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Official In Kim Davis' Office Will Continue Issuing Same Sex Marriage Licenses

September 9, 2015, 10:10 am
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Alan: Throughout my adult life it has offended my conscience that I must pay Uncle Sam's war tax. 

I loathe forced participation in unjust wars and the mass murder that comes in tow.

"Do War's Really Defend America's Freedom?"
(Homage Marine Commandant, Major General Smedley Butler)

Pope Benedict XVI's Question: 'Can Modern Warfare Ever Be Just?'

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/pope-benedict-xvi-questions-if-modern.html

Freed Kentucky Clerk's Deputy Says He'll Keep Issuing Gay Marriage Licenses

by  
and 

Gospel Of Mark: Why Doesn't Kim Davis Deny Marriage Licenses To The Previously Divorced?


Amish Insight Into Kim Davis Uncivil Disobedience

Kim Davis: If Christians Want Government Jobs, They Must Discharge The Government's Job Description
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/kim-davis-if-christians-want-govt-jobs.html
When Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis returns to work sometime in the next few days, she may have a hard time persuading her employees to stop issuing licenses to same-sex couples.
At least one of them says he'll keep granting them despite indications that her boss won't allow it.
"When Miss Davis comes back, I'll still issue licenses," Rowan County deputy clerk Brian Mason told NBC News Wednesday.
He and four other deputy clerks have been granting licenses to same sex couples since Davis was jailed last week for refusing to do so. A devout Christian, she says authorizing the unions — deemed legal in June by the U.S. Supreme Court — would violate her conscience and religious freedom.
In Davis' absence, her deputies have issued seven licenses to same-sex couples and three to heterosexual couples, Mason said.
Davis was released Tuesday when a judge said she could remain free as long as she didn't interfere with her office's issuance of licenses.
But her lawyer has said she won't back down. She's demanding the state accommodate her by changing the licensing process so the documents aren't issued in her name or under her legal authority. She argues that the licenses issued during her jailing were not valid because her deputies didn't have the authority.
That means there could be a confrontation when she returns to the office Friday or Monday.
Mason said he hadn't spoken to Davis since her jailing. He said Davis has never threatened him with firing, and didn't know what would happen when she returned.
In the meantime, he said, "It's been a little hectic, but we still carry on business like we normally do." 

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Another Wacko From Waco: Police Remove Semi-Automatic Weapon From Woman's Vagina

September 9, 2015, 10:14 am
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gun suspect texas.jpg

"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"

Handguns At Home And The Scourge Of Suicide Among Young People

Mom Killed By 2 Year Old Child Described As "Responsible." NOT!


80% Of All Firearm Deaths In 23 Industrialized Countries Occurred In The U.S.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/07/80percent-of-all-firearms-deaths-in-23.html

“Toy Guns Outlawed At Republican Presidential Convention. Real Guns Allowed”

Woman with loaded handgun in vagina charged with unlawful carry in Texas


WACO, TEXAS (AP) –  Police in Texas say they removed a loaded handgun from a woman's body during a cavity search.
Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton tells the Waco Tribune-Herald officers stopped an SUV for a traffic violation late Monday and found methamphetamine inside. A man and woman were arrested.
Swanton says while 31-year-old Ashley Cecilia Castaneda was being taken to the McLennan County Jail, she told an officer she had a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun inside her vagina.
Swanton says officers called for a female officer, who retrieved the gun. Swanton confirmed the weapon was loaded.
Castaneda is charged with possession of methamphetamine and unlawfully carrying a weapon.
Thirty-year-old Gabriel Garcia faces the same drug charge.
Both are in custody in lieu of bond. It wasn't immediately clear if they had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.
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Currency Wars, The Threat Of Deflation, Global Economic Re-Calibration And Planetary Justice

September 9, 2015, 7:59 pm
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Alan: 93 year old Air Force general friend says the world is going through a long, painful process of economic re-calibration after centuries of occidental market dominance. 

Now that "everyone" has "a place at the table," portions will be smaller. 

We can lament our loss of purchasing power just as can bemoan the erosion of white privilege. 

However, if homo sapiens -- or God Himself -- is ultimately motivated by The Good, this re-calibration is the sine qua non of widely-distributed economic justice. 

Get used to it. 

(Thanks to The Thinking Housewife for bringing the following Al-Jazeera article to my attention. http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2015/09/the-amazingly-declining-wage/) 

Currency Wars And The Threat Of Deflation
by David Cay Johnston   @DavidCayJ
The price at which you can trade American dollars for foreign currencies may seem abstract, but events unfolding right now make it important to your future income, whether you have a job and the direction of the world economy in the next few years.
Around the globe, we are seeing strong downward pressure on prices, especially for commodities, prompting some governments to make their currency cheaper relative to the dollar. That suggests we may be entering a period of deflation, last experienced in a serious way in the U.S. in the Great Depression of the 1930s and the late 1800s. A deflationary spiral would represent a serious threat to the global economy.

Currency war

Let’s look at the currency fight. To bolster its exports, and thus jobs, Beijing last week cut the price of the yuan, relative to the dollar, by about 4 percent.
More than a fifth of American trade is with China, so the relative price of the yuan and dollar matters a lot to both countries. A cheaper yuan helps China export more manufactured goods, because Americans (and others) can buy them at lower cost. This also means it will cost the Chinese more to buy American products, so fewer will be sold.
In June China sold $1 billion per day more to the U.S. than it purchased. If the yuan falls 10 percent it, will make Chinese goods so much cheaper that our trade deficit with China will likely increase by about $66 billion annually. That translates into a likely loss of 190,000 to 640,000 American jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Since 2000 the U.S. has lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs, the majority of them to China. 
The U.S. could stanch this by buying yuan for, say, 5 to the dollar. At that price currency traders would be hunting for every Chinese coin stuck between couch cushions.
Chinese leaders would not take well to this and would, in turn, come up with their own responses to mitigate the effect of such a currency war because their interest is fixed on China’s long march to becoming the next superpower.
But it’s not just China that is devaluing its currency so it can lower the price of exports. The South Korean won, Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit have all come down in recent days and the Vietnamese dong is sure to follow as these countries try to make their exports cheaper and protect their manufacturing jobs. The Australian dollar, which floats freely because it is not managed by the government, also fell in the markets.
All this makes the dollar relatively stronger, which reduces American exports and manufacturing jobs.
For the U.S. the stronger dollar will also put even more downward pressure on wages as manufacturers try to find ways to make products competitive and overcome the stronger dollar. That would in turn worsen the already weak spending capacity of most Americans, adding to deflationary pressures as sellers trim the prices of goods and services.



Dollar
research.stlouisfed.org
Another way to make the dollar cheaper is by lowering interest rates — except that they are already so low. The effective Federal Funds rate is a tiny fraction of one percent, 0.13 percent to be precise. The discount rate, what the Fed charges banks for overnight loans to smooth cash flows, has been at 0.75 percent since 2010, down from 5.75 percent in early 2001.
The Federal Reserve keeps hinting it will abandon its zero-interest-rate policy as early as this fall. But lifting interest rates will make the dollar even more attractive as a safe storehouse of cash. So higher interest mean an even stronger dollar as more money flows into American debt securities, which means fewer American exports and more lost jobs and that, in turn, means pressure on sellers to lower prices to avoid being stuck with unsold goods and services. It’s a vicious cycle we want to avoid.
The falls in prices around the world raise the specter of deflation.

Loss of purchasing power

Meanwhile commodity prices around the world have fallen, an indication of an economic slowdown or even the start of a contraction, as Japan just reported. This especially hits the Brazilian economy, the world’s seventh largest, since it relies heavily on exporting iron ore, petroleum and other commodities to China, for which it will be relatively less.
Oil may fall to under $20 a barrel from its July 2008 high of $146, according to Barron’s, the weekly magazine for individuals who trade stocks. Oil traded at about $48 last week. At $20, it would be a short-term disaster for oil-field towns, where the falling price has already resulted in fewer drilling rigs, shutting some operating wells and fewer support jobs.
The falls in prices around the world raise the specter of deflation. The underlying global problem is that while profits have soared and corporations hold vast hoards of cash, few workers worldwide are getting real pay raises and many have seen their incomes fall in real terms. Their lack of purchasing power has lowered aggregate demand.
My analysis of new IRS data shows that, adjusted for inflation, the bottom half of Americans reported average total incomes (excluding welfare benefits like food stamps) of just $14,775 in 2012, down 18 percent from 2003.
Most people’s income derives from work. When pay is stagnant the capacity of people to buy more goods and services also must be flat unless they go into debt.  One way we have seen this in the U.S. is that the average age of cars on the road has increased from 8.4 years in 1995 to 11.4 years in 2014. We are slowly becoming less well off.
China faces similar problems. Angst among its newly created urban classes, who were sold on a bigger economic future through capitalism but feel the sting of rising prices and small wage increases, threatens party control.
Cheap foreign currencies convey some benefits. The American dollar is worth about $1.31 in Canada, making vacations and shopping there very attractive to those of us who live near the border. Airfares are even better deal. I was about to pay $1,452 in airfare to speak at the 2015 Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Norway when I looked up airfares out of Toronto. I paid just $695 and get to have dinner with a daughter who lives in Canada. Had I waited a month my airfare would have been just $515.

The danger of deflation

That price drop points to the problem with a general deflation, in which the overall prices of goods and services fall.  People tend to delay purchases if they believe they can get a bargain in the future. Think about the $180, or 26 percent, I could have saved on airfare by waiting a few weeks and expand it to everything all of us buy.
The problem is that without constant spending, the economy collapses. Money circulates just like the blood in your body — when the heart stops so does everything else.
Economists generally argue that a broad deflation is a prospect far worse than inflation and much harder to solve. However one research paper argued that the deflation of the late 1800s — an era, like ours, of rapid technological change — did more long term good than damage, though for many the short-term economic pain was intense.
Americans since World War II have become accustomed to thinking that delaying purchases means paying more, because of inflation. But with deflation the opposite takes place: Because things will cost less tomorrow, next week or next month, people want to hold cash and postpone purchases. (For people on fixed incomes deflation would be great; they could buy more and more goods and services because of falling prices.)
We need adapt our thinking to the emerging economic conditions of the 21st Century, in which flat prices or even a deflation threatens our prosperity. Without the incentive of rising prices brought by inflation, we risk falling into a vicious cycle of economic decline by deferring the purchases that drive the economy and the investments in education, infrastructure and basic research and undergird it. That would be a tragic mistake.
David Cay Johnston, an investigative reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize while at The New York Times, teaches business, tax and property law of the ancient world at the Syracuse University College of Law. He is the best-selling author of “Perfectly Legal,” “Free Lunch” and “The Fine Print” and the editor of the new anthology “Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality.”
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera America's editorial policy.

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Republican Lawrence Wilkerson On Dick Cheney: "This Is A Man Who's Lost His Mind"

September 9, 2015, 8:15 pm
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Cheney's Lucid 1994 Rationale For NOT Invading Iraq. Conservatives "Must" See This

"The Fall Of Iraq. Jawdropping Video Footage Of Cheney, Albright, Gen Clarke & Others"

Chris Hayes included a Fox News clip where Chris Wallace reminded a willful history revising Dick Cheney that during the Bush/Cheney administration Iran went from 0 to 5,000 centrifuges. Wallace suggested that Cheney left a mess for the Obama administration.
Republican Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Secretary of State General Colin Powell, was introduced. (Colin Powell endorsed the Iran Nuclear agreement this weekend.) Chris Hayes asked Wilkerson about Cheney's apocalyptic warning about the Iran deal. Lawrence Wilkerson did not mince words.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson

Republican Party Is "Full Of Racists," Colin Powell's Chief Of Staff
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/10/republican-party-is-full-of-racists.html

"I have been searching for a single word that would describe Dick Cheney," Wilkerson said. "And I am afraid the only one that I can think of is 'insanity'. It's a deliberate, it's a methodical, it's a lucid, often lucid insanity. But it is insanity nonetheless. He can't recognize reality. He can't recognize the truth. The good thing Chris, for this country is that Independents, Republicans, and Democrats wish he would just go away now. He has almost no influence. You saw the influence he has virtually by numbers. Those at the AEI today that listened to his speech, that's about it."
Dick Cheney's speech at AEI was interrupted by a Code Pink protester.
Lawrence Wilkerson pointed out that Dick Cheney was once a brilliant strategist. He said Cheney changed after nine eleven. "All of a sudden he's turned into this person who cannot recognize reality," Wilkerson said. "I can't explain it. Maybe its physiological. Maybe it's biological. Maybe 9/11 did something to him. ... He is simply devoid of reason and he doesn't recognize reality anymore."
Wilkerson went on to make the point that Dick Cheney was using the same fear-mongering technique used by Joseph McCarty. At the end Wilkerson makes the Defense Industrial Complex /  Dick Cheney association.
"Cheney is a millionaire now," Wilkerson said. "So maybe I am assuming his insanity and maybe I am wrong. Maybe he sees this as a way, as a route to success and it turned out to be profitable. His personal finances now are quite well established. He is a multi-millionaire. This is a man who in 1998, Chris, said most forcefully as CEO of Halliburton, that sanctions were not working, that they wouldn't work unless they were comprehensive and international. And he wanted to do deals with Iran. And so he was bashing sanctions up one wall and down the other. This is a man who's lost his mind."
Any more question about Dick Cheney or his motives?

"American Conservatives And Oppositional-Defiant Disorder"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/arrested-development-american.html

"Conservatives Scare More Easily Than Liberals"

"Republicans For Revolution," A Study In Anarchic Apocalypticism

Bill Maher: The Zombie Life Cycle Of Republican Lies. They Never - Ever - Die

"Bank On It: The South Is Always Wrong"

"The Reign of Morons Is Here," Charles P. Pierce, The Atlantic

"A Southerner Explains Tea Party Radicalism: The Civil War Is Not Over"

"People Who Watch Only Fox News 
Know Less Than People Who Watch No News"


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Melting Arctic Could Weaken Ocean Currents, Provoking Sudden Ice Age

September 9, 2015, 8:26 pm
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The scientific evidence of the urgency of taking substantial action to reduce GHG emissions keeps mounting. Among the changes in our oceans driven by Climate Change is the possibility we are damaging our system of ocean currents.
Global warming could shut down major ocean currents, say researchers
Two papers examine how rapidly melting Arctic ice could slow or even halt normal ocean circulation, with northern latitudes getting frigid and Southeast Asia hit by super-droughts.
By: Joby Warrick
WASHINGTON—Two new studies are adding to concerns about one of the most troubling scenarios for future climate change: the possibility that global warming could slow or shut down the Atlantic’s great ocean circulation systems, with dramatic implications for North America and Europe.
The research, by separate teams of scientists, bolsters predictions of disruptions to global ocean currents — such as the Gulf Stream — that transfer tropical warmth from the equator to northern latitudes, as well as a larger conveyor system that cycles colder water into the ocean’s depths.
Both systems help ensure relatively mild conditions in parts of Northern Europe that would otherwise be much colder.
The papers offer insight into how rapidly melting Arctic ice could slow or even temporarily halt the ocean’s normal circulation, with possible effects ranging from plunging temperatures in northern latitudes to centuries-long droughts in Southeast Asia.
Their report, in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, says previous research may have underestimated changes to the ocean from the huge influx of fresh, cold water from melting ice sheets.
About 12,000 years ago, rising temperatures at the end of the last ice age released huge volumes of cold freshwater, disrupting the ocean’s circulation systems and sending parts of the Northern Hemisphere back in to the freezer. Scientists refer to the era as the Younger Dryas period.
“A slowdown of the ocean circulation is a double-edged sword,” said Jud Partin, the lead author and a research associate at the University of Texas Institute of Geophysics. “If we see some temperature changes associated with it … and somehow are quick to act and alleviate the change, then we have the potential to stop it.”
Here in the Pacific Northwest we're seeing unusual temperatures in the ocean and the Salish Sea. This report says this event wasn't related to Climate Change.
              
Vladivostok in Siberia has no warm ocean current offshore to warm it so it is icebound 5 months of the year. Vladivostok is the same latitude as the coast of New Hampshire, and the coast of Northwest Spain which are now warmed by the Gulf Stream. Try to imagine a world where those coastal regions were icebound 5 months of the year.


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Trump on GOP Rival Fiorina: Look At That Face. Would Anyone Vote For That?

September 9, 2015, 9:50 pm
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Trump on GOP Rival Fiorina: Look At That Face. 
Would Anyone Vote For That?
Comments were aimed at the only woman in the large field of Republicans vying for presidential nomination, only weeks after Megyn Kelly incident.

Will Dunham and Steve Holland Sep 10, 2015

REUTERS - Donald Trump mocked the physical appearance of fellow Republican U.S. presidential candidate Carly Fiorina in remarks published on Wednesday, saying: "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?"

The comments by the billionaire real estate developer published in an article on the website of Rolling Stone magazine were aimed at the only woman in the large field of Republicans vying for their party's 2016 presidential nomination.

The magazine reported that Trump, leading in the polls among the Republican contenders, made the remarks while watching Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive, on television.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks at the New Hampshire Education Summit in Londonderry, New Hampshire August 19, 2015.Reuters

"Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Trump is quoted as saying. "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"

Fiorina, in an interview on Fox News Channel, said she viewed Trump's remarks as "very serious."
"Maybe, just maybe, I'm getting under his skin a little bit because I am climbing in the polls," she said.
The subject did not come up when Trump was interviewed on Fox News by host Sean Hannity, but Trump did express concern about his own looks, noting he had just returned from a trip to Washington.

"I haven't even looked at a mirror so I hope I'm okay. I hope I look fine," said Trump.
"You look fine," said Hannity.

It was not the first time Trump has taunted Fiorina. A month ago he tweeted: "I just realized that if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than 10 minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance!"

Trump's remarks were his latest barbs aimed at a woman during the campaign. Last month, Trump criticized Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly during and after a Republican debate.

During the debate, Kelly had asked Trump about comments referring to women as "fat pigs" and slobs. Asked about Kelly in a CNN interview last month, Trump said: "You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever."

Trump has touted his "great relationships" with women, saying he had hired thousands of women including top-level employees, adding: "I cherish women."


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"The Refugee Crisis Could Actually Be A Boon For Germany," Washington Post

September 10, 2015, 6:50 am
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Fans present a large banner reading 'Say it loud, say it clear. Refugees are welcome here' during the soccer test match between second division club of FC St. Pauli and first division club Borussia Dortmund in Hamburg on Sept. 8.

Alan: Hateful Christian crusaders do not compare well with Germany's secular society. 

If conservative Christians want their religion to thrive, they are well advised to stop "wrecking the brand."


"Christians Are Their Own Worst Enemy: Wrecking The Brand"

"I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!""Why shouldn't I?" he said. "Well, there's so much to live for!""Like what?""Well... are you religious?" He said yes. I said, "Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?""Christian.""Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant ? "Protestant.""Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?""Baptist""Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?""Baptist Church of God!""Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?""Reformed Baptist Church of God!""Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!" I said, "Die, heretic scum", and pushed him off.  
Emo Philips

The Thinking Housewife:"Rape In MultiCulti Sweden"
(Guess who's doing the raping.)

The refugee crisis could actually be a boon for Germany

Anthony Faiola


BERLIN — The rest of Europe may see a crisis as a record number of asylum seekers flood the continent from Syria and other pockets of conflict and poverty. But Germany — the region’s economic powerhouse — is also sensing a golden opportunity.
This fast-graying nation of 81 million is facing a demographic time bomb. With a morbidly low birthrate and a flat-lining population, hundreds of schools have already shuttered. Some neighborhoods, particularly in the increasingly vacant east, have become ghost towns. For Germans, it has raised a serious question: Who will build the Mercedes and Volkswagens of tomorrow?
Enter a record wave of migrants.
Offering some of the most generous terms of asylum, Germany has become by far the biggest host in Europe for those fleeing dangerous and deteriorating conditions, with more than 800,000 applications expected this year alone. With no sign of the crisis abating as war rages in Syria and Iraq, German leaders are saying they “can cope” with 500,000 more newcomers a year for “several years.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, is preparing her public for a period of transformation that may alter the very definition of what it means to be a German. Some leaders in the region are sounding the alarm over the threat to national identities posed by the mostly Muslim newcomers. But Merkel is cajoling Germans to embrace a new vision of their country that, in the future, may not be as white or Christian as it is today.
[E.U. leader proposes plan to redistribute migrants across continent]
In a now-viral video, Merkel last week addressed a woman who expressed fear that refugees would bring more Islamist terror. Merkel took a deep breath before replying, “Fear is a bad adviser.”
Addressing parliament Wednesday, she said of the newcomers: “They need help to learn German, and they should find a job quickly. Many of them will become new citizens of our country.” She added: “If we do it well, this will bring more opportunities than risks.”
Merkel isn’t the only one being pragmatic, with industrial leaders here heralding the flood of working-age migrants. Some German universities are opening their doors to allow refugees to audit classes for free. The government is offering “welcome classes” teaching German to migrant children and adults.
Germany is rolling out the welcome mat as its unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2 percent — one of the lowest in Europe. Trade and service companies — from caterers to plumbing firms — are struggling to find new workers, with more than 37,000 trainee positions unfilled, according to the Federal Employment Agency.
Couple that with that fact that many of the asylum seekers — especially Syrians — are highly educated or skilled workers and include doctors, engineers and architects. And suddenly, for Germany, some say, what initially seems like a crisis becomes something else.
“As the asylum seekers are fairly well qualified, there is a good chance they will become valuable parts of our work force in the coming years,” said Reiner Klingholz, director of the Berlin Institute for Population and Development. “We won’t reverse our population loss, but we could shrink less.”

Photos: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-refugee-crisis-could-actually-be-a-boon-for-germany/2015/09/09/6c824c44-56e8-11e5-9f54-1ea23f6e02f3_story.html
‘This is our chance’
Without doubt, the asylum seekers now represent a financial burden — one set to cost this nation billions in housing and other aid. But in the long run, experts predict, many of them will stay and build new lives in Germany rather than return home. In a country projected to shrink by 13.2 million people by 2060, the newcomers could help Germany confront its long-term battle with population decline.
At least that’s the view of Oliver Junk, the mayor of Goslar, a town of 50,000 in north-central Germany lined with adorable timber-framed houses. Suffering from a net population loss of 4,000 since 2002, in recent years, he said, Goslar has had to shut three schools and is now dotted with the “occasional empty house.”
[For six migrants, Europe offers ‘last hope’]
But over the past two years, Goslar has also taken in almost 300 asylum seekers. Initially, the newcomers have no choice but to stay — government officials assign them to cities and towns where they must remain as their applications are evaluated. But those who win asylum eventually win the right to move — and Junk said his city is weighing a number of new programs to persuade them to stay, including a jobs network linking the newcomers with local employers.
“We want to create the opportunity for them to stay here and not move on to the big cities,” he said. “This is our chance.”
Or not.
Analyst say it may be incredibly difficult for towns losing population, like Goslar, to keep the asylum seekers who are already there — with a rush expected to the big employment centers of Germany in booming Bavaria, as well as big cities such as Hamburg and Cologne.
Hassan Nabhea, 28, a medical student from Damascus, arrived in Goslar 18 months ago after claiming asylum. He has stayed, he says, to take German classes in a peaceful, beautiful town. But he’s likely to move on in October, perhaps to Bonn, to enter university.
“I like it here, and I like the people, but it’s hard to think that I’ll come back after I finish my German language classes,” he said.
A new promised land
The surge of asylum seekers is coming at a time when booming Germany has emerged as a new promised land for immigrants, particularly from economically troubled southern European nations, including Greece, Italy and Spain, but also countries as far away as Israel and India. In the rankings of the globe’s most prosperous nations, Germany in 2012 leapfrogged Canada and Britain to become the largest destination for immigrants after the United States, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Many cite the still-insular pockets of Turks who moved to Germany in droves during the 1960s and 1970s as evidence that full integration will be hard and could take generations. In addition, the reception toward asylum seekers in the former communist east — the part of Germany where depopulation is happening most — has also been the least welcoming. The region has become the epicenter for a rash of far-right violence aimed at refugees, including a series of arsons at refugee centers.
[Pope calls on Europe’s Catholics to take in refugees]
In the blighted Marzahn neighborhood of eastern Berlin on Wednesday, asylum seekers Arslan Ali, 24, and Waleed Asif 19, were strolling down a grid of sidewalks also being used by several older Germans using walkers. A group of young migrant children giggled on the playground of a nearby refugee center, but the men said not every day has been so carefree.
A Pakistani man who crossed into Germany last March who is claiming asylum because he says his life was threatened by criminals back home, Asif said he was attacked in a nearby convenience store here. He said he was struggling to speak German — a language he is now studying daily — when an angry local man head-butted him. The jolt, he said, sent him sprawling.
“No, not everyone here is nice,” he said.
And yet, although acceptance rates are low in Germany for asylum seekers like them, from countries not at war, both men are hoping to cash in on the German dream. “I want to work for Siemens!” Asif said.
“I would love to one day work for Mercedes or BMW,” Ali chimed in.
Stephanie Kirchner contributed to this report.
Read more


Anthony Faiola is The Post's Berlin bureau chief. Faiola joined the Post in 1994, since then reporting for the paper from six continents and serving as bureau chief in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, New York and London.


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Quaker Official Refuses To Issue Gun License

September 10, 2015, 7:47 am
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Alan: If Kim Davis' refusal to perform her job -- while insisting she keep it -- has legal standing, Quaker officials could refuse to issue gun permits and Muslim officials could refuse to issue driver's licenses to women.

It is a historical fact that slavery was preached from the pulpit so that practitioners of "old time Religion" could, in conscience, refuse marriage licenses to biracial couples. 

2009 Louisiana Interracial Marriage License Incident
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Louisiana_interracial_marriage_incident

Christian Defense Of Slavery Preached From The Pulpit

But beyond this predictable debate lies a more fundamental issue, now conveniently scotomized.

From the Christian point of view, the linchpin degradation of marriage took place when Christians themselves began to divorce in numbers essentially equivalent to secular society.

Once "the Christian rank-and-file""broke rank,"The Party of Family Values elected, and thus normalized, the nation's first (and only) divorced president, Ronald Reagan.

People and societies accommodate "water under the bridge," even devout Christians formerly aghast at hint of heterodoxy. 

Such accommodation often occurs when a family member embodies a previously verboten behavior - divorce, same-sex relationship, working on The Lord's Day.

Greed Is Good: A Dangerous 300 Year History Of The Idea That Greed Is Good
(The Role Of Usury)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/greed-is-good-300-year-history-of.html


Is there one American Christian in a million who would agree with Jesus' teaching in The Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the four canonical gospels?

"What God has joined together, man must never separate... Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

Before quitting her post (the only honorable thing to do), Kim Davis should express Christian opposition to issuing marriage licenses to divorced applicants.

Gospel Of Mark: Why Doesn't Kim Davis Deny Marriage Licenses To The Previously Divorced?


Amish Insight Into Kim Davis Uncivil Disobedience
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/amish-insight-into-kim-davis-uncivil.html

Kim Davis: If Christians Want Government Jobs, They Must Discharge The Government's Job Description
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Professional Tennis Star James Blake Tackled By 5 NYC Cops. Walking While Black?

September 10, 2015, 9:00 am
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Former tennis star James Blake was reportedly slammed to the ground, handcuffed and detained 
for about 15 minutes in New York City before police realized they had the wrong man in an identity 
theft ring. (Reuters)

"Bad Black People." Why Bill O'Reilly Is Wrong Even When He's Right"

Video: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2015/09/10/nypd-commissioner-denies-that-race-had-anything-to-do-with-james-blake-getting-tackled-by-detectives/

NYPD Commissioner William Bratton pledges apology to James Blake
 
UPDATE 11:18 A.M.
New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton has spoken further about an incident Wednesday in which undercover detectives tackles former pro tennis player James Blake after mistaking him for a suspect in an identity theft case.
“We are very interested in speaking with Mr. Blake … to extend our apology. It should not have happened,” Bratton said, per New York’s NBC affiliate. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio also wants to apologize, Bratton told reporters during a short news conference Thursday morning at police headquarters.
Bratton added that he had “concerns about the takedown” and “use of force” involved in the incident. He said the arresting officer in the incident, who’s been with the NYPD for about four years, has had his badge and gun taken away and placed on a modified assignment, pending an internal-affairs investigation.
ORIGINAL POST
New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton on Thursday denied that race played a role in an incident involving former professional tennis player James Blake, who on Wednesday was tackled to the ground by plain-clothes police officers who had mistaken him for a suspect in an identity-theft case.
“Sorry, race has nothing at all to do with this,” Bratton told CNN’s “New Day.”“If you look at the photograph of the suspect, it looks like the twin brother of Mr. Blake. So let’s put that nonsense to rest right now.”
Bratton also told CNN that he has ordered an internal-affairs probe of the incident, and that one of the involved officers has been moved to desk duty after police officials viewed surveillance video of the incident.
Blake, whose father is black and whose mother is white, appeared Thursday on “Good Morning America” and said he believed the incident was a case of excessive force rather than racial profiling.
Blake, 35, wasn’t seriously injured in the incident, but the run-in left him with bruises on his left leg and a cut on his elbow. He was waiting at his hotel for his ride to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where he was making promotional appearances.
CNN has more on what the NYPD detectives were looking for:
Detectives from the Identity Theft Task Force were investigating the purchase of cell phones using fraudulent credit cards, two law enforcement sources told CNN.
Investigators organized a sting operation at the Hyatt Hotel, where phones were delivered to a male suspect who was later taken into custody, the law enforcement sources said.
That suspect identified two people in the lobby of the Hyatt to whom he had delivered cell phones that were purchased with a fraudulent credit card, they added.
Blake, who was once ranked No. 4 in the world, was one of the people placed in handcuffs but was let go shortly after a retired NYPD officer informed detectives that Blake was a tennis player.
“Once Blake was properly identified and found to have no connection to the investigation, he was released from police custody immediately,” the NYPD said in a statement.


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Al Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri Declares War On ISIS 'Caliph' Al-Baghdadi

September 10, 2015, 9:45 am
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PHOTO: Ayman al-Zawahiri | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Islamic Violence

George Carlin: "We Like War Because We're Good At It"

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." 
Devout Christian, Blaise Pascal

"Love Your Enemies. Do Good To Those Who Hate You," Luke 6: 27-42


Al Qaeda Leader Al-Zawahiri Declares War on ISIS 'Caliph' Al-Baghdadi

Sep 10, 2015
By 


Just ahead of the fourteenth anniversary of al Qaeda's 9/11 attacks on the U.S., the leader of the terrorist group took aim in an angry speech at a mortal enemy -- but not American “crusaders” this time. Rather, the object of his tirade was the leader of ISIS in a declaration of war that will “irreconcilably” divide the two terror groups in a way the U.S. may be able to exploit, experts say.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced Osama bin Laden as the head of al Qaeda four years ago, in a new audio message accused ISIS top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of “sedition” and insisted the Iraqi terrorist recluse was not the leader of all Muslims and militant jihad as “caliph” of the Islamic State, as al-Baghdadi had claimed 14 months ago in a Mosul mosque.
“It’s pretty interesting,” said former National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen. “Zawahiri until now has not been willing to openly condemn Baghdadi and ISIS. It highlights how deep the division is between al Qaeda leadership and ISIS. It suggests that the differences are irreconcilable.”
Had ISIS and al Qaeda realigned by joining forces, it “would be terrible,” said Olsen, an ABC News contributor.
DIGITAL FEATURE: What Is ISIS?
American Al Qaeda to ISIS: No Paradise for You
'Annoying' But Deadly? The Debate Over Killing ISIS's 'Twitter Tough Guys'
That division -- now formally declared by the highest ranking official of the group that slaughtered almost 3,000 Americans 14 years ago in multi-pronged aviation attacks -- could provide an opening that American counter-terrorism operatives could find a way to exploit, he added.
Olsen said the U.S. could use misinformation to further pit the two jihadi menaces against each other and encourage the series of gunfights and assassinations each has waged against the other -- like when ISIS reportedly killed a top Zawahiri emissary trying to broker a ceasefire between the fighters in Syria in February 2014.
The fledgling franchise in Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as IS Khorasan Province, “has been fighting non-stop” with the Taliban and al Qaeda there, a counter-terrorism official told ABC News. “Fighting each other makes our job easier,” said the official in Afghanistan.
PHOTO: A video posted on a jihadi Twitter feed showed what purports to be the first known video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Youtube
PHOTO: A video posted on a jihadi Twitter feed showed what purports to be the first known video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
In the new audio tape, which was released online Wednesday and accompanied by a still image or al-Zawahiri and text of his speech, the al Qaeda leader appeared to confirm that he had not directly addressed infighting among the jihadis of ISIS and al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, Jabhat al-Nusra or the al Nusra Front, for fear of legitimizing ISIS.
ISIS, formerly the al Qaeda branch in Iraq, split from the larger group two years ago. In the tape, al-Zawahiri complained that Baghdadi had ignored Muslims suffering in Gaza and in Pakistan.
“We preferred to respond with as little as possible, out of our concern to extinguish the fire of sedition,” Zawahiri explained, “but Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his brothers did not leave us a choice, for they have demanded that all the mujahideen reject their confirmed pledges of allegiance, and to pledge allegiance to them for what they claim of a caliphate.”
“Everyone was surprised” by Baghdadi’s declaration anointing himself the fourth caliph in Islamic history, Zawahiri remarked, saying al-Baghdadi had done this “without consulting the Muslims.”
Do you have information about this or another story? CLICK HERE to send your confidential tip in to Brian Ross and the ABC News Investigative Unit.
Al-Zawahiri's sour grapes speech, however, appeared to have been recorded last spring, analysts said, and reiterated past pledges of loyalty to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who recently was confirmed dead by the Taliban. That appeared to mark a rare misstep for al Qaeda and al-Zawahiri, who once was able to leak his videotaped response to news events as quickly as one week later, but who now is in hiding with a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head.
Nicholas Palarino, a recently retired senior congressional counter-terrorism adviser who teaches about terrorism at Georgetown University, said al-Zawahiri being forced to call out al-Baghdadi weakens the power of both al Qaeda and ISIS and may offer Arab governments a window of opportunity to drive a wedge between the jihadi groups and those who are flocking to fight in Syria and Iraq.
“Moderate Muslims need to exploit this rift. The leaders of Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt can explain the differences between these two groups to the world’s Muslims,” Palarino said.
Though it didn't foresee the rise of ISIS, former CIA Director Michael Hayden said the intelligence community had predicted a rift in al Qaeda emerging after bin Laden's death -- something like what's happening now between ISIS and al Qaeda, which the U.S. could use to its advantage.
"It would be a good idea to do so. We always thought that the death of bin Laden could create a rift between the Egyptians and the other Arabs inside al Qaeda since Zawahiri was an Egyptian. Seems to have played out," former CIA Director Michael Hayden told ABC News.
When it comes to exploiting the rift between two deadly extremist groups, however, Hayden cautioned, "You need to be careful."
CLICK HERE to follow the Brian Ross Investigative Unit on Facebook.

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Cop Killed Unarmed Walter Scott, Shooting Him In Back Because He Was Afraid Of His Blackness

September 10, 2015, 11:01 pm
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Officer Michael Slager executing Walter Scott
The moment Michael Slager calmly shoots and kills Walter Scott

Alan: Notice that Walter Scott ran a considerable distance, trying to get away from Officer Slager, when, at last, the killer cop shot him dead with a bullet in his back.

Lists Of Americans Killed By Cops In 2013, 2014, 2015
http://www.killedbypolice.net/kbp2014.html

Walter Scott’s Killing Is the Sum of Every Black Nightmare About White Cops

Killing Good Black People Over Dysfunctional Tail Lights

Open Season On Unarmed American Black Men, A Compendium Of Pax Posts

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/04/open-season-on-american-black-men.html

50 Police Officers Shot & Killed In 2014. Huge, Steady Decline Since 1970s

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/50-police-officers-shot-killed-in-2014.html

American Police Shoot An Unarmed Black Man Every 72 Hours
(Taking police and vigilante shootings together, we find that an unarmed black man gets shot every 29 hours.)

Open Season On Unarmed Black Men. White Cop Kills Another Innocuous Black Man

The Beginning Of The End For Cop-Killer Privilege: "#CrimingWhileWhite"

Americans Are 9 Times More Likely To Be Killed By A Policeman Than A Terrorist

American Cops Fire More Bullets At One NYC Man Than All German Cops Fire In A Year
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/85-shots-us-cops-use-more-ammo-per-man.html


1 Small Town's Cops Have Killed More People Than Combined Police Of Germany And U.K.
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/02/1-small-towns-cops-have-killed-more.html


Killer Cops: Slow Motion Serial Killing By White People

Black Kids Get Shot For Their Mistakes. White Kids Get Psychologized
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/black-kids-get-shot-for-their-mistakes.html

"White Teen In BMW Hits Three Cars, Flees Scene, Assaults Cops, And Doesn't Get Shot"


White Man Jaywalks With Assault Rifle. Guess What Police Do

"Ferguson Isn't About Black Rage Against White Cops. It's About White Rage Against Progress"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/08/ferguson-isnt-about-black-rage-against.html

Open Season On Unarmed Black Men. White Cop Kills Another Innocuous Black Man

"Given FL's "Stand Your Ground Law," Can This Black Woman Kill The White Cop Who Assaulted Her?"

"Bad Black People." Why Bill O'Reilly Is Wrong Even When He's Right"


So, we now know the official line of defense that is going to be offered by Michael Slager, the Charleston police officer who shot and killed Walter Scott. According to Slager and his attorney:
Slager didn't know Scott was unarmed, felt threatened, and made a quick decision to shoot because he believed Scott might pull a gun and shoot him first.
What's illogical about this defense is that they are also claiming that Walter Scott attempted to take Michael Slager's gun—even though they are simultaneously claiming the threat that he had one of his own was so real that it warranted shooting him five times in the back while he ran away.
So, even though no evidence whatsoever existed to give Michael Slager any impression that Walter Scott was armed, he's still going to claim that he was afraid for his life. Tragically, it could work, and has actually worked many times.
Blackness, in the eyes of many people, is a weapon.
Amadou Diallo was unarmed but was shot at 41 times by police, more because he was black than because he actually posed a real threat. The NYPD argued that the officers believed his wallet was a gun, and that was all they needed to get off.
Michael Brown was unarmed and had already been shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson before he fired the additional fatal shots, but Wilson told the grand jury he still felt very much threatened by Brown.
Sean Bell was shot at 50 times and killed on his wedding day by the NYPD not because he posed an actual threat, but because his blackness was particularly threatening.
Rekia Boyd was shot at and killed by Chicago police when they claimed her boyfriend's cell phone looked like a gun. In that case, the officer didn't even bother to get out of his patrol car.
I could name 100 more cases like this.
The common thread is that police often claim they felt threatened by unarmed African Americans not because a true threat existed, but because they imagined one might exist. And—this is the kicker—in each of those cases, the defense held up in court.
The law is flawed. An imaginary threat should never be enough for police to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.

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Common Core Is A Reagan Invention: Xtian Fundamentalism & Corrosion Of The Common Good

September 11, 2015, 8:34 am
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President Barack Obama, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Education Secretary Arne Duncan attend an event on the future of education funding at Miami Central Senior High School March 4, 2011. Republican presidential candidate Bush is being slammed by the GOP for backing Common Core education standards, the author writes; but they forget that Common Core standards were designed by Republicans.

Alan: Contemporary "conservatism" depends on credal delusions, ultimately informed by Christian fundamentalism, that refuse to compromise "ideals" with Truth.



Despite Common Core's shortcomings, a set of common curricular components would provide an academic framework much like yesteryear's "classical education."

Without a significant measure of "common" sense, polities reduce to nonsense.


Quaker Clerk Refuses To Issue Gun License

Beset by "exceptionalism" and the uncompromising centrality of "one's personal relationship with God,""true believers" reject any appeal to what we might hold "in common."

This intrinsically self-centered outlook prioritizes, intransigently, the cornerstone of personal belief, and -- when convenient -- marginalizes, ignores or contradicts reason, science and intellectual rigor.

Currently, Kim Davis epitomizes the solipsistic belief that any person's perception of God's Law trumps human law - an appealing principle (in the minds of many) but also carte blanche for political chaos.

Compendium Of Best Pax Posts On "Too Pure Principles" And The Collapse Of Conservatism


Democracy is incompatible with theocracy.

In any system of democratic governance, the structure and function of "the body politic" -- within the specific domain of "the body politic" -- trumps individual conscience.

The same system of governance which conservatives formerly touted as The American Way requires The Rule of Law, even when legal process contradicts religious principle.

Shall we undo the Edmunds and Morrill Acts of the late 19th century that deprived Mormons of their perceived right to polygamy, which, after all, was the spousal norm of King David himself?


The United States Federal Government Forced Mormons To Renounce A Central Creed

Furthermore, the financial penalties attached to the Edmunds and Morrill Acts persuaded Mormon leadership to renounce polygamy which fifty years before was a defined pre-requisite for faithful adherence to God's Law.

Dissident believers are, of course, at liberty to exit the body politic where they are free to live their private beliefs privately.

In this regard, the Amish and Mennonites have shown the way. 

If true believers were not dismissive of learning (as evidenced by their opposition to Common Core) they might acquire useful social, religious and political tools for dissidence without their purist refusal to compromise rendering American governance inoperable.

Common Core Is a Reagan Invention

BY  
When Jeb Bush announced he was exploring a run for president, Time warnedthat Bush was “going to have to win over the Republican conservative base, which hates Common Core with the fire of a thousand suns.”
In case conservative loathing of the Common Core ran the risk of being understated, The Washington Post weighed in with an analysis stating that “the conservative base hates—hates, hates, hates—the Common Core education standards.”
Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week 
That media shorthand vastly oversimplifies not just the debate among conservatives over the Common Core but the rich, conservative roots of the standards themselves.
As I show in a new Brookings paper, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) embody conservative principles in setting goals for student learning that date back to Ronald Reagan. In fact, compared to his predecessors in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has substantially shrunk the federal role in advocating for anything resembling a model national curriculum, national standards and national assessments.
Implementation of the Common Core standards is still proceeding in more than 40 states in no small measure due to the fact that the Obama administration did not repeat the federal overreach of their GOP predecessors by funding the development of national standards and model curriculum.
The conservative roots of the Common Core are little-known today. Even among reporters who cover the education beat, few are familiar with, and even fewer have written about, the 47-page secondary school model curriculum guide and the 62-page elementary school curriculum guide that William Bennett, Ronald Reagan’s secretary of education, wrote and the Education Department published in 1987 and 1988.
Nor have reporters recounted, except in passing, the sweeping, self-described “crusade” that Senator Lamar Alexander launched to promote national standards and voluntary national assessments when he was secretary of education in the elder Bush’s administration.
George H.W. Bush’s America 2000 plan, which Lamar Alexander personally helped to craft, was a remarkably ambitious reform program that makes Barack Obama and Duncan’s efforts to encourage voluntary state adoption of the Common Core standards look timid.  
Unlike the Obama administration and Duncan, Alexander supported the development of voluntary national standards developed with federal funding, for seven subject areas (English language arts, science, history, geography, arts, civics and foreign languages).
And unlike the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program, the America 2000 plan would have dramatically increased the existing testing burden in schools by creating 15 new national tests (five tests in core subjects in three grade levels). Alexander himself called the federally funded development of national standards “the most comprehensive rethinking ever of what we teach.”[i]
Alexander believed in a limited yet muscular federal role in K-12 education. At the April 1991 unveiling of the America 2000 plan, Alexander pledged that the federal “role will be played vigorously. Washington can help by setting standards, highlighting examples, contributing some funds, providing flexibility in exchange for accountability, and pushing and prodding—then pushing and prodding some more.”
The stark difference in outcomes between the America 2000 plan (which died quietly in Congress) and the CCSS stems from the fact that the leaders of the Common Core movement learned from and avoided many of the political missteps committed with America 2000.
Instead of seeking federal funding and input in developing the Common Core standards, governors and chief state school officers scrupulously kept the federal government out of the process of drafting the standards. Instead of trying to set standards for teaching politically sensitive subjects like U.S. history, the CCSS homed in on just English language arts and math. And instead of outlining model curriculum, the federal government remained mum about selecting curriculum.
In many respects, the story of the evolving conservative role on the Common Core is rife with irony and sweeping role reversals. If Alexander can lay claim to being the original political godfather of the Common Core State Standards, his assistant secretary at the department, Diane Ravitch, is their intellectual godmother.
During her 18-month stint at the department from 1991 to 1993, Ravitch’s chief assignment was to make the case for national academic standards. After leaving the Education Department, she wrote a 186-page citizen’s guide for the Brookings Institution advocating for national standards. (Today, Ravitch is a leader of the progressive opposition to the Common Core.)
Contrary to Tea Party claims, and numerous statements by GOP presidential candidates, the CCSS do not constitute a federal takeover of what is taught in schools or a national curriculum—dubbed so-called “Obamacore” by some conservatives. These fabricated claims are not mere exaggerations of the facts but rather constitute the use of the “big lie technique”—as Sol Stern, a conservative education scholar at the Manhattan Institute, puts it.
The truth is that the Common Core standards tilt heavily toward conservative pedagogical traditions in their rigor, their call for content-rich curriculum, their emphasis on the development of literacy in history, civics, and foundational documents of American democracy, and their expectation that students will use evidence from readings in persuasive writing and class discussions. The CCSS are thus a classic case of conservatives not taking “yes” for an answer.
The adoption of higher standards through the Common Core is a major advance for America’s students. But it is still too early to tell if raising standards will necessarily lead to better outcomes for students and more enriching teaching opportunities for educators—though preliminary indications are that CCSS are leading to higher performance standards, and isincreasing student achievement and boosting college-readiness.
If conservatives abandon the false narrative that the CCSS constitute a federal takeover of what is taught in schools, they could play a leading role in ensuring that the CCSS are implemented with fidelity to conservative principles. But in the end, the paramount litmus test in the debate over the Common Core should be a comparative one: Do the CCSS accelerate and deepen student learning and does it boost career- and college-readiness, compared to the previous system of 50 differing state standards?
Maintaining political purity, fostering fealty to federalism, or opposing all things Obama are important goals for many conservatives. Yet those factors shouldn’t ultimately matter more in assessing the Common Core than examining its actual impact on students.
In a 1995 essay on her experience in developing national standards, Diane Ravitch warned that “Educators have an unfortunate habit of making the best the enemy of the good, thus beating back any proposed reform that does not promise to solve all problems simultaneously.”[ii]
The vast majority of states have stood by the Common Core, and so far refused to let the best become the enemy of the good. Today, it’s time for conservative critics of the Common Core to stop rewriting history, halt the maelstrom of misinformation on the Common Core, and pivot away from pandering to political prejudices.
And it’s time for conservatives to start reasserting a leadership role in improving the implementation of the Common Core for the betterment of the nation’s students.
[i] Lamar Alexander, “What We Were Doing When We Were Interrupted,” in John F. Jennings, ed., National Issues in Education: The Past Is Prologue (Phi Delta Kappa and the Institute for Educational Leadership, Bloomington, Indiana and Washington, D.C., 1993), p.16.
[ii] Diane Ravitch, “The Search for Order and Conformity: Standards in American Education,” in Diane Ravitch and Maris A. Vinovskis, eds.,Learning from the Past: What History Teaches Us About School Reform (The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1995), p. 188.
David Whitman is a contributing editor at Education Post. From 2009 to 2014, he was chief speechwriter for U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

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Barry Goldwater On Gays And Legislating Morality

September 11, 2015, 9:45 am
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Barry Goldwater: "Religion Has No Place In Public Policy

September 11, 2015, 9:47 am
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Thomas Jefferson On "The Absolutely Essential Wall Of Separation Between Church And State"

September 11, 2015, 9:49 am
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Founding Fathers: The Separation Of Church And State

September 11, 2015, 9:50 am
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Benjamin Franklin: The Eye Of Reason And Seeing By Faith

September 11, 2015, 9:55 am
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Sarah Palin Bags A Big One

September 11, 2015, 10:00 am
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Founding Fathers: Religion, Education And The Descent Into Oligarchy

September 11, 2015, 10:03 am
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“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.” —Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Franklin Quote on Religion
"The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.”
Founding Father James Madison, 1819, Writings, 8:432, quoted from Gene Garman, “Essays In Addition to America’s Real Religion”
“No one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
George Washington
 “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by Founding Father John Adams
 “The legislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of religion.”
Founding Father Charles Pinckney, Constitutional Convention, 1787
When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.”
~Founding Father John Adams, letter to Dr. Price, April 8, 1785
“No religious doctrine shall be established by law.”
Founding Father Elbridge Gerry, Annals of Congress 1:729-731
 “Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
Founding Father Roger Sherman, Congress, August 19, 1789
 “Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, August 10, 1787
 “I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802

In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own. It is error alone that needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Horatio Spofford, 1814
“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson: in letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813
“State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the “wall of separation between church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson: in a speech to the Virginia Baptists, 1808
“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814,
“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1791
“I never liked the Hierarchy of the Church — an equality in the teacher of Religion, and a dependence on the people, are republican sentiments — but if the Clergy combine, they will have their influence on Government”
~Founding Father Rufus King, Rufus King: American Federalist, pp. 56-57
 “And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion & govt will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”
Founding Father James Madison, letter to Edward Livingston, July 10, 1822
 “Every new and successful example of a perfect separation between ecclesiastical and civil matters is of importance.”
Founding Father James Madison, letter, 1822
 “Strongly guarded as is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by ecclesiastical bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.”
Founding Father James Madison; Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments “
 “When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obligated to call for help of the civil power, it’s a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.”
Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, letter to Richard Price, October 9, 1780
“In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
 “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”
Founding Father George Mason, Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776
 “It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.”
Founding Father George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
“A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office or public trust under the United States. I am a friend to a variety of sects, because they keep one another in order. How many different sects are we composed of throughout the United States? How many different sects will be in congress? We cannot enumerate the sects that may be in congress. And there are so many now in the United States that they will prevent the establishment of any one sect in prejudice to the rest, and will forever oppose all attempts to infringe religious liberty. If such an attempt be made, will not the alarm be sounded throughout America? If congress be as wicked as we are foretold they will, they would not run the risk of exciting the resentment of all, or most of the religious sects in America.”
Founding Father Edmund Randolph, address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 10, 1788
A general toleration of religion appears to me the best means of peopling our country… The free exercise of religion hath stocked the Northern part of the continent with inhabitants; and although Europe hath in great measure adopted a more moderate policy, yet the profession of Protestantism is extremely inconvenient in many places there. A Calvinist, a Lutheran, or Quaker, who hath felt these inconveniences in Europe, sails not to Virginia, where they are felt perhaps in a (greater degree).”
Patrick Henry, observing that immigrants flock to places where there is no established religion, Religious Tolerance, 1766
Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from the possibility of such oppression.”
Founding Father Oliver Wolcott, Connecticut Ratifying Convention, 9 January 1788
 “Some very worthy persons, who have not had great advantages for information, have objected against that clause in the constitution which provides, that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. They have been afraid that this clause is unfavorable to religion. But my countrymen, the sole purpose and effect of it is to exclude persecution, and to secure to you the important right of religious liberty. We are almost the only people in the world, who have a full enjoyment of this important right of human nature. In our country every man has a right to worship God in that way which is most agreeable to his conscience. If he be a good and peaceable person he is liable to no penalties or incapacities on account of his religious sentiments; or in other words, he is not subject to persecution. But in other parts of the world, it has been, and still is, far different. Systems of religious error have been adopted, in times of ignorance. It has been the interest of tyrannical kings, popes, and prelates, to maintain these errors. When the clouds of ignorance began to vanish, and the people grew more enlightened, there was no other way to keep them in error, but to prohibit their altering their religious opinions by severe persecuting laws. In this way persecution became general throughout Europe.”
Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, Philip B Kurland and Ralph Lerner (eds.), The Founder’s Constitution, University of Chicago Press, 1987, Vol. 4, p.
“God has appointed two kinds of government in the world, which are distinct in their nature, and ought never to be confounded together; one of which is called civil, the other ecclesiastical government.”
Founding Father Isaac Backus, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, 1773
 “The American states have gone far in assisting the progress of truth; but they have stopped short of perfection. They ought to have given every honest citizen an equal right to enjoy his religion and an equal title to all civil emoluments, without obliging him to tell his religion. Every interference of the civil power in regulating opinion, is an impious attempt to take the business of the Deity out of his own hands; and every preference given to any religious denomination, is so far slavery and bigotry.”
Founding Father Noah Webster, calling for no religious tests to serve in public office, Sketches of American Policy, 1785
These are hardly the words of men who allegedly believed that America should be a Christian nation governed by the Bible as conservatives constantly claim. On the contrary, the great majority of the Founders believed strongly in separation of church and state. So keep in mind that this country has survived for over two centuries under the principle of separation and it is only now when conservatives are attempting to destroy that very cornerstone that we find America becoming ever more divided and more politically charged than ever before. If this right-wing faction has their way, America as we know it will cease to exist and the freedoms we have enjoyed because of the Constitution will erode.
The Founding Fathers had a vision of this nation and trusted that the people would protect that vision and improve upon it. Now is not the time to fail them. Because the day the people fail, so does America.
Ted Cruz 27% Favorable Opinion
“It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin. Let us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force. Let us by all wise and constitutional measures promote intelligence among the people as the best means of preserving our liberties.”
Founding Father James Monroe, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817
“A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”
Benjamin Franklin
 “The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it, there should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.
Founding Father John Adams
“[T]he tax which will be paid for this purpose [education] is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson,

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, (A)nd if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.”
Founding Father Thomas Jefferson,
“If virtue & knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great security.”
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779
Louis D. Brandeis Oligarchy Quote
Washington, in a letter on immigration, said broad-based ownership would insure “the happiness of the lowest class of people because of the equal distribution of property.”
Adams favored “preserving the balance of power on the side of equal liberty and public virtue (by making) … the acquisition of land easy to every member of society.”
Jefferson wrote to Madison that “legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property.”
Even Alexander Hamilton, favorite of the moneyed interests, argued that few people wanted to be wage laborers only, and he believed, like Henry Ford centuries later, that a strong middle class was needed to become energetic customers of businesses in the entire economy.
Washington gave tax incentives to New England cod fishers to rebuild their fleets after the Revolutionary War on the condition that the captains and the crew sign contracts ensuring broad-based profit sharing among all workers. He also favored grants of substantial land to veterans of the Revolutionary War to make them into self-sufficient property-owners. Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase to allow for more land ownership by citizens. The founders also sought to outlaw primogeniture, the practice whereby all property was inherited by the first-born son, the underpinning of feudal economies throughout Europe.
James Madison  “the daring depravity of the times.The stock-jobbers will become the  praetorian band of the government, at once its tools and its tyrants, bribed by its largesse, and overawing it by clamors and combinations. Substituting the motive of private interest in place of public duty, leading to a real domination of the few under an apparent domination of the many.”
James Madison “History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
Founding Fathers Liberals
We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition…
George Washington

Thomas Jefferson saw it coming: “Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.” Jefferson added, “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance.”
Andrew Jackson 7th President warned  “Unless you become more watchful in your states and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will in the end find that the most important powers of government have been given or bartered away, and the control of your dearest interests have been passed into the hands of these corporations.”
Abraham Lincoln saw it coming: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my Country. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt saw  it coming: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”
Thomas Jefferson also saw this: “It is a very dangerous doctrine to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions,” It is one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy.” The Supreme Court has recently enabled the Oligarchs via “Citizens United” and by encouraging more even Voter Suppression efforts.
John Adams The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
The Founding Fathers had a vision of this nation and trusted that the people would protect that vision and improve upon it. Now is not the time to fail them. Because  the day the people fail, so does America.
 James Waterman Wise,  an author, art dealer and lecturer who warned against Nazism before Hitler came to power.
 “If fascism comes, it will not be identified with any “shirt” movement, nor with an “insignia,” but it will probably be “wrapped up in the American flag and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of the constitution.”



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"Bretagne": The Last Living 9/11 Search-And-Rescue Dog

September 11, 2015, 10:05 am
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Bretagne

Last Known Living 9/11 Search-and-Rescue Dog Honored in New York City

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Sep 11, 2015

The last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog was recently honored with a weekend full of surprises in New York City, where she also celebrated her 16th birthday.
Bretagne the golden retriever and her handler Denise Corliss are a part of Texas Task Force 1, one of the FEMA national urban search-and-rescue programs that responded to Ground Zero to help find survivors and, later, to help recover the lost bodies of victims.
"Responding to the World Trade Center was our first deployment," Corliss told BarkPost, which sponsored their trip and commemoration in the city. "We were there to try and find survivors. When our task force arrived in Ground Zero, I just couldn’t believe the magnitude. And then I look down to her, and she seemed stoked and ready to work.
"Towards the end of our mission, it changed from a search mission to a recovery mission. I was just so grateful to have a canine partner that helped me get through it."
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Corrliss and Bretagne arrived in New York City last Friday, and they spent the entire weekend being honored and thanked with surprises and gifts from various companies and organizations in the city.
They were treated to a special suite at 1 Hotel Central Park, where Bretagne got a luxury doggie bed, dozens of toys and even room service dining.PHOTO: Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.
Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.more +

They got to ride in a vintage yellow cab, and when they were taken to Times Square, a huge billboard with Bretagne's photo lit up.
"NYC welcomes you and your mom," it read. "Thank you for both your services."

PHOTO: Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.
Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.more +

The 16-year-old golden retriever then got a little playtime at the Hudson River Park, where she was presented the "doggie equivalent of the key to the city -- a bone to the city" made byTiffany and Co.
Along the way, dozens of New Yorkers stopped to pet Bretagne and thank her for her service.

PHOTO: Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015. BarkPost
Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.more +

At the end, she was treated to an "epic" Sweet 16 party, where she received hundreds of gifts and even got her own dog-friendly birthday cake.
Perhaps most special of the gifts was a cobblestone dedicated to Bretagne at the 9/11 memorial plaza by the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

PHOTO: Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015. BarkPost
Bretagne, the last known living 9/11 search-and-rescue dog, was honored for her service and given a 16th birthday celebration on Sept. 4, 2015.more +

Though Bretagne is now retired, she continues to volunteer at school programs that help children learn to read.
Her career in recovery work includes not only her service at Ground Zero, but in other major disaster zones, including New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
"When we deployed to some of the disasters, what I didn’t anticipate is the role that they take on as a therapy dog," Corliss said. "It provides an opportunity for people to have support from a dog and comfort from a dog."
She added, "I’ve had several canine partners, but Bretagne is that one dog for me."


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