Just prior to July 4th, talk show host Jay Leno asked numerous Americans basic questions regarding the founding of America and our independence which used to be and should be covered in every grade school student’s education. What he discovered which should come as no surprise to many, is the profound ignorance of the average American regarding simple questions regarding their country.
Such widespread lack of knowledge is how countries are transformed into dictatorships and citizens lose their rights and freedoms.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie doesn’t pull any punches in his speeches. In his staunch support for the citizens/taxpayers of the state, he is not afraid to take on anyone, including unions and organizations, in his efforts to cut taxes, improve education, eradicate corruption and pernicious influences, etc. He exudes unwavering probity, righteousness, and commitment in his “mission”.
This is quite refreshing in a politician.
Governor Chris Christie gives remarks regarding teachers and the teachers Union, the NJEA during a Town Hall Meeting in Robbinsville, NJ.
Christie explained that his fight is not against teachers. It is against the NJEA. Christie cited this stat: a teacher who is in the union, pays $730 a year to join. If a teacher doesn’t want to join the union, they pay 85% of the $730 per year, to not join. Christie said:
“It’s like the Hotel California. You can check in anytime, but you can never leave.”
That money raises $130 million a year to pay for lobbyists, to stare down the legislature. They also spend the money, as well as tax payer money from NJ residents from property taxes and other taxes to buy ads attacking the governor.
Christie compares the NJEA to the school bully. Said other governors run scared of the bully. While the parents and tax payers are the ones bleeding on the ground from all the money they pay to the NJEA. But Christie said he’s not running scared instead he said:
Public schools should not be teaching racial preferences or emphasizing specific cultures to the exclusion of others particularly at the primary school level. Even worse, the taxpayer shouldn’t be subsidizing this.
Despite the hollow arguments that such courses serve to create pride and a semblance of self-worth for disadvantaged minorities, what they actually do is engender animosity, entitlement and resentment. They directly and indirectly foment divisiveness and not unity or amity.
Quintessential examples of these at different levels include Black (or Afro-American) or women’s studies. You see the results of these, conjure up images and recall stories of the Henry Jacksons (the Harvard professor of Black Studies involved in the Cambridge, Mass. police incident in which he and Obama wantonly and recklessly claimed racism), Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, “radical” elements of NOW, etc.
What Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and the States’ school chief, Tom Horne, have legislated is unequivocally correct, responsible and appropriate. The state is at the vanguard of a movement back to sensibility, fairness, true equality and adherence to the law.
These are conservative values which the majority of Americans can understand and do agree with.
Arizona gov. signs bill targeting ethnic studies
By JONATHAN J. COOPER May 12, 2010
PHOENIX (AP) -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.
State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.
Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.
"It's just like the old South, and it's long past time that we prohibited it," Horne said.
Brewer's signature on the bill Tuesday comes less than a month after she signed the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration - a move that ignited international backlash amid charges the measure would encourage racial profiling of Hispanics. The governor has said profiling will not be tolerated.
The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group.
The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.
For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors.
Horne, a Republican running for attorney general, said the program promotes "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race. He's been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that "Republicans hate Latinos."
District officials said the program doesn't promote resentment, and they believe it would comply with the new law.
The measure doesn't prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn't promote ethnic solidarity or resentment.
About 1,500 students at six high schools are enrolled in the Tucson district's program. Elementary and middle school students also are exposed to the ethnic studies curriculum. The district is 56 percent Hispanic, with nearly 31,000 Latino students.
Sean Arce, director of the district's Mexican-American Studies program, said last month that students perform better in school if they see in the curriculum people who look like them.
"It's a highly engaging program that we have, and it's unfortunate that the state Legislature would go so far as to censor these classes," he said.
Six UN human rights experts released a statement earlier Tuesday saying all people have the right to learn about their own cultural and linguistic heritage, they said.
Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman didn't directly address the UN criticism, but said Brewer supports the bill's goal.
"The governor believes ... public school students should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people," Senseman said.
Arce could not immediately be reached after Brewer signed the bill late Tuesday.
Without going into great detail, the school administration of a wealthy suburb on the north side of Chicago has canceled a girls varsity basketball team’s trip to Arizona that had been scheduled for later this year. There was no doubt that this was a political statement and maneuver against Arizona’s immigration law. It appears that this was a unilateral decision by Highland Park High School’s assistant superintendent and the school board as parents and students were caught off guard.
The girls worked diligently to raise money for the trip which was to be the culmination of its successful year in which it won its first championship in 26 years. To then pull the rug out from underneath these dedicated, hardworking and talented girls who just want to play basketball by an obviously liberal school administration is at best irresponsible, pathetic and misguided.
What do their actions teach these girls?
Nothing positive!
That it is justified to break the law as these illegals have done?
That the law applies only to certain individuals and not others (legal white immigrants but not illegal Hispanic ones)?
That some should have more rights than others because of some perceived disadvantage?
That it is justified to force American citizens to pay tens of billions of dollars per year for healthcare, education, legal costs, prisons, grants, etc. of these law breakers just because their life in Mexico (or elsewhere) is not ideal?
This action is part of a liberal extortion campaign against Arizona and those who are defending their rights and upholding the law. It also seems to champion indolence, welfare and immorality over industriousness and integrity which these girls displayed. The superintendent and other school officials in this case should either resign immediately or be fired. They are teaching these children perverted values and had no right doing so unilaterally.
Of course, we wouldn’t even be discussing this issue if Congress and Obama had not abdicated their Constitutional responsibility to make sure our borders were secure. Making this situation even more egregious is Obama’s taunting of Arizona and his usage of incendiary comments which is emboldening violent acts, racism against whites, anti-American sentiment, and vitriolic rhetoric by the illegal aliens, Mexicans living legally in America and far left liberals. All of this can teach our children the wrong lesson which can haunt us again in the future.
This situation in the Chicago area is one more example of Obama’s pernicious, divisive influence on our country and way of life and why he needs to be impeached.
Highland Park basketball team trip to Arizona scrapped Administrators cite safety concerns; parents say move sounds like a protest
Jeff Long, Tribune reporter May 12, 2010
Reveling in its first conference championship in 26 years, the Highland Park High School girls varsity basketball team has been selling cookies for months to raise funds for a tournament in Arizona. But those hoop dreams were dashed when players learned they couldn't go because of that state's new crackdown on illegal immigrants.
Safety concerns partly fueled the decision, but the trip also "would not be aligned with our beliefs and values," said District 113 Assistant Superintendent Suzan Hebson. That explanation, though, smacks of political protest to parents upset by the decision.
The news, which was broken to the team Monday by coach Jolie Bechtel, comes as critics of Arizona's controversial law call on professional athletes and others to boycott the state.
Last month a New York congressman asked Major League Baseball to pull next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix, and protesters recently picketed Wrigley Field when the Arizona Diamondbacks played the Cubs.
But tossing a high school team into the heated debate has left parents and players baffled and angry.
"Why are we mixing politics and a basketball tournament?" said Michael Evans, whose daughter Lauren is a junior on the team. "It's outrageous that they're doing this under the guise of safety."
Lauren Evans said she thought the concern was probably that one of the players could get stopped and questioned.
"It shouldn't be a problem," she said. "I don't think it makes much sense. We shouldn't be a threat. We just want to play basketball."
District 113 Superintendent George Fornero declined comment, saying it "wasn't just my decision." He referred calls to Hebson.
Hebson said Arizona is off-limits because of uncertainty about how the new law will be enforced. Signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer last month, it makes it a crime to be in the country illegally and requires police to check suspects for immigration paperwork.
Hebson said the turmoil is no place for students of Highland Park High School, which also draws from Highwood.
"We would want to ensure that all of our students had the opportunity to be included and be safe and be able to enjoy the experience," Hebson said of the tournament, which will be played in December. "We wouldn't necessarily be able to guarantee that."
Asked if there are undocumented players on the team, or if anyone associated with the team is in the country illegally, Hebson said she did not know.
Parents and players interviewed said they knew of no one who fits that description.
The high school's Web site boasts of a "relatively diverse" student population of 80 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian and 2 percent African-American.
"Many of the parents feel that this should be resolved in the judicial court, not the basketball court," said Cynde Munzer, whose daughter, Lena, is a freshman on the team.
"I disagree personally with the Arizona legislation, but I also feel strongly about young women's rights," Munzer said. "They don't want to get involved in politics."
Subrina Collier, whose daughter Briana is a junior on the team, said even if someone were worried about presenting immigration papers in Arizona, it should be a personal decision to stay away. She called the administration decision a misplaced political statement.
The school district is looking for another tournament for the Giants, officials said.
The girls basketball team at Mundelein High School was in Scottsdale, Ariz., in December for the tournament hosted by Desert Mountain High School, said coach Brian Evans.
Evans called Desert Mountain High School "unbelievably hospitable" during his team's trip. Officials there declined comment about Highland Park's decision not to participate.
Meanwhile, other Chicago-area organizations continue to wrestle with their involvement in Arizona.
Local immigrants' rights activists delivered a letter Tuesday to the Chicago-based American Bar Association that urged the group to cancel a conference slated for this week in Arizona.
At Highland Park, basketball player Marguerite Biagi, a junior, said she disagrees with the law but still wants to visit Arizona.
"It's ultimately the state's decision, no matter what I think," she said. "Not playing basketball in Arizona is not going to change anything."
Tribune reporters Cynthia Dizikes, Dan Simmons, Oscar Avila and Lisa Black contributed.
With Obama’s ascendancy to the Presidency, Americans are witnessing and experiencing rampant racism and not of whites to blacks but rather the opposite, of blacks to whites. Furthermore, this is being accepted with either in your face glee by many blacks or by a dismissive attitude by the liberal media and politicians.
This acceptance of preferential treatment, privileges, rights, etc. because the facilitator or perpetrator is black (as opposed to white) is unacceptable, discriminatory and illegal.
IT IS RACIST AND MUST BE STOPPED! This must be done by actions including verbally, protests, laws and lawsuits.
There must be no tolerance of this black on white (or on any other race/color)!
Stories similar to the one below has become quite commonplace throughout the country with liberals claiming that such actions are “providing more equal opportunities or leveling the playing field”. Such claims are demagoguery but are used to obtain advantages for blacks at the expense of others. There are plenty disadvantaged whites or Hispanics who are being discriminated against by these actions.
You can just imagine the national outrage and uproar (including visits by Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton) if there was a school field trip for (poor) whites that excluded blacks. We didn’t hear a peep from these racist demagogues that white children were excluded.
Double standards are not acceptable!!
Field trip for black students sparks controversy at Ann Arbor elementary school
David Jesse AnnArbor.com Staff May 3, 2010
An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students.
Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist.
Principal Mike Madison is shown at Forsythe in this 2005 file photo.
“In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children’s eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.
“It was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or scientist standing on the Planet Mars.
“I also think it’s important that you know that I have talked to the children who did not go on the field trip, and I think they have a better understanding of the purpose of the AA Lunch Bunch now, as I hope you do. I’m sorry if any kids were upset by the field trip or my discussion afterwards with them, and I have let them know that.
“The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community.”
A handful of parents have complained to district administrators about the trip, the group and Madison. More than a half-dozen parents contacted AnnArbor.com to raise the complaints, but none would agree to talk on the record, citing concerns of reprisals to their children by Madison.
While there’s no clear agreement between the two sides about exactly what happened, most of the controversy centers on a field trip taken last week by the Lunch Bunch for African American boys and girls to hear a black rocket engineer talk.
District spokeswoman Liz Margolis said after the trip was over, those who went returned to their fifth-grade class and were greeted by boos by those who didn’t go on the trip. Margolis said Madison, who is black, heard the boos, and went to talk to the class. She said he and the class had a “discussion” about race issues.
“He wasn’t yelling at them. He was very passionate about it,” Margolis said.
Parents have complained he was yelling at the class and belittled a Muslim girl who said she also had experienced racism and discrimination.
The program itself began earlier this year after the school received its latest achievement results. Margolis said the Lunch Bunch came from the school’s School Improvement Team and is tied to that team’s goals. She said several other schools in the district have similar programs targeting specific subgroups of students who are at risk.
According to meeting minutes, Madison introduced the club to the PTO in February as part of the school and district’s equity work.
Parent Vicki Haviland, who is white and has three children at Dicken, said she is supportive of the overall program. Haviland is the secretary of the Dicken PTO and has filed papers for the open school board seat.
“I think the African-American Lunch Bunch is totally in line with the district’s equity work,” she said. “I think the field trip was a fine idea.”
She said she hopes the school and the district would “do a better job in talking about (race in education). Clearly there are people who don’t feel heard about it.”
David Jesse covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidjesse@annarbor.com or at 734-623-2534.
The following are some of the comments that readers made to the above article:
I propose Dicken create a "Whites Only Lunch Bunch Club."
By creating and sanctioning both the "African American Lunch Bunch Club" and sponsoring the "blacks only" field trip, Madison is in direct violation of the Non-Discrimination Policy of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (Board Policy 2050). That policy reads as follows: No person shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any educational program or activity available in any school on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, creed, political belief, age, national origin, linguistic and language differences, sexual orientation, gender expression, socioeconomic status, height, weight, marital or familial status, or disability.
Michael Madison's actions are also in direct violation of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative which states that a "public college or university, community college, or school district shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."
Madison writes, "The intent of our field trip was not to segregate or exclude students as has been reported, but rather to address the societal issues, roadblocks and challenges that our African American children will face as they pursue a successful academic education here in our community."
If this had been a "whites only" field trip you'd have Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and every other noise maker heading to Ann Arbor screaming racial injustice and demanding that the person or persons involved in arranging this field trip be relieved of their duties. Why is it when it's the other way around, nothing is ever said or done???
Can you imagine the fallout if whites only were taken on a field leaving black kids behind.Jesse Jackson,Farakon,Al Sharpton etc.would be here in 12 hours flat with their mugs on national tv.That being said the parents who complained but refuse to be named are spineless.Way to stand up for your beliefs.I hope you sleep well and are proud of yourselves.Lame excuse given too.
But the field trip was by invitation only and only black students were invited to attend. Madison used skin color as the sole criteria for determining who could experience this special field trip. When there wasn't enough room for all the black children to attend, he "uninvited" some of the black girls. I wonder what Madison would have done had there not been enough room for all of the black boys? Sent the light-skinned black boys back to their classrooms?
Madison also wrote in his email message to parents this evening, "Even though I am the principal of Dicken school, these strategies and interventions were not made in isolation by myself. The entire staff at Dicken decided that we needed to do something different."
Embarrassing attempt by Madison to "share the blame" for HIS ridiculous decision to give special privileges to children based solely on the color of their skin.
What the article fails to mention is that Madison is a black male and that he doles out special attention and privileges not to underachieving children, physically disadvantaged children, economically disadvantaged children, or all non-white children - just black children specifically. Privileges at Dicken Elementary School are based solely on skin color. There's nothing subtle about it, Michael Madison and the Ann Arbor School District are engaging in discriminatory practices.
Mr. Madison has taken, and will continue to take a lot of heat for this effort. In retrospect, it is easy to label this particular initative as a bad idea, at least in the way it was implemented. But let's cut him some slack. The achievement gap is a persistent problem, one that calls for special attention and out-of-the-box thinking. This was a sincere and heartfelt attempt to provide African American students with a unique opportunity to meet with a strong positive role model. Rather than sounding the alarm of indignation at reverse discrimination, let's look at this as a learning experience about how to introduce the issue of race (which people are very reluctant to discuss openly and honestly) into the classroom.
Madison just doesn't get it. Closing the achievement gap is a noble cause and I fully support it. What I don't support is excluding children out based solely on the color of their skin.
Madison has created an extremely hostile and divisive atmosphere at Dicken Elementary School.
P.S. Madison, you didn't apologize to all the children who weren't invited. My children did not get an apology from you. The only children who received an apology from you were the ones you berated and bullied for voicing their displeasure at being excluded, the ones you brought to tears, the ones who needed to be counseled after your angry tirade (because they are not black).
Madison starts to apologize and acknowledge he messed up, but catches himself and writes, "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children’s eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them."
But Madison, why did only the black children get to have such a wonderful experience? I wish you could have seen excitement, enthusiasm and energy in my children's eyes.
Andrew Thomas: I agree with your sentiment, but there are other ways to think outside the box and to accomplish these goals without engaging in blatant discrimination.
If white students had been invited to go they would have had a chance to see that a black man could achieve things that they might only associate whites. The school missed a very good opportunity to help break some racial stereotypies. Seems like a wasted opportunity.
And lest anyone believe otherwise, there were black children on that field trip who come from financially-privileged families.
If you believe in genetic mental equality, then the black achievement gap in the Ann Arbor school district is a function of nurture, not nature. The fact that there is a persistent achievement gap for black students in AA schools despite the tons of extra resources AA pumps into special emphasis programs speaks to the failure of the parents of these children.
Madison needs to listen to Bill Cosby and transmit some serious heat to the parents of these underperforming children. The AA school district is obviosuly bending over backwards to help them... and its not working. If you want to escape the soft discriination of low expectations- move into the Saline school system. AA is headed downhill.
I think all parents should join hands and and formally and peacefully protest the school, and then take a class action lawsuit againts # 1 the county. # 2 the school, and #3 Mike Madison!
This is a blatant abuse of his powers and he is no less guilty!
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” - Chief Justice Roberts
What happen to M. L. King's "I have a Dream" speech where people were judge by what they did and not their color? We should outlaw all racial groups and just be AMERICANS!
Incredibly and without little fanfare or news exposure, Obama is appropriating more than $100 billion of our taxes for indoctrinating our youth into the far-left ideology. This includes teaching the Saul Alinsky method of radical community organizing such as used by ACORN and re-educating these modern day “Hitler youths” to ascribe to Marxism, anti-American and anti-capitalism sentiment, etc. These individuals will also serve to recruit more voters to the Democratic Party and try to influence election results.
Now you know that our hard earned tax dollars are being used for a far-left agenda aimed at undermining our country and turning our youth against us.
Gov't Organizing Radicals In Our Schools
By PHYLISS SCHLAFLY 02/26/2010
President Obama's budget has added more than $100 billion in federal taxpayers' money to what is called "education," so that means it will be spent by alumni of the Saul Alinsky school of radical community organizing and/or the Chicago Democratic machine. We're indebted to Pamela Geller of AtlasShrugs.com for exposing the shocking use of some of these funds.
Obama is using the public schools to recruit a private army of high-schoolers to "build on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering students across the country to help us bring about our agenda." We now know Obama's "agenda" is to move the U.S. into European-style socialism.
Obama's Internet outreach during his campaign, Obama for America, has been renamed Organizing for America (OFA) in order to recruit students to join a cult of Obama and become activists for his goals.
Stirring It Up
Geller discovered that the teacher of an 11th-grade government class in Massillon, Ohio, passed out the sign-up sheet, headed with Obama's "O" logo, asking students to become interns for Organizing for America.
These interns will get an intensive nine-week training course using comprehensive lesson plans. Assigned readings include Saul Alinsky's notorious "Rules for Radicals," "Stir It Up: Lessons From Community Organizing and Advocacy" by left-wing activist Rinku Sen, and parts of "Dreams From My Father" dealing with Obama's days as a Chicago community organizer.
Republican students will be filtered out of the intern program by requiring applicants to answer questions that reveal their politics. One example: "What one issue facing our country is important to you and why?"
Geller said the purpose of this training to become Alinsky-style community organizers is, "of course, to elect more Democrats." The program is specifically geared to get the kids working in the 2010 elections.
Change Agenda
The sign-up sheet for Organizing for America starts with this instruction: "Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America, is building on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering students across the country to help us bring about our agenda of change."
The application explains that this national internship program is "working to make the change we fought so hard for in 2008 a reality in 2010 and beyond."
This is not the first time Obama has tried to enlist schoolchildren into an Obama cult.
Last fall, the instructions mailed to every school by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan added a very political dimension to Obama's speech that was broadcast to public school children on Sept. 8.
Geller explained the extensive political dimension of the intern program. The OFA student interns will be trained in the goals and language of the left: "anti-war agitation, anti-capitalism, Marx, Lenin, (Bill) Ayers, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) agenda promotion, global warming, soft-on-jihad and illegal immigration."
Also on OFA's reading list is "The New Organizers" by Zack Exley. It brags about "an insurgent generation of organizers" inside the Obama campaign that has "almost without anyone noticing ... built the Progressive movement a brand new and potentially durable people's organization, in a dozen states, rooted at the neighborhood level."
The 10-page "National Intern Organizer Curriculum" is very specific in describing the tactics that interns will be taught. It includes these components: "Using Story as an Organizing Tool, Building Relationships and Building Teams, Mobilizing to Win on the Issues (issue advocacy), Health Care Service Project."
Passage of ObamaCare is one of this intern project's major goals. The curriculum promises to provide "insight on the strategy and plan behind the health care campaign" and "further motivate them to work on the issue."
The sign-up sheet states that the "purpose" of training these students is "to build community" among the interns and teach them "to be leaders in OFA's organizing work." After all, Barack Obama knows a great deal about being a community organizer — that was his only real job before he got into politics.
Acorn Support
Job prospects may be bleak for many Americans, but they will be rosy for alumni of Obama's intern program.
After the students have been fully trained as Alinsky-style community organizers, they will be eligible for jobs in Senior Corps, AmeriCorps or Learn and Serve America.
Those three so-called "service" organizations, which annually dole out millions of dollars to left-wing groups, are overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service.
The U.S. Senate just confirmed this corporation's new chief executive, Patrick Corvington, who was a senior official of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has given over a million and a half dollars to the Acorn network of organizations.
A minority of radicals including Obama, his non elected czars and America loathing Democratic politicians are not so stealthily hijacking our country and inflicting near fatal wounds. We, as still partially free citizens, must relentlessly and vehemently oppose by whatever means the perversions of our culture, the unconscionable fiscal irresponsibility and imposition of legislation that will ultimately enslave us in a corrupt far left dictatorship.
The latest attack involves Obama’s personally appointed safe school czar who has already been at the center of controversy, Kevin Jennings. A staunch, outspoken and adversarial gay lifestyle supporter, he has actively promoted and not condoned gay sex between older men and significantly under aged boys. He now has also been associated with recommending essentially pornographic pro-gay books in schools through the group he headed for nineteen years, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council assessed the situation by noting that:
"This is material that, if portrayed visually, would be a triple-X hard-core porn film, and quite possibly meet the legal definition of obscenity. In fact, I think the homosexual content is the only thing preventing the outcry from being even greater, because some people fear being labeled as 'anti-gay.' If the content were heterosexual in nature, there would be no one defending it at all."
The following article exposes the extremely age inappropriate depraved nature of this lewd material which we suspect few parents are aware of or would approve. It is another example of the inexorable efforts by the far left to expose and indoctrinate our children to their radical ideologies without obtaining explicit parental consent.
Obama's Safe Schools Czar Tied to Lewd Readings for 7th Graders
Maxim Lott FOXNews.com December 14, 2009
Obama adviser Kevin Jennings is under fresh attack after it was revealed that the pro-gay group he formerly headed recommends books his critics say are pornographic.
President Obama's "Safe Schools Czar," already a target of social conservatives for his past drug abuse and what they say is his promotion of homosexuality in schools, is under fresh attack after it was revealed that the pro-gay group he formerly headed recommends books his critics say are pornographic.
The group under fire is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which Kevin Jennings, now the assistant deputy secretary for safe and drug-free schools in the Department of Education, founded and ran from 1990 to 2008.
GLSEN says it works to create a welcoming atmosphere for homosexual students in schools, and that effort includes recommending books for students of all ages.
But critics say many of the books, particularly some that are targeted for children between Grades 7 to 12, are inappropriately explicit. A full list is available at the blog Gateway Pundit, which has published dozens of controversial passages from the books.
One recommended book is titled "Queer 13: Lesbian and Gay Writers Recall Seventh Grade." On pages 43 through 45, writer Justin Chin tells of how as a 13-year-old, he went along with "near-rapes" by older men, but "really did enjoy those sexual encounters." Chin also recounts each sexual action he performed with an "ugly f*** of a man" he met on a bus.
In another book, "Passages of Pride," the author writes about a 15-year-old boy's relationship with a much older man.
"Near the end of summer, just before starting his sophomore year in high school, Dan picked up a weekly Twin Cities newspaper. Scanning the classifieds, he came upon an ad for a "Man-2-Man" massage. Home alone one day, he called the telephone number listed in the ad and set up an appointment to meet a man named Tom.... Even though Tom was older, almost twice Dan's age, Dan felt unthreatened by him. Dan admits Tom was a 'troll' in every sense of the word -- an older closeted gay man seeking sex with a man much younger. But Dan says he was not intimidated by the discrepancy in their ages. 'He kind of had me in a corner in that he knew I didn't have access to anything I wanted.' says Dan. 'But everything was consensual.'"
On Page 13 of a third book, "Reflections of a Rock Lobster," the author recounts his sexual encounters in first grade.
"By first grade I was sexually active with many friends. In fact, a small group of us regularly met in the grammar school lavatory to perform fellatio on one another. A typical week's schedule would be Aaron and Michael on Monday during lunch; Michael and Johnny on Tuesday after school; Fred and Timmy at noon Wednesday; Aaron and Timmy after school on Thursday. None of us ever got caught, but we never worried about it anyway."
"Reflections of a Rock Lobster" was recommended in 1995, the year Jennings became GLSEN's first executive director; "Passages of Pride" made the list in 1997 and "Queer 13" in 1999. Those are just three out of over 100 books that GLSEN has recommended for students in grades 7-12 since 1990, and all three remain on GLSEN's recommended reading list.
Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, says the content of the books is shocking, and it raises concerns about Jennings' judgment.
"The graphic sexual content of these books is so extreme that I think any average parent or citizen, regardless of how they feel about homosexuality, would be shocked at these books being recommended to young people," Sprigg said.
GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard defended her group's recommendations, telling FoxNews.com in a written statement:
"Some of the books that might be used with young adult audiences contain mature content, as is true of many memoirs and works of literature. Because of the presence of mature content in some of the works, GLSEN provides very clear guidelines throughout, recommending that adults review each book to make sure the book is suitable."
Those guidelines, listed on each book recommendation page, read: "All BookLink items are reviewed by GLSEN staff for quality and appropriateness of content. However, some titles for adolescent readers contain mature themes. We recommend that adults selecting books for youth review content for suitability."
But critics say the guidelines themselves are damning, because they confirm that GLSEN staff have checked the books for appropriateness. And Jennings, they point out, was in charge at the time.
"It's like Jennings just doesn't realize he's working with kids here.... You need a totally different set of rules when you're working with kids," said Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.
LaBarbera said the books should be seen in light of other recent controversies surrounding Jennings.
In September it came out that, when he was a teacher in Massachusetts, Jennings did not report an incident in which a 16-year-old boy told him that he was having sexual relations with an older man he met in a bus station bathroom. After that, 53 Republican members of the House publicly called for Jennings to be dismissed.
But Alvin McEwen, who runs a blog called "Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters" and has commented extensively on the Jennings case, said GLSEN's book recommendations should be seen in a different light.
"GLSEN is saying that parents should decide. They are saying these books may be a good idea to read, but ultimately it is up to parents," he told FoxNews.com.
McEwen said that even though Jennings was the director of GLSEN when the books were recommended, there was no evidence that he personally selected the books.
"This is ridiculous guilt-by-association ... just another moral panic thought up by people who don't have any legitimate reason to oppose Jennings, so they've made a mountain out of molehill," he said.
Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton declined to comment about Jennings' role in recommending the books.
But critics say Jennings, as GLSEN's first full-time employee and first executive director, must be held responsible.
"He was at GLSEN from the beginning and was in charge during the time when these books were approved," said Warren Throckmorton, a professor at Grove City College.
The blogger at Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, wrote elsewhere concerning a "black book" that contains a gay bar guide and explicit sexual references that was handed out at a GLSEN event.
But McEwen said it's not clear that Jennings -- or GLSEN -- knew about the guide, which was distributed by Fenway Community Health officials at a GLSEN event, which they later said had been a mistake.
Hoft has also alleged that Jennings and GLSEN were involved in Planned Parenthood's purported distribution of "fisting kits" [fisting involves forcing one's hand into another person's rectum or vagina] at at least one GLSEN event. The kit was actually for making a "dental dam" -- designed to prevent STD transmission during oral sex.
McEwen said that the attacks on Jennings and GLSEN were motivated largely by homophobia.
"There are a lot of heterosexual books that are just as explicit. In the first page of 'The Color Purple' [a 1982 novel that has caused controversy when assigned in schools], the character talks about being raped in graphic terms... what's in [GLSEN's] books is no different from what's in The Color Purple."
But Sprigg disagrees that books like "The Color Purple" are comparable to those recommended by GLSEN.
"We are not talking about 'The Great Gatsby' or 'The Grapes of Wrath' here," he said. "A lot of people who have only read the news and opinion pieces on this story, without reading the actual excerpts, may think that we are talking about the kind of sexual content that might, in a film, earn a PG-13 or R rating. We are not.
"This is material that, if portrayed visually, would be a triple-X hard-core porn film, and quite possibly meet the legal definition of obscenity. In fact, I think the homosexual content is the only thing preventing the outcry from being even greater, because some people fear being labeled as 'anti-gay.' If the content were heterosexual in nature, there would be no one defending it at all."
The myriad attempts by liberals to indoctrinate our children by a variety of means are well known with some discussions of this in past posts (Aug. 2 and Oct. 2). Some of these methods are overt such as singing songs of reverence about Obama. Other methods may not be quite as obvious to these impressionable children such as by employing reinterpretation and misrepresentation of history, de-emphasis of conservative thought, individuals and topics and overwhelming concentration on items of liberal ideology (such as: socialism is good – capitalism is bad or praising Islam while at the same time denigrating Christianity). As parents, we must be ever vigilant to protect our children from this institutional and stealth liberal indoctrination.
The following story appearing in the Columbia Daily Tribune from Columbia, Missouri details how school supplies with Obama slogans and logos were being sold in several schools in the area. Though it doesn’t appear that the schools specifically ordered these partisan paraphernalia and the supplier intimated that it was just an error but not their fault, the issue still remains that partisan political material was distributed to the impressionable. Was this an honest error or a consequence of some intentional and larger scheme? Fortunately in this situation, a few involved and concerned parents complained about these inappropriate supplies which were then removed.
Supplies with Obama logo surprise school
By Jonathon Braden December 3, 2009
Columbia Daily Tribune
A notebook sold to a student out of a supply machine at Mill Creek Elementary School bears a logo and slogan similar to those used in the Obama campaign last year. The supplier also distributed pencils with a similar theme.
Pencils and notebooks resembling President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads have been sold in at least one Columbia school and other public schools, causing the company that distributes the materials to travel around the state yanking the supplies out of machines.
“Don’t be mad at us,” said Greg Jones, a sales representative with Pencil Wholesale. “It was a total accident.”
Pencil Wholesale distributes supplies to six Columbia schools: Parkade Elementary, Cedar Ridge Elementary, Paxton Keeley Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Smithton Middle School and Hickman High School, said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer.
At Mill Creek, at least one pencil and a notebook with designs similar to Obama campaign advertisements have been sold out of a supply machine. Two families have complained about the politically tinged materials.
Three Missouri schools have contacted Jones since the beginning of the school year asking that the materials be removed, and Mill Creek Principal Mary Sue Gibson this week said she also planned to call Pencil Wholesale.
“I just don’t want to get into that political arena at all,” she said.
The bound three-ring notebook bears a photo of literal change — pennies, quarters, dimes and nickels stacked into piles. Above the photo, white text reads “CHANGE” over a navy background.
Below the photo, “WE CAN BELIEVE IN” sits above a logo similar to Obama’s campaign image — three red stripes separated by white stripes in front of a white circle with a blue background arching over the circle.
The supplies were designed by the art department of Harcourt Pencil Co., based in Milroy, Ind., Jones said.
“The art department was trying to be cutesy,” he said.
There was no response this morning to a phone message to Harcourt.
Jones delivers the supplies to about 800 schools. He remembers seeing the Obama-esque notebook when it was first designed, but “I didn’t think one thing about it,” he said.
Jones has agreed to go to schools that might have received the supplies and remove them.
“I wish I could do it over,” he said. “But, for now, I can just make it right.”
Harcourt plans to give Jones a refund on the supplies as well, he said.
But first, Jones has to find the supplies. Out of a case of 72 notebooks, three of the controversial notebooks can be found, he said.
“It’s turned out to be really ugly,” Jones said. “We’re trying to get them out of the schools as fast as we can.”
He also wants to be clear that neither he nor his company created the design. In fact, he said, he’s a registered Republican who voted for John McCain in last year’s presidential election.
Sand Hill Venable Elementary School in North Carolina
Though not as egregious and saturated with pro-Obama reverence as the songs in the Burlington, N.J. elementary school case, this situation is entirely unacceptable. This is partisan and political abuse of children, unwarranted liberal indoctrination for those who are most vulnerable.
How many hundreds or thousands more of these “stealth” brainwashing are occurring that we don’t know about and haven’t been captured on video. We do know that from elementary school through graduate schools there is a preponderance of liberal teachers/professors many whom infuse their partisan attitudes unfettered in classroom discourse irrespective of course matter. Even worse is when conservative thought by students is silenced and even penalized by these “educators”.
Every concerned parent must remain vigilant and aggressively take action when needed!
In an egregious example of leftist political indoctrination in school, 20 young children in a Burlington, N.J. elementary school were taught several songs that exalted Barack Obama. They contained praise of his ideas, plans and “accomplishments”. There were also campaign slogans thrown in as well for more adulation. One outraged father who has two children at the school stated that he "felt this was reminiscent of 1930s Germany, and the indoctrination of children to worship their leader (sic – Adolf Hitler)."
Despite the warranted outrage from both parents and the public, the involved teachers indicated essentially that this was entirely appropriate and they would have no issues doing this again. The response of the school’s superintendent was wretchedly unapologetic. This partisan favoritism and indoctrination has no place in schools at any level. You can be absolutely sure that if these same songs were about George Bush, Al (the Charlatan) Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be leading vilifying protests claiming racism and most of the news media would be camped outside the school with round the clock coverage.
The following are lyrics to two of the songs.
Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama
Song 2:
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"
Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!
Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!
So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Some parents may be aware that “politically correct” and “ideological” revisions of historic events and famous individuals going back to the times of the Founding Fathers (a phrase that is now banned) now populate our children’s textbooks. However, most Americans don’t realize how pervasive, misleading, blatantly distorted and altered, and serious these manipulations of truth and fact are.
This is the far left indoctrination of our children when they are most vulnerable. It involves not only what is presented but how it is approached, the emphasis versus lack of it, what is not covered and even pictures and photos to imprint ideas visually. For example, what do the large contrived photos of blissful minorities and disabled people that are pervasive in our children’s math and science books have to do with the facts, theories and other important information that they are supposed to be learning? Yet, when it comes to serving their designated purpose of presenting, discussing and explaining concepts, ideas and information, these same textbooks too often provide brief, inadequate, and difficult to understand descriptions that make it difficult for children to understand and learn the material. It is no wonder that American children score so poorly in comparison to other industrialized nations of the world. We are too worried about social issues and faux equality instead of useful, important educational preparation that will allow them to be well prepared and competitive in life.
Now these overt attempts at indoctrination of our children’s mind are being extended to the banning of innocuous words that are not in accord with far left ideology. This effort to control language is pernicious, dangerous, a threat to free thought and ideas and must be eliminated. Examples of this word control include Congressman or Congresswoman becoming “Member of Congress” and Chairman, Chairwoman or Chairperson becoming “Chair”. Some other “offensive” words that have been banned include brotherhood, fisherman, fellowship and freshman.
Instead of serving as excellent vehicles for learning, many of the textbooks our children are reading are designed to be stealth and subliminal sources of indoctrination as paranoid as it might sound.
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