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Topic: Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area (Read 1435 times) |
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Walter Watts
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Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« on: 2009-09-03 00:36:06 » |
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"Jim Greer, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said Tuesday that the speech used taxpayer dollars "to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
--excerpted from article below
[Walter]
IMHO, this outcry concerning "Obama spreading his socialist ideology" is the equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan's cowardly use of masks in disguising their identity while spewing their ignorant, redneck, racist vitriol.
It is nothing more than a red herring for racists.
Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
10:38 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 2, 2009
By MATTHEW HAAG and THEODORE KIM / The Dallas Morning News
mhaag@dallasnews.com tkim@dallasnews.com
A groundswell of parent opposition to President Barack Obama's speech next week to students on the importance of education has forced many North Texas school districts to question whether to air it live in classrooms.
Obama announced the speech weeks ago, but opposition and concerns spread rapidly Wednesday morning through conservative social networking Web sites and radio talk shows.
By midday, local school districts say, they were inundated with hundreds of phone calls from parents urging them to not show Obama's speech at school.
Some parents threatened to keep their children home from school if the video was aired.
"We had no idea that there would be a public outcry," said Laura Jobe, a Mesquite ISD spokeswoman. "It caught us by surprise."
Cody Cunningham of the McKinney ISD said: "We rarely hear of parents pulling children out of history or government classes where they're studying the politics or historical significance of a previous president."
The White House said earlier that the speech – to be shown on C-SPAN and educational stations – would focus on "the importance of education, the importance of staying in school, how we want to improve our education system and why it's so important for the country."
Other presidents, including George H.W. Bush, have given similar speeches directly to students.
But some Dallas-area parents said Obama's speech amounts to partisan propaganda. His critics have been even harsher.
Jim Greer, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, said Tuesday that the speech used taxpayer dollars "to spread President Obama's socialist ideology."
The White House said Tuesday that Obama hopes his speech will inspire students and encourage them to set academic goals.
"It's not a policy speech," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. "It's a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school, which I think is a nonpartisan goal."
School districts across the country have the option to choose whether they show the president's address, which he's giving at 11 a.m. Dallas time Tuesday at a Virginia high school.
But vitriolic e-mails and angry calls from parents flooding school district phone lines Wednesday morning forced many area districts to make quick decisions about airing the speech:
•Plano ISD said it won't show the speech but will put links to the video on its Web sites.
•Rockwall ISD said it might make watching the video optional in campus libraries.
•The Dallas and Richardson districts are expected to decide today how to proceed.
Susan Dacus, a Wylie ISD spokeswoman, said, "All parents I have talked to have been very negative."
School officials there have decided not to make his speech a districtwide activity but will let teachers incorporate it into the day's lesson. Other districts, including Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Mesquite, said they will probably do the same.
Suggested lessons
Arne Duncan, Department of Education secretary, informed principals of the speech in a letter sent last week. He encouraged students to complete suggested lessons that go along with the speech.
One lesson plan for students in kindergarten through sixth grade suggests children write down what they would say to students if they were president. Another asks students to discuss, "Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything? Is he challenging you to do anything?"
McKinney ISD will make viewing the video optional. "It's a unique opportunity," said Cunningham, the district spokesman.
Allen school administrators have encouraged teachers to show the video, but officials spent some time Wednesday urging parents not to withhold their children from school that day. Allen, McKinney and other districts say those absences won't be excused.
Yet, parent Bill Hogsett said he figured half of the Frisco parents he knew would keep their children home from school Tuesday.
"It doesn't matter if it's a Republican or Democrat. We have a problem with the government intruding on our lives," said Hogsett, who has a 5-year-old son in kindergarten.
Garyld Miles, a father of twin first-graders at Eddins Elementary School in McKinney, shared similar concerns.
"It's dangerous grounds for a president to ask students to advocate his policies for reform for education," he said. "That's exactly what he's doing."
Duncan said the intent of the speech and the lesson plans has been misunderstood. The president, he said, won't be lobbying for policy changes but will be calling for a "shared responsibility" among students, parents and educators "to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible."
'Tool of indoctrination'
Obama's speech has ignited partisan passions among conservative groups, which accused him of injecting politics in the classroom.
Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the conservative Cato Institute, said the lesson plans accompanying the speech are "troubling."
"Reasonable people can disagree" about Obama's policies, he said. "But they don't want their kids to be indoctrinated. , This is potentially a tool of indoctrination."
Fred Moses, chairman of the Collin County Republican Party, said he had not heard anyone who was concerned about the speech.
"As long as the president is not talking about his agenda or policies, we all need to encourage our kids to do better," Moses said.
Barb Walters, president of the Texas Democratic Women of Collin County, contended the outrage is mostly manufactured.
"Emotions are running so high in politics," she said. "People are just shoving signs and fists into people's faces these days. Whatever happened to civil discourse?"
Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said he doubted that Obama would risk criticism by giving a political speech.
"If this is simply a pep talk by the president of the United States to schoolkids," Sabato said, "to me that is in the category of mother and apple pie and the flag."
OBAMA'S EDUCATION EFFORTS
President Barack Obama's nationally televised address to students Tuesday is part of what the White House calls a continuation of his efforts to use the bully pulpit to promote the value of education. Among other efforts:
•The Department of Education has sent classroom materials to the nation's schools to facilitate discussion of the president's message.
•The administration has enlisted top NASCAR drivers to tape public service announcements touting the importance of school.
•Since taking office, Obama has pushed hard on his goal to reduce the high school dropout rate and increase the number of students who attend and graduate from college.
•The $787 billion economic stimulus plan included more than $100 billion for education, and Obama has frequently called on teachers and parents to help students maximize their educational opportunities.
SOURCE: Wire reports
Staff writers Todd J. Gillman, Sam Hodges, Jessica Meyers, Matt Peterson and Valerie Wigglesworth contributed to this report.
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Blunderov
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #1 on: 2009-09-03 06:24:09 » |
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Quote from: Walter Watts on 2009-09-03 00:36:06
<snip> ...President Obama's socialist ideology.</snip> |
[Blunderov] Clearly there exists in the USA some strange new definition of the word 'socialist' which I had not previously encountered. Seemingly it amounts to 'not having a little pointy head, weasely eyes and a unibrow' - something like that...
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #2 on: 2009-09-03 15:20:14 » |
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Quote from: Blunderov on 2009-09-03 06:24:09
Quote from: Walter Watts on 2009-09-03 00:36:06
<snip> ...President Obama's socialist ideology.</snip> |
[Blunderov] Clearly there exists in the USA some strange new definition of the word 'socialist' which I had not previously encountered. Seemingly it amounts to 'not having a little pointy head, weasely eyes and a unibrow' - something like that...
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Howdy from Oklahoma Blunderov.
Yes, sadly, for most of the ignoramuses in the south (and many other parts) of the U.S., "socialist" carries with it very negative connotations.
For me personally, the term is a positive one. One of caring, compassion and equality. More along the lines of European social democracies.
The strange new definition found here in the U.S. that you describe is one that I'm ashamed of.
In fact, more often than not these days, shame is something I strongly associate with my country.
I can only hope it improves.
Walter
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MoEnzyme
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #3 on: 2009-09-04 03:25:23 » |
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Yeah my neck of the woods. Basically the word seems that any parents trying to protect their children from Obama's evil message are going to look almost as stupid as those creationist families. Of course we've got those too, but even several people whom I know don't like Obama agree that its assinine to fight this one. After all, we've always watched every other president's addresses in school. It only seems to get controversial when that president isn't white. Even our great "socialists", like FDR, Kennedy, and Johnson got that much respect. Apparently when its a black socialist is when these wing nuts start checking out of reality and discussing stupid shit like secession.
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/?p=1369
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Hermit
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #4 on: 2009-09-04 13:08:14 » |
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It isn't just socialism these 5W fools fail to fathom, it is the other American insanity, the marriage of state and industry, better known as fascism. Which they rightfully accuse the Democrats of embracing, not recognizing that the Republicans are up to their eyebrows in the same mire.
Fascinating.
Lots of luscious loony lavage at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/03/obama-schoolchildren-spee_n_276544.html.
And the delightful find of somebody intrepid who has dug up the fact that "Reagan preached tax cut gospel to America’s students". Reagan was indubitably a fascist but was he also, by today's Texan standards, a "socialist" or even "Maoist".
Great minds would like to know.
Both of the above links are, in my opinion, worth visiting.
Hermit&Co
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #5 on: 2009-09-04 16:27:06 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2009-09-04 13:08:14
Both of the above links are, in my opinion, worth visiting.
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[Blunderov] Indeed they are. I'm not usually much for snarking on spelling or grammar and such , but in this context it is irresistible:
"The fascist in chief is taking his special brand of brainwashing to the classroom. Keep your kids home. I think this man is a threat to our basic unalienable rights."
I imagine if the writer's own parents had previously ensured that this angry author had attended school more regularly than they apparently did, perhaps he or she would know that the correct word is inalienable.
Dangerous places, schools. Full of edumacation they are.
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #6 on: 2009-09-05 02:42:56 » |
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Many conservatives enraged over Obama school speech
[ Hermit : Maybe they are merely enraged, not necessarily over Obama's forthcoming speech. It seems to go with the territory. Have you ever listened to talk radio? At least he doesn't propose to mispronounce a story about a goat as New York and Washington come under attack. ]
Source: CNN
Authors: Alan Silverleib
Dated: 2009-09-05
The White House found itself on the defensive Friday over what would ordinarily be considered the most uncontroversial of events: a back-to-school speech to the nation's children.
The White House said the address, set for Tuesday, and accompanying suggested lesson plans are simply meant to encourage students to study hard and stay in school.
Many conservative parents aren't buying it. They're convinced the president is going to use the opportunity to press a partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds.
"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now." [ Hermit : Imagine this. Cheney, Ridge and Bush have been out of office for 9 months and low IQ Americans are still almost as frightened as our troll. Somebody should pass on the good news to them. ] Video: Watch how some parents are upset
School administrators are caught in the middle of the controversy. Some have decided to show the president's speech, while others will not. Many, such as Wellesley, Massachusetts, superintendent Bella Wong, are deciding on a class-by-class basis, leaving the decision in the hands of individual teachers.
"The president of the United States has asked us to facilitate his outreach to students. And in that vein, we have decided to honor the request," Wong told CNN. "We'll trust in his judgment."
Republican leaders have not shied away from the debate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible contender for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination, said Friday the classroom is no place to show a video address from Obama.Video: Watch the debate over the president's speech [ Hermit : This is the place to disabuse yourself of the notion that a debate is a structured, rational discussion between intelligent, civilised people. Will somebody please buy the editors at CNN a dictionary. ]
"At a minimum it's disruptive. Number two, it's uninvited. And number three, if people would like to hear his message they can, on a voluntary basis, go to YouTube or some other source and get it. I don't think he needs to force it upon the nation's school children," he told reporters at the Minnesota State fair.
Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer released a statement this week accusing Obama of using taxpayer money to "indoctrinate" children.
"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology," Greer said. [ Hermit : Education certainly is as important to socialists as it is apparently unimportant to Republican politicians. It shows in the competency achieved in "socialist countries" and the lack of competency achieved in the USA.]
"The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans ... is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power." [ Hermit : If Americans actually were to see somebody, anybody, "justify their plans" it might do them good, but I'm sure this is just rhetoric. And if whatever Obama is going to say is against " beliefs of the majority of Americans" why did they vote for him? Could it be that they grew weary of the "invasive abuse of power" by the Republicans? ]
Nonsense, the White House replied.
"The goal of the speech and the lesson plans is to challenge students to work hard, stay in school and dramatically reduce the dropout rate," an administration spokesman said. "This isn't a policy speech. It's a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school." [ Hermit : Who the fuck cares. Only the Democrat Administration. The Republicans spent 8 years using them as toilet paper, and now the Democrats are apologising for something that is based on blatant lies ? WTF? PS, the plan won't work. The problem is (mainly) not caused by the "students" but by the fucked up system, society and lesson plans. ]
White House officials noted that Obama's speech, which will be available for anyone to view on the Web on Monday, is not unprecedented. President George H.W. Bush delivered a nationally televised speech to students from a Washington D.C., school in the fall of 1991, encouraging them to say no to drugs and work hard.
In November 1988, President Ronald Reagan delivered more politically charged remarks that were made available to students nationwide. Among other things, Reagan called taxes "such a penalty on people that there's no incentive for them to prosper ... because they have to give so much to the government." [ Hermit : Which of course is why the Eisenhower administration with its 90+% tax rate presided over the collapse of US productivity, and the Cheney-Bush administration, with the lowest tax rates of any industrialized country saw the US defit tumble from the Clinton exit's $6 Trillion to the Obama inauguration's $ 70+ Trillion. Or perhaps "so much" was the bird being flipped by departing investments from the top 1% of American taxpayers as they locked down 80% of the world's wealth and moved it out of reach of the USA's tax authorities? ]
Charles Saylors, president of the national Parent Teacher Association, said the uproar over Obama's speech is "sad."
"The president of the United States, regardless of political affiliation, should be able to have a presentation and have a pep talk, if you will, to America's students," he told CNN.
Some of the controversy surrounding Obama's speech stems from a proposed lesson plan created by the Education Department to accompany the address. An initial version of the plan recommended that students draft letters to themselves discussing "what they can do to help the president."
The letters "would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals," the plan stated.
After pressure from conservatives, the White House said that the plan was not artfully worded, and distributed a revised version encouraging students to write letters about how they can "achieve their short-term and long-term education goals." [ Hermit : Letters that won't be read and will not facilitate change. ]
A number of the president's critics, however, were not placated.
"As far as I'm concerned this is not civics education -- it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality," said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell, a Republican. [ Hermit : Yes, you did just spot a strawman performing a solitary but none-the-less stately, gavotte. ]
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the whole dispute Friday as part of "the silly season."
The administration, while acknowledging it made a mistake with the initial lesson plan, has been frustrated by the controversy, said CNN Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry.
It was a much different atmosphere when Bush made similar remarks 18 years ago, Henry noted.
"Let's face it. You didn't really have blogs. You didn't have as many cable networks out there as you do now," Henry said. "I think people just sort of take something and blow it out of proportion in this environment right now."
The controversy is the latest example of how sharply polarized political debate has become.
[ Hermit : And when the speech is over the teachers will go back to spending all their time spoon-feeding children with the answers they need to successfully check off computer scored multi-choice questions which will determine the schools' and teachers' futures. Republican politicians will go back to pretending that under GW Bush they made great strides in improving education, and Democrat politicians will continue the farce by pretending that the US has a first class system filled with competent and conscientious teachers dedicated to the progress of America's future in this the best of all possible worlds. And perhaps some of the people over the age of 50 will pretend to believe them while those under 30 say that they had to suffer under an insanely fucked up system and they see no reason to make it better for the current generation (and I have actually heard this said!) ]
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #7 on: 2009-09-05 17:07:31 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2009-09-05 02:42:56
<snip>
Republican leaders have not shied away from the debate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a possible contender for the GOP's 2012 presidential nomination, said Friday the classroom is no place to show a video address from Obama.Video: Watch the debate over the president's speech [ Hermit : This is the place to disabuse yourself of the notion that a debate is a structured, rational discussion between intelligent, civilised people. Will somebody please buy the editors at CNN a dictionary. ]
<snip>
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I'm guessing there's a dictionary laying around somewhere at CNN.
It's probably just misplaced under a pile of Nielsen ratings, along with all their other journalism reference works. 
Walter
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #8 on: 2009-09-09 12:52:46 » |
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Mo: Its nice to know that my hometown school district is ground-zero for tea-bagger stupidity  Not that it surprises me, however.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32747095/
Kids Didn't Hear Obama, But Will be Bussed for Bush
The Arlington Independent School District, which passed on airing President Barack Obama's live classroom address, has announced that some students will be bussed off campus to hear a message from former President George W. Bush on Sept. 21.
District officials said it's part of a Cowboys Stadium field trip that the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee invited 28 fifth-grade classes to attend several months ago.
In addition to hearing from Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, the students will hear from legendary Dallas Cowboys players and North Texas business and community leaders. The event launches the Super Bowl committee's largest-ever youth education program. Students must have their parents' permission to attend, school officials said.
Dwight McKissic Sr., the senior pastor of Arlington's Cornerstone Baptist Church, said he's concerned about the district's decision to not broadcast Obama's message while transporting students to hear a message from Bush.
"I do not understand the duplicity in this situation," McKissic said in a news release from the church. "I believe the students and the public deserve and need to have these differences explained."
Obama told students to stay in school, work hard and set goals in an 18-minute speech delivered Tuesday morning from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.
The Arlington school district, like many in North Texas, decided not to broadcast the president's speech live after some parents expressed concern about its content.
The district said the recorded speech would be made available through its Web site.
The school district allowed students with permission slips from parents an excused absence to watch Obama's speech at an off-site location.
Cornerstone Baptist Church was among the facilities that broadcast the Obama's address for students and parents who wanted to watch the speech live.
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #9 on: 2009-09-09 15:46:55 » |
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Positively dripping with it. Thanks for this. Discovering that the insanity is everywhere made us feel a little less lonely. I really hope somebody is going to record the speech for posterity, Bushisms and all.
Hermit&Co
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #10 on: 2009-09-15 11:54:16 » |
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Texas school district apologizes for snubbing Obama speech
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Authors: Eva-Marie Ayala
Dated: 2009-09-11
Arlington Superintendent Jerry McCullough issued a statement Friday apologizing for how the district handled President Obama's live speech on Tuesday.
The decision not to show the speech live to school children became particularly controversial after it became known that the district had previous plans to bus about 500 fifth-graders to attend an event with former President George W. Bush. The event, which is scheduled later this month at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, will be an announcement about a volunteer initiative for the 2011 Super Bowl.
"In retrospect, I can see how the district's decisions concerning these two events could be seen as favoring one event over another," McCullough said in his written statement. He later said, "I apologize that my decisions on behalf of the district have disappointed or hurt people." [ Hermit : The measure of the worth of an apology is whether the apologiser intends it, and if behaviour is repeated it is safe to conclude they did not. Be interesting to see what happens if Obama ever gives another speech to school children. ]
The district allowed students to miss half a day of school on Tuesday if they wanted to watch the event live elsewhere and recorded the speech for later use. McCullough noted that he is encouraging teachers to use Obama's speech in their classrooms when and how they deem appropriate.
Obama's speech caused controversy when some parents and political pundits were upset and worried that Obama would push his agenda onto America's youth. Some other Texas school districts, including Aledo, Grapevine-Colleyville and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, also decided not to show the speech live.
Arlington officials had said they opted not to show the speech live so as not to interrupt the planned school day. An Arlington church showed the event live and drew about 100 parents and students.
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #11 on: 2009-09-21 17:53:47 » |
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[Blunderov] Socialism. Very evil. Must destroy. Divided we stand, together we fall. Teabagger collectives - untie!
pharyngula
As for me, I love socialism!
19 September 2009, 10:32:03 PM
Print the pledge and ask all your teabagger/libertarian friends and family to sign it!
The Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge
I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
I will complain about the destruction of my 2ndAmendment Rights in this country, while I am duly >being allowed to exercise my 2ndAmendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009federal senate appropriations--http://grassley.senate.gov/issues/upload/Master-Approps-73109.pdf)
Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Sesame Street
Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parksand Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance
Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, Stateor Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care
I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist
locations, including but not limited to:
Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon
The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.
I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.
I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.
I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.
Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.
SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF ____________ IN THE YEAR ______________.
___________________________ ___________________________
Signed Printed Name/Town and State
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Walter Watts
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Just when I thought I was out-they pull me back in
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #12 on: 2009-09-21 20:49:53 » |
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Quote from: Blunderov on 2009-09-21 17:53:47
[Blunderov] Socialism. Very evil. Must destroy. Divided we stand, together we fall. Teabagger collectives - untie!
pharyngula
As for me, I love socialism!
19 September 2009, 10:32:03 PM
Print the pledge and ask all your teabagger/libertarian friends and family to sign it!
The Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge
I, ________________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
I will complain about the destruction of my 2ndAmendment Rights in this country, while I am duly >being allowed to exercise my 2ndAmendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
<SNIP>
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Love it Blunderov!
This one's going out to all my stupid relatives (in its entirety).
Walter
PS--note that was a big commie "pinko" snip
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Walter Watts
Tulsa Network Solutions, Inc.
No one gets to see the Wizard! Not nobody! Not no how!
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Hermit
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Prime example of a practically perfect person
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Re:Obama's plan to speak to schoolchildren ignites furor in Dallas area
« Reply #13 on: 2009-09-29 05:22:31 » |
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The real school indoctrination scandal
Conservatives recoiled in horror from Obama's bland speech to students last week. But for anyone truly interested in indoctrinating the next generation of voters, the nation's mass-market textbooks are the preferred battleground.
[ Hermit : Long time Virians will probably remember my advocating, "Lies my Teacher Told Me", James W Loewen which says much the same things and is a compelling reason to home school.
Source: TheWeek.com
Authors: Will Wilkinson
Dated: {/b]2009-09-16
While opposition to Barack Obama's recent "study hard and stay in school" speech perhaps was not grounded in sober assessments of the facts, it did have roots in a much more plausible suspicion: that public schools are rigging tomorrow's politics by indoctrinating kids today. Such fears formed the basis of a special Fox News report—"Do You Know What Textbooks Your Children Are Really Reading"—hosted by the journalist and pundit Tucker Carlson. According to Carlson, the efforts of textbook writers to avoid language that might reinforce ethnic and gender stereotypes suggest an insidious plot. "Entire chunks of the English language have been banned from the classroom, liquidated in a PC purge," Carlson writes in a companion article at FoxNews.com.
What's worse, according to Carlson, is the "hard-edged propaganda that now suffuses history textbooks. A thorough cover-to-cover reading of almost any high school history text leaves you with the impression that the United States is at best embarrassing, and at worst a menace to world peace."
[b]If you ask me, the United States' unjustified invasion and occupation of Iraq makes it a menace to world peace almost by definition. And the history of the United States is at least embarrassing. That European colonists and the U.S. government savagely murdered indigenous Americans, stole their land, and pushed them onto reservations is not a fiction ginned up to confuse American kids. Nor was this country's brutal history of slavery and racial apartheid some kind of lie designed to shame junior Americans. These horrors of history are real and they really are shameful.
Carlson's rhetoric suggests that an unsullied pride in one's country is a birthright not to be denied by downer liberal textbooks. He conveys the impression that avoiding injury to patriotic feeling should take precedence over tough truths—a typical form of conservative political correctness. Yet nationalism untempered by the bloody truth leaves citizens all too willing to cede to the state the unchecked discretion to torture and kill—a problem that is by no means theoretical these days.
My point is not to prove Carlson wrong. Nor do I aim to defend the textbooks Carlson maligns. (I would probably hate them for other reasons.) The point is that Tucker Carlson and I disagree very, very sharply about the kinds of things we think kids should find in a textbook on American history, and that's significant. You might think Carlson and I hail from different ideological planets. But as a matter of fact, we are both fellows of the libertarian Cato Institute. If our division over an ideal curriculum runs this deep, just imagine how vast the rift must be between the conservatives to Carlson's right and the liberals to my left. There is no way we're all going to agree.
Yet in 30 states, local school boards choose textbooks for their entire school districts. In the remaining 20, state-level boards choose textbooks for an entire state. Because statewide markets in California and Texas are so huge, the best bet for the big textbook publishing companies is to tailor their products to the tastes of textbook adoption committees in one or both states, leaving small-state committees with little influence.
We are a spectacularly diverse society, yet we have somehow settled on a system in which enormous captive populations of students are made to learn the same exact thing from the same boring book. When policy requires that every impressionable young mind in a town, city, or state be exposed to one set of assumptions about ethnicity and gender, one approach to religion, one version of American history, one account of Christopher Columbus, one interpretation of the Civil War or the New Deal, you can bet there will be wrenching conflict. And you can bet that the one-size-fits-all textbooks that emerge from this politicized selection process will fit no one. Mind-numbing blandness is the key to their success.
Despite a textbook market devoted to controversy avoidance, some parents (and pundits) nevertheless see a vast conspiracy to indoctrinate. This results not from incendiary books but from the incompatible ideologies of the adults who scrutinize them. Here's something I bet Carlson and I could agree on. The ideological differences that fuel the textbook wars wouldn't be such a big deal if we had an education system in which parents, armed with school vouchers or education tax credits, had the power to choose their kids' curricula by choosing their school. With greater school choice, the K–12 textbook market would come to more closely resemble the college textbook market—a lively, competitive scrum where individual instructors select from a wide array of texts embodying different perspectives and pedagogical assumptions.
Through trial and error and the test of time, certain texts are recognized for excellence and gain market share, but instructors are never at a loss for alternatives. One might worry that greater school choice could lead to a cacophonous Babel of incompatible, ideological educations. Yet, despite dizzying curricular variety, college-level school choice has not kept graduates of Brigham Young and Brown from working amicably side by side in the same companies.
Perhaps the planet will burn to a cinder if third-graders aren't uniformly convinced they are killing Gaia, the Earth organism, one carbon-emitting breath at a time. Perhaps America will lose the will to defend itself if its teens challenge the notion that American soil is uniquely sweet. If so, there may be reason to deny parents the power to choose the books their children learn from by choosing the schools in which they learn. If not, we're making a terrible mistake.
Either way, we've settled on an educational system so fraught with ideological tension that an anodyne "Do your best!" speech from the government's chief executive sparks fears that public schools have become taxpayer-funded indoctrination camps. At the conclusion of his Fox News special, Tucker Carlson exhorts parents who find "bias and distortion" in their kids' textbooks to "raise holy hell." And there you have it. There's the pathetic principle that governs the content of American public education today: May the most aggrieved hell-raisers win.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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