Sharman Burson Ramsey's Blog, page 14

Review of THE MAGNOLIA STORY BY CHIP AND JOANNA GAINES

I pigged out on books during our visit to Shands Hospital to get a new shunt for my husband's Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. A visit to Walmart and the book section led me to purchase The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines. Of course, after years of watching  Fixer Upper I felt like Chip and Joanna were my New Best Friends. But, even though I was definitely one of their biggest fans and watched whenever I could, enjoying the fun they had together, the whole creative process, and the feeling left whenever the show was over, I really had no clue who the real Chip and Joanna were.

What was that "it" that had come together so successfully? How did this phenomenon occur?

They both credit God. The world (Joy Behar) mocks a conversation with our Creator. Yet, Joanna credits that "still small voice" for her choices and that includes choosing Chip.

This book, more than the commercial aspects of flipping houses and starting an empire, reveals the character of these two individuals who find their strength in each other and in God who guides them.
I left this book with tears in my eyes, inspired to be a better person. Their goal is not great wealth. Bringing others up through everything they do is foremost in their business and personal lives.

Can a person live life with Christian principles and be successful?

It works for Chip and Joanna.

After sharing this fascinating personal journey of two people more in love now than ever, Joanna writes:

"We both hope with all of our hearts, that the people who read this book and watch our show and come to see what we're working on in Waco will the a chance to go after their dreams too. Because the key to everything Chip and I have learned in our life together so far seems to be pretty simple. Go and find what it is that inspires you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts.

Don't quit, and don't give up. The reward is just around the corner. and in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning--and he will be there until...

The End. 

Thank you, Chip and Joanna, for sharing your faith and your talents. And for giving me a reminder of who is in control during a difficult time.

The Equal Rights Amendment HURTS WOMEN

My protections as a traditional homemaker for my husband and children is threatened. 

VIEWPOINTS YOU WILL NOT HEAR OR READ ON THE MAJOR MEDIA
Illinois voted on the wrong side of women’s rights by voting for an amendment that will harm women and their unborn child. The language of our laws matter and the language of this poorly written, vague amendment will take away the ability to recognize essential biological differences between men and women.As a result, laws, and policies that benefit women will be overturned and abortion rights will be entrenched in our Constitution. The public must wake up and see through the false statements of the supporters of the ERA. Women are already guaranteed equal rights through the equal protections guaranteed to all persons under the 14th amendment. The Supreme Court has already recognized and ruled favorably for women based on the 14th amendment. Women will receive no additional benefits from the ERA. Instead, they will see their rights and benefits taken away as they are forced to be treated exactly like men with no exceptions allowed.Elise Bouc
ebouc7@gmail.comProtections for women under current law would be annulled.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1. The Tender Age Presumption that children are better off with their mothers in a divorce situation will be nullified. 2. Our young daughters will be drafted should a draft be reinstated.

Draft? 
3. The ERA is a poorly written amendment that would not put “women” in the Constitution; it would put “sex” in the Constitution. Sex has many definitions besides gender.4. Hundreds of good state laws would be overturned — such as sex segregated prisons, women’s shelters, and legal accommodations for pregnant women.5. ERA would mandate taxpayer-paid abortions and equal representation of women in military combat and selective service. 6. Passing ERA would take away plenty of rights that women enjoy; but nothing in ERA would ever give women a pay raise or stop any sexual harassers.
ERA would not be “symbolic,” but would cause real harm to real women by mandating that men and women are interchangeable in every circumstance. I am proud to continue the fight against this destructive amendment that my mother, Phyllis Schlafly, led.— Anne Schlafly Cori, Alton, Ill.Oddly enough, it was thought that when women got the vote, there would be a higher standard of morality in politics. That they would uphold traditional values engendered by Church, Family and Country. Instead, before our very eyes, with the Feminist leaders of our country we see the demise of morals, the vilest of language, the dismantling of family and an abandonment of patriotism.



Amazing how visionary Phyllis Schafley was. Look at how much of the ERA Amendment Feminists have managed to accomplish. Are families better off? Are women better off? Are children better off? Are men better off? I have often called ERA the Men's Rights Amendment. All protections for women under the law are done away with. 







THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT AND ABORTION
Re: "Equal Rights Amendment" and Abortion
Dear Member of Congress:
Today, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and others intend to reintroduce the proposed "Equal Rights Amendment" to the Constitution. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) urges you not to co-sponsor or otherwise support this measure in its current form. Recently courts in two states have construed state ERAs to require tax-funded abortion on demand B rulings that demonstrate the absolute need to attach an "abortion-neutral amendment" to any such resolution.
The Maloney resolution would add to the Constitution the following prohibition: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." This is very similar to the language of the ERA which New Mexico added to its state constitution in 1973, which says, "Equality of rights under law shall not be denied on account of the sex of any person." On November 25, 1998, the New Mexico Supreme Court B by a vote of 5-0 B ruled that such language prohibits the state from restricting abortion differently from "medically necessary procedures" sought by men, and the Court ordered the state to pay for elective abortions without restriction under the state=s Medicaid program. (NM Right to Choose / NARAL v. Johnson, No. 1999-NMSC-005)
In its ruling, the New Mexico Supreme Court merely adopted the construction of the ERA urged upon it by Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, and the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. The doctrine that the ERA invalidates limitations on tax-funded abortion was also supported in briefs filed by the state Women's Bar Association, Public Health Association, and League of Women Voters.
In addition, on December 7, 2000, the Texas Court of Appeals (Third District) ruled that the state=s prohibition on tax-funded elective abortions violated the Texas ERA. That ruling is on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas ERA reads, "Equality under the law shall not be denied or abridged because of sex . . ." (Low-Income Women of Texas v. Bost, No. 03-98-00209-CV)
None of this comes as any surprise to knowledgeable observers. During the 1970s and 1980s, many pro-ERA polemicists insisted that there was "no connection" between ERAs and abortion, but NRLC warned otherwise. As we predicted, pro-abortion advocacy groups have increasingly employed the ERA-abortion argument in state courts, and in New Mexico and Texas we see the devastating result of enacting an ERA that does not include explicit abortion-neutral language.
If any law that treats abortion any differently from any other "medical procedure" violates traditional ERA language, then no significant limitation on abortion could survive under such an ERA. Under this doctrine, the proposed federal ERA would invalidate the federal Hyde Amendment and all state restrictions on tax-funded abortions. Likewise, it would nullify any federal or state restrictions even on partial-birth abortions or third-trimester abortions (since these are sought "only by women"). Also vulnerable would be federal and state "conscience laws," which allow government-supported medical facilities and personnel -- including religiously affiliated hospitals -- to refuse to participate in abortions.
NRLC would withdraw its opposition to the ERA if the following abortion-neutralization amendment -- originally proposed by Congressman Sensenbrenner in 1983 -- is added:
"Nothing in this article [the ERA] shall be construed to grant, secure, or deny any right relating to abortion or the funding thereof."This proposed revision would not change the current legal status of abortion, nor would it permit the ERA itself to be employed for anti-abortion purposes. Rather, the revision would simply make the ERA itself neutral regarding abortion policy.
Please contact the NRLC Federal Legislative Office (202-626-8820, Legfederal@aol.com) to obtain a copy of the New Mexico Supreme Court ruling, the Texas court of appeals ruling, or other documentation on the ERA-abortion connection.
Sincerely,
Douglas Johnson
Legislative Director


History. Illinois, what were you thinking? The Harvey Weinstein's of the world fed on the fungus of the FEMINIST LIBERATION MOVEMENT. Just what morals and values DO feminists espouse?




This is the confused, convoluted world we leave our children?

Thank you Stanley Kurtz for the Story Behind That Anti-Trump Textbook in National Review

https://www.nationalreview.com/…/anti-trump-history-textbo…/

This is a Pearson Publishers history book, BY THE PEOPLE. Pearson Publishers IS COMMON CORE. Bay District Schools and Dothan City Schools are COMMON CORE. IS THIS YOUR CHILD/GRANDCHILD'S TEXTBOOK?

Notice the mention of Paolo Freire about whom I have written extensively on my blog. All of you who fought me on Whole Language in the early 90s supported his agenda. Read the Whole Language catalogue and recall the school board hootenanny of support for this appalling excuse for educational theory that caused a generation of functional and cultural illiterates. Paolo Freire is the hero of that Progressive manifesto posturing as educational theory. You won the day and set Dothan City Schools on this path. Now look at the consequence.

I wrote a note to Mr. Kurtz:

Mr. Kurtz, 
Thank you so much for your review of By the People. I do wish more people understood the intentional dumbing down for political purposes of our educational system. In the early 1990s I tried to sound the alarm against Whole Language that so many teachers were told in Colleges of Education was merely another form of teaching children to read. As you can see from these excerpts from the WHOLE LANGUAGE CATALOG, by Ken and Yetta Goodman, Paolo Freire was a darling of this Progressive Movement. 








You might want to check out the 10th grade Pearson American Experience literature book. Becky Gerritson reviews the book on You Tube. Definitely worth watching!


I have written much on Common Core on my blog. But, your piece really covered many of the bases. One thing you might find interesting is the Chicago connection to Common Core as well as the promotion by the Chambers of Commerce encouraged by a donation by Bill Gates. Gates and Pearson have formed a cabal. Gates provides the laptops to the students while Pearson provides the online books. Jason Zimba, who claims to be the "architect" of Common Core now for a mere sum of $500,000 a year controls the College Boards to make sure the attitudes and beliefs of those applying fit their agenda. 
Our country is in real trouble. Thank you so much for your efforts. 
Sincerely,Sharman Ramsey

The Democrat Political Plantation

The Democrat Political Plantation 
Just how does principle come to kowtow to politics/power?


What brought Jesse Jackson into The Swamp? How do you keep an entire group of people "down on the plantation?" 1. Co-opt their leaders. 


     Where is justice for those Black Lives aborted and the lives of those mothers who must live with that choice. We now know that the fetus actually has a heart beat and feels pain. Why is this not infanticide? Science has disproven the "science" that supported Roe v. Wade. Yet Planned Parenthood and the Democrat Party continue to profit from the lies. Isn't this a bit ironic? If Black Lives really matter?



2.  Motivated by the bigotry of Low Expectations you offer curriculum (Common Core) in schools that address attitudes and beliefs rather than imparting knowledge. Traditional Education prepares one for independence. It prepares students to break free of the chains of poverty and dependence. Progressives keep them on the Promises Plantation denying students a real education and freedom of thought 




3. You convince them that "they" (someone else) are biased against them because " they have a sense of "White Superiority" and those peddling this agenda don't consider their attitudes and beliefs superior?  Where has socialism proven itself beneficial to anyone other than the dictator that gets established with the call for pure democracy? The result is one man one vote one time. Thereafter two foxes and a hen vote on what's for dinner. Think of Venezuela? China? Russia? 



Oddly, those making those (convincing?) arguments are also mainly liberal White Folks and they are making those arguments for the purpose of political control. Do they intend to hand over power? Or is it their intent to remain the Masters keeping a group placid and on the plantation with promises? Discouraging independent thought and action. In effect, one form of slavery replaces another form of slavery. 
All the while promoting policies that ensure their continued dominance. 

Why is the greatest litmus test for potential Democrat leaders a Pro-Abortion stance?
Planned Parenthood and the Eugenics Society focused on Race (cloaked with the high-flown rhetoric of Civil Rights), cultivating a political narrative based on race from its inception.

And yet, the founder of Planned Parenthood was a blatant racist.

As was Sir Julian Huxley a founder of the United Nations and an originator of the Eugenics Society. 

Just what is their ultimate goal? In order to have sex free of religion, discipline, restraint or morality while also exerting control of society a group of global activists began insisting on population control. These world government advocates began promoting abortion and established Planned Parenthood. 

Sir Julian Huxley was the first president of UNESCO. 
A globalist organization promoting a new morality, establishing a new secular humanist religion, not seeing people as participants in a divine creation, but creatures to be controlled by those of superior intellect and judgement. 
The soldiers of this New World Order call for the diminution of Western Civilization and its product, the American way of life. Already Democrats in California call for opting out of observation of President's Day to establish International Workers Day. 
And what would life be worth then?
Search Resultsfreebeacon.com/.../california-democra......

May 14, 2018 - A California Democrat Wants to Make International Workers' Day a Paid Holiday ... opting to observe Presidents' Day and International Workers' Day would be ... A prison cell block is seen at the El Reno Federal Correctional ...https://canadafreepress.com/.../calif......

May 16, 2018 - California's elected Democrats are pushing for a communist holiday, at the expense of ... the left would like Americans to forget that May 1st, “May Day,” is the most ... that elect to observe “Presidents' Day” and “International Workers' Day ,” ... This bill would make May Day a state-mandated holiday and force ...



paradoxoftheday.com/war-is-peace-free...


Sep 12, 2016 - 'War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength' ... In a section of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell present INGSOC as a party that aims .



And how does all of this come about? Easily done since the public has been indoctrinated to think that government schools have the best interest of the child at heart. And yet, 60% of students must take remedial math and reading at community colleges. And what is a college education worth now? Even more indoctrination.




Really?


And so the party of death, deceit and destruction undermines American values and society. To what end?



The Germans didn't think this was possible in their country either. While the Progressives are busy pointing their finger at Conservatives, they are merely playing on the old ploy of "throw the rock and hide the hand."

In other words, they are quickly accusing others of their own actions. Sometimes it takes longer than at other times to see the deception. The Left is quick to blame the Right for what they are actually guilty of themselves!

REVIEW OF THE IMMORTAL BY Angela Ewell Hunt

My own review of THE IMMORTAL BY Angela Ewell Hunt
Maybe God thought this was a book I needed to read. I returned the books I had just read and browsed those to be reshelved. This book found its way into my already full arms. Days later, after a Sunday School lesson taking us through the Bible to read all the prophecies pointing to Jesus, I picked it up to read. And could not put it down.We live in a time that "tries men's souls." Do we still believe in a soul? Do we still believe that God's Word is God's Word or are we too busy trying to conform God's Word to the secular world being peddled by a vacuous, apostate, achingly empty secular society. Churches are lukewarm, afraid of being labeled a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center and those of the politically correct religion of today. I imagine God saying ..."and I will spew them out of my mouth." Revelation 3:16p. 290
"God is not fair." His voice took on a bitter edge. "He is just. There is a difference."
"I don't see a difference."
"You won't ...as long as you look with earthly eyes."The Immortal by Angela Elwell Hunt makes you think. It touches your soul and inspires you. The story draws you in quickly and involves you as did the Da Vinci Code. I hate to give this book back to the Library. I think I will remember it as well as I do This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti and Windswept House by Malachi Martin. Sometimes Christian fiction can "pierce the darkness" to rekindle the joy when the Truth became MY TRUTH and saving grace.

ARNE DUNCAN CALLS FOR SCHOOL WALKOUT TO PROTEST FOR GUN DISARMAMENT

Arne Duncan's most recent call for a student walkout of schools to protest for disarming ALL AMERICANS, in violation of our Second Amendment, led me to this post. Our enemies would LOVE THAT!I was deceived by Obama's polish and promises. I had started writing novels, my website, gardening and doing genealogy. I got out of politics, put my head in the sand, dug in my garden. Tried the Kumbaya thing. I voted for him twice. I had gotten my own children educated in a private Christian school. Surely I got to retire from those concerns. That belonged to my grandchildren's parents!Then my precious oldest granddaughter started having trouble with what I call LUNATIC MATH. And I discovered Common Core and realized the deception. While my head was in the sand, radical things had happened in my profession. My children were not in education. They had not seen what I had seen. Studied what I had studied. Or experienced what I had. I had to speak out once more. Get involved. Our children and our country are now at risk. And through what should be our most trusted and respected institution. Education has now become a Trojan Horse. (How many of our school children understand that analogy now, do you think?)Obama was merely following the Rules for Radicals established by fellow Chicagoan Saul Alinsky in applying his buddy Bill Ayers' goals for our country. He appointed Arne Duncan, a sociologist and former Superintendent of Chicago Schools, to implement this Radical Agenda. Through the millions spent with the Chicago Anenburg Project (run by Ayers and Obama) they managed to create a situation where only 1 student in 4 in Chicago schools can read. Violence runs rampant in the streets. And now Arne Duncan wants to mobilize those schools, now filled with soldiers of the Left, to disarm Americans. For what purpose? Ayers was elected Vice President for Curriculum Studies by the American Educational Research Association in 2008. Writer Sol Stern, a conservative opponent of liberal education policies, has criticized Ayers as having a virulent "hatred of America", and said, "Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer."Stirring students to hatred and still longing for revolution, (and how better to win in undermining America than to disarm any opposition) Ayers and Dorn published Race Course against White Supremacy. They have been quite effective in mobilizing group guilt and self hatred of the groups they target. Just listen to the college students who have no knowledge of facts in history or reason in the argument, but can spout the rhetoric and march to the Pied Piper who calls them forth. Start with this on the Chicago Connection. https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/…/the-chicago-conn…)  
Then read "Teachers as Liberators Produce Students as Revolutionaries" published in February of 2017 (also on my blog) as well as Radical Possibilities Your Children on my blog 11/17/17 a review of the book Radical Possibilities by Pat Ellis, a blatant expose of the inspiration for educators to make students into community activists and not educated citizens. Surely that couldn't happen in our schools! And yet Alabama hired as its Chief Academic officer Barbara Cooper who proclaimed THAT BOOK as her inspiration. And Alabama schools plummeted from 24th in Reading to 50th. Florida, don't think you are safe. Full Blown Common Core has infected these schools as well. Think, friends. California wants to make Presidents day National Workers Day. Will the rest of the nation be far behind? God help us. 

DOES THIS APOLOGY LETTER FROM BAY MED REALLY ADDRESS OUR CONCERNS?

 DOES THIS APOLOGY LETTER FROM BAY MED REALLY ADDRESS OUR CONCERNS?

I chronicled our hospital stay at Bay Med in Panama City, Florida in this post.
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2018/02/diary-of-hospital-stay-at-bay-medical.html

This is the response we got from Bay Medical Center.




Dear Ms. Jones,
Thank you for your letter of May 2, 2018.  
Our concerns regarding Bay Med cover many issues.
1. INFECTION ACQUIRED WITHIN THE HOSPITALThe prevalence of life-threatening bacteria within the facility requires immediate attention. My husband acquired pseudomonas and staph during what should have been a relatively simple procedure (or so we were assured). Was the cause of the infection due to inserting a shunt that was contaminated or up to standards of protocol?Or was it simply due to not providing a sterile environment in the Operating Room or lack of administration of proper antibiotics? I understand that hospital staffing is expensive, but I would suggest that training the janitorial staff, overseeing their work more carefully and providing them with the very best materials (Sterilize the mop heads, or perhaps provide disposable mopheads and wipe down cloths that do not go from one room to another might help cut down on hospital born infections.) Seek out janitorial staff that realize the importance of their job and pay them well. Cutting costs at this point may be the cause of so much cost later on. 
2.  NURSE CALLWhile we were told that my husband (in with a brain infection acquired at Bay Med) was informed that the only way to call the nurse was through the remote, his caretakers (my daughter and myself) were not informed. The stationary NURSE CALL on the side of the bed was operative but no one came. That is an obvious concern because the remote frequently gets lost between the bed and the rails or within the folds of the covers, while the stationary remote could always be found in an emergency. When my husband was vomiting my daughter pressed the NURSE CALL over and over. Had he aspirated, we could have had a disaster. Has this issue been addressed?
3. ICU DIRECTOR The ICU Director and the nursing staff on the ICU floor owe me an apology for threatening to call security on me when I returned to a dirty room on the ICU FLOOR. That director (a nurse? not a doctor?) should have shown better management skills by KNOWING that my husband was going in for surgery and then DIRECTING the cleaning staff to thoroughly clean the room for his return. When I walked into that dirty room and left outraged that it had not been cleaned the staff should have immediately called the cleaning lady to address the issue without berating ME for my outrage and fear of consequences because it had not been done! Tim, the nurse at the desk, had no business threatening me, a wife in tears at their lack of concern for cleanliness when we are in the hospital because of negligent sanitation conditions. (The shunt contaminated with pseudomonas and staph was the cause of the infection!)
4.  BATHE YOUR PATIENTSAs it has been brought to my attention that the staff is strictly divided as to labor tasks, it would be helpful to put posters throughout the facility informing patients as to what task each color co-ordinated member of the staff actually is responsible for doing. a. BLUE OUTFIT (RN)    I discovered that the RNs, the blue clad nursing staff, hang meds. That is it. If you ask them to come out of the order of things (before the CNA has taken the BP or Temp) they cannot come in and take the BP and Temp and go ahead and hang the meds. b. RED OUTFIT   (CNA) Pushes the blood pressure machine and takes the temperature. Will sometimes bring ice if requested. No one offers juice or other fluids to the patient. No one takes the time to put a straw in a cup and offer it to the patient unless they are administering meds. THERE IS NO DAILY BATH OR SHEET CHANGING. If the patient is to be bathed, family had better come and do it. My mother, a nurse in WWII, saw bathing a patient as an important part of nursing care. How else are you to see bed sores or a rash as a consequence of a medication? We were the told that the cause of the rash on my husband's back was due to the detergent used in washing the sheets. How often do those rashes turn into bedsores?The CNA desk was right opposite our door and I witnessed hours of cell phone operation and very little patient care. 
5. FEED YOUR PATIENTSWe did not realize it was necessary to order from the menu in order to receive a meal. Patients like my husband with brain issues would not have known that it was necessary to "order" a meal. We brought him food from outside. A dear friend, so thin she does not need to miss a meal, went two days with nothing to eat at Bay Med until her daughter came and addressed that issue! Educate caretakers that they can get a discount on their meals. 
6. CELL PHONE USECould the cell phone that nurses and doctors carry with them from room to room be a source of hospital contagion?
Have these issues been addressed? You write that the senior leadership was merely made aware of our concerns. That letter I am sure found its way into the round file by each "member of the senior leadership team." I just wonder if those entrenched in "senior leadership" should remain in "senior leadership" when this was THEIR RESPONSIBILITY. 
One of our major concerns was whether antibiotic prophylaxis was administered within 60 minutes before the incision for the insertion of the shunt. https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/hospital-safe-surgery-checklist.html
First critical point (period prior to administering anesthesia)Second critical point (period prior to skin incision)Third critical point (period of closure of incision and prior to patient leaving the operating room)Verbal confirmation of patient identityMark surgical siteCheck anesthesia machine/medicationAssessment of allergies, airway and aspiration riskConfirm surgical team members and rolesConfirm patient identity, procedure and surgical incision siteAdministration of antibiotic prophylaxis within 60 minutes before incisionCommunication among surgical team members of anticipated critical eventsDisplay of essential imaging as appropriateConfirm the procedureComplete count of surgical instruments and accessoriesIdentify key patient concerns for recovery and management of the patient
We are aware that the official protocol for this surgery calls for the administration of one antibiotic prior to the surgery and at least one afterwards. In looking at the records, we cannot help but wonder if that actually occurred. We are curious if a AIC = antibiotic-impregnated catheter was used for the surgery. http://thejns.org/doi/full/10.3171/2015.8.PEDS15253
We know pseudomonas and staph in the CATHETER was the cause of the infection. If the shunt was antibiotic impregnated, how did the bacteria get onto the catheter? 
As you can see, the shunt used for my husband's operation was a SPVA-2010. I assume that means it was produced in 2010. There is no notation as to whether it was an ANTIBIOTIC INFUSED CATHETER. Yet, as noted below in the new protocols, antibiotic infused shunts are recommended. Apparently this shunt was NOT ANTIBBIOTIC INFUSED. We do know that the shunt valve Polaris cost  $12,161.70.








We wonder 1. Was this an Antibiotic Infused Catheter?2.  Was the antibiotic administered pre-op?3. Why did my husband have no hanging IV when he returned to the room after surgery. Was the antibiotic administered IV post op?4. We remain curious as to why powerful antibiotics were charged and then the charge removed. 
It is important for those having surgery at Bay Med to know that every procedure is followed to eliminate contamination. 





Does the return of those meds to the pharmacy have anything to do with this MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION HISTORY REPORT?

As you see above, under Cefepime the notes are:

Late Medication not availableLate: Clinical DecisionNot given: Medical ContraindicationDoes this mean he did not receive the antibiotics ordered?  When and where in the MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION HISTORY REPORT do you see the administration of antibiotics mentioned?
I am quite familiar with Cefepime as our daughter and I administered the infusions of Cefepime at home after my husband, because of the care given at Bay Med, pleaded to be let out of the hospital for home health care after his readmission with not only life threatening infection, but a subdural hematoma. 
We are also curious about the note regarding the administration of pain medications when he NEVER HAD ANY PAIN! Cecily and I were always asking him, do you hurt? He never had pain and refused pain meds because we both have a fear of addiction. 

We wonder why Hydrocodone and Morphine are listed as a Medication administered for a pain score of 8 when Joe never requested pain meds and always amazed Cecily and me when he denied having pain when queried. Remember, if I was not with Joe, Cecily was. We never left him alone. 

Dr. DeSilva's notes on the day after the surgery, upon his release, include the statement that he has no significant complaints of pain. 
We also wonder why the surgeon in charge of doing the abdominal aspect of my husband's surgery was not already in the operating room before the abdominal incisions were begun. Is this the usual procedure?

You will notice in the protocols earlier recognized even the opening of doors and the position the patient in the room are significant in infection control. SIGN ON OR DOOR RESTRICTING TRAFFIC. POSITION HEAD AWAY FROM THE MAIN OR DOOR.



The surgery occurred on February 8th. We went home on the 9th. On the 19th we returned with a subdural hematoma and a serious infection that nearly stole his life. 
Ms. Jones, you are the Director of Patient Experience and you are therefore the mediator between management and consumer, I would appreciate your answering specifically the issues listed above.

These are merely the concerns regarding the initial surgery that may have led to the later entry with infection with the issues chronicled in the post on 2/24/18. https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
My husband and I would take some solace if this was a learning experience for the hospital to improve conditions for all.
Sincerely,Sharman Ramsey 

SOCIAL ENGINEERING, CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING, BRIDGES COLLAPSE AND PLANES FALL FROM THE SKY

Education became social engineering when GOALS 2000 banned SEQUENTIAL learning for  CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING. I challenged the University of Alabama College of Engineering then about what would happen when a group did a project and everyone got the same grade, but only one did the work. Yet, those individuals would graduate with a GPA that some might think indicated mastery of scientific principles. What mastery of cognitive knowledge do grades now indicate? 

We know Colleges of Education accept students with the lowest ACT and SAT scores and graduate them with the highest GPAs. What does that predict for what they are able to teach their students?

Are we seeing the fruits of SOCIAL ENGINEERING when bridges collapse and planes fall from the sky?







Look at this headline! And now, according to the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) Alabama has dropped from 26 to 51st in the nation in Reading and Math. 
When we call for a return to Traditional Education do you know what we mean? 



We know Progressive Education doesn’t work for academic preparation or we wouldn't keep having so many efforts to "fix it." So what IS the goal?
I thought I would try to explain what has happened with Math. First you have tounderstand that there are competing philosophies of education at work here. 
TRADITIONAL versus PROGRESSIVE (WHOLE LANGUAGE)
SMALL TO WHOLE (constructionist) v WHOLE TO PART (deconstructionist) 
DIRECT INSTRUCTION versus INFERENTIAL LEARNING (guessing, estimating,risk-taking) 

SAGE ON THE STAGE (TEACHER DIRECTED)




 versus GUIDE ON THE SIDE (FACILITATOR)
SEQUENTIAL INSTRUCTION

versus THEMATIC INSTRUCTION (taking a themelike the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima 


Supposedly going from a Mile Wide and an Inch Deep to an Inch Wide and a Mile Deep. Traditional augument supports acquiring a broad chronological understanding to history, simple to complex understanding in Math, Biology and Science, and foundational understanding of writing and grammar.  Progressive method takes a topic and spin off with integrated curriculum (including sex ed).



INTEGRATING subjects like English,History, Science, Mathematics and sex education)




PATRIOTISM/NATIONALISM



verus SOCIALJUSTICE/GLOBALISM



INDIVIDUAL (INDIVIDUALISM) EFFORT


vs. CO-OPERATIVE LEARNING (COMMUNALISM) 


You model attitudes and beliefs by modeling behavior.CAPITALISM vs. SOCIALISM What they are now being taught




KNOWLEDGE BASED vs. SKILLS BASED
COGNITIVE (Testing measures empirical data on academic achievement) vs. ATTITUDINAL/AFFECTIVE (How do students feel about it?)
COMPUTER (tool) v COMPUTER (teacher, tester, change agent modifying attitudesand beliefs)
HOMESCHOOL children mostly use traditional materials/methods, as do ABEKA and CLASSICAL schools  versus  PUBLIC SCHOOLS and many Catholic and private schoolsthat have bought into Common Core with its Progressive Agenda.
PHONICS (sounding out the words, then drill and repetition) 


versus Whole Language



Old Math (memorizing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division tables) v. 


NEW MATH

Goals 2000 and Common Core have institutionalized the Progressive methodology and its agenda in our schools. 
But, how can Math be converted to Social Justice? 

   
RADICAL MATH

Elitist Harvard graduates like Bill Gates (attended, dropped out to start Microsoft, awarded honorary degree)

... then you have William McCallum, PhD, said to be the lead writer of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics.

Dr. William McCallum, Harvard graduate, mentioned below in Chamber Foundation film, apparently replaced Dr. James Milgram (who refused to sign off on the COMMON CORE STANDARDS).
Seeing the influence of Harvard and Mathematics education along with the Paolo Freire cult, it is not difficult to see the direction McCallum would take in establishing “Standards” for Mathematics. 



EDUCATION IS POLITICS! Whole Language Catalog,  Ken and Yetta Goodman and Lois Bird,  1991. 

Though Freire has passed on, his imprint remains a part of the Harvard legacy. Not only do none of those developing Standards have a concept of what is developmentally appropriate, they have been indoctrinated into what they call deconstructionism or radical math, a part of liberation pedagogy a philosophy developed by defrocked Marxist priest PAOLO FREIRE who once led the Nicaragua liberation theology movement.
Kenneth Goodman, edited the influential Whole Language Catalog chock full of information on Progressive ideology and "heroes" like Freire. He also wrote his definitive work, "Reading a Psycholinguistic Guessing Game," in May of 1967. 


 Like Harvard, the University of Arizona has been influential in the Progressive Movement.  


And now we live with the consequences of the Progressive Movement in our schools. 






Social Justice Math Homework







Then Came Common Core







































Those "Assessments" will collect data on your child for sharing. Profitable?




When we call for a return to Traditional Education do you NOW know what wemean? We know Progressive Education doesn’t work for academic preparation.

So what IS  THEIR  goal? 
Education




THE GENEALOGY OF COMMON CORE: BILL GATES/UNESCO/ROBERT MULLER//ALICE BAILEY/LUCIS TRUST https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-genealogy-of-common-core-bill-gates_5.html
THE CHICAGO CONNECTION TO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-chicago-connection-to-common-core.html
TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS PRODUCE STUDENTS AS REVOLUTIONARIES: Whole Language Live On!https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/teachers-as-liberators-produce-students.html
Revolutionary Pedagogy: Or, so you thought reading, writing and calculating were why you sent your child to school?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.html
Radical Possibilitieshttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/radical-possibilities-your-children.html

DEMONIC ROOTS TO COMMON CORE? VISIT YOUR CHILD'S THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/demonic-roots-to-common-core-visit-your.html

A Tale of the Last Hope for Local Controlhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-tale-of-last-hope-for-local-control.html
THE FOUR PERIOD DAY: STUDENTS AS GUINEA PIGS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT FOR "INNOVATORS"https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-four-period-day-students-as-guinea.htmlThe Four Period Day: Students as Guinea Pigs and Professional advancement for "innovators"https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-four-period-day-students-as-guinea.html
The Tale of Last Hope for Local Controlhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-tale-of-last-hope-for-local-control.html
DEMONIC ROOTS TO COMMON CORE? VISIT YOUR CHILD'S THERAPEUTIC CLASSROOM.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/demonic-roots-to-common-core-visit-your.html
THE GENEALOGY OF COMMON CORE: BILL GATES/UNESCO/ROBERT MULLER//ALICE BAILEY/LUCIS TRUST https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-genealogy-of-common-core-bill-gates_5.html
THE CHICAGO CONNECTION TO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-chicago-connection-to-common-core.html
does anybody really believe anymore? does anybody really care?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Sounding the Alarm! Today's Therapeutic Classroom. What are you going to do about it?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/does-anybody-really-believe-anymore.html
Spalding Writing Road to Reading and John Winston of Parks Elementary Natchitoches, Louisianahttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.html
The DARE PROGRAM 20 years later.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Merry Christmas! Meet Alliwishus, The Elf Mother Met at the Battle of the Bulgehttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/merry-christmas-meet-alliwishus-elf.html
My Mother. My hero who won a Battle Ribbon at the Battle of the Bulge. December 16, 1944. A SCRAPBOOK LOOK FROM JEAN BRONSON GILLIS BURSON.https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/my-mother-my-hero-who-won-battle-ribbon.html
LEONARD COHEN HALLELUJAH PROJECT AT BAY HIGH SCHOOL AND ESTABLISHMENT RELIGION, SECULAR HUMANISM, IN OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
WHY SHOULD CONSERVATIVES, CHRISTIANS AND THE THE FAITH COMMUNITY BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS? SUBSCRIBE TO THE PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD AND GET WASHINGTON POST FREEhttp://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/why-should-conservatives-christians-and.html
PEACE EDUCATION? CONFLICT RESOLUTION? TEACHING TOLERANCE? COMMON CORE https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/12/peace-education-conflict-resolution.html
TRADITIONAL OR PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? HAS POLITICS AFFECTED YOUR CHILD'S MATH EDUCATION?
https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/look-at-this-headline-and-now-according.html
RETARDING AMERICA THE IMPRISONMENT OF POTENTIALhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/12/retarding-america-imprisonment-of.html
NOTE FROM ROBERT SWEET OF THE NATIONAL RIGHT TO READ FOUNDATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/10/note-from-robert-sweet-of-national.htmlDELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED A GULLIBLE PUBLIC TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
COMMON CORE: PORNOGRAPHY 101https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-pornography-101.html

MIDDLE SCHOOL AGENDA FOR SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS A PART OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/09/middle-school-agenda-for-sexual.html
BEHAVIOR MODELS ATTITUDES AND BELIEFShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-protest-at-busy-intersection-near.html
CULTURE WAR AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/culture-war-and-common-core.html
MATH WARS. ONCE AGAIN INTO THE FRAYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/math-wars-once-again-into-fray.html
COMMON CORE MATHhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-math.html
SOCIAL STUDIES AND COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/social-studies-and-common-core.html
TEACHERS AS LIBERATORS PRODUCE STUDENTS AS REVOLUTIONARIES: Whole Language Live On!https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/teachers-as-liberators-produce-students.html
RADICAL POSSIBILITIES: YOUR CHILDREN https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
Response to AL.Com article "Alabama Superintendent Proposal to Raise Academic Standards."https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/response-to-alcom-article-alabama.htmlSECULAR HUMANISM IS NOW THE RELIGION OF OUR SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/08/secular-humanism-is-now-accepted.html
COMMON CORE: THE EMPEROR IS WEARING NO CLOTHEShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/common-core-emperor-is-wearing-no.html
COMMON CORE=PETRI DISH FOR RADICALShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot....
REVOLUTIONARY PEDAGOGYhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.html
Revolutionary Pedagogy: Or, so you thought reading, writing and calculating were why you sent your child to school?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2014/06/revolutionary-pedagogy-or-so-you.htmlEDUCATION TODAY:
Politics, Profits, Position, Power, and Prejudice published 1995https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/education-today-politics-profits.html
CAPSTONE EDUCATION (UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA) AND MY CONCERNShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2015/01/capstone-educator-and-concerns.html
CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conflict-resolution-or-political-and.html
DELPHI TECHNIQUE, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, AND THE EDUCATION ESTABLISHMENT CONVINCED THE GULLIBLE NATION TO BUY INTO COMMON COREhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/11/so-what-is-thedelphi-technique-let.html
WHO DO WE HOLD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE FAILURE OF OUR SCHOOLS?https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/so-who-do-we-hold-accountable-parents.html
PUBLIC EDUCATION SHOULD EMPOWER PARENTShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/public-education-should-empower-parents.html
CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN EDUCATIONhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/02/conspiracy-theories-in-education-truth.html
THE CIVIL WAR IN EDUCATION https://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-civil-war-in-education-why-we.html
SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLShttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2017/01/solve-problems-of-public-schools-hope.html
TAKE A KNEEhttps://sharmanbursonramsey.blogspot.com/2016/12/take-knee.html

Acknowledgements for ON TO ANGOLA

ON TO ANGOLA is Black History, Native America History, Florida History for 1821, the year Florida came under control of the United States from being a Spanish colony. Andrew Jackson was the first territorial governor. He came with a history, a goal and a bias. He made a formidable enemy. As a writer of Historical Fiction, I attempted to tell this story with an appreciation for those whose story has been swept under the carpet for nearly 200 years. It is not a pretty bit of history.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSPerhaps one of the best parts of writing Historical Fiction is the people you meet who share your interests. After Mercer University Press published In Pursuit, I was surprised by these emails by Uzi Baram, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the New College Public Archaeology Lab in Sarasota, Florida. I want to share them with you so that you can see how encouraging a fellow searcher can be. 
Dear Sharman Burson Ramsey,I am writing to let you know that I enjoyed reading In Pursuit. I have been a researcher with Looking for Angola since 2004, and seeing your inclusion in the novel of the previously nearly erased community on the Manatee River thrilled me. As an academic, I have written scholarly work on the project and the early 19th century maroon community; I have given many public lectures and there are videos on and about the project. But your novel does what the archaeology and history does not: brings the community to life within the larger currents that crossed the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Thank you. The history matters greatly and my hope has been to see many representations of the search for freedom on Florida's Gulf Coast. In addition, I share your interest in making the 1816 events at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River better known. For the 200th anniversary of the fort's destruction, I have a Florida Humanities Council grant to digitally reconstruct the Negro Fort and the landscape for Angola. Shortly after the anniversary, I will lead a presentation on the work at Apalachicola and Bradenton (details still being worked out). Although it is quite early, I hope you can keep my project in mind as you hear about other commemorations and, hopefully, you can come to one of the FHC sponsored presentations.
Sincerely,
Uzi BaramProfessor of Anthropology
Director of the New College Public Archaeology Lab
New College of Florida
5800 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, FL 34243 USA Baram@ncf.edu
https://ncf.academia.edu/UziBaramWhen I began writing On to Angola, friends of ours, Robert (archaeologist) and Rezi Hurst, my husband, Joel, and I took a trip down to South Florida with the Florida Humanities Society. While in the area, I called Uzi and he delighted us by taking us to the areas where he and Vicky Oldham have come to believe Angola actually stood. Sharman,
----------A pleasure meeting you, your husband, and friends. I hope my tour of the sites was helpful. I look forward to more discussions. Below is one strand.One of the questions, I got asked at public presentations: Who might have been at Angola?Filling in their biographies (see, for instance, Jane Landers African Creoles) suggests these men connected with Angola:
Abraham (1789-1890?)
Harry
John Horse (ca. 1812–1882)
Louis Fatio Pacheco (1800-1895) More intriguing, when the maroon communities on the Florida Gulf were destroyed in 1821, about 300 people were taken north. There were law suits regarding ownership. There are three " Descriptive List of the Negroes brought into the Creek nation by a detachment of Indian Warriors under the command of Col. Wm. Miller a half breed Indian (Viz)" found at http://www.africannativeamerican.com/crkslaves.htm (accessed March 2016), which provides names of those at Angola. Looking through these records, you will find Jim (Richard, Augustine, formerly the Estate of Genl. Washington), Nancy and her three children, among the others.  Rosalyn Howard located a list of of “foreign Negros” in the Bahamas since 1821 and two of the names overlap:Sipsa/Sipco Bowlegs
Peter/Peter McQueenBoth escaped as the Coweta took captives north and escaped to Andros Island - the part of the history that is inspiring.Sincerely,Uzi--------------------We all believe this is a bit of our history that has been glossed over. It is a story that needs telling. Because of the hard work of Uzi Baram and Vickie Oldham who have done the hot work of digging and discovering, I long to make these events come alive and remember the people who lived this story. These people in Angola touched my heart. The book is dedicated to them so that their memory will not die. Thank you for your encouragement, Uzi. With the introduction of the orphans rescued at Fort Mims in my novel, Swimming with Serpents, I set out to craft a story for each of them. Inspired by the events at Angola, I realized that Andro’s story must also involve Angola. Discovering a twin who had been raised in slavery brought the poignancy of a family ripped apart to combine with the raid on Angola by the Coweta Indians. Add to that the horror of any mother to have a child ripped from one’s arms and you have a human tragedy that could not help but touch any heart. In writing Historical Fiction, one cannot truly know who was exactly where at one time or what they exactly said, unless it is recorded in official records. There is much that public figures do not want known, of course, and so much is speculation.

Gasparilla is legend. Or so they say. If that is true, why is there a Gasparilla Island, a Captiva Island, a Sanibel Island? So, Gaspar finds a place in this novel and in my imagination. Black Caesar is mentioned as an authentic participant in Haiti and pirate in the Gulf of Mexico. Creatures in the Okefenokee Swamp. So the legends say. I have attended talks on Jackson’s Militia and left wondering what happened to the Creeks who survived? That is how I began following Peter McQueen. Finding a genealogical connection with Josiah Francis made through my fourth great grandmother, Vashti Vann Jernigan, Cherokee, whose people were taken away on the Trail of Tears, made this story even more important to me.

Just as Native American History has been overlooked so has Black History. In this book, the two intertwine.

Records mention the gathering of people to task the Coweta to make just such a raid down into the peninsula of Florida. Weatherford accompanied them. Peter McQueen was a true target of Jackson. Did the two meet? There is no official record of that, but it is said that Peter McQueen did die on an island in the keys. And if they did meet, what really happened? One can only speculate from what one knows about the character of a man what his actions might be.But that is Historical Fiction. Fact meets fiction.I hope you enjoy On to Angola. Sincerely,Sharman Burson Ramsey
February 1, 2018
Panama City, Florida

NEWSPEAK, GEORGE ORWELL AND THE UNDERMINING OF TRUTH AND FREEDOM

GEORGE ORWELL   1984


"The sacred principles of Ingsoc: Newspeak, doublethink, the mutability of the past. He felt as though he were wandering in the forests of the sea bottom, lost in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side? And what way of knowing that the dominion of the Party would not endure forever?" (1.2.34)Trapped between the Party’s nonsense principles and his own perception of reality, Winston experiences a metaphysical crisis that ultimately leads to his demise.




"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word "doublethink" involved the use of doublethink." (1.3.20)


The Party’s concept of doublethink is contrary to reason, logic, and the workings of the brain. It takes a great effort for Winston to engage in doublethink.
It was as though some huge force were pressing down upon you – something that penetrated inside your skull, battering against your brain, frightening you out of your beliefs, persuading you, almost, to deny the evidence of your senses. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy. The heresy of heresies was common sense. And what was terrifying was not that they would kill you for thinking otherwise, but that they might be right. For, after all, how do we know that two and two make four? Or that the force of gravity works? Or that the past is unchangeable? If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable…what then? (1.7.27)


Common Core Math

OR THAT MAN IS MAN AND WOMAN IS WOMAN 

Deathly afraid of the Party’s proposition that there exists no external reality independent of the mind, Winston feels despair – not because of the doctrine itself, but because he may be subject to the truth of that doctrine.

"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past," repeated Winston obediently.

"Who controls the present controls the past," said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. "Is it your opinion, Winston, that the past has real existence?" (3.2.39-40)To O’Brien’s dismay, Winston continues to deny that the mutability of the past leads to control of the present. However, the prolonged torture has been gnawing away at Winston’s belief in an independent, external reality.

----------------------O'Brien smiled faintly. "You are no metaphysician, Winston," he said. "Until this moment you had never considered what is meant by existence. I will put it more precisely. Does the past exist concretely, in space? Is there somewhere or other a place, a world of solid objects, where the past is still happening?"

"No."  "Then where does the past exist, if at all?""In records. It is written down."

"In records. And- ?"

"In the mind. In human memories."

"In memory. Very well, then. We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?"

"But how can you stop people remembering things?" cried Winston again momentarily forgetting the dial. "It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory?

You have not controlled mine!" (3.2.42-49)Facing extreme torture, Winston vehemently refuses to give up the view that an independent external reality exists, even in a world where the Party controls all records. Winston’s fierce belief in the immutability of memory is the last straw he holds on to.
--------------------------------------------"You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self- destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane." (3.2.51, O’Brien)In urging Winston to discard his rebellious views, O’Brien imparts on him a Party-centric, metaphysical view of reality: reality does not exist except in the collective and immortal mind of the Party.


----------------------Did not the statement, "You do not exist", contain a logical absurdity? But what use was it to say so? His mind shriveled as he thought of the unanswerable, mad arguments with which O'Brien would demolish him.

"I think I exist," he said wearily. "I am conscious of my own identity. I was born and I shall die. I have arms and legs. I occupy a particular point in space. No other solid object can occupy the same point simultaneously. In that sense, does Big Brother exist?" (3.2.40-41, Winston)Winston continues to hold on to the concept of an independent, external reality by referring to his being conscious of his own existence.

-----------------------------------"We control matter because we control the mind. Reality is inside the skull…" (3.3.21, O’Brien)Furthering Party doctrines, O’Brien attempts to push his view of a mind-dependent reality on Winston.
-------------------------"Nonsense. The earth is as old as we are, no older. How could it be older? Nothing exists except through human consciousness."


"But the rocks are full of the bones of extinct animals – mammoths and mastodons and enormous reptiles which lived here long before man was ever heard of." (3.3.25-26, Winston, O’Brien)Winston continues to resist the concept of a mind-dependent reality by referring to the existence of creatures pre-dating man.
-----------------------
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. The obvious, the silly, and the true had got to be defended. Truisms are true, hold on to that! The solid world exists, its laws do not change. Stones are hard, water is wet, objects unsupported fall towards the earth's centre. With the feeling that he was speaking to O'Brien, and also that he was setting forth an important axiom […] (1.7.29-30)Winston believes fiercely in the correctness of his position on there being an external, mind-independent reality; however, he cannot help but wonder whether the Party is right in asserting that the contrary is true.





--------------------Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything, except the posters that were plastered everywhere. The black mustachioed face gazed down from every commanding corner. There was one on the house-front immediately opposite. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption said, while the dark eyes looked deep into Winston's own. Down at street level another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and uncovering the single word INGSOC. (1.1.4)

A totalitarian power seeks to exert influence over its constituents by conveying the message that it is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Ubiquitously posting awe-inspiring posters is one such means to this end.
EARLY MORNING ATTACKS ON TRUMP ASSOCIATES? 



---------------------
In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen. The little sandy-haired woman had turned bright pink, and her mouth was opening and shutting like that of a landed fish. Even O'Brien's heavy face was flushed. He was sitting very straight in his chair, his powerful chest swelling and quivering as though he were standing up to the assault of a wave. The dark-haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out "Swine! Swine! Swine!" and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung it at the screen. (1.1.29)



The Party’s go-to tactic for maintaining power is to shift blame to a designated scapegoat, toward which all of its constituents’ hatred and violence may be directed. Here we have the citizens letting it all out during the daily Two Minutes Hate—which is of course organized and overseen by the Party.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST TRUMP? ---------

With those children, he thought, that wretched woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. (1.2.25)

The Party seeks to maintain power by severing private loyalties, replacing them with loyalty to the party. With children, the success of the Party’s plan is furthered in that the children serve as extra surveillance forces for the Party

-------------------

A handsome, tough-looking boy of nine had popped up from behind the table and was menacing him with a toy automatic pistol, while his small sister, about two years younger, made the same gesture with a fragment of wood. Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, grey shirts, and red neckerchiefs, which were the uniform of the Spies. Winston raised his hands above his head, but with an uneasy feeling, so vicious was the boy's demeanor, that it was not altogether a game.
"You're a traitor!" yelled the boy. "You're a thought-criminal! You're a Eurasian spy! I'll shoot you, I'll vaporize you, I'll send you to the salt mines!"
Suddenly they were both leaping round him, shouting "Traitor!" and "Thought-criminal!" the little girl imitating her brother in every movement. It was somehow slightly frightening, like the gamboling of tiger cubs which will soon grow up into man-eaters. There was a sort of calculating ferocity in the boy's eye, a quite evident desire to hit or kick Winston and a consciousness of being very nearly big enough to do so. (1.2.15-17) 

 The Party holds their power by using children as extra surveillance forces for the Party. This younger sister is learning how to spy by following her brother's lead. We bet the Party was extra happy that they didn't have to train her themselves.
---------------------------On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters, the films, the waxworks, the rolling of drums and squealing of trumpets, the tramp of marching feet, the grinding of the caterpillars of tanks, the roar of massed planes, the booming of guns – after six days of this, when the great orgasm was quivering to its climax and the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the 2,000 Eurasian war-criminals who were to be publicly hanged on the last day of the proceedings, they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces – at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally. (2.9.3)


The Party’s modus operandi in maintaining power is to shift blame to a designated scapegoat, toward which all of its constituents’ hatred and violence may be directed.

---------------------
"We are not interested in those stupid crimes that you have committed. The Party is not interested in the overt act: the thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies, we change them. Do you understand what I mean by that?" (3.2.99, O’Brien)



--------------------------
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were-cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" (3.3.14, O’Brien)
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"Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery is torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress towards more pain. The old civilizations claimed that they were founded on love or justice. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought, which have survived from before the Revolution. We have cut the links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. But in the future there will be no wives and no friends. Children will be taken from their mothers at birth, as one takes eggs from a hen. The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm. Our neurologists are mat work upon it now. There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother." (3.3.34, O’Brien)-------------------
In Oceania at the present day, Science, in the old sense, has almost ceased to exist. In Newspeak there is no word for "Science." The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty. (2.9.30).



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