Why do Moral Monday Supporters hate parental school choice?

Posted on August 11, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Why do Moral Monday Supporters hate parental school choice?

Ask Steve Ford who wrote a blog post which was then ‘reprinted‘ at News and Observer.

 

“Steve Ford, former editorial page editor at The News & Observer, is a volunteer program associate at the N.C. Council of Churches, from whose blog this is reprinted.”

Ford is also a former N&O employee.

NC Council of Churches? Why not just say Moral Monday?  Is Mr. Ford the PR guy doing the press releases for Moral Monday on behalf of the NC Council of Churches? Looks likely it to me.

That figured. News and Observer, you wonder why your circulation is declining?

The fact Ford spends so much time criticizing the NC Supreme court lends to the flavor of this article as politically motivated.

My favorite bit was this section:

So, as a hypothetical: A child from a poor, inner-city family is awarded an Opportunity Scholarship, is accepted at a well-resourced, academically superior private school in the suburbs and somehow actually manages to attend.

Her performance in the classroom is outstanding. Surely she’s receiving a “sound basic” education, partly at public expense. But what about her peers who find themselves in unaccredited religious academies where the quality of instruction is sketchy at best? Those kids’ parents may think all is well, but it’s the children who end up paying a price for the lack of enforceable standards.

Voucher supporters claim they are simply trying to give disadvantaged students who may be struggling in the regular public schools the same kinds of alternatives for private education enjoyed by more affluent peers. No doubt some children will make good use of that opportunity – while for others, it will be a mirage.

A “mirage”, eh? The only mirage here is Ford thinking he has any sort of valid point.

Mr. Ford apparently know what is best for your kid and the rest of North Carolina’s.

What is under attack here is parents and their ability to choose for their child. You parents out there might want to choose…a religious school! Cue the pearl clutching and gasping.

Mr. Ford,
Let me enlighten you a bit.

An opportunity scholarship IS a basic sound education. I’ll remind you, those are not just YOUR personal tax dollars. They are mine and those of parents who want more school choice too.

If schools were providing it, parents would be happy and we would not be seeing the high demand for school choice that we are today.

We would not see parents voting with their feet by pulling their kids out to homeschool, change to a charter school or a private school.

The Opportunity scholarships would not be seeing thousands of applicants it does. Such a large number of applicants that far exceed the number of actual scholarships available, I might add.

You are not the parent of my child or anyone else’s.
Your opinion on this matter means exactly NOTHING to me or to the thousands of parents across this state who want to be able to and should be able to choose the education our children receive.

The increased bureaucracy, administrative staff bloat, regulations, rules, zero tolerance policies, government intervention in lunch programs, the over-testing, the data collection and adoption of fundamentally flawed standards like Common Core have made parents run for the exits.

School choice is not going away. Opportunity Scholarships is just one mode. The public school model is failing and needs to change to survive.

Related:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, Media Bias, Moral Monday, Parental Rights, School Choice | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

#DM7 Article: Hillary’s Videos Have Appalling Mixed Message

Posted on August 9, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my weekly Da Tech Guy Column:  Hillary’s Videos Have Appalling Mixed Message

By A.P. Dillon

In political races, fence riding by candidates is a given.  Hillary Clinton has been the mother of all fence riders so far, but her two videos that dropped on the same day earlier this week go beyond fence riding.

On her campaign site, Clinton launched “Dorothy“.  It’s an old timey flash back to her mom and her rough beginnings. The overarching theme Clinton uses here is that she’s in the presidential race for “the Dorothys”; she’s in it for the moms.

I watched the whole thing.  If campaign videos were ranked by Rotten Tomatoes, it wouldn’t have gotten past 10%.

The Dorothy video was stiff, insincere and tried way too hard to humanize Hillary to the extent it had the opposite effect. It made me ask, if her mom was this great person, what the Hell happened to Hillary?

Now, hopping over to YouTube, the Hillary Clinton drops a 2 minute long defense of Planned Parenthood.

Clinton tries to sell Planned Parenthood as a healthcare provider despite the fact they have just been exposed as operating a horrifying and illegal infant body part chop shop —  for profit.

What’s more, she tries to blame Republicans for being horrified and wanting public funding  stopped, stating “If this feels like a full on assault on women’s health, that’s because it is.”

SERIOUSLY?

Opposing public dollars to fund poking around in what looks like a slurry of infant body parts to find viable parts to sell is an assault on women’s health?

This video was purely political and in that two minutes she tags Scott Walker, Jeb Bush and Rick Perry for the apparent crime of valuing life.

Clinton goes from finding the CMP videos ‘disturbing‘ to defending Planned Parenthood within a 4 day window.

On Tuesday, a 5th video dropped, but I guess we should have expected this from a Margaret Sanger Award winner.

On Clinton’s campaign site for donations, Clinton is all about ‘moms’. On her YouTube channel, it’s all about defending an organization makes sure that hundreds of thousands of women each year do not become moms.

Is the media worried about this appalling mixed message? No, just about Clinton’s “performance” in the videos.

DM7 small LL1885A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com.
Her current and past writing can also be found at IJ Review, StopCommonCoreNC.org, Heartland.org and Watchdog Wire NC.
Catch her on Twitter: @LadyLiberty1885

 

 

 

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS, Video | Tagged | Comments Off on #DM7 Article: Hillary’s Videos Have Appalling Mixed Message

Dan Pfeiffer Made Me Laugh.

Posted on August 9, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Saw this tweet this morning:

I laughed.

Laughed harder at this follow-up tweet:

If the political opportunism in these tweets were any more obvious, they  would be flashing in neon.

These tweets remind me of the time Captain Obvious fell in a vat of Old Spice…but I digress.

The nation knows Jeb Bush is the candidate to pick if you adore the fundamentally flawed experiment called Common Core.

When asked about standards point-blank at the debate, Bush couldn’t even utter the words ‘Common Core’. The question was redirected to Rubio, who deftly nailed Bush’s pathetic answer to Bush’s forehead.

Most of us who’ve been fighting it for the last 4-5 years also know Kasich jumped in this race to take that heat off Bush and hand him Ohio.

Bush crashed and burned in the first debate. I don’t believe he will be the nominee. Neither will Kasich. So the question becomes, who is Kasich going to hand Ohio to?

Related Reading

How To Escape The Age Of Mass Delusion

Posted in Common Core, ELECTIONS | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Running for Office or Running Away – #ncpol

Posted on August 8, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The above article is behind the N&O paywall, but here’s the main gist — or at least what N&O wants to be the main gist: Josh Stein.

Sen. Josh Stein has raised a lot of money. It’s no secret he want to run for Attorney General.

One of Stein’s big donors is Jim Goodmon (Capitol Broadcasting/WRAL). A BlueprintNC donor giving a ton of cash to Josh Stein?  Gee, no way!

Stein’s sister sits on the board of BlueprintNC. Someone (attention Buck Newton!) should check his donor list to see what other BlueprintNC partners are donating to him.

At any rate, expect Stein and his supporters to play dirty. Related: Project Veritas In NC Leads to Investigation by State Board Of Elections

Other tidbits
Democrat Linda Coleman is going to try again for Lt. Governor.
Good luck with that, Lt. Governor Dan Forest is pretty popular and has done a good job – especially in the education arena.

Run, Forest, Run!!!

She’s raised no money so far, so the question is will CCSSO President and NC State Superintendent June Atkinson run again?  I called this a long while back with a big NO, she won’t — nor should she since she’s alrady the longest serving educrat in the country.

cotham core politicizing

Likely Atkinson already has a nice six figure job lined up just like Bev Perdue when she high-tailed it out of office after leaving a mess and  the state under crushing debt.

Prediction: Atkinson will attempt to anoint Democrat  Rep. Tricia Cotham, as her heir apparent.

Great, a mini-me full of contempt for the public – especially parents.

Bring it.
I’m your huckleberry and she’s no daisy at all.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rosemary Stein has thrown her hat into the ring and has been traveling around the state. Stein’s message of opposing Common Core, empowering districts through increased local control and restoring the relationship between families and their children’s schools is resonating.

Also running is Henry Pankey of Durham; a former Principal turned motivational speaker.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, ELECTIONS, June Atkinson | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Bush Attempts To Dodge Common Core In First Debate

Posted on August 7, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Last night was the 1st GOP debate for the 2016 election cycle with 10 guys up on the FOX news debate stage.

I’ve got a LinkFest and Best Lines/Zingers articles up over at ConMom for those who want to see more about what went on. In general, there was not nearly enough education discussion last night, but with 10 people and a lot of topics to cover it might be understandable.

However. Common Core came up. This article is all about Jeb Bush and his Common Core dodge last night.

With the way the event was structured, Bush’s stalking horse, Gov. Kasich, couldn’t take the heat for him on this one.  Anyone who thinks Kasich is in this race for any reason other than to hand Ohio to Bush is kidding themselves.

Pepperidge Farm Remembers Jeb BushThe portion of the debate is in the transcript below via Washington Post.

Note three things about this transcript:

  • Bush refuses to say the words “COMMON CORE”.
  • Bush didn’t answer the question. Likely, because he has openly mocked parents and citizens alongside Huckabee and Kasich on Common Core.
  • Marco Rubio makes sure Bush doesn’t get away with it; schooling Bush in an understated but effective manner.

Begin transcript:

QUESTION: Governor Bush, you are one of the few people on the stage who advocates for Common Core education standards, reading and math.  A lot of people on this stage vigorously oppose federal involvement in education.

They say it should all be handled locally. President Obama’s secretary of education, Arnie Duncan, has said that most of the criticism of Common Core is due to a, quote, “fringe group of critics.” Do you think that’s accurate?

BUSH: No, I don’t. And I don’t believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility.

I’m for higher standards… measured in an intellectually honest way, with abundant school choice, ending social promotion. And I know how to do this because as governor of the state of Florida I created the first statewide voucher program in the country, the second statewide voucher program, in the country and the third statewide voucher program in the country.

And we had rising student achievement across the board, because high standards, robust accountability, ending social promotion in third grade, real school choice across the board, challenging the teachers union and beating them is the way to go.

And Florida’s low income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50 percent. That’s what I’m for.

BAIER: Senator Rubio, why is Governor Bush wrong on Common Core?

RUBIO: Well, first off, I too believe in curriculum reform. It is critically important in the 21st Century. We do need curriculum reform. And it should happen at the state and local level. That is where educational policy belongs, because if a parent is unhappy with what their child is being taught in school, they can go to that local school board or their state legislature, or their governor and get it changed.

Here’s the problem with Common Core. The Department of Education, like every federal agency, will never be satisfied. They will not stop with it being a suggestion. They will turn it into a mandate.

In fact, what they will begin to say to local communities is, you will not get federal money unless do you things the way we want you to do it. And they will use Common Core or any other requirements that exists nationally to force it down the throats of our people in our states.

  RELATED:

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, ELECTIONS | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

#DM7 Article: Playing Whack A Mole With Wacko Birds

Posted on August 2, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my weekly Da Tech Guy Column: Playing Whack A Mole With Wacko Birds

By A.P. Dillon

I have the distinct feeling most of us are witnessing a political version of whack-a-mole. However, in this case, it’s now wack0-birds in place of the moles.

Recently, Donald Trump gave out Lindsey Graham’s cell phone number at a public event. Lindsey Graham took a whack back at Trump for ‘selling fear and prejudice‘.

John McCain said Donald Trump ‘fired up the crazies’ earlier this month. Donald Trump turned around and whacked at John McCain’s war record.

John McCain whacked back at Donald Trump but made his response about veterans overall; Trump should apologize to all veterans.

Outrage over Trump insulting McCain’s war record flowed back and forth on Twitter in a manner that one can only characterize has simultaneously nauseating and hilarious.

Twitter and Facebook posts surged. Surely this series of sparring will dump Trump out of the polls, right? Nope.

Look, I’m not a Trump fan, I don’t want a celebrity president. I don’t believe he is a conservative by any stretch of the imagination.  I personally believe Trump is in this race to be a stalking horse, but for which candidate and which side I don’t really know yet.

But Trump’s blunt messages are resonating with a lot of people.

The people are tired of Washington liars, of divisive narratives, a lawless administration and of the complicit media.  In particular, conservative voters are tired of the establishment GOP ramming crappy, squishy candidates down our throats.

The establishment clearly wants Jeb Bush. It might happen with Kasich in the race. Anyone who hasn’t figured it out yet, Kasich is very likely Jeb’s stalking horse for this election cycle.

Should a Jeb Bush candidacy happen, I know a lot of Common Core moms who will be staying home on election day. 

One parting whack:

DM7 small LL1885A.P. Dillon resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina and is the founder of LadyLiberty1885.com.
Her current and past writing can also be found at IJ Review, StopCommonCoreNC.org, Heartland.org and Watchdog Wire NC.
Catch her on Twitter: @LadyLiberty1885

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), ELECTIONS | Tagged , , | Comments Off on #DM7 Article: Playing Whack A Mole With Wacko Birds