Full Service Filling Station

"Be filled with the Spirit," Ephesians 5:18

I'm remembering back to the days when gas stations were called Full Service Filling Stations because they were so much more than self service ones.

First of all, everything was done by the people there. The attendant (yes, they were actually called that) filled cars with gas, washed  the windshields, checked the air pressure in the tires and measured the oil levels.

It was necessary to visit the stations regularly to get fuel to run on, windshields cleaned to see clearly so that vision wouldn't be cloudy or impaired, tires filled with air to run smoothly, and oil at the proper levels to prevent overheating and breakdowns of the vehicles.

I'm struck with the similarity of my walk with God.  I, too, must visit my "Full Service Filling Station" regularly to be refueled and filled with the Spirit of God.  I pull into that quiet place, that "secret place of the most high God" in Christ, where I meet with Him.  I "enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart and into His courts with praise."  Sometimes I'm still half full if I've been faithful to seek Him, but at other times I'm totally out of fuel and just running on fumes.  I desperately need to be filled again because I simply cannot move and live rightly with joy, peace, hope, and love, without being filled with His Spirit.

My "windshield" must be cleaned regularly to see as God sees.  Only as I read His thoughts written in His Word, and dwell in His presence is my vision restored. God's view becomes my view looking out upon the world, as I allow Him to remove all the dirt from my mind and heart.  Being with Him softens me and brings me to sorrow that I've let Him down.  The water from my eyes assists in the process.  I receive His cleansing and forgiveness.

The oil of the Holy Spirit fills me and I am refueled, renewed, and restored by Him to go forth to proclaim Him once again.  I put the pedal to the metal and off I go to tell everyone I meet about the great Full Service Filling Station up ahead, just waiting to service them.

Memorial Day-A Time of Remembering, lest we forget...lest we forget

“What do these stones mean?” the children of Israel asked their fathers as they viewed the memorial stones.  They were told that it was the evidence of God‘s presence leading all of their people into the freedom of the promised land.  Every child was to be told the meaning of the stones lest they forget who it was that gave them their freedom and how it was done.    

On Memorial Day many of us will view the gravestones of our brave countrymen who fought and died for America.  Our children, too, must learn the meaning of those stones, lest the memory of those who lay beneath them and what they fought for, be forgotten-and their deaths be in vain.

They were Americans.  They came from all over our nation:  the north, the south, the east and the west, to answer their country’s call.  They were the rich and the poor of every color; they were from the farmlands and the cities; they were the scholars and the factory workers from all different ethnic backgrounds, but they were all Americans.  They were prepared and dedicated to defend our freedom.  They stood for America, where a man could be a man-where he could hold his head up and walk shoulder to shoulder with every other man, without having to grovel and cower in fear before tyrants.  They stood for America, where the circumstances of one’s birth did not dictate the course for one’s life-the place where a man could choose and fulfill his own destiny.   He could, with hard work and God-given ability, make his dreams come true.  Yes, America has always been the place where dreams could come true!  We even call it, “The American Dream!”

You and I can still dream the dream only because of the sacrifices of those beneath the gravestones.  What do these stones mean?  Do these stones help us remember that there is a cost for our freedom?  A note was found beside one brave American who had died in battle and it said, “I gave my today for your tomorrows.”  He gave his all.  Can we give anything less than he?  We are living those tomorrows for which he died.  We are alive and can live for those American ideals for which he and many other Americans died.  We can honor their lives by lifting high “the sacred fire of liberty” and passing it on to future generations, lest we forget…lest we forget. 

The Deleting of America

Many of us have been frightened about the lack of knowledge among Americans regarding their own history. Less than ten years ago a survey conducted by the University of Connecticut of high school students showed that basic freedoms such as the freedom of speech and of the press found in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution were found to be unimportant to them.

The study was the largest of its kind and cost $1 million.  It consisted of 112,003 high school students, 327 principals, and 7,889 teachers from 544 public and private high schools.  The results showed an ignorance concerning fundamental constitutional rights in the U.S. by the leaders of the next generation.  The survey found that the absence of basic government tenets in our schools has led to a lack of understanding of the republic our forefathers fought and died to defend.

Less than fifteen years ago the National Constitution Center survey revealed that only 5% of Americans could correctly answer 10 simple questions about the constitution.  Almost 25% couldn't name a single 1st Amendment right.  

This is alarming enough but it gets worse. With the implementation of the Common Core Initiative the radical progressive philosophy of education is put on steroids!  It's all about social justice, redistribution of wealth and grades, and Environmental Protection Agency indoctrination.  It transitions from hard copy to online, so whoever controls the curriculum controls the children.  Common Core eliminates the authority of the local and state school boards through they still exist.  They just remain without the power citizens entrusted to them.  How easy will it be to continue to revise, erase, and now simply delete the history of America?

The public libraries throughout the United States have been systematically packing up old books for shredding, making room for new ones.  I've been told that it's because the federal government offers the incentive of new books if the old ones are removed.  The libraries are increasingly going high tech and we're just seeing the beginning stages of it.  I think we'll be seeing fewer and fewer books in the future.  Perhaps we'll see incentives offered for more ebooks, as well.

The erasing, rewriting,and revising of American History has been disastrous for our nation but the deleting of American History removes all but what we've stored up in our homes and in our hearts.

Everything is Quiet Now

Everthing is quiet now

The kids are grown

With homes of their own,

And everything is quiet now.

The silence speaks

of memories and loss,

Of times gone by

Never to return.

No giggles, no shouts,

No running about.

I've never heard...

Such emptiness.

I'm tempted to fill the space around me with noise,

The t.v., music...some sound

But I hold myself back to listen to

The silence, the quiet, the emptiness.

It is palpable, tangible and real,

I let myself feel the longing for the times I let slip away.

Thinking it'd never end, that we'd always have other days

To live, love, laugh, and play.

Everything is quiet now,

The kids are grown

With homes of their own,

And everything is quiet now.