So, now we have rule by mob at the Indiana General Assembly. In case the Democrats missed it, they lost the last election. The Republicans gained majorities in both the Indiana House of Representatives and the Indiana Senate.
It is unconscionable the Democrats would now seek to control the legislative process by temper tantrum. There are no other words for it. They have demanded and succeeded in getting the “Right to Work” bill pulled off of the agenda. They have demanded several other pieces of legislation not be brought to the floor for debate and vote or they will take their marbles and go home.
This is the worst case of dereliction of duty I have ever seen in Indiana. The absent legislators did take an oath of office. The House Rules clearly state (IV-A-36) that “No member shall absent himself from the service of the House unless he is excused by the Speaker, is sick or is unable to attend”. The Rules further empower the Speaker to fine and censure absent members and adjourn from day to day until a quorum of 2/3rd of the members is present. Fine and censure he should do.
The behavior of the Democrats should not and cannot stand. The voters of Indiana have spoken and the business of Indiana must move forward. If the Democrats don’t like being in the minority, they have every opportunity to change that in the next election. In the meanwhile, they need to suck it up and behave like responsible legislators rather than spoiled losers. Our form of representative government cannot function this way. If they cannot adhere to the rules of governing under our State Constitution, they should step down in favor of someone who will; someone who will honor the oath of office.
Kokomo Schools "International School" Follow up
Kokomo-Center School Corporation announced in mid-January the initiation of an “International School” to function within the K-C system beginning in 2011. Jeff Hauswald, Superintendent of the Kokomo-Center system, told the public that the School Board approved of three new “International” schools. These are to be housed within traditional school buildings along side the traditional academic programs offered in each location. Each will require classroom space and teachers. The “International” school label mostly means teaching Spanish beginning in kindergarten.
In other school news, the recently released Indiana school performance data show an alarming decline in math and language proficiency among Kokomo High School students. Tenth graders in Kokomo High School that meet or exceed the math standard set for 10th graders has fallen from 66% in the 2007-2008 school year to 44% in the 2009-2010 school year. Tenth graders that meet or exceed the language standard has fallen from 63% to 47%. In other words, less than half of Kokomo-Center’s 10th graders are proficient in math and language skills.
Now, the KC system is proposing to divert resources to the teaching of Spanish. They do not appear to be able to teach math and English. If additional resources are available within the system, a much better use would be to remediate the pathetic performance of students in basic skills. It is no wonder that a high percentage of applicants to universities must take remedial math and English courses before being formally admitted to university level work. They are simply not coming out of high school equipped with the required skills in either math or English.
The idea of diverting resources to establish extensive Spanish programs within the Kokomo-Center School system is a perfect example of wrong thinking. The idea should be discarded quickly.
A German's View of Islam
[What is below has been widely publicized on the Internet. It is certainly fiction, but it does make a point, doesn’t it.]
A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a
number of large industries and estates. When asked how many Germans were
true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
“Very few were true Nazis,” he said, “but many enjoyed the return of German
pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just
thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back
and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us. We had lost
control, and the end of our world had come. My family lost everything. I
ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.”
We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is
the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to
live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is
entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better,
and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the
globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It
is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 wars
worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or
tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire
continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead,
murder, and honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque
after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the doctrine of stoning and hanging rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent
majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of people who just wanted to live in peace,
yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20
million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China’s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists
managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an
orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese
civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not
be said that the majority of Rwandans were peace loving?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our
powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because
like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the
fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs,
Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many
others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until
it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only
group that counts — the fanatics who threaten our way of life.