Who is Boycotting Obama’s Speech to Students?
[Guest post by DRJ]
President Obama plans to give a speech to students on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. It’s become a controversial topic, chiefly because of the instructional materials issued by the Department of Education, materials that Obama staffers helped write. Some parents say they will keep their children home from school as a boycott, especially in states like Utah, Kentucky and Texas. California school officials note materials used in schools must be vetted by local school boards, and these school districts may tape Obama’s speech and decide later whether to air it in classrooms.
In addition, the Baseball Crank notes that on September 9, school hasn’t started yet in places like New York, Boston and LA so these parents won’t need to boycott. If I lived in those towns, I’d ask local school officials if they planned to tape the speech to use later.
I’m not a fan of a school boycott because it hurts the student, although I would feel differently if parents believe their child’s school will be presenting inappropriate materials. Of course, in that case I’d be worried about more than just Tuesday. Instead, I’d use this as a welcome opportunity to respectfully express my concerns to school officials. Conservative parents need to remind school officials that we are watching and interested.
— DRJ
The real shame here is that everybody, both supporter and critics, believe in their hearts that the President of the United States would (or should) use this speech to pitch a political agenda to school children.
Has the office been debased that much in a mere 7 months ?
Neo (7830e6) — 9/3/2009 @ 1:42 pmIt’s become a controversial topic, chiefly because of the instructional materials issued by the Department of Education
What’s contained in them that has conservatives popping blood vessels?
steve (a217ba) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:02 pmoooh, that is going to so scare them!
steve sturm (3811cf) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:03 pmTo the Young Pioneers of the Soviet Union Obama’s AmeriKKKa,
I wholeheartedly greet the Young Pioneers and pupils on the thirty years of existence of the V.I. Lenin Pioneer Organization 8 months of my reign.
I wish the Pioneers and pupils health and success in their studies, in their work and in their social endeavours.
May the Pioneer Organization continue in the future to educate the Pioneers and become true sons of Lenin and our great Motherland.
J. STALIN B. Hussein Obama
Gonad the Testicularian (b90bc6) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:04 pmI long for capital-S Steve to come back. This small-s one is tiresome.
JD (6ed147) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:07 pmHey, what happened to my snarky markup?
Gonad the Testicularian (b90bc6) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:07 pm” believe in their hearts that the President of the United States would (or should) use this speech to pitch a political agenda to school children.
Has the office been debased that much in a mere 7 months ?”
Yes. The hair-raising “help the President” line from the Dept of Ed materials is a ‘case closed’ example of the debasement. Next question.
To paraphrase the old quip: Just because Obama’s opponents are paranoid doesnt mean he isnt really out to get them.
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2009/09/mr-cult-of-personality-disorder-talks.html
Travis Monitor (9e3371) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:07 pmThis would have been a crisis back when I was in high school. There was a rule that if you did not attend school during the day, you couldn’t practice with your team in the afternoon. If you missed any practice during the week, you couldn’t start in the football game on Friday. I wonder how our coach would have handled this?
JVW (d1215a) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:23 pmThis is right out of Hugo Chavez’ playbook. The Hondurans noted that Venezuela volunteered to send some teachers to poor districts in Honduras. They accepted and regretted soon after as the 500 “teachers” were radical organizers. That was the beginning of the Zalaya episode.
I wouldn’t like it is it were Bush planning to do this and the lefties would be bats**t crazy by now.
I don’t have to worry about K to 12, though. My youngest daughter is at U of A being pumped full of leftist propaganda as we speak. And I’m paying a hell of a lot for it.
Sigh.
Mike K (2cf494) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:46 pmStaying in school?! Such DANGEROUS, DANGEROUS propaganda!
Stop being like the leftists who criticized every little thing Bush did. It makes your arguments on real issues sound picayune. And stupid.
Like this ‘boycott’.
JEA (a72277) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:54 pmOne question – do you have children?
Dmac (a93b13) — 9/3/2009 @ 2:58 pmSo if President Obama mentions healthcare, the environment, or the economy, or anthing else besides kids should stay in school, you’ll come back and admit you were wrong and apologize to every conservative here? If his only message is for kids to stay in school, why not just do a PSA? Parents have a right to be concerned about their kids getting indoctrination at school. There is enough of that already.
Stashiu3 (ed6467) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:02 pmAnybody else notice that the feds pay schools based on number of students attended per day, so the schools have created some strict absenteeism rules, and now the feds are saying while students are in school they’ll now have to watch the Obama show and do ObamaPojects.
I’m glad to see a lot of schools are moving away from the show and are probably going to do alternative activities (like actually teach).
I also think this is another example of how most politicians are blowing smoke when they talk about how important they view education. If education is really that important to them, they wouldn’t be hijacking a day of classes.
Allen (28f0eb) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:07 pmKids should go to school, stand up, and turn their backs when Obama starts talking.
Don (3f4e6f) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:18 pmYou speak of this as though you do not do so yourself.
JD (2d11f4) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:20 pmYes, I have two. One 19 and one 8. The 8 year old is in a high-functioning autism class. And he reads better than some of the regular ed students I’ve seen.
“So if President Obama mentions healthcare, the environment, or the economy, or anthing else besides kids should stay in school, you’ll come back and admit you were wrong and apologize to every conservative here?”
No, likely I won’t. Because I’m not.
If you’re so concerned about ‘propaganda’, educate your kids at home. And exactly what kind of ‘propaganda’ are you referring to? Reading? Addition? Science?
JEA (a72277) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:22 pmOf course the kids should go to school Tuesday (unless they live in New York, Boston or LA, in which case that would be silly). We’ve all been to assemblies. How much attention does anybody pay to what’s going on? If the parents are worried, they should sit the kids down before and after and explain to them some fundamentals about brainwashing and propoganda.
Meanwhile, there’s most of a school day before and after the speech that these kids need to sit through.
tim maguire (4a98f0) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:25 pmJEA just showed everyone exactly how mendoucheous he/she/it is. It knows it is right, and you stupid paranoid wingNazis are ignert.
JD (2d11f4) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:32 pmThe speech is scheduled for 12 pm EST. That’s 3 pm in California. My kids are on the bus at that time.
On the east coast, won’t students and teachers need to miss lunch to watch the speech? Fat chance.
More outstanding planning from The One. And this guy’s in charge of TWO wars?
TakeFive (7c6fd5) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:33 pmWhat, I’m supposed to go running off crying cause you called me a name? Are you still in fifth grade?
BTW, quick question – you all think one 30 minute (or however long it is) speech is really going to undo everything you’ve taught your kids?
JEA (a72277) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:35 pmIs it too much to ask for more people like Leviticus and aphrael, and less people like JEA and imdw? Good Allah, they are tiresome.
JD (2d11f4) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:40 pmWhy on Earth would President Obama be talking about Reading, Math, or Science? (yes, I know you weren’t referring to that, just kidding.) The indoctrination (I didn’t say propaganda even though you put it in quotes) I’m talking about happens frequently and is difficult to counter because parents aren’t there to hear it. Should Math teachers be talking about the Iraq War (happened to my son)? Should English teachers be discussing Global Warming? It’s frustrating sometimes.
Stashiu3 (ed6467) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:46 pmSome other options are to call the school and arrange a “shadow” day. I used to do this a few times a year when I got wind of something “fishy” and found it very effective. Things usually went smoothly, but there were occasionally teachers who clearly were choking on their suddenly restrained bile.
Another tactic I am checking into: not bothering to excuse the absence. It appears to be consequence free (to the student) in some districts, but has the advantage of “starving the beast” as the school loses out on the state reimbursement for that day. The administration seems to ignore or paper over parental concerns until money’s on the line.
fat tony (d2a915) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:47 pmSave your rage for more serious issues, Republicans. This is becoming ridiculous.
The Emperor (1b037c) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:48 pmRage? Who is biting off fingers and beating people up? More projection.
JD (2d11f4) — 9/3/2009 @ 3:55 pmWhy are Republicans so scared of Obama? Are they afraid that maybe those kids may end up, maybe supporting him? Or worse, liking him? Or becoming “obama-clones”? (Clasping hands over my mouth in shock)
The Emperor (1b037c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:02 pmIt appears to be consequence free (to the student) in some districts
In the districts I attended, unexcused absences – even, in one case, where the teacher (a) liked me and (b) knew I had gone on a family vacation but just didn’t bring in the signed piece of paper from my parents – resulted in lower grades.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:06 pmThat’s an isolated incident.
JEA (a72277) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:07 pmGet your facts right, JD. The cannibal in this story is the anti-health care supporter.One of your own.
The Emperor (1b037c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:09 pmAs a parent I want one very simple request of this President. Share with me, THE PARENT, a copy of your speech in advance. If it is an inspirational speech and not partisan, no problem. If it is partisan, then my child won’t be participating. Now…what in the hell is wrong with this request? Anybody? Anybody? Bueler? Bueler?
Mike H. (023e3e) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:12 pmIsn’t JEA the one that was wailing about the hyper-partisanship, and its corrosive effects on the body politic?
JD (b2305c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:16 pmTakeFive – 12 PM EST is 9 *AM* in California …
This current Administration is becoming more and more like a SciFi story about a country or colonising group on a distant planet turning into a theocracy …
When combined with the “I Pledge” video we are starting to hear about, it is truly jaw-dropping …
Alasdair (e7cb73) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:21 pmOopsie, Emperor, I believe if you check YOUR facts you will find that it was a Move On-ish, Code Pinkish type person who bit off Mr. Rice’s finger.
elissa (366821) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:26 pmMisha is the Emperor… no matter what lovie wants to call herself these days. And facts don’t matter to lovie, she just makes them up or denies them at will. Ignore her.
Stashiu3 (ed6467) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:32 pmLovie – Good Allah. Do you have to remind yourself how to walk?
JD (b2305c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:35 pmJEA and lovie don’t want to see imdw win Douchenozzle of the Day 2 days in a row.
JD (b2305c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:38 pmNotice how lovie bolts after beclowning itself?
JD (b2305c) — 9/3/2009 @ 4:55 pm@33
The Emperor (0c8c2c) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:08 pmSo it seems. I stand corrected.
Obama definitely has an appeal to the greasy-haired, live in their mom’s basement, sexually-ambivalent (actually get screwed by anything that moves) crowd.
nk (df76d4) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:14 pmComment by Stashiu3 — 9/3/2009 @ 4:32 pm
The Emperor (0c8c2c) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:14 pmStill an assh*le. I can see that.
Did the Japanese condom just attack Stashiu?
nk (df76d4) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:16 pmLovie – Did Stashiu say something inaccurate, or did you just feel like calling him names?
JD (682dfa) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:18 pmShe steals a well-established handle and remains delusional. She’s not even original with her insults. Unless you count calling a fellow liberal a cannibal, wait… that wasn’t original either. Never mind. Ignore her.
Stashiu3 (ed6467) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:21 pmWhy are Leftists hatey angry violent cannibals?
JD (682dfa) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:26 pmI am not a liberal you moron.
The Emperor (0c8c2c) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:30 pmI am not a liberal you moron.
Comment by The Emperor — 9/3/2009 @ 5:30 pm
I believe that. You’re a disgusting piece of nothing who comes these threads to dirty them up. A filthy little spammer. You are the first commenter I have ever wanted banned, you dirty disgusting little piece of what pigs excrete.
nk (df76d4) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:35 pm@46
The Emperor (0c8c2c) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:39 pmStill a pig.
Obama tells kids to stay in school. So obviously someone needs to tell them to not go.
imdw (688568) — 9/3/2009 @ 5:52 pmIf you’re so concerned about ‘propaganda’, educate your kids at home. And exactly what kind of ‘propaganda’ are you referring to? Reading? Addition? Science?
As a former home schooling parent, I ultimately agree that this is true – teach them at home and you are in control.
The problem is that even home schooling parents are paying taxes that support public schools, even though they do not participate in them. Therefore they should have as much say and voice in decision making as anyone else. Or not pay the taxes.
Stop being like the leftists who criticized every little thing Bush did. It makes your arguments on real issues sound picayune. And stupid.
Heh. The beauty of being the parent is, one just doesn’t give a rat’s ass who thinks your decisions are stupid. Because as a parent, I would never not follow my conscience with regard to my kids just because my political arguments might later appear weak. I think way too much of my kids for really stupid fears like that.
Seriously?
Dana (863a65) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:00 pmIt would be a wonderful thing for a President to encourage kids to take responsibility for themselves and their country, a la Kennedy’s (JFK, that is) “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
But it is an entirely different thing for a President to ask that children pledge their allegiance to himself.
Not to encourage the howling, but I would submit that it would be downright unconstitutional (except in Venezuela). Government officials take a pledge to uphold the Constitution of the United States, not to build their personal power base using their governmental powers. Though, of course, that is the “Chicago” (and Philadelphia) “Way”.
Most parents tell their children to respect their teachers. It is inappropriate to confuse a child by putting them in the middle of a conflict between their parents and those their parents have told them to respect. Eight and ten year old brains aren’t made to handle that very well.
MD in Philly (d4f9fa) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:14 pmComment by imdw — 9/3/2009 @ 5:52 pm
The Emperor (0c8c2c) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:18 pmGo figure.
Our school is not going to participate. We have a two hour literacy block every morning. The principal told me that actual education is far more important than a speech about the importance of education.
kimsch (2ce939) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:26 pmYou know, you guys want to keep your kids out, that’s fine.
I have an autistic son, as I’ve said. And with a disabled kid you constantly have battles with all kinds of thigns, from not wanting to take a bath to runnung from roon to rom to leaving the house. The trick is to take the most urgent, and pick your battle to get it under control before other problems.
This Obama speech is exactly the same principle. It’s not as important as getting your kid the help he needs in math, or your daughter in reading conprehension,
Maybe this just isn’t a battle worth picking a fight over.
JEA (a72277) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:26 pmThis Obama speech is exactly the same principle. It’s not as important as getting your kid the help he needs in math, or your daughter in reading conprehension,
So true. But then why waste the time with the speech in the first place, when help in math and reading comprehension could, and should, be taking place instead?
Dana (863a65) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:34 pm“The real shame here is that everybody, both supporter and critics, believe in their hearts that the President of the United States would (or should) use this speech to pitch a political agenda to school children.”
Doesn’t matter what the message is. It’s a question of a misuse of federal government time and funds. It’s not the president’s job to give speeches to kids, or to teach them values, or tell them how to think or anything else.
“Announcing a major speech from the President welcoming America’s students back to school and urging them to set goals for themselves.”–Whitehouse website
That’s not the president’s job. Teachers and parents handle that job. We don’t need to spend all kinds of federal dollars on this nonsense.
Dave Surls (7345b1) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:39 pm“It’s not the president’s job to give speeches to kids, or to teach them values, or tell them how to think or anything else.”
Can the president read to kids?
imdw (490521) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:49 pmThe fact remains that the administration’s own materials rebut the spin that Obama’s defending trolls now put on it.
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:51 pmObama is a vile piece of excrement and Liberals are nothing more than flies surrounding him
HeavenSent (01a566) — 9/3/2009 @ 6:58 pm“Can the president read to kids?”
Even that is getting a little sketchy. Not really the president’s job. But, this isn’t just the president stopping off for a brief visit to a classroom…this is a full blown government program.
“At noon on Tuesday, September 8th the President will be welcoming America’s students back to school – after all, sometimes they need a little extra motivation after a glorious summer. The President has spoken often about the responsibility parents have for their children and their education, but in this message he’ll urge students to take personal responsibility for their own education, to set goals, and to not only stay in school but make the most of it.”
We really don’t need the president to be doing that. It’s a waste of federal resources.
“To help make sure as many school districts, classrooms, and students are able to get this message we have launched a resources page where you can find out almost anything you’d want to know. There’s information on how you can watch it on TV or on the internet, classroom activities that teachers can engage their students in around the speech, even the satellite coordinates for school districts that want to access the feed.
We’ve also put together a couple PSAs to help get the word out, one from the President and one for those students who might find NASCAR drivers a little more exciting than the President:”
Now, we have all kinds of federal employees working on this little ad hoc federal government project (building websites, making videos, whatever).
This is absurd.
Dave Surls (7345b1) — 9/3/2009 @ 7:04 pmDaddy, is the prezdint going to talk to us at school about how he’s not really going to kill grandma and grandpa with his dirty socialist health care reform?
daleyrocks (718861) — 9/3/2009 @ 8:56 pmAs I was writing my response, it became a wall-o-text, so I decided to turn it into an article on my blog site and link to it here. I hope people will follow the link.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/3/2009 @ 9:36 pmAnd, yes, lovie did indeed personally attack stash. Would that there were more stashes in the world. There would necessarily be fewer lovies and, by extension, less governmentally-induced poison in the world.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/3/2009 @ 9:40 pm“I am not a liberal you moron.
Comment by The Emperor — 9/3/2009 @ 5:30 pm”
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!
Lovey – Maybe Baracky can give the chillens a sex ed class since he’s so much in favor of that – starting in kindergarten.
Achmed still has some customers for you to service when you are done with the camels. Hurry.
daleyrocks (718861) — 9/3/2009 @ 10:49 pmHeh, I mentioned sex ed in my article. Funny stuff, if it weren’t so scary.
What harm can one assembly do? A whole heck of a lot, imnsho.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/3/2009 @ 10:57 pmJohn – Sorry, I didn’t click over. Obama’s kindergarten sex ed, particularly masturbation, is one of Lovey’s favorite subjects.
daleyrocks (718861) — 9/3/2009 @ 11:00 pmexcerpt:
*I remember a woman, fully supported by a “mainstream” organization (and I fully forget her name and the organization, but I believe it was Planned Parenthood) going around to all sorts of high schools and holding assemblies. It was purportedly a sex ed assembly, but was more accurately sexuality ed and even more accurately aberrant sexuality indoctrination. I actually heard excerpts of her poison. She actually said “The only inappropriate sex is when one partner is unwilling.” And she said this in public schools, paid for by tax dollars. She said this to under-age teens. By her definition, sex between a 50-year-old man and a 14-year-old either gender is appropriate if both consent. And she made it abundantly clear that their parents didn’t need to know, nor had the right to know, what they were doing.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/3/2009 @ 11:03 pmI suspect DRJ is best capable of adding clarity to my memory on this one story I remember.
A Texas family filed a lawsuit against a Texas public school system. The crux of the lawsuit was the high school graduate was functionally illiterate and it was the state of Texas’ responsibility that the public education system ensure such an event did not occur. If memory serves, the Texas Supreme Court rejected the parents’ assertions, laying full responsibility on the parents for their child’s education. As such, parental interference with inappropriate “public education” activities where the “education” is lacking or debilitating is inferred as mandated as a parent’s responsibility.
(Sorry, DRJ, for putting you on the spot, but I hope you can help me out with the research on this.)
If memory serves, I heard it on a Focus on the Family – related broadcast. While it was definitely negative for the parents in question, it most definitely solidified the parents’ rights regarding their children’s education.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/4/2009 @ 12:19 amHere’s what will happen if your kid watches the speech:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/quote_src/1022/Im_Gonna_Git_You_Sucka_Quotes.htm
imdw (00bfab) — 9/4/2009 @ 6:00 amIf I were a Democrat, which I haven’t been since 1958 when I took an economics class, I would be much more concerned about this.
The lefties at Wash Monthly are all upset about the “right wing” opposition to the speech. People don’t trust Obama and that is why the speech is an issue.
MIke K (2cf494) — 9/4/2009 @ 6:20 amI received a pre-recorded call from our school district last night. It said: “we believe, when our president speaks, it is important to listen.” Then it said we could send a note allowing our children to opt out. After telling us that we’d be opting our children out of doing something “important”. How many people will choose to have their children singled out in that fashion? I’m absolutely certain that many more parents would have chosen “opt out” if they hadn’t been made to feel they would be wrong to do so.
brobin (c07c20) — 9/4/2009 @ 6:49 amToday’s (Friday) LA Times refers to the White House change, omitting the call to write letters on “what can I do to help Barak Obama.” It was called an “update.” Michelle Malkin calls it a “whitewash.”
Alta Bob (e53677) — 9/4/2009 @ 7:57 amStashiu #43—I clicked over to the site that had posts by “Emperor Mischa,” and I found this great quote in one of the FAQs:
Well said.
Eric Blair (721b15) — 9/4/2009 @ 8:34 amThe Communists murdered 100s of millions of people. The Reds in our public school cover up the crimes of their comrades. The Maoists want to turn American kids into political soldiers like the Communists’ Young Pioneers and the National Socialists’ Hitler Youth. During WWII, many Americans executed the political solider of the Hitler Youth. Political soldiers are a political target no matter what their ages. A civil war is coming. It may not be smart to allow Obama to turn your kids in to political soldiers.
WyattKaldenberg (d7a1fb) — 9/4/2009 @ 8:35 amThe parents and politicos urging a boycott of the president of the United States ought to be honest with themselves and state that they do not like having a black democrat being president. As one right wing broadcaster said recently: “hey, brown man,you ain’t one of us”. At lest he was honest in declaring his position.
Never before had the presidency been subjected to such insults.
Jose Jerez (73c4f0) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:18 amSo the dirty socialist president of America’s public school teachers is asserting that America’s public school teachers are so pitiful and inept that they can’t do their jobs without a dirty socialist piece of Chicago street trash reading a pep talk off his teleprompter? Or are America’s schoolchildren simply that hopeless? Either way, pathetic.
What a pitiful little country our little country has become.
No self respect.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:22 amThe parents and politicos urging a boycott of the president of the United States ought to be honest with themselves and state that they do not like having a black democrat being president. As one right wing broadcaster said recently: “hey, brown man,you ain’t one of us”. At least he was honest in declaring his position.
Never before had the presidency been subjected to such insults.
Jose Jerez (73c4f0) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:24 amDirty socialists come in all colors I think. Taste the dirty socialist rainbow, bitches.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:27 amGiven enough time, in a thread about practically anything, it is almost inevitable for some gibbering asshat like Jose Jerez to come along and call us RACISTS. Thank you, Jose, for making my day.
JD (aeb697) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:31 amohnoes
I got filtrated again
help me DRJ you’re mah only hope
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:32 amhappyfeet, it is kind odd that obama “must” use his bully pulpit to tell kids to stay in school. Why can’t teachers do that?
but if that’s all Obama’s going to say to the kids, I’ve got no problem with it. He can probably inspire a lot of people, since if Obama can be the president… hell, anyone can be anything in America. But I suspect, and the teacher unions do too, that Obama will push his stupid politics on our kids. He should release the damn speech already.
Juan (bd4b30) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:34 amI for one don’t have to answer to people like Jose in saying what he wants to hear. Do you really Jose think it has anything at all with Obama being a black democrat? Are you that shallow minded? Or is that another smokescreen for those of us who are looking at the FACTS about this administration and calling it what it is? No one gets a pass on answering questions in the highest office and hiring people like Van Horn no matter what race they are. He is an elected President. He represents the people of America and He serves us, not the other way around. Why doesn’t he say instead of how to serve him, how can we help our fellowman? And certainly Jose you are incorrect about insults. The democrats to the day give President Bush nothing but insults and blame everything and anything on him and present him in the most insulting venues possible. Wake up Jose, no one is buying into your comment. No one except those who can’t think for themselves.
Julie (63b287) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:40 amnonononono Juan Juan Juan Juan Juan you are entirely too tolerant and nicey nice and, I think, a little naive in this instance, if I may say so without getting filtrated.
Barack Obama is not out to say anything particularly particular. He’s out to generate a newshook for his dirty socialist media to amplify his historical speech of great consequence to America’s grateful schoolchildrens in many compelling ways using their dirty socialist journalisty creativity.
It’s synergy. Icky propagandy dirty socialist synergy. He’s NOT trying to say jack to the kids. He’s using the kids to provide a jumping off point for his dirty socialist media to say all sorts of glorious exhaltations about Barack Obama’s glorious dirty socialist Hopings and Changings.
It really isexactly that third worldy, and he’s counting on parents passively sending their sweet precious little props to school that day.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:45 am“Conservative parents need to remind school officials that we are watching and interested”
” that is going to so scare them!”
It’s helpful to get a gauge of the arrogance level among the school administrators and school boards.
Will they respect parents? Will they respect laws, such as those in Texas that require materials be reviewed and require oppty for parents to opt out if they object?
Travis Monitor (8d33ce) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:48 amis *exactly* I mean …
if this were just communication he could easily have built this scheme around the Internet being that he’s the most Internetted pezzydent ever …
No. This is a dirty socialist Event that’s meant to influence a news cycle and designed to enhance his hopey changey dirty socialist brand.
It’s sick and it has nothing to do with education. It has to do with skidmark’s image and his brand. That’s all.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:50 amthank you
[note: fished from spam filter]
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 12:05 pmElementary schools in Texas cover the following subjects per 7-hour school day:
Beth in Texas (47ec7a) — 9/4/2009 @ 12:16 pm150 minutes – ELA (Language Arts)
90 minutes – Math
50 minutes – PE and Music
That’s five hours of instruction, plus 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes of library time or computer lab instruction. The remainder (for any liberals who can’t add) is one hour left in the day for bathroom and drink breaks, recess, Science and Social Studies. There’s no room for the president in my classroom, and I’m not sorry in the least.
Way to go Beth. Yes!!! I’m a Texan also. This is the greatest state in the US. Our teachers and schools are awesome. And, we do ask questions in this state so get used to it.
Julie (63b287) — 9/4/2009 @ 12:22 pmTexas! I learned how to read in Texas and also about the planets and the dinosaurs. I remember I made a Christmas tree out of an orange juice can and construction papers. You have to wash out the orange juice can first and then glue paper around it so it looks like the bottom of a Christmas tree cause if you forget the paper it just looks like an orange juice can but what’s cool is that it stands up all by itself. Just wash it out really really good or the dog will get it and you have to start over.
happyfeet (71f55e) — 9/4/2009 @ 12:51 pmComment by imdw — 9/4/2009 @ 6:00 am
The Emperor (1b037c) — 9/4/2009 @ 1:17 pmLOL!!!!! Very funny.
This does smack of Fidelismo, a would-be Father, solicitous, seemingly, toward the children, suffering them to come to him, as it were, but in truth poisoning their minds with Bolshevist thought, the notion that we are all brothers (when we are not), that we are all part of the human family, as if there could ever be unity with the degraded and defiled and deluded. My children would see images on the screen, but I fear that the unseen emanations will be from none other than Beelzebub, the Great Prince of Darkness whose minions even now float like night mists through our cities corrupting, defiling, deflowering in a mania of carnal poisons, the pure lily of our women that all of our brothers who would have us truely count them as men, must protect even unto the last hour. When, Brother Pilgrims, will we awake to see the night mists defiling and deflowering, the low clouds that come from swamps and bayous and crawl through sewers to invade our shining City on a Hill to despoil our Republic and the riches accumulated with the fruits of our labor? When will we wake to these Bolshevist perturbations, the sinister words, uttered in honeyed oratory, that say that all is held in common, even the flower of our womanhood, like Marx and Engels, Devil’s Spawn if ever there were, proclaimed in the Manifesto of foul repute? Wake, wake, before it is too late! These are our children, mere tykes, tralala-ing their merry way to school each morning, innocent to the wiles that await them, the bureaucrat’s bunkum, the pedant’s prevarications, the pestilential perjuries of the powerful that will fall on their ears like unfelt blows, emanations unseen, secret messages calling them to the godless faith of the Third International, dull drones that subliminally infect all cell phone users, especially S____t. This must stop, we pray in His Name, asking, “What would the Master do?” Dodgers in seven.
Mandrake del Pinautubo (d63e61) — 9/4/2009 @ 7:00 pmWriting that was a choice Mr. Pinautubo. No one made you do that.
happyfeet (6b707a) — 9/4/2009 @ 7:03 pmI give it a 3. Continuity was lacking.
daleyrocks (718861) — 9/4/2009 @ 7:06 pmPalin/Bachmann 2012: Don’t be Cool, Don’t stay in School.
imdw (950039) — 9/4/2009 @ 7:34 pmYou inspire me, happyfeet, with your uncrinkling pathogen to the sozialismus that is unwashed. You are my loadstar and I kiss your blue toe.
Mandrake del Pinautubo (04db65) — 9/4/2009 @ 9:53 pmoh. Carry on then.
happyfeet (6b707a) — 9/4/2009 @ 10:01 pmWriting that was a choice Mr. Pinautubo. No one made you do that.
Comment by happyfeet — 9/4/2009 @ 7:03 pm
I hate to say it, but this philosophy has prevented me from saying even dumber crap than I usually say.
Happyfeet, you’re right that Obama is using our kids as a prop. And to a degree that I don’t think anyone has ever done outside of a dictatorship. I freely admit I’m way too forgiving and naive, but really, I expect presidents to make kids their props. If Obama just says innocuous crap that isn’t political, I just will accept it.
Of course, he’s probably not going to… if he did it would be a huge change from what Obama has always been… a partisan divider. He’s going to talk about global warming/climatechange/greenbleagh, he’s going to talk about his stimulus favorably, he’s going to talk about health care probably. What Obama won’t do is thank these kids for bearing the tremendous burden of Obama’s spending… Obama’s gift to today at the expense of tomorrow.
But anyway, Nancy Reagan said ‘just say no’, and if Obama stays on that level, telling kids that anybody can do anything in America is they dedicate themselves (Obama’s the best proof ever of that), then I think I can swallow that.
Juan (bd4b30) — 9/4/2009 @ 10:37 pmIf Obama’s logorrhea is only of the innocent “get ejumakated” type, what use is it for schools to broadcast his logorrhea? If kids don’t listen to parents or teachers, why does the golden boy think they’ll listen to his logorrhea other than his deific self-image?
This is a reason no school should broadcast it. Nothing in the logorrhea will improve children’s ejumakashun. Nothing he logorrhea-izes regarding ejumakashun will be something the kid-punks haven’t already heard.
But, if there’s something more to Obama’s logorrhea beamed directly at students without the students’ parents available to counteract the poison…
This is a reason no school should broadcast Obama’s logorrhea. Separation of Church and State, as the libturds keep (falsely) crying out. Obama-worship and government-worship should be prohibited from public schools, not excitedly welcomed.
As the Texas Supreme Court decided, it is a parent’s responsibility to ensure a child is properly educated, not the public school’s responsibility. Since the parent has the responsibility, the public school should be (but isn’t) the servant of the parents and not (but is) the servant of liberal ideology (idolatry).
Regardless of which tack the liberal sail-boat takes, the route toward truth, honesty, integrity, education is hopelessly astern. And all liberal arguments founder on the shoals of truth, as noted above.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 9/4/2009 @ 10:54 pmI still think you can’t underestimate the extent to which all Barack has to do is show up and let his media do the heavy lifting. More people will hear what the media says Barack Obama says than will hear Barack Obama say what he says. Barack’s NPR and MSNBC and Newsweek have already been informed privately of what sort of reaction stories and follow on angles would be appropriate, and different media have been given different messages depending on their demographics.
Why would this be any different now than during the campaign?
happyfeet (6b707a) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:01 pmNothing in the logorrhea will improve children’s ejumakashun.
That’s another thing Mr. Juan. It’s a fundamental lie that exposure to a speech has any influence whatsoever on student performance.
We would all like to live in a world where this was so.
We don’t.
We will be told that we do.
And yet we won’t.
happyfeet (6b707a) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:04 pmWell yeah, it goes without saying that nothing Obama would say along the ‘don’t do drugs and stay in school’ line would be better said at the local level. then again, any school that is going to show this bullshit at this point probably has idiots for teachers in 85% of the classrooms.
But our president has greatly expanded the concept of bully pulpit. I honestly hope a lot of young men, particularly black men, look at Obama and realize that all this crap they are fed about how they are screwed is nothing. It was a couple of years ago I got into a very loud argument with a black lady, a very well educated an intelligent lady, about whether things are better now than they were in MLK’s time. I hope she realized how stupid she was to say they were not as Obama was sworn in.
Juan (bd4b30) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:05 pmOh, the above was directed at John.
happyfeet, you’re right… no real argument here beyond my call for naivety. I sure as hell wasn’t listening to the president’s very special message for youngsters when I was a kid. This is a stunt meant to push an agenda.
while I realize that, I stipulate that if Obama played his little theatre game without throwing in a bunch of political garbage ideology, I wouldn’t care much. Perhaps part of that is because Obama’s already maximized my irritation with him, and not because this isn’t beyond his authority. The idea that he has power over every school in America is such a fundamental violation of federalism.
Juan (bd4b30) — 9/4/2009 @ 11:09 pm“Why would this be any different now than during the campaign?”
The only reason I can think of is the right wing is being even dumber.
[note: fished from spam filter]
imdw (60954d) — 9/5/2009 @ 7:21 amWhat is it with liberals and skin color? They seem to remind us at every chance that Teh One™ is black.
How many conservatives do this incessantly? I mean, even Teh One™ mentioned it in his speeches, so I get it that he’s black, but why the constant reminders? Are they afraid I’m going to judge Teh One™ by the content of his character and not the color of his skin?
steve miller (c5e78c) — 9/5/2009 @ 9:10 amIt’s OK for a Republican president to addressed a national audience of students and toot his horn and push his political agenda but it’s not ok for Obama to tell students to stay in school?
That’s called DOUBLE STANDARD
On November 14, 1988, President Reagan addressed and took questions from students from four area middle schools in the Old Executive Office Building. The speech was broadcast live and rebroadcast by C-Span, and Instructional Television Network fed the program “to schools nationwide on three different days.”
In his speech to students and the question and answer session following Reagan
1. stressed the importance of low taxes and free trade.
2. stressed the importance of religion in our nation.
3 touted the economic achievements of his administration ,
4.put in a plug for the line item veto,
5. told the students that lowering taxes increases revenue
6. boasted of his administrations aid to Negro colleges
7. and told students that if guns were banned, burglars would be “celebrating forevermore”
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/111488c.htm
Two years before that Reagan again spoke to the children of America on nationwide TV .
He spends the bulk of his address touting the wonderful accomplishments of his administration in fixing the economy, restoring America’s military, bolstering foreign policy. (Gee, isn’t it suppose to be about the kids??)
Then he goes on to exhort the students to help make America strong by
1. studying hard (good)
2. being good citizens (wonderful)
3. staying away from drugs. (excellent)
4. and lowering the tax rates (Huh???)
Why he just couldn’t help himself slip his political agenda in there again.
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/51386d.htm
Norris Hall (abb519) — 9/6/2009 @ 1:32 amKnew you were a Moby. Go away you racist moron.
Stashiu3 (ed6467) — 9/6/2009 @ 1:37 am” Knew you were a Moby. Go away you racist moron.”
That’s the way to respond to that.
imdw (5f60be) — 9/6/2009 @ 4:09 pm