As a conservative teacher, I plead guilty to the worst sort of offense for a public school teacher- thoughtcrimes. I am guilty of thoughtcrimes- I am a conservative teacher even though I do not push or encourage my conservative views and values in my classroom, even though I make conscious efforts to articulate all sides of every debate and situation, even though I play devil's advocate and am critical of all politicians and views at one time or another, and even though I seek primarily to inspire critical thinking.
You see, it is not my actions which threaten liberals and leftists and Democrats- it is my very existence and the fact that I do not quietly acquiescence to their thuggish attempts to convince me to think differently.
In his novel 1984, George Orwell described a thoughtcrime as an illegal type of thought. Liberals and leftists hate and fear me, because while in the classroom I may be a model teacher and may be inspiring and motivating students, in private I am the author of this blog where I state my thoughts and opinions on a range of subjects in a conservative manner, and for that they feel I must be silenced, fired, and perhaps worse.
Increasingly as our nation descends into a totalitarian fascist state, people like me are a threat to the government. Some people might be conservatives or libertarians or Republicans, but they're usually not teachers, and if they are they have been successfully revealed as thus and thus marginalized and silenced already. What really bothers the government and the fascist thugs who run it is that I'm still hidden in the system, unexposed, unsilenced and unmarginalized, and still teaching. I'm still teaching young children the skills of how to think critically. I'm still exposing students to tough questions and hard facts, and them giving them the skills to grapple with them- without telling them what to think about those facts or without answering the questions for them as a liberal leftist teacher would do. I'm still employed, even though I am a conservative and a teacher.
Some teachers inspire a few students to be conservative by accident or just absently are a conservative and a teacher- but I've thought about this beforehand and put forethought into it, showing that I have a plan to teach students how to think and to give them a wealth of information to think on, and I have done all of this knowingly and purposefully- and that's a crime worse than actually pushing my views or indoctrinating students. I'm not just a conservative and a teacher- I am A Conservative Teacher, and that's a threat to liberals and leftists and makes me guilty of thought crimes of the worst sort.
In many ways, thought crime is an even more serious offense than committing an actual crime, and that is why I have inspired such hate and attacks from my comments and blog posts, more so than others who simply are conservatives. Our outward actions and character stem from our inner world, and my inner world is conservative, and thus it does not matter to liberals and leftists what my outer world of teaching is like and how professional I am in that environment- they know and I know they know that I am a conservative teacher.
Many out there, including President Obama and the modern day Democratic Party that has been infiltrated and taken over by liberal fascists, believe that you can practice one thing all you want, but you must think and believe only what the fascist government tells you to believe. And I don't, and that is why I am a threat that they need to silence, intimidate, and threaten.
The good news is that I have for years been lying about who I am- using friends for radio interviews, having family members post my comments and blog posts from their locations, and even mixing up personal details. Since I started this blog in 2008, I've moved three times and worked in two school districts on either edge of town, gotten married, had a dozen kids, and even taken up urban farming! Because I am still unknown, I remain a threat. I'm nearing retirement age though and just need to hold on for a couple more years. And you wolves, although you may circle me, I am a friend of liberty and a patriot, and you will not terrorize me into thinking differently. Two plus two does equal four.
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Am I Guilty of Thoughcrimes?
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Issues of Informality
A Design Indaba preview of the recently concluded South African Informal City exhibition:
More hereThe South African Informal City is an initiative of the Architects’ Collective and forms parts of the technical site visits offered by the Local Government Programme for COP17...Looking at South Africa’s most relevant and innovative design and research projects in terms of urban migration issues, the 20 works featured in the exhibition aim to promote dialogue around informality and urban development.
Informal city. Photo: Tanya Zack.
Inner city informality, in-situ upgrading, catalytic projects, un-built projects and backyard interventions are the five categories in which the projects are presented.
Cooperation, information sharing and positive action between policy makers, practitioners, academics and civil society is what the exhibition aims to promotion, together with taking a critical look at informality and urban development. “The exhibition will provide opportunities for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, and for existing research and realised projects to become part of a greater public debate,” says Karen Eicker, Architects’ Collective director.
Makoko's Hive Mind
Adun Okupe writes about the under appreciated 'Collective Intelligence' exhibited by the Makoko community in Lagos:
via Nigerians Talk
More here...within such ‘chaos’, or apparent disorganization, the system works. Somehow it does, and nowhere is this more exemplified than in Makoko, Lagos’ water community. Kunlé Adeyemi of NLÉ works is doing some very interesting work in this community and I am enthusiastic. Not only does the community provide 33% of Lagos’ fish supply and a high proportion of its timber, but it is also the city’s cheapest
Image courtesy of NLE
dwellings...The fact that this community is existent after 100years shows that there must be a way around this. A form of collective intelligence that goes into how the residents co-habit successfully, how they build, how they plan their dwellings. I find it interesting and exciting. Excited to learn more about it, to understand it, and know how this intelligence can be replicated across the city in terms of intelligent and effective urban planning.
This is intelligence.
via Nigerians Talk
Standardized Testing: The Modern Bloodletting?
 |
| Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan - It should be about the student! |
What if we had a modern doctor that practiced bloodletting?
Protests. An angry outcry against a practioner who had ingnored the past 200 years of medicine to go back to the archaic and harmful habit of draining a sick person's blood into a bowl in order to remove the body of impurities. Complete and utter nonsense. Not only nonsense, harmful.
Is standardized testing a modern day bloodletting? Perhaps not that extreme, but extreme enough to have an outcry from the masses demanding that education system be reformed. At the heart of this outcry is perhaps the standardized testing-centric curricula and methods we've adapted in order to "improve our scores."
So you want to know why this overtesting has made so many mad?
Here are the reasons I think that the modern implementation of the archaic standardized test scrapes at the sensibilities of a modern parent and teacher.
1 - The intense "drill and kill" leading up to the test themselves.
Runners know that in order to prepare for a big run, they must first scale back. In fact, no runner competing in a big race would schedule another big race in the two weeks prior. This is because the body needs time to recover. If you give everything you have, you don't have anything to give in the big race, especially when you need that extra kick. So, you drill and work hard and then a week prior you begin your taper, which is enough work to get you ready for the big day.
There is no taper in this activity. In fact, some schools give their own versions of the standardized test throughout the year to try to diagnose problems. Some even the day before. They figure if they give a monstrous test the day before the big test that things will be fresh on the student's minds. Perhaps there is some truth to that, but the fact is that the student who is supposed to do well on the test is exhausted.
2 - The intense pressure adults put on the kids about the tests
We do pep rallies, we lecture. We cajole. We bribe. We do everything we can to get the kids to take the test "seriously." In doing so, we perk up the ears of the majorly rebellious and perhaps all the kids. Except for graduation tests or advancement tests, the kids rarely have any "skin in the game" the only way the tests are high stakes is when the school is involved. Many parents don't have "skin in the game" either. Those who care have kids who make better test scores.
This is kind of like having a group of runners and telling them that if they can finish as a group, first, that their coaches will get a ribbon. The students won't get a trophy on their wall or a picture or anything. Just the coaches. While some students love their coaches enough to do this, it is rare.
Additionally, we don't even tell the kids if they won or not. We don't show them their test scores. They don't know how they did. It is a black box of agony and they don't see the point.
3- Measures of improvement are unrealistic
Our football team right now is entering the playoffs. While the coaches want to win as much as the students, these playoffs are about the kids on the field. Coaches know that some years they have more talent than others and do the best to win with what they have. We've had 23 games of winning in a row. Our coaches have done a great job advancing our kids and improving every single game.
But to tell them that they have to keep winning forever and always be better. Is that realistic. All schools go through an ebb and flow. For whatever reason, we don't know, some of our classes at school are full of boys and others are a mix of boys and girls. We don't know why. Sometimes the same happens with academics. We have a strong class one year and the next year the class isn't so strong.
4- We're not measuring the delta but rather a raw, unscientific measure of scores
To be fair, you should measure a single class all the way through and how that class advances. To compare one year of eighth graders to the next isn't an apples to apples comparison. A set of kids may have a great test score but compared to their prior year, they fell back. To compare this year's 8th grade to last year's 8th grade (unless you have an incredibly large "sample size") in most schools just isn't a fair comparison of whether the school improved. A measure of this year's 8th grade to the scores of the same students last year is a better measure. We're not looking at the delta.
The delta is the change. To be the most fair, a student's test scores would travel with him/her no matter what school the child went to. Each year, a child would have their scores this year versus their scores last year compared and the delta would be calculated. (The increase or decrease.) The addition of all of those deltas would help us see if those students were improving or not improving.
You'd also have to factor in that at some age levels kids naturally improve more than at others. (During puberty, for example, a child has a problem learning a lot and you're lucky if they hold steady - their body is just too busy doing other things to learn a lot. -- Geil Browning of Emergentics told us this at a Leadership Georgia workshop some time back.)
Material is everything. My husband runs several production lines.He runs the same line every day. Sometimes everything goes wrong in the line. It might be the temperature or a certain person who is out who is a key player but most often it is something subtle wrong with the materials.
You can't always blame it on the kids. But the fact is that some classes are smarter than others. For whatever reason, who knows. But the fact is there. So it becomes a matter of punishing a school when they have a class that doesn't measure up to the prior year.
5 - The test is standard
When you have a standard test, you make it easy to cheat. Everyone is given the same test. The stakes are high. The kids don't care. This class of kids is not as smart. I may lose my job. My husband lost his job and I can't afford to lose my job. What can I do? I've taught them everything I can. What is going to happen?
There is no excuse for cheating. None. But when met with a hopeless situation there are very few people who will fall on their sword. There just are. Teaching is noble and when teachers cheat it brings us all down. If you're perfect, please message me on Twitter, so I can meet you. I am not excusing the cheating but I am saying that good teachers make bad mistakes every day. Usually when we're tired or upset or under a lot of pressure but it happens.
The real world isn't standard.
One year I was upset about one of my children's K4 performance on the "environment section" of the standardized test. The teacher showed me what he missed. He didn't properly identify a SUBWAY TURNSTILE. He also didn't identify a judge (shown in a gray english style wig with a gavel) and he didn't know what a bus stop was. While my urban counterparts may argue that every 4 year old should have been on a subway, we are in a rural community and that is simply unimportant for a 4 year old to know here.
Schools teach different things. They are in different environments. The things that call out words and experiences that most kids have in urban areas penalize rural students and vice versa. There should be a way to control for this, however, we are trying to standardize.
The real world isn't multiple choice.
There are only 4 answers - multiple choice. In the real world when a factory worker needs to use a gauge to measure, there are no multiple choice answers. I know a local plant that turns away 80% of applicants because they don't know fractions. Even more than that they have to take metric, convert to inches and go back to metric again.
The reason we did multiple choice in the first place was so a computer could grade it an we could test cheaply. The only reason we keep doing it is because the testing companies prefer it that way. There is no reason at all to keep having multiple choice as the only mode of input. That is ludicrous.
Why don't we have adaptive testing?
Right now, if a child doesn't know decimals he/she may still have to answer 10 decimal questions. How many questions does it take to know a child doesn't know decimals? Probably just two or three. At that point, a computer could start going "down" to see if a child knows fractions. It should adapt and say "OK, what does this child know?"
If a child is reading below grade level, the test is on grade level. If they can't read it, they can't answer the questions. At all. The entire reading section is pointless. Instead, the test should adapt and say, "OK, what reading level IS this child on?" The same with every subject.
The fact is paper and pencil can't adapt. And adaptive testing is really about personalizing the knowledge of the student. It is about understanding the individual student. If we can understand enough individual students and then aggregate that together then a school can create a plan to help those students progress and move ahead.
But it isn't about really understanding and helping an individual student at all. No. It seems to be more about finding more heads to put on pikes than it is about helping every child get ahead.
A paper, standard, non adaptive test is a waste of time for a child who is underperforming. It is also a waste of time for a child who is overperforming. One of mine scores 99% on math every year. Well, how high is this child in math, anyway? We do not know, "because the test only goes up to a certain grade level and then it stops." We could have some real math prodigies among us and not know it. If a child is exceptionally gifted in an area, that test should adapt and go up to the level so we can see where that child really is.
Teach well and test when it is time.
At our school we just teach away, take a few days to test and then we keep teaching. Not much of a lead in. Not a big fanfare. We just work hard to teach exceptionally well and then we take a look at what happened. Our leaders look at the teachers to see if a class of kids drops from one year to the next to see if there is a weak link.
The parents get a copy of the test scores. I always tell my children their strengths and their areas where they are going to have to work.
Standardized Testing: The Modern Bloodletting
So, all of these things add together to go against the modern sensibilities of parents. When they see questions that don't line up to experiences and to the curriculum of the local school. When they see their children stressing out. When they see test prep starting earlier and earlier and even going year around. They realize that the customer is wrong.
The customer of education should be the individual child about 5-10 years after getting out of high school. Is that child thankful and feel well prepared for being successful in the world? Did that child learn something to make their life better.
The customer of education has become the DOE and the standardized testing data keepers who determine the money and resources that flow to a school because of a test score that is flawed at its very core.
Many of us are sick and tired of what public education has become because we see that the students coming out are not well educated.
Perhaps I should go back and restate. I think that perhaps standardized testing is the modern bloodletting of education. We are zapping our resources, our time, and our energy on something that is not truly measuring what our kids are learning. We are bringing all of the kids to the middle and bringing down our gifted and we are missing a valuable opportunity to really personalize learning for students.
The fact is that we are falling behind in international test scores. Is it because we're so busy testing that we've hurt learning? Is our desire to improve our test scores actually having the opposite effect because we're focusing on the wrong thing? We have to get better, but how.
If you improve every student in the country then the entire country will improve.
But some will say that this isn't about the student anyway.
And such is my point.
“Urban Sahara”
In Kilele, haunting and evocative imagery:
“Urban Sahara”, a series of photographs taken in small towns in the Algerian SaharaPhoto by Hieronymus Evers
Wide Open Walls
In Design Indaba:
Wide Open Walls is an initiative of Lawrence Williams, one of the owners of the Makasatu conservation project at Mandina in The Gambia. A keen artist, Williams has been working with local artists on a creative project called Bushdwellers.Envisioning the project to work as an art installation, while also promoting the region as a tourist destination, Williams was keen to expand the project by collaborating with other creatives. Recently Wide Open Walls and Write on Africa with Ricky Lee Gordon, joined creative forces to encourage inspiration and urban rejuvenation through special event and art initiatives in public spaces. The aim of the project was to “inspire ourselves to inspires others to inspire change”...[continue reading]
courtesy of Design Indaba
Learning from the informal sector to meet Housing Needs
In REculture:
The informal construction sector has been the only industry capable of providing affordable housing solutions for the urban poor in developing countries. While South African housing policies rely on the formal construction sector for attaining the ambitious targets of subsidized housing delivery, township keep growing with the support of informal process.The strategies and outputs of both sectors are dramatically different; while the formal industry relies on standardization , repetition, and the use of new materials and a single technology, the informal sector takes full advantage of variety, multiplicity, recycling and combination of technologies.Surprisingly, this does not prevent the informal sector from looking for specialization and innovation...[continue reading]
courtesy of REculture
Strengthening Industrial Clusters
A recent World Bank report 'Industrial Clusters and Micro and Small Enterprises in Africa: From Survival to Growth' states that:
Existing studies on natural industrial clusters in Africa have found that the lack of managerial skills among entrepreneurs running micro and small enterprises is a major constraint for innovation and growth in the clusters. As a part of this study, pilot managerial skills training programs were conducted in two industrial clusters on an experimental basis, where a group of randomly selected entrepreneurs within the clusters were given three-week long crash course of based management such as bookkeeping, marketing, business planning, and production management. The impact evaluation of the experiments showed significant positive impacts of the training programs on value added and gross profits of enterprises.Continuing:
Raising the current survival-type industrial clusters, which have been formed as a coping mechanism to weak investment climate, into more dynamic innovating clusters will be an important avenue for fostering growth of micro and small enterprises in Africa. While national efforts to improve investment climate and investments in human capital are undoubtedly important, there could be more targeted policies to be formulated, in complementing general policies, to support growth of micro and small domestic enterprises using existing industrial clusters as a natural springboard for their growth. In that context, the study discusses the merit of cluster-based managerial human capital development to build steps toward more innovation-oriented clusters, the importance of sound spatial planning policy, particularly at the local level in the context of urban planning, the need to expand market access and economic linkages for industrial clusters including regional integration and linkages with large enterprisesvia TCI
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Overview 30 Pieces of Silver 
#1 Kindle Bestseller (Men's Adventure)!
***Warning*** This books is an extremely controversial religious/historical thriller. Too controversial to be published in hardback. Please do NOT purchase this book if you were at all disturbed by DaVinci's revelations. However if you like your fiction to challenge historical events, read on...
"Carolyn McCray's 30 PIECES OF SILVER proves that Dan Brown's crown is up for grabs. Part minefield and all roller-coaster ride, here is a story as controversial as it is thriller. Hunker down for a long night because once you start this book you won't be putting it down."
James Rollins, NY Times bestseller of DEVIL COLONY
Other 5 out of 5 star reviews...
"In a single word? Brilliant!"
Kenneth Weinart
5 out of 5 stars
"This novel messed with my head, plain and simple."
John Hopkin
Thrillers Rock Twitter
Book Reviewer
"Wow! I am so impressed when a (relatively) new author creates such a compelling, exciting and potentially controversial novel. The action is non-stop, the locations are intriguing and the characters are appealing. There is tension, romance, harrowing escape after harrowing escape all weaved within a story that captures your interest and keeps you guessing until the very end when you are floored by a surprise hook followed by an even more unexpected uppercut of an ending."
MrNeil98
Book Reviewer
Overview of 30 PIECES OF SILVER...
A Christian suicide bomber.
John the Baptist's bones inscribed in ancient Greek.
A dark secret carried from the foot of the crucifixion.
Can science solve the world's greatest mystery?
More praise...
"30 PIECES OF SILVER truly makes Brown's Da Vinci look like a Sunday school lesson! Prepare to be shocked!"
Greg Barton
Taxes007
"If you are looking for globe-trotting adventure in pursuit of ancient secrets, check out Carolyn McCray'a 30 PIECES OF SILVER. This ambitious blend of religion, science, and para-military is sure to hook fans of the genre."
Amy B. Lundebrek
For anyone who hungers for some serious controversy and can't get enough of James Rollins, Dan Brown, Stever Berry, and Brad Thor... 30 PIECES OF SILVER is your next thrill fix!!!
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 historical thriller set in ancient Rome, simply search under "Fated McCray." Beware though, there is a thread of paranormal romance that sneaks up on you like an asp in the night...
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 YA Epic Fantasy, simply search for "7 Folds of Winter."
**If you were looking Carolyn's #1 Mystery (in both Hard Boiled and Police Procedurals) it is titled "Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware" (a Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal), and it is under her pen name, Cristyn West.
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy thriller it is under "HeartsBlood." It is also a featured title on www.99-Cent-Network.com
**If you were looking for Carolyn's softer side, her #1 bestselling Contemporary Romance is titled "Indian Moon."
If you wanted to know more about Carolyn, join her newsletter, or request a SIGNED digital book cover please check out www.CarolynMccray.com
Available : In Stock. | |
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FREE with Super Saver Shipping N/A | |
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Overview 30 Pieces of Silver
#1 Kindle Bestseller (Men's Adventure)!
***Warning*** This books is an extremely controversial religious/historical thriller. Too controversial to be published in hardback. Please do NOT purchase this book if you were at all disturbed by DaVinci's revelations. However if you like your fiction to challenge historical events, read on...
"Carolyn McCray's 30 PIECES OF SILVER proves that Dan Brown's crown is up for grabs. Part minefield and all roller-coaster ride, here is a story as controversial as it is thriller. Hunker down for a long night because once you start this book you won't be putting it down."
James Rollins, NY Times bestseller of DEVIL COLONY
Other 5 out of 5 star reviews...
"In a single word? Brilliant!"
Kenneth Weinart
5 out of 5 stars
"This novel messed with my head, plain and simple."
John Hopkin
Thrillers Rock Twitter
Book Reviewer
"Wow! I am so impressed when a (relatively) new author creates such a compelling, exciting and potentially controversial novel. The action is non-stop, the locations are intriguing and the characters are appealing. There is tension, romance, harrowing escape after harrowing escape all weaved within a story that captures your interest and keeps you guessing until the very end when you are floored by a surprise hook followed by an even more unexpected uppercut of an ending."
MrNeil98
Book Reviewer
Overview of 30 PIECES OF SILVER...
A Christian suicide bomber.
John the Baptist's bones inscribed in ancient Greek.
A dark secret carried from the foot of the crucifixion.
Can science solve the world's greatest mystery?
More praise...
"30 PIECES OF SILVER truly makes Brown's Da Vinci look like a Sunday school lesson! Prepare to be shocked!"
Greg Barton
Taxes007
"If you are looking for globe-trotting adventure in pursuit of ancient secrets, check out Carolyn McCray'a 30 PIECES OF SILVER. This ambitious blend of religion, science, and para-military is sure to hook fans of the genre."
Amy B. Lundebrek
For anyone who hungers for some serious controversy and can't get enough of James Rollins, Dan Brown, Stever Berry, and Brad Thor... 30 PIECES OF SILVER is your next thrill fix!!!
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 historical thriller set in ancient Rome, simply search under "Fated McCray." Beware though, there is a thread of paranormal romance that sneaks up on you like an asp in the night...
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 YA Epic Fantasy, simply search for "7 Folds of Winter."
**If you were looking Carolyn's #1 Mystery (in both Hard Boiled and Police Procedurals) it is titled "Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware" (a Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal), and it is under her pen name, Cristyn West.
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy thriller it is under "HeartsBlood." It is also a featured title on www.99-Cent-Network.com
**If you were looking for Carolyn's softer side, her #1 bestselling Contemporary Romance is titled "Indian Moon."
If you wanted to know more about Carolyn, join her newsletter, or request a SIGNED digital book cover please check out www.CarolynMccray.com
Available : In Stock. | |
| |
FREE with Super Saver Shipping N/A | |
|
#. Buy Lowest Discount !! Get Cheap Price 30 Pieces of Silver For Sale
30 Pieces of Silver Best Buy Cheap
Buy Lowest Price !! See Lowest Price Here Discount 30 Pieces of Silver. This Store is the best place to buy cheap 30 Pieces of Silver. If you want to buy 30 Pieces of Silver in the best price, try to see specail offers or read the best customer reviews from this page. That can help you to make easy decision to buy this product. This product Shipped and Sold by Amazon Shopping Store. N/A This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Order The Best price From This Page - Read more Informations by Click at the Big Links.
|
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Overview 30 Pieces of Silver
#1 Kindle Bestseller (Men's Adventure)!
***Warning*** This books is an extremely controversial religious/historical thriller. Too controversial to be published in hardback. Please do NOT purchase this book if you were at all disturbed by DaVinci's revelations. However if you like your fiction to challenge historical events, read on...
"Carolyn McCray's 30 PIECES OF SILVER proves that Dan Brown's crown is up for grabs. Part minefield and all roller-coaster ride, here is a story as controversial as it is thriller. Hunker down for a long night because once you start this book you won't be putting it down."
James Rollins, NY Times bestseller of DEVIL COLONY
Other 5 out of 5 star reviews...
"In a single word? Brilliant!"
Kenneth Weinart
5 out of 5 stars
"This novel messed with my head, plain and simple."
John Hopkin
Thrillers Rock Twitter
Book Reviewer
"Wow! I am so impressed when a (relatively) new author creates such a compelling, exciting and potentially controversial novel. The action is non-stop, the locations are intriguing and the characters are appealing. There is tension, romance, harrowing escape after harrowing escape all weaved within a story that captures your interest and keeps you guessing until the very end when you are floored by a surprise hook followed by an even more unexpected uppercut of an ending."
MrNeil98
Book Reviewer
Overview of 30 PIECES OF SILVER...
A Christian suicide bomber.
John the Baptist's bones inscribed in ancient Greek.
A dark secret carried from the foot of the crucifixion.
Can science solve the world's greatest mystery?
More praise...
"30 PIECES OF SILVER truly makes Brown's Da Vinci look like a Sunday school lesson! Prepare to be shocked!"
Greg Barton
Taxes007
"If you are looking for globe-trotting adventure in pursuit of ancient secrets, check out Carolyn McCray'a 30 PIECES OF SILVER. This ambitious blend of religion, science, and para-military is sure to hook fans of the genre."
Amy B. Lundebrek
For anyone who hungers for some serious controversy and can't get enough of James Rollins, Dan Brown, Stever Berry, and Brad Thor... 30 PIECES OF SILVER is your next thrill fix!!!
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 historical thriller set in ancient Rome, simply search under "Fated McCray." Beware though, there is a thread of paranormal romance that sneaks up on you like an asp in the night...
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 YA Epic Fantasy, simply search for "7 Folds of Winter."
**If you were looking Carolyn's #1 Mystery (in both Hard Boiled and Police Procedurals) it is titled "Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware" (a Patterson-style thriller with a dash of Hannibal), and it is under her pen name, Cristyn West.
**If you were looking for Carolyn's #1 Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy thriller it is under "HeartsBlood." It is also a featured title on www.99-Cent-Network.com
**If you were looking for Carolyn's softer side, her #1 bestselling Contemporary Romance is titled "Indian Moon."
If you wanted to know more about Carolyn, join her newsletter, or request a SIGNED digital book cover please check out www.CarolynMccray.com
Available : In Stock. | |
| |
FREE with Super Saver Shipping N/A | |
|
The Bandying of Cliche's
Nicholas Kristof's Africa, Andrea Bohnstedt writes in the Star
Kristof tells a story of ‘Africa’ firmly through the lense of a humanitarian NGO fundraiser – there is little notion of a continent turning itself around in this succession of people whose condition improves from wretchedness to bare survival thanks to Western-funded charities. He could have come to Kenya: there’s a good bit of wretchedness here, too, what with the famine in the Horn, and Kibera is a tried and tested (in fact, internationally famous) showcase for urban poverty. But Kristof and his travel mates could have also met up with Martin Oduor Otieno to hear a bit more about KCB’s regional expansion, with Airtel’s team to hear about their pan-African plans, with Vimal Shah to learn about a regional agricultural and agroprocessing firm. Maybe visited the NSE? Chatted to Stella Kilonzo about regional capital market integration, or asked Suzanne Kilolo Kedenge about digital investor relations management, or perhaps listened to Isis Nyong’o talk about mobile advertising? Kenya has some kickingly capable women and no, they don’t all excel at grinding millet. As it stands, the article is one neatly executed piece of pan-continental character assassination.More here
Nigeria Lace and the Informal Economy
Will Connors writing in the WSJ:
More hereThe Nigerian lace industry also opens a window on broader change in Africa as a whole: As the consumer class expands, so, too, has the underground, informal economy...While the informal sector, from street-side welders in Kenya to sign makers in Senegal, has created jobs and lifted incomes, it also has strained urban infrastructure. As many as 90% of African city dwellers work in the informal economy, untaxed and unaccounted for, according to the Geneva-based U.N. International Labour Organization.Economists estimate that Nigeria's informal economy is at least as big as the country's roughly $200 billion formal one.
Tiffany Amber design Jane Hahn/Getty Image for the WSJ
Mass Transit without Massive Government Spending.
G. Pascal Zachary writing in Reason:
More hereOnce overwhelmingly rural, Africa is urbanizing at a faster rate than any other region on the planet. With the world’s lowest rates of automobile ownership, urban Africans also have the world’s greatest demand for mass transit. And they are meeting their own needs with enterprise and creativity, largely fueled by private resources. The successes of the continent’s ad hoc urban transit systems are partly due to government neglect. Unable to keep pace with growth, governments are simply staying out of the way and letting private operators assemble inexpensive networks of buses and taxis that can adapt quickly to shifting consumer needs.
Lagos Bus Transit System courtesy of Wikipedia
Just who exactly are 'The People'? Völkisch!
On this blog and around the internet, 'The People" is one of the most frequent justifications that are provided by liberals and Democrats for taxing the rich, forcing people to join a healthcare plan, stopping a mining company from mining for minerals on land that it purchased, and generally controlling people's choices and taking away their property.
So just who exactly are 'The People' who benefit when those who are successful are forced to pay higher tax rates when their investments do well or who gain when oil companies are not allowed to safely drill for oil?
I'm sure they don't mean that humanoid extraterrestrials who have paranormal powers will benefit- that would just be silly. (Zenna Henderson?)
What these liberals and Democrats usually mean when they cite 'The People' is that the so-called national community will benefit when the state gains the power to take away peoples property and choices, and that for the good of the people we need to return back to the land through green living and urban farming, lead more self-sufficient lives, and fight back against Big Business which is grinding us under its crushing foot of industrialization. Liberals and Democrats believe that 'The People' will benefit from an enlightened government that helps to progress society, and if this means that the principles of the free market or even popular elections are broken, than so be it- the People are more important than these concepts.
To liberals and Democrats, 'The People' mean the proletariat and traditional middle classes- union workers- who will benefit from a more government that is more progressive and friendly to workers.
As someone famous once said, when liberals talk about 'The People', they are talking about the basic ideas of a national government based on building social safety nets for 'The People' because 'The People' are the national government of progressive socialism.
The way that liberals throw around 'The People' is not new- in fact, the concept was pretty well established by the early 1900's. The German's called the concept of 'The People' the Völkisch movement, and it was one of the motivating factors behind Adolf Hilter and his fascist Nazi national socialist progressive party, which attempted to co-opt private industry for the good of 'The People' in order to provide national socialized healthcare, make people eat healthier food, make industries produce goods for the good of the state, and support the workers with strong union rights in a Big Business-Big Union-Big Government partnership.
What is old is new again, and we have been down this path before, so just be careful that you know what you mean when you start throwing around the term 'The People' in the future.
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Overview 30 Pieces of Silver
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WTU Protests the Washington Post
Written By Candi Peterson
Approximately 300 teachers, school personnel, city workers, union and community members protested outside The Washington Post building on Friday, April 15. This day was selected because it coincided with a day-off furlough for DCPS employees and DC government workers. The protest was organized by the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) against the Post due to their biased reporting that consistently vilifies teachers and fails to include more balanced reporting of the obstacles teachers face in a mostly urban school district. According to WTU President, Nathan Saunders, "You've got to understand that the Washington Post has been vicious against, not just teachers unions, but the Washington Teachers' Union in particular, for the last three or four years. And everything that the former chancellor, Michelle Rhee, has done in the District, they have embraced wholeheartedly at the expense of working teachers."
Urban Teacher blogger and a former DC teacher questioned, "Why is the Post such an awful place for citizens to get information about what's really going on with education in the District?" We also have to wonder, why did it take USA Today newspaper's investigative journalists, Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello to cover the story: "When Standardized Test Scores Soared in DC Were the Gains Real?" This story appeared in USA Today's newspaper on March 11, 2011 and found that cheating likely occurred during the Rhee/Henderson administration during 2008-2010. It begs the question where was the Washington Post?
Another reason for Friday's protest was to call attention to the Washington Post's relationship with Kaplan Higher Education which accounts for the majority of the Post's revenues which comes from standardized testing. It is the position of the WTU, that the Post fails to adequately cover education reform from all vantage points, fails to print letters to the editor from education stakeholders, colors their editorial viewpoint and heaped undeserving praise on former Chancellor Michelle Rhee during her term as Chancellor, despite her many transgressions.
Teachers and protesters carried signs that read: "Cancel your Washington Post subscription today" and "We'll stop buying until you stop lying," while singing chants as a big inflatable union rat loomed large at the footsteps of the Post. Speakers from other unions included Josh Williams, President of the Washington Metro Labor Council, Bill Simon, Former WTU President, Caneisha Mills, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representative, Johnny Walker, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representative. In addition, there were speeches made by Vincent Orange, At Large City Council candidate, Robert Brannum President of DC Federation of Civic Associations, Jerome Brocks, activist teacher and now retired, Sheila Gill, wrongfully terminated school counselor and a host of others with closing remarks given by Reverend Grayland Hagler who encouraged protesters to march in solidarity around the K street corridor.
All in all, it was a beautiful day and just the start of actions planned by the Washington Teachers' Union which will build momentum and seek to convince our government and Mayor of the need to provide adequate funding for public education in the District.
Another reason for Friday's protest was to call attention to the Washington Post's relationship with Kaplan Higher Education which accounts for the majority of the Post's revenues which comes from standardized testing. It is the position of the WTU, that the Post fails to adequately cover education reform from all vantage points, fails to print letters to the editor from education stakeholders, colors their editorial viewpoint and heaped undeserving praise on former Chancellor Michelle Rhee during her term as Chancellor, despite her many transgressions.
Teachers and protesters carried signs that read: "Cancel your Washington Post subscription today" and "We'll stop buying until you stop lying," while singing chants as a big inflatable union rat loomed large at the footsteps of the Post. Speakers from other unions included Josh Williams, President of the Washington Metro Labor Council, Bill Simon, Former WTU President, Caneisha Mills, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representative, Johnny Walker, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) representative. In addition, there were speeches made by Vincent Orange, At Large City Council candidate, Robert Brannum President of DC Federation of Civic Associations, Jerome Brocks, activist teacher and now retired, Sheila Gill, wrongfully terminated school counselor and a host of others with closing remarks given by Reverend Grayland Hagler who encouraged protesters to march in solidarity around the K street corridor.
All in all, it was a beautiful day and just the start of actions planned by the Washington Teachers' Union which will build momentum and seek to convince our government and Mayor of the need to provide adequate funding for public education in the District.
Buala “Giving Voice”
Global Voices speaks with the founders of Buala which is described as:
They perceive it as platform and:“An interdisciplinary web portal for reflection, critique and documenting contemporary Portuguese-speaking African cultures” is how Buala is introduced. In an interview with Global Voices, Buala’s creators Marta Lança and Francisca Bagulho discuss the grounds and justification for a space that grapples with culture, history, politics, the arts in general and the city – the space par excellence of “constant change,” the living stage for playing out contemporary culture..."
a “place for long, in-depth articles that focus on serious, complex works that do not dispense with irony and with the urban cultures of African youth in the Diaspora that has much to say, with people who study Africa without historic blind folly and fantasy, who wish to contribute to reflections on (and with) the continent.”More here
Daley Statements Demonstrate He and the President are Either Idiots or Liars
According to the AP, President Barack Obama's new chief of staff William Daley respond to the proposal from congressional Republicans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget by going on CBS' 'Face the Nation' and asking the "Where's the beef?" He then elaborated that he is very curious to see exactly where those cuts will come from, implying that Republicans are playing the same sort of game that Obama plays often where he makes vague statements with no details to back them up. Both President of the United States Barack Obama (Democrat) and him apparently can't find the details for these cuts and so think that this is some sort of trick.
This is really sad, because I opened up internet explorer, went to google, searched 'details of gop plan', and the very first site that was listed was "A Roadmap for America's Future: The Budget Committee Republicans," which links to the GOP's detailed plans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget. That I was able to find the details to the plan so easily and yet the President of the United States and his chief of staff were not able to speaks to one of two things- one, they're all incompetent idiots who lack basic computer and research skills because they are all stuck in the pre-internet past, or two, they are disingenuous liars who are knowingly trying to scam and fool the American people because they know they are not decent or honest or truthful people so they can't find any refuge there.
Daley is thus either an incompetent idiot or a disingenuous liar- either way, the fact that he was chosen to be the main advisor to our President speaks to the kind of people that our President has chosen to surround himself with.
In case Obama or Daley ever do figure out how to use the internet and read by blog, I'll help them out by putting the apparently hard to find information on where 'the beef' is below:
- LEGISLATIVE BRANCH...............................$1,283,000,000. (23%)
- Notes: The Government Printing Office is abolished.
- JUDICIAL BRANCH......................................$2,434,000,000. (32%)
- AGRICULTURE............................................$42,542,000,000. (30%)
- The Agriculture Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Resources Conservation Service, and Foreign Agricultural Service are abolished. The Forest Service gets a $1.2 billion haircut.
- COMMERCE...................................................$5,322,000,000. (54%)
- National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is cut by $857,000,000.
- DEFENSE.......................................................$47,500,000,000. (6.5%)
- EDUCATION..................................................$78,000,000,000 (83%)
- Only the Pell grant program survives.
- ENERGY............................................................$44,200,000,000 (100%)
- The Defense Department takes over all of Energy's remaining functions (nuclear waste, for example) and about $18 billion of its budget.
- HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES..............$26,510,000,000. (26%)
- Notes: FDA is cut by $230,000,000; Indian Health Service is cut by $650 million; CDC is cut by $1.17 billion; NIH by $5.8 billion.
- HOMELAND SECURITY.................................$23,765,000,000. (43%)
- Notes: Coast Guard is shifted to Defense. TSA's funds are cut by $900 million.
- HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT....$53,100,000,000. (100%)
- Notes: Completely eliminated. Veterans' housing programs are transferred to the VA
- INTERIOR........................................................$10,934,000,000. (78%)
- Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs are abolished.
- JUSTICE.............................................................$9,057,000,000. (28%)
- Note: Office of Justice Programs is abolished.
- LABOR....................................................$2,803,000,000. (2%)
- OSHA, MSHA, and the The Employment and Training Administration are spared all cuts (no cuts to unemployment benefits)
- STATE...................................................................$20,321,000,000. (71%)
- Note: Massive foreign aid cuts. All international commissions and organizations are defunded.
- TRANSPORTATION............................................$42,810,000,000. (49%)
- Notes: Amtrak is completely de-funded.
- VETERANS’ AFFAIRS..........................................No cuts
- CORPS OF ENGINEERS......................................$1,854,000,000. (27%)
- EPA..............................................................$3,238,000,000. (29%)
- GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.....$1,936,000,000. (85%)
- INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS...$24,300,000,000 (100%)
- NASA.........................................................................$4,500,000,000 (25%)
- NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION...............$4,723,000,000. (62%)
- OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.......$9,070,000,000.
- SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.........No cuts
- FCC...........................................................$2,150,000,000. (22%)
- ABOLISH...............................................................$2,050,000,000. (100%)
- (1) Affordable Housing Program.
- (2) Commission on Fine Arts.
- (3) Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- (4) Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
- (5) National Endowment for the Arts.
- (6) National Endowment for the Humanities.
- (7) State Justice Institute.
- MISC
- Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees........$3,000,000,000.
- Freeze Federal Government employee pay...................$2,000,000,000.
- Reduce Federal Government travel..............................$7,500,000,000.
- Repeal Davis-Bacon..................................................... $6,000,000,000.
- Prohibit union project labor agreements......................$2,000,000,000.
- TARP repeal.................................................................$4,481,000,000.
- Sell Federal Buildings..................................................$19,000,000,000.
- Reduce Federal vehicle budget..........................................$600,000,000.
Note the one cut close to the end: "Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees." $3 BILLION??? Good grief. How are they still federal employees at all?
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