Where Are My Keys?

I could care less about the color of the sutdent's skin..

I'm more concerned with their inability to speak English in the classroom:

For the first time ever, U.S. public schools are projected this fall to have more minority students than non-Hispanic whites enrolled, a shift largely fueled by growth in the number of Hispanic children.

Non-Hispanic white students are still expected to be the largest racial group in the public schools this year at 49.8 percent. But the National Center for Education Statistics says minority students, when added together, will now make up the majority.

About one-quarter of the minority students are Hispanic, 15 percent are black and 5 percent are Asian and Pacific Islanders. Biracial students and Native Americans make up a smaller share of the minority student population.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the changing population a seminal moment in education. "We can't talk about other people's children. These are our children," he said.

The shift creates new academic realities, such as the need for more English language instruction, and cultural ones, meaning changes in school lunch menus to reflect students' tastes.

If children that are in this Country illegally are holding back the students that are, it's a recipe for disaster.  We're already aware of how poorly US students compare to students around the World.  Toss in the teachers having to try and "catch up" non-English speaking kids, and the English speakers suffer, furthering the cycle.

What is the most important thing on the mind of the woman who serves on a Presidential commission on educational excellence?  It ain't school:

As the school-age population has become more nonwhite, it's also become poorer, said Patricia Gandara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA who serves on President Barack Obama's advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.

Roughly one-quarter of Hispanics and African-Americans live below the poverty line - meaning a family of four has nearly $24,000 in annual income - and some of the poorest of Hispanic children are dealing with the instability of being in the country illegally or with a parent who is, Gandara said.

Focusing on teacher preparation and stronger curriculum is "not going to get us anywhere unless we pay attention to the really basic needs of these children, things like nutrition and health and safety, and the instability of the homes," she said.

(emphasis mine)

So we can't educate them with more prepared teachers, and better course work, we have to feed them first?  Is that really the primary job of the educational system?

The problem starts and ends with the Home.  If education, learning English, and wanting to become an American Citizen is important to everyone in the home, the child will succeed.  Unfortunately, the reality is that what I've outlined above is not a priority to non-English speaking families today.

Our rich history is overflowing with stories of immigrants that can to this Country, unable to read, write, or speak the language, who made a choice to assimilate, and do what Americans do in order to become one.

Instead, in Modern America, we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by asking them to respect our laws, learn our language, and pull their weight.

Now we have non-English speaking students becoming the majority in our schools, they are way behind where they should be educationally, and the kids that can speak the language and are up to speed will suffer.

Yet another reason why my daughter will stay in private school, no matter the cost.

RELATED: Cabbies in Sacramento are pissed that they should have to be able to speak basic levels of English.

Something to look forward to..

ISIS now controls both dams (shoddily built), and can unleash a 65-foot "tidal wave" on Baghdad whenever they want (or, if they don't stay on the upkeep, when they don't want to!):

As of August 3 newswires report, recent fighting in north and central Iraq results in ISIS fighters taking full control of Iraq's biggest dam at Haditha unopposed by Kurdish fighters who have made a strategic retreat to Kurd territory after losing three towns, and an oilfield to ISIS fighters. The Haditha Dam serving Baghdad, like a smaller dam serving Mosul which fell to ISIS fighters in June, was as early as 2007 identified by the US Special Inspectorate General for Iraq Reconstruction, a Pentagon watchdog, as a critical installation for enemy insurgent attack. This Agency highlighted structural problems at the two earthfill dams, needing constant grouting and backfill to prevent collapse, and warned of the catastrophic possibilities if either of them fell to insurgents - then called Al Qaeda in Iraq. Both of these dams are now in the hands of ISIS.

Due to their construction method and need for constant upkeep, both dams are relatively easy to rupture using only low amounts of well-placed explosives. The Agency warned that total rupture of the Haditha Dam could cause a 65-foot-high tidal wave in Baghdad City.

ISIS now has two powerful bargaining chips in Iraq. Its frankly apocalyptic general theory of forcing its Grand Caliphate into being would be served by the total destruction of Baghdad if the city and el-Maliki's government do not submit. In no way avoiding the Apocalypse but welcoming it, the effects on Iraq's oil production and oil exports can be imagined. Comparable insurgency, civil riot and rebellion and destruction of government is under way in both Syria and Libya. The extreme fundamentalist Sunni ISIS movement makes no secret of 'the prize' being the overthrow of albeit-Sunni ruling families, called 'impious and heretical' in the GCC countries.

That would have an interesting effect on the price of oil, wouldn't it?

Thank goodness we have a leader in DC that keeps showing his "smart diplomacy" skills.

Who knew?

So you got coverage under Obamacare, now what?

Last week, Salwa Shabazz arrived at the office of a public health network here with a bag full of paperwork about her new health insurance — and an unhappy look on her face. She had chosen her plan by phone in March, speaking to a customer service representative at the federal insurance marketplace. Now she had problems and questions, so many questions.

“I’ve had one doctor appointment since I got this insurance, and I had to pay $60,” Ms. Shabazz told Daniel Flynn, a counselor with the health network, the Health Federation of Philadelphia. “I don’t have $60.”

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Flynn spent almost two hours going over her Independence Blue Cross plan, which he explained had a “very complicated” network that grouped doctors and hospitals into three tiers. Ms. Shabazz, who has epilepsy, had not understood when she chose the plan that her doctors were in the most expensive tier.

“None of that was explained when I signed up,” she said. “This is the first I’m hearing it.”

Many people who signed up for private coverage through the new marketplaces had never had health insurance, and even the basics — like what a premium is and why getting a primary care doctor is better than relying on the emergency room — are beyond their experience. Others have a sense of how insurance works but find the details of the marketplace plans confusing, especially if they signed up without the help of someone who understood them.

When it comes times to renew, do you thjink most people in this situation will do their homework, or just let their policies lapse, knowing they can pay a fine, and get coverage when they truly need it?

Ms. Shabazz’s mother, Waheedah Shabazz-El, who had accompanied her to the appointment, shook her head as her daughter wiped away tears. “There are so many layers to this,” Ms. Shabazz-El said.

Not quite the way it was sold to you by the President, Ms. Shabazz?

Not really helping your argument there, Congresswoman..

Jan Schakowsky shows how she is "suffering" when it comes to eating during a "Live the Wage" stunt:

Anything on there that you don't have on your weekly menu?

The reality is that if more people on food stamps had a menu similar to the Congresswoman, we would probably have less obesity and fewer incidences of diabetes.

What a joke the Democrat Party has become in the last few decades.

I guess Ms. Schakowsky has more meals ath The Palm, than at home.

No need for citizens to own guns, right?

Here's what happened in the foreign Country of Iowa:

 

Thanks, Jenny!

Measles cases triple:

Measles, one of the most communicable of all infectious diseases, is spiking in the United States, with three times as many cases as usual this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The spike is due to both foreign importations — infected travelers coming from places where measles is not under control — and local vulnerability: unvaccinated children and adults in the United States.

In a press briefing, the CDC’s director Dr. Thomas Frieden said that from January to November, there were 175 known cases of measles in the US, with 20 of those people having to be hospitalized. The agency would expect to see about 60 cases, he said. Those cases came from 52 separate travelers. Most of the time, the imported virus found only a few people to infect — but nine times, the imports caused large outbreaks, always in people who had not received the vaccine.

“It is not a failure of the vaccine,” Frieden said. “It’s a failure to vaccinate. Around 90 percent of the people who have had measles in this country were not vaccinated either because they refused, or were not vaccinated on time.”

If 175 cases doesn’t sound like much, consider measles’ impact. It isn’t just an itchy rash; it can cause deafness and encephalitis, and miscarriage in pregnant women. Before the measles vaccine was achieved 50 years ago, the disease killed 2.6 million people around the world every year. Its cost to society is huge. A single importation of measles into Arizona in 2008, via an unvaccinated, infected Swiss tourist, caused a 14-person outbreak; compelled the Arizona Department of Health to track down and interview 8,321 people; caused seven Tucson hospitals to furlough staff members for a combined 15,120 work-hours; and forced two hospitals to spend $799,136 to contain the disease.

When will one (or more) of the moning news shows that gave Jenny McCarthy airtime to talk about vaccines and autism, have her back on to discuss this story?

It's okay to let your kids fail from time to time..

If they fail, they learn how to not fail next time around.  If they don't learn to fail, they wind up like this:

Amy (not her real name) sat in my office and wiped her streaming tears on her sleeve, refusing the scratchy tissues I’d offered. “I’m thinking about just applying for a Ph.D. program after I graduate because I have no idea what I want to do.” Amy had mild depression growing up, and it worsened during freshman year of college when she moved from her parents’ house to her dorm. It became increasingly difficult to balance school, socializing, laundry, and a part-time job. She finally had to dump the part-time job, was still unable to do laundry, and often stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to complete homework because she didn’t know how to manage her time without her parents keeping track of her schedule.

I suggested finding a job after graduation, even if it’s only temporary. She cried harder at this idea. “So, becoming an adult is just really scary for you?” I asked. “Yes,” she sniffled. Amy is 30 years old.

Her case is becoming the norm for twenty- to thirtysomethings I see in my office as a psychotherapist. I’ve had at least 100 college and grad students like Amy crying on my couch because breaching adulthood is too overwhelming.

Barack Obama, liar..

Not only is "If you like it, you can keep it" being proven false, we are also learning that the President knew millions would lose their existing coverage, and continued to mislead the American People.

We also learn that delaying the start date of Obamacare would have disasterous results on the insurance industry:

The proposal to extend the open enrollment period, which has been endorsed by 10 Democratic senators, is a reaction to the well-documented problems with HealthCare.gov in its opening month. With many people having trouble applying for insurance through the website, and the administration setting a Nov. 30 deadline for the site to be fully functional, the senators say people need more time to sign up for coverage. The enrollment period is scheduled to end March 31. The senators haven't asked for a specific new end date yet.

But expect to start hearing a significant amount of pushback from the industry, with a message focused on the fact that insurance premiums could skyrocket in 2015 if the enrollment period is extended.

"We are focused on educating lawmakers and the broader policy community about why the individual mandate and defined open enrollment periods are essential to achieving broad participation in the marketplaces," Robert Zirkelbach, spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a major industry lobbying group, told TPM. "Without these enrollment incentives, many young, healthy people may wait to purchase coverage until they need it, driving up premiums for everyone else."

The problem, according to the industry, is that an extended enrollment period could skew their calculations for 2015 premiums. Here's why.

Right now, insurers need to submit 2015 rates to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services between April 1 and April 30, 2014. If the enrollment period ends in March, as currently scheduled, insurers will know exactly what their customer base looks like as they make projections about their 2015 rates.

But if people can still sign up after March 31, either while or after insurers are making those calculations, it creates a few problems. Here's the big one: Most experts assume that young and healthy people -- who are crucial to making the law's finances work by offsetting the costs of sicker and older enrollees -- are more likely to wait till the last possible moment or until they get sick to sign up for insurance.

If that's true and they can't be accounted for when insurers are projecting their 2015 rates because of extended enrollment, that could lead to an older and sicker pool when those calculations for 2015 are being made. That would likely increase rates. And generally, the uncertainty about the pools could cause insurers to err on the side of caution.

"We think it's important for everyone to understand that the individual mandate is critical to making the insurance reforms work and to ensuring affordable coverage for consumers," the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association said in a statement to TPM ."Unless everyone is covered, the reforms included in this law fundamentally do not work. An extension of the open enrollment season is effectively a delay of the individual mandate, with the same serious consequences for consumers."

The Insurance Companies are following the rules (as written by Democrats).  While the President has been happy to change/break the rules on a whim (exemptions, etc.), if it is done this time around, it will have devastating results.

Way to go, Democrats!  Way to go by ram this piece of shit through the system using parliamentary tricks, way to go by not reading what was in it, and way to go by doing it with zero Republican support.

If the GOP finds a way to somehow screw up the golden ticket for the 2014 elections (full repeal, reminding people who is responsible for their loss in coverage, premium increases, etc.), then God help this Country.

Sure was a good thing that the MSM focused on Mitt Romney cutting another kid's hair in high school, how his dog once rode on top of a car, and that he had binders full of women during the last election cycle, wasn't it?

More people lose coverage they liked, thanks to Obamacare...

This time it is 300,000 in Florida:

The main reason insurers offer is that the policies fall short of what the Affordable Care Act requires starting Jan. 1. Most are ending policies sold after the law passed in March 2010.  At least a few are cancelling plans sold to people with pre-existing medical conditions.

By all accounts, the new policies will offer consumers better coverage, in some cases, for comparable cost -- especially after the inclusion of federal subsidies for those who qualify. The law requires policies sold in the individual market to cover 10 “essential” benefits, such as prescription drugs, mental health treatment and maternity care. In addition, insurers cannot reject people with medical problems or charge them higher prices. The policies must also cap consumers’ annual expenses at levels lower than many plans sold before the new rules.

But the cancellation notices, which began arriving in August, have shocked many consumers in light of President Barack Obama’s promise that people could keep their plans if they liked them. 

“I don’t feel like I need to change, but I have to,” said Jeff Learned, a television editor in Los Angeles, who must find a new plan for his teenage daughter, who has a health condition that has required multiple surgeries.

...

Some receiving cancellations say it looks like their costs will go up, despite studies projecting that about half of all enrollees will get income-based subsidies.

Kris Malean, 56, lives outside Seattle, and has a health policy that costs $390 a month with a $2,500 deductible and a $10,000 in potential out-of-pocket costs for such things as doctor visits, drug costs or hospital care.

As a replacement, Regence BlueShield is offering her a plan for $79 more a month with a deductible twice as large as what she pays now, but which limits her potential out-of-pocket costs to $6,250 a year, including the deductible.

“My impression was …there would be a lot more choice, driving some of the rates down,” said Malean, who does not believe she is eligible for a subsidy.

Regence spokeswoman Rachelle Cunningham said the new plans offer consumers broader benefits, which “in many cases translate into higher costs.”

“The arithmetic is inescapable,” said Patrick Johnston, chief executive officer of the California Association of Health Plans. Costs must be spread, so while some consumers will see their premiums drop, others will pay more -- “no matter what people in Washington say.”

You know what would help fraud like this go away?

Budgets.  When you don't have oversight, and it is apparent no one cares, why wouldn't you spend like a drunken sailor?

One federal employee leased a $53,000 take-home car with taxpayer money in apparent defiance of federal regulations and regularly billed the government for service at shops such as BMW of Fairfax.

Others charged the government monthly for family members’ cell phones and high-end TV packages and Internet at home — and even at second homes.

Managers freely made out checks to employees without requiring documentation of how it would be spent, giving $1,316 directly to one who said she was reimbursing herself for furniture she bought for a “home office” and using convenience checks to give workers bonuses.

Government employees used federal purchase cards to order items such as a $560 Bose stereo and $1,490 for two high-definition televisions that could not be located.

All of these examples happened at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an obscure runaway government agency where the median annual salary is $120,000.

That amount far exceeds the national median household income but it wasn't enough for many FMCS employees, many of whom routinely charged nearly every conceivable expense to government credit cards known as “purchase cards,” according to bank records reviewed by the Washington Examiner.

Even the bank didn’t know where much of the money went, because it was paid using checks with an “illegible payee.”

Disgusting waste of taxpayer money, and this is just one agency.  What is the true cost throughout the entire Government?

You remember what Nancy Pelosi said a few weeks ago, right?