What’s interesting in the news today?
Open thread, so post whatever you’d like.
Here’s a few from me.
1. Not only didn’t they learn their lesson, and how could they when no one was held responsible for it, they’re planning the same strategy again.
From TheWallStJournal “President Obama and Democrats have been at great pains to insist they knew nothing about IRS targeting of conservative 501(c)(4) nonprofits before the 2012 election. They’ve been at even greater pains this week to ensure that the same conservative groups are silenced in the 2014 midterms.
That’s the big, dirty secret of the omnibus negotiations. As one of the only bills destined to pass this year, the omnibus was—behind the scenes—a flurry of horse trading. One of the biggest fights was over GOP efforts to include language to stop the IRS from instituting a new round of 501(c)(4) targeting. The White House is so counting on the tax agency to muzzle its political opponents that it willingly sacrificed any manner of its own priorities to keep the muzzle in place.”
“The fight was sparked by a new rule that the Treasury Department and the IRS introduced during the hush of Thanksgiving recess, ostensibly to “improve” the law governing nonprofits. What the rule in fact does is recategorize as “political” all manner of educational activities that 501(c)(4) social-welfare organizations currently engage in.
It’s IRS targeting all over again, only this time by administration design and with the raw political goal—as House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) notes—of putting “tea party groups out of business.”
A goal the RINO faction of the GOP went along with.
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2. It’s been said by some that America’s number one export to the world is abortion and debauchery. That would be correct. And Planned Parenthood is staying true to their racist roots.
From CNSNews “In its strategic plan for Africa for the years 2010-2015, the International Planned Parenthood Federation has set an organizational goal of increasing its “abortion services” in that part of the world by 82 percent.
The number is in Figure 2, the “performance framework” of the plan (page 7), under “performance milestones/benchmarks” and notes its expectation of an “82 percent increase in abortion services: 212,021 services by 2013, and 273,656 by 2015.”
Democrats will of course be happy to assist and fund it whenever they can.
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3. CONTENT WARNING!!!!
For adult, sexual material. It’s not for the kids. But it’s being taught to kids.
But don’t worry, they justify it by saying it’s only part of the curriculum. Just one more reason to home school.
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4. And yet another reason……
From TheWaPo “Viewed from Washington, which often is the last to learn about important developments, opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative still seems as small as the biblical cloud that ariseth out of the sea, no larger than a man’s hand. Soon, however, this education policy will fill a significant portion of the political sky.
The Common Core represents the ideas of several national organizations (of governors and school officials) about what and how children should learn. It is the thin end of an enormous wedge. It is designed to advance in primary and secondary education the general progressive agenda of centralization and uniformity.
Understandably, proponents of the Common Core want its nature and purpose to remain as cloudy as possible for as long as possible. Hence they say it is a “state-led,” “voluntary” initiative to merely guide education with “standards” that are neither written nor approved nor mandated by Washington, which would never, ever “prescribe” a national curriculum. Proponents talk warily when describing it because a candid characterization would reveal yet another Obama administration indifference to legality.”
“Nevertheless, what begins with mere national standards must breed ineluctable pressure to standardize educational content. Targets, metrics, guidelines and curriculum models all induce conformity in instructional materials. Washington already is encouraging the alignment of the GED, SAT and ACT tests with the Common Core. By a feedback loop, these tests will beget more curriculum conformity. All of this will take a toll on parental empowerment, and none of this will escape the politicization of learning like that already rampant in higher education.”
That is the real purpose. Indoctrination, not education.
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Wandering Views 
1. Clearly from both sides’ reaction the 501(c) organizations are nothing more than mere political front groups masquerading as non-profits. And Tea Party groups’ defensive reactions is more indicative of their Koch et al support than anything else.
2. Its a stretch to call the aid “racist” as most private NGO aid is directed to Africa not just PP. If a church group directed most of its aid towards Africa, one would not deem them racist.
3. If this parent is upset with a piece of paper with a few words, he’s fairly naive to what his daughter and her friends are exposed to and most likely participate in. The piece of paper references here appears to be a prop for a particular lesson — its fairly awkward and probably quite useless. And once the lesson was over, it should have been recycled.
4. I’m still not sure why there is a big uproar over the Common Core (btw there are some on the left who see the Common Core as a corporate -gov’t alliance to solidify capitalism as the dominant ideology) unless its part of the paranoid style in American politics. A common core is needed if only for post secondary schools to assess out-of-state applicants (hence, aligning it with SAT and GED) More than that, it ensures a level playing field, a common national experience, etc.
In Canada, curriculum is decided provincially but because the majority of English speaking students live in Ontario, British Colombia and Alberta, these three provinces dictate the curriculum. In the US, Texas usually has the dominant position in curriculum decisions and thus the Common Core may undercut the Texas (ie conservative) influence — maybe that’s why some are upset.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paranoid_Style_in_American_Politics
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HRW,
#1
So when will they begin targeting both sides? Yeah, never.
#2,
Well when you find one that specifically seeks to abort 50% more black children, and when you find a Christian group that was founded specifically for that purpose, like PP, you’re comparison will be valid. Now it’s laughable. Just like in NYC, they target the black and minority communities.
#3
They’re being exposed to it by the school. And why recycle it? Oh that’s right, best to do that before some nosey parent sees it.
#4
You folks up north have already surrendered to this? Well we won’t. Sorry. Yeah a common experience. Everyone needs leftist indoctrination right? And if you looked at the numerous examples I’ve posted, it’s leftist indoctrination. Most of it has no real world use, other than making sure the sheeple are easily led and duped. No thanks.
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…there are some on the left who see the Common Core as a corporate -gov’t alliance to solidify capitalism as the dominant ideology.
Boy those people are dumb, considering their very premise–that corporations and government work as allies–by definition disqualifies the result as *being* capitalism. It’s really just a lazy analysis to assert that government favoring corporations is somehow a manifestation of capitalism, or that it exposes some evil of capitalism, when the fact is, such alliances are *anti* capitalism. Those people “on the left” really should do some learning.
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Abortion rights supporters need to take some time for honest reflection. Their dogmatism is challenged more and more all the time.
http://thefederalist.com/2014/01/17/what-if-fetuses-do-feel-pain/
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1. Perhaps the 501s are mainly used to create right wing astro-turf groups and thus its not possible to check out both sides,.
2. Perhaps I should have been more specific. Aside from the actual service provided, targeting Afirca as opposed to other areas is not inherently racist. It may be this is a market area not served by other providers.
3. A parent should be able to access any curriculum documents simply by request or over the net. Nothing is hidden especially in health education. If this parent was so concerned why wasn’t he accessing these documents prior to his daughter’s photo? In middle school health, discussion of different means of affection are usually included (which I quickly skim since kids can figure this out soon enough or already have) but the main focus is a knowledge of reproductive organs, fertilization, STI and pregnancy prevention. I’m really befuddled people can be upset of by a simple list.
4. As I stated curriculum is provincial here … the federal gov’t won’t dare touch it. I can hear the howls of protest from Quebec already. But in practice the curriculum is decided by three provinces. Historically, universal public education found its biggest supporters on the right — Bismarck advocated it to grow patriotism for the new German Empire and to train workers for the new factories being built. That was why I referred common experience ie create a national bond.
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solar
Most leftist see the current government-corporate cooperation as the natural result of the free market — ie consolidation leads to monopolies and thus intervention is needed to prevent the formation of an oligarchy. In other words crony capitalism and eventually fascism/corporatism will evolve from capitalism. The common core then is seen as a way of entrenching corporatist ideology/structures.
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solar
interesting article. I think this is the direction the pro-life should go arguing for limits based on fetal pain which should back up the limit from 22 or so weeks to about 18 weeks. The article was fairly convincing and well written until he said the US was one of four nations without regulations — true there are few regulations until fetal viability but the US is not anywhere near the same as North Korea and China. The US has gestation limits, parental notification and state specific limitations — North Korea and China do not. Its also interesting he mentioned North Korea and China but not Canada which has no abortion legislation and abortion for any reason is fully paid by the province. Its dishonest to associate the US with NK and China but not Canada especially since the US actually has regulations.
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Why regulations and needed — West Virgina. As some an internet meme puts it if al-queda poisoned the water we would have invaded the wrong country already. But a corporation does it, and its ho-hum another day at the office.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/17/3181821/freedom-industries-bankruptcy/
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HRW, We see government-corporate cooperation leading to fascism as the natural result of the expansion of government. The creation of the megabanks, the concentration of mortgage lenders, the govt.-corporate mess that is our healthcare system – none rose from a free market. All came from an active federal government, constantly interfering in the free market.
Tychicus, I just saw your note on the Spurs-Thunder game. That sounds like fun. It is hard for me to get away on a weeknight, but I will see how things look as we get closer to April 3rd. Your Spurs are looking good. We are looking forward to Westbrook’s return.
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Most leftist see the current government-corporate cooperation as the natural result of the free market…
That’s simply untenable. It has no regard for the definition of *words.*
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hwesseli, the comparison the article makes between the US and China/N Korea is, as you allude, only to the lack of restrictions based on term. The author implies nothing more than that. I’m not sure what’s dishonest about making that comparison and leaving Canada out.
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ricky — gov’t is just a tool. Gov’t expansion does not necessarily lead to fascism. However if the gov’t is used to maintain monopolies, oligopolies, a bloated military, strong executive, limit labor rights etc., then its corporatism or fascism. If gov’t is used to limit the natural trend towards consolidation, limit the negative effects of capitalism, maintain infrastructure, enforce contracts, etc., you still have a free market (classical liberal) democracy. Currently the US leans toward the former especially with the amount of corporate money in elections and political fundraising.
solar — there are no restriction based on terms in China and N. Korea (and Canada). American abortion law resembles Europe more than China/N Korea. Its also misleading to compare the US to China/N Korea rather than Canada. There are far more negative connotations to the former than the latter. He states that the US is with such exemplary paragons of human rights as China and N Korea, which is obviously a negative image. If he instead had said American abortion policies is slightly more restrictive than Canada, it would appear far less negative to the casual reader. Hence, its dishonest by omission.
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solar — if capitalism is allowed to operate unchecked, it produces monopolies or oligopolies who in turn can use the power of the purse to control the gov’t; hence a corporate-government alliance is entirely possible and even a natural result of unchecked free markets.
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HRW, Before the federal govenment interfered grotesquely in the mortgage lending industry, were their more lenders than today? Before the federal government made a monstrosity of the health care industry (pre-1965) were there more or fewer insurers and health care providers? Do monopolies and oligopolies dominate countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong that practice free market economics? Countries such as Chile and Estonia learned from Reagan and are now more free than the US.
Perhaps the US will turn to the free market. However, as Breitbart taught us, politics is always downstream from culture. That is not a happy thought.
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hwesseli,
American abortion law resembles Europe more than China/N Korea.
He was comparing ONE aspect of abortion law. It’s not incumbent on someone speaking of ONE aspect to define and compare ALL aspects. Nor in this case is it misleading. The immoral baggage of the idea of “no restrictions on term” stands alone–and it deserves negative comparisons–and I’m sure this author realizes his readers know the US makes other certain abortion restrictions that don’t exist in China. A comparison of a subset of A can be valid, even if all of A isn’t 100% identical. Truly not a difficult concept here.
How would unchecked capitalism produce, via some circuit, control of the government? Don’t you realize that “control of the government” that involves manipulating the market *therefore is not a manifestation of FREE MARKET*? Govt involvement in the market isn’t Free Market. That’s how word definitions work.
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ricky — I really can’t comment on pre-1965 health care in the US. However, from the Cdn experience, access did improve after gov’t intervention. The insurance market wasn’t very large prior to the 60s but now there is quite a few providers despite the gov’t paying basic hospitalization cost. Its not gov’t intervention which is the problem but the type of intervention. Simply put the US involvement in health, banking etc was done as well as others — mainly because they had an ideological imperative to avoid certain types of intervention. For example in health care the US avoided single payer or a public option because it was too socialist even though it was the better policy.
As for freedom …. the Heritage Foundation has their definition and other groups have theirs. Hong Kong and Singapore are hardly beacons of freedom in the traditional western sense of individual rights. Remember the Heritage Foundation increases the score if there are less labor rights. More to the point, the US’s low score is mostly due to its spending habits and its bloated military budget. Note Chile and Estonia have universal health care as does other nations had on this list.
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solar — the description is misleading and the use of China and North Korea as opposed to Canada is designed to deliberately offend and shock.\
The free market results in consolidation which allows large conglomerates to manipulate gov’t. At that point its no longer a free market, however, this doesn’t counter the fact that free markets do produce the conditions which can lead to corporatism.
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hwesseli: The description is entirely accurate: Just like North Korea and China, there are no restrictions based on term of pregnancy. The author doesn’t imply anything else. And it *is* shocking.
All kinds of things *can* lead to another. To decry a possibility of one thing because another thing *could* come out the other end would mean we abandon any idea for anything at all. The free market –> oligarchy thing is overblown.
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hwesseli,
“For example in health care the US avoided single payer or a public option because it was too socialist even though it was the better policy.
You never give up, do you?
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