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Wednesday, November 04, 2009

11 Videos of Students Praising Obama

Posted by: Greg Hengler at 11:43 AM

This is why I did not like the idea of Obama speaking to schools across the nation. Not because of what he would say, but because of what the teachers would say after he spoke. Intellectually honest Americans of all stripes have to acknowledge the praises (i.e., brainwashing) that would occur after their messiah spoke. These eleven videos (God only knows how many were not recorded and put on YouTube) exemplify what Charles Krauthammer said on last night's O'Reilly Factor about Obama's cheerleaders reminding him of Mao's Cultural Revolutionon [H/T: Breitbart]:

Krauthammer:

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Saturday, October 17, 2009

This Day in American History...

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 2:30 PM

On this day in 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Department of Education Organization Act. This act of Congress established the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services as cabinet positions.

During his campaign for presidency in 1980, Ronald Reagan voiced his opposition to the Department of Education and promised to eliminate the department as a cabinet position. He was unable to do so, however, after being elected with a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the abolition of the Department of Education remained part of the Republican Party platform until the George W. Bush administration chose not to adopt this idea. Instead, the administration increased the department's span and budget by 69% between 2002 and 2004 with the "No Child Left Behind" law.

The federal government officially inserted itself into our nation's classrooms 30 years ago today.

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Monday, October 05, 2009

Leftists Group Hopes to Disrupt Military Recruiting With National Protest

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 3:21 PM

Tomorrow, October 6, an anti-military recruiter-bashing organization called "We are Not Your Soldiers" his staging a nationwide protest to mark the anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. Young school kids are being encouraged to distribute letters of protest to teachers and administration in hopes the school will disallow military recruiters' access to high school and college campuses.

When protesting, kids are also being encouraged to "assure the media are present." The driving-force behind the protest is the anti-American Communist-founded World Can't Wait organization.

[Military recruiters] roll up in their Hummers talking about strength and discipline, about how the military will give you a “life with a purpose”. But what kind of purpose?
You can kill and torture innocent people – and probably ruin your own life because of what you’ve seen and done – for an empire that causes misery for the planet, or… you can be about putting an end to all that and creating a better world.

In the past, some of these demonstrations have even turned violent against military recruiters and recruiting stations. Be aware of what is going on your kids' schools and be prepared to ask tough questions. Will your child's school be participating?

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Monday, October 05, 2009

Sen. Harkin Gets You To Pay $7 Million For Iowa Schools, Then Congratulates Himself

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 12:58 PM

The Harkin Grant Program earmark, humbly named for and by the Senator who procured it, sucks money from the federal treasury and puts it in the hands of Iowa ~~teachers unions~~ schools. Harkin didn't explain the rationale for why Americans in other states should pay for Iowa school improvement when schools in those other states are suffering.

HT Jim Harper

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Change Certainly Has Come...

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 8:22 PM

Here's another "Obama youth" video, this time brought to you by the Sand Hill Elementary School PTA in Asheville, NC:

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Dave Barry with FIRE on Free Speech in Colleges

Posted by: Kevin Glass at 2:40 PM

A big part of my growing up was reading (and looking forward to) every Dave Barry column. He was a trailblazing humor writer who has been, more than anyone else I have read, consistently funny. His writings have been cheekily filled with the inefficiencies of government bureaucrats and the sinister nature of the IRS. Spurred by an instance of Marquette University demanding someone take down a quote of his about distrust of government, he talks about speech codes with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

Hat tip: Gillespie@Reason

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Did "Safe School Czar" Encourage Statutory Rape?

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 12:46 PM

A Washington Times editorial from today:

A teacher was told by a 15-year-old high school sophomore that he was having homosexual sex with an "older man." At the very least, statutory rape occurred. Fox News reported that the teacher violated a state law requiring that he report the abuse. That former teacher, Kevin Jennings, is President Obama's "safe school czar." It's getting hard to keep track of all of this president's problematic appointments. Clearly, the process for vetting White House employees has broken down.

In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.

In Case You Missed It...

Posted by: Meredith Jessup at 7:05 PM

As the debate over health care continues to overshadow other bills making their way through Congress, the Center for Fiscal Accountability has sent a letter to members, urging them to oppose the so-called "Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act," which CFA claims will ultimately lead to the nationalization of the nation's student aid opportunities by barring private lenders from making government-guaranteed loans.

Click here to read the full letter.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Leadership Institute Launches CampusReform.org to Fight Liberal Bias on Campus

Posted by: Matt Lewis at 4:20 PM

Just in time for the new semester, The Leadership Institute, America's premiere conservative training organization, has launched CampusReform.org -- a new site designed to turn the tide against liberal bias on college campuses.

According to a release, CampusReform.org will include:

"a subsite for each of the 2,376 four-year colleges and universities in the country,"

"tools for student activists to review biased textbooks, rate leftist professors, and report liberal abuses on campus,"

"access to information on national conservative groups and legal organizations providing programs and services to students,"

... and much more.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

Center for the Comparative Study of Right Wing Movements, University of California, Berkeley

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 2:57 PM

At first glance, this thing has "pinkos on a new conservative witch hunt" written all over it. I mean, first you have to get past the name Center for the Comparative Study of Right Wing Movements, which in itself implies that American conservatism can summarily be reduced to "right wingers," which in common discourse means "fringe extremists who should be shot on sight." Then there's the fact that it's based out of the University of California at Berkeley, which isn't exactly what you'd call an bastion of unbiased academia.

But then I read Mark Lila's commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is a really poignant and certainly realistic take on the state of conservatism in American academia.

My brightest conservative students, brought up on hair-raising tales of political correctness, dismiss academic careers out of hand because they are certain of not being hired or getting tenure. And I can't say I blame them. Even as an ex-conservative, I was lucky to have passed through the eyes of those two needles.

In the end, Lila gives the new Center his "ex-conservative blessing."

If nothing else, it will get professors and students to discuss ideas and read books that until now have been relegated to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. That's a start. And who knows, maybe Berkeley will even begin hiring conservative professors, if only to preserve its reputation as "the birthplace of transformative social movements."

Adding to the evidence that this Center might not be so bad is the man chosen for its head of operations. Lawrence Rosenthal comes from the Chapman University School of Law, which in itself is conservative - encouraging! Rosenthal's lawyerly writings have sprouted from solid, respectable legal journals, meaning that he's probably not going to be doing that much witch-hunting. But a cursory examination of those writings pegs him as a leftie. And after a little more poking around, I'm a little scared by the types of events he's putting on. "Contesting and Understanding the Right: Beyond the Academy," featured the following speakers:

Ellen Gertzog, Director, Affiliate Security, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Eunice C. Lee, Attorney, Equal Justice Works Fellow, American Civil Liberties Union
Peter Montgomery, Foundation Senior Fellow, People for the American Way

Affiliate Security for Planned Parenthood? I.e., they're going to be understanding American conservatism from the vantage point of someone who exclusively deals with conservative extremists who despicably employ violence to protest policy? Granted, I did not attend the lecture, but my guess is you'd have to be smoking some doobie if you think you're going to get an accurate representation of the American right by talking to any of these guys.

Then there's the Center's own mission statement.

With the end of the cold war, anti-communism was spent as a unifying force. Pent-up for decades, particular right-wing movements now spun on to the political stage with centripetal energy. In a few cases, these groups have managed to find a basis for alliance and have come to power. Others have created chaotic international hot spots.

Lila recognizes the troubles with this, saying "It is a convenient left-wing dodge to reduce 20th-century American conservatism to cold-war politics, since it implies that conservative ideas are embedded in a world that no longer exists and never should have." But I'd go a bit further. This statement -- the Center's fundamental creed -- draws a direct line from anti-communism to chaos. And anything that's founded on making their main focus of study (conservatives) into a bunch of dangerous rabble-rousers has to be kidding themselves if they think they're anything but the same.

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Before Obama Talked To School Kids In Public, He Talked To Them In Private

Posted by: Jillian Bandes at 4:25 PM

CNS News highlights Obama's pre-education speech activities, namely, giving another speech behind closed doors. This other one was way more partisan and politicking than the public message he delivered about staying in school and working hard.