OBAMA: “UNFETTERED SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL” HURTS “PROSPECTS FOR PEACE”

OBAMA: “UNFETTERED SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL” 
HURTS “PROSPECTS FOR PEACE”
BY CHRISTINE WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Obama is still accusing Israel of being the barrier to peace, as he
refers to “Netanyahu’s government policies” with regards to “Israeli
settlements.” He even went so far as to imply that friendship with
Israel is adding to the problem:


“If that’s what qualifies as a good friend, then I think that we will see a worsening situation over time.”

Nowhere does Obama condemn the goal of Hamas, the PA and Fatah: to
obliterate the state of Israel, as stated in their charters. Nowhere
does he refer to the fact that Israel has already given back 96 percent
of the lands it won in past defensive wars. He says nothing about the
fact that these concessions only emboldened Israel’s jihadist enemies to
attack innocent Israelis even more.

Netanyahu has accused the Obama administration of colluding with the Palestinians
when it abstained last month from voting on a U.N. Security Council
resolution condemning settlements. On Tuesday, Netanyahu reiterated that
claim, saying Israel had “solid information” that proved the U.S. was
behind the drafting of the resolution.

Right after the passing of the UN anti-settlement Resolution 2334, leaked documents revealed that the resolution was was orchestrated by the Obama administration. As Obama packs up to leave the White House, he leaves behind a legacy
of betraying Israel and rallying support for the Palestinian jihad. As
the clock ticks on his presidency, let’s hope Obama’s propensity to lash
out against Israel does not lead to still more rash actions. Remember
that the virulently anti-Semitic former President Jimmy Carter called on Obama to unilaterally recognise Palestinian statehood before leaving office.

“Obama Warns Against Support for Israeli Settlements”, New York Times, January 10, 2017:

JERUSALEM — U.S. President Barack Obama warned in an
interview broadcast Tuesday that “unfettered support” for Israel’s
settlement policies would lead to a “worsening situation” over time
between Israelis and Palestinians.

The interview with Israeli TV program “Uvda” comes 10 days before
Obama, who has been an outspoken critic of Israeli settlements, hands
over to President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to pursue a
starkly different approach to the conflict. Trump’s election has buoyed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his pro-settler
government.

“If the notion is that unfettered support for Israel or more
specifically support for the Netanyahu government’s policies — no matter
what they are, no matter how inimical they may be to the prospects for
peace — if that’s what qualifies as a good friend, then I think that we
will see a worsening situation over time,” Obama said during the
interview, filmed in Washington last week.

Netanyahu has accused the Obama administration of colluding with the Palestinians
when it abstained last month from voting on a U.N. Security Council
resolution condemning settlements. On Tuesday, Netanyahu reiterated that
claim, saying Israel had “solid information” that proved the U.S. was
behind the drafting of the resolution.

The White House has denied the allegations, and Israel has not publicly provided evidence to back them up.

Obama defended the abstention in the interview, saying “I believe it was the best move for peace.”

Nearly 600,000 settlers now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem,
territories the Palestinians want as part of a future state. Much of
the international community as well as the Palestinians view settlements
as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. Netanyahu routinely dismisses
international criticism of the settlements, saying the conflict
predates them.

While Trump has indicated a willingness to help broker peace, his
election platform did not mention a Palestinian state and he has taken
steps that show he plans to side with Israel. He has appointed an
ambassador to Israel with deep ties to the settlements and he has
pledged to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, a move likely to inflame tensions and anger the Palestinians….

HERE’S WHY OBAMA NEVER INTENDED TO CREATE JOBS~HIS GLOBALIST PUPPETEERS TOLD HIM NOT TO~ATTACKS FIAT-CHRYSLER IN THE LAST DAYS OF HIS REIGN

 “A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY” TO DESTRUCTION
 Here's Why Obama Never Intended to Create Jobs
HERE’S WHY OBAMA NEVER INTENDED 
TO CREATE JOBS 
 Obama’s farewell: a soap opera for liberals 
and minority pawns
BY JON RAPPOPORT
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 

Here are a few snippets from Obama’s goodbye speech to the American people:
“Going
forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination…But laws alone
won’t be enough. Hearts must change…For blacks and other minorities, it
means tying our own struggles for justice to the challenges that a lot
of people in this country face – the refugee, the immigrant, the rural
poor, the transgender American, and also the middle-aged white man…For
white Americans, it means acknowledging that the effects of slavery and
Jim Crow didn’t suddenly vanish in the ‘60s; that when minority groups
voice discontent, they’re not just engaging in reverse racism or
practicing political correctness…”

The question is: do people want empty sentimental sop from Obama or do they want action?

Well, it’s too late for action, because Obama’s presidency is done.
And it makes no difference whether, as a result of his final speech,
people view him as a great and honorable man who did his best, or as a
con artist, because again, he’s on his way out the door.
Needless
to say, his supporters were deeply moved by his words. They want to be
moved. They don’t want to look at uncomfortable facts.
For
example, let’s go to CNN, which is going to offer the best possible
interpretation of economic indicators for black people in America:

“Blacks
have seen their median income stagnate, along with the rest of the
population…Median income [for blacks] stood at $35,398 in 2014, just a
touch below where it was in 2009, when Obama took office. But it has
climbed back from [a low of] $33,926 in 2011…The Great Recession sent
many Americans into poverty, but blacks were hit particularly hard. The
[poverty] rate for blacks hit 27.6% in 2011, nearly 2 percentage points
higher than what it was when Obama was sworn in. It has since receded to
26.2%.”

If you call that a ringing endorsement of Obama’s performance as president, you’re in need of help.
Let
me put it this way. For all Obama’s talk about racism and prejudice and
justice, Americans of every description and color have been willing,
for a long time, to work alongside each other and get along — IF THERE
IS WORK TO BE HAD. DECENT PAYING WORK.

Obama is, in effect, trying to move back to another time, before that was the case.
When
he was elected, in 2008, during the recession, his closest advisors
thought he would come out swinging and do everything possible to create
jobs. That was the number-one concern of Americans.
They were
absolutely shocked when he opted for Obamacare out of the gate, as his
first priority. And look what it has led to: a massive mess.
Gazing
at his presidency head-on, without excuses, it’s clear that Obama chose
to IGNORE jobs. He didn’t want to make a move in that arena.
Why?
The answer is stark and simple: the globalist agenda forbids the creation of new jobs, and Obama is a globalist. He was plucked out of nowhere by Ted Kennedy and mentored by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the co-founder of the Trilateral Commission, along with David Rockefeller.

The Trilateral Commission is the single most important globalist
force in the world. And of the 87 members of the Commission who live in
the US, Obama appointed 11 of them to key posts in his administration.
This is no accident. This is intentional.
The
idea that Obama would launch a no-holds-barred effective crusade
against corporations leaving the US and throwing huge numbers of
Americans (of all colors) out of work, is laughable. Look at the record,
if you need verification. It never happened. It was never going to
happen.
The man can talk forever about discrimination and
prejudice and social justice, but those words fall flat, because he has
never taken action to correct the true crime—which is there for all to
see: Globalists are committed to torpedoing economies.
Obama can be a master of overly sentimental rhetoric—but this is merely a diversion.
And
aside from the massive loss of jobs, if he has been talking about the
inner cities of America, he should have focused on the enduring
disasters that destroy life in those places and hold law-abiding
citizens hostage: gangs, the murders they commit, their other crimes,
drugs, and the absence of fathers in homes. That’s where he would have
started. And he would have launched solutions.
But he didn’t.
In various ways, over and over, he simply said: “We’re all in this together.” That and $2 will get you a bus ticket in Chicago.
‘We’re
all in this together’ doesn’t destroy pernicious globalist trade
treaties or create jobs for people who are willing and ready to go to
work and support their families.
‘We’re all in this together’ doesn’t eliminate gangs, killings, drugs, and highly dangerous neighborhoods.
‘We’re
all in this together’ doesn’t start a national program of urban farms
in inner cities, and suddenly give people the opportunity to grow their
own fresh clean food, eat it, and make money by selling the excess.
‘We’re all in this together’ doesn’t help create a culture in which fathers deserting their families is a cardinal offense.
‘We’re
all in this together’ does pour a pleasant syrup of “deep concern” on
the heads of people who, above all, want to appear virtuous. These are
the people who can be led to believe in an imitation of actual solutions
and action.
They are content to think that a leader who espouses a lofty ideal has done enough.
Everyone
else should put the ideal into action. If they don’t, it’s not the
leader’s fault. He flew the banner. He recited poetics. He wanted a
better world. He was operating at a higher level—and unfortunately, the
bulk of humanity couldn’t grasp its profundity.
That notion and $2.75 will get you a ride on a New York subway.
This article originally appeared at NoMoreFakeNews.com. Want to free your mind from the Matrix? Check out The Matrix Revealed.

OBAMA’S EPA GOES AFTER FIAT-CHRYSLER FOR 
“FAKE” EMISSIONS REPORTS
 

“THE COMMODITIZATION OF HUMAN BEINGS” BY THERESA DEISHER, PhD

“THE COMMODITIZATION OF HUMAN BEINGS” 
BY THERESA DEISHER, PhD 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 When human beings become commodities, as they have over the past two to
three decades with the changing values of Western civilization, we begin
to use human beings for purposes other than those purposes for which
they are created. We start to use human beings in biomedical research…
for instance, we use fresh aborted fetuses on a daily basis in
biomedical research. Scientists used embryos and women’s eggs for stem
cell research, and from there we move on to exploiting human beings for
actual medical therapies. Cell lines that were made from electively
aborted human fetuses are commonly used to manufacture vaccines,
biologics, and now even cosmetics. While organ transplantation can be
done ethically and morally, the huge demand for organ supply has driven
organ transplantation and organ harvest really off the cliff, and many
practices in these areas have now become quite questionable ethically.
Published on Dec 25, 2012
A talk by Dr. Theresa Deisher, President of Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute

CHOICE, CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THE DISAPPEARING AMERICAN DREAM PART 1 of 2

CHOICE, CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THE DISAPPEARING AMERICAN DREAM PART 1 of 2
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By
Anita Hoge
January 14, 2017
NewsWithViews.com
How
the “CHOICE” Fix Won’t Fix Common Core
Is
There Such A Thing As A Parallel School System?
Looking at the
plans puzzling together for a Trump Presidency, education is front and
foremost on many parents’ minds. Parent warriors have become concerned
to the point of being totally stressed over the appointment of billionaire
Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. Why is this?


President-Elect
Trump promised a vision of life without Common Core—




A day of looking forward to our kids not being manipulated with the
behavioral conditioning processes of teacher-trained Skinnerian techniques;

A day without government data mining our children
and inputting their private behavioral data over to the Feds.
Is
our battle over yet? Can we rest assured that Donald Trump will keep his
promise to rid our schools of all of the Common Core baggage? Are solid
academics on the horizon, again?
Unfortunately
this just doesn’t seem to be happening. President-Elect Trump has jumped
off the TRUMP TRAIN and he has jumped on the phony CHOICE TRAIN. Keep
in mind that Vice President-Elect Mike Pence is a pro-“CHOICE”
Governor, and he muffled the true spirit of academic freedom by cleverly
rebranding the Common Core standards in Indiana:
“Indiana
governor Mike Pence has made a serious miscalculation on what could
easily become the sleeper issue of the 2016 presidential campaign, Common
Core. After dramatically withdrawing Indiana from participation in Common
Core, Pence was poised to become a hero to the grassroots movement resisting
this egregious bid for federal control of America’s traditionally
independent and locally run education system. Instead, Pence has created
the illusion of quality and independence, while installing second-rate
standards that are little more than Common Core rebranded.” [Source]
And
on the charter school “CHOICE” agenda Governor Pence has pushed
charters:
“But
Pence has a robust record on the issue. As governor, he pushed through
the most significant increase in charter school funding in years, according
to Chalkbeat Indiana. Pence worked with the legislature to create a
$10 million grant fund that would offer an extra $500 per student to
charters that post better outcomes than traditional public schools.
And if Pence had his way, the funding would have been even more robust—he
initially pitched a $1,500 per charter school student increase.”
[Source]
Since
the election, every new word coming from our President-Elect is beginning
to sound a bit too familiar. It reminds us of the Senator Ted
Cruz S 306 legislation
that we parents fought when Sen. Ted Cruz
was running for President against the TRUMP TRAIN. Not quite
the words we wanted to hear from Mr. Trump. This sort of government-sponsored
CHOICE sticks in our throats because we know the outcome–more oppression
over our children and more Common Core for ALL. [Source]
Do we
want this kind of “CHOICE”?? No! This is a false CHOICE, and
it is not the pathway that will lead our children to educational excellence.
Phony CHOICE is not the answer to American exceptionalism. Government-controlled
CHOICE is globalism, not Americanism.
That scrap of money tied to the
child will determine future ambitions and pathways. It is linked to the
government’s similarly aligned obsession to create “human capital”
– i.e., the government determining the worth or worthlessness of
your child as a commodity in the future workforce. Do elected officials
realize just how offensive this is to America’s parents? Our children
are not “human capital”!
This
sort of government-controlled CHOICE is a trap, Mr. Trump. “CHOICE”
is a pretty cozy word that assumes freedom. Little do parents understand
the tentacles of federal strings that accompany federal assistance. Or,
maybe they haven’t thought of it in those terms. But, yes, CHOICE is accepting
federal assistance. And with that comes the “Have To’s”, where
all children, parents, teachers, and schools will be forced into the federal
government’s obsession with domineering over the lives of our little children.
Many
advocates of this CHOICE appear to think that killing public education
is OK. Betsy DeVos, President-Elect Trump’s new pick for Secretary of
Education, thinks so. “Detroit Public Schools, she argued, should
simply be shut down and the system turned over to charters, or the tax
dollars given to parents in the form of vouchers to attend private schools.”
[Source]
She
believes that our public schools are an
“…antiquated,
top-down model of education in this country that originated in the 1800s
in order to “educate the masses.”
And
her CHOICE:
“is
beginning to transform to a student-centric model that respects every
child’s unique learning style.” [Source]
Well,
isn’t this interesting. This is the exact personification of COMMON
CORE! ESSA, The Every Student Succeeds Act passed
by Congress this past year, legislated this and more. Every child must
meet Common Core standards, with digital individualized career plans and
diagnostic supports that will help Johnny and Suzy attain government-determined
“proficiency” in collectivist style mental health and globalist
attitudes, values, beliefs, and dispositions.


But
this isn’t why the citizens voted for you, Mr. Trump. We want you to STOP
COMMON CORE!
Pending
Education Secretary DeVos also explains her views that
“Educational
choice is an essential part of the solution to our nation’s education
challenges, including the greater issue of education inequality
in America. The idea that no child should be defined or limited by
his or her ZIP code or family’s income is deeply rooted in our
movement’s commitment to social justice
. Every parent
should be free to choose the best educational environment for their
children and low-income and minority children are too often the ones
without choice. The only way to truly improve and innovate our nation’s
system and help these students is through educational choice.
The
public is recognizing that true choice will break open
our nation’s closed education system, encouraging innovation and
education entrepreneurs to develop new ways for children to
learn
and reach their full potential.” [All emphases added]
DeVos’s
version of CHOICE will certainly “break open,”
or better defined, “smash down”
the public school system. Is the destruction of local public schools what
American citizens voted for? The biggest problem with this DeVos thinking
is that Common Core does not allow or encourage academic attainment, nor
opportunity for advancement. If her CHOICE is initiated, Common Core remains
– because of ESSA. Didn’t we all just vote to get RID
of Common Core?
Here
is how it will work. DeVos’s fake CHOICE will saddle every school
with Common Core that forces individual children to have an individualized
personal “plan” to meet those government standards, no matter
which ZIP code or school they will attend. And this is the ominous end
goal for little Johnny or Susie. It is a new way to learn, but it isn’t
academics. Social justice is equated with “individuality,”
giving way to the forced struggle for ”equity” and molding
children into cookie-cutter drones. Inequality in ZIP CODES sounds like
re-distribution of wealth, with CHOICE being wielded as the useful tool
to get American education nationalized. But that also means a leveling
of wealthy ZIP codes to be the same of the inner city. Now, that’s equality.
That’s what socialized CHOICE looks like, and this is what Betsy DeVos
is all about!
But
is this what President-Elect Trump is all about? Is anyone honestly talking
to him about the direful impacts of her freedom-diminishing sort of CHOICE?
To date there has been NO discussion of the effects of this CHOICE for
every child, not to mention the dreadful longterm effects this will have
on communities, taxes, local control, and the market value of local homes
and properties.
Common
Core + Government CHOICE ? true freedom of choice. It is a pending disaster…the
disappearing American dream.
Others
driving the CHOO-CHOO CHOICE Train
Jeb
Bush announced that the DeVos pick was “outstanding…a passionate
change agent to press for a new education
vision
.” Of course he would say that. She is Chairwoman
of the American Federation for Children (AFC), a charter school promotion
group, and she is also a board member of Bush’s non-profit Foundation
for Excellence in Education (FEE). Bush and his foundation have served
as champions for the Common Core standards. [Source]
Oh course,
“low energy” Jeb’s vision is totally Common Core, artificial
CHOICE, and pro-charter schools. When Jeb served as Governor of Florida
he was a prominent supporter of the individual data-mining performed on
children, with Florida becoming the national model for the collection
of personally identifiable information of children. Jeb is also a leader
in the change agent/Common Core enablers. His connections, plus his opinion
of DeVos for Secretary of Education, give him an inside track to legislation
and a soft welcoming chair in future Secretary DeVos’s office. [Source]
Congressman
Messer (R-IN), who introduced the Scholarships for Kids Act in
2014, is also a CHOICE enabler. Congressman Messer’s bill is the
companion to the bill introduced by Senator Lamar Alexander, who is Republican
Chairman on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
and formerly served as Secretary of Education under President George H.W.
Bush.


Senator
Alexander, along with Speaker Paul Ryan, pushed through the Reauthorization
of No Child Left Behind called ESSA, Every Student Succeeds
Act,
which codified the Common Core/mental health agenda nationally,
effectually making President Obama’s Flexibility Waivers law, thus further
diluting a real academic education.
Note how Senator Alexander stated
this about the 2014 Scholarship for Kids Act:
“This
is the most ambitious proposal ever to use federal dollars to
enable states to expand school choice
, and is a real answer
to inequality in America, giving more children
more opportunity to attend a better school. I look forward to working
with Congressman Messer to get this bill through Congress and signed
into law.” [Emp. added.]
Of additional
concern,
The
Scholarship for Kids Act, introduced in the Senate by Senator Lamar
Alexander and in the House of Representatives by Rep. Luke Messer, would
re-direct existing federal education funding (Title I)
to provide up to 11 million scholarships for low-income children. The
scholarships created under this bill would follow K-12 low-income
children as they attend either the public or private school of their
parents’ choice
. The money for these scholarships,
up to $24 billion a year, would come from existing funds
directed towards schools
, meaning no new spending and no
funds cut from education. [All emphases added] [SOURCE]
Readers,
notice that the money goes directly to schools, bypassing state legislatures’
budgets. This is a states’ rights question for sure. The Messer/Alexander
bill actually allotted more money than President-Elect Trump’s proposed
$20 billion for “CHOICE”. Also remember that Rob Goad, aide
to Rep. Messer, has been tapped by the Trump campaign to advance this
same CHOICE agenda. This pile of money may grow. The Scholarship Act has
not been passed but shows the direction of this sort of CHOICE thinking.
The
Messer bill aligns to Senator Ted Cruz’s bill to include homeschools.
Let’s look at what the Messer proposed bill would also require: state
Common Core standards and tests, provides that parents are able to use
that money to pay for private school tuition and fees, supplement their
public school or charter school budget, attend a school outside of their
district or purchase tutoring services or homeschooling materials.
It further
Requires
participating states and their local educational agencies to continue
to: (1) work toward state academic content and achievement standards;
(2) conduct annual assessments of student progress toward those standards;
and (3) issue annual report cards of student progress, disaggregated
by specified student subgroups, toward those standards.
“No
child should have to go to a school where they won’t have a meaningful
chance to learn,” said Congressman Luke Messer. “This bill
empowers parents with the personal freedom to choose the best learning
environment for their child regardless of income.
Quality education is the great equalizer in
the game of life, and bills like this one, which offer parents a choice,
level the playing field.”
Questions
for Congressman Messer:

Has Congressman Messer ever explained to taxpayers what leveling
the playing field
means?
Has he explained to school board members and
homeowners that pay taxes for public schools how this is a massive redistribution
of wealth?
Has he explained that with his fake CHOICE,
Title I CHILDREN are not just poor children, and that SCHOOL WIDE encompasses
the entire school to have access to CHOICE not just certain poor children?
 
Has he explained how the exodus of children out of public schools will
eventually kill public education and destroy local districts?
Will he admit that teachers will no longer
be hired by the local school district?
Will he try to evade questions about the apparent
coming dissolution of elected school boards?

Has he answered penetrating citizen questions about how taxes would
be collected and where they would be sent when local neighborhood schools
collapse?
Has he addressed the terrible effects this
will have on property values when the playing field is leveled, wealth
is redistributed, and equity becomes the commitment to social justice
agenda of changing the complexion of your entire ZIP code?
I don’t
think so. So what is this CHOICE all about? Is it about the change necessary
to end representative government to move toward globalism? I fear so.
. . .
Click
here for part —–> 1, 2,

CODDLING MILLENNIAL SNOWFLAKES PART 2

CODDLING MILLENNIAL SNOWFLAKES PART 2
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
By
Debra Rae


January 14, 2017
NewsWithViews.com
Social
Emotional Learning in Public Education
At
its convention in Washington, D.C. (2016), America’s “largest,
richest, brass-knuckled labor union,”
[1]
the National Education Association, recently passed two new mental health-related
resolutions.
[2]
While addressing mental health in public education isn’t new,
the burgeoning “field” of mental health in schools is.
In
general, mental health researchers name five key competencies.
[3]
While allegedly fostering them, “safer schools” aggressively
nurture a culture of shame. For example, to atone for human violence
toward the planet, “well” children are shamed into Earth
servitude. Kids whose families enjoy affluence, while less fortunate
counterparts merely scrape by, are made to feel discomfited. Should
a shy girl decline to share a school restroom or shower with an anatomic
boy identifying as female, it’s the girl who’s labeled “at
risk” for demonstrating “intolerance.”
Given
the unexpected outcome of our 2016 Presidential election, edu-clinicians
at all levels pulled out all stops by extending recess periods, offering
yoga, meditation, and mindfulness work (K-8). Up to and including college
level, schools staged “cry-in’s,” “group screams,”
and “walk outs.” Some provided nap- and crying- rooms equipped
with therapy dogs, coloring books, Play-Doh, and healthy snacks. Disappointment,
students learn, is to be coddled and/or acted out in civil disobedience.
Social
Emotional Learning (SEL)
[4]
Through
school-linked services (i.e., afterschool programs; wellness, health,
and family resource centers), school-community coalitions advocate for
social-emotional learning in classroom settings.
[5]
SEL teaches skills for setting personal goals aimed at working well
with others, feeling sympathy/empathy, identifying problems and, while
making ethical choices, initiating help-seeking and help-giving behaviors.
Schools
are not in the mental health business, yet they are deemed essential
partners in the two-fold mission (1) to promote mental health of youngsters
and (2) to reshape thinking about mental health.
[6]

Promote Mental Health
With
upsurge of SEL, one might reasonably expect augmented resilience. To
the contrary, well over half of students in urban schools suffer learning,
behavior, and emotional problems.
[7]
In reality, personal pathology is rare.
[8]
Notwithstanding, at great expense, onsite mental health clinics continue
to pop up; and the vast majority of American schools extend access to
mental health services beyond special education to all students.
Because
the same entities purporting to promote “mental health”
also normalize categories that traditionally qualified as disorders—i.e.,
homosexuality and bi-, pan-, trans- gender identification/ fluidity—it’s
no wonder nearly three-quarters of schools studied reported social,
interpersonal, or family problems as most frequent for boys and girls
alike.
[9]
Reshaping
Attitudes Toward Mental Health
With
appearance of suicide education in the 1980s, mental health services
have continued to multiply.
[10]
The expressed intent is school-community intervention to (1) nurture
overall child development and (2) curtail obstacles to learning. To
“reshape feelings” at the national level, health professionals
promote urgent, large-scale, systemic reform initiatives.
In
2002, President George W. Bush created the New Freedom Commission on
Mental Health. Congress appropriated funds for early mental health screening
but, truth be told, personal pathology is by no means the primary obstacle
to learning. Low-bar standards, trumping academics with unmanageably
exhaustive behavioral objectives, permissive policies, experimentation
with flavor-of-the-month strategies, politically correct nepotism, and
countless unnamed variables no doubt fuel the problem.
Mental
Health Screening
DSM-1V[11]
criteria for mental illness lack clear, empirical support data, and
dubious diagnostics force answers likely to yield false positives. Under
auspices of “gun violence,” President Obama quietly unleashed
a cache of federal dollars toward ordering mental health testing for
youngsters. With no evidence supporting reduced suicide attempts or
mortality as a result of its extended use,
[12]
the Columbia University-based program called TeenScreen was used to
detect depression in students at risk of suicide, anxiety disorders,
and drug/alcohol abuse. Last month it was announced, “The National
Center will be winding down its program at the end of this year.”
[13]
All
too often, voluntary, informed, and written parental permission for
administering mental health screening is bypassed. Even for religious
reasons, parents in Nebraska and West Virginia are denied the right
to refuse screening.
[14]
Flexibility as to who administers and scores tests should raise further
concern. There are reported instances of underhanded methods used to
coax kids into “voluntary” participation.
An
inadequately trained administrator is tempted to view common emotional
and behavior problems as “symptoms” to be designated as
disorders.
[15]
Comprehensive search for some “hidden” anomaly suggests
need for mental illness to be “ferreted out and captured like
a rabid animal.”
[16]
Once “caught,” the culprit is tagged, but applying labels
from the constantly expanding list (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, oppositional defiant and/or adjustment disorders, learning
disabilities, and depression) tends to skew public policy. Case in point:
Since 1995, the number of children diagnosed as bipolar has increased
by forty percent. Predictably, there are increasingly more referrals
than can be served.
Diagnosis
and Remediation
Assessments
invite misdiagnoses coupled with expensive, sometimes unwarranted interventions.[17]
In actuality, “connecting kids with treatment” is code for
prescribing psychotropic drugs, resulting in dangerous, “off-label,”
prescriptions (not intended for pediatric use), over- and/or mis-medication.
Remarkably, in 2012, multiple prescriptions for children exceeded spending
on antibiotics or asthma medications.[18]
Most
pscho-active medicine is no more effective than placebos yet, when used
by minors, antidepressants pose calculable risk. Disturbingly, the Bush
commission linked mental health examinations with “state-of-the-art”
treatments using specific medications (e.g., antidepressant and anti-psychotic
drugs) for specific conditions.[19]
As
drug coercion becomes a condition for public school attendance, noncompliant
parents fear they will face charges and/or unwelcomed intervention of
Child Protective Services. Despite protest, the NEA continues to urge
affiliates to support legislation at all levels (community, state, and
national).
Follow
the Money
There’s
good reason why schools typically don’t assign high priority to
mental health services. Simply put, school-financed student support
services do not reflect the school’s essential mission. Nevertheless,
the Federal Department of Education and Centers for Disease Control
persistently advocate for federal initiatives that advance “full-service”
schools.[20]
 Among
the top five funding sources is Medicaid. Wraparound mental health services
effectively rob from Peter to pay Paul. Given the political-pharmaceutical
alliance that operates for monetary gain, conflict of interest is to
be expected. By way of example, TeenScreen advisory board members served
in leadership positions for at least two entities heavily funded by
drug-company “educational grants.”
Cradle-to-Grave
Monitoring and Intervention
Results
of routine, comprehensive mental health screening for every child, preschoolers
included, are integrated with electronic health records. Longitudinal
national electronic databases, including treatments and personal family
information, can be accessed by insurance companies, federal and state
agencies, special interest groups, and eventual employers. Even fictional
“mental disorders” follow a child for life. Without parental
consent, DNA data collected on newborns through KIDSNET in Rhode Island
are linked to educational databases.[21]
In
conclusion, the late President Ronald Reagan got it right: “The
most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the
government, and I’m here to help.’”
Click
here for part —–> 1, 2,
Footnotes:
1.
Forbes magazine.
2.
Resolution B-66 advances competencies relating to decision-making, self
and social awareness/management skills. Resolution C-5 showcases comprehensive
school health, social, and psychological programs/services, pre-K through
higher education. Education Reporter, Number 367, August 2016.
3-4.
3.
Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor & Schellinger, 2011.
4.
Http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu
(Accessed 19 November 2016).
5.
Greenberg et al., 2003; Hawkins, Kosterman, Catalano, Hill, & Abbott,
2008.
6.
E. Marx and S. Wooley with D. Northrop (Eds.). Health is Academic:
A Guide to Coordinated School Health Programs
(New York: Teachers
College Press.1998).
7.
University of California at Los Angeles, 2003.
8.
Howard S. Adelman, Ph.D. and Linda Taylor, Ph.D. “Mental Health
in Schools and Public Health.” Public Health Reports
2006 May-June 121(3). 294-298.
9.
Foster et al., 2005.

10.
Education Reporter, Apr.-May 1987.
11.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
12.
Education Reporter, Number 309, October 2011. 1,4.
13.
Teenscreen
shuts down
. (Accessed 12 December 2016).
14.
Education Reporter, Number 359, December 2015.
15.
Adelman, 1995a; Adelman & Taylor, 1994; Dryfoos, 1990.
16.
Alliance for Human Research Protection, The Brown University Child and
Adolescent Behavior Letter, 8-01-04.
17.
Lyon, 2002.
18.
Education Reporter, Number 316, May 2012.1.
19.
Education Reporter, Number 316, May 2012.1,4.
20.
For example, grants programs for the Integration of Schools and Mental
Health Systems.
21.
Howard S. Adelman, Ph.D. and Linda Taylor, Ph.D. “Mental Health
in Schools and Public Health.” Special Report on Child Mental
Health, Volume 121
, May-June 2006. 294.