Heartland Article: Postal Service Considers Entering Banking Industry to Shore Up Budget

Posted on July 26, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a repost of my column at Heartland Institute’s Fiscal Times from July 6th regarding the USPS toying with the idea of moving into banking services.

Also, see my prior article from June – New York Lawmakers Consider Snuffing Out E-Cigarettes in Public, Private Buildings

Postal Service Considers Entering Banking Industry to Shore Up Budget

The U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) watchdog is suggesting the quasi-governmental agency enter the banking industry in hopes that taking up the role of private banks would “benefit Americans and generate much needed new revenue.”

In addition to its primary services of delivering mail, USPS provides financial services such as domestic and international paper money orders, international remittances, open- and closed-loop gift cards, and limited check cashing.

In fiscal year 2014, USPS spent $5.5 billion more than it collected in revenue, and it is currently defaulting on pension payments to retirees.

Doubling Down on Failure

Brian Wise, senior advisor to the U.S. Consumer Coalition, says USPS is doubling down on a failed business model.

“This is an agency that should not be assuming any more risk right now,” Wise said. “Banking services are already taken care of by the free market. The last company one would want to invest in is one that is not profitable. The USPS is the last place any customer is going to go.”

Who Watches the Postmen?

Allowing USPS to crowd out private banks is a very bad idea for consumers and taxpayers alike, Wise says.

“They can set very low prices to clear out the competition in favor of its own products,” Wise said. “That’s a huge violation of the public trust. When the USPS becomes insolvent, any financial debt incurred will have been guaranteed by the Treasury. This is sort of a giant bailout scheme.”

‘Ducking the Issue’

Rick Geddes, an associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University, says USPS should get serious about making reforms.

“Services at the USPS have been in decline for over 14 years,” Geddes said. “Things like this are ducking the issue of what is needed: comprehensive postal reform. They’re losing billions each year, and we’re setting them up to lose more money. The postal service needs fundamental reform.”

“They’re saying that with these offerings they will compete with private industry, but they’ll cross-subsidize their services by using revenue from the new ventures,” Geddes said. “By using some of their monopoly services profits, they could unfairly subsidize areas where they face competition.”

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July NC Common Core Commission Meeting Postmortem

Posted on July 26, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The North Carolina Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) tasked with reviewing and making recommendations on the Common Core Standards met on Monday, July 20th.

On the agenda were three speakers: Kip Blakely, NC Chamber of Commerce,  Hope Williams, President of NC Independent Colleges and Universities and once again, Dr. Garland, Department of Public Instruction.

Please see my Storify Article for my live tweet commentary from the first half of the meeting. I also give a number of links to more information not included in the Bio’s for Blakely and Williams.

Government here to help common coreUnder scrutiny, Blakely’s testimony revealed that his company was basically using the public education system for  recruiting and training purposes.

It is interesting to note Blakely’s testimony didn’t mention Common Core by name and his statement is not on the ASRC website materials list for the meeting.

In the interest of transparency, Blakely’s statement should be added.

 

Take note of my tweets that mention Dr. William’s and her direct reference to the John Locke Foundation’s John Hood, who had an article out that day about the NC NAEP scores.

The Hood article appeared at EducationNC, of course:

I was only able to personally attend the first half of the meeting and missed Dr. Garland’s presentation. I now regret that, as the presentation was about the NAEP scores that DPI is touting to show Common Core is ‘working’.

Minutes taken by Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association revealed this nugget related to the NAEP scores and use of Common Core: “This can be up to a  20 year process.  As long as standards are as rigorous as we have now, we will continue to improve, and commissions recommendations don’t disrupt the cycle.”

So in other words, we will be experimenting on a generation of children.

Garland sliced and diced the data by Traditional calendar schools versus Year Round schools. The display of the data in this manner  is in line with the recent Educrat/reformer push to eliminate Traditional calendar schools.

I sincerely hope someone asked Garland why she chose to break the data out by calendar type, if the EOG is Common Core aligned (if yes, how long?) and where the scores from the previous two years were?

Final note, be sure to check out the Survey summary documents for the math.  Some of the feedback is contradictory yet much of it supports the age/developmental inappropriateness complaints, as well as progression complaints.

Note that only summaries are posted and not the full survey. In the interest of transparency, the full survey data should be added.

 

Full meeting minutes were taken courtesy of Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association. They can be viewed here.

Meeting materials as of 7-23-15:

A version of this article is crossposted at StopCommonCoreNC.org.

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What They’re Saying About Education In NC (7/24/15) #NCED

Posted on July 24, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Yes, I’m still on blog vacation, however I have an update on some NC Education issues and an update HB13 (Health assessments).

I’d like to take a moment and apologize if I upset the apple cart with my article the other day. I was particularly hard on Senator Soucek — Sorry about that, but being the voice for ‘we the people’ at times means I have to play bad cop.

Having said that, I might have to play worse cop now, again given what I see restored in HB 13 today.

Let’s start with HB13
It was put on the calendar and heard yesterday, July 23rd.  Version 5 of the bill is posted to General Assembly site now.

However, a committee substitute made it through with some changes that are, in my opinion NOT good.  It appears this committee substitute reversed an earlier PCS some of what was needed to fix the original bill.

Here’s what’s not good.

Language RESTORING the section related to cognitive and emotional data according to the Kindergarten Entry Assessment criteria of 115C-83.5(a):

(b)        A health assessment shall include a medical history and physical examination with screening for vision and hearing and, if appropriate, testing for anemia and tuberculosis. Vision screening shall be conducted in accordance with G.S. 130A‑440.1. The health assessment may also include dental screening and developmental screening for cognition, language, and motor function. The developmental screening of cognition and language abilities may be conducted in accordance with G.S. 115C‑83.5(a).

Although the list of reportable items in the bill disallows the cognitive/emotional information, the Kindergarten Entry Assessment has related domains referencing the Health Assessment form.

The Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) has 5 domains, that include collection of social and emotional data. That data will, at some point, be digitally collected and can include pictures and video of the child.

The KEA was piloted last year and is being rolled out this Fall across the state. The KEA is not optional, your kindergartener will participate.  Surprise: The KEA is tied to the Race To The Top – Early Learning Challenge grant.

Other Key Points of HB 13:

  • Applicable to any child entering NC public school, not just Kindergarten
  • Parents/guardians have 30 days from the day their kid starts to get the form in. If they don’t turn it in by the end of the 30 days, the child can’t come to school. That does not mean they are suspended though; they can continue their work at home until the form is submitted.
  • What is allowed on the form is found under ‘reporting’ normal stuff like hearing, vision, allergies, vaccinations/tuberculosis screening.
  • The form can only be viewed by authorized school officials and the parent.

Other Education News

A School Choice story I’ve been following and writing about over the last year had BIG WIN yesterday . The NC Supreme court ruled that Opportunity Scholarships are Constitutional.   Read the whole AP Story at ABC11, especially the ‘reaction’ sections.

Wake County Schools to Parents – ‘All or nothing’ on Bring Your Own Device Policy.

“Every student in the district will have a signed form on file regarding technology use and access. Parents will be required to select whether or not their child or children can participate in instruction involving any form of computer technology, including desktops, laptops, tablets or cellphones. It also includes Internet access.” – WRAL

Senate Bill 561 has turned into a mess.

The state Senate approved legislation Wednesday that would ban school boards from suing their boards of county commissioners.

If the House approves the Senate’s additions to House Bill 561, the lawsuit ban would be in place until 2020. Sen. Dan Soucek, a Boone Republican, added the provision to the otherwise noncontroversial bill on Tuesday. The final vote was 35-12, with four Democrats joining Republicans to support the bill.
– Charlotte Observer

I’m not sure why Senator Soucek would add that provision.

In Wake County, it would be Democrats suing Democrats; Granted, that would be fun to watch. The last election of Moral Monday tied candidates made the Wake Commissioners one big Democrat controlled board. The Wake County School Board is all Democrat. No, I don’t count Mr. Fletcher, he’s a RINO.

SB 561 does more than just what the Charlotte Observer is focused on. It gives school boards limited judicial powers like issuing subpoenas and the power to punish for contempt. Talk about a bad idea, as it is , most school boards these days are little fiefdoms and are often run like tribunals.

One last tidbit — United Opt Out has lost my support since I learned that they have terrorist Bill Ayers lined up as a speaker for their 2016 conference titled, “Transcending Resistance, Igniting Revolution”.

I checked out the other speakers. It’s a who’s who of radicals. Go Google them, really.

One of them is Antonia Darder, whose own website describes her as “Dr. Antonia Darder is an internationally recognized scholar, artist, poet, activist, and public intellectual.”

‘Poet, Activist and Public Intellectual’.
Translation: ‘Pretentious, Unemployed and an ideologue’.

If the opt out movement is heading toward Occupy town, I’m headed for the exit.

*This article has been updated

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCGA, School Choice, Wake County School Board | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Why Hasn’t Senator Soucek Put #HB13 On The Ed Cmte Calendar? (UPDATED)

Posted on July 21, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

I am currently on a blog vacation. I am less than happy I am writing at this moment and even less happy about the topic.

My moles inside the General Assembly tell me that HB 13, which contains the infamously invasive health assessment form, has not been put on the Senate Education Committee calendar for tomorrow. This, despite it moving smoothly through the Health Committee earlier today.

The Senate committees are winding down this week. If HB 13 is not heard now, we get Faceplam Stupidstuck with this craptastic, privacy violating health assessment form for another year!

My moles also tell me that DPI complained to Senator Soucek, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

Apparently those complaints were vague as to why they didn’t want HB 13 heard.  Maybe DPI Dan would like to elaborate?

No need. It’s pretty simple why DPI is complaining: they’re milking it for federal dollars.

Torbett’s changes to the bill have curbed some of the invasive nature of the original health assessment form. Without HB 13 being heard tomorrow, the OLD form will stay in place.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, here you go… oh wait, DHHS REMOVED IT. So here you go. One of the questions on it is ‘are your child’s genitals normal‘?

Also, parents should pay attention to the signature panel at the top of it. By signing it, parents are being asked to sign over their child’s medical and developmental history to DPI and DHHS.

Have fun with that form and hit Senator Soucek with it too.

UPDATE (7/22/15)
Civitas has linked to me here:  “Bill Seeks to Rein In Educational Bureaucracy“.
Read the whole thing, but especially the bit under “Bureaucracy Unleashed”. The author does a very good job laying out the serious issues with the health assessment form.

UPDATE #2 (7/22/15): HB 13 is now on the calendar for Thursday, July 23rd. Thank you to the Senate Ed Committee and Senator Soucek!

RELATED:

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#DM7 Article: Confederate Flag Shark Jumping: Digging Up Corpses In Tennessee

Posted on July 19, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

This is a reposting of my weekly Da Tech Guy column: Confederate Flag Shark Jumping: Digging Up Corpses In Tennessee

By A.P. Dillon

Ignorance of history is alive and well in America. With no end in sight, the outrage industry has jumped the shark nationwide over the Confederate flag.

The rest of the country isn’t fairing much better as D.C. residents called for the removal of the Jefferson Memorial and Confederate memorials continue to be vandalized despite some of them being place to honor students who died during the Civil War.

In response to the continued controversy over the Confederate flag, officials in the state of Tennessee have decided to dig up the corpses of Nathan Bedford Forest and his wife. The same officials have decided to also sell off the associated statue.

Officials in Tennessee seem to be ignoring their own law and either don’t know the full history behind Forest, or they are willfully ignoring it for the likely purpose of scoring political points.

While Nathan Bedford Forest has been widely associated with the KKK, officials in Tennessee seem to be ignoring his rapid departure from the group.

This piece at PBS might help to enlighten them:

After only a year as Grand Wizard, in January 1869, faced with an ungovernable membership employing methods that seemed increasingly counterproductive, Forrest issued KKK General Order Number One: “It is therefore ordered and decreed, that the masks and costumes of this Order be entirely abolished and destroyed.” By the end of his life, Forrest’s racial attitudes would evolve — in 1875, he advocated for the admission of blacks into law school — and he lived to fully renounce his involvement with the all-but-vanished Klan. A new, different, and much worse Klan would emerge, 35 years after Forrest’s death, in the wake of D.W. Griffith’s revolutionary 1915 film, Birth of a Nation, a reactionary screed with a racialist brief that had been expanded to include Catholics and immigrants of all kinds. The second Klan was never restricted to the South; its goals had nothing to do with Forrest’s vision of a restored Dixie.

You read that correctly. Forest became an advocate for blacks.

Just to reinforce this point, consider his speech to the Independent Order of Pole-Bearers Association on July 5, 1875.  Bedford was the first white person to be invited by the Pole-Bearers.

Ladies and Gentlemen I accept the flowers as a memento of reconciliation between the white and colored races of the southern states. I accept it more particularly as it comes from a colored lady, for if there is any one on God’s earth who loves the ladies I believe it is myself.  I came here with the jeers of some white people, who think that I am doing wrong. I believe I can exert some influence, and do much to assist the people in strengthening fraternal relations, and shall do all in my power to elevate every man to depress none.

I want to elevate you to take positions in law offices, in stores, on farms, and wherever you are capable of going. I have not said anything about politics today. I don’t propose to say anything about politics. You have a right to elect whom you please; vote for the man you think best, and I think, when that is done, you and I are freemen. Do as you consider right and honest in electing men for office.

I did not come here to make you a long speech, although invited to do so by you. I am not much of a speaker, and my business prevented me from preparing myself. I came to meet you as friends, and welcome you to the white people. I want you to come nearer to us. When I can serve you I will do so. We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment.

Many things have been said about me which are wrong, and which white and black persons here, who stood by me through the war, can contradict. Go to work, be industrious, live honestly and act truly, and when you are oppressed I’ll come to your relief. I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this opportunity you have afforded me to be with you, and to assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.

But all of this is now a moot point, as Tennessee has engaged in revisionist history in a most ghoulish manner.

As Bedford said himself in 1875, so it rings true in 2015, “Many things have been said about me which are wrong,”.   

 

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), Poltical Correctness, THE LEFT | Tagged | 1 Comment

July NC Common Core Commission Meeting Postmortem

Posted on July 18, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

The North Carolina Academic Standards Review Commission (ASRC) tasked with reviewing and making recommendations on the Common Core Standards met on Monday, July 20th.

Continue reading →

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Academic Standards Review Commission, Big Ed Complex, Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged , | Comments Off on July NC Common Core Commission Meeting Postmortem