News for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. We seek to uphold the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited government, free markets, liberty & individual freedom. The ARRA News Service is an outreach of the Arkansas Republican Assembly. However, all content approval rests with the Editor. While varied positions are reported, our beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated by this blog, no paid ads accepted and no payments for articles. Note the posted Fair Use doctrine. -- Editor: Dr. Bill Smith [OzarkGuru] - editor/arranewsservice.com (Published Since July, 2006)
A Tale Of Two Arkansas Performance Reports on Public Education
Summary: Two reports on student performance underscore the problem: the state Department of Education has failed to acknowledge there is a problem.
Arkansas Policy Foundation: (January 2012) A new student performance report by the Univ. of Arkansas-Fayetteville’s Office for Education Policy (OEP), following surveys from the state Department of Education (2011) and the Policy Foundation (2005-2008) underscore a problem: the department’s failure to admit there is a problem.
The OEP1 report lists Arkansas public schools in the order of their Iowa Tests of Basic Skills results. The survey found 38 schools in Pulaski County, including 23 in the Little Rock School District2 scored less than the 40th percentile. The 50th percentile is the U.S. average on the national test.
Education Department Report Highlights Problem
The OEP report is welcome news to those who support performance measures for Arkansas K-12 public education. Schools whose students consistently score low on national standardized tests clearly have a problem.
Yet only four3 of the 23 Little Rock Schools failed to meet or exceed standards in a 2011 report compiled for the department of Education by the National Office for Research, Measurement and Evaluation Systems at the Univ. of Arkansas-Fayetteville. The report found that 97% of Arkansas public schools, including the other 19 in Little Rock whose students scored less than the 40th percentile are “meeting” or “exceeding” standards.
The problem is that the state Department of Education does not recognize there is a problem with Arkansas K-12 public education. Instead, the department attempts to advance the idea that virtually every public school, including those with low test scores are “meeting” or “exceeding” standards.
High Expectations
There is a better way than denial to address this problem: high expectations.
“For too long,” the Policy Foundation noted in a 1998 report4, “Arkansans have bought the myth that children's social, ethnic, economic, or cultural backgrounds have impaired their ability to effectively learn in our public schools. The excuses, especially among educators, are rampant: They point to minorities, blame single parent homes, and cite low socio-economic backgrounds. Some say rural children are disadvantaged, others comment on inner-city conditions and gangs. These are factors to be sure, but these same educators often overlook that public education has weakened its standards, dumbed down the curriculum, and socially promoted children.” One example: the state Department of Education’s reliance on Arkansas benchmark exams to the exclusion of national standardized tests like the ITBS.
Dr. Thaddeus Lott, a Texas charter school official told Foundation researchers, “It's a myth that if you're born in a poor community and your skin is a certain color that you can't achieve on a higher level.” The truth is that all children can learn when challenged by high expectations.
Markets Aren’t Fooled
Market participants, including businesses and entrepreneurs that make hiring decisions are not fooled by the department’s failure to acknowledge there is a problem. A skilled labor force is a factor of economic production. Enterprises that cannot find skilled workers in Arkansas will seek them in other markets.
Arkansas payroll employment was 1,177,700 (November 2011, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), a decline of 23,500 jobs since January 2007, despite a national economic expansion that has entered its third year (National Bureau of Economic Research. 1 - The OEP findings by Dr. Gary Ritter were published in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Jan. 1, 2012). 2 - The Little Rock schools that scored less than the U.S. average and their percentile ranks are (elementary) Meadowcliff and Mabelvale (38); David O Dodd and Franklin Incentive (37); Stephens (36); Baseline and Wilson (34); Bale (33), Washington Magnet (32); Romine Interdistrict (31); Wakefield (30); Geyer Springs (29); and Watson (27); (middle) Forest Heights (35); Mabelvale (32); Henderson (30); Cloverdale Aerospace (26); (high schools) Hall (27); McClellan (26); J.A. Fair (24); and (non-traditional schools) Hamilton Learning Academy (18) and Felder Alternative Academy (9). 3 - The four Little Rock schools were Wilson, J.A. Fair, Hamilton, and Felder. 4 - “Restoring Public Education’s Academic Mission,” Arkansas Policy Foundation, September 1998. Tags:Arkansas Policy Foundation, Arkansas, Education, public schools, Education Department, University of Arkansas, survey, two tales, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
American's For Prosperity: Two different visions for America. President Reagan launched his effort to return America to greatness with simple but profound words during his first inaugural speech, "In the present times Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem."
From there he put words into action passing historic tax cuts, cutting back on onerous government regulations and the results of the President's free market policies: Growth, Prosperity, and Hope.
Happy Birthday President Reagan - we miss you! Tags:two visions, America, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Reagan's 100 Birthday, videoTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Gas Prices Projected To Soar - Oil Pipeline Still Major Focus in Congress
Here we go again: The Image and quotes from April 12, 2011: "The Obama Administration's Energy Policies Not Only Offer No Relief But Stand In The Way Of Recovery!" Rush Limbaugh said: (Comments summarized) "Obama wants increased gas prices. There is no green energy solution. It is a fraud. He want to remove oil subsides from oil companies and to give them to GE to promote green energy. The oil companies pay taxes and GE doesn't." Today in Washington, D.C. - Feb. 6, 2011:
The House will consider the following bills
HR 306 — North Carolina wild horses
HR 1162 — Quileute Tribe tsunami and flood protection
HR 2606 — Natural gas pipeline construction/use (NYC)
HR 1734 — Sell/consolidate federal civilian properties
HR 3521 — Line-item veto
HR 3581 — Budget transparency and accounting
S 2038 — Congressional insider trading
Tentatively: Motions to Instruct Conferees on HR 3630 — Payroll tax cut
The Senate today will consideration of H.R. 658, the conference report for the FAA Reauthorization bill. The conference report passed the House on Friday. They are expected to vote today. Sixty votes are required for passage.
USA Today reports, “Get ready for another round of pain at the pump: $4 (or higher) gasoline. . . . Prices could spike another 60 cents or more by May. ‘I think it’s going to be a chaotic spring, with huge price increases in some places,’ says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. . . . Energy analyst Patrick DeHaan of price tracker Gasbuddy.com expects prices to rise to about $3.55 a gallon by the end of February and peak around $4 by Memorial Day weekend. ‘You could see prices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Washington and other major metropolitan areas at $4.60 or higher,’ DeHaan says.”
In 2009, when President Obama’s State Department approved a different pipeline to bring some oil from Canada, the department issued a press release saying, “Approval of the permit sends a positive economic signal, in a difficult economic period, about the future reliability and availability of a portion of United States’ energy imports, and in the immediate term, this shovel-ready project will provide construction jobs for workers in the United States.” As National Journal wrote last week, “These are the same arguments that proponents of the Keystone XL pipeline, led by congressional Republicans, cite as reason to approve that project without delay.”
No wonder some Democrat senators who support Keystone XL are confused. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said to National Journal, “The same administration approved that one? … Then why aren’t they approving this one? I don’t know.”
Hopefully those in the president’s own party who say they disagree with him will be open to working with Republicans to create jobs and enhance energy security. According to Roll Call today, “With little guidance from Democratic leaders, Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.) is trying on his own to come up with bipartisan agreements on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline . . . . Baucus, the top Democrat on the conference committee to reconcile House and Senate payroll tax cut bills, has been in talks with Republicans on the possibility of including a pipeline provision in the conference report . . . . Baucus — long a proponent for the Keystone XL pipeline — also has been engaged in ongoing talks with GOP Sens. John Hoeven (N.D.), Dick Lugar (Ind.) and David Vitter (La.), the three chief co-sponsors of a new Keystone bill that would authorize the project, which President Barack Obama rejected last month. . . . The Montana Democrat was heavily involved in the first version of the pipeline measure that ended up in the two-month extension passed in December.”
After the president rejected the Keystone XL permit, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell expressed his frustration, saying, “[T]he President had an opportunity to do something on his own about the ongoing jobs crisis. The only thing that stood in the way of the single-biggest shovel-ready infrastructure project in America was him. The Keystone pipeline was just the kind of project he’s been calling for in speeches for months. And he said no. That one could wait. Here was a project that he knew would create thousands of jobs instantly. He said no. A project that wouldn’t have cost the taxpayers a dime. He said no. That would have brought more energy from our ally Canada and less from the Middle East. He said no.”
Will Senate Democrats who say they support the pipeline work with Republicans to find a way to finally get the project moving so Americans can find jobs and have a more stable energy supply? Tags:Washington, D.C. US House, US Senate, soaring gas prices, oil, pipeline, conference report, FAA Reauthorization billTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
In the real world, it is not a fictional Superman but the American people who are fighting for "Truth, Justice and the American Way!" ~ Dr. Bill Smith
Rick Santelli from the floor of the Chicago Exchange addresses the truth behind the job numbers. It has been two years this month since Santelli lit the fire with his rant that helped precipitate the TEA Party. Truth does that! Enough truth and action and justice eventually follows.
Tags:Rick Santelli, job numbers, video, truth, justice, American wayTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
The Three Most Important Action Items For The Next President
By Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: The first thing the next President must do is return America to sustainable economic prosperity. This begins with four actions: two to balance revenue with spending and two to unleash America’s potential. He should initiate a national campaign for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, capping federal spending at 18% of GDP.
Second, he should call for fundamental tax reform via a flat tax with generous exemptions for adults and children in the home and only two to three deductions.
Third, on his first day, he should sign dozens of Executive Orders repealing unhelpful regulations imposed during the past four years, from carbon emissions to health care to finance.
And fourth, he should launch a policy for national energy independence, beginning on his first day by approving the Keystone pipeline and opening certain federal lands to responsible oil and gas development and proposing legislation for an “all of the above” approach, with clean coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable energy.
The second thing the President must do is tackle the greatest short-term threat to national security by addressing the Middle East. He must begin a comprehensive review of the multilayered, interrelated issues that make the Middle East a Gordian knot. The three essential elements of any strategy must be:
1) that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be allowed under any circumstances;
2) that America resolutely stands by and for a fully defensible Israel;
3) the development of a proactive and coherent policy regarding the Arab Spring.
The third thing the President must do is nominate the right people to the federal judiciary, especially the Supreme Court. On his first day, he must start vetting candidates for every current vacancy on the 13 federal appellate courts and immediately begin developing a short list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court. The President must make unmistakably clear that seeing these nominees confirmed is a nonnegotiable priority and that the growing obstructionism of the past quarter-century — and especially the past decade — must end.
The courts concern all areas of national policy, beyond being of paramount importance for the social issues of abortion, marriage, religious liberty and gun rights. The courts play an increasingly central role in economic and security issues. He must declare originalism to be the official approach to interpreting the Constitution in accordance with the original meaning of its text and nominate judges who will faithful apply originalism on the bench.
--------------- J. Ken Blackwell is a conservative family values advocate. Blackwell is a senior fellow at the Family Research Council. He is the co-author of the new bestseller: The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency. He is a National Federation of Republican Assemblies board member and a contributing author to the ARRA News Service. Blackwell's article was also published on Time Ideas Tags:Ken Blackwell, important action items, next President, economic prosperity, fundamental tax reform, flat tax, repeal regulations, national energy policy, energy independence, treat to national security, federal judges, originalism, US Constitution, conservative, elections, politicsTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Obama expands foreign worker visas despite Jennifer's plea
Chris Chmielenski, NumbersUSA: There's been much talk about Jennifer Wedel's question to Pres. Obama during an online Town Hall event earlier this week. But unfortunately, most of the focus has been on Jennifer's particular situation rather than the President's call for more foreign workers while 22 million Americans can't find a full-time job.
Yes, the President offered to disseminate Jennifer's husband's resume (he's an unemployed engineer), but at the same time, he's turning his back on the rest of unemployed Americans by continuing to import 125,000 new foreign workers each month.
In two weeks (Feb. 20-24), the House will break for a district work week. While Members are back in their home districts and states, all 535 Members of the House and Senate should be confronted the same way Jennifer Wedel confronted Pres. Obama. If you have a relative, friend, or neighbor who has lost a job during the jobs recession, please tell your story to your Members of Congress and ask them why the government continues to bring in foreign workers with high unemployment. Tags:NumbersUSA, Jennifer,foreign workers, visa, Barack Obama, video To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Rob Bluey: President Obama has used his executive power in many ways to expand the role of government. But there’s one area that stands out: Obama’s frequent and repeated use of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to issue emergency and disaster declarations.
Heritage’s Matt Mayer reports that Obama “eviscerated the record books by issuing 243 declarations in 2011,” continuing an alarming pattern that begin under President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. Mayer says FEMA has become a “political pork-barrel spending agency.”
The trend is illustrated in this week’s chart, which portrays the use of major disaster declarations, emergency declarations, and fire management assistance declarations. The data dates back to the Eisenhower administration in 1953.
Obama is averaging 153 declarations per year. Bush comes in second with an eight-year average of 129.6.
Mayer says it’s time to end the federalization of disasters. He wants Congress to clarify which disasters meet federal requirements, reduce the cost-sharing provision for all FEMA declarations, and overhaul existing FEMA processes and procedures. Tags:Bill Clinton, Chart of the Week, disaster declarations, disasters, emergency declarations, executive power, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA Declarations, George W. Bush, President ObamaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
This article has been updated as new results were reported and candidates took to the podium.: Mitt Romney took the stage and directly focused on President Barack Obama and the needs for America in a positive way. He said, "Mr. president, America has had enough of your kind of help." Said, the President should be "apologizing to the American people." Winning the 2012 election is "more than defeating this president. It is about saving the soul of America. And restoring the founding principles that made America great."
Newt Gingrich said he "Will go to Tampa." For 22 minutes, Newt Gingrich was negative and even called Romney a liar. He focused on Romney not Obama. Gingrich in his early comments tried to again link Romney to George Soros based on comments by Soros about Romney and not based on any actual relationship. Gingrich then blamed the republican establishment for closing ranks and not supporting him. In answer to a question, Gingrich said that he doesn't believe he can win by being positive - he said he has to go negative because of Romney. He also said everything is based on the amount spent. He also said Romney also won because of the Mormon vote. Interesting since only 10% of the voters in Nevada are Mormon. What happened to Reagan's eleventh commandment?
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Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the Nevada Republican caucuses. The victory was declared early by the press based on polling and early returns showing Romney with significant leads. As of 9:15 pm CST, Romney 42%, Gingrich 25% Raul 20% and Santorum 13%. Nevada will award its 28 delegates in proportion to the caucus vote totals. Any candidate with at least 3.57% of the total number of ballots cast would receive delegates. As of 9:15 am CST with 71% reporting: Romney 48%, Gingrich 23% Raul 19% and Santorum 11%.
What is next! Feb 7: Minnesota and Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri (Missouri later has a binding caucuses).
Feb 11: Maine caucuses end.
Feb 28: Michigan and Arizona primary.
Tags:Nevada, Republican candidates, caucuses, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick SantorumTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Fewer total Americans work today than they did in 2001 and in 2009:
America’s overall labor force rate continues to fall, down to 63.7 percent in January, 2012:
Explaining Obama’s Fake Job Numbers - Conservative Byte shared Rush Limbaugh explanation on the job numbers:
Don’t ask me about seasonal adjustment. I’ve been trying to figure this out all morning, and I can’t. But the raw numbers, 130 million jobs in December, 128 million jobs in January, give or take a couple hundred thousand either side. But when the seasonal adjustments take place, there is a gain of 200, whatever they’re reporting, 33,000 jobs. Now, what’s happening is the labor force is shrinking. There are fewer jobs. Even the Drive-Bys, so excited, they can’t wait to report the good news, but even they are reporting that the labor force participation rate, number of jobs out there, is continuing to dwindle, and most of the jobs being created are low wage.
But none of that’s gonna matter. None of it’s gonna matter. I don’t want to be an “I told you so,” but way back last year, even recently toward the end of last year, this being an election year, I predicted. But you knew. You knew what was gonna happen when this year started. You knew that the statistics are that no president has ever been reelected when the unemployment rate’s over 8%. So guess what it’s gonna be by the time we get to Election Day? It’s just that simple.
I’m trying to get to the bottom of this, this seasonal adjustment business. Stick with me on this, folks. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics: “What is seasonal adjustment? Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment change from month to month. Over the course of a year, the size of the labor force, the levels of employment and unemployment, and other measures of labor market activity undergo fluctuations due to seasonal events including changes in weather, harvests, major holidays, and school schedules. Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each year, their influence on statistical trends can be eliminated by seasonally adjusting the statistics from month to month.”
So seasonal adjustment includes adjustment for the size of the labor force. I didn’t know that. Seasonal adjustment is not just what the guess is about the number of jobs from month to month. It also includes adjustment for the size of the labor force. And that’s how they’re able to play games with the labor force participation rate. So that might account for a big chunk of the difference here. One-point-two million — and this is their number — from December to January, 1.2 million people left the workforce, just left it. That’s the labor force participation rate, and they left. That’s half the number, or half the difference right there. If you take the number 132.9 jobs in December, 130.4 million in January, that’s 2.5 million fewer jobs, 1.2 million, about half of that that they just threw out in a seasonal adjustment of people that left the workforce.
I don’t know how they get the 1.2 million. They say it’s statistical. But what they did is reduce the overall number of jobs possible by 1.2 million. So fewer jobs is gonna bring down the unemployment rate because… If the labor force were what it is, or what it was when Obama was inaugurated 2009, the unemployment rate would be close to 10%. It’s only 8.3 because they have used seasonal adjustment to just say that last month, 1.2 million people gone from the workforce. No jobs anymore.
So the Bureau of Labor Statistics looks at the loss of 2.5 million jobs, and they say, “Well, we think 1.2 million have just decided to give up looking for work so we won’t count half of them, just to make things more accurate.” And even with that major cheat, that still leaves more than a million-and-a-half lost jobs unaccounted for. Fewer people looking for jobs brings down the jobless rate. In this case, not more people finding jobs brings down the jobless rate. Fewer people looking for jobs is what’s bringing the unemployment rate down. There isn’t job creation going on. Not to the tune the regime wants you to believe it. It just isn’t happening.
Tags:American jobs, unemployment, job numbers, BLS, charts, opinion, Rush LimbaughTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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