Nanvy+Salvato

Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Family - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - Society/Culture

Setting New Standards with Online Education

July 10, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

“The full-time residential model of higher education is getting too expensive for a larger share of the American population.” (The College of 2020: Students) Is it any wonder “more and more students are looking for lower-cost alternatives to attending college?”

What does the future hold for higher education?

  • White students will likely be outnumbered by minority students on college campuses.
  • People will need to rely on more and more formalized education to advance their careers or change to new ones.
  • It is estimated that ten years from now, the average cost for a 4 year public college in-state resident will be $31,949.28 per year. (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority)
  • Almost one third of the 121 institutions that responded to a survey believed that by 2020, students will take over half their courses entirely online. (The College of 2020: Students)

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Setting New Standards with Online Education”

Book Reviews - Economy/Finances - Education - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - Society/Culture - Technology

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

June 14, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

General Motors recently filed for bankruptcy. Mark Steyn writes in National Review, “GM has about 95,000 workers but provides health benefits to a million people: It’s not a business enterprise, but a vast welfare plan with a tiny loss-making commercial sector. As GM goes, so goes America?” Fortunately, maybe this is not the case. Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced with a $24 million budget deficit, has “terminated” textbooks and is embracing digital booksProject Gutenberg. I’m just finishing “John Marshall and the Constitution; a Chronicle of the Supreme Court by Corwin”, an excellent read. The nicest feature on the device is that it allows me to bookmark or highlight while I’m reading. I can send my research to my email and use it when I write my commentaries. I have been wondering when a version of the Kindle will be adapted in the schools.
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Necessity is the Mother of Invention”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - The Law

Circumnavigating the Rule of Law

May 30, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

The last I heard, the United States was not a signatory to the Law of the Sea Convention. Yet back in 1996, under President Clinton, we became signatories to an agreement with the Commonwealth of the Bahamas “concerning a cooperative Shiprider and Overflight Drug Interdiction Program for Joint Operations,” known as the 1996 Shiprider Agreement.

“Based on the principles of international law, respect for the sovereign equality of States and in full respect of the principle of the right of freedom of navigation consistent with the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention,” this agreement was superseded by a more comprehensive agreement in 2004 (US State Department).
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Circumnavigating the Rule of Law”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - China - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Europe - Freedom - Islam - Islamofascism - Liberals - Military - Nancy Salvato - President - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

In Just 100 Days

May 2, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th president of the United States. Our most recently elected president has been presiding in what is commonly referred to as the “honeymoon period”, the beginning of a new president’s term in which the chief executive enjoys generally positive relations with the press and Congress. During this first hundred days, or “honeymoon” a new president uses good will to his advantage, trying to push through an executive agenda while generally being forgiven for what could be considered novice mistakes. April 30th marks the end of President Obama’s first 100 days in office. What has been accomplished in since his inauguration?

North Korea

A 2008 report published by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College states that, “North Korea has also established itself as the Third World’s greatest supplier of missiles, missile components, and related technologies.” North Korea is one of the principal providers of missiles to Iran, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

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In Just 100 Days”

Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Founders - History - Liberals - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - President - Society/Culture

Defining Article 2, Section 1 in Context

April 13, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

According to Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, no person except a “natural born citizen” (citizen at birth) shall be eligible to the office of President.

The question that needs to be answered definitively is what exactly is a “natural born citizen”? To understand this phrase, we need to look at the context in which it was written.

It is clear that the Framers included that phrase in the requirements for Commander in Chief because they wanted to ensure loyalty to the US Constitution and not give undue influence to any one country, group, or person.
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Defining Article 2, Section 1 in Context”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Education - Founders - Liberals - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes

A Constitutionally Illiterate Congress

March 26, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

The definition of a citizen is one who is ruled and can rule in turn. We must have the capacity for both under the law. All citizens must be able to take the following oath of office:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

Sadly, in today’s day and age, those elected to our legislature do not have to understand the law to represent their electors. Consequently, this Congress has proven to be the most constitutionally illiterate group of people ever elected to office.
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A Constitutionally Illiterate Congress”

Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Liberals - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - President - Society/Culture

Natural Born Citizens

March 23, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

This is a commentary in response to James Taranto’s recent column in which he takes yet another opportunity to use his bully pulpit to jab at the vast numbers of people who take painstakingly seriously the idea that no person except a natural born citizen shall be eligible to hold the office of President.

I used to enjoy reading James Taranto. I used to appreciate his sarcasm and wit. Not so much anymore.

Taranto writes,

You might have heard of Hawaii, a southern North Pacific archipelago that almost half a century ago became America’s 50th state. It’s known for pineapples, palm trees and tropical weather, and while it’s said to be a lovely place to visit, hardly anyone goes there because it’s so expensive and far away–over 10 hours by plane from New York, and getting there by car literally takes forever.
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Natural Born Citizens”

Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - History - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - News - President - Society/Culture - Taxes

An Alternative to Impending Doom

March 6, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

In the time that has passed since President Obama was elected to and now holds the presidency of the United States, there has been something of an ominous and disturbing feel accompanying the media’s portrayal of his administration. It brings to mind news coverage of third world countries taken over by a military coup or overrun by a junta or dictatorship whose next move is to nationalize their industries or indiscriminately ravage the countryside. There is a one-step removed air about the reporting that belies the gravity of what is being discussed and makes each event surreal. There is a resigned quality to the words and to what is happening to our way of life. Have we forgotten that we live under a Constitution that provides “We the People” the power to “peacefully overthrow” those who are elected to hold office? We even have the power to “non-peacefully overthrow” those elected to power, but we’ve never had to use this recourse.

“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty…And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
– Thomas Jefferson
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An Alternative to Impending Doom”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - News - Society/Culture

Letting the Evidence Speak for Itself

February 1, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

In a letter recently submitted to Education Week CITATION Ste09 \l 1033 (Stephen Krashen, 2009) Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, draws attention to the Reading First final impact study which showed that children following an intensive decoding-based curriculum do well on tests of decoding but not on measures of reading comprehension when compared with regular students. He reminds readers that the National Reading Panel, the foundation for Reading First, came up with similar results.

From these two studies, Dr. Krashen draws the following conclusion. A high level of proficiency in decoding is not necessary in order to learn to read. Yet, he has employed fallacious reasoning to confirm his obvious bias against Reading First.

What these studies actually confirm is precisely what the authors of Reading First already understood; Phonics is not an end in itself. Phonics is a critical step in supporting reading development. With this in mind, The National Reading Panel recommended explicit and systematic phonics instruction. By this, it is meant that teachers should be provided precise directions for modeling and for leading students through the process of using letter-sound relationships to read words; letter sound relationships should be taught in a clearly defined sequence; and students should be provided extensive practice in reading stories with many different words to decode. Phonics is most effective when introduced in Kindergarten and first grade.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Europe - History - Nancy Salvato - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law

The Right to Defend Sovereignty

January 21, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

It is written in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Each and every one of us has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A seemingly simple idea, it’s the definition of when a life begins or should end, when the liberty of one being is to be considered encroaching on the liberty of another, and on the meaning of personal happiness on which we disagree.

I imagine one would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t want a peaceful existence which would allow us to go about our lives unencumbered by external threats. Again, it’s the method our country uses to achieve a relatively peaceful existence and at what cost –on which we currently disagree. While all of these topics are worthy of discussion and study, the question of our nation’s sovereignty begs examination at this moment in time because our present way of life is the direct result of our nation’s sovereign status in the world and so for many of us, it is worth preserving.
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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Founders - GOP - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - News - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law - UN

Undermining Our Sovereignty from Without & Within

January 14, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

The first amendment to the United States Constitution expressly prohibits the United States Congress from making laws that infringe on the freedom of the press. While it should be expected that those elected to the legislature have at least a basic understanding of the Bill of Rights, this is not necessarily the case.

“Those who have held elective office earn an average score of 44% on the civic literacy test, which is five percentage points lower than the average score of 49% for those who have never been elected.” Neither score bodes well for the state of our nation.

If we are to continue to be a sovereign country, we must understand the rule of law and why each and every word of the founding documents are so important to the defense of our nation and to the continuation of our freedoms.
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