In the South, the term “swallowing the dog” meant pledging allegiance to the United States
What is the meant by the phrase “swallowing the dog”?
For Confederate veterans, the term “swallowing the dog” meant being forced to repeatedly pledge allegiance to the United States whose military forces were occupying the Confederacy. Continue reading
Between 165 and 300 innocent men, women, and children who were slaughtered at Wounded Knee, South Dakota by murderers that the US government deemed worthy of receiving Medals of Honor for the soldier’s “heroic stance” on the battlefield. Hello!? It wasn’t a Wounded Knee battle but a gruesome massacre! Continue reading
My eight-year-old daughter Abby recently started reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was prompted, in part, by watching the Little House on the Prairie television episodes with her great-aunt. Coincidentally, I have been reading more lately about some of the key women in history who promoted the ideals of individual freedom, limited government, non-coercion, and voluntary cooperation through trade. Rose Wilder Lane is one of these women. She was born on this day in 1886.
Liberty Should Always Trump Coercion
The daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder, baby Rose is the child many of us remember from the ninth Little House book, The First Four Years. Continue reading
Back in the 60s and early 70s, some of the best minds were in the education field. These were veteran teachers, who had begun their careers in the 50s, some earlier, but their sole purpose was to TEACH, TO EDUCATE, not indoctrinate, not by rote or Common Core….. The methods taught by these teachers, by which we serious students learned to think for ourselves, grasped our studies in civics and government, how to figure math in our heads, learn to parse sentences, spell, read profusely, and use critical thinking skills, are probably verboten or not used any more. Continue reading
“Deep Equity”, developed by the Corwin company, is quickly becoming the new standard curriculum being taught in our public schools. If you’ve never heard of it, you soon will. It’s in San Tan valley in Arizona, Chicago, Illinois, Louisville, Kentucky, the entire Cleveland, Ohio public school district, charter schools in California and many more American cities as well as Canada. Continue reading
Him and Her – or They and Zee?
When the National Education Association (NEA) partnered with a radical homosexual and transgender group known as the “Human Rights Campaign” to create “welcoming schools,” a lot of public-school teachers felt uncomfortable, if not outraged. But when the groups sent out a mass e-mail encouraging teachers to ask young children what “pronouns” they prefer — he, she, they, z, tree, and so on — that was a bridge too far for many.
In a video produced as part of the campaign, two transgender children discuss their preferred pronouns with each other. One of the children prefers the plural pronoun “they,” while the other, who claims not to be a boy or a girl, prefers “zee.” Seriously. After that, the two children discuss the alleged need to “educate” their own teachers, especially substitutes, on the supposed importance of using the newly invented pronouns that students choose for themselves. Continue reading
In another example of why our schools fail to teach anything to kids, a new law in California now prevents schools from suspending kids for rebelling against teachers. The new law that bans suspensions takes effect on January 1, 2020. Continue reading
Christmas Eve by Thomas Nast published 1863
Following the stunning Confederate victory at the Battle of Balls Bluff on October 21, 1861, Leesburg welcomed a host of Southern soldiers. Young men from near and far wintered near the Northern Virginia town, and it was the first Christmas away from home for many. Families across the Heritage area were already separated by the Civil War, and darker days lay ahead. The holidays blanketed the area with cheer, even though the weather was warm and clear. Thomas E. Caffey, an Englishman, signed up with Co. D, the “Hamer Rifles”, 18th Miss., and had this to say about the regiment’s Christmas celebrated in their winter quarters at Morven Park: Continue reading
There is this idea Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad asking Malaysians to emulate Japan and Korea as models, of showing recordings of good teachers teaching. The 94-year-old prime minister liked it a lot and wants school to adopt and implement. I suppose his minister of education would also abide by the wishes, as a loyal party member. But I hope I am wrong. That this is not to be the solution to improve our education system, any for that matter. If this is so, I believe this is an idea whose time should never come. Continue reading
In an interview with Ebony magazine, the reverend diagnosed the problems in American schools and offered some surprising solutions.
As someone who slides into the back-end of the Gen-X generation, my view of the Rev. Jesse Jackson has always been basically the same. My charitable view of Jackson had been that he is a gifted speaker with a great deal of media savvy; that he cares deeply for people, but sometimes offers dubious solutions to social problems because he can misdiagnose the cause of a given social affliction.
My more cynical view has been that he is a typical politician: a person who will use his cause to get on television to promote his own brand. These types of politicians usually “believe” in their causes, but at some point the cause becomes secondary to their own star and spotlight. Continue reading
Have you ever wondered how the American Founders were able to spew forth such wisdom and establish a new country at such young ages? I have. The mere fact that 10 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were under the age of 35 blows my mind.
But as I learned recently, these men did not create the Declaration and the Constitution out of the brilliance of their own minds. In fact, their brilliance hinged on one fact: they were imitators. Continue reading
Gary D. Barnett, a retired financial advisor and estate planner, has an informative site on the internet, where he deals with various subjects – one of which – one of the most pertinent, is public education… Continue reading
Social-justice crusaders are stripping the future of everything that gives human life meaning: beauty, sublimity, and wit.
Social-justice ideology is turning higher education into an engine of progressive political advocacy, according to a new report by the National Association of Scholars. Left-wing activists, masquerading as professors, are infiltrating traditional academic departments or creating new ones—departments such as “Solidarity and Social Justice”—to advance their cause. They are entering the highest rung of college administration, from which perch they require students to take social-justice courses, such as “Native Sexualities and Queer Discourse” or “Hip-hop Workshop,” and attend social-justice events—such as a Reparations, Repatriation, and Redress Symposium or a Power and Privilege Symposium—in order to graduate. Continue reading
“This particular American society” is one that is driven, molded and manipulated by Progressive ideologies that have been embedded in all of our institutions, public and private, over the last one hundred years or more.
Unfortunately, the current self-perpetuating system in America and even in most Westernized countries, is Progressivism, which is just another form of collective socialism. It is a flawed, bankrupt system that emphasizes the collective and de-emphasizes the individual, the former being the very antithesis of the foundation of American freedom. Becoming an educator is a process of being indoctrinated in this current self-perpetuating system. Continue reading
“The consolidation of the states into one vast empire, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of ruin which has overwhelmed all that preceded it.” ~ Robert E. Lee
The man was perceptive. Amalgamation of the states under a central government has led to exactly the effects foreseen by General Lee.
In, say, 1950, to an appreciable though imperfect extent America resembled a confederacy. Different regions of the America had little contact with each other, and almost no influence over one another. The federal government was small and remote. Interstates did not exist, nor of course the internet, nor even direct long-distance telephone dialing. West Virginia, Alabama, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, and California had little in common, but little conflict arose since for practical purposes they were almost different countries. They chiefly governed themselves. The proportion of federal to state law was small. Continue reading
