School districts deluged with phone calls from parents angry about Obama’s speech
posted at 9:16 pm on September 3, 2009 by Allahpundit
Rod Dreher heard about it anecdotally this morning, but what he calls the righty “crazybomb” has now exploded with full force:
Schools don’t have to show it. But districts across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to watch.
Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia, Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out…
“As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality,” said Oklahoma state Sen. Steve Russell. “This is something you’d expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”…
PTA council president Cara Mendelsohn said Obama is “cutting out the parent” by speaking to kids during school hours.
“Why can’t a parent be watching this with their kid in the evening?” Mendelsohn said. “Because that’s what makes a powerful statement, when a parent is sitting there saying, ‘This is what I dream for you. This is what I want you to achieve.’”
Presumptive answer to her question: Because far fewer kids (and parents) are going to want to watch in the evening. People get grumpy when an Obama speech on something important preempts the primetime schedule; does she really believe they’re going to turn off “CSI” to watch The One drone on about education? I think kids can handle 20 minutes alone with him. Besides, if the boss is right that the real threat here will be teachers using this as a pretext for more politicized lessons going forward, what does it matter if the kids watch Obama or not? It’s what comes later that’s the concern.
More from Politico:
“The gist is, ‘I want to see what the president has to say before you expose it to my child.’ Another said, ‘This is Marxist propaganda.’ They are very hostile,” said Patricia O’Neill, a Democrat who is vice president of the Montgomery County School Board, in a district that borders Washington, D.C. “I think it’s disturbing that people don’t want to hear the president, but we live in a diverse society.”…
Six districts contacted by POLITICO all said they would leave it to local school superintendents, principals and teachers whether to show the speech – but all said they would provide alternative activities for students whose parents didn’t want them to see the broadcast…
Obama isn’t the first president to be criticized this way. O’Neill recalled President George H. W. Bush made televised address to students in October 1991 as campaign season was heating up. A handful of Democrats denounced Bush’s address as pure politics. Bush asked students to “take control” of their education and to write him a letter about ways students could help him achieve his goals, strikingly similar to Obama’s messages.
Newsbusters remembered Bush’s address this morning — and also remembered that lefty darling Dick Gephardt was very concerned about it indeed (“The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president”). Reagan did it too, according to Tapper, although it’s unclear in both cases how widely televised the speeches were. The most amazing thing about this story to me is Tapper’s assertion that the White House was “caught flat-footed” by the outcry, which is certainly true given how quickly they moved to revise the prep materials. Do they not watch Glenn Beck or listen to Limbaugh? Is Andrew Sullivan really their primary source for how grassroots conservatives view the administration? They’re entitled to have as much contempt as they like for righty suspicions about creeping authoritarianism as government expands, but those suspicions are a fact of political life. Seven months into The One’s term, only a moron would fail to anticipate the reaction at this point.
Blowback
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I know this man.
Also, he wouldn’t do it unless he was in big political trouble.
He wants the kiddies to go home and tell their Right Wing extremist, “neck,” bitterly clinging, Tea Partying parents that they have the “wrong ideas.”
I’d be careful throwing around the word “idiot,” cretin.
No, he didn’t.
This is a first in American and presidential history.
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 12:42 PM
If it was wrong that “they” called Reagan names when he did what Obama’s doing, why is it OK for you to do it now? Isn’t that a tad hypocritical.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:42 PM
What was it that he used as an edict Growfins? What did Reagan use? Was it related to a personality cult of Reagan? Did RR want to be praised as other dicators enjoy? Name the specifics please and remember the second amendment is still legal.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Oh you do, do you? Went to school with him did you? Close personal friend of his mother?
You’re a nutcase.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:32 PM
The only fool here is you. You (and evidently the Administration) thought 52% was a mandate to change this country into a Socialist Nation. Epic overreach. Parents would not be reacting this way if he spoke to the children in the evening when they could be with their parents. Given what is now known of this man’s history and ideology set off alarm bells in homes across America when this speech was announced. The study materials were sycophantic in nature and reflected leader worship worthy of North Korea. If your lying leader ever does a 180 and professes his love of America and the America way of life, then maybe parents will feel comfortable in him speaking to their children. Not now.
kingsjester on September 4, 2009 at 12:43 PM
No president in the past has nominated radical leftists and truthers to their administration and supported dictators overseas more then the democractically elected ones. Obama never campaigned being this specific, he only said he would give us hope and a lot of change.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM
This shiite muslim is hitting the fan.
ted c on September 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Here’s Reagan propagandizing 80s youth about God, taxes, and gun control. you can be forgiven for not remembering the howls of outrage from conservative parents who objected to a sitting President interposing himself between the scared parent-child relationship.
There weren’t any.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM
Yeah, he did.
He even changed the text of the speech to remove “help the President” because so many people found it offensive.
He didn’t expect parents, teachers and local schools to refuse to air it for all the obvious reasons.
Nor did he expect such a backlash like a large “sick out” movement.
The fool is politically tone deaf–or can’t you tell?
No. President Reagan didn’t do this!
He didn’t commandeer national TV or send out lesson plans or use the NEA to promote it or require that every school in the country watch it.
Nice try, hater.
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 12:46 PM
scared = sacred.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Because “helping the President” is such an awful thing. Have you lost your mind?
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:48 PM
kingsjester
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:51 PM
I don’t see anything wrong with Reagan referring to God when this nation is still free and a lot of people think its ok to possess guns because of the second amendment. Leftists probably would love to eliminate the second amendment and then get rid of the first one. Don’t tell me about seperation of church and state because Obama just had a dinner in the White House celebrating Ramaden.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Last time I checked we were still living in a free country. I have the right to pressure my school not to show this dreck and the right to keep my children home if they do.
dpierson on September 4, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Palin (god forbid)
I’m not interested in anyone demanding that children write essays/letters on how “they can help him” or write quotes of his on artwork around the classroom. That is creepy, period. However, there is nothing Palin has said that causes me to have anxiety about the message. This Palin hating/demeaning crap is liberal media driven. You think it’s cool to show your distaste of Palin and can only support that attitude with non-specifics created by liberals in their effort to neutralize her. Joe Biden? Gibbs? Van Jones? Holden? Give me a break.
Haunches on September 4, 2009 at 12:53 PM
Helping THIS Precedent IS – an awful thing.
Fishoutofwater on September 4, 2009 at 12:54 PM
Growfins are you sure that is all Obama is going to say? How do you know this and it seems like he has never stopped campaigning and this is away to get his message across is through the students.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Of course you don’t. You hate Obama and your objections, like much of the ginned up ‘outrage’ over this issue, are about poisonous partisan politics. There is nothing of principle at stake for you. You’d happily let your kids be propagandized by Ronald Reagan.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:55 PM
There’s a difference between providing presidential leadership to our nation’s youth and pushing a purely partisan agenda that is unConstitutional.
With Reagan, there was no WH handholding with the NEA (and the other unions), no “order” to air it in nation’s schools, and no lesson plans.
The 2nd Amendment is in our Bill of Rights.
(Income taxes are unConstitutional, but…) Reagan tried to keep taxes low and the size of government small.
As for mentioning God, this nation was founded by Christians, is still largely Christian and “In God we Trust” is our national motto.
Note the key word in Reagan’s speech is “invite.”
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 12:55 PM
No. But then I don’t “know” the man like Jenfidel does.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 12:56 PM
It’s not my kids job to “help” the President do anything. They need to get an education and be kids. When they can vote they can “help” anyone politician they want by voting for them.
If you can’t see parallels to 3rd world banana republics here you are blind with adoration for the dear leader.w
dpierson on September 4, 2009 at 12:56 PM
I didn’t realize we elected barry to be Parent in Chief.
redfoxbluestate on September 4, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Who said I hated BO??? As a person he is probably a nice guy but to tell you the truth I am more outraged by his appointments and associations then his school message. If the message is to encourage children to become more studious then I see there is nothing wrong with it. People are concerned that he will inject his personal politics into it.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Projection Finny boy, projection. Come up with some new material.
Fishoutofwater on September 4, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Everything is about principle and is at stake.
You know this well or you wouldn’t be here posting your Leftist talking points!
NObama, the DemocRats and Zero’s gang of Czars have made our country’s politics so partisan and so deadly poisonous.
I don’t have children, but I pay substantial taxes to our local school district and I can assure you, I don’t want to pay for our students or our teachers to waste their precious time on MaObama’s partisan cr*p!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Also Growfins I am not concerned when any president refers to God and I don’t know why that bothers so many leftists in the first place. They have to realize this is a diverse nation and some people still worship the Lord. Some of the population favors small government and less control too.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM
No one is mandating theat schools show the President simply encouraging kids to stay in school. You really are copmpletely unhinged Jen–a right-wing version of a Code Pinko.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Don’t be so hard on him, it’s all he’s got. Poor guy…
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:00 PM
Oh, stop it Finny Boy – It’s getting funny now.
Fishoutofwater on September 4, 2009 at 1:01 PM
It’s pointless arguing with a zealot such as yourself. There’s no ‘there’ there when it comes to this issue. It’s pure hackery.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 1:02 PM
It’s pure hackery.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 1:02 PM
Fishoutofwater on September 4, 2009 at 1:02 PM
And the projection continues apace…!
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Growfins you seem to be getting very upset and I would hardly say Jen is “unhinged”. Like I said before a lot of folks are worried that BO will inject his personal politics into his speech.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Then why are you here, hacking away?
Yes, I am a zealot, who not only loves this country, but who believes that impressionable young minds should not be subjected to the EVIL poisonous agenda and ideology that is coming out of NObama first hand!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Growfins are you not also a hack and a zealot for your cause?? Is only your cause good and the rest of us is evil? I surely hope you don’t think that.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Exactly. Grow Fins tries to have it both ways, by making a non-comparison to Reagan’s speech. Discussing the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution is not “injecting his personal politics”. However, Obambi’s comments in the media lately, ranging from “he acted stupidly” to “I don’t want them to talk anymore” even after he claims he wants a “discussion” on healthcare, gives me, and many others, no confidence that he won’t inject his personal swipes or politics into a speech to kids.
And that doesn’t even touch on the issue of his involvement with CAC and Ayers, which on its own gives me pause about anything having to do with him and schools.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:07 PM
Then, why did the WH issues lesson plans and act as if his speech was required viewing on what will be the first day back at school for most?
No, dear.
There are millions of us.
And I’m a relative “mild” case!
(Check out the #tcot hashtag on Twitter!)
Wait until 9/12 and you’ll see how many “completely unhinged Right Wing “wackos” there are!
Americans are hopping mad and they’re not going to take anymore of this Precedent’s Fascist cr*p!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:08 PM
So if we “balkanize” our existing public school system by allowing public vouchers for private schools…what happens to those poor amongst us that cannot afford to supplement the voucher or purchase the books that allow their children to attend these private schools. Do we relegate them to what is left, of the now under funded public system?
Today, in our public schools some parents cannot afford to purchase their children subsidized, “hot lunches” and some come hungry to school, because there was no food for breakfast.
Will your vouchers for the more fortunate, address these issues for the less fortunate?
What scenario do you propose to make an orderly and realistic transition to a private school utopia, while maintaining a reasonable public alternative?
Where are these private schools today; that would in a fair and equitable manner provide the facilities, infrastructure and certified teachers now present in the public school system, for all our young citizens?
I know, I know, life isn’t fair… Sie la vie!
Not my cup of tea… in the richest and most fortunate nation earth.
Geezer on September 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM
Ok, Jen. Please show me where you’re getting this from.
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM
If you can’t afford private schools, even with vouchers, then your only resort to giving your kids a better education is home schooling.
As for school lunches, we do have a generous school lunch program for those who can’t afford to eat.
Many of these around the nation provide both breakfast, lunch and even dinner…
The Federal Government has no business being in Education.
That being said, We have thrown BILLIONS at our education system, all to no avail.
We should not, nor can we afford, to throw even more money at schools.
Finally, what does that have to do with NObama trying to turn our nation’s schools into junion re-education camps?
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Geezer most of these public schools provide free breakfasts to students who don’t get anything at home. I don’t see anything wrong with poor students who prove academically that they could succeed in a private school. Alot of these students are held down to do poorly because they don’t want to be called “schoolboy or schoolgirl”. I presume a private school won’t give that negative peer pressure like they do in a public school.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Helping this president???… yes it is an awful thing. Besides, why does the 0ne need help from children, I thought he was practically God.
4shoes on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Bye!
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM
I would like to not have to pay for the public school AND the private school. Is that fine?
Haunches on September 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
2 things:
-the White House announcement of a nation-wide speech
-the released lesson plans and NEA teacher guidelines
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:23 PM
4shoes, you know what happens when one has too much pride and there probably will be some pitfalls to anyone with as much pride as BO. August was probably not his best month and hopefully he will learn a little humility.
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 1:24 PM
As someone who doesn’t have children, I resent having to pay for the public ones.
No goverment-state, local or federal-should be in the education business.
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:25 PM
I was a recipient of free/reduced lunches as a kid. And as an adult, I disagree with the program.
BTW, the voucher program Obambi killed was aimed specifically at the “poor amongst us”. I suggest you read about it; Google is your friend.
We will not “balkanize” the school system with vouchers. Tell me how fair it is for me to be forced to pay taxes on a public item I do not use, if I wish to seek a private alternative?
Peel back the leftist pap here. Certified teachers? See the NYC school system for their “rubber rooms” where teachers who cannot be fired but are not allowed to teach are placed, with nothing to do but draw a salary.
Facilities and infrastructure? Again, you are equating buildings with education. Homeschooled children consistently test much higher than their publicly educated peers, without the “facilities and infrastructure” of a school building or school system. The research is out there, and has been documented for years.
Now if only you could spell…hmmmm.
We are rich and fortunate because, despite people like you who would give charitably out of everyone else’s pocket, we manage to hold the socialist wolves at bay and reward private, individual performance.
If you are so concerned about being rich, do you give to organisations that support poor people? If so, great. That is your choice. You get to make your own choices, as do others being able to make theirs. If not, then stop making others choose to do what you will not.
“A Liberal never met a problem he couldn’t solve with someone else’s money”
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM
I’d like to “help the president” with an important initiative.
It’s call a resignation signing event.
Sign it Barry and you’ll get to spend more time with Michelle, the girls and the puppy.
We’ll get an actual leader.
It’s a “win-win”.
NoDonkey on September 4, 2009 at 1:28 PM
If anyone is interested in the facts—-
1). Here is what Reagan said and did (questions and answers omitted):
On November 14, 1988, Reagan addressed and took questions from students from four area middle schools in the Old Executive Office Building. According to press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, the speech was broadcast live and rebroadcast by C-Span, and Instructional Television Network fed the program “t o schools nationwide on three different days.” Much of Reagan’s speech that day covered the American “vision of self-government” and the need “to keep faith with the unfinished vision of the greatness and wonder of America” but in the middle of the speech, the president went off on a tangent about the importance of low taxes:
Today, to a degree never before seen in human history, one nation, the United States, has become the model to be followed and imitated by the rest of the world. But America’s world leadership goes well beyond the tide toward democracy. We also find that more countries than ever before are following America’s revolutionary economic message of free enterprise, low taxes, and open world trade. These days, whenever I see foreign leaders, they tell me about their plans for reducing taxes, and other economic reforms that they are using, copying what we have done here in our country.
I wonder if they realize that this vision of economic freedom, the freedom to work, to create and produce, to own and use property without the interference of the state, was central to the American Revolution, when the American colonists rebelled against a whole web of economic restrictions, taxes and barriers to free trade. The message at the Boston Tea Party — have you studied yet in history about the Boston Tea Party, where because of a tax they went down and dumped the tea in the Harbor. Well, that was America’s original tax revolt, and it was the fruits of our labor — it belonged to us and not to the state. And that truth is fundamental to both liberty and prosperity.
2). Bush Senior had a national symposium intended to get more kids to consider careers in education and sciences: http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=3394&year=1991&month=9.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:32 PM
I’ll help, first with my vote in 2010 where I contribute to the weakening of his party, and then with my vote in 2012 where I contribute to his defeat.
Keep it up, Barry: fire up the independents to turn against you in those two elections.
C’mon, I know you CAN do it :)
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Wanderlust and Jenfidel, if you don’t want to pay taxes for public schools, you need to either change the law or find some other country to live in. Up to now, your side has generally been unable to change the law.
It’s not fair. So what? For people like me, having any of my tax dollars subsidize in any way your religion is terribly offensive and I will fight it with any means possible to my dying day.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Don’t look now, Grow Fins is waiting to pounce on the transcript as “proof” of RR’s “injection of personal politics” into the schools.
Yanno, because talking about American history is now personal, right, Grow Fins?
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Where is this man that is leader to the people?
HE’S HIDING FROM THE PEOPLE AND WRITING THAT SPEECH FOR THE LITTLE ONES.
YOU WON’T FIND STINKY FEET UNTIL SEPT 8TH
WHOLE LOT KOOL-AID DRINKING GOING ON
WORTH NOTING:
Anyone attending town hall meetings this weekend be sure and wear brass knuckles so when the freaks get in your face.
Remember this, they can’t bite your finger off if they don’t have any teeth and fangs left.
bluegrass on September 4, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Huh???
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Reagan clearly injected his personal vision of the US into the speech, if you read the parts I’ve excerpted. It was not limited to a “study hard and stay in school to do well” speech.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM
You know full well that “your tax dollars” don’t subsidize “my religion,” you Christian hater.
America is, however, largely populated by Christians and Jews and we’re not going anywhere,no matter how many ACLU lawsuits you bring to try and shut us down!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Ok it’s almost 4am here and my mind is turning to mush. I’d better get some rest before I begin to bluster like Grow Fins has been doing all over this thread…night
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:42 PM
President Reagan gave a speech outlining the Nation’s history where viewing was mandatory on C-Span, not required classroom viewing by national edict.
Nor were there lesson plans and NEA study guides as there are with Comrade Urkel.
Whole. Different. Deal.
Are you trolls spelling each other?
GrowFins got off shift and Jimbo comes on shift.
Astroturfing mustn’t pay all that well.
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Where are you–Japan?
Thailand?
China?
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:44 PM
A majority of the private school kids historically and many home schooled kids don’t go to public schools because they (or their parents) want to have religious values included as part of the cirriculum (sic?).
This is from a June 2008 post by Margaret Spelling:
“Private Schools
The first schools in the U.S. were private schools and currently account for about 24 percent of all elementary and secondary schools, 11 percent of all students and 12 percent of all full-time teachers. Seventy-six percent of private schools have a religious affiliation, while the remaining 24 percent are nonsectarian.
This is from a 2003 article on home schooling:
About 1.1 million students (1,096,000) were being homeschooled in the United States in the spring of 2003…. Thirty-one percent of homeschoolers had parents who said the most important reason for homeschooling was concern about the environment of other schools. Thirty percent said the most important reason was to provide religious or moral instruction.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:45 PM
Australia these days.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Jenifer, if my tax dollars are used to subsidize parochial schools, then, yes, they are being used to subsidize your brand of Christianity.
BTW, it was YOU who said that approximately 50 million mainline Protestants were not Christian. It wasn’t me who said that I hated Christians of faith who were practicing their religion.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:48 PM
Sydney or elsewhere Wanderlust?
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Damn, I gotta stop.
But I can’t let that one pass: how does one having a voucher to attend a private school, where the voucher amount is equal to or less than the taxes one pays per student, equated to you being “forced” to “subsidize [my] religion”???
What a leap.
Just. Wow.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Melbourne.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Well, how does paying insurance premiums to the government in connection with a plan that offers abortion, when the insurance premium would be the only thing funding abortion, equate to the government’s paying for abortions?
Same concept.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Only been to the airport there. I’ve always heard it was a good city to visit. Do love the Sydney area, though.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 1:52 PM
I just visited my county’s public school website. They posted a news release saying they weren’t going to show it during school since it was the kids’ first day back. If the teachers choose to show it another day, parents will be able to let their kids opt out. Relief. Thank God someone in Virginia has some sense.
splash883 on September 4, 2009 at 1:54 PM
No, it’s not. Either the government is in the business of paying for abortions or not.
That issue (paying for abortions) is a moral issue to many people, whether or not they are religious. As an example, AllahPundit is an atheist but he still shuns abortion on moral grounds. I suspect there are quite a few others like him.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:56 PM
I lived in Sydney for about a year. It’s a great city.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 1:58 PM
So what?
This is funded with private money and not tax dollars, ergo, it’s none of your business!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 1:59 PM
My school district has finally reached a decision:
They will tape the address, and give it to the individual school principals to evaluate for later showing if deemed appropriate (reasonable.) The principals will not inform the parents in advance if the tape will be shown, or when, and there will be no opportunity to “opt-out.” (reasonable for liberals.)
JiangxiDad on September 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Columbia South Carolina on the other hand does not…
there is no official policy on allowing the kids to opt out, and thus I will opt my son out.
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
So this is the rationale the Left uses to keep the American people from access to vouchers….!
Clever and very evil.
I didn’t say I “hated” them.
I said they’re not real Christians and because they don’t believe in the Gospels or the Bible, they’re probably not saved.
You can’t people hate like this, only pity and pray for them.
And members of the National Council of Churches aren’t
“mainline.”
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
Comrades, this racist assault against Dear Leader is getting out of hand. The children are the future of the movement. If Obama can’t use his hypnotic charms on the children, what hope is there? What’s next? Will NAMBLA recruiters be barred from visiting public schools too?
I don’t know about you, but all this opposition to Obama is making me biting mad.
sargentj on September 4, 2009 at 2:03 PM
OK….God I will admit it. I would not trust this man or most any politican with my children. I did not like it when ANY Preident did it. Leave kids out of politics! Hell they do not even teach kids that America is a Republic and you want to add this tripe to their plates. Just go back to teaching our kids and leave them alone.
sargentj on September 4, 2009 at 2:09 PM
I thought this was going to be for elementary age only, and then I found out it is also for middle and high school. I spoke to our school principal who amazingly did not even know about the speech, and did not know if they were showing it in our district.
Just in case, I talked with my eighth grader about it, and she is looking at this as an opportunity to get in some good reading or catch up on her schoolwork. She is also gearing up for any questions that may be ask, and said that if the President ask the kids to write down “how they could help him do his job”, one of her responses would be “to impeach you”. Should she be ask for any slogans, she said she would respond, “hope and change”, and “I won”.
Oh Yeah, she is a smart a** just like her Mom and Dad, chip off the old block!
Susanboo on September 4, 2009 at 2:13 PM
Project much? I heard you can get therapy under Obamacare, dude.
tcn on September 4, 2009 at 2:13 PM
“So what?
This is funded with private money and not tax dollars, ergo, it’s none of your business!”
If vouchers were to be issued, tax dollars would be used to for the payments, Jen. Even now some tax dollars fund some parochial (sic) school activities to a very limited extent (handicapped children, for instance).
And “I said they’re not real Christians and because they don’t believe in the Gospels or the Bible, they’re probably not saved.” is cr*p. Because people like me don’t read the Bible in the same way you do, we’re not saved? I thought evangelicals (and I assume you’re one because I think you started out as SBC and then changed) thought that being born again (believing in Jesus as a personal savior) was the only requirement to be saved.
Wanderlust, you’re tired. Go to bed. There is probably a better argument out there than “they’re different because they are (which in essence is what you said because you made no real distinctions).” Look forward to debating with you again later.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 2:14 PM
Hey, if Obama were going to speak about the virtues of the American way of life and the amazing nature of our institutions, I don’t think anyone would object. Sadly, a president has been elected who cannot even be trusted to praise the country he has sworn to protect and whose laws he has sworn to uphold.
To compare any speech by Obama to a speech by Reagan or Bush is ridiculous; there was never any doubt that Reagan or Bush loved or honored their country.
MissDarcy on September 4, 2009 at 2:22 PM
My dear, Wanderlust… I am but a product of the public school system.
Spent all my time in the slowww lane…!
“Telle est la vie…”
Geezer on September 4, 2009 at 2:22 PM
Yeah, I saw where you were going; this is how you Leftists keep poor people under heel and stuck in bad gub’mint schools.
Then again comes the question, so what?
If a parochial school is the only alternative to the crummy public schools, that’s the parents’choice.
The Bible’s pretty clear about what you must do to be saved, no matter how you read it.
I’m not discussing Salvation with you on this blog or this thread.
And we weren’t talking about you or what evangelicals believe, but about the National Council of Churches.
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 2:22 PM
The Hitler Youth
Jungsturm Adolf Hitler
Go look it up it will help focus on why we do not need a depi of ed.
Col.John Wm. Reed on September 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Still wrong! It’s C’est la vie.
Thank God my parents send me to private schools where I learned to speak French!
Jenfidel on September 4, 2009 at 2:23 PM
any of my tax dollars subsidize in any way your religion
Secular humanism, darwinism, environmentalism are religions with abortion as the sacrament
The vouchers for parochial schools I would use would be MY MONEY. The taxes I pay are MY MONEY taken FROM me by force. I should be able to opt my children into a decent school, religious or not, with MY MONEY instead of having them in failing, biased, unionized, propaganda spewing schools. I don’t want them made into little secular humanist, multicultural drones who think that this country wasn’t based on individual dignity endowed to each by his creator. Not only is that wrong (you have the right to be an atheist) but historically, the United States was based on just that.
Haunches on September 4, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Lol I am tired, but even I who attended a public school and don’t speak frog, knew that C’est La Vie was what he meant, even if he couldn’t spell it.
Jen, I do find you intriguing to read; if you ever wish to email, I’m at shifting_paradigm1 on yahoo.
Night.
Wanderlust on September 4, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Three local public schools in this county so far have alleged they know nothing about the Obama speech, scheduled for Tuesday, although conversations with principals and even school secretaries show that they do indeed know the score.
The lone Catholic school in this town has decided that instead of mandating that all kids sit and view this, it will be offered as an option (with parental permission) and TV’s set up in the cafeteria for those kids who have parents agreeing to let their kids watch. The rest of the kids will go through the regular class schedules for the day.
As for the three local public schools, it would be comic if it weren’t so blatant a lie by the administrators, the principals involved and the superintendent of schools.
Parents who have stated they will not be sending their kids to school that day have been advised that they are in violation of law, truancy, and that their kids might or may face disciplinary action. The two schools I spoke to directly said that it is a matter of funding and they cannot have kids just not show up, and “besides, it is the president of the United States, so the kids must watch and listen with no disruptions” in the words of one administrator.
Call your schools, even if you do not have kids enrolled.
And when elections for school boards are held, vote accordingly.
Otherwise, Baldar von Schirach will soon join the pantheon of hero’s of the Obama Age.
coldwarrior on September 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Hey Jimbo, I realize you will fight tooth and nail against Jews and Christians to keep any tax dollars out of any support with them. The question is are you going to fight just as hard to keep the growing Islam influence out too? what if you are threatened by them to keep your mouth shut or they accuse of being anti-Islam. I know it doesn’t take much bravery to attack and dismiss Christianity here or any other place in the world but I rarely see leftists stand up to Islam and keeping it separate from the government. I always wondered why leftist groups excuse Islam excesses and yet point out anything wrong with Christianity
garydt on September 4, 2009 at 2:29 PM
I think Reagan did talk with school children once during his two terms, however, his was a patriotic, “for your country thing”, not a narcissistic, call to attention from “Dear Leader” to the young, undecided minds of future voters. Reagan did not have a”take over” agenda about everything.
Just look at the original talking points sent out, very telling. The fact they they sent anything out for the kids to discuss is creepy and therein lies the problem. Obama has a record of pushing his nose, his administration and the government into places they do not belong, and are not wanted, ie: Banks, Auto Industry, Private Enterprise, Private Insurance, Private Healthcare and soon to be, the Internet. Why should we not believe that he is going after our schools and our children next?
Susanboo on September 4, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Let’s start an email campaign calling on the president to open his speech on Tuesday with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. If the WH gets wind of it, can you imagine the explanation if he refuses to do so?
LindaDinNev on September 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Let’s start an email campaign calling on the president to open his speech on Tuesday with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. If the WH gets wind of it, can you imagine the explanation if he refuses to do so?
LindaDinNev on September 4, 2009 at 2:37 PM
Devilishly wonderful idea.
Well? Let’s get to it, folks!
coldwarrior on September 4, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Um, because it’s not true?
Grow Fins on September 4, 2009 at 2:48 PM
C’est la vie—it is the life’
Telle est la vie—such is the life’
Damn that public school system…!
Geezer on September 4, 2009 at 2:49 PM
As I mentioned above, the principal at my daughter’s school knew nothing about all this, so I don’t know if they will be watching it. We are in a Democrat hotbed out here, so I can assume at least some teachers will show it.
We are sending our daughter to school because she is mature enough to comprehend much of what is going on in the Country, and has discussed her feelings and thoughts with us at home. Keeping her locked up and away from the world and the President of the United States, (even if he is an idiot), is not going to help her get an education or help her to form moral opinions or beliefs. Sometimes bad role models can be as good for learning as good ones, especially when a teenager has a good, loving home to go back to at the end of the day.
Susanboo on September 4, 2009 at 2:49 PM
got a link to the text of his speech?
Having DoE “suggest” as a class project kids quiz themselves on how they can help out with the cultural revolution is a little beyond the traditional mission statement and goals of the school board or the Presidency…
“keep the change”…
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 2:51 PM
garydt, I said tax dollars, not influence. And if you’re demanding vouchers for use at private and religious schools, realize that it would be very difficult to distinguish between Muslim mosque-affiliated schools and Christian church- and Jewish temple-affiliated schools and have that distinction be upheld under the US Constitution. So your push for vouchers would likely help Muslim schools.
Jen, I agree “If a parochial school is the only alternative to the crummy public schools, that’s the parents’ choice.” Just not with any tax dollars, directly or indirectly.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 2:53 PM
your religion of Obama worship, Gaia worship, and Secular Humanism is perfectly appropo however.
sven10077 on September 4, 2009 at 2:54 PM
Who’s Gaia, sven. And I didn’t vote for Obama.
Jimbo3 on September 4, 2009 at 2:59 PM
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