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Planned Future: UN Mercenaries

11/26/2013

This afternoon CSPAN aired a program on American defense strategy hosted by the Aspen Institute's Strategy Group. This panel discussion included former undersecretary of Defense for Policy (President Obama) Michele Flournoy, and former National Security Council member (President George HW Bush) Philip Zelikow. Both are members of the Aspen Strategy Group as are Condelezza Rice, John Podesta, Madeleine Albright, and Dianne Feinstein, to name a few. The Aspen Institute is notorious for being the think tank behind national policy. The discussion centered on how to manage a military that is expensive and getting more so.

John Negroponte, former ambassador to the UN and the first director of the National Intelligence Agency (George W. Bush) made a suggestion about an hour and 14 minutes into the discussion.

"Why," he said, "doesn't the United States do some 'capacitating' with the UN Peacekeeping Forces? It would be much cheaper. In fact, in a word, outsourcing our military requirements to the UN would be an order of magnitude cheaper."

Both former undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy and former National Security Council Member Philip Zelikow agreed that this would be a good idea.

So efficient! So cheap!
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/AmericanDefe

COMMON CORE RESISTANCE IS SPREADING

11/24/2013

COMMON CORE IS UN AGENDA 21

This blog post is from Mercedes Schneider's EduBloghttp://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/common-core-unrest-obvious-in-17-states/#comments

Common Core Unrest Obvious in 17 States
November 23, 2013
Proponents of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are fond of saying that CCSS “has been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia.” However, it seems that they refuse to mention the CCSS resistance that has found its way into state offices–often resulting in formal hearings.

Below I offer the latest in CCSS unrest from 17 states, compliments of my esteemed fellow teacher, Vicky Johnston. Each of the following CCSS, “state of the states” articles is from September-November 2013, thereby representing fresh unrest.

For each state, I include an excerpt from the linked article. Follow the link for additional details.

Over one-third of the states whose governors and state superintendents signed the CCSS Memorandum of Understanding as part of US Department of Education Race to the Top (RTTT) funding are now percolating with CCSS misgivings.

That is what happens with top-down reform. The “bottom”– those directly affected by the “top’s” decisions– eventually seethe.

Consider the excerpts below as a “catalogue of seething.”

Alabama 11-16-13

The Alabama state school board on Thursday voted to rescind a 2009 agreement that “commits states to a state-led process” that leads to adoption of the Common Core.

But the vote to rescind drew funny alliances, as the supporters of Common Core were the ones pushing to rescind the old commitment.

The Alabama school board members who have been critical of the controversial national standards called the vote a ruse designed to “make it appear the board has done something to correct the Common Core disaster.”

In the end, the vote passed, and the agreement was rescinded. The move was offered as an assurance that only Alabama educators will control Alabama’s curriculum. But Alabama standards remain unchanged, and those align with Common Core.

Florida 11-20-13

Florida’s public school superintendents on Tuesday asked for a three-year “pause” before the state fully implements the Common Core education standards in every kindergarten through high school classroom in the state.

Volusia County School Superintendent Margaret Smith told the state Board of Education, meeting in Gainesville, that the state’s 67 school superintendents strongly support the Common Core standards but think the districts need more time to adequately prepare to teach the new standards as well as use a still-developing test to measure student performance.

Georgia 11-17-13

Sen. William Ligon, R-Brunswick, has earned numerous followers both in the General Assembly and in grassroots groups for his leadership in opposition. He intends to push anew his bill to force Georgia’s complete withdrawal from Common Core.

That’s despite Gov. Nathan Deal’s executive orders to prevent the sharing of student data with entities outside the state and to develop the state’s own student assessments rather than the expensive, computerized exams offered through the national program. It’s also mindful of Deal’s request that the state Board of Education conduct its own review of the standards.

Indiana 11-18-13

Indiana’s top Republican lawmakers say it’s time to move on from the Common Corestandards initiative and write state-level expectations for students.

House Speaker Brian Bosma called the fight over nationally-crafted education standards known as the Common Core a “distraction” and says it’s time for Indiana to develop its own expectations for students.

Iowa 10-16-13

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed an executive order on Wednesday rejecting federal intrusion into the state’s education system. The order, Number 83, declares that the state, “not the federal government of any other organization, shall determine the content of Iowa’s state academic standards”.

The order also states that school districts may also choose to use additional assessments to measure student progress.

Kansas 11-22-13

Gov. Sam Brownback is in the process of researching Kansas’ mathematics and English standards.

Asked whether the state should retain or drop the Common Core standards adopted by Kansas in 2010, the governor told The Topeka Capital-Journal in an interview Thursday he is examining the matter.

“We’re researching and looking at that now,” Brownback said.

Kentucky 11-18-13

Kentucky has often been hailed as the exemplar of implementation of the Common Core State Standards, from its handling of new classroom practices to the way it’s massaged the public perception of lower standardized test scores. But a couple of developments over the last week might give Bluegrass champions of the common core, and friends of the standards in general, some pause about the standards.

The first potential kink is a relatively straightforward one: A political activist, David Adams, has filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the common core in Kentucky. What’s his argument? He essentially says that the Kentucky Legislature has failed to fulfill its obligation under the state constitution to ensure an “efficient system of common schools” and to make sure those schools are operated “without waste, duplication, mismanagement or political influence.” The Kentucky state school board officially adopted the standards in June 2010. But because state officials and others announced that they would be adopting the standards before they were finalized, Adams told me, they not only jumped the gun, but also crossed the line into some form of mismanagement or malign political influence.

Louisiana 11-21-13

Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White announced Thursday the state would be delaying how students, teachers and schools are held accountable under the Common Core State Standards and related testing for at least two years.

He also said the state would be shifting to a “a long-term, 10-year view of what our education system can accomplish with these standards.” The announcement came after months of pressure from parents, teachers and political groups urging the state to delay or drop the standards all together.

Maine 09-10-13

[Maine Governor] LePage’s effort to distance himself from Common Core was evident last week, when he disavowed support for the standards and, in a separate move, issued an executive order saying the state would not divulge personal student information to the federal government.

The governor’s statements seemed aimed at his supporters on the right, who were crucial in lifting him to the Blaine House in 2010. But those statements won’t endear him to business interests, which have emerged as strong backers of Common Core.

Maryland 11-21-13

Many [teachers and parents], they (MD senators) said [to MD Superintendent Lowery], complained about how the state is simultaneously implementing three big programs: a new testing system, new ways to evaluate teachers and a more rigorous set of education standards known as the Common Core. …

Lowery responded that the state has already sought ways to slow down the reforms, delaying when the new teacher evaluation system tied to student achievement takes effect and when new tests will be used to measure the state’s education system. …

“This is one of the worst program implementations I have ever seen, in terms of educating parents and families,” Sen. Ed Reilly, an Anne Arundel County Republican, said to Lowery and other top state education officials. “Public relations is part of your job — all of your jobs — and it’s been done very poorly.”

Other senators warned that missteps and disruptions could jeopardize Maryland’s coveted ranking by Education Week as having the best schools in the nation.

Massachusetts 11-22-13

This week, the Massachusetts Board of Education voted to slow the transition to Common Core.

The board decided to delay implementation for two years while it compares the Common Core aligned Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) tests to their existing—and widely praised—Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exam.

Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who also chairs the governing board for the PARCC consortium, says that adopting the Common Core by the 2014–2015 deadline would cause Massachusetts “too precipitous a transition.”

New Hampshire 10-31-13

Even as teachers move forward with implementing the Common Core in their classrooms, there continues to be resistance to the controversial new educational standards. …

There are at least six bill requests dealing with the Common Core that lawmakers have filed for 2014. They range from completely terminating state participation in the Common Core to delaying the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

New Jersey 11-20-13

Twelve Republican state senators asked Education Commissioner Chris Cerf on Tuesday for more details on the Common Core, a new set of guidelines for what students should learn in math and language arts in every grade.

In a letter released by Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris, the group asked Cerf to explain the rationale behind the guidelines, their cost, the method for tracking student performance and the assurance of privacy for student data. Pennacchio said he was not hostile to the Common Core but sought answers to questions that parents and teachers have asked.

New York 11-21-13

A group of eight prominent school principals from around New York State have drafted a letter to parents expressing their deep concerns about the validity of new Common Core-aligned standardized tests that state education officials are giving to students in grades three through eight — and in just a few weeks more than 530 other principals and nearly 3,000 parents and teachers have signed in support.

Ohio 11-21-13

Members of the Ohio House of Representatives’ Committee on Education pored over hours’ worth of written and oral testimony, mostly from opponents to the national standards known as Common Core.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill that would exclude Ohio from impending national education standards received a second hearing Wednesday before a gallery of vocal critics that filled a hearing and overflow rooms at the statehouse.

Members of the Ohio House of Representatives’ Committee on Education pored over hours’ worth of written and oral testimony, mostly from opponents to the national standards known as Common Core, asserting the most recent federal directives on education are both substandard and too intrusive to students’ personal information.

Oklahoma 11-05-13

Parents, teachers and legislators are voicing their concerns over a set of public education principles known as common core state standards.

A legislative hearing on common core was held Tuesday before a House committee. There is growing opposition, especially among some conservative House legislators, to the standards that were approved in 2010 and are now being implemented by Oklahoma school districts. …
Some opponents claim the standards are a federal intrusion into the state’s public education system.

House Speaker T.W. Shannon introduced a bill earlier this year to repeal the standards, but Republicans leaders in the Senate and Gov. Mary Fallin say they support common core.

Wisconsin 11-20-13

And as a local control state, school districts in Wisconsin technically wouldn’t have to adopt the standards, or could drop them altogether. That’s unlikely, however, because schools are still required to take annual state assessments. Starting next year, Wisconsin will switch to new computer-based standardized tests that are aligned to the Common Core. The ACT college and career exams, which will be required for high schoolers starting next year, will also be Common Core-based.

The Truth About Being “State Led”

The CCSS Memorandum of Understanding for federal, RTTT funding requires states to contractually agree to be “state led.”

Such irony: The federal government “requiring” states to be “state led” as part of a federal contract.

In critically reconsidering their agreements to abide by CCSS and its related RTTT high-stakes assessment and data collection requirements, it seems that a number of “CCSS” states are attempting to do exactly that– reinforcing the right of states to listen to the concerns of their citizens and subsequently adjust their own education systems.

Sounds like democracy, doesn’t it?

Note: If I missed any CCSS unrest in other states, please add info in the comments section of this post. Thank you.

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YOU'RE NOT ALONE: COMMENTS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD

11/15/2013

We get emails from all over the world updating us on the progress of UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development, and on the Resistance.

Here are just a few. For more go to our Comments Page

OHIO
Hi Rosa, After reading your book and viewing your speach on You Tube, I have purchased a second copy to hand deliver to Mayor Elect of Cincinnati, Ohio, John Cranley. He ran on a Stop the Streetcar platform. Thanks to you, what always to me looked like bad economic decisions now looks like something else. They put those plant islands in the middle of Gibert Avenue all the way down a 45 degree incline. That impairs the use of a heavily traveled main corridor in Cincinnati, which is a slip and slide during winter storms. I live at the bottom of an incline, cars wreck at certain points every year. Picture San Franciso streets with ice on them. On top of the trafic hazard, they put them in locations where if you are travelling south on Gilbert, it is now impossible to make a left turn into the driveways of the row houses and businesses on one side of the street all the way down. If houses in that area were hard to sell before, who would buy them now? I don't own a car, and live in an apartment complex on a main bus line. Obviously, I support mass transit. But buses can be continually rerouted as needed and are more flexible, and are cheaper than some of the stuff being proposed. Someone on the Atlanta transit board once told me that nationwide, they carry the most passengers - but like Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect for what they do.

MINNESOTA
Thanks to Rosa's book and youtube videos we had the ammunition and education to change the course of our county comprehensive plan. The Mille Lacs TEA Party Patriots (https://www.facebook.com/groups/377416145670650/) and other citizens have a win in our County Comprehensive plan! We worked for over 2 years to get this statement in our county's comp. plan. We borrowed some of the language from the Lewis County, Wa. plan and our commissioners added more to include the references to the US and Minnesota state constitutions. Here is the statement in the first page of the purpose of the comp. plan. "Mille Lacs County will advocate the rights of property ownership, recognizing the primacy of property rights and the sanctity of private property ownership as enunciated in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Sections 7 and 13 of the Minnesota Constitution. Mille Lacs County will uphold the rights of private property ownership. The right to obtain private property and enjoy its uses is priority one in Mille Lacs County. Along with this right is the responsibility to ensure that the individual activities of one property owner do not adversely affect another property owner’s rights". Spread the word!

AUSTRALIA
In Australia, Agenda 21 is being implemented by the 'International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives', Global and ICLEI Oceania {Australia and NZ}, since renamed ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International and Green Cross Australia which was founded in 2008 and is located in Brisbane. Since 1992 Environment Australia's Intergovernmental Unit and ANZECC Secretariat, has implemented Agenda 21 using the Australian Local Government Association, state and territory local government associations, Council of Australian Governments {COAG}and the National Competition Policy {NCP}and Council. LA21 the local government Application of Agenda 21 has been widely adopted by councils throughout Australia who therefore now act as agents of the UN actively implementing Agenda 21 policy in Australia at the local community level without the community's knowledge. The Australian media refuses to inform the public on ICLEI and Agenda 21 activities

ILLINOIS
I cannot thank you enough for the flyers! We handed out "What is wrong with Sustainable Development" last Saturday afternoon after the Town of Normal, Illinois received an award from the Illinois Sierra Club for all of the green initiatives that the town has done. Normal, Illinois is very progressive; while not officially a member of ICLEI, we might as well be as our Mayor Chris Koos has spoken at ICLEI meetings. Our mayor wants Normal,Illinois to be the sustainability model for the state and the nation. We have a wide assortment of "green" here-gently pushing electric cars (may be a dozen being used here), an east side bypass to finish encircling the city, more security cameras being placed, talk of Gateways being erected, several mixed use buildings in place and more to come, pushing for community gardens, a push to reconfigure part of Main Street to include a bike path, etc. David Hales, the City Manager of Bloomington and Mayor Chris Koos have been very busy!!!!!!!

See more at: http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/your-comments.html#sthash.wMHzHydC.dpuf

HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES QUIZ: Prepare to be depressed...

11/13/2013

This video has been viewed by over half a million people. It's a 'student on the street' interview with high school students being asked very basic questions about American history and world geography. Is this the result of a generation of improvement in education? From Outcome Based Education to No Child Left Behind to Race to the Top to Common Core---and they can't answer when asked which countries border the United States. Is this typical? I don't know, but it should never have happened in a US school.

Exciting News from Florida: Seven/50 Plan rejected by 2 Counties!

11/8/2013

Seven/50 is the regional plan for Southeast Florida. Running from the Florida Keys north up the east coast, it encompasses seven counties and is the regional plan document for fifty years---that's why it's called Seven/50. Although the planners, consultants, and staff of these counties said that the plan has nothing to do with UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development, that is not true. In fact it is a plan to regionalize the huge southeast Florida area municipalities and merge them into an 'economic powerhouse that would be the 5th largest economy in the US'---as the planners say. Andres Duany, the project designer, said in one of his presentations that fascism was certainly the most efficient form of government, and this merging of local governments and corporate entities will surely bear that out.

Now for the good news. All of the seven counties will be voting to decide whether or not to join in with this regional plan. After citizens in Indian River County educated their county commissioners by going regularly to commission meetings and speaking one after the other about UN Agenda 21 and the impacts of regionalization, the Indian River County Commissioners voted to opt out of participation!

Last night, at the request of American Coalition for Property Rights (www.ac4pr.org) I spoke in St. Lucie County. It was a terrific meeting with a wonderfully committed group of active citizens eager to hear more about UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development and what it looks like in St. Lucie County. I talked about mega-regions and the plan to aggregate 42 Florida counties into the Florida MegaRegion. The Seven/50 Plan is an interim step.

After my speech most of us went over to the St. Lucie County Commissioners meeting where the Seven/50 planners were presenting the draft plan for approval. The room was packed with about 250 - 300 concerned citizens (many of whom had been organized by AC4PR) there to give their input to the county. The energy in the room was electric as one after the other of us got up and spoke to the commissioners about our concerns and about the inherent weaknesses of the plan. The consultant planners sat in silence as they listened to people who refused to be delphi'd and manipulated into accepting a plan that would subsume their voices into the huge 7 county region. The commissioners (two of whom had attended my speech) expressed gratitude that so many of their constituents were taking such an active part in the process of governing. Truly the turnout was overwhelming. Many of the commissioners acknowledged that they already work regionally when necessary and they don't need a document that somehow would merge them formally. Then, one by one, four of the five commissioners rejected participation in the Seven/50 Plan. St. Lucie County, Florida has opted out!

I suggested that the consultants (who have not even acknowledged that Indian River County opted out) should now change the plan name to Five/50!

What does it take to re-erect your sovereignty? Just ask the American Coalition For Property Rights: you show up and do the work. Educate your elected officials. Get the information out to fellow citizens. Hold informational meetings. Support other activists in cities and counties that are working on plan implementation. Anti-Delphi meetings. Make it fun for yourself and each other by appreciating the wonderful new friends you've made --each of whom finds what they're best at doing and then does that. Whether you're a researcher, or a writer, or a speaker, or an organizer, or a flyer distributor, or a website creator; whatever your skill and passion you'll find a place in this movement. And when you win in your county, keep going and help the others get out. That's teamwork. That's 'participatory democracy.' I think we can get consensus on that ;>

Planned Future: UN Mercenaries

COMMON CORE RESISTANCE IS SPREADING

YOU'RE NOT ALONE: COMMENTS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD

HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES QUIZ: Prepare to be depressed...

Exciting News from Florida: Seven/50 Plan rejected by 2 Counties!

And the winner is...

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