Take the Civics Test!!

Thanks to a reader for this link to the website for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute that was (according to their website) "...founded in 1953 to further in successive generations of American college youth a better understanding of the economic, political, and ethical values that sustain a free and humane society.". In reading some of their press releases it seems (no surprise) that Americans don't know thier civics.  From their summary of findings:

Of the 2,508 Americans taking ISI’s civic literacy test, 71% fail. Nationwide, the average score on the test is only 49%. The vast majority cannot recognize the language of Lincoln’s famous speech.

The test contains 33 questions designed to measure knowledge of America’s founding principles, political history, international relations, and market economy.

I urge everyone to take the civics test and see where you score. The test is online at http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx. I am really disturbed by the findings and hope this serves as a call to action to students and to parents that we are losing our heritage as a country, a culture and a people (Americans) regardless of your specific race.

A few of the major findings:

1. Colleges Should Teach America’s Heritage (but America's heritage isn't diverse enough)


2. College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge


3. Television—Including TV News—Dumbs America Down (no surprise there!!)


4. Elected Officials Score Lower than the General Public

So what does a failing grade as a society mean? The Intercollegiate Studies Institute conludes that:

Jefferson and Madison hoped to persuade decision-makers in their era to found a college. ISI hopes to have success in re-founding Jefferson and Madison’s vision for higher education. And there is plenty at stake.

If we fail to teach our children how American freedom was established and preserved, we cannot expect them to pass it on to future generations.

How true! Take the test! See how well you score.

By the way, the Outspoken Roman scored a 90.91%. I guess I have some work to do.

OS

Update: Deroy Murdock over at National Review Online has a nice article on the crappy performance of folks taking the online civics test offered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Murdock also has a nice quote from Thomas Jefferson that I wanted to quote here “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be.”

Truly stated.

OS

If you are not with us, you are against us

So we have the new blacklist being prepared and it is being developed by folks who cry McCarthyism and are defenders of free speech. What do I mean? Case in point - Scott Eckern who is the artistic director for the California Musical Theatre. The Miami Herald reports that Eckern "resigned Wednesday as a growing number of artists threatened to boycott the organization because of his $1,000 donation to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California."

The full story, found at the Sacramento Bee stated that "Despite support from many in the local community who valued his contributions and championed his right to free speech, Eckern decided he could no longer be effective as the creative force behind the area's largest producing and presenting performing arts organization."

So after finding his dream job, Eckern followed his conscience to donate to a cause that he believed in (the preservation of traditional marriage). He obviously did his job well but with all the clamor that erupted after his donation was broadcast on many anti Proposition 8 websites, he decided to resign to "to protect the organization and to help the healing in the local theater-going and creative community" as reported in the Sacramento Bee story. This was after a boycott of the theater was called for by some in the arts community. Real tolerant!!

So what do we learn from this? A purge is going on to attack anyone who doesn't toe the party line. In this case it is not anti communists who are pushing some agenda but the gay activists and their supporters who are trolling through communities looking for signs of "intolerance" and "homophobia" and "anti-progressive" ideas. Instead of accepting differences (diversity of thought) the gay activists and their brethren and forcing their agenda down the county's throat with violence and of course with intimidation. I already wrote about the elderly woman who was attacked by gay activists for her opposition to gay marriage. Where will this end? Well it will end one of two ways, gays getting their way through intimidation, judicial fiat or violence or it will end with communities at each other's throats with the traditional values and beliefs being the spoils of the "war". This is a war and one that is being pushed by the extreme homosexual groups who should be wary of the fights they choose to pick.

By the way, Scott Eckern has a sister who is a lesbian but that didn't buy him any consideration from the opponents of Prop 8. The battle for the hearts and minds of this country continues.

OS

The Left - Defenders of the common man except for Joe the Plumber

Ok, the election is over but the fall out continues. I was catching up on the news over the last week and saw a story over at Yahoo that mentioned our old buddy Joe the Plumber that became a debate topic and a follow on focus of a media anal exam. I was always surprised how much the media was able to find out about Joe the Plumber and never make any real connection between Obama and Rev Wright or Obama and Bill Ayers.

So the Yahoo story by way of AP is titled "Report: Records search on Joe the Plumber improper". The crux of the story states that a state computer was used to access Joe's personal information by the Department of Job and Family Services Director (who had used a state computer or e-mail account to support fund raising efforts for Obama's campaign for which she was placed on paid leave). The story states:

An agency director improperly used state computers to find personal information on "Joe the Plumber," a government watchdog said in a report released Thursday.

There was no legitimate business purpose for the head of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services to order staff to look up the records, Inspector General Tom Charles said.

Investigators weren't able to determine whether the searches were politically motivated, the report said.

"All these searches were done in the midst of a national political campaign," the report said. "But we did not find any evidence that shows the data was accessed or information released in response to media requests in an effort to support any political activity or agenda."

Not politically motivated? There was no evidence found that the agency in question has policy dictating that background checks are done once an individual "emerges into the limelight". This was a private citizen who had 18 background checks done on him by an agency that is headed up by a Obama supporter. Yeah - no conflict there.

The agency director (Helen Jones-Kelley) was suspended by the Governor after this report was released (a month with no pay) but this woman needs to be fired. This was clearly an abuse of the position that Helen Jones-Kelley held and has betrayed the public trust. We cannot have officials supporting the public with such questionable ethics. I call upon Gov Ted Strickland to fire Helen Jones-Kelley and restore faith in his public servants. This cannot be allowed to stand.

The findings of this report have been forwarded to the appropriate  prosecutor's office in Columbus, Ohio. Let's hope justice is done.

OS

Tolerance on display

Thanks for Worldnetdaily for showcasing this display of tolerance and love for each other.

To set this up, California had on the ballot a voter initiative to amend the California Constitution to recognize marriage as only between a man and a woman. It passed on Tuesday with 52 percent of the vote.

What the opponents of this initiative - Proposition 8, noted was that gay marriage is about love. Ok - well if that is the case, how do explain the following story? (hint - the opponents of Prop 8 and the radical gay lobby hates traditional folks and their religious beliefs and wants to tear them (and the current society and its norms down).

From the WND story:

An angry mob of homosexual activists in Southern California attacked an elderly bespectacled woman carrying a cross, then shouted her down during a live TV interview as she tried to explain to a reporter her defense of the state's new marriage amendment.

What was the real kicker was this encounter was caught by a local Palm Springs TV news crew (KPSP-TV) and they posted the video on their website. Including when the "elderly bespectacled woman carrying a cross" was attacked by protesters and the cross she was carrying was stomped on the ground.

If you don't believe me, the video was posted to the San Francisco State University College Republicans' website. After a brief ad - watch the video around 2:27 in. You actually see the women accosted, shoved and the cross hatefully smashed into the ground.

These are the same people who preach tolerance, love, and of course "free speech". Oh - except for speech that they disagree with (they being gay activists). We should always be on guard as to what these "folks" have in store for us. The Prop 8 opponents had signs that talked about stopping hate. Hah...does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this?

This is evil.

OS

Where is John McCain?

So the media is rife with stories about the unruly Sarah Palin and her ignorance, lack of experience and demand for fine clothes and I have not heard John McCain actually defend her at all against these slanders from "anonymous" campain sources.

I watched a little of Greta Van Susteren's interview with Palin last night and it struck me that there is another narrative missing to this story - John McCain. This is the same man who attacked Repubblican supporters who developed an ad linking Obama and Rev. Wright (you know..."not God Bless America but God Damn America..." that guy). This is the same man who spoke up at a rally and talked how "We have nothing to fear with Barack Obama in the White House". Where is he now when his VP choice is being slammed?

If Palin is ignorant or inexperienced, isn't the issue here McCain's vetting process for a choice of running mate? Doesn't the responsibility for bringing Palin to the national ticke lie with this same campaign who is now disparaging her? Where is Mr. Straight Talk now?

By the way recall it was the selection of Sarah Palin that put McCain in the lead (according to Zogby Poll) over Obama. So is the real problem Sarah Palin or the crappy campaign that McCain ran?

OS

Looking ahead to an Obama Presidency.

Well, this should be a real interesting 4 years. I wonder if we could all take some sort of morning after pill and wake up from this radical change in America's direction.

Anyway - the Boston Globe has a story titled "Checking racism's postelection pulse". The gist of the story is since we now have elected an African American president, is racism dead. My response - of course not. Sorry to say this but there are too many people who make money off of racial racketeering and fear mongering and maligning this country for racism ever to be declared dead. What would Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton do with themselves?

The story quotes Demetrius Calhoun, a resident of Roxbury as saying "You think because he's president, automatically black people are going to have plenty of jobs and plenty of money? He can't just go and do that."

Did I miss the speech where Obama noted he was going to give out money and jobs to black people? I heard the spreading the wealth around comment but this was new. Secondly, is racism the only cause for anyone not to have money and a job?

So as we are all navel gazing and trying to understand why racism is not dead recall that according to the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (the nation's leading think tank on African-American issues) "84 percent of African Americans prefer Barack Obama over John McCain." Why aren't there stories about the surge in racism against the white candidate (John McCain) in the black community? Hello - CNN? If 84% of White America had voted against Obama, not only would we be electing a different president, we would not be having these conversations about the possible death of racism, but about the continuation of this sordid practice.

I am waiting for the stories as to why Obama enjoyed such popularity? Was it about race? Does Fox News, ABC or CBS have the guts to look at that question? Probably not.

Change is here.

OS

Thomas Sowell on the right to approval

Yeah it is election day and hopefully everyone is going out to vote but articles like this just need to be discussed.

Dr. Thomas Sowell, writing on National Review's website has it once again - just dead right. Writing about gay marriage Sowell notes:

Some local election campaigns in various states are using that tactic this year, trying to get special privileges through affirmative-action quotas or through demands that the definition of marriage be changed to suit homosexuals.

Equality of rights does not mean equality of results. I can have all the equal treatment in the world on a golf course and I will not finish within shouting distance of Tiger Woods.

Sowell is right!! This country was not founded on the guarantee of equal outcome, just equal rights and equal opportunity under the Constitution. And there is no 'right to marry'. He continues:

The argument that current marriage laws “discriminate” against homosexuals confuses discrimination against people with making distinctions among different kinds of behavior.

All laws distinguish among different kinds of behavior. What other purpose does law have?

While people may be treated the same, all their behaviors are not. Laws that forbid bicycles from being ridden on freeways obviously have a different effect on people who have bicycles but no cars.

But this is not discrimination against a person. The cyclist who gets into a car is just as free to drive on the freeway as anybody else.

Sowell them takes to task the misconstrued fact of equality and what it does and does not mean for the gay community.

The question is not whether gays should be permitted to marry. Many gays have already married people of the opposite sex. Conversely, heterosexuals who might want to marry someone of the same sex in order to make some point will be forbidden to do so, just as gays are.

The real issue is whether marriage should be redefined — and, if for gays, why not for polygamists? Why not for pedophiles?

This is the real issue that no one wants to talk about. There are plenty of sexual deviants who will be just waiting to take advantage of this legal loophole to push their personal agenda on America. What is wrong with polygamy that the arguments for gay marriage don't address? What is wrong with pedophilia that the same arguments don't apply?

I agree with Sowell. There is a functional structure that is traditional marriage that was based on the foundation of raising children (you know how the human plumbing works?). Anything else should not get nor deserve any sort of sanctity by the US Government.

OS

Sir Alexander Fraser Tytle warns against liberalism

Scottish jurist and historian, Sir Alexander Fraser Tytle had a prescient observation on Athenian Democracy that I am sad to say, seems apropos to today's political climate. This quote is actually brought to us by way of Terry Paulson's commentary over at Townhall.com.

Paulson quotes Sir Alexander Fraser Tytle as noting (with regard to the natural rise and fall of every democracy):

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence; from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage."

So my question is - where is the United States in this ebb and flow? What do we hear from the centrist McCain and the liberal Obama but more edicts to give out to the people more goodies to give out and more promises of ensured prosperity. God forbid one of them says no to something (and encourage the individual to provide for him or herself) or as Paulson notes "We've gone from protecting the unfortunate to supporting the irresponsible.". I love that line.

This is why the Ralph Naders and the Pat Buchanans or the Ron Pauls have no real chance of getting elected. There is a large segment of the population that knows it can vote iteself more goodies and more Government largess. It is like having a credit card that they personally never have to pay. Again quoting Paulson - "In America, all citizens are guaranteed "the pursuit of happiness," not happiness given to them by a controlling government." 

We should all as we pull the lever on 4 November heed Tytle's words or ignore them at our peril.

OS