Tag Archives: Catholic

Current Events

America’s War on its Children

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Taking a break from the political fiasco of our country, here is another subject Mustang takes on with common sense, which as we all know, is a rare attribute in America, and much of that is caused by this subject. This is a topic about which I have some personal knowledge. A female teacher friend of mine was a longtime teacher in what was  a good school in a Cook County, IL HS. In fact, her children went there. Then  things suddenly changed when they decided to include other parts of the district in this HS. They received Jr HS students from different schools in an attempt to do what I shall call “leveling the playing field” for all students. The things she had to put up with would make the average educated, caring parent cringe with disgust. Administrators who never stood in a classroom. Students who refused to pay attention, would not shut up so she could teach, and constantly told her to, “Go F**k herself.” When her and her fellow teachers tried to send them to the office, oftentimes they had call security to have them physically removed. while fighting and screaming vulgarities. The principal’s answer was and I quote, “Do not send your discipline problems to me, you are the teacher and are responsible for disciplining your own students.” Life in that school district became overnight a war zone; teachers against students and the administrators Unions youy ask? Come on don ‘t be that gullible; they are a major part of the problem. How much do you have to pay a teacher to put up with that every weekday for nine months? 

She is now teaching in  Catholic school in FL and absolutely loves her job and her students. For her it is a joy to wake up in the morning looking forward to going to her school. I fervently believe our education system is so broken and believe there is no light at the end of the tunnel to fix it, but we shall still continue throwing money at it because that what our government does.

Personally, I believe the downfall of our education system started with Bush’s “no child left behind.” I have some experience giving talks at these “Alternative Schools” where they send those who should be left behind, but aren’t. Trust me, go visit some of them in your area and see for yourself. There may be good ones, but what I saw was an inability to tell the difference between the students and the teachers. When I asked the principal why the teachers were wearing trashy clothes, earrings and tattoos  like the students; his reply was “It’s important for the teachers to identify with the students.” Leadership at its finest right?

The Failure of Education

by Mustang

If (fill in the blank) isn’t working out to your expectations, then all you have to do is throw more money at it. That’s the message we regularly receive from people who make their money from selling “education.” But, is it true?  Of course not.

The American education system is an utter failure and has been for decades, and there is no more significant proof of that than observing today’s young adults.  They have no academic skills beyond cheating on tests; they lack essential knowledge about our nation’s history or even their own states. They are unable to comprehend cause and effect relationships, and they cannot reason.  If our education system is the doctor, then we’ve killed the patient.

Educationalist (a term I use in the most disparaging manner possible) Kate Barrington wants us to know about the American education system’s top fifteen failures.  None of her “failures” represent the underlying problem of American schools, but here’s what she identified as her most significant concerns:

    1. Insufficient government funding
    2. Charter schools siphon away money from public schools
    3. Teachers aren’t making enough money
    4. Too many teachers are fired for political reasons
    5. There is too much bullying going on in schools
    6. Students are “too poor” to learn
    7. Schools are over-crowded
    8. Students are too anxious and hyper-active to learn
    9. Insufficient parental involvement

She never once mentioned political brainwashing imposed on every child in public schools, never said anything about the costly athletic programs that take away time and money from academic curricula, never mentioned the dismal results of “high stakes” testing, or the fact that students receive no training in civics education, are taught revisionist history, or that they are bored to the point of tears in the classroom.

Ms. Barrington didn’t say that our children cannot construct a proper sentence, much less a paragraph, or that an average first-year high school student can only read at the fifth-grade level and cannot perform algebraic computations or has no interest in the wonder of science.

She also never mentioned that the United States (federal and state expenditures) spends, on average, $800-billion on educational programs EACH YEAR.  That figure approximates $15,000.00 annually for each child in elementary and secondary schools.  Maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on what we spend on American education — perhaps we should be asking what we’re getting as a return on that investment.  Are we getting smarter kids who, within a few years, are knocking them dead in the corporate structure, on Wall Street, as engineers, as scientists?

No — actually, American kids (including those graduating from college with a four-year degree) are mediocre compared to the rest of the civilized world.  Forty years after the publication of A Nation at Risk, a ground-breaking report by the National Commission on Excellence, America’s kids are dumber than ever despite the doubling of our expenditures on education.

Constructing more schools does not equate to better education — it only means more children per year are less competitive globally.  What other conclusions can a rational person make when more than two-thirds of the student population cannot demonstrate mastery in grade-level mathematics and science, reading, or even understanding the history of their own ancestors?

Here’s an interesting statistic: 85% of our nation’s high school graduates each year are unqualified to enter college as freshmen without substantial remediation.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average expenditure worldwide is around $9,800 per student annually.  Around the world, then, nations who spend far less educating their children are producing young adults who can (and do) read, who can communicate well in writing, who understand complex mathematics, and are geared toward careers in science and engineering.

Equally important, we must address the question of whether America’s young adults are as well-adjusted psychologically as their “other world” cohorts.  There does not appear to be any evidence to support such a claim.  Considering high incidents of violence in schools and throughout local communities, the opposite seems right. America’s young adult is maladjusted, and if there is not a trend toward psychopathic abnormality, it certainly seems that way.

What, then, should we deduce?  Should we conclude that in exchange for $800-billion annually, we are getting psychologically damaged young adults?  As young adults, our children not only do not know who they are but also don’t care.

Our young adults do not understand that the rights they enjoy extend to every other citizen, as well — so supporting such notions that they must silence a citizen who has different views from their own — forcibly, if necessary — tells us that our education system has grown at least two (maybe three) generations of dangerously maladjusted human beings.  Moreover, they are irrational in thinking that such behavior benefits a healthy society.

America is getting no bang for its buck.  Rather than demanding more money (to waste), perhaps reduced spending is a better plan.  Pay teachers less money, not more.  Stop pretending that high school football programs are equal in importance to science and mathematics.  Stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on textbooks that facilitate revisionist brainwashing or communicate anti-white racial biases.

When compared to the children raised in third-world countries, our children are stupid, psychotic, and socially inept.  Is this our return on our ever-increasing investment in the American education system?  One notable scientist suggested, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  We attribute this quotation to Albert Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity.  Perhaps the educationalists should make a note of it.

Mustang also blogs at Fix Bayonets and Thoughts From Afar

Here’s Sleepy Joe’s answer to the severe problem

Originally posted 2021-01-26 11:51:27.

Current Events

Supreme Strikeout

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Good day Folks. Before I talk about today’s post allow me to admit to a gross screwup. I posted earlier in the week an oath I believed  was the commissioning oath at USMA. However, had I done my due diligence, I would have discovered it was the Oath of Admissions given to newly joined cadets. Therefore, I removed it. I apologize profusely as I should have done my research as I always do, but failed to this time. I shall not do so again. That is my literary  responsibility.

However, even though it was their admissions oath, I still take exception to its wording. It is very telling about what the USMA plans to teach these young sponges.  If you goggle it and listen to it carefully, I suspect you will find it “strange” to whom they are pledging allegiance.

Now to the post. Once again Greg comes through with a barn burner. Makes me wonder why we even have a Supreme Court if they cannot answer the mail in a manner that solves the issues instead of leaving them open to further interpretation and litigation. Roberts has always been and continues to be a weak Justice in my book. He was appointed by the young Bush.

By Greg Maresca

Supreme Court decisions are national news but a 9-0 decision in today’s world of partisan politics is an anomaly. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia was based on discrimination of the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment and although unanimous, religious liberty still hangs in the balance.

In 2018, despite a critical need for foster families, the city of Philadelphia prohibited Catholic Social Services (CSS) from providing foster care. CSS had been at it for over two centuries long before fostering was a government service. Holding fast to Catholic moral teaching, CSS excluded gay couples from participating. Moreover, CSS will not place children with unmarried heterosexual couples either.

The kicker is no gay couple has ever asked CSS for foster service because 27 other organizations throughout Philadelphia already do. As other Philadelphia foster care Christian ministries surrendered to the city’s demands, CSS chose to fight claiming their First Amendment rights were violated.

CSS lost at the Third Circuit but were vindicated last month by the Supreme Court.  All nine justices agreed Philadelphia violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote CSS’s work is not “public accommodation,” since “certification as a foster parent . . . is not readily accessible to the public.” Philadelphia’s fault was not in excluding a ministry that follows biblical morality, but not considering it to be “public accommodation.”

Herein lies the crux of the issue.

Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch panned the vulnerability of Robert’s words since it fails to answer the greater question of religious liberty protections for Christian ministries. All three justices are constitutional originalists.

Roberts has routinely sought unanimous consent while deciding on specifics and diluting principle. Such jurisprudence only guarantees future litigation. Roberts is so bound to legal precedent that writing clearly on Constitutional matters is nearly impossible. His fear of originalist context would rule Dred Scott as still relevant.

This is what morally confused thinking produces.

There is much to be said for distinct moral clarity when laws are written and adjudicated.

The powers that be are too willing to compromise on principle to make it appear fair to both sides. Eventually, there will be no principles left worth defending.

Roberts is arguably one of the weakest chief justices in the court’s history.

The unanimous ruling has little significance, as Alito wrote, “This decision might as well be written on the dissolving paper sold in magic shops. The City has been adamant about pressuring CSS to give in, and if the City wants to get around today’s decision, it can simply eliminate the never-used exemption power. The Court has emitted a wisp of a decision that leaves religious liberty in a confused and vulnerable state.” In its future dealings in foster contracts, Alito asks, “What if it simply deletes the exemption clause? Voilà,” Alito writes, “today’s decision will vanish, and the parties will be back where they started.”

The Court has once again struck a glancing blow for religious liberty rather than establishing a rock-solid precedent.

Just last week the court refused to hear Arlene’s Flowers, Inc. vs. Washington, another case where fighting for one’s religious liberty ends without justice while damaging one’s livelihood. Colorado baker Jack Phillips is still a target after he won his Supreme Court case and the Little Sisters of the Poor have had to make two court appearances.

Given the left’s enmity to religious liberty, the nation is in desperate need of a Supreme Court that must boldly defend it.

How pathetic that any of these cases had to petition the Supreme Court, let alone make a trip to court at all.  Throughout this litigation, the charitable works of CSS were partially derailed hurting the very people the leftists in Philadelphia claim to care about.

How many times does the Supreme Court have to decide in favor of the religious before the harassment ends?

The Supreme Court whiffed a grand opportunity to protect religious liberty more convincingly.

Here’s hoping they will not miss the next one because there will be a next one.

Such proceedings only underscore how our ultimate trust lies not with the Supreme Court, the Congress, or who sits in the Oval Office, but in Divine Providence.

Amen

 

Current Events

The Woke of July

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Well here we are the first day of a new month, a summer month, when folks should be planning vacations to the beaches, the lakes, the mountains, or many of the places this once great nation has  to offer. And what’s even more significant about this month is it includes our nation’s birthday. Personally, I am concerned about the future of its birthday. In fact, this just might be the last time any of us get to celebrate the Republic of the “United” States of America. How sad is that, but then I will have celebrated the founding of our nation 80 times this July 4th. How many my children, grandchildren and  great grandchildren  will be able to celebrate I haven’t a clue. Why? The answer is simple, but if you do not know why, you are reason.

By Greg Maresca

As the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia concluded on September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government do we have? “A Republic,” he replied, “if you can keep it.”

Stripped to its essence as the nation attempts to celebrate its 245th birthday, Franklin’s challenge needs examination and any newspaper will do.

The nation’s president says: “America is back”— back to the 1970s with increased inflationary spending, high gas and food prices and compounded global threats. Not to be outdone, he also claims the Constitution does not protect our right to own “assault weapons” because “if you wanted, or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”

Sen. Dick Durbin’s remarks on the Equality Act was equally as telling. “Catholic” Durbin ran counter to the church’s disapproval to the legislation as it discriminates against Christians and the unborn. Durbin quantified, “I do believe that people who want to blatantly discriminate and use religion as their weapon have gone too far. We have to have limits on what they can do. I might remind us in history that the Ku Klux Klan was not burning question marks.”

Equating those who adhere to biblical morality with the KKK, does not bode well for any reasoned debate about religious freedoms in the future and those arguments are forthcoming.

Welcome to July 4, 2021, where courage is a boy declaring himself a girl and athletically competing against them. It is a place where the Internal Revenue Service denied a Christian nonprofit tax-exempt status because the Bible’s “teachings are typically affiliated with the Republican Party.” This disqualifies them from exemption under Section 501(c)(3), according to the Washington Examiner.

Don’t dare joke about Newark, New Jersey that erected a 700-pound bronze statue of George Floyd or utter “all lives matter.” Do not expect to keep your job at Space Force if you criticize the evils of Marxism, or post on Facebook how the COVID vaccine made you sick.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib’s pronouncement that he is gay made national headlines. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke directly to the wokeism cult saying, “The NFL family is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today.” Evidently, the highest leftist virtue is discovering one’s personal truth, and expecting approval for doing so.

A transgender BMX bike rider who qualified as an alternate for the U.S. at the Tokyo summer Olympics said her goal was to win an Olympic medal “so I can burn a U.S. flag on the podium.” In a spirited nation, she would be immediately nixed from the team. Yet, certain folks will lionize her.

Some police departments have stood by as looting and burning goes unabated and where statues of Columbus and Lincoln are toppled, while the law is applied asymmetrically on the basis of ideology and race.

Technology tycoons exploit the cult of woke to attack those who have dissenting views including a former president. In Biden’s America, the Federal Reserve is now telling employees to avoid “biased terms like Founding Fathers.”

Governors and mayors have used a virus to deny constitutional freedoms of assembly, religion and speech. Society can be juxtaposed to the condition of that Miami condominium before its collapse. Cracks in our moral and spiritual foundations threaten our future.

Undoubtedly, you can add to this list – daily.

We have abandoned the concepts of a republic for a democracy.

The Constitution’s framers were adamantly against tyranny of the majority. The Founders framed a representative republic that Franklin’s famous quote underscored with designated checks-and-balances.

Over two centuries ago, English historian Alexander Tytler believed, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury.” The Wall Street Journal reports nearly half the nation is now on the federal dole.

If you believe America is humanity’s noblest construct of nation and spirit, the moment to stand up and be counted is upon us.

Doing nothing will only accelerate the deep-seated conversion from a constitutional republic into a one-party socialist government.

What better time to step-up than the nation’s birthday?

I will attend church on Sunday with my bride, come home, and revel in the fact we are still a Republic that is 245 years old. It may be the last time I will be able to do that, and not because I will have passed, but my Republic did. Sad!