Letters to the Editor - Oct. 23

So...it's not a branch of the US government

In Communist China, Communist North Korea, Communist Cuba, Communist Vietnam, and in Dictatorship-ruled countries like Venezuela and Brazil there has been massive utilization of motion pictures, artists, newspapers, fliers, and posters to force the populations of those countries into believing in history as defined by these oppressive regimes. Propaganda is an efficient and effective tool to control a population and the specific language or the purposeful narrative is integral to its success. After all, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels was given complete control over radio, press, cinema and theater and later regimented all German culture. Of note, is #6 of Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda which states “to be perceived, propaganda must evoke the interest of an audience and must be transmitted through an attention-getting communications medium.”

Recently, here in America, a dynamic organization has formed. It has christened itself the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC). Part of its agenda is to “invite citizens to step up as artists and agents of change.” USDAC professes to be the “nation’s newest people-powered department, founded on the truth that art and culture are our most powerful and under-tapped resources for social change.” This group is really not a branch of the U.S. Government . . . . yet.

The USDAC fervently believes “access to culture is a fundamental human right; that culture is created by all and thus should represent all; that cultural diversity is a social good and the wellspring of free expression; and that a deep investment in creativity is critical to cultivating empathy and social imagination.” Furthermore, “radically inclusive, useful and sustainable and vibrantly playful, the USDAC aims to spark a grassroots, creative-change movement, engaging thousands in performing and creating a world rooted in empathy, equity, and social imagination.”

This group is now embedded in over 90 universities and an untold number of public schools as well as local communities. Their goal is to catalyze art and culture in the public interest.

One of the truths that USDAC holds to be self-evident is “culture is a human right as expressed in the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” They further claim “the work of artists is a powerful resource for community development, education, healthcare, protection of our commonwealth, and other democratic public purposes.” Readers are encouraged to research US Department of Arts & Culture at their website http://usdac.us/

Propaganda? Let the reader decide.

Art Hassan,

Trout Creek

Common Core getting pushback

Encouragement abounds as many parents, school teachers, school administrators and citizens are beginning the “awakening process” to the not-so-well-known aspects of their state’s adopted Common Core Standards. States like Iowa, Maine and Colorado have recently connected with their top legislators to enact changes or have rightly challenged their school boards.

For instance, Governor Terry Branstad of Iowa signed Executive Order 83 on October 17, 2013 declaring “the State of Iowa, not the federal government or any other organization” will determine the content of state academic standards. Additionally, state DOE will provide only aggregate student data to federal government to comply with federal laws and warns that the “constitutional rights of Iowans will not be violated through an overreach by the federal government into Iowa’s educational system.

Likewise in Maine, Governor LePage signed an executive order that affirmed “Maine’s commitment to local control and student privacy rights” and cites “learning outcomes should be done in an open, transparent way that includes ample opportunity for public review and comment.” In addition, “the protection of student and family privacy is a fundamental right of all Maine people.” This is a huge step and other governors should be doing the same.

Colorado Moms learned this past August their Jefferson County School District was proposing a pilot program for data-mining software called inBloom that would collect, aggregate and analyze data of students. InBloom is a nonprofit which began as a “Shared Learning Collaborative” receiving $100 million in support from the Gates Foundation. These software programs blend big business with big government with big data, and many parents are not comfortable with these connections. The JeffCo school district was awarded a $5.2 million grant from Gates Foundation for “the professional development of middle & high school teachers.” If fully adopted, the school district would pay for the inBloom service in 2015.

EducationViews.org is raising nationwide alerts about pornographic literature that has found its way into Common Cores exemplars. Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison are two authors who gained popularity not because of their writing skills but because of the multicultural, politically correct (PC) agenda that swept them into prominence in this country. As Donna Garner, education activist exclaims, “the sexualization of America can be laid partially at the feet of what is being taught in our schools. Parents need to insist that teachers teach the great pieces of literature and history first and that these selections must be wholesome, uplifting, and edifying. Our children are openly reading and discussing these Common Core-recommended porno books in their classrooms. How can we expect children to control their language, their thoughts, and their hormones when Common Core is pressuring teachers in our nation’s classrooms to feed children porn”?

What does this mean to Montana’s 417 school districts? This is precisely why I am pushing back. The extensive data mining disturbs me; the loss of local control and parental rights alarms me; the controversial subject content worries me; the public-private partnership between gigantic corporations melded with Government authoritarianism horrifies me, and the $15.8 billion dollar nationwide gap that state taxpayers will face to implement Common Core makes my blood boil. Take the time to query your school boards, school administrators and teachers. Write or call your House District Representative or State District Senator and members of the interim Local Government & Education Committee. Ask them to stop appropriating further funding of Common Core in Montana.

Kathleen Hassan,

Trout Creek

To regulating agencies

Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot worked to preserve and shut down the west to any development while people were trying to move west and produce. Thank God we had a congress at that time that stood for production. Mullan Road was being completed; the Yellowstone Trail Highway was proposed; and land grants were being granted for the railroads, timber production and mining. Congress had to buck these good men. Town sites were being platted throughout the Mineral County area. Marcus Daly was successful in acquiring land grants for timber and was a factor in railroad land grants and construction. A lumber mill for mine timbers started and the St. Regis post office was established in 1896. Lumber production has remained this area’s (St Regis and West End) employment industry. For years not it has been a struggle to get timber sales and produce resources from our national lands.

Gifford Pinchot was a leader in developing the early national forest program. He had to fight Congress to get firefighting funding. Congress remained wary of his intentions, this was 1900. The Great 1910 Fires of Idaho and Montana taught us several lessons. The Forest Service does not need funding. The forests of the northwest United States do need preventative measures for wildfires. Today the Forest Service is a main player in development of resources on national forest lands, but an overzealous spirit of shutting everything down still persists.

The forested slopes around our towns (Alberton to Saltese) need forest management; well-placed and designed clear cuts, selective cuts, and thinning of forested areas in proximity to populated areas for safety reasons.

Whether the agency in the position of regulating development is a state or federal agency, existing laws should be used to enable people and industry to produce. In Mineral County, minerals, timber and tourism must be promoted.

Pastor Bob Winegar,

St. Regis

Appalled by fiscally suicidal approach

Gentlemen,

I am appalled by your fiscally suicidal approach to the debt limit and the Federal budget. It would appear to me now, that each and every one of you is pathologically incapable of balancing a budget. The government has not had a budget since before the iPad existed. You two democrats, I understand. ‘Ol Harry has you by the short hairs, and you have no cajones to resist. Our Congressman-at-large has no such excuse... or does he? What do I suggest? Cap the debt limit! PERMANENTLY! Start to pay it down and stop printing money. Reform entitlements, get rid of Obamacare, end the Fed, and I could go on, but that doesn’t create Big Government to take care of all us useless eaters, as Karl Marx would call us citizens (We the People).

Mr. Baucus,

You have finally shown your true colors, with a vote in favor of the U.N. Small Arms Treaty. In your Oath of Office, you swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Does your vote reflect the sacred Oath you swore to? I suggest that your true colors have finally emerged, now that you don’t have to please us to get reelected. You have joined the Elite cadre and don’t want anyone with the power to resist tyranny. At least Mr. Tester still wants his office enough to pretend that he believes in the Second Amendment. This is a good argument as to why we do not need term limits.

Mr. Daines, you are a disgrace to the people who sent you to Washington! Rest assured, sir, that your continued employment is in jeopardy. You have voted for every CR bill put before you. I take it as an insult that you presented yourself to us at the Tea Party Convention in Helena when you first chose to run for Rehberg’s seat, and then when we hired you, you turn into a big spend republican. The New American has given you a 60 percent rating, based on your voting record and the Constitutionality of said votes. Denny was much more of a Tea Party type than you are. He consistently rated in the 90 percent range. I would ask what your wife would say if you told her you were true to your marriage vows 60 percent of the time? How long do you think you would be married?

Robert Pierson,

Trout Creek