Common Core: rotten details

If you are planning to go to Columbus on Wednesday for the second hearing on Common Core "standards", be sure to read Michelle Malkin’s column today to assess the testimony you hear. From Malkin's column:

While the GOP tries to solve its ills with better software and communications consultants, the conservative movement — and America — face much larger problems. It doesn’t start with the “low-information voter.” It starts with the no-knowledge student. . . . “Common Core” [is] the stealthy federal takeover of school curriculum and standards across the country. . . .

The good news is that grass-roots education and parental groups, brave teachers, and professors are fighting back.

And they’re winning. Big time. Over the last 10 months, Common Core has imploded under withering scrutiny from the tax-paying public, informed parents and educators, and more national media. States under both Republican and Democrat governors have adopted moratoria on the untested standards, withdrawn from the costly testing consortia, and retreated from partnerships with Common Core-promoting educational software data-miners like inBloom.

. . .

 the nationwide revolt against Common Core’s constitutionality, costs, dubious quality, threat to local control, and privacy invasions has proponents in a panic. 

. . .

Principals [in New York] reported problems with the assessments, including:

• Difficult and confusing questions (some on unrelated topics).
• Unnecessarily long testing sessions—“two weeks of three consecutive days of 90-minute periods”—that require more “stamina for a 10-year-old special education student than of a high school student taking an SAT exam.”
• Field-test questions that do not factor into a child’s score but take up time.
• Confusing directions for the English language arts sessions.
• Math problems that repeatedly assess the same skill.
• Multiple choice questions that ask the student to choose from the right answer and the “next best right answer.” The fact that teachers report disagreeing about which multiple-choice answer is correct in several places on the English language arts exams indicates that this format is unfair to students.

. . .

Stop Common Core moms of all colors have done their homework, brought their arguments and evidence to their school boards and state legislatures, and acted responsibly to protect their children’s best interests.

Read the rest here. 

Health Care Compact testimony TIME CHANGE to 2pm

Ohio Tea Party Patriots received word from Representative Wes Retherford that the sponsor testimony for the Health Care Compact this Tuesday, Nov, 19th, has been moved back to 2:00 p.m., room number 121. Patriot drivers: Google map of the Ohio Statehouse is here.

Previous information about this hearing, on this blog, is here. 

# # #

President Obama tries to change the subject

Cartoon/photo credit: Gary Varvel at Indystar.com here.

Today, President Obama came to Cleveland. The Columbus Dispatch reported:

With his health-care law facing intense criticism and his polling numbers tanking, President Barack Obama traveled to a once-shuttered steel plant here to perhaps remind Americans that, well, it’s not all so bad. . . .

Not all so bad? The President's attempt to change the subject with some upbeat comments does not seem to be working. And his temporary "fix" to Obamacare, announced this morning,turns out to be no such thing.  From The Washington Post: 

The reason for this is not simply the impracticability of getting insurance companies to reissue expired policies and the need to get any fix through the Republican House. The essence of Obamacare has always been to force young, healthy people into the exchanges. If they do not do that, the exchanges become a repository for only the sickest people, and the so-called death spiral begins. Indeed, the “you can keep your insurance” idea is the ultimate poison pill — whether offered by the House Republicans or Senate Democrats. It is, in short, a cure that is worse for Obamacare than its current travails — as impossible as that might seem.

The Obamacare train wreck continues.

# # #

The Health Care Compact: 8 States & Counting -- Let's make Ohio #9!

OH Rep. Wes Retherford will be giving his sponsor testimony for the Health Care Compact (HB 277) on Tuesday November 19th, and is asking for our support and presence.  

If you can join us in Columbus in support of Rep Retherford's testimony on HB 227 or if you are interested in joining us for a up coming conference call to learn more on the Health Care Compact efforts in Ohio, please click here.

From The Health Care Compact --

As of this writing, the Health Care Compact (HCC) has been signed into law in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah. The bill has been introduced and is under consideration in nine other states. 

All of this progress is due to the grassroots advocacy and support of thousands of Americans like you who believe the federal government should stay out of health care.Together, we’re sending a clear message to Congress: America wants a wiser alternative to Obamacare.

Every state we gain increases the pressure on Congress to recognize the HCC as a means for member states to bypass the financial disaster of Obamacare—and to affirm the states’ right to operate at a smaller, local government level on issues like health care.

With more provisions of Obamacare set to take effect on January 1, we’ve arrived at a “strike while the iron is hot” moment in the HCC movement.The financial, ethical, and practical problems of Obamacare are becoming more real to the American people, and it’s up to us to show them that there is an alternative . . . one that is simple, locally empowering, and mandated by the Constitution.

There has never been a better time to tell your friends, neighbors, and coworkers about the HCC, because more people are open to the idea than ever before. There’s also never been a better time to throw your financial support behind the HCC, as the momentum builds for advocacy and awareness.

Please click here and sign the petition to show your support of HB 227 & the Health Care Compact efforts in Ohio.

Ohio Counts on Coal

From OCR --

Unfortunately, too many Americans do not understand the significant contributions coal makes to the U.S. economy and our way of life. President Obama is taking advantage of this lack of understanding by waging a war on coal to the explicit benefit of his green pork agenda. His recent proposal to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, including those powered by coal, will have a devastating impact on the economies of several states, including Ohio. This regulation will produce a ripple effect across the entire nation by forcing people out of work, while increasing the price of electricity for consumers and businesses.

Last year, President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new source greenhouse gas emissions standards that, once enacted, will make it impossible to build a new coal-fired power plant in America, simply because the technology does not yet exist to meet the EPA’s regulations. 

This is hardly fair or affordable. In addition, the move represents a circumvention of Congress by regulating rather than legislating new public policy.

According to Count on Coal, American coal provides 43% of U.S. electric power generation, providing power for more than 60 million homes and 3.4 million businesses. Direct and indirect employment generated by U.S. coal mining accounts for 555,270 jobs, for a combined annual payroll of $36.3 billion.

In Ohio, coal provides 73% of the state’s electric power generation, which is the equivalent of more than 4.5 million homes and 200,000 businesses. Based on the cost of electricity, Ohio ranks #27 in the nation in energy affordability, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Ohio ranks #10 in the nation in coal production and #4 in the nation in coal use. Direct and indirect employment generated by U.S. coal mining in Ohio accounts for 27,540 jobs, for a combined annual payroll of $1.6 billion.

President Obama has chosen a regulatory path to pursue his scorched earth green agenda, which will ensure that the hundreds of thousands of coal jobs in this country go up in smoke… but nothing else. The regulations proposed by his Administration will make it cost-prohibitive for the coal industry to survive, let alone thrive or expand. The impact of his proposed regulations could cripple too many Ohio communities whose workforces depend upon the coal community for jobs. In addition, the price of electricity we all pay will skyrocket.

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield understand the burdens that the Obama Administration’s proposed over-regulations would place on working families and electricity consumers. They have introduced legislation to combat these encroachments and allow for Congressional debate on this important economic issue. 

Their bill would eliminate the Obama administration’s proposed greenhouse gas emissions rules for new power plants and prevent emissions rules on existing power plants from going into effect until Congress passes legislation setting an implementation date. Additionally, the bill would require the EPA to set up different regulatory categories for natural gas- and coal-fired power plants.

The battle for the future of coal is being waged on two fronts – regulatory in the EPA, and legislative on Capitol Hill. If President Obama and his allies have their way, there will be no future for coal. Period. This will impact our economy negatively in both the short and long terms. 

We count on coal for jobs. We count on coal to keep energy affordable. Ohio communities count on coal. Electricity consumers count on coal. We all count on coal. We need to realize what an integral part coal plays in our economy before it gets taken away.

Eli Miller is the State Director of Americans for Prosperity – Ohio and Americans for Prosperity Foundation – Ohio.

Updates: Ohio Health Care Compact and hearing to repeal Common Core

From our state co-coordinator, Marianne:

The week of November 16th will be a demanding one due to the Ohio Health Care Compact testimony on the 19th and the 2nd hearing on the repeal of Common Core on the 20th.

Sponsor Hearing on the

Health Care Compact 

Eight states have already passed the Health Care Compact, Ohio could be the ninth. 

More than 20% of Ohio residents are covered by Medicaid, an already failing government system, and with the absolute failure in the roll-out of the "UN"-affordable Care Act, we can expect it to get much worse.

The solution is the Health Care Compact, an interstate compact that will give us the authority to determine the health care that suites the needs of the citizens of Ohio.

Click Here for a Short Video Explaining the Health Care Compact

Take Action

Sign the petition to stop the "UN"-affordable Care Act in Ohio. Learn more about the Health Care Compact and join us on a conference call this Sunday evening. Mark your calendar and  Click Here to Register

Show your support for the Health Care Compact in Ohio and attend the sponsor hearing.

WHEN:    Tuesday, November 19th, 1:00 p.m.

WHERE:   Statehouse in Columbus

               Room Number TBD

Sponsor Hearing on the 

Repeal of Common Core

Over 300 supporters of HB 237 showed up at the sponsor hearing. Were it not for this show of support the sponsor of the bill, Rep Thompson, believes he would not be receiving a second hearing.

Can we hit the 500 mark this time?  Show your support for HB 237 and attend the next hearing, which will include testimony from experts in education and on Common Core Standards. 

WHEN:    Wednesday, November 20th, 5 p.m.

WHERE:   Statehouse in Columbus (driving directions here)

               Room 313

###

Devastation in the Philippines

Photos from the Daily Mail. 

Two days ago, a Fox News Report listed a number of charities sending food, medicine, and supplies to victims. Skipping over the UN-based organizations, one that looked good to me was Catholics Relief Services (CRS). They do not accept in-kind donations, only money. 
CRS is #21 in the top 50 charities as rated by The Christian Science Monitor. 

The devastation is mind-boggling. More photos at ABC (Australia) here.