The Clarkston/O.J. Simpson thing has not been on anybody's radar. Clarkston is a town that was rural not too many years back. I only heard about it when a radio caller mentioned it in connection with the Santorum story. Can't tell you what parental involvement there has been.

The Grosse Pointe story has gotten considerable attention and I'm sure that parents were active on both sides of the issue. 1100 out of 1700 students attended the speech. Grosse Pointe is home to many of the corporate executives and other 1%ers. The Henry Ford estate is located there. I mentioned that attendees would have to make up missed class time. A fashion show at the same school could be attended without parental permission and without make up requirements.

Two Michigan school will have guest speakers today (4/24/13). One was invited by a student organization that raised money for the event. The other was invited by a teacher. The school administration at one school cancelled the appearance of one speaker. The cancellation was rescinded, but students will need parental permission slips to attend and will have to make up class time. No objections were raised regarding the other speaker.

Item 1:
Longtime manager Norman Pardo of Independence Township is kicking off the “O.J. Simpson Road Show” at Clarkston High School Wednesday...

Pardo said he wants students from across the country to hear the other side of the story in the infamous Nicole Brown Simpson murder case in Los Angeles.

“Most of these kids weren't even born during the trial. So they only know what the media has told them,” said Pardo, who added that the presentation will include a recent video of Simpson speaking from jail.
http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2013/04/24/news/local_news/doc5176d5170a0c2481534003.txt

Item 2:
Students at Grosse Pointe South High School will get to hear Rick Santorum speak after all — as long as they have signed permission slips from their parents.

District officials agreed Wednesday to reverse a decision canceling the former U.S. senator and presidential hopeful’s visit to the school after a firestorm of controversy.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130410/NEWS02/130410027/Grosse-Pointe-South-High-School-Rick-Santorum-speech-Langston-Bowens

I have not seen the debkafile site before. After starting to read some articles there I immediately began wondering if anything there could be trusted. There is something about "revelations" that aren't to be found elsewhere that make me suspicious.

It took some searching, but I finally found a site that had researched several years of stories and predictions found at debkafile. While many of their stories sound credible, and some are, they frequently don't pan out. See: http://fabiusmaximus.com/2008/06/15/debkafile/

Now the question becomes "how reliable is fabiusmaximus???"

I can't get excited about the idea. It seems that to treat him as an enemy combatant it would be necessary to prove that he was operating under direction from a foreign source. Even with that he is a US citizen and the Constitution is pretty clear on that.

You are still promoting that post. You have never addressed my critique of it. Obama's core beliefs are a well guarded secret. His first book is full of distortions, but he admittedly liked the company of Marxists. He has flip-flopped on more issues than Kerry ever did.

*Deficits are unpatriotic

*"I can no more disown him (Jeremiah Wright) than I can disown the black community."

*"marriage is between a man and a woman"

*"The last thing you want to do is raise taxes in the middle of a recession, because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole."

*Health insurance cost can be cut by $2500 per year

How can you tell what he is or isn't?

Reply to: American Right-Wingers Are No Longer Conservative -- They're Extremists

The linked "interview" is incredibly shallow. The following section deals with the "extremist" concern regarding Sharia law in the US.

Joshua Holland: Ian, I know this first question is subjective, but I’m going to ask you to speculate. Which do you think is more likely, that Sharia law will become the law of the land or that I will get a date with Scarlett Johansson?

Ian Millhiser: You’re much more likely to get a date with Scarlett Johansson.

Consider the following events over the last few years in Europe and Canada. Is it really so far-fetched?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1173779/EU-judges-want-Sharia-law-applied-British-courts.html

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11478
Two days ago, on Thursday, February 7th [2008], referring to Muslims, (Archbishop) Williams told BBC Radio 4: "We must face the fact that some of our citizens do not fully recognise themselves in the British legal system . . . I believe that it would be dangerous to maintain that there exists a single law for all, and that anything else demanding fidelity and respect is entirely irrelevant in judicial proceedings". At the same time, he added, "No one of sane mind would want to see in this country the inhumanity that is sometimes associated with the practice of law in some Islamic countries, like extreme punishments or the attitude toward women. And in no case would this take precedence over the rights that one has as a citizen. But to say that there is one law for all is a bit dangerous".

...In the face of these startling affirmations, The Times (UK), in an editorial on Friday, February 8th [2008], comments: "What makes this country a liberal and peaceful democracy is that we live under the same law, that we are equal citizens before the law. This is a Christian country, even if (incredibly!) the archbishop wishes that it were not so. Everyone is authorised to adopt the religion in which he believes, or no religion, but he remains under the British law and traditions. These, fortunately, include great tolerance toward others, welcoming, generosity of spirit . . . these values are not abstract, they are rooted in the history and practice of this country as a Christian nation. There is a whole list of countries in the world in which the people can live according to sharia. This is not one of them. Nor should it become one".


http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2007/05/netherlands-sharia-and-european-law-are.html

Prominent Palestinian-American Professor of Islamic History and Law Maysam Al Faruqi of Georgetown University in Washington says that Sharia could be implemented in the Netherlands within a short time without problem.


http://patdollard.com/2013/01/no-go-zones-being-established-for-non-muslims-in-european-cities/
Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of “no-go” areas in European cities that are off-limits to non-Muslims.

Many of the “no-go” zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law. Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.

The “no-go” areas are the by-product of decades of multicultural policies that have encouraged Muslim immigrants to create parallel societies and remain segregated rather than become integrated into their European host nations.

In Britain, for example, a Muslim group called Muslims Against the Crusades has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls “Londonistan” – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/feb/08/sharialawincanadaalmost
The introduction of sharia law in Ontario, Canada, was effectively recommended by a 2004 report which prompted debate and street protests, both for and against its findings.

"Global Warming Update"
Two more recent news events of interest to "global warming' advocates and deniers.

New data falsifies basis of man-made global warming alarm, shows water vapor feedback is negative
Physicist Clive Best has analyzed the latest NASA satellite and radiosonde data to find that global water vapor has declined despite the consensus belief among climate scientists that it would rise in response to man-made carbon dioxide. Dire predictions of global warming all rely on positive feedback from water vapor. Source: http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2013/04/new-data-falsifies-basis-of-man-made.html
(Water vapor is a stronger greenhouse gas than CO2.)

Western Washington Univ. Professor under attack for questioning consensus science

In 1999, NASA data showed the 1930s were the hottest decade of the century and 1936 the hottest year. In 2012, NASA subtracted temperatures from the 1930s data and added to recent temperatures to claim that recent years were "unprecedented and the warmest ever recorded." Check NASA data tampering at http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/data-tampering-at-ushcngiss/. This lies behind all of the false claims that recent global warming is "unprecedented."

The authors claim a "vast consensus of the science community." However, 31,487 U.S. scientists (including 9,000 with doctorates) with degrees in atmospheric, Earth sciences, physics, chemistry, biology and computer science have signed a statement that reads: "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing, or will in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate." Check names and expertise at http://www.petitionproject.org/

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/04/14/2958336/easterbrook-disputes-wwu-faculty.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

I will just add that although it is not a Constitutional requirement, the house will act only if there is a very strong public sentiment in favor of impeachment. That is only likely to happen if the media drives the issue with stories pointing out Constitutional abuses or severe malfeasance. Benghazi has the potential, but don't hold your breath.

I guess this makes your point Roy.

I spent about 1/2 hour researching this. The link above is from 2009, so this isn't a new revelation. I searched "flight 77 cockpit door" and found this same headline repeated numerous times. They all refer back to this Rock Creek posting. I eventually found several postings by former pilots and airline engineers who say that the FDR (Flight Data Recorder) did not record cockpit door activity in 2001. Since the article is based on FDR data not showing the cockpit door being opened it is clearly a bogus attempt to bolster conspiracy theories. See http://www.examiner.com/article/more-9-11-myths-cockpit-doors-marvin-bush-and-building-7

The whole 9/11 conspiracy thing is utterly preposterous. Who would be behind it and why. If the objective was to start a war with Iraq (the usually offered reason) since only the President can declare war it would have to be Bush.

I think everyone knows that if you are going to do a secret op you want as few people as possible to be involved, and they all have to be totally dedicated. What would happen to Bush (or any other American) if it were found out that he/they were behind 9/11? A good plan needs to have very few (preferably no) possible fail points. It also needs to leave behind no evidence that contradicts the story.

In the 9/11 conspiracies we have a need to recruit 19 hijackers that are going to live under cover for months while taking flight training. The opportunities for discovery are way too dangerous. Then these hijackers have to commandeer four planes. Things could go wrong. In fact they did go wrong on flight 93. What if that had happened on one of the other flights? Unacceptable risk!

To make sure the WTC came down explosive charges were supposedly set by demolitions experts. That would take a lot of experts working inside the WTC. That creates a chance of detection before the hijacking. How do you find that many experts willing to kill thousands of people? How do you prevent someone from talking later? Unacceptable risk! What if one of the towers wasn't hit -- hijack gone bad, equipment trouble or flight delay? Unacceptable risk!

Those are only a few of the obvious weak points that would keep any American from contemplating such a complex plan. I'm sure you can think of many more.

There are two politically influenced contributing factors to the problem of poor education and declining economic mobility. The article mentions one, the effect of poverty programs initiated by Lyndon Johnson's Great Society which served to break up family units among the poor and the associated fall-out from single parent families.

The second factor is equally as important. And that is the development by "educators" of new systems of teaching with emphasis on factors such as self-esteem, diversity, cultural truths and other politically correct and feel good characteristics that make it almost a cultural re-education. This has been combined with standardized core curricula with pre and post testing in a regimen that dehumanizes teaching. (look up Gerald Conti resignation letter)

35 years ago Marva Collins (look her up too) started a school in a poor Chicago neighborhood based on classical teaching methods. It was run on a shoestring without high-tech equipment. She took on students classified as unteachable and had remarkable success. There have been other instances of educators following a similar path with good results.

Our institutions of higher learning insist on reinventing education. When things don't go well the blame gets placed on financing, parenting, testing, etc, etc.

I too have spent considerable time researching this warming thing. I was in the weather service in the Air Force (just an "observer", not a meteorologist), but it gave me an abiding interest in the field. This will someday be a textbook example of mass delusion and the folly of agenda based science.

I just found another item for Chardo and others who want fact checking. This from a federally financed study: Global warming did not cause last years drought
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2013/04/12/study-reveals-global-warming-not-to-blame-for-last-years-crippling-drought/

Another myth shot down.

Here is more on all the talk about "climate change" making the weather more severe.

Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said, “There really is no scientific consensus or connection between global warming and tornadic activity....Jumping from a large-scale event like global warming to relatively small-scale events like tornadoes is a huge leap across a variety of scales.”

In fact, NOAA statistics show that the last 60 years have seen a dramatic increase in the reporting of weak tornadoes, but no change in the number of severe to violent ones. http://icecap.us/index.php/go/new-and-cool

If you haven't already read it, see my post at http://www.onepoliticalplaza.com/t-605-1.html regarding progressive ideas about poverty.

A New York Times review of Bill Ayers book, which incidentally was published on 9/11/2001, starts with the following: ''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.'' http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/books/no-regrets-for-love-explosives-memoir-sorts-war-protester-talks-life-with.html

Amazing what liberals consider "a responsible citizen".