Tag: Rockwall-Heath High School

Durable Government: Foundations vs Framework (Do you know the difference?)

“God isn’t mentioned in the Constitution” say the atheists and the ignorant. I agree. The Name(s) of God are not to be found anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.

The heads of my liberal naysayers will explode when I say this about the foundation ofdurable government our nation: The Constitution is not the foundation. It is the framework.

Let’s define terms. Shall we? The following definitions are from the WordReference.com online dictionary.

Nation – a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.

Foundation – the base on which some structure rests.

Framework – a skeletal structure designed to support something.

We the People began to become a nation while still under the constitutional monarchy of Great Britain. Before the American Revolution, our colonial forefathers were citizens of that global empire.

Thirteen individual and autonomous states comprised our particular territory when these colonies signed a peace treaty with that empire in 1783.

Each of the thirteen states drew up their own constitutional frameworks of government. It was a compact between those thirteen states that united us as a confederacy. The framework of  that confederate government could be likened to a shack that was unable to weather storms.

On May 25, 1787 delegates of all the states except Rhode Island convened a constitutional convention in Philadelphia. The original intent was to modify or fix the confederate constitution so the states could go forward as a strong nation. This did not happen.

After weeks of debates and hand-wringing, the convention was wholly unfruitful. It was at this point Founding Father Benjamin Franklin took the floor with his famous speech that turned the convention upside down. You can read his famous speech via this link: Franklin’s Appeal for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention

Instead of fixing an unworkable confederacy, the convention of 1787 produced the U.S. Constitution, the framework of our present-day federal government.

Construction professionals know to first lay a sturdy foundation before hammering together the frame of a structure.

Our present-day Constitution is a rhetorical framework for government that rests upon a philosophical foundation.

The Declaration of Independence declares the philosophical foundation for these United States of America. I quote from the second paragraph:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”

Creator – a person or thing that creates.

The philosophical foundation upon which the framework of our government rests is acknowledgement of  God as our supreme authority.

To my knowledge, there are only two nations in all history that share this same philosophical foundation: Israel and the U.S.A.

To support the above, I refer you to page 66 of the book titled One Nation Under God: A Factual History of America’s Religious Heritage By Leon G Stevens.

34% of the Founding Fathers’ quotes came directly out of the Bible

Atheists, agnostics and liberal educators diligently and relentlessly strive to blot out all mention of God in text books, public institutions, universities, and even the hallowed halls of Congress. But, there it is.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

 For in him [God] we live and move and exist…

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Franklin’s Appeal for Prayer at the Constitutional Convention of 1787

 

Mr. President,

The small progress we have made after 4 or five weeks close attendance & continual reasonings with each other,”our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many noes and ays, is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the Human Understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want ofIndependence_Hall_Detail_1752 political wisdom, some we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of Government and examined the different forms of those Republics which having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution now no longer exist. And we have viewed Modern States all round Europe, but find none of their Constitutions suitable to our circumstances.

In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection. ”Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. To that kind providence, we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, [the] despair of establishing Governments be Human Wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I, therefore, beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of the City be requested to officiate in that service.

Source: AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH ITS GREATEST SPEECHES | A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

Boys will be _______ ?

Christina Hoff Sommers, a scholar at the American Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise InstituteAmerican Enterprise Institute, explains how boys are being deprived of natural boy behaviors in public schools. Her presentation discusses the problem and she articulates the ‘cure’.

Get your Google on and discover the consequences of the feminization of boys in American society. Here are search topics and counts of associated internet pages addressing this issue.

  • “negative effects of feminism on society” 743,000 pages
  • “how to raise a feminist son” 13,600,000 pages
  • “feminists and transgender activists” 701,000 pages
  • “how does the number of transgender boys in 2017 compare to 20 years ago” 1,680,000,000 pages

Feminism isn’t about promoting females; it’s a war on males. The facts and numbers are unmistakable: feminist activism is at the root of the transgender phenomenon.

  • “how does the number of transgender suicides in 2017 compare to 20 years ago” 92,300,000 pages

What’s behind the feminization of boys? Initially, feminism was all about raising the status of women to a level playing field with men in salaries, opportunities, etc. But, the redefinition of traditional (globally traditional) male-female roles was taken over by liberal feminists who moved on to promoting the LGBT movement.

Liberal feminism was aggressive then, but a quite different quality of aggression to the

spiteful malevolence we see now. – Ex-feminist Helen Pluckrose

 

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Image: Grandparents.com

 

Ex-feminist Helen Pluckrose describes how postmodernism has affected American society in an article written for Aero Magazine, 29 Dec. 2016.

“Very simplistically, [postmodernism] was an academic shift pioneered by Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard which denied that reliable knowledge could ever be attained and claimed that meaning and reality themselves had broken down. It rejected large, overarching explanations (meta-narratives) which included religion but also science, and replaced them with subjective, relative accounts (mini-narratives) of the experiences of an individual or sub-cultural group. These ideas gained great currency in the humanities and social sciences and so became both an artistic movement and a social “theory.” They rejected the values of universal liberalism, the methods of science and the use of reason and critical thinking as the way to determine truth and form ethics.”

Read the full article via this link: WHY I NO LONGER IDENTIFY AS A FEMINIST

As is socialism, postmodernism remains forever a theory because it can never be proven to work.

A second reference was written in 2010 by Arthur L. Petterway, a Houston ISD principal.

IMPLEMENTING POSTMODERNISM IN CHANGING THE ROLE OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS IN AMERICA’S SCHOOLS

“Gone are the days when school administrators merely functioned as principals or head teachers who are revered and feared at the same time by their subordinates. Today, the work of administrators has moved away from leadership and towards management and has continually posed problems so challenging and daunting enough to erode the very core administrative values that they were trained to embrace in the first place.”

Public schools have become the laboratories of postmodernists where social engineering replaces academia, scholarship, and critical thinking.

What’s the cure? Get your children out of public schools and into private Christian schools or, better still, homeschools where boys are allowed to be boys and girls allowed to be girls, all while on an equal footing for leadership opportunities.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

Average Global Temperature – Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

News stories from time to time raise the specter of anthropogenic global warming that must be arrested and/or retarded to prevent the death of all mankind.

My business is measurement and control, sometimes for production processes, most of the time for indoor climate control systems, and a growing business sector of self-funding energy retrofits.

The proponents of the supposed anthropogenic global warming/climate change declare a rise in average temperature.

In my business, if there is to be a measurement of airflow through a large aperture, say an air handling unit, we know in advance there is no single-point measurement that will accurately represent the average rate of airflow.

Typically, across the face of the aperture, the opening through which air flows, we require a minimum of one sample per square foot. If the aperture is a large filter bank of MountainRangeTennisRacket_zpsa5da6447some dimension, we mark off a grid where grid lines cross at one-foot intervals. For example, if the filter media surface is six feet high by 20 feet wide, the total number of samples will be 180, one per square foot of area.

Assuming the surface area of the earth to be 197,000,000 miles2, and each mile2 accounts for 2,878,400 feet2, what will be the number of samples I would measure and record to derive an average global temperature? Let’s do the math.

197,000,000 miles2  X 2,878,400 square feet per mile = 5.4920448 X 1015 square feet of surface area, therefore this same number of samples. Naturally, the samples must all be collected in real time, therefore there must be one sensor per square mile. The reader immediately recognizes the astronomical cost to place precise temperature sensors and supporting electronics over such an area.

If you compare one sensor per square mile, you will readily see how the accuracy is very low. Yes, I know, NOAA uses NASA satellite data. But the data is highly inaccurate because it derives from infrared temperature (IR) observations. Without telling you how to build a watch, let it suffice to say IR is not a good means to accurate measurements.

The alarmists like Al Gore attribute global warming to human activity. How does the sum of human activity compare to the heated core of the earth or, better still, that blazing ball of fire 93 million miles distant?

Given 7.5 billion people and an average weight of 137 lbs./person, the sum of all human flesh adds up to approximately 1.0275 X 1012 pounds of flesh. How does the sum of all human flesh compare to the mass of the nearest star (our sun) that is 1, 300,000 times the mass of the entire earth?

Consider a USA Today news story titled California’s endless winter: 8 feet of snow still on the ground in June (7 June 2017). From this story I quote, “the amount of snow on the ground in the central Sierra region was twice as much as usual, marking its biggest June snowpack in decades”.

Next, from The Next Grand Minimum (7 June 2017), Solar Update June 2017–the sun is slumping and headed even lower. I quote: “The F10.7 flux shows that over the last three and a half years the Sun has gone from solar maximum through a bounded decline to the current stage of the trail to the minimum. Solar minimum is likely to be still three years away.”

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Al Gore’s 100′ long, Diesel powered mega houseboat, vintage 2008

One would have to have an ego as large as Al Gore’s houseboat to believe a mere man can affect the global temperature of the earth.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

Results of Critical Thinking Standardized Testing | Discouraging Results

critical thinking faliures of large universities

WSJ: A Closer Look at CLA+ Test Results

Graduates not ready for employment: “A survey by PayScale Inc., an online pay and benefits researcher, showed 50% of employers complain that college graduates they hire aren’t ready for the workplace. Their No. 1 complaint? Poor critical-reasoning skills.”

Ill-equipped for problem-solving: “International rankings show U.S. college graduates are in the middle of the pack when it comes to numeracy and literacy and near the bottom when it comes to problem-solving.”

Small vs. Large Colleges: “Some of the biggest gains occur at smaller colleges where students are less accomplished at arrival but soak up a rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum.”

How does the college where your freshman son or daughter plan to study compare?

Small colleges and home schools are made for each other.

Build Upon a Solid Foundation

My grandchildren excel under Classical Conversations homeschool education.

classical conversations.png What is Classical Conversations homeschool education? A Forbes article dated 25 April 2017 says, “The first disruptor is Classical Conversations. This home-school curriculum charges less than $1,500 a year for high school. Classical Conversations was founded by Leigh Bortins in 1997 with 11 students and the aim of restoring Western civilization, memorization, recitation and strong science and math to lesson plans. You won’t hear this too often on National Public Radio, but Classical Conversation’s curriculum now has more than 100,000 “seats,” i.e., registered students, and an academic performance most public schools only dream of. The curriculum is Christian but can be adapted to serve those seeking secular classical education.”

The Core - Leigh Bortins.PNG
leigh_bortins Purchase from Amazon

Leigh A. Bortins: Founder and Chief Academic Officer, Classical Conversations

In an age when many are telling parents who they aren’t … Leigh Bortins reminds parents who they are.

Leigh Bortins is a nationally acclaimed educator, perhaps best known for her ability to demystify the fundamental tools of learning. As a teacher, author and commentator, Leigh is credited with helping to launch the “home-centered learning” education movement.

Leigh is the author of The Core: Teaching Your Child the Foundations of Classical Education, The Question: Teaching Your Child the Essentials of Classical Education, and The Conversation: Challenging Your Student With a Classical Education.

Will your children and grandchildren fall into the ranks of the Snowflake Generation or will they be equipped to lead our nation?

facebook symbol Follow Classical Conversations on Facebook

John White
Rockwall, Texas

Muslims openly threaten U.S. Christians and Jews in NYC on Ramadan

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Screen shot from the Gateway Pundit

Hamas-linked Muslim activist Linda Sarsour knows very well the president’s executive order does not ban either Muslim immigration or Muslim visitors. She knows very well the purpose of the executive order is to restrict travel into our country from seven Middle Eastern Muslim countries where we have no secure means to vet travelers.

Quoting GP reporter ,

“New York – Muslims continued on with their civilization Jihad as they took over the street in front of Trump Tower during ‘Iftar’ or ‘breaking their Ramadan fast’.

There is no reason for this other than Muslims letting the infidels know that they here and working on their Islamic takeover.

Of course Hamas-linked, Linda Sarsour was also there spewing more lies about her intentions as a Muslim activist. She claims Trump is full of hatred and divisiveness which of course is untrue. The real hate and divisiveness come from Islam and Sarsour knows it.

Muslim countries are the most bigoted places on earth. Several Muslim countries don’t even allow Israeli Jews to enter, yet Sarsour acts like a victim. Saudi Arabia prohibits Christian churches and Jewish Synagogues from being built, so save us the crocodile tears, Sarsour.”

To the above, I add Saudi Arabian ‘charities’ fund the construction and operation of Wahhabi Mosques across America. Learn more from a PBS Frontline transcript of A SAUDI TIMEBOMB?. This Frontline program was aired in 2014.

A 2016 article in the NY Post reports, “…the Saudis fund up to 80% of American mosques, at least in part. And their goal is the same here as it is elsewhere in the world where Islam must compete with other religions: to prevent Muslims from integrating into the host society.”

Muslims can never integrate into American society. But, there is good news.

Now, the good news is millions of Muslims are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. Read Why Are Millions of Muslims Becoming Christian? in the National Catholic Register (19 May 2016).

Read more good news from The Blaze (12 Jan. 2017): Droves of Middle East Muslims are converting to Christianity.

British Prime Minister May finally gets it. Muslims are truly out to conquer and subjugate Great Britain.

On our side of the pond, Democrats are hell-bent on destroying all America stands for. Corruption in the universities and madness in liberal state governments pose greater threats to our national security than the sum of all Muslim jihadists.

Democrat activists (paid and unpaid) stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the jihadists unaware that they are as much a target of Islamists as are we Christians and Jews.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

It’s not a ban – It’s a moratorium.

I thought a definition of a term may help liberal federal judges on the issue of the executive orders to check the flow of potential terrorists onto our shores. Yes, you Democrats are welcome to elevate your literacy, too.

mor•a•to•ri•um  (môr′ə tôr′ē əm, -tōr′-, mor′-), n., pl.  -to•ri•a (-tôr′ē ə, -tōr′-),  -to•ri•ums. 

  1. a suspension of activity: a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.
  2. a legally authorized period to delay payment of money due or the performance of some other legal obligation, as in an emergency.
  3. an authorized period of delay or waiting.

Indonesia, Pakistan, and India are the nations with the largest Muslim populations andterror in london these three are not affected by the President’s moratorium on immigration from seven Middle East Muslim countries. The seven countries in question are Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, all identified by Barack Obama’s administration. I refer you to an official posting by the Department of Homeland Security titled DHS Announces Further Travel Restrictions for the Visa Waiver Program and dated February 18, 2016.

Houston, we have a problem

One national news media – Fox – accurately reports on the facts. The balance report nothing. CNN, MSNBC, and NBC elect to slander our President, and by association, you and me, ‘you’ meaning my fellow Americans who elected businessman Donald Trump to be our leader.

Examples?

CNN host calls Trump ‘piece of sh*t’ over renewed call for travel ban

NBC News Throws Shade on President Trump’s Terror Tweet: ‘Info is Unconfirmed’

MSNBC Federal judge (Obama appointee and personal friend) blocks Trump’s new travel ban (while Obama is coincidentally in Hawaii)

To their credit, ABC News generally reports accurately on the matters of Muslim terrorists and on Muslims who oppose those terrorists.

Just to be very clear

There is absolutely no right to immigrate to this country at will.

President Donald Trump did not selectively identify the seven Muslim countries. It was Barack Obama who identified them.

John White
Rockwall, Texas