The Median Sib

Let’s say it’s ten, twenty, thirty, forty or more years ago, and you decide you want to take over the United States and thus the world. You know you can’t win against such a superpower in an outright physical battle. However, if you work on the Americans’ thinking and values, you know it’s do-able. So you set out to conquer the United States in four simple steps.

(1) Place your people in the schools. Get some of your folks in the colleges that train teachers. Get them into as many universities as possible. These are the “educated” people that others look up to and believe. As a bonus, as the students of these people graduate some of them will become teachers and professors. Then they, in turn, will influence new generations of students. Sympathy and empathy for your world view will grow exponentially. Make sure your universities and professors support those who are sympathetic to America’s enemies in the name of diversity while, in the name of respecting others, they don’t allow those who disagree with America’s enemies to speak.

(2) Get the mainstream media in your pocket. In the past, people received their news slowly and only via print media or word of mouth. Now there is instant news, and news can be manipulated to convince people that one thing is happening when actually the opposite is true. Use catchy phrases like “keeping them honest” so people will think you’re working in their best interests. People believe the news. They trust those pretty “anchors”. It’s a business, and money talks. Exaggerate each negative aspect of American society to the point that people become blind to the real freedoms and opportunities all Americans have. Remember that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.

(3) Become involved in the political system. Join the baby boomers who want to work for human rights and equality. Take their sincere and heartfelt concerns and interests and prostitute them until the boomers and their succeeding generations believe they’re working and voting for issues that are noble and righteous (freedom of choice, freedom of speech, food and housing for the needy, disaster relief) while in reality their votes end up doing the opposite (e.g. making equal rights incompatible with the sanctity of unborn life, allowing terrorists easy access to American communication systems, and creating generations of people who are dependent on the government and are rendered incapable of being self-sufficient). Convince them that protesting whatever the president does or says is not only what a true patriot does but their responsibility as an American citizen. It doesn’t matter what he does or says: disagree with it.

(4) Infiltrate the entertainment industry. Americans have a serious case of star worship. Get in with Hollywood stars, television stars, and music stars. Again, money talks. In a society where there is no such thing as bad publicity, it’s easy to convince “stars” to speak up for you and against their own country. After all, they’re influenced by the politicians and MSM, too. And if anyone disagrees with you, charge them with being intolerant or with profiling or with . . . oh just anything that provides a smokescreen for what’s really going on.

Once you’ve accomplished those four steps, you’ll get the following results:*Your forces can pilot highjacked airliners into major buildings in major American cities killing thousands of people, and once the dust clears and the MSM, teachers, politicians, and Hollywood have put their spin on it, the people will blame the United States.
*The president will use legal means to protect them, and because the MSM and some politicians says what he did was illegal, the people will ignore common sense and historical precedent and claim the president is a crook and should be impeached. And they will say it often enough and loud enough that even reasonable people take up the cry.
*People will be blind to the absurdities of declaring their support of freedom of speech while censoring those who disagree with them.
*People will believe what the MSM tells them about the Iraq war rather than believing the soldiers who are there on the ground working with the Iraquis every day.
*The MSM and thus most people will largely ignore the real threats in the world and instead will support the very people who threaten them.
*People will condemn a few U.S. soldiers for humiliating prisoners, and they will call it torture. Then they will support murderers who behead, publicly hang, riot, burn and kill thousands not only with no consequences but to the cheering of other murderers. And, again, the people will be blind to the hypocrisy of their actions.
*People will declare that they support our soldiers while at the same time supporting the people who are causing more of our soldiers to be killed and wounded.

The list goes on. The blindness goes on. The hypocrisy goes on. The madness goes on.

Others writing on the absurdities of the left: Michelle Malkin, Blame Bush!, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Classical Values, Blue Star Chronicles, The Mudville Gazette, All Things Beautiful, Gina Cobb, American Soldier, Scrappleface, Michelle Malkin (again), Stop The ACLU, Atlas Shrugs, Dr. Sanity, Protein Wisdom, Rhymes With Right, Ankle Biting Pundits, Cox & Forkum, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Red State, David Limbaugh, The American Spectator, The Black Republican, Stuck on Stupid

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Linked to: Conservative Cat, Third Word Country, TMH’s Bacon Bits, Adam’s Blog, The Uncooperative Blogger, Blue Star Chronicles

Several months ago when terrorists kidnapped a Christian Peacemaker Team, I wrote that they were stupid to go into a war zone. High, lofty ideals mixed in with people who hate them simply because they’re westerners. Tom Fox, the American member of that team, was found dead this past week. His hands and feet were bound, he had been tortured, shot in the head and chest, wrapped in blankets and black pastic bags and left in a garbage dump. This is from The Washington Post:

Fox, 54, was the only American in a group of four Christian Peacemaker Teams members taken hostage last year by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. . . .

Fox worked with families of incarcerated Iraqis, often serving as the only link between them and their families on the outside, said Paul Slattery, a member of his support group from Langley Hill Friends Meeting. Fox also escorted shipments of medicine to clinics and hospitals and worked to form an Islamic Peacemaker Team.

I admire the team’s motivations and ambitions. I am incredibly sorry that he lost his life in such a barbaric and undeserved manner. The news reports tell us that he knew of the dangers he faced. He kept a blog “Waiting in the Light” - the last entry was November 8, 2005. Here is an entry from August 30, 2005 that is indicative of his politics:

We have seen again and again in the last one hundred years the evolution of warfare to the point now when the first two parts of war that have been in play for centuries, that of middle-age men sending out young men to fight and die to keep the middle-age men in power, has added a third component. Still the young fight and die to retain the power of the middle-age men but now most of those who lose their lives in the conflict are women and children.

So the Islamic Taliban leaders sent their young men to run planes into the Twin Towers and Pentagon in order to keep themselves in power? And George Bush responded to that threat to keep himself in power? On August 18, 2005 he wrote:

We must come from a spirit of love and compassion to help our leaders and many of our fellow citizens come to see that if we truly love God then we must make a drastic change of direction in the course of our country. The only way we will gain respect is by showing it to others, even those we disagree with. The only way we will gain love is by giving it to others, even those we disagree with. Love of country must always be subordinate to love of God. Love of country alone sets us on a course towards the disasters that have befallen other counties over the centuries.

The LA Times reported the Christian Peacemaker Teams’ reaction:

“We mourn the loss of Tom Fox, who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone,” Christian Peacemakers said in a statement posted on its website.

I agree with Fox and the Christian Peacemaker Teams on many of their beliefs. However, God is NOT in everyone. At least not a God of love and peace. And the United States is the bastion of freedom and non-oppression that people from all over the world strive to reach. Despite what you read and hear via the MSM, people die every day trying to get to the United States from other countries.

Love of country also involves protecting ourselves. Because we “ignored the bad behavior” of the Islamic terrorists in the past, they became bolder and more aggressive. There ARE evil people in the world. There ARE evil religions in the world. Put the evil people with the evil religion and you get Islamic terrorists who don’t care whether you want peace or war. They don’t care if you have love in your heart for them. They don’t care if you see God in them. We have seen documented plans for further terrorists attacks in America. Terrorism is becoming an ever stronger force in our world. Their plan is to take over our country and make it a Muslim country. Seeing in real life the Muslim plan of society makes that a completely untenable idea. We MUST defend ourselves and our freedoms.

Yes, Tom Fox’s ideals were admirable, but I believe they were unrealistic and unworkable. Thank God for our military and for President Bush who are making sure that people like the Christian Peacemaker Teams have the freedom to continue in their bubble of delusion; and who are working against tremendous pressure from within our own country to make sure that the Islamists who torture and kill such gentle-hearted people are stopped.

Other information on this topic: The Christian Peacemaker Teams site, Tom Fox is remembered by friends, News story information, CBS News

Others writing on this topic: The Autonomist, Michelle Malkin, Gina Cobb, Media Lies, Rhymes With Right, Mudville Gazette, Dr. Sanity

Linkfest Haven Links: Basil’s Blog, TMH’s Bacon Bits, Stuck On Stupid, Adam’s Blog, Is It Just Me?, The Real Ugly American, The Uncooperative Blogger, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Blue Star Chronicles

In honor of Newspaper in Education week, Random Yak has a touching post about how despite all the negative feelings about the MSM, he feels differently about newspapers.

There’s a lot to be said for our friends in the MSM and their capacity to assist with training the young.

Go read the whole post. It’ll only take a minute. It will certainly set straight all those people who say that today’s newspapers aren’t worthwhile.

Jay Bennish has been reinstated in his job as geography teacher at his school in Colorado. According to the news he has promised to give all sides of an issue in future classes. I wrote a post about Bennish last week that stirred up a discussion in comments. Here is a comment I received today - by an “anonymous” person (of course). It took about a minute of exploring to find out that the comment probably came from someone using a computer at the University of Colorado. So the attitude is not surprising. (I cut/pasted the comment exactly as it was written.)

When are people supposed to start thinking and making decisions based on the vast information provided them (from various sources!)? Many have denounced Bennish for presenting controversial viewpoints (I truly hope they’ve actually listened to the audiotape) to highschool students, claiming they are not old enough to make their own decisions when only presented one side. Let’s give the students a little credit, maybe they won’t be making the same decisions as you or those in office, but that does not make them wrong. If students are not allowed to question theyare not being taught, but indoctrinated. Applause goes to Bennish for presenting viewpoints that the right-wing administration is trying to quench by calling them unpatriotic. To be proud of our country (true patriotism) we must be able to question it’s policies. If we lose our voices we become a dictatorship and not a democracy.

I doubt the person realizes how absolutely ridiculous and contradictory his/her comments are. First this person tells us that people MUST start making decisions based on the “vast information provided them,” and then he/she contradicts that by writing that high school kids are old enough to make their own decisions when only presented with one side of an issue. Sure…THAT makes a lot sense.

Then there’s the comment about “If students are not allowed to question, then they are not being taught, but indoctrinated.” BINGO! That was part of my argument with what Jay Bennish did. He put on a show of accepting questions, but then he effectively squelched the viewpoint of the student who disagreed with him, and then he continued with his very one-sided, very anti-American viewpoint. And what he said WAS anti-American. Forget Bennish’s criticism of George Bush. There is no way to call his bashing of the very foundation of our country - democracy and capitalism - anything but unpatriotic. There is a HUGE difference between constructive debate/disagreement and sedition.

It is always amusing to me how some liberals try to make everything a “freedom of speech” or “freedom of choice” or “hearing all viewpoints” issue rather than looking at ALL issues fairly and rationally.

How quickly would they change their tune if the “one side” that was being presented to the high school students was from the opposite side of the spectrum - Well, for example, the far radical right. Let’s only teach, for example, that we should bomb the hell out of Iraq and Iran - hey, throw in Afghanistan while we’re at it, and we should torture every terrorist we capture in order to get information, and we should put up thousands of miles of fences or walls (our own version of the Wall of China) to keep out illegal immigrants. Oh yes, and be sure to tell them that the United States is right no matter what. They should have blind faith in anything our president says or does. Do you think for a minute the commenter would say that the high school kids are old enough to make decisions after hearing only that side of things? I wonder what the ACLU would say about that classroom teacher?

Questioning and debate are what make our country great. It frightens me to think that so many of our children aren’t learning those skills. They accept what is being preached via the MSM and via Hollywood rather than thinking for themselves.

I think there is a pattern forming in the comments I’ve received. Look at this other response:

I agree with the teacher totally I was taught a pack of lies about the Native Americans when I was in school and nobody complained about THAT. If my daughter had a teacher that was REALLY teaching her the TRUTH, which this man seems to be doing, then I would applaud him. You don’t want truth in American Schools though. You want a biased religious based curriculum that teaches children to follow the leader and NOT think for themselves. Perhaps if the children went out and did some research instead of relying on what is TOLD to them, we NEVER would have had this mess of a war we have, the financial state we are in, nobody without health care, people sitting on rooftops waiting to be rescued, racial bias, homophobia . .. Oh hun the list goes on. Why NOT allow a different view to be taught in our classrooms. What are we afraid of, our children actually being educated??? (TMS note: This was by someone named Lady Celticfire)

Okay. So children should go out and do research instead of relying on what is told to them, BUT then we should also allow a different view to be “taught”. What if that different view was the radical right ones mentioned earlier? Another reader wrote a reponse to Lady CelticFire, and she assumed I wrote it. Oh well, can’t really expect these people to READ what they’re responding to here. So much for her research. The following shows us where she is coming from:

You need to do YOUR research about what Communism REALLY isHAHA No I am really not trying to offend. But you DO need to do some research on Communism. Have you actually read the Communist manifesto? Karl Marx said “To each according to his need, from each according to his ability.” Not share all your personal possessions. That is NOT what Communism is. Thats not what Socialism is. Please, Please I beg you, actually figure out what Communism REALLY is before you start talking about what some right wing conservative from the 1950’s said. Please. You say you are a teacher, well I also have a college degree and the first thing I learned in college was How To Do Research!!!And a lil PS I wouldn’t want your stuff, thanks I worked hard for my own. Maybe you should share your STUFF with those less fortunate…

Don’t you just hate all those assumptions? I am a Republican. Therefore, I don’t give anything to the less fortunate. I don’t research what I write. I don’t want truth in American schools. All I want is religious bias. The pattern here is that they don’t think we SHOULD think for ourselves. We should buy the whole “Bush is wrong. The war is wrong. The United States is wrong” mentality. And if we don’t then we’re just close-minded and are afraid to think or let others think.

Bring on the questions. Let children question and think. Jay Bennish has the right to believe whatever he wants to believe. His beliefs don’t keep him from being a possibly wonderful teacher. However, when he teaches, he should stick to the subject he’s being paid to teach, and he should give an UNBIASED presentation of the viewpoints, and let the students decide for themselves what to believe.

Atlas Shrugs has this to say:

So Jay Bennish . . . . is back in school on Monday. . . . but the media won’t
publish those ridiculous Danish cartoons.No double standard here, keep moving,
nothing to see.

For more information on this story, check out the following: Michelle Malkin , Cox and Forkum (Re: Substituting the 3T’s for the 3 R’s in education), Stop The ACLU, Big Dog’s Weblog, Conservative Thinking, The Nose On Your Face, Scrappleface, California Conservative.

Please excuse this quick diversion from this list of blogs with Bennish stories to bring you a quote from Random Thoughts of Yet Another Military Member which offers this scenario for when Bennish returns to the classroom to offer both sides of the issue:

Teacher (Bennish): Ok class, thats why capitalism is bad, and Bush is like Idi Amin (see I told everyone I wouldn’t use the Hitler reference anymore). Now do any of you fascist baby killing supporters want to offer up a opposing view?
Class: No!
Bennish: Ok, good, none of you are obviously indoctrinated in the Bush Youth yet, so I will offer the opposing view. I once heard a Republican helped a old lady across the street, before stealing her social security check to help pay for the illegal occupation in Iraq. Class Dismissed!

I thought it was funny. I had to include it. Ok - now on to other sources for comments on this story: Slapstick Politics, DPGI, The Education Wonks, The Blue Site.

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I remember a little over five years ago when my daughter and son-in-law invited me to go with them to witness the sonogram during which they’d find out if their baby would be a boy or a girl. Of course during the sonogram, the technician would also take measurements and do other checks to make sure the baby was developing normally. I was excited. When I’d had my two pregnancies back in the 70’s, I had felt fortunate to hear the baby’s heartbeat via a stethoscope. That seemed like a pretty advanced medical achievement at that time. I had never even heard of sonograms.

As I went into the sonogram room, I told my daughter and son-in-law that I would sit off to the side. My intention was to be an observer and not intrude in any way on their experience as the baby’s parents. My resolve to stay in the background lasted about a minute.

As the technician moved the wand (is that what it’s called?) over my daughter’s belly, suddenly there on the screen was the baby! So clearly! I jumped up to get closer so I could see more clearly. As the technician moved the wand, she pointed out the baby’s beating heart, the backbone, the brain. We could already see the fingers and toes and face. When the technician told us it was definitely a girl, we all cried, “Lily!” because that was to be her name. We watched as she moved her arms and then began to suck her thumb. We were all crying with joy at the absolute miracle that was Lily - still growing inside her mother, but alive and well and very much a real baby. She was no longer a depersonalized “fetus”. She was our Lily.

When looking at a pregnant woman’s abdomen, it’s hard to visualize a baby underneath all those layers of skin and tissue. A sonogram makes it real. After seeing with clarity the baby’s features, there is no denying the human life that is there.

And that bring me to my topic. I was reading Cozy Reader the other day and saw this post referencing this article in the Lexington Herald-Leader. The article reports that a pro-life clinic in Lexington has installed a sonogram machine. It’s effective. What do patients see during their sonograms?

“We’ve had babies wave. … We’ve had babies smile. We’ve had babies suck their thumb. If they’ve had a little bit of caffeine, they’re jumping around,” said Frost, the center’s nurse manager.

Kim Conroy, Sanctity of Human Life director for Focus on the Family, says two-thirds of the women who view their fetuses on an ultrasound machine at a pregnancy resource center end up rejecting abortion.

I can understand that. Once a woman realizes that it isn’t a “fetus” but a real, live, active baby in there, abortion suddenly becomes not such a welcome choice.

However, some abortion-rights activists have opposed the use of sonograms. These are the people who claim they want women to make informed decisions. Instead of wanting to make sure that women who choose to abort their baby understand fully the ramifications of their decision, they claim that the use of sonograms puts inappropriate pressure on women.

“It’s a manipulative tool,” said Ginny Copenhefer, a former lobbyist with the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. “I don’t think it’s fair to heap guilt on them because they feel they have to terminate a pregnancy. That’s just the most cruel form of abuse that I can imagine.”

Again, this remark and attitude exposes the often two-faced nature of many on the left. All the talk about “pro-choice” is merely a popular sound bite. They talk the talk of informed choice but can’t walk the walk. Women should be able to make truly informed choices and understand that there are reasonable options to abortion. Better for a woman to KNOW what she is “terminating” than to live with a lifetime of regret once she learns that she ended the life of another human being - her own child.

Although the pro-abortion proponents would have us believe otherwise, the debate on abortion truly isn’t about “choice.” It isn’t about government trying to dictate what we do in the privacy of our homes. It isn’t (as I read on a pro-abortion site earlier this evening) about Christians trying to grow more Christians. That’s just silly. It’s a life and death debate about protecting babies.

Yes, there are some serious issues about unwanted children, poverty, maternity health care, child care, and many others. As a society we have trouble handling the children that are already here. And if there are laws against abortion, what do you do with women who get abortions anyway? There are major issues involved in making laws against abortion. However, there is a bottom line. There are some matters that are open to interpretation and belief. On others issues, civilized nations need to draw a line in the sand. Human life is precious. We don’t decide who has value and who is worth saving based on another person’s feelings. We should do everything we can to protect those who can’t protect themselves.

There’s some great reading available at The Black Republican. He refers to the Glenn Reynolds book: An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths.

Those of us in the blogosphere not big enough to actually sling the big missiles, we are the rocks. Those of you who don’t actually blog yourselves but just use blogs as a source of news and information, you are the rocks. We are the ones that make the impact, the ones who make sure the shots from the Davids are felt by the Goliaths. Oh, we little Davids may occasionally take a shot or two ourselves, but our real value lies elsewhere. By bringing up issues at home, work, or school and using arguments advanced by the New Media (whatever your viewpoint), by holding elected officials accountable for their actions with information gleaned from blogs, by writing letters to newspaper editors, by informing friends, family, and coworkers about the issues that affect their everyday lives that otherwise gets hidden or overlooked by the MSM, we ensure that those shots fired by the Davids actually strike flesh. The choice of those “five smooth stones” by David was of critical importance, as is the impact each of us can have.

I like that metaphor. I’ve often been discouraged by the news and felt that my one small blog is insignificant. However, a single rock can have a big impact, but the greater impact is all those rocks together.

But as time has passed we rocks have become more polished, smooth, hard, and have learned to be self directed… and our impact is being felt. Expect the leftist Philistines to become more and more anxious as they begin to see their champion Goliaths - big Government, the MSM, Hollywood, Academia - suffer a death from a thousand cuts.

An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower the Little Guy to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths

Others writing on An Army of Davids: Technosight Blog, Outside The Beltway, Old Controller, Shooting the Messenger, Michelle Malkin, The Truth Laid Bear, Politics and Religion, Atlas Shrugs, Expose the Left, SoxBlog, The Cigar Intelligence Agency, PelicanPost, The Anchoress, TigerHawk, The Bookcast, Badger Blog Alliance, Gathering In Light, One Hand Clapping

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Santa Cruz: Illegal Immigration Cesspool

Excerpt: The city of Santa Cruz, which often takes controversial approaches to social issues, has now established what is believed to be the nation’s first hotline for day laborers — most of whom are undocumented — to report unscrupulous employers.

Weblog: Freedom FolksTracked: 03.07.06 - 9:01 am

Permalink  Post your comments »  Filed under: Book Recommendations, Politics, Liberal Insanity, The MSM

Islamophobia? Yes! Islamohatred? No!

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 2:11 am by carol

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I admit it. I am Islamophobic. That doesn’t mean I hate Muslims or the Islam religion. It means simply that I fear what Islam has become. I fear Islam because of the the radical, irrational, beheading, murdering and pillaging Muslims that are shown in the news. I fear them because they carry signs declaring that they would kill us without a second thought simply because we are not Muslim. I fear them because of the Muslim mother who sent sons on suicide missions and said she wished she had more sons to sacrifice for Allah. I fear them because some of their leaders have encouraged the ones in other countries to blend into western society in order to gain trust to later help with terrorist activities.

I think any non-Muslim in his/her right mind is Islamophobic. It is a smart thing to be in today’s world. It isn’t an irrational fear, but a fear based on widespread real and visible evidence of unstable and irrational Islamic behavior.

Islamophobic is not Islamohatred. I don’t hate Muslims. I hate some of them - yes. But as a group, I don’t hate them. I think that the large majority of them were likely born into the religion and don’t realize how destructive it has become. They know only what they are being told by the radical and murderous leaders.

We should be proud to be Islamophobic. Only idiots wouldn’t be.

You can check out Wikipedia for a thorough description of Islamophobia.

There is Islamophobia Watch: Documenting the war against Islam.

Others writing on Islamophobia: The Anchoress, FaithFreedom, Michelle Malkin, Sister Toldjah, Power Line, Captain’s Quarters, Blue Star Chronicles, Atlas Shrugs, All Things Beautiful, Pedestrian Infidel, Right Truth, Water Cooler Wisdom, The Fall of Jericho, Mark Levin Fan, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, Cox & Forkum, Infinite Monkeys, Gina Cobb, Protein Wisdom, Jihad Watch, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Mudville Gazette, Little Green Footballs, Iraq The Model.

Permalink  2 Comments »  Filed under: Danish Cartoons, Politics, Islamic Extremism, Liberal Insanity

Jay Bennish - Communist Agent for Colorado Schools

Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 at 4:55 pm by carol

Coming home from school today, I listened to the news about Jay Bennish, a 10th grade geography teacher who taught communism and anti-Bush, anti-America thinking along with (or in place of) his geography lessons: Here’s a summary of what he taught in the taped lesson that is being played and replayed on the radio, TV and Internet.

(1) He compares Bush to Hitler.
(2) He thinks capitalism is at odds with human rights, caring and compassion.
(3) He teaches that the US government working WITH the government of another country to try to decrease the amount of illegal crops justifies other countries coming to the U.S. and destroying legal tobacco-producing areas.
(4) He teaches that the U.S. is the worst terrorist country in the world.

And those are only the highlights of his lesson. I read through the transcript of the lesson and if I hadn’t been TOLD it was a geography class, I never would have guessed it.

When the student who was secretly taping the class disagreed with him, he accepted the disagreement and then very “reasonably” explained why the student was wrong and quickly brought the lesson back to the U.S. and Israel being the real terrorists. It was this calm, outward acceptance and consideration of the student’s questions and then turning it around on the student that bothered me the most.

As a long-time public school teacher, I have always been aware of the tremendous influence I have on the children I teach. Children identify with their teachers, and they often emulate them. Sometimes when kids are going through their adolescent rebellion phase, they are prone to trust teachers before their parents. Teaching is an absolutely mind-boggling responsibility.

I wrote awhile back about the book Children’s Story by James Clavell. The story covers one class period in an elementary classroom. Although there is no direct correlation between the story and what Jay Bennish did in the classes he taught, there are some similarities that are striking and chilling. As I said before, Children’s Story is a quick read - maybe 30 - 45 minutes at the most. It’s worth the effort, and it will make you consider the power of the classroom teacher.

Further reading on the Jay Bennish story: Michelle Malkin, The American Check-up, Plains Feeder, The Political Dogs, The Defiance, Is This Blog On?, Severe Writers Block, Survival Theory, Intercepts, The Education Wonks, Conservative Thinking, Right Wing Nation, The Uncooperative Blogger, Freedom Folks, Tundra Tabloids

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Christian Holy Places and Shrines

Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 2:33 am by carol

There is an unexpected plus side to all the rioting, burning, killing and general mayhem caused by the radical Islamists as a result of their supposed anger at the publication of some cartoons depicting their prophet Muhammad. And that plus side is that it forces Christians (speaking for myself) to examine their own beliefs.

I was listening to a talk radio show awhile ago, and there was a discussion about how Christian holy places and shrines were planned targets of Muslim violence. I started thinking: What would Christians do if the places where Jesus lived and taught were destroyed by terrorists? Would we feel that it was an insult to Jesus? Would we feel compelled to avenge the desecration of our Christian holy places?

I tried to think of what some of our Christian holy places are: Bethlehem - where Jesus was born? Where the Sermon on the Mount occurred? The location of the Last Supper? Where the crucifixion occurred? What ARE Christianity’s holy places? My mother will be aghast at my ignorance. My belief, though, has never been tied to physical locations or items. Any damage to those places would be a tragedy, but I would have no need to retaliate. God knows who did it. He knows their hearts. He will handle it.

How about desecration of The Bible? Would I consider that something that must be avenged? Again, my answer is no. It is just a book that contains the story upon which my beliefs are based. It is paper and ink, published by massive printing machines. My belief isn’t based on physical places and items or other people’s attitudes or actions towards God. God knows our hearts. He can handle any desecration or abuse directed towards him. He doesn’t need my help in avenging Him.

He DOES need my help in spreading the word of our loving God - a god who wants the best for us and who takes us as we are and helps us to help ourselves and others: A joyous contrast to what we are seeing in Islam.

Permalink  Post your comments »  Filed under: Danish Cartoons, Politics, Islamic Extremism, Liberal Insanity

Converting the world to Islam

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 at 9:47 pm by carol

At this point it doesn’t matter what Muhammad taught or what is written in the Koran. It doesn’t matter whether or not at heart it’s a religion of peace. What matters is that millions of Muslims are killing, bombing, burning, destroying, beheading and threatening and being raving lunatics in the name of Islam. If there is anything worthwhile in Islam, it is completely negated by its militant fanatics and ridiculously uncivilized laws. Muhammad is apparently such a weak and ineffectual “prophet” that the religion can’t win converts or exist on its own worth. Muslims have such little confidence in their prophet’s power and abilities that they must kill and terrorize the opposition in order for him to prevail.

We understand, though, that none of today’s turmoil is truly about religion or cartoons - despite all the sound bites about respecting or disrespecting Islam. It’s about men who are so emasculated and perverted that the only way they can prove themselves as men is through brutalizing others. Islam is a sick, sad and barbaric religion.

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The Balanced Calendar and Steve Gill

Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 5:43 pm by Carol

Yesterday morning on my way to school I listened to the Steve Gill Show on WTN, 99.7. I have to admit that my feelings were hurt. Steve was talking about Williamson County School’s consideration of a balanced calendar. Steve does not like the idea.

A few weeks ago every school in our district had a mandatory faculty meeting where the proposed calendar was presented and we were given the opportunity to express our feelings about it and vote on it. The vote turned out in favor of it. Elementary teachers tended to vote for it. High school teachers tended to vote against it. The majority of the arguments against the balanced calendar centered around how it would affect high school athletic programs and band camp, and how it might negatively impact scores on college entrance exams.

Steve raged on about how our director was trying to push things through without giving anyone other than teachers the opportunity for input. Quite simply, he didn’t know what he was talking about. After the teachers voted, there was more discussion and then meetings were set up to get parent and community input. Via our new phone communication system, each family with children in the school system was notified of the proposal and how they could voice their views about it. A discussion board was set up weeks ago for teachers and administrators to debate the pros and cons of it. All along it was stressed that the proposal was simply that - a proposal. Not a done deal. The school district wanted discussion and input in order to make an informed and fair decision.

It’s fine to believe that a balanced calendar is a bad idea. There are many teachers who feel the same way. Here’s where Steve went too far, though. He went into a rant about how STUPID the teachers must be if they thought this NITWIT idea would result in fewer days of school. There isn’t a single teacher who believes that we would get more days off with the proposed calendar. We are intelligent, well educated people who work exceptionally hard at our jobs. Most of us could make much more money and have more opportunity for advancement if we had gone into another field. However, we chose teaching because we care about children and want to make a positive difference in their lives.

Another of Steve’s rants was about how many days off teachers get. He feels that teachers get too much time off. Remember the old joke: What are the three best reasons for being a teacher? June, July, and August! First of all, this past year teachers were back at school the first week in August. Secondly, teachers are ten-month employees. We are not paid for those two months off in the summer although most of us work many days during that time without pay.

So, lay off the teachers, Steve. The balanced calendar is a proposal, and everyone in the community has the opportunity to provide input. It isn’t being forced on anyone. It has been proposed, and now it is being discussed and debated. The final decision will be based on that discussion and debate.

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The Median Sib » Blog Archive » AMERICANS - not African-Americans or Mexican-Americans or Italian-Americans or Irish-Americans . . . (Thanks to Steve Gill) pinged this post.

Christian Peacekeeping Team - Stupid is as Stupid Does

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 at 8:58 pm by carol

I read this post by Darren in Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher about the Christian Peacemaking Team that was kidnapped by the terrorists in Iraq. Here’s a news story about it.

 

 

I can describe the team in one word: stupid. 

 

Required viewing for anyone contemplating “peacemaking” trips into a war zone where terrorists are active would be a video of the terrorists slowing sawing off an American civilian’s head with a dull knife as the civilian’s initial screams of terror and pain are literally cut off, and then the terrorists taking the severed head - holding it up gleefully by the hair and then setting it down on the side of the headless body lying on the ground. 

 

Terrorists don’t care who you are or why you’re there. They don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican. They don’t care if you’re a warmonger or a peacemaker. They just want to kill you and as many others as possible. 

 

They laugh at your stupidity. 

 

 

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