http://www.utahsrepublic.org A Constitutional Right Sat, 28 Jan 2012 23:25:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A Constitutional Right no http://www.utahsrepublic.org/state-superintendent-jokes-about-baking-and-selling-parts-of-senator/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/state-superintendent-jokes-about-baking-and-selling-parts-of-senator/#comments Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:27:37 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=1116 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/state-superintendent-jokes-about-baking-and-selling-parts-of-senator/feed/ 3 Yesterday afternoon’s Senate Education Appropriations Committee meeting had a bit of an edge to it. The USOE has been asked to reduce their budget 7 to 10 percent. About 36 minutes into the audio, the State Superintendent Larry Shumway came to the stand and this was the exchange he had with Senator Buttars, chair of the appropriations committee. You can listen to it above. Senator Buttars: Yes Superintendent Shumway: Good morning Buttars: Good morning Shumway: Um well, just facetiously, Senator Buttars, I thought maybe just you and I could go set up a little bake sale and we could come up with the cash. Buttars: That would be a hell of a bake sale. Shumway: Well actually I had received an email suggesting that if we could just put you in an oven and sell parts that that would raise it all. Buttars: I appreciate your humor and I will return the compliment. Shumway: (laughing) Probably true. Buttars: Senator Madsen, Madsen, wait wait, Madsen, yes… Madsen: You can get away with comments like that, he can’t. Shumway: Oh, really, I didn’t mean it in any offense, I hope everyone knows that. Madsen: He never does either. Buttars: A little humor’s ok, (Shumway: just a little) even though it’s below the belt If you want to listen to the whole session follow this link and listen to the audio from 1/27. http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2011&Com=APPPED No related posts. Yesterday afternoon’s Senate Education Appropriations Committee meeting had a bit of an edge to it. The USOE has been asked to reduce their budget 7 to 10 percent. About 36 minutes into the audio, the State Superintendent Larry Shumway came to [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/the-doug-wright-show-on-socialism-in-schools/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/the-doug-wright-show-on-socialism-in-schools/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:19:08 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=1059 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/the-doug-wright-show-on-socialism-in-schools/feed/ 29 Doug Wright was talking about socialism in schools yesterday quoting from the Fox News piece of the Eagle Forum conference I spoke at last Saturday. The Fox News piece only took a couple of sound bytes from the hour long presentation and Doug has extrapolated that short bit of coverage into assuming we think that our school boards are filled with communists (which we have never said). I was able to call in and discuss a little of this with him but time didn’t allow me to connect all the dots I would have liked to. To clarify, we have never said there is a communist or socialist conspiracy in our local school systems. What we did at the conference (and I will post the video here as soon as I have it) was lay out the case for what has been happening at the national level where there is a clear case to be made that the DOE is deliberately dumbing us down, and give some examples of national educators who have been involved. We shared some personal examples as well such as how damaging constructivist programs like Investigations math has been to students. Progressive educators like John Dewey and John Goodlad are humanists who have stated they have an agenda to push moral relativism into education which was directly tied into an interview by Yuri Bezmenov (a KGB defector) who talked about how they bring down countries by making them immoral. “The Naked Communist” was quoted from where it lists 45 goals of the communists, among which are 5 that deal with education and softening it up so the population loses the technology and economics battles. Regardless, I’m glad I was able to call in and at least speak with Doug for a few minutes about this. No related posts. Doug Wright was talking about socialism in schools yesterday quoting from the Fox News piece of the Eagle Forum conference I spoke at last Saturday. The Fox News piece only took a couple of sound bytes from the hour long presentation and Doug has [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/pre-election-interview-with-hans-anderson/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/pre-election-interview-with-hans-anderson/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:01:54 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=1040 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/pre-election-interview-with-hans-anderson/feed/ 2 Interview The Friday 10/29 interview with Hans Anderson before the November 2010 election, Susie Schnell and I were interviewed on air with Hans Anderson. Here is the audio if you would like to listen to it. In the interview we discuss some candidates, but then go into progressive education, humanism, math, and Alpine School District (naturally). No related posts. Interview The Friday 10/29 interview with Hans Anderson before the November 2010 election, Susie Schnell and I were interviewed on air with Hans Anderson. Here is the audio if you would like to listen to it. In the interview we discuss some [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/red-meat-radio-12-11-10/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/red-meat-radio-12-11-10/#comments Sun, 12 Dec 2010 00:00:10 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=1021 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/red-meat-radio-12-11-10/feed/ 1 Red-Meat-Radio-Republic 12-11-2010 This morning I was on Red Meat Radio with Senator Howard Stephenson and Representative Greg Hughes talking about the news of the week. We discussed: Alpine School District’s newest problem where over 4,000 graduation transcripts had to go through a manual review because the State Board of Regents told them no more students would be admitted from ASD to most of the state colleges because their transcripts had been miscalculated the teacher email flap at Alpine School District progressive education agenda items on John Goodlad’s NNER home page No related posts. Red-Meat-Radio-Republic 12-11-2010 This morning I was on Red Meat Radio with Senator Howard Stephenson and Representative Greg Hughes talking about the news of the week. We discussed: Alpine School District’s newest problem where over 4,000 [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/senator-stephenson-interviews-senator-hatch/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/senator-stephenson-interviews-senator-hatch/#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:14:24 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=563 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/senator-stephenson-interviews-senator-hatch/feed/ 5 Last Saturday on Red Meat Radio, Senator Howard Stephenson interviewed Senator Orrin Hatch. The first 7 minutes are about some things going on in Washington, and then right at the 7 minute mark, Senator Stephenson turns the conversation to the Republican convention and what happened to Bob Bennett. S. Stephenson brings up states rights and the 17th amendment and Senator Hatch and he have an interesting conversation about what really happened to Senator Bennett. I encourage you to give it a listen, at least from the 7 minute mark. Senator Howard Stephenson interviews Senator Orrin Hatch No related posts. Last Saturday on Red Meat Radio, Senator Howard Stephenson interviewed Senator Orrin Hatch. The first 7 minutes are about some things going on in Washington, and then right at the 7 minute mark, Senator Stephenson turns the conversation to the [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/parents-are-not-accusing-byu-and-asd-of-a-socialist-conspiracy/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/parents-are-not-accusing-byu-and-asd-of-a-socialist-conspiracy/#comments Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:41:09 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=458 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/parents-are-not-accusing-byu-and-asd-of-a-socialist-conspiracy/feed/ 0 Sensational headlines sell papers I guess and thus the “Parents accuse BYU, Alpine district of socialist conspiracy” article in the Provo Daily Herald got the headline completely wrong. The point is not a conspiracy at the schools, it’s that there is poison in the well in the form of “educational consultants” like John Goodlad, a humanist atheist who believes in moral relativism. His philosophies are permeating our school system from the top down. http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/education/article_7bccc151-cb34-5dd2-ae52-fab607b81b17.html I have just posted my original article to the Daily Herald on this site which was the foundation Caleb Warnock went to for my comments. If you read it, you’ll see quite a different picture from the one portrayed in the newspaper article. http://www.utahsrepublic.org/media-coverage/original-article-sent-to-the-daily-herald/ If you’re new to this list and petition and don’t know who John Goodlad is, you can find a number of shocking quotes here and get caught up on why Alpine School District has identified itself as a poster child for education reform. http://www.utahsrepublic.org/democracy-media-fiasco/ If you’re not LDS, just skip this, but for those of you that are LDS, if you missed Elder Christofferson’s talk last week, he actually spoke about some of these very issues at General Conference related to moral relativism and social justice. http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1207-12,00.html Here’s a few additional quotes from LDS leaders related to education: http://www.utahsrepublic.org/get-educated/education-quotes/ And some fantastic articles/talks on Freedom from LDS leaders and others here. One of my favorites is by Charlton Heston: http://www.oaknorton.com/articlestalks.cfm Last, if you want to hear Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture to President Eisenhower and later President of the LDS church, talk about his visit with Kruschev, you can download this little clip or hit the podcast play button at the top of this post. Ezra Taft Benson on giving Kruschev a Tour No related posts. Sensational headlines sell papers I guess and thus the “Parents accuse BYU, Alpine district of socialist conspiracy” article in the Provo Daily Herald got the headline completely wrong. The point is not a conspiracy at the schools, it’s that [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/john-taylor-gatto-audio-extended-childhood/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/john-taylor-gatto-audio-extended-childhood/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:36:24 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=436 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/john-taylor-gatto-audio-extended-childhood/feed/ 6 John Gatto – Extended Childhood I discovered an audio file recently that is one of the very best files I’ve ever listened to for explaining what has been intentionally done to our education system to dumb it down and transform our children from independent thinkers to preparing them for Pavlovian behavior in an industrial world. John Taylor Gatto was selected as the New York City teacher of the year THREE times. He finally quit his job during the year he’d been selected for the third time by announcing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece that he was no longer willing to hurt children. I cannot stress enough the magnitude of this audio file. It is one of the most riveting stories I’ve ever listened to and tremendously vital in understanding today’s current education climate and who the players are that have sought to take down the original entrepreneurial spirit of our country. It was apparently given in 2001 to the LDS Homeschooler’s Association. I obtained the audio from this site which has a lot of great quotes on freedom and various topics, but I’m posting the audio here as a convenience if you want to listen to it in a podcast player. http://www.ourrepubliconline.com/OurRepublic/Article/48 John’s website is www.johntaylorgatto.com and he has written a number of popular books on this topic. No related posts. John Gatto – Extended Childhood I discovered an audio file recently that is one of the very best files I’ve ever listened to for explaining what has been intentionally done to our education system to dumb it down and transform our children from [...] John Gatto 75 minutes http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-update-3-20-10/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-update-3-20-10/#comments Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:22:42 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=383 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-update-3-20-10/feed/ 0 Today’s Red Meat Radio update contains the following topics: Red-Meat-Radio-Republic 3-20-2010 -ASD School Board races -Recap on the Motto controversy -Utah State Office of Education’s “Bias and Sensitivity” committee -1986 USOE’s unanimous decision to accept “The Making of America” as an approved textbook Election Signups With the filings for election races now complete, we ended on a great note this week in Alpine. Thanks everyone for your support in signing up or helping encourage others to do so. The work now begins. Here’s a list of candidates for the ASD school board. http://www.utahcountyonline.org/Dept/ClerkAud/Elections/Candidates.asp A1-Donna Barnes, 5 competitors A2-Chrissy Hannemann, 4 competitors A3-Tim Osborn, 2 competitors one of which is a former ASD administrator (I fully support Tim) A5-JoDee Sundberg, 2 competitors State Office Emails Here is the text of the email exchange with the State Office. If you missed last weeks’ update that contained the first set of letters exchanged with the state office, check them out here (USOE letters) Note this letter was also sent to Larry Shumway the State Superintendent and other State Office of Education members. Oak, “The Making of America” and “The 5,000 Year Leap” would need to be submitted by publishers to the textbook review committee.  However, I doubt either book would be approved for classroom instruction, although they are excellent reference materials.  The books have some religious overtones and terms that would not pass the Bias and Sensitivity Committee.  The books were not written to serve primarily as public school textbooks and therefore fail to provide teacher support for differentiation, readability, assessment and etc.  Again, I would agree the materials are very informative. I would invite you to provide us with a list of individuals with backgrounds in the field of education for consideration to serve on our advisory or steering committees, as we move forward with core curricula revisions in the area of US History.  Please send us your list of individuals, noting their educational background, as soon as possible.  I look forward to your e-mail of nominations. Lynne Greenwood My reply: Lynne, Thank you for responding so quickly. I want to note that although the 5,000 Year Leap was not written as a textbook, “The Making of America” was and was very close to being adopted by *California* as a textbook a couple decades ago. I will have the publisher send you a copy for your review if you will send me your address. Also, if for some reason the USOE rejects the book, I would like a detailed reason why. There is no “religious” overtone to the book. It is a disection of the constitution and the arguments and statements made by our Founding Fathers at the time it was created as to why they phrased the constitution the way they did. It is more than a resource, it is an exposition on the original intent of our Founding Fathers in preserving our freedom. I will also work to get a list together quickly of qualified candidates to assist with the standards review and curriculum writing. Sincerely, Oak Norton I then followed this email up with this one which contains a clear direction for the state office to approve the textbook “The Making of America” SINCE THEY’VE ALREADY APPROVED IT! Hi Lynne, Will you please check the current approved book list and see if “The Making of America” is already on the list? In speaking with the publisher yesterday, I was told it was approved unanimously by the committee back in 1986. The publisher sent me this email below as the text from the approval letter by then Superintendent Moss. Please let me know.  If it’s not on the list, I guess it ought to be since it was already approved. Zeldon also sent me the attached fax page of endorsements for the book which includes this letter from the former State Superintendent. Thanks, Oak [...] Today’s Red Meat Radio update contains the following topics: Red-Meat-Radio-Republic 3-20-2010 -ASD School Board races -Recap on the Motto controversy -Utah State Office of Education’s “Bias and Sensitivity” committee -1986 USOE’s [...] Oak Norton 20 minutes Utah State Board of Education, Alpine School District no http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-updates-3-13-10/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-updates-3-13-10/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:50:18 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=338 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/rmr-asd-state-board-updates-3-13-10/feed/ 2 In this update: Red Meat Radio podcast What’s happening in Alpine School District Full audio of the public minutes from Tuesday’s board meeting State office update Red Meat Radio podcast I was on Red Meat Radio this morning and spoke about the Alpine School District meeting this week and the official response I received from the State Board concerning the petition on this site. Click the link at the top to listen to it. (one of the two is the radio show and the other is the school board meeting.) RMR Audio (right-click to save) What’s happening in Alpine School District In brief, if you missed the press news from the Daily Herald and their posting of ASD’s official response to the link flap that’s going on, check it out here (Concerned Parents Decry Socialism at Alpine District Meeting) Here are a few clips from their official statement: We appreciate the opportunity to correct a serious misunderstanding about Alpine School District that has occurred because of a link that was accidentally and briefly on our Web site. The link was inappropriate and does not reflect the beliefs or values of the district, administration or school board. The superintendent had it removed as soon as he became aware of it. We appreciate those who brought it to our attention. … We not only recognize that our government is a republic, but we value and participate in this form of government with an elected board of education. The use of the word democracy underscores the type of republic found in the United States. Huh? We have a democracy as our type of republic??? The phrase, ‘Enculturating the Young into a Social and Political Democracy,’ is the formal language for principle number two above. It is displayed in the Professional Development Center, with America’s patriotic documents contained in the Freedom Shrine, and is to recognize and celebrate the rights, responsibilities and sacrifices required for liberty in our country. A social democracy celebrates the sacrifices required for liberty in our country? We recognize that this phrase is not user friendly and since the word meanings have changed over time we need to revisit this. Hallelujah! How about taking it down now and then reworking a new motto and slogan that have something to do with academic excellence? You all saw the media and articles for this event showing hundreds of people in attendance and yet stunningly, the day after this board meeting, several teachers sent me the school district’s email to all the teachers and employees of what happened at the meeting and it contained this description of the public minutes section of the meeting. The regular Board Meeting began by Board President Debbie Taylor reading a message from the Board. There have been some e-mails circulating as well as media coverage that includes some mis-representation about the values and goals of the district. Employees received an electronic copy of the message on 3/10/10. Unbelievable. The board continues to deceive the district employees as if everything was fine, nothing to see here, we’re just being misrepresented by someone’s personal experience on our website. Amazing. Full audio of the public minutes from Tuesday’s board meeting The full audio is 51 minutes long. You may download or listen to it here. Audio File (right-click to download and select save file as…) Speakers and start times in the recording: Susie Schnell: 0 minutes Stephen Pratt: 9:21 Mary Mostert: 23:13 Kristie Finley: 26:45 Judy Cox: 33:50 Random parent asks board members to shut their computers so they will be able to pay attention: 37:57 Board President Debbie Taylor says, “I think for the most part we are listening”: 38:34 University professor in the crowd tries to inject true democracy to the meeting by shouting out from the back of the room to 38:48 Charity Davis 39:40 Debbie Johnson 43:40 (comments on nurturing) Jennifer Zapata 47:47 State Board News This week the State Office of Education [...] In this update: Red Meat Radio podcast What’s happening in Alpine School District Full audio of the public minutes from Tuesday’s board meeting State office update Red Meat Radio podcast I was on Red Meat Radio this morning and spoke about the [...] http://www.utahsrepublic.org/scott-in-sandy/ http://www.utahsrepublic.org/scott-in-sandy/#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:08:17 +0000 Oak http://www.utahsrepublic.org/?p=307 http://www.utahsrepublic.org/scott-in-sandy/feed/ 0 Before I went on air this morning, an individual named Scott called in from Sandy and shared some excellent thoughts on the ethics reform initiative being floated by some citizens. That initiative has drastically different purposes from the petition on this site.  It would set up a kingdom for the writers of that bill where this petition is merely to ask the appropriate body for a redress of our grievances. In a Republic, our duly elected representatives exercise power on our behalf. Our sovereign power is to elect and un-elect those representatives periodically to ensure we are being properly represented. The citizens ethics initiative would set up an oligarchy for the writers of the bill. Imagine drafting legislation that would give you kingly power and telling the public the bill is to help clean up the law makers. Won’t the public be surprised… No related posts. Before I went on air this morning, an individual named Scott called in from Sandy and shared some excellent thoughts on the ethics reform initiative being floated by some citizens. That initiative has drastically different purposes from the [...] Scott 6 minutes no