Concerned Parents Victorious Over National Student Database

Sign the Petition

Donate

Volunteer

Learn More

View Online

April 29, 2014   Concerned Parents Victorious Over National Student Database In an article last Monday, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced the demise of the inBloom software firm as a result of parental opposition to its national student database. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, inBloom is the company that planned to manage and store personal data on public school students from across the nation. At its height in 2012, inBloom boasted that nine states were ready to participate in the service, either through statewide efforts or localized pilot programs. Pushed by Common Core and Race to the Top, that number promised to grow. But as word got out, including through articles on our site and that of our allies at HSLDA, parents became involved. And those parents were overwhelmingly opposed to the plan. The WSJ report quotes Leanie Haimson, mother of a former New York City public school student, who said, “Hopefully, today’s announcement that inBloom is closing its doors will make government officials, corporations, and foundations more aware that parental concerns cannot be ignored.” We agree wholeheartedly. It has long been recognized in our country that parents are the best defenders of a child’s privacy and other rights. The Supreme Court more than 40 years ago held that “[t]his primary role of parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” (Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972) But in recent years, educational elites and deep-pocketed special interest groups have been working to undermine this principle. InBloom, coupled with the Race to the Top-funded Common Core State Standards Initiative, was only the latest effort to delete parents from the education equation. But with the database failed and the Common Core gasping for life in several states, there may be more than hope for victory in the fight against nationalized education. Let's celebrate this victory of active citizens and parents who made a difference in protecting children by preserving their own decision-making rights! We also recognize that, like Common Core in certain states, inBloom could simply return under a different name. Given the track record of Common Core proponents, another covert effort to monitor students and mine their data for an advertising edge is not only possible but likely. So, like you, we will not be taking our eye off the ball. We will celebrate this victory with caution. Action Item Victories like the fall of inBloom demonstrate that concerned parents will respond to the threats when they arise. But even greater is our potential to preserve parental rights before the danger is imminent. There is no better way to accomplish this than by passing the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the last 3 weeks, two new cosponsors – Rep. Dan Benishek (MI-1) and Rep. Lou Barletta (PA-11) – have added their support for the PRA. The full list of 74 cosponsors is available at 4pra.us/house. If your congressman is on the list, please send them a note of thanks via email. (You can find their email address or web form link by clicking on your state at parentalrights.org/states.) If your congressman is not on the list, please call them today and ask them to become a cosponsor of HJRes 50, the Parental Rights Amendment. Tell them the case of Justina Pelletier in Massachusetts proves parental rights are not protected as they should be. And the fall of inBloom demonstrates that standing against parents in America is never a wise business decision. Thank you for taking the time today to stand for parental rights, as you have stood throughout recent months to bring down this attempt at a national student database. Congratulations on this wonderful victory! Sincerely, Michael Ramey Director of Communications & Research

Share This Online

Join the Discussion

P.O. Box 1090 Purcellville, VA 20134 * (540)-751-1200 * info@parentalrights.org

American Minute with Bill Federer 'When the people become ignorant and corrupt...they degenerate... Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found.'-Monroe

American Minute with Bill Federer 'When the people become ignorant and corrupt...they degenerate... Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found.'-Monroe Leading the charge at the Battle of Trenton, a musket ball struck his shoulder, hitting an artery. He recovered and continued to fight for General Washington, becoming friends with French officer Lafayette. His name was James Monroe, born APRIL 28, 1758. Home-schooled as a child by Reverend William Douglas, James Monroe was fellow-students with John Marshall, who became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Monroe graduated from the College of William and Mary, studied law under Thomas Jefferson, and was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He served as U.S. Senator, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State, where he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the size of the United States. Elected the 5th U.S. President, James Monroe acquired Florida from Spain, 1819; added Maine, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama and Mississippi to the Union; and proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine, 1823, which forbade European powers from interfering with the independent nations of the Western Hemisphere. In his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817, President James Monroe warned: "What raised us to the present happy state?... The Government has been in the hands of the people. To the people, therefore...is the credit due... It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin..." James Monroe continued: "If we persevere...we can not fail, under the favor of a gracious Providence... My fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed in our favor." When Muslim Barbary Pirates committed terrorist attacks, President James Monroe refused appeasement and instead deployed the U.S. Navy, as he stated, March 5, 1821: "Our relations with the Barbary Powers are preserved...by the same means that were employed when I came into this office. As early as 1801 it was found necessary to send a squadron into the Mediterranean for the protection of our commerce." In his 5th Annual Message, December 3, 1821, President James Monroe reiterated: "A squadron has been maintained in the Mediterranean, by means whereof peace has been preserved with the Barbary Powers... From past experience...it is distinctly understood that should our squadron be withdrawn they would soon recommence their hostilities and depredations upon our commerce." In 1823, President James Monroe, with the U.S. Congress, ordered Decatur, Alabama, to be founded in honor of Commodore Stephen Decatur, the renowned U.S. Naval officer who forced the Muslim pirates to surrender, ending the Barbary Wars. In his First Annual Message, December 2 1817, President James Monroe stated: "In grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being...in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength." Get the book, Miracles in American History-32 Amazing Stories of Answered Prayer On November 16, 1818, in his 2nd Annual Message, President Monroe stated: "For these inestimable blessings we can not but be grateful to that Providence which watches over the destiny of nations... When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored... Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good." On November 14, 1820, in his 4th Annual Message, President James Monroe stated: "When...we take into view the prosperous and happy condition of our country...it is impossible to behold...without being penetrated with the most profound and grateful acknowledgments to the Supreme Author of All Good for such manifold and inestimable blessings... especially...our most excellent system of government, the powerful instrument in the hands of our All-merciful Creator in securing to us these blessings." On March 5, 1821, in his 2nd Inaugural Address, President Monroe stated: "The liberty, prosperity, and happiness of our country will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of All Good.... With a firm reliance on the protection of Almighty God." On December 3, 1821, in his 5th Annual Message, President Monroe stated: "Deeply impressed with the blessings which we enjoy...my mind is irresistibly drawn to that Almighty Being, the great source from whence they proceed and to whom our most grateful acknowledgments are due." On December 7, 1824, in his 8th Annual Message, President James Monroe stated: "For these blessings we owe to Almighty God, from whom we derive them, and with profound reverence, our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments.... Having commenced my service in early youth, and continued it since with few and short intervals, I have witnessed the great difficulties to which our Union has been exposed, and admired the virtue and intelligence with which they have been surmounted... That these blessings may be preserved and perpetuated will be the object of my fervent and unceasing prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe." President James Monroe, who was a member of the Episcopalian Church, admonished: "The establishment of our institutions forms the most important epoch that history hath recorded... To preserve and hand them down in their utmost purity to the remotest ages will require the existence and practice of the virtues and talents equal to those which were displayed in acquiring them." James Monroe wrote (James Monroe Papers, New York Public Library, Miscellaneous Papers and Undated Letters): "Of the liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith, of speech and of the press; of the trial by jury;...of the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus; of the right to keep and bear arms... If these rights are...secured against encroachments, it is impossible that government should ever degenerate into tyranny." Get the book AMERICAN MINUTE - Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred Search AMERICAN MINUTE archives    Watch past FAITH IN HISTORY episodes for FREE News from AmericanMinute.com Invite Bill Federer to speak -  wjfederer@gmail.com Visit the American Minute archive       Click here to shop AMERICAN MINUTE store Read the Daily Reading at:  http://www.biblegateway.com/reading-plans/old-new-testament/today?version=NKJV Receive the daily American Minute on your Facebook wall, Twitter feed, or RSS reader.    Please support the American Minute.   Click here to make a donation. Thank you! American Minute is a registered trademark. Permission is granted to forward. reprint or duplicate with acknowledgement to vwww.AmericanMinute.com http://verityinstitute.org/ http://www.missiongateministry.org/home0.aspx http://www.movieguide.org/

Forward email AmeriSearch, Inc | PO Box 20163 | St. Louis | MO | 63123

Another State on the Brink of Protecting Parental Rights by Law

Sign the Petition

Donate

Volunteer

Learn More

View Online

April 22, 2014   Another State on the Brink of Protecting Parental Rights by Law Oklahoma’s Senate last week voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 1384, codifying legal rights for parents in the state. Called the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” HB 1384 is sponsored by Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City) and Sen. A.J. Griffin (R-Guthrie). While we have offered very basic model language to help state lawmakers get started in preserving parental rights in statutory law, some legislatures have gone far beyond our modest and simple wording. (This is a good thing in those states that can get more detailed and robust protections passed!) Oklahoma’s 25-page bill certainly qualifies as one of these, and seeks to cover parental rights in every possible aspect of Oklahoma law. Because the Senate adopted amendments to the bill, it has to return to the House for another vote. An earlier form of the bill passed the House on a vote of 89 to 3 (with 9 excused) on February 19, and no opposition to the amended version is anticipated. With passage of HB 1384, Oklahoma will join a small but growing list of states that protect the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children as a matter of statutory law. Kansas included those rights in a religious freedom bill last year, while Nevada and Virginia adopted parental rights statutes of varying lengths and levels of detail. Other states, including Michigan, Texas, and Utah also protect parental rights by statute. The vast majority of states recognize traditional, fundamental parental rights as a matter of judicial precedent. Without a statutory basis for those rights, however, they are subject to erosion as state courts follow the lead of their federal colleagues. The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to apply the “strict scrutiny” standard of review in the Troxel v. Granville case in 2000 has especially led to confusion of this standard in lower courts which, as a result, treat parental rights as less than fundamental. Massachusetts, where Justina Pelletier is in her fifteenth month of captivity at the hands of the Department of Children and Families, is among the states least friendly to parental rights. Yet even there, the tragedy of Justina’s case may open the door for some form of parental rights legislation. We recently worked with Liberty Counsel to draft a bill that would make it illegal for DCF to accuse parents of “medical neglect” if they are following the diagnosis and treatment plan from a licensed medical provider. Such a law would have protected the Pelletiers from losing custody of their daughter when Boston Children’s Hospital disagreed with her diagnosis from Tufts Medical Center, then removed her parents from the equation for siding with “the wrong hospital.” Thank you for standing with us in the effort to pass these state laws to protect children by empowering their parents to make these critical decisions on their behalf. Thank you, too, for supporting our ongoing effort to secure the ultimate solution to this problem, the Parental Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Sincerely, Michael Ramey Director of Communications & Research

Share This Online

Join the Discussion

P.O. Box 1090 Purcellville, VA 20134 * (540)-751-1200 * info@parentalrights.org