Caffeinated Thoughts

Florida Governor Rick Scott to Sign Bill Nixing Public School Teacher Tenure
Maryland Assembly Black Caucus Members Reject Linking Gay Marriage to Civil Rights Movement
U.N. Security Council Approves No Fly Zone in Libya: Are We At War? YES
This is No Way to Win a Nomination and Influence the Voters
Iowans United for Life Speak out at Iowa Statehouse

Florida Governor Rick Scott to Sign Bill Nixing Public School Teacher Tenure

Posted: 18 Mar 2011 04:45 AM PDT

Florida Governor Rick Scott is expected to sign legislation that would eliminate teacher tenure for teachers hired after July 1 of this year and instead opt for merit pay which will go into effect in 2014.

This is a good first step. The unfortunate aspect to this bill is that it doesn't eliminate tenure retroactively. I understand there are likely legal issues in doing so, but I can't think of any other profession which practically gives somebody a job for life. So bad teachers with tenure stay on the payroll unfortunately. One thing that watching Waiting for Superman did for me was to help illustrate how hard it is to fire bad teachers.

Even here in Iowa even without a tenure system it is still very, very difficult to eliminate bad teachers. Jason Glass, Director of the Iowa Department of Education, is supportive of merit pay, but I believe it is very unlikely to see legislation like this go through the Iowa General Assembly anytime soon.

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Maryland Assembly Black Caucus Members Reject Linking Gay Marriage to Civil Rights Movement

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 09:15 PM PDT

I didn't get a chance to post on it last week, but the surprise victory for traditional marriage in the Maryland House of Representatives was a remarkable example of the repudiation of hitching gay marriage to the civil rights movement. African-American churches stepped up, in droves, and communicated their desire for the definition of marriage to remain one man, one woman in Maryland. Even though Democrats had a overwhelming majority (98-43) in the Maryland Assembly, 34 of those members belong to the Black Caucus.

That most certainly made the difference in this case, as it did in California when Proposition 8 was passed. Baptist Press reports:

In the two weeks before floor debate, at least two members of the black caucus made public switches from co-sponsoring the bill to opposing it.

"The black churches — since I’ve been here — have never asked us for anything, that I can recall. They are asking now, ‘Don’t use the word marriage,’" Del. Cheryl Glenn, a member of the black caucus, said during floor debate. She said "my faith tells me" to vote against it…

…Del. Emmett Burns, a member of the black caucus and an outspoken opponent of the bill, said he was called the "n-word" for his stance. He also said he was offended by comparisons between the civil rights movement and the "gay marriage" movement.

"Show me your Selma, Alabama," he said during debate. "… [The bill] violates natural law. It always denies a child either a father or a mother. It promotes the homosexual lifestyle. It turns a moral wrong into a civil right. … [If the bill passes] children will be taught that the homosexual lifestyle is on par with the heterosexual lifestyle."

A prominent Southern Baptist pastor, Robert Anderson Jr., pastor of Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, Md., told Baptist Press in February that he, too, found comparisons between civil rights and "gay marriage" offensive.

"We didn’t choose to be born black. To be black or African American is not sin," Anderson told Baptist Press. "The fact that we fought for civil rights, we were just fighting for justice for any man, any woman — regardless of their skin color. … To try to create a system and special laws for a group of citizens that are living in immorality and wanting to force all of us to embrace that as if it is morally equivalent, that is wrong."

Anderson added, "Jesus still saves. Homosexuality, lesbianism — you can still be delivered from it. It’s sin, and there’s an answer to sin."

Here in Iowa, we also see this with Rev. Keith Ratliff of Maple St. Baptist Church in Des Moines leading the charge.

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U.N. Security Council Approves No Fly Zone in Libya: Are We At War? YES

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 04:56 PM PDT

Moments ago, the UN Security Council approved a no fly zone in Libya. The vote passed 10-0 with 5 abstaining. Those abstaining were China, Russia, Brazil, India and Germany. Now who enforces it? Theoretically the UN as a whole does, but we all know that the US will bear the majority of the responsibility. To the question above, are we at war? I think the answer is clearly yes, and Ron Paul makes the case as well, a no fly zone IS and act of war. I made the case earlier HERE, that a no fly zone would lead to all out war and nation building. I truely hope that I am wrong in my assessment, but fear that I am not. And that my friends is how easy it is to end up in a war.

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This is No Way to Win a Nomination and Influence the Voters

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 11:42 AM PDT

On Tuesday, Angela, a mother of five children from Prince William County, Virginia, called the Rush Limbaugh show. She no doubt represents millions of conservative voters in her viewpoint that moms with small children should stay at home. She said she won't vote for Sarah Palin because she is not impressed with how Palin protected her young daughter during the 2008 campaign season, but it was obvious her bigger point was that mothers should be at home with their children (not fathers).

Talker Limbaugh did three things that, I think, could turn millions of Republican listeners similar to Angela away from Sarah Palin.

First, America's Truth Detector, Rush Limbaugh, claimed she was a seminar caller (this is Rush’s term meaning a "fake caller” – a liberal pretending to be a nut-burger conservative).

"We gotta make a note to hire you again. You’re one of the best paid actors we’ve ever had on this program."

This means Limbaugh essentially called her a liar, suggesting people like her don't really exist. That would be a huge political miscalculation, I think. Here is what Limbaugh said after she hung up:

"All right, Angela, it was. That is Angela in Dumfries, Virginia. You do have her number, right? You got her number? Okay, call her agent."

Second, he called her a sexist. And by modern feminist standards (those sadly now being embraced by many evangelicals and others on the right), she probably is “sexist”. But she represents millions of Christians, many of us politically active, who believe that it is God's ordained order for mothers to stay at home with their children. But we are not a monolithic bunch. Some believe that it is fine if Sarah Palin runs for President, but don't think it ought to be the norm for mothers. Others, like Angela, think she should not run.

Here is the key exchange on that point:

RUSH: You’re not disappointing me. You’re just a sexist.

CALLER: Am I? Well, that could be it, too.

RUSH: A little sexism going on here, but that’s fine, everybody has, you know, boundaries to allow some of that stuff to happen….

CALLER: Thanks for allowing me to talk.

RUSH: Who would you vote for in the Republican field?

CALLER: Say it again?

RUSH: In the current Republican field, who would you vote for?

CALLER: Mitch Daniels.

RUSH: He’s got kids.

CALLER: Well, his kids have a mother.

RUSH: Okay. So it’s okay for a father to have all kinds of kids and abandon ‘em and leave them –

CALLER: No, he wouldn’t be abandoning them.

RUSH: — with the mother.

CALLER: That’s right. I’m a traditionalist, Rush, and I think a lot of conservatives are.

RUSH: Well, Sarah Palin’s kids have a father.

CALLER: That’s a father, what’s that have to do with being a mother? Because he’s a father?

Limbaugh has bought into the paradigm that fathers and mothers have an equal responsibility to raise the children at home, that there is no distinctive role for mothers. Or if he ever held the view at one time, he has abandoned it in order to justify criticizing non-Palin voters.

Third, he assumes that voters like us are worthless and should be ignored or insulted. But that is a political loser. Though many Mitt Romney supporters have accused evangelicals of being bigots for opposing him because of his Mormonism, Romney never stooped so low as to articulate that view himself, even if he believed it. He is a smart guy. He needs to win those folks over, not alienate them. Many moderates have mocked Mike Huckabee for being a creationist, and for denying the essentials of evolution, but he is not putting it in the faces of these opponents. He is trying to win them. John McCain stumbled badly in 2000 by insulting evangelicals and it may have cost himself the nomination. It took him eight years to mend those fences, but having done so, he was able to win the GOP primaries by getting lots of evangelical voters to forgive him. Sarah Palin has twice called those who think mothers should stay at home "Neanderthals". This is no way to influence people who probably think Margaret Thatcher an equal to Ronald Reagan.

I believe Limbaugh exhibited a rare goof with his last line:

RUSH: It seems to me all this hating going on on Sarah Palin, for whatever reason, there are a lot of people who just don’t like the idea of a strong woman. Well, isn’t that what we heard in explaining the criticism of Hillary? We did.

Rush, who said that? Who said Hillary was opposed because she was a strong woman? The women you call Feminazis. Now you are saying the same thing about opponents of Sarah Palin that they oppose her because she is a strong woman. What does that say about you, Rush? Of course, everyone knows you are not a feminazi.

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Iowans United for Life Speak out at Iowa Statehouse

Posted: 17 Mar 2011 07:45 AM PDT

Several prolife groups held a joint press conference yesterday at the Iowa Statehouse in response to the logjam that has occurred in the Iowa House over prolife legislation. Groups represented include: Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, Iowans for Life, Iowa Catholic Conference, Council Bluffs Interfaith Coalition to Keep Carhart Out, Concerned Women for America – Iowa, and Iowa Right to Life.

You can watch the video of the press conference below:

Below is a trasnscript of Jenifer Bowen’s comments. Jenifer Bowen is the Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life who organized the press conference.

LeRoy Carhart is a man who has for decades aggressively, relentlessly pursued the physical destruction of the most vulnerable of our society—our unborn, children who have never taken their first birth.

In 1997, Mr. Carhart found himself in court. His testimony was required because it was discovered that the University of Nebraska Medical Center was conducting experiments using brain tissue from children he had aborted. He stated in his testimony that there were times he did not remove the fetus, the little one, intact. He acknowledged that as he brought the babies partially out, they were still alive, that their hearts were still beating. THIS IS INFANTACIDE. I will not belabor the gruesomeness of his words—they are available if you would like them in more detail.

2007 found LeRoy Carhart in a federal jury trial. Under oath, his clinic workers testified that he was performing SIX abortions every 30 minutes. 12 an hour. In just a 4 hour work day, that's 48 abortions A DAY! In just 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 144 children lose their lives. Of those, approximately 10-20 a week are late-term abortions.

Also, under oath his workers testified that he grossed anywhere from $600,000 to 3-4 million dollars a year, and that's just the money from abortions.

And he has set his sights on Iowa. On our precious daughters, sisters, nieces, granddaughters and friends. And on the lives of their future children. When he made the announcement in November—he indicated he wanted to move into Maryland, Indiana and Iowa. He opened up shop in December in Maryland, took over an existing facility in Indiana. Nothing is keeping him from moving into our state, if we do not pass a bill banning late-term abortion. Period.

As I have stated on every available occasion, we are in support of all pro-life legislation that has been introduced this session. All of it. This includes the life at conception bill. You have never nor will ever hear me say anything other than how important it is to have the conversation of when life begins. There is not one individual standing beside me here today and countless more who couldn't make it today that is not in this for any other result than TO SEE ABORTION END. We are ALL in this to lose our jobs.

This is not an ethereal conversation about who is more pro-life, who is more righteous, who is more right. This is not about who is to blame. This is about responsibility. Just as we rush in, taking responsibility for the lives in ruin, with tens of thousands of text messages, donating to those in desperate need in far-off Japan, it is our responsibility, our obligation, our duty to rescue those who will be scheduled to die at the hands of one like LeRoy Carhart or other abortionists. It is our responsibility to block LeRoy Carhart at the border. We have an opportunity with the late-term abortion ban to offer a stop-gap emergency measure to stop him even before he begins.

I stand here today side-by-side with these organizations, these strong leaders. Yet we do not stand here alone. Also with us today are the TEN THOUSAND people that have signed our Iowa Right to Life petitions just since this past fall. Concerned Iowans—Iowans who want their Legislature to STOP THE PRO-DEATH agenda that pervades our cities, schools, our state.

We are asking you today to contact your legislators in the next few days. Call them. Email them. Visit with them. Let them know you want better for Iowa. Let them know you support them supporting pro-life legislation.

And to the Legislature we ask that you support the pro-life legislation put forth. We ask that you protect Iowa from further becoming a safe-haven state for late-term abortion. The lives of our future children literally hang in the balance—and MUST be saved from the destruction that they face if we simply do nothing.

Thank you.

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Horoscop

vineri, 18 martie 2011

Caffeinated Thoughts

Caffeinated Thoughts

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