Quote of the day
posted at 10:35 pm on April 21, 2009 by Allahpundit
“By going along with Secretary Duncan’s plan to hollow out the D.C. voucher program this president, who has spoken so passionately about the importance of education, is playing rank politics with the education of poor children. It is an outrage…
This reckless dismantling of the D.C. voucher program does not bode well for arguments to come about standards in the effort to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. It does not speak well of the promise of President Obama to be the ‘Education President,’ who once seemed primed to stand up for all children who want to learn and especially minority children.
And its time for all of us to get outraged about this sin against our children.”
Blowback
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This just sounds wrong… Can’t stop laughing…
Upstater85 on April 21, 2009 at 11:34 PM
A group of big banks and other lenders rebuffed a Treasury Department request that they slash 85% of Chrysler LLC’s secured debt, proposing instead to eliminate about 35% in exchange for a minority stake in the restructured car maker and a seat on its board.
The lenders’ counteroffer marks a significant act of brinksmanship as the banks and the Obama administration’s auto task force duel over concessions to avoid liquidating the country’s third-largest car company.
In their counteroffer, the lenders blasted the government’s proposal as unfair. They said it is “in no way a shared sacrifice.”
The lenders also questioned the logic of having Chrysler pair up with Fiat. The Italian company, they said, would bring “negative synergies for the first 3 years” and would enter the alliance with “limited downside for a deal of this size.” Moreover, they said it could result in a “wealth transfer from the U.S. taxpayer to a foreign company of potentially $10 billion or more.”
“Fiat seemed to be getting a lot for not much,” said one of these people.
MB4 on April 21, 2009 at 11:36 PM
“negative synergies”. I love that. LOL.
progressoverpeace on April 21, 2009 at 11:40 PM
Alright, and popcorn and really good whiskey….is that better?
HornetSting on April 21, 2009 at 11:40 PM
No, I liked the first one!
It sounded like some sort of 90s rap.
We are the dark-side kids…
We have our tea and cookies…
Maybe some pop’n corns…
OK, no more…
Upstater85 on April 21, 2009 at 11:42 PM
I thought I heard that obama was talking about giving GM another 10 billion or was it just a nightmare?
HornetSting on April 21, 2009 at 11:43 PM
It does sound rather kinky!
MB4 on April 21, 2009 at 11:43 PM
.
Obama and Democrats are paying back the teacher’s unions. They do not care about the poor students stuck in nightmare schools with 6% passing reading, high drop-out rates.
I agree with Juan; this is an outrage!
TN Mom on April 21, 2009 at 11:44 PM
Unlike Juan this black man was not ecstatic the night of Obama’s election. Quite the contrary. However, I understand why Juan and others would feel that way. The mere fact that a black man, any black man had assumed the highest office in not only America but the world, would most definitely engender pride and yes, ecstacy in most black people.
But after the euphoria comes the reality. And the reality with Obama is that neither race nor ideology nor whatever could match the massive ego of this man. Everything is about him; Barack Hussien Obama. A choice between the rich and powerful NEA and black kids in DC will see Obama coming down squarely on the side of the NEA, everytime! Obama does, and will always do what’s good for Obama.
About Juan Williams. This is not the first time he stood up to the so-called black power structure. In his book “Enough” he shredded Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, The NAACP and most every other race hustler in America. So, to me anyway, this article taking Obama to task and exposing him as the lying little weasel that he is is not a surprise.
RMR on April 21, 2009 at 11:44 PM
OK, I’m out, but keep the eyes peeled for MegMac…
Upstater85 on April 21, 2009 at 11:45 PM
It’s true. They will produce nothing but wind powered rickshaws and you will be required to trade in your car for one in 2010.
MB4 on April 21, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Juan Williams, another DHS listee.
Loxodonta on April 21, 2009 at 11:48 PM
Like my gun? Cold dead hands….I LOVE my car!
HornetSting on April 21, 2009 at 11:48 PM
Scary thought.
Meg Mac nominated to {position} in Obama administration. Maybe one of those open slots under Turbo Timmy….
Mew
acat on April 21, 2009 at 11:48 PM
I can’t think of anything (forget the dang dog – grin).
That’s amazing, since the guy never shuts up. He intentionally makes the news almost every day. That’s why I think he’s going out of his way.
Think of it. If all his offenses (including even some of the things people assume are gaffes like the DVD set) were just accidents – don’t you think he’d have gotten something right by now? Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Daggett on April 21, 2009 at 11:51 PM
All public officials should be forced to send their children/grandchildren to public schools. Then we will see how quickly they fix our failing schools.
TN Mom on April 21, 2009 at 11:52 PM
The only kind of voucher program that will garner any kind of support with current Congress and President Obama in D.C. is one in which the feds gain a large amount of power. It will be exactly like when the government told TARP recipients what to do with the money they were being given.
So you’ll see plenty of leftist antics like strip-searching 13 year olds to try to find drugs and teaching right out of the Communist playbook. They’re looking to take over the private schools, the only good schools, and that must be stopped. I don’t buy the vouchers bit as a good incremental measure.
The Dean on April 21, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Jaun’s mistake was to fall prey to the Svengali spell to begin with.
Jaun actually believed that Obama ever cared about anything or anyone other than himself.
And Messianic just isn’t that far off. Charismatic authority.
Speakup on April 21, 2009 at 11:54 PM
But Obama’s clock is not stopped. It is spinning quite quickly.
Loxodonta on April 21, 2009 at 11:55 PM
Tick Tock Tick Tock….somebody que the alligator.
HornetSting on April 21, 2009 at 11:57 PM
Tea and cookies,the dark side!
O Boy,the Queen likes tea,and cookies or is it
crumpets!
Must check,the Royal Dulton catalogue,and see,
if theres a Dark Side Special Edition Tea Set!
(Snark)ahem.hehe.
canopfor on April 22, 2009 at 12:03 AM
Haste makes waste so excuse the spelling mistakes.
RMR on April 22, 2009 at 12:08 AM
What if you could escape…
to a far away world…
without parents …
without any rules…
No need since January 20th.
… without anyone telling you what to do …
Tick Tock Tick Tock…
Oh no! It’s Janet Napolitano!
Loxodonta on April 22, 2009 at 12:09 AM
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again–the way for the Republican Party to wipe out the Democrats is school vouchers. I even claimed that if McCain had hit this issue hard enough he could have won. Obama was, and continues to be huuuuuugely vulnerable on this issue because of his craven support for big labor. That’s why he is playing Russian roulette with the auto industry by not insisting they declare bankruptcy and show they have a plan to profitabiliy. He’d rather watch the whole ball of wax go up in flames before he’d roll back one legacy contract item for his precious union buddies.
The Republicans need to drive this wedge in axe-handle deep between labor and Obama’s minority faithful. He is using them, using them, using them–in Zo’s memorable phrase–as “vote fodder,” and nowhere is this more evident than with what is going on with DC’s voucher program. “Hi, my name is Senator _____, did I mention that I fully support school vouchers?” Every day, something about vouchers, and school choice–hey, who can be against choice? Man, this is low-hanging fruit, and it’s driving me nuts just watching it slowly rotting.
smellthecoffee on April 22, 2009 at 12:09 AM
He was referring to the black vote, not the overall vote.
Dasher on April 22, 2009 at 12:13 AM
Education President? You mean the guy that spent $160 million with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, for no change in test scores? You gotta be kidding!
Vouchers let parents control their children’s education–but only Big Brother Barack is wise enough to control education. Winston Smith, report to Room 101, immediately.
Steve Z on April 22, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Barack Obama as “the education President” is like Barney Frank as a buttonholer in a nudist colony.
profitsbeard on April 22, 2009 at 12:28 AM
+1
The press never talks about this. The ONLY job of any substance he had prior to getting elected was his five year stint on the CAC board. Funny thing though, it isnt mentioned in either of his two memoirs. You’d think that the longest tenure of his employment career, the best item on his resume to show that he had experience doing “something” would have been discussed by the press or Obama himself! But noooooooo… this has been hidden away in the closet, er, warehouse of Obama Unknowns. $160M spent for NO IMPROVEMENT, might be the reason it isn’t mentioned. Then again, that’s chump change compared to his recent financial dealings.
cannonball on April 22, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Well better late than never Juan. Now that you are awake why don’t you fully open your eyes, open them, rub out the unicorn dust and see what is really happening.
The DC voucher program was killed because it worked – not that it raised test scores – but it got parents involved… yes parents, the real enemy of the union and the administration. For generations the NEA and the Department of Education have worked to take over the role of parenting, and completely demoralize a whole sub-section of society (the poor). Vouchers showed the potential to empowered and change that class in a single generation.
A simple program that would have lifted whole families out of poverty, illiteracy, crime and hopelessness. And at no additional cost to tax payers, in fact in a cost outcome it probably saves us all money.
The program was killed to preserve the voting class the Democrats depend on – the Dependant class.
batterup on April 22, 2009 at 12:49 AM
“smellthecoffee on April 22, 2009 at 12:09 AM”
paging mr. steele, mr. m. steele …
[!!]
Buckaroo on April 22, 2009 at 12:50 AM
But he can re-buy those votes easily enough. Now is time for the Union payoffs. The Teacher’s Union hates children, they are so in the way. The inconvenient children don’t score right on the tests on purpose to make the Union look bad.
petunia on April 22, 2009 at 12:51 AM
Jeeze Juan, Obama has already burdened our future with massive generational debt, who’s gonna need an education?
We’re gonna rely on the world welfare system as run by our Saudi overlords.
Kini on April 22, 2009 at 12:51 AM
If that’s true… we should look into more private funding to actually get these kids an education and into our camp. Win-win.
petunia on April 22, 2009 at 12:53 AM
You have to see things the media’s way to understand this. The amount of tax money spent on a project is the sole indicator of its success. What the project actually does, or fails to do, is irrelevant. The other things people might have done with that tax money are invisible. The alternatives to spending tax money range from unthinkable to absurd.
What a different view of these government boondoggles the public might have, if news stations were required to display the actual results of a program in an on-screen text box. During the campaign, Obama could have been boasting of how the Annenberg Challenge is the crown jewel of his resume, and a box could have appeared next to him that said “$160 million spent with no improvement in test scores.” Or every appearance by a teacher’s union shill could be accompanied by a bar graph tracking increase in funding for the Department of Education versus the decline in test scores. Advocates of increased welfare benefits could be forced to share the screen with a running tally of how much money was spent on the War on Poverty, with no reduction in poverty.
As it stands, a dollar spent on education by private citizens is meaningless, but place it into the hands of the government and it magically changes into thirty highly significant cents, radiant with caring and wisdom.
Doctor Zero on April 22, 2009 at 1:01 AM
You again make a very well reasoned and written argument. But there is a problem with this statement:
And you address it yourself when you say that for the MSM:
I fear we live in times in which facts and evidence don’t matter. Instead, what matters most is superficial images and whatever feels good. And I fear this isn’t just true of the liberal MSM, but permeates through most of contemporary culture.
Am I wrong? If so, please help me better understand our situation.
And if I’m right, how do we change this?
Loxodonta on April 22, 2009 at 1:20 AM
Dr. Zero, my thoughts also. I also think this is a reward to the unions to continue the mediocrity that is our education system. By ridding vouchers, you eliminate competition and the curriculum of good education. Therefore a life reward of care by the state and institutional living. All is cared for, bliss.
Kini on April 22, 2009 at 2:26 AM
This is a worthy QOTD, unlike some. Obama has shown that he’s more concerned about keeping the NEA happy than about looking out for the best interests of poor black children, and the families they will have one day.
Once again, I have to wonder how long it will be before black people realize that the Democratic party they vote for so loyally cares so little about an issue that affects the poorest of them so much.
And, of course, how little difference there is between the first African American president, and any other Democrat president, ever.
ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on April 22, 2009 at 2:26 AM
If someone, the government, is giving you a home, food, medical care, all on the dime of welfare, then what incentive do you have to achieve your own personal greatness.
Obama looks at his fortune as he looks at other achievers. It’s not deserved. It’s the come about of the Audacity of Hope. If you can dream a better world. His world is a parental approach which assumes others, like himself, can make decisions better than you can. You must be cared for, your needs must be met, your life must be defined. You have no meaning. We will provide for you.
You are now owned by the state.
Kini on April 22, 2009 at 3:02 AM
I talked about this last week.
The teacher union, Arne Duncan, the congress, and President Obama are all complicit in this travesty.
Black Adam on April 22, 2009 at 3:26 AM
I am so glad to see Juan take this on. It is sinful how little attention this has gotten elsewhere.
I feel sorry for the kids, the majority of whose parents helped elect Obama, who will not be able to reap the benefits of the DC voucher program. Nothing he can say or do from here on as it pertains to education will be able to make up for that. It serves him right that he may have just crafted a new class of Republicans.
Captain Scarlet on April 22, 2009 at 3:29 AM
Juan Williams is one of the few liberals I respect. I nearly always disagree with him (this case being one of the exceptions), but I think he tries to be objective and weigh the facts before commenting.
`
He leans leftward on most issues, but isn’t one to parrot the meme of the day.
`
Adjoran on April 22, 2009 at 4:13 AM
It amazes me that the GOP sits silent while the Left undermines education. The Left is interested in reform–only more tax money and more control. Period.
This is one glaring example of how Democrats always fail blacks. Is the GOP affraid of alienating the power structure of the teachers unions? Heck, they’ll never win that. But it might earn the respect of some rank-and-file teachers if it introduced some commonsense reform.
For crying out loud, look what little Obama did for the Chicago public school system when he and Ayers blew through $161 million in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Under Obama, any federal government tax money for education is just going to get siphoned off into nonsense.
BuckeyeSam on April 22, 2009 at 5:07 AM
Two of the most important pillars of the Democrat party are the teachers unions and the blacks. We can never get the teachers unions. We oppose everything they stand for: endless increases in government spending coupled with lack of accountability for performance. Politics ain’t beanbags. We need to exploit this fissure and turn these two groups against one another. We need a new proposal for a federal school voucher program in D.C. called the 2009 Malia and Sasha Freedom of Choice Act.
Ted Torgerson on April 22, 2009 at 6:19 AM
The problem with the voucher program is that the private schools involved were actually teaching their students effectively.
Now, if they were indoctrinating them, on the other hand, I suspect the reaction from Obama would be far different.
As soon as Bill Ayers finishes his blueprint for public “education”, expect a groundbreaking education iniative to be forthcoming.
The voucher programs are just in the way. A “distraction”, if you will.
hillbillyjim on April 22, 2009 at 6:23 AM
sp. initiative, damnit.
and on a post about education, to boot. :-(
hillbillyjim on April 22, 2009 at 6:26 AM
No, they’re not kidding. What Ayers and Obama mean by “education” is political indoctrination, including sex-ed at 5.
gh on April 22, 2009 at 6:41 AM
Darn, I fell asleep last night before this was posted. I think this should be the next big protest. Pull the kids from the public school system. I am reluctant to be vocal about because my kids are grown but I would love to help out. I know this sounds like crazy talk but it would be a HUGE message sent. If this was organized over the summer and in Sept. there was a huge drop in enrollment, the powers that be would notice. There are enough programs and people out there to in varying stages of their lives and employment to help make this possible. I know it has a lot of scary possibilities but it also “cures” a lot of problems. Remember one of the biggest supporters of the Left and they have your children three quarters of the year and they want your children to be just like them.
Cindy Munford on April 22, 2009 at 6:44 AM
I always thought that Juan Williams was a smart guy. I am not surprised to hear that he is getting a bit impatient with Obama.
Terrye on April 22, 2009 at 6:56 AM
I remember that one of my first posts was on education… the proposal was simple.
The reading rate from when poor Johnny couldn’t read has remained flat, no matter how much money you pour into the system. Many people complain that US students do not meet up with standards in academics to their foreign counterparts by standardized tests.
Call the bluff.
Get rid of the Dept. of Education (hey we spend oodles more and results are flat!),
-Take a percentage of funds that used to go to the Dept of Education and block grant them on simple procedures:
-All schools wishing to get such funds may not discriminate on entrance to education, nor require any religious affiliation to those attending, nor require religious instruction for such students for this purpose,
-Home schoolers may apply no matter how they teach their children, so long as they perform (why do YOU care what else they learn so long as they perform in the tests?),
-Divide funds up based on number of students being applied for,
-Give a percentage of funds directly equal to percentage on test scores to the instructors be they homeschooling parents, public schools or private schools, with more than 100% being given for those that achieve more per student not on average, and pay more for beating that top performing Nation’s children (we do PAY for performance in the rest of our lives, after all),
-If the US ever becomes the top-ranked Nation, then this is changed to the top State against which other States compete.
This gives schools a direct feed-back into who actually performs well as an instructor: as funds are sent back per-student and per-subject, that then breaks out per-instructor within schools. Those become instructors you want to reward as they can actually do this thing known as: teaching well.
For Homeschoolers this allows a direct 1:1 comparison with other homeschooling methods, and allows those who do such teaching to compare notes, methods and study habits.
Good instruction is rewarded!
Poor and failing schools soon find themselves with not only failing marks, but a failing federal source of funds, and then need to go to the District to try and find solutions. Good institutions prosper, better teaching methods are identified and rewarded and will, as a result, spread.
And schools just might want to get a clause in their Teacher Union contracts to meet minimums *across the board* or have that be grounds for firing individual teachers because they can’t do this thing known as ‘teach’.
That turns responsibility over to the parents, not the schools.
Too bad so few want that.
Too bad so few critics are willing to support a means of addressing their criticism.
As Jerry Pournelle noted – if our school systems had been forced on us by an invader, we would have a revolution.
ajacksonian on April 22, 2009 at 7:06 AM
I don’t feel bad for Juan. Juan knew what Obama was all about before he was President. It’s not a surprise. The problem is that the parents will still vote democrat even though it is the republicans who want these vouchers and choice schools.
Frances on April 22, 2009 at 7:20 AM
I have a question?? Can anyone answer this??? Was not the little black girl that wrote a letter to Obama,,, the same girl he held up at his first State of the Union show,,, did not that little girl go to this same school???
Who was that little girl?? She writes him a letter asking that their school not be shut down. He invites her and uses her as a tool/prop,, she’s sitting up their with Michelle, he points her out during the speech and praises her and so forth,,,, obviously raising her and her families hopes,,,, now did he just shut down her school????
Or did that girl go to a different school????
JellyToast on April 22, 2009 at 7:24 AM
Obamacrats lust after more political power. They don’t acutally give a damn about our childrens’ education. In fact, the better educated the kids become, the less likely they will ever vote for Democrats–or Republicans.
Highly educated voters are a threat to the political class.
RandyChandler on April 22, 2009 at 7:26 AM
No,,, I see that girl was in a SC school. Not in a DC school.
JellyToast on April 22, 2009 at 7:30 AM
I’m a career public school teacher. It’s over folks. Home school your children if you can’t afford a private school. Let the dead bury the dead. If we don’t have vouchers than education is over in the U.S.
Mojave Mark on April 21, 2009 at 10:40 PM
This is the result of 40 years of declining standards: teachers who don’t know the difference between than and then, less and fewer, its and it’s and sometimes there and their.
Basilsbest on April 22, 2009 at 7:40 AM
Juan Williams uses the Heritage Foundation as a source of info? Juannachange!
jrab01 on April 22, 2009 at 7:45 AM
Bravo. I noticed that last night. I appreciated his sentiment, but the than made me wince.
BuckeyeSam on April 22, 2009 at 7:49 AM
Next Bambi quote: ” I certainly hope you dont blame me for a program that started when I was only 42 years old” er wait, the teleprompter is upside down Rahm!
faol on April 22, 2009 at 7:53 AM
I’m confident that Juan Williams will be in Ogabe’s corner in 2012 because any Replublican will be unacceptable to him. He’s just another liberal tool who’s showing a bit of wear. Nothing to see here. Move along.
SKYFOX on April 22, 2009 at 7:58 AM
I have a suggestion. Juan should join Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams to create a three-man committee to devise some workable education solutions from grade school through grad school–addressing those students headed for tech schools too. Give them a grant, and then give them a platform to sell it.
Blacks simply don’t see how the Left sells them down the river on education. They hear only the howl that they need more money, which invariablly gets misused by poverty merchants who enslave them. Someone explain to me how the amount of money poured into Washington DC schools yields the results that it does.
The Left should be sued by blacks for generational theft over the past 40 years.
BuckeyeSam on April 22, 2009 at 7:59 AM
According to a 2007 article in The Washington Post, the Washington D.C. public school district spends $12,979 per student per year. This is the third highest level of funding per student out of the 100 biggest school districts in the U.S. Despite this high level of funding, the school district provides outcomes that are lower than the national average. In reading and math, the district’s students score the lowest among 11 major school districts–even when poor children are compared only with other poor children. Thirty-three percent of poor fourth graders in the U.S. lack basic skills in math, but in Washington D.C., it’s 62%.[7]
Juans right!
faol on April 22, 2009 at 8:05 AM
We make the mistake of thinking that public schools are to educate children. But actually, they are little more than life support systems for teachers’ unions.
No where is this more true than in DC.
petefrt on April 22, 2009 at 8:06 AM
From the Washington Examiner:
mankai on April 22, 2009 at 8:22 AM
I agree. And they should be joined by Bill Cosby.
As a conservative lawyer who believes there can be no real progress without individual responsibility I would hope that the case would be dismissed on the basis of volenti no fit injuuria: He who consents cannot receive an injury.
Basilsbest on April 22, 2009 at 8:34 AM
*non fit*
Basilsbest on April 22, 2009 at 8:35 AM
Juan Williams was one of Tony Snow’s best friends, how bad could he be?
Cindy Munford on April 22, 2009 at 8:37 AM
“Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Congress could always reauthorize the program if later studies showed conclusively it was helping the children’s educational performance”
How come he doesn’t apply the same standard to federal funding of the public school program in DC?
gonnjos on April 22, 2009 at 8:38 AM
Oh, I forgot there was a “D” after Durbin’s name.
gonnjos on April 22, 2009 at 8:39 AM
This doesn’t surprise me. You can’t have educated serfs.
vapig on April 22, 2009 at 8:43 AM
Frances on April 22, 2009 at 7:20 AM
I disagree. Nobody really knew about Obama. The media didn’t do it’s job.
I don’t even think Obama knows Obama. He changes his mind almost daily.
bridgetown on April 22, 2009 at 8:45 AM
Fifty percent of the time I want to buy Mr Williams lunch. The other fifty percent of the time, I want to grab him by the lapels and scream, “What in God’s name is wrong with you?”
I guess that means he is about as fair as they come.
Hamburgers are on me today Juan.
Mr. Grump on April 22, 2009 at 8:59 AM
The reason O doesn’t want vouchers isn’t because he hearts the union, but because he doesn’t want all those underprivileged kids invading his daughters’ fancy school.
KS Rex on April 22, 2009 at 9:05 AM
alot of parents won’t homeschool their children because 1: they are both working to make ends meet & really, really don’t have time (& don’t feel they can quit their jobs for the health ins. reason or something) or 2: they are just too damn lazy.
but down here in the hinterland, you can’t homeschool your children just because you want to. you have to have some excuse to opt out of the public educ. system. religious reasons is one.
kelley in virginia on April 22, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Remember, it’s not about education, it’s about indoctrination.
ernie on April 22, 2009 at 9:23 AM
Helping a few black kids get into a good school is a good thing for those few kids. But, if you really want to end the cycle of poverty and the bigotry of low expectation that affects millions of blacks, you must transform the urban black culture that promotes ignorance and self hatred.
Obama is in the unique position to do this, but it is an uphill fight. You can’t have heroin addicts without heroin, and you can’t have welfare junkies without welfare.
Lets get back to the founding fathers and re-institute their program. It is a tried and true winner.
saiga on April 22, 2009 at 9:55 AM
The biggest threat to the democratic party is education. Dumbing down is the only hope they have for control of the masses. Brainwashed lemmings are much easier to control than those who can actually think for themselves.
volsense on April 22, 2009 at 10:08 AM
Juan cried when Obama won the election, and it looks like he is still crying.
sarainitaly on April 22, 2009 at 10:12 AM
I have no issues with a guy like Juan Williams, who is wrong a lot, but is right sometimes, and always speaks honestly from his heart.
But these ultra-lib wack-jobs who don’t breathe a word that isn’t from the Alinsky play-book, and exude hate with every pore of their bodies…..they have to go. Like the Libwit in Chief.
We need politians who represent the country, not a narrow, angry, intolerant, obessed, amoral minority.
And I don’t care how loud or repetitively the criminal press shouts the opposite.
notagool on April 22, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Many of the children affected by this decision attend Catholic and other religious schools…its just another way for Obama to take God out of people’s lives and replace Him with the Almighty Government…you will see this more and more over the upcoming months and years.
joepub on April 22, 2009 at 10:29 AM
There’s no doubt that we have an emotional, superficial electorate, but there’s also a kernel of practicality buried under the mushy exterior. I think the battle against socialism must be fought on both moral and practical grounds: the policies of the Democrat Party are both immoral and ineffective. They’ve been allowed to hide the “ineffective” part for far too long. A public increasingly sensitive to wasteful spending and the threat of rising taxes, as evidenced by the Tea Party movement, might be more prepared to hear both sides of the argument.
Obama presents a unique opportunity to highlight the absolute bankruptcy – literally – of collectivist politics. Billion dollar failouts are a fairly graphic example to build a comprehensive case on. Socialism’s moral argument, that liberty and economic freedom must be sacrificed to wise socialists so they can take care of the people, unravels when you can prove their programs don’t work. Have any of them *ever* worked? Is there a single government program that cost more than a billion dollars, outside of the military, that measurably improved whatever condition it was supposed to address? Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither, and the victims of America’s socialists *get* neither. The media arm of the socialist movement spends a great deal of its time covering up just how badly the populace is being cheated.
I would certainly agree that we can’t win over the electorate with an entirely financial argument – it must be coupled with the moral imperative. Both of those arguments are much easier to make if the public can be reminded just what a pack of *failures* the Democrats are. It’s obviously not a message the media will transmit on its own, so unless the “Zombies Ahead” guys hack into the network news Chyrons and spice up Obama’s next sound bite on education with “He kills successful private school programs for political reasons” scrolling across the bottom of the screen, it will be up to the Republican candidates – backed up by people like us. A better presidential candidate than McCain would never have allowed Obama to absurdly claim the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, or the dessicated husk of the community he “organized,” were resume enhancements.
Doctor Zero on April 22, 2009 at 10:39 AM
Public education=publicly mandated indoctrination.
HS public Science teacher here-NCLB had great intentions, but unrealistic expectations.
The govt has no business in educating kids. This takes away responsibility from the parents.
Parents who want their kids to be competitive & successful in the real world will find a way to get their kids educated.
Get rid of the taxing of America for education. Let us keep our $$ in the first place so that we may decide how our kids are educated.
Homeschooling is really great if there’s a plan.
Comparing US students to students from other countries is stupid-only the best & brightest in many countries get to go to school. So we are competing in test scores against a hand picked group.
Vouchers=socialism as was said above.
John Adams I think would change his mind if he saw what has become of govt run schools.
Public school has taken away parental responsibility & has in some situations become glorified day care.
Parents who do not foster growth & learning in their kids should be responsible for the consequences of not parenting their kids-not ME.
I can teach kids who want to learn & succeed. I can’t do that with a kid who has no consequences to pay for when they don’t test well.
Ugh. I certainly don’t need my job bad enough to put up with passing kids to make my admin & parents happy.
If challenging kids is so bad, I quit. I can definitely make more $$ somewhere else.
Badger40 on April 22, 2009 at 12:01 PM
In the DC district, they learn how to
read and riot.
This move is merely a power grab.
seven on April 22, 2009 at 12:59 PM
The media is holding the citizens of this country hostage. They will not allow the world or ourselves to see the good we have done, unless we vote for the people they like.
And when we vote in the people they like, they then embark on a propaganda campaign to hide the awful things those people do.
The media must be destroyed, and then rebuilt with an institutional respect for a free citizenry that demands and is entitled to truth-telling above all. There is no other way, and the destruction of the media is the first step.
Media delenda est.
drunyan8315 on April 22, 2009 at 1:28 PM
More elitism. It’s clear, that those kids in Obama’s daughters school, had no business being there. They’re not the right class, and element, of the upper crust Obama’s. Certainly not children the Obamas want their girls associating with.
Nooooo. They’d much rather have their girls associating with domestic terrorists, radical preachers, and scumbag politicians.
capejasmine on April 22, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Yes, welfare disincentivizes personal achievement. But we’re talking about something broader here: parents vision for their children’s future. Even if welfare parents have given up on themselves, they will still hope for better for their children. And frankly, getting them out of a violent and dangerous school environment is enough of an incentive.
But it’s even more powerful than that. This is something you can get black voters behind with the simple logic: why should their children be denied a good education because of where they live? I think you’d find that most put a lot more value on their children than they do on their children’s teachers.
ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on April 22, 2009 at 11:50 PM
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