In full parade-fashion, last Thursday’s March 4th “Strike and Day of Action to Defend Education” saw liberal activists and students once again “fighting the good fight”, seeing oppression and racial discrimination in necessary budget cuts that affect education. Peter Robinson summing it all up:

We have here the vocabulary of the peace movement, of the struggle for decent conditions for migrants and other exploited workers, and of the civil-rights movement. Yet what did the protesters demand? Peace? Human rights? No. Money. And for whom? For the downtrodden and oppressed? No. For themselves. At a time when one American in 10 is unemployed and historic deficits burden both the federal government and many of the states, the protesters attempted to game the political system. They engaged in a resource grab.

The protests did offer students a certain kind of instruction. They taught them to replace the idealism of youth with the crassest self-pleading.

These students may like to believe that they are asking themselves, “What is good for society?” But really, they are asking, “What is good for myself?”

And yes, they can compare themselves to their brethren of 40 years ago:

The Vietnam anti-war/peace movement should be more properly and accurately scarlet-lettered an anti-draft movement. By the end of 1971, under Nixon, the draft ended. Major peace protests happened throughout 1968 through ‘71. The largest, most intense bombing of the war occurred in Christmas of ‘72 [Operation Linebacker II]. Any protests? Any peace movement marches? Not a peep. Because those protesting the war knew that they would no longer be called up to serve. Yet we’re to believe that the “peace” movement were anti-war out of altruistic good conscience on behalf of the Vietnam people. No: many were motivated by selfish interests. After the draft ended under Nixon, so too did the majority support for these idiotic marches, which only fueled more violence; not less.

“Yesterday, America saw two giants of American literary fiction pass: JD Salinger and Howard Zinn.”

Boston Globe:

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as “A People’s History of the United States,” inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience, died today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling. He was 87.

His daughter, Myla Kabat-Zinn of Lexington, said he suffered a heart attack.

“He’s made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture,” Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. “He’s changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can’t think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect.”

Chomsky added that Dr. Zinn’s writings “simply changed perspective and understanding for a whole generation. He opened up approaches to history that were novel and highly significant. Both by his actions, and his writings for 50 years, he played a powerful role in helping and in many ways inspiring the Civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.”

For Dr. Zinn, activism was a natural extension of the revisionist brand of history he taught. “A People’s History of the United States” (1980), his best-known book, had for its heroes not the Founding Fathers — many of them slaveholders and deeply attached to the status quo, as Dr. Zinn was quick to point out — but rather the farmers of Shays’ Rebellion and union organizers of the 1930s.

As he wrote in his autobiography, “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train” (1994), “From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than ‘objectivity’; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble.”

~~~

Carroll called Dr. Zinn “simply one of the greatest Americans of our time. He will not be replaced — or soon forgotten. How we loved him back.”

I believe it was on The Dennis Prager Show that I heard him interviewed a few years ago. Prager asked him if the world would have been better off had the U.S. never come into existence. His answer? “Yes.”

Do you believe in the American dream — the idea that in this country, hardworking people of every race, color and creed can get ahead on their own merits? If so, that belief may soon bar you from getting a license to teach in Minnesota public schools — at least if you plan to get your teaching degree at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.

In a report compiled last summer, the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U’s College of Education and Human Development recommended that aspiring teachers there must repudiate the notion of “the American Dream” in order to obtain the recommendation for licensure required by the Minnesota Board of Teaching. Instead, teacher candidates must embrace — and be prepared to teach our state’s kids — the task force’s own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.

The task group is part of the Teacher Education Redesign Initiative, a multiyear project to change the way future teachers are trained at the U’s flagship campus. The initiative is premised, in part, on the conviction that Minnesota teachers’ lack of “cultural competence” contributes to the poor academic performance of the state’s minority students. Last spring, it charged the task group with coming up with recommendations to change this. In January, planners will review the recommendations and decide how to proceed.

The report advocates making race, class and gender politics the “overarching framework” for all teaching courses at the U. It calls for evaluating future teachers in both coursework and practice teaching based on their willingness to fall into ideological lockstep.

The first step toward “cultural competence,” says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize — and confess — their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the reeducation camps of China’s Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi.

Read the Initiative.

Hat tip: Mike Gallagher

Recommended Reading: Saul Alinsky, The American Organizer

An inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer!

Saul Alinsky wrote the book on American radicalism – two books, in fact: a 1945 best-seller, “Reveille for Radicals” and “Rules for Radicals” in 1971. The “Reveille” title page quotes Thomas Paine… “Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul.”

Saul Alinsky, who was a labor and civil-rights activist from the 1910’s until he died in 1972, has written here a guidebook for those who are out to change things. He sets down what the goal is: a society where people are free to live, and also aren’t starving in the streets. A society where there is legal and economic justice. Then he sets out to say how to get there.

Alinsky spends a lot of time critiquing the idea that “The end does not justify the means.” What end? What means? He feels that there are circumstances where one can and should use means that in other circumstances would be unethical. I am not sure I agree, but Alinsky certainly speaks with the voice of experience.

Alinsky’s goal seems to be to encourage positive social change by equipping activists with a realistic view of the world, a kind of preemptive disillusionment. If a person already knows what evil the world is capable of, then perhaps the surprise factor can be eliminated, making the person a more effective activist. Alinsky further seems to be encouraging the budding activist not to worry to much about getting his or her hands dirty. It’s all a part of the job, he seems to say.

Alinsky, the master political agitator, tactical planner and social organizer didn’t mince words…

“Liberals in their meetings utter bold works; they strut, grimace belligerently, and then issue a weasel-worded statement ‘which has tremendous implications, if read between the lines.’ They sit calmly, dispassionately, studying the issue; judging both sides; they sit and still sit.

“The Radical does not sit frozen by cold objectivity. He sees injustice and strikes at it with hot passion. He is a man of decision and action. There is a saying that the Liberal is one who walks out of the room when the argument turns into a fight.

“Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. Conservative interests know that while Liberals are most adept at breaking their own necks with their tongues, Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives.

“Radicals precipitate the social crisis by action – by using power. Liberals may then timidly follow along or else, as in most cases, be swept forward along the course set by Radicals, but all because of forces unloosed by Radical action. They are forced to positive action only in spite of their desires …

• “The American Radical will fight privilege and power whether it be inherited or acquired by any small group, whether it be political or financial or organized creed.
• “He curses a caste system which he recognizes despite all patriotic denials.
• “He will fight conservatives whether they are business or labor leaders.
• “He will fight any concentration of power hostile to a broad, popular democracy, whether he finds it in financial circles or in politics.
• “The Radical recognizes that constant dissension and conflict is and has been the fire under the boiler of democracy. He firmly believes in that brave saying of a brave people, “Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!”
• “The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people.
• “That is the reason why Radicals, although frequently embarking upon revolutions, have rarely resorted to personal terrorism.”

Alinsky practiced what he preached. He said, “Tactics means doing what you can with what you have … tactics is the art of how to take and how to give.”

He uses eyes, ears and nose for examples…

Eyes
“If you have a vast organization, parade it before the enemy, openly show your power.”

Ears
“If your organization is small, do what Gideon did: conceal the members in the dark but raise a clamor that will make the listener believe that your organization numbers many more that it does.”

Nose
“If your organization is too tiny even for noise, stink up the place.”

Alinsky devised and proved thirteen tactical rules for use against opponents vastly superior in power and wealth.

1. “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.
2. “Never go outside the experience of your people.
3. “Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy.
4. “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.
6. “A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.
8. “Keep the pressure on.
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
10. “Major premise for tactics is development of operations that will maintain constant pressure upon the opposition.
11. “If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.
13. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

“The real action is in the enemy’s reaction. The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength. Tactics, like life, require that you move with the action.”

Alinsky was hated and defamed by powerful enemies, proof that his tactics worked. His simple formula for success…

“Agitate + Aggravate + Educate + Organize”

The link is here..

Does anyone else need more proof that the NEA cares more about politics then educating your children?

At first glance, I thought the article was a hoax, but US News & World Report, doesn’t have the personality or wit to do satire. The article was real, Michelle was making an appeal for teachers and trying to explain the importance of quality instruction in the classroom. Fair enough, this is simple, how could anyone screw this up. Everyone knows we need good teachers, it is commonly referred to as a “no brainer.” Unfortunately, Michelle took the distinction literally.

The first sentence that caught my attention was: “My girls are making new friends, tackling challenging new subjects, and moving closer to becoming the strong, confident women I knew they could be.” Hmm, interesting complex sentence structure, there are several errors, “tackling challenging,” a common error. Overuse and misuse of the comma, oh well, another common error. The phrase, “confident women I knew they could be,” oh well, she would have flunked the journalism assignment for that week, but hardly worth becoming excited.

I read on with an open mind, was I in for a surprise. I was about to read creative writing or perhaps I should say creative punctuation, syntax, and grammar that is unique to the English language.

Michelle has an affection for starting sentences with And and But, this one began: “And when we think about the qualities that make an outstanding teacher-boundless energy and endless patience; vision and a sense of purpose; the creativity to help us see the world in a different way; commitment to helping us discover and fulfill our potential- we realize: These are the qualities of a great leader.

After reading this sentence with disbelief, I realized the First Lady doesn’t have a clue about punctuation or constructing a sentence. If this is the result of Affirmative Action, I’d say, the program is a forlorn hope.

With more prose, that under the present political situation qualifies for a Pulitzer, she writes: “Much work lies ahead, and it wont be easy.”

Yes with Safe School Czar Kevin Jenning, promoting the homosexual lifestyle in our schools, endorsing the two daddies and two mommies text books and the condemnation of Romeo and Juliet because it promotes heterosexual love, much work does lie ahead. The total destruction of the moral and cultural fabric of the United States, can be considered “Much work.” Just finding teachers that are willing to promote this garbage and compromise their integrity in the process is no simple chore.

Yes Michelle, you have your work cut out for you, but may I make a humble suggestion? You should learn how to write or have someone help you before you embarrass yourself and the United States by exposing more ignorance of the English language by publishing in a national magazine.

For those that are interested: Eats, Shoots, And Leaves is a great book on punctuation, grammar, and syntax; and it is a funny read.

Ward Churchill (remember him?) references the book, Smallpox and the American Indian, during his testimony in his civil suit against the University of Colorado at the City and County Building in Denver, Colorado March 23, 2009. Churchill is suing the University of Colorado for wrongful termination.
AP photo.

Today, I picked up 2 kids I carpool to the gymnastics club from their magnet school, as I do every Monday. Apparently, there was no mention about Columbus Day. Nada. Zippo. Nothing negative or positive. But they did watch a performance by dancers dressed like Mayan/Aztec Indians; and the older one said it was “Latino Heritage month”.

This school was closed for Yom Kippur (where 99% of the kids are black and Hispanic). But they were open today, with no mention of Columbus, but did celebrate “Latino heritage”. Oooookaaay…..

I’m recognizing my country, less and less, as time wears on….

While Federal government offices in Washington, D.C. are closed for Columbus Day, students in Maryland, just a few miles away, have a full school day. What was once a guaranteed day off from work is now a gamble, with many schools and workplaces open on Columbus Day.

Columbus Day is not commemorated universally. Federal and state offices are closed, the United States Postal Service will not deliver mail, and many banks are shuttered.

But public schools in large cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Dallas are open, while in Washington, DC, New York City and Chicago they are closed

It has been a growing trend for more than 20 years.

Not like “the Chin” didn’t get a Rush free market 101 lesson earlier this year:

Lorie writes in her post:

Tonight driving my nine-year-old daughter to a school event, we passed a new community center that has not opened yet. We started talking about whether or not it might have a pool, or a gym or what else might be hidden behind the cool modern glass facade. My daughter asked if it would cost a lot to go to it. I told her since it is a community center (it is adjacent to a city park) that it would most likely be free, like the park is.

My daughter told me it was not free — that if the city built it then we all paid for it with our tax money. I asked her how she knew that and she said last year her third grade teacher explained to the class that their families all paid her through their taxes and that when the teacher paid her taxes she was even paying part of her own salary.

Too bad the school officials at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in New Jersey seemed to give a big “EFF-U” to parents who questioned how their tax money was being used (After watching the video, who says liberals don’t got no religion?)- Kevin McCullough:

Several personal phone calls to the school’s administrative office this morning have produced the following results.

1. The school refuses to acknowledge that the events on the tape even occurred.
2. They refuse to admit whether or not information concerning the activity, and the right of a family or child to opt out of it, was made available.
3. They refuse to admit whether or not the children were offered other options, as opposed to being forced to memorize the words, “Hello, Mr. President, we honor you today! For all your great accomplishments we all do say “hooray!” Hooray, Mr. President, you’re number one!
4. But the spokesperson I talked with at B. Bernice Elementary school did say the school was aware of, and considering taking actions against, the persons “who illegally taped and distributed a video recording of a private class activity.”

Message to the genius public educators at B.Bernice Elementary school in Burlington Township, New Jersey: devise a better public relations strategy.

You might also be mindful of the fact that as a public school, your accountability is to the people of your district.

Obviously no conspiracy is at work here. The source of the video recording is easy to narrow down — this isn’t an ACORN style sting operation. This was likely made by a parent, someone either proud or concerned, who taped the children singing. They were most likely in plain sight of the teacher and the children in attendance. This is their right as a tax-paying parent.

But to the geniuses at B. Bernice elementary school, I want to further add that you might also be mindful that parents do have a say in what you do or do not expose their children to in your attempt to “educate” them. In fact it might be more helpful for everyone if you would stick to teaching 4-6 year olds that “2+2=4,” that “A-n-d is “and’,” and that “yellow and blue make green.”

There is a reason we do not allow kindergarteners in this nation to cast votes in elections. Political philosopohy, worldview, and worship of dieties are something they have not yet quite gotten a handle on.

Raising hands of praise to President Obama’s “accomplishments” is not just inappropriate it’s entirely premature.

Those at the B.Bernice Elementary School in Burlington Township, New Jersey, may be unable to overcome their sycophantic Obama obsessions, but the children of America should not be required to chant his name, raise their hands, and repeat dogma that may not be exactly based in reality.

But what do I know? After all, I’m just a tax-paying parent.

Apparently, Charisse Carney-Nunes, an Obama supporter, posted the video (and has since removed the link in wake of the firestorm). Michelle Malkin has some details:

Via ModernConservative, Carney-Nunes is senior vice president of The Jamestown Project, “the award-winning author of the children’s books, I Am Barack Obama (2009),” and according to her biography, “a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she was a schoolmate of President Obama.” I have e-mailed Carney-Nunes for comment as well.

The Obama school song video that she taped shows her book featured on an easel next to the children hailing Dear Leader. She promotes her book as a tool that “allows children to see themselves through the inspirational story of President Obama growing up as an ordinary child asking, Who will change the world? Ultimately, he realizes that he will.”

She has spread this creepy cult message to schoolchildren across the country.

Scared Monkeys:

A message from the school, and yes this was a sanctioned public school activity:

Dear Burlington Township Families:

Today we became aware of a video that was placed on the internet which has been reported in the media. The video is of a class of students singing a song about President Obama. The activity took place during Black History Month in 2009, which is recognized each February to honor the contributions of African Americans to our country. Our curriculum studies, honors and recognizes those who serve our country. The recording and distribution of the class activity were unauthorized.

If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me or Dr. King, Principal of B. Bernice Young School, directly.

Sincerely,
Dr. Christopher M. Manno,
Superintendent of Schools

And they say conservatives are out of touch…

It also includes Obama-mantras about “being the change” (whatever that means).  Anthony Keidis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers actually pledges “my service to Barack [kisses one bicep] Obama [kisses the other bicep].”  The video ends with the group of celebs pledging to be “a servant to the president and to all mankind.”  All the celeb video screens then morph into the iconic poster of President Obama.

For the custodians’ sake, let’s hope they show the video before lunch.

Truth be told, buried in the 4-minute video are some good things about being nice and helping neighbors and the needy in our communities.  But to my knowledge, no one has asked for equal time to present alternatives.

So I will fill the void.  If I knew how to work the equipment, I’d make my own video.  Since I don’t, here is a pledge that I’d prefer our children take:

I pledge to respect, listen to and obey my parents and elders because they have life experiences, wisdom and knowledge that I need to learn and which will guide me almost invariably to make better decisions.

I pledge to learn how to read, and read voraciously, because understanding the written word is critical to succeeding in life.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will read the laws and regulations they propose before voting on them, and I will not abide their laziness, double-speak, vagueness and condescension.

I pledge to learn mathematics because I will need to use it every day as I grow up and into adulthood.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who know how to add and, much more importantly, subtract so that they will reduce taxes and government spending, size and growth, and stop running up humongous deficits that will make life harder on me and future generations.

I pledge to listen to my teachers because they are eager to prepare me for my future by working with me in the classroom.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will carry forward the principles they hold but also listen and respond to their constituents’ desires rather than dictating to us what we need.

I pledge to learn about the history of our great nation and its Judeo-Christian heritage, the wisdom of its founders, and the blessings that have flowed from our shores to the rest of the world.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for government officials who will know our founding documents, interpret them as written, understand they were meticulously designed to limit government power while recognizing our religious traditions, and strive to exceed the high standards our founders set.

I pledge to support strong national security against our enemies because it is one of the few things the federal government is truly in the best position to handle.

I pledge to support our soldiers, sailors and airmen, and our law enforcement and emergency responders, as they carry out their duties to secure, protect and defend the liberty and freedom God has graciously granted us.

• I also pledge to work against those who denigrate our troops, micromanage their every move, equate their actions to the thuggary and merciless violence carried on by other regimes, and fail to provide them with the best available equipment, weapons, health care and living conditions.

I pledge to be a good friend, reliable, truthful and caring, placing the needs of others ahead of my own.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for leaders who act not out of political expediency or lust for power or personal gain but instead for the best interests of our nation and with a strong desire to find solutions to our problems that don’t involve increased government intervention, regulation and control.

I pledge to care for our environment because of its beauty, wonder, resources and its evidence of God’s creative hand.

• I also pledge that I will not genuflect to hypocritical celebrities lecturing me about the evils of global warming (or cooling), gas guzzling cars, plastic, incandescent light bulbs, and meat as they fly around in Gulfstream jets, take Hummer limos to and from appointments and dine on wagyu steaks with political allies.

I pledge to conserve energy and our natural resources because it is important not to be wasteful.

• I also pledge not to place the needs of animals over people, or limit the use of our resources or technologies simply because environmental activists use the parts of science they find most appealing to push their alarmist agenda items in Chicken Little-esque fashion.

I pledge to honor the sanctity of life by working to ensure policies and resources are in place to protect it, especially for the most vulnerable among us—the unborn and young, and the infirm and elderly.

I pledge to welcome immigrants from other nations who come to America through legal process seeking better lives and wanting to work hard to legitimately achieve the American Dream.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for governmental officials who are committed to securing our borders and deporting illegal immigrants who flout our laws, even if their intentions are otherwise honorable.

I pledge to treat with respect and dignity people of different races, creeds and cultures who intend no harm to my nation and her traditions, communities and families.

• I also pledge that when someone of another race, creed or culture wrongs me, I will not in jump to the conclusion that they are a racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, or any other epithet, and will not use such incidents for cheap publicity or to push an agenda.

I pledge to behave both publicly and privately in ways that meet or exceed high standards of ethical conduct.

• I also pledge that when I grow up, I will vote for and support those government representatives who do likewise and tirelessly oppose those who don’t.

Finally, I will never to be a “servant” to anyone, especially not the president or any other government official.  On the contrary, I recognize that our leaders are in office to serve us and represent the best interests of us and our nation.  Therefore, I pledge to serve my country joyfully and selflessly, as an equal member of our society and without a political agenda, by seeking out and serving the needs of my family, friends, neighbors, fellow churchgoers and community.

And I don’t need President Obama, the federal government or self-righteous celebrities to tell me how to do it.

The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.

Millions of kids will be stopping their day to sit down and listen to this speech.

Now that, in itself, is not THAT creepy, well kinda…but this is:

Things get downright disconcerting when one eyeballs the federally approved lesson plans that the Department of Education has cooked up to support the president’s speech. The preK-6 lesson plans, which were developed with federal funds, devised on taxpayer time, and made available on the Department of Education’s website, exhort teachers to extend the impact of the president’s speech by having students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” This clumsy bit of cheerleading shows no awareness that ”help[ing] the president” might be construed as an invitation to engage in advocacy rather than instruction or that it might worry those who are not Obama partisans. What’s truly remarkable, however, given recent concerns about intrusive federal government this past month, is the lesson plan’s directive that “these [letters] would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.”

It all sounds a touch Orwellian, no? “Redistributed” to whom? “Accountable” to whom? Accountable for which “goals” exactly—the ones that involve “helping the president”? I’m sure the intentions behind all of this were decent enough, and that this whole effort was intended as a pep talk dressed up with innocuous materials. The lesson plans were likely drawn up by a couple of low-level staffers and slapped up on the department website without a careful look. But this all points to some of the perils posed by the growing presidential inclination to serve as superintendent-in-chief, and it highlights the kind of hubris that has fueled concerns about the implications of the federal government’s growing reach.

While the liberals will tell us that the President is just trying to motivate the kids to do good but the thing is the President should not, ever, address our kids and extol them to help him achieve is Socialist goals. Imagine if Bush had tried this….just imagine the outcry that would emanate from the left.

Hat tip: Hugh Hewitt

Michelle Malkin and Glen Beck dissect this volunteer debacle that comes with a 6 BILLION dollar price tag. That is in addition to the 7.3 Trillion tax payer tab:

The day after the Senate swallowed this debacle of a spending bill. One which our own Senator Specter was only too happy to sign on to, I came across the true value of volunteerism right in my own neighborhood:

Early Saturday morning, while taking Buster for his daily walk, I came across a large group of teens removing trash that littered a small park across from my house. I live and work in Philadelphia, a gritty, blue collar city which is a far cry from William Penn’s delightful description of a “Greene Country Towne”. Philly’s urban jungle makes me more appreciative of the natural oasis that can be seen from my front porch.

Lately there has been an increasing amount of trash being dumped into the park. Several concerned residents contacted the Fairmount Park Commission to see what could be done to clean out the trash. A volunteer coordinator for Fairmount Park was notified and she organized a clean-up, with the expectation of only a few volunteers showing up to help. She was pleasantly surprised to see a group of at least 30 students arrive to lend their time to clean our small park. The neighborhood was appreciative of their efforts, with several people coming out to thank the volunteers for their work and one neighbor ordering pizza for the hungry teens.

6 BILLION dollars is not needed for this act of environmental improvement to occur. The volunteer mechanisms are in place in Philly and across the nation, all that is needed is an informed and engaged citizenry. That is what enabled this clean up to happen, not 6 billion dollars. We have allowed our government to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a redundant system that is not adding any value to what is currently in place.

I guarantee my little park would still be a mess if the residents on my street decided to simply sit back and wait for the 6 billion to trickle down to our little oasis.

Happy volunteers, with no uniform or oath to memorize:

My oasis in a blanket of snow this past January:

I know I’ve joked that people who voted for Obama were misguided, duped, or even delusional (bent on denying reality in favor of irrational aspirations). I’ve said that people expect Democrats to “turn the clouds to cotton candy, the rivers will flow with chocolate, and groves of gumdrop trees will blanket the good green Earth.” To all those who thought I was reaching with that analogy, rest assured people actually HOPE for it still. They hope rather than face the reality that Barack Obama and the modern Democratic Party have played on people’s fears far worse than Bush ever did, and they’ve deliberately misled people with pie-in-the-sky dreams/delusions. Now, to be fair, Obama never specifically promised cotton candy clouds, or an end to war, or whatever, but gosh…where DID people get those ideas? From Obama’s opponents? Yeah, that’s it. Some new grand Haliburton/Jolly Rancher C-O-N-Spiracy!

End war, forever. Make the planet greener. Please help my dad find work. Make it rain candy!

Thousands of kids detailed their hopes and expectations for President Obama in letters and drawings as part of a “Dear Mr. President” project, with 150 chosen for publication in a free e-book being released today, on Presidents Day.

Most had tall orders for the new guy in the White House.

Anthony Pape, 10, of DuBois, Pa., offered: “I hope that we will have no war ever again. I mean why are we fighting why can’t we all be friends.”

Fellow 10-year-old Sasha Townsend of Soquel, Calif., had a similar request, and then some.

“I would appreciate it if you would try to make this a greener planet and try to bring home the troops and end the war,” the fifth-grader wrote. “I am very luckey because I am not part of a military family, but it saddens me to hear about all the people who die in Iraque and know that somewhere In the world people are greiving over a lost family member.”

Seven-year-old Aaron Van Blerkom’s letter was simpler — but no less problematic.

“Dear Mr. Obama,” the Pasadena first-grader began, “Please Make it rain candy!”

What? They’re just kids? Yeah. I guess you’re right, but it makes me ask again…who put these delusional ideas in their heads?

Conservativism and the Religious Right has been effectively demonized in the popular culture while liberalism has effectively been mainstreamed into our TV sets and newspapers. And politics is nothing but perception. The real battle is not in the polls but in the courts, schools, media, and popular culture. And the Republican party has surrendered too many of these battlefields to the enemy. This does nothing but help us to lose elections.

The Problem: Politics vs. Perception

To the surprise of many conservative Catholics, twice of many Catholics voted for obama then McCain, despite Obama’s very pro-abortion record. This trend, if it continues, could spell death for the Conservative movement. And why is this the case? Well, the image of conservatives have defectively suffered. It’s leadership has lacked the ability to define itself, and thus allowed the liberals to do it for them in a negative light and thus claim the moral high ground, This is relatively the same as having Saddam Hussein sit in the Human Rights commission. (which is not too far off from others that have been in that seat) So what is a good conservative to do?

First, we must recognize that your neighborhood Pravda media outlet is just as important as the electoral college and just as much as an opponent as the Democrats. Again, the image of the party has suffered at t it’s own hands, thanks to people like Foley and the abandonment of it’s Conservative principles. But does dealing with an organization whose primary goal is your failure really in your best interest?

And since we can’t force all the libs to Canada and give them weekly rations of granola and John Stewart we must get back to the grassroots and take back our schools. media, and even TV. How is easy. Ask Ron Paul, or Dean, or even Obama. The libs have shown how to do this for decades. Conservatives need to not be afraid to speak out, and need to get involved in their neighborhood schools and communities. And they need to start mentoring conservatives in the judicial and journalistic communities. Only thorough the grassroots will we rebuild our party. And then, and only then, can we make them defend their values and messed up logic.

Let’s make them defend how taking money away from business owners helps the economy, or how murderers deserve more protection then the unborn., or how weakening our military or our values makes our country stronger or safer. Ignorance is strength. Most people know that classic line from Orwell. But how many of them recognize this present day doublethink?

The lying media haw shown in this election that they are the Ministry of Truth. So the questions I ask the Republicans is this. Why deal with the media? If your neighbor said bad things about you and lied about you every chance they got, you would shun the neighbor, right? Well, why validate the authority of there media by continuing to deal with it?

The Consequences: More then Just an Election Loss.

There are two kinds of people, people who think government is the solution to your problems, and those that think individualism and hard work is the solution to life’s problems. The fact the biggest killer of people in human history your own government. might come as a surprise to them. But why would you trust the government as it is inefficient and has as one of it’s primary goals, to increase it’s own power and wealth. Perhaps they makes sense the Kool-aid drinkers who think Mat Damon is a good actor or who thinks a man who will unite us belonged to a racist church. Barack, like an Eddie Brickel song, says little of substance, but just looks good doing it, The presidency is not an episode of Survivor, but the average person knows more about Survivor or an America idol contestant then the platform of the man they voted for. I might give them a break, as it is easier to find Hoffa’s body then to nail him down on a position. It that much of a leap that we think a Latin American terrorist is a good role model that then we would thin k a friend of a terrorist would be a good president. But that is liberalism for you.

The liberal grip on our country will also extend itself into our foreign policy, which will only be to our detriment. We cannot win the war if we cannot even recognize the enemy or if we do not think the fight is worth fighting. And boy could that lack of foresight cost us. How many of our present problems are the result of abandoning friendly regimes and allowing hostile regimes to replace them? The price of an election loss can be more then a change in the division of red states to blue states. Liberalism makes nothing stronger, it only makes them weaker. If liberalism and socialism worked, Europe would not be abandoning it now and only embraced by fools like Chavez.

Why Culture Matters.

Social Darwinism :

The application of Darwinism to the study of human society, specifically a theory in sociology that individuals or groups achieve advantage over others as the result of genetic or biological superiority.

A long time ago I became interested in why evil people, why people like Beria can kill millions and still sleep at night. Human nature often is a study of contradictions as most of us share a little of the best and worst of human nature. But some of us are capable of things that make the rest of us vomit and still be able to enjoy a fine meal afterwards. So why do they do this? Some of the most frightening criminals operated on Machiavellian principles that were used to justify some of the worst crimes against humanity. One of these principles was Social Darwinism.

That is the result from a quick search of Social Darwinism on the net. Just to start off, I am not a fan of Nietzsche or Malthus, and remember well that Hitler used the theory to justify the evils of National Socialism. (By the way, is it not odd that anything National Socialism embraced is evil when on the other hand, the two bigger killers of humanity are Stalin and Mao, and liberals continue to embrace Communism and it’s child, Socialism.) Hitler was an evil man but he was right in one respect, culture does play a major role in the destiny of a society. (And no, in no way, does it justify what he did. He also thought the Treaty of Versailles was unfair, which it was, but was a lot nicer then the terms the Kaiser would have proposed if he won …) Any biologist would agree that an organism’s ability to defend itself and to procreate affects it’s survivability, so why would the case also be for societies, culture, and for sociologists. So with this in mind, I want to introduce a new term: Cultural Darwinism. The theory that the values and beliefs of a culture determine it’s relative survivability against other competing cultures.

So, is there anything to this idea? Have liberal values affected our country’s birthrate and ability to defend itself? Notice how on the average European birthrates have fallen in secular societies and in heavily liberal states in the United States, and only through immigration of non-Europeans has this decline been offset.

European Birth Rate Declines

The natural increase in Europe’s population is slowing and may start a steep decline within a few decades, researchers say.

Researchers writing in the journal Science said European population growth reached a turning point in the year 2000 when the number of children dropped to a level that statistically assured there will be fewer parents in the next generation than there are in the current generation.

www.cbsnews.com…

“> from CBS News

Worried European governments are crafting natalist policies to nudge couples to have more children, from offering better child care to monthly stipends keyed to family size. But why are these policies necessary in the first place? I used to date a liberal feminist who demeaned her sister who chose to be a stay at home mom and once whished her mom had not “wasted her life” raising her. And to repeat what I said in Sacrificing Society on an Alter of Choice, how can a philosophy that celebrates abortion rather then motherhood not be destructive? On an alter of choice more babies have been aborted since Roe then all the deaths in the Civil War, World War I, and WWII combined.

Robertson: Europe committing “racial suicide”

Summary: Pat Robertson said, “Europe is right now in the midst of racial suicide because of the declining birth rate.”

During an edition of Christian Broadcasting Network’s (CBN) The 700 Club, host Pat Robertson said that “Europe is right now in the midst of racial suicide because of the declining birth rate.” Robertson blamed the declining birth rate on the existential philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, which, according to Robertson, “has permeated the intellectual thinking of Europe” and has left Europeans without “a faith in the future.”
from MediaMatters

Pat Robinson does go off on the deep end sometimes, but in this case he is right. And as much as I disagree with Pat Buchanan’s isolationist views, in a real sense this is a “Death of the West” if these trends continue.

But what about the other criteria of survivability, the ability to defend yourself? As a case in point, Traditional France lost a quarter millions soldiers in one battle, (Verdun) but secular France lost 9 men in one battle (Afghanistan) and considered pulling their troops. Secularism simply cannot defend itself adequately. For another example, let’s take a look and the dismal record of liberal Jimmy Carter’s joke of a foreign policy.

Carter once described Yugoslav strongman Marshal Josef Tito as “a man who believes in human rights.” Regarding North Korea’s dearly departed Kim Il-Sung, Carter found him “vigorous, intelligent, surprisingly well-informed about the technical issues, and in charge of the decisions about this country,” adding “I don’t see that[North Koreans] are an outlaw nation.”

He was similarly generous regarding Manuel Noriega, Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceaucescu and, of course, Yasser Arafat. He said of Ceausescu and himself, “Our goals are the same: to have a just system of economics and politics . . . We believe in enhancing human rights.”

Almost all of the humanitarian activities of the Carter Foundation abroad have been in direct opposition to US foreign policy. Carter called Bush’s description of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an “axis of evil” was “overly simplistic and counterproductive.”
from Vcrisis

Carter was shocked when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Bill Clinton was attacked by Al-Qaeda repeatedly and did nothing until the Lewinski scandal. An now it is the likes of Dean and Murtha that follow along in this proud tradition. A culture that demonizes and handicaps it’s own military and views it’s enemies higher their own country is not only weak, but suicidal. Simply, how can you defeat the enemy when you cannot even recognize the enemy or even name the enemy? The lying media won’t even call some terrorists what they are, terrorists.

Culture does Matter.

Names are everything. A good name makes good ideas sound bad and bad ideas sound good. Take the ACLU. The ACLU was founded by Communists and is not dedicated to destroying Christian values in this country. But they cannot call themselves the Anti Christian Communists Union, because then they will not get as much money from corporate America. Liberals get away with being liberals only because they have standing armies to protect them. Without a standing army, liberals would have another name or two, namely the enslaved or dead.

Sadly, because of the defects in human nature, there will always be war. And those that believe that this will change, and that you can stop evil be being nice to it also goes by the name of liberal, but in another time they were called the stupid, or simple, or delusional. But it does not matter if one has a bad idea if you can make it sound good and demonize those that do not agree with you. For those that control names control words, and thus thoughts and society.

And that is the danger with out present day society.

Here’s a recent idiotorial from the Chronically San Franciscan by a Professor Robert Jensen, Men Being Men is a Bad deal: Guys Should Evolve Beyond Masculinity:

“Maybe this masculinity thing is a bad deal, not just for women, but for us. We need to get rid of the whole idea of masculinity. It’s time to abandon the claim that there are certain psychological or social traits that inherently come with being biologically male. If we can get past that, we have a chance to create a better world for men and women.”

Amazingly, in Jenson’s bizarro world, our worst social problems are not caused by an absence of real men, but by their very presence: “masculinity is dangerous for women. It leads men to seek to control ‘their’ women and define their own pleasure in that control, which leads to epidemic levels of rape and battery.”

from” title=”http://onecosmos.blogspot.com/2006/10/men-without-chests-and-women-without.html\”>from” class=”autohyperlink” target=”_blank”>onecosmos.blogspot.com… OneCosmos

The idea that getting rid of masculinity should be absurd to most anyone, but it is not to some that teach our young adults and influence their values.

Think I am reaching. Look at our present day TV and how it demeans fatherhood. It is the male, often a white male, that is the lazy and stupid one in the show who is always getting in trouble. And if you think fatherhood does not matter, just take a look at the effects of the death of the nuclear family with the African-American community The thought that a de-masculinized society will roll over in the face of an aggressor should seem obvious, but it is not to the permanently simple. Like with any species, what determines the survivability of a nation is it’s ability to defend itself and ability to procreate.

Secular Liberalism fails in both categories. Culture does matter, and now even more as we are in the mist of a cultural war as we struggle to win a very real world war. This, more then any other factor is why I changed my party affiliation from Democrat to Republican. Social Darwinism is real and will determine if the west will survive at all. For in the end, either the west will defeat secularism and survive or the west will stay secular and fall.

History is nothing but competing nations and cultures, And the winner of the contests of history is not always the most technically advanced, but the ones with the strongest will and culture. If our country is to survive as a great country, then conservatives must do more then worry about the elections and poll numbers. There is a very real war to fight for America’s culture. And there are battles raging every day. For the survival of Democracy is still an open question, and it seems unlikely that those who embrace socialism, multiculturalism, and moral relativism will be the ones to ensure it’s survival and ensure Democracy is more then just a footnote in the pages of history. For in the end, liberals are doomed, as they either will be defeated by the conservatives in the us for the soul of this country or they and their allies will be defeated by Islam in the growing cultural war.

Losing the battle will in the end lose us the war.

Education spending went up- way up- since this president took Oval Office (much to the consternation of this center-right blogger)…but are the more “Books not Bombs” liberals happy about his dramatic increased spending and bipartisan attempts at education reform through No Child Left Behind and Reading First Program? Do they hold Ted Kennedy accountable for any of their derision? Noooooo. Senator Kennedy, by the way, as the ranking minority member of the education committee and later chairman, opposed Bush’s idea of giving publicly-funded school vouchers for children to attend private schools (and have the same opportunities as Malia and Sasha).

President Bush in good faith has attempted to help all children of all stripes and colors (I’m sure that’s what MLK would have wanted, right?); but most especially, his No Child Left Behind and faith-based initiatives were aimed to benefit those underprivileged and impoverished.

I want to make sure I don’t leave any liberal behind; although I am hampered here, by a soft bigotry of low expectations regarding the ability of any BDSer to lift the wool over their eyes:

Fact Sheet: No Child Left Behind Has Raised Expectations and Improved Results
Since No Child Left Behind Took Effect, Test Scores Have Risen, Accountability Has Increased, And The Achievement Gap Between White And Minority Students Has Narrowed