by Michelle Malkin
They think we're crazy. "They" are the sneering defenders of Barack Obama who can't fathom the backlash against the president's nationwide speech to schoolchildren next Tuesday. "We" are parents with eyes wide open to the potential for politicized abuse in America's classrooms.
Ask moms and dads in Farmington, Utah, who discovered this week that their children sat through a Hollywood propaganda video promoting the cult of Obama. In the clip, a parade of entertainers vow to flush their toilets less, buy hybrid vehicles, end poverty and world hunger, and commit to "service" for "change." Actress Demi Moore leads the glitterati in a collective promise "to be a servant to our president." Musician Anthony Kiedis pledges "to be of service to Barack Obama."
The campaign commercial crescendos with the stars and starlets asking their audience: "What's your pledge?"
This same "Do Something" ethos infected the U.S. Department of Education teachers guides accompanying the announcement of Obama's speech -- until late Wednesday, that is, when the White House removed some of the activist language exhorting students to come up with ways to "help the president." Education Secretary Arne Duncan had disseminated the material directly to principals across the country -- circumventing elected school board members and superintendents now facing neighborhood revolts.
O's bureaucrats can whitewash offending language from the Sept. 8 speech-related documents, but they can't remove the taint of left-wing radicalism that informs Obama and his education mentors. A spokesman maintained that the speech is "about the value of education and the importance of staying in school as part of his effort to dramatically cut the dropout rate." But the historical subtext is far less innocent.
Obama served with Weather Underground terrorist and neighbor Bill Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge education initiative. Downplaying academic achievement in favor of left-wing radical activism in the public schools is rooted in Ayers' pedagogical philosophy. Obama served as the program's first chairman of the board, while Ayers steered its curricular policy. The two oversaw grants to welfare rights enterprise ACORN and to avowed communist Michael Klonsky -- a close pal of Ayers and member of the militant Students for a Democratic Society. SDS served as a precursor to the violent Weather Underground organization.
As investigative journalist Stanley Kurtz reported, Klonsky and Ayers teamed up on the so-called "small schools movement" to steer schoolchildren away from core academics to left-wing politicking on issues of "inequity, war and violence."
A cadre of like-minded educators and national service administrators across the country share the same core commitment to transforming themselves from imparters of knowledge to transformers of society. The "change" agenda trains students to think only about what they should do for Obama -- and rarely to contemplate how his powers and ambitions should be limited and restrained.
Ayers preached his education-as-"social justice" agenda to his "comrades" at the World Education Forum in Caracas, Venezuela, three years ago:
"This is my fourth visit to Venezuela, each time at the invitation of my comrade and friend Luis Bonilla, a brilliant educator and inspiring fighter for justice. Luis has taught me a great deal about the Bolivarian Revolution and about the profound educational reforms underway here in Venezuela under the leadership of President (Hugo) Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution, and I've come to appreciate Luis as a major asset in both the Venezuelan and the international struggle -- I look forward to seeing how he and all of you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane."
Ayers continued:
"I walked out of jail and into my first teaching position -- and from that day until this I've thought of myself as a teacher, but I've also understood teaching as a project intimately connected with social justice. After all, the fundamental message of the teacher is this: You can change your life -- whoever you are, wherever you've been, whatever you've done, another world is possible. As students and teachers begin to see themselves as linked to one another, as tied to history and capable of collective action, the fundamental message of teaching shifts slightly, and becomes broader, more generous: We must change ourselves as we come together to change the world. Teaching invites transformations, it urges revolutions small and large. La educacion es revolucion!"
This is why informed parents do not trust the Educator-in-Chief and his "comrades." You can take Obama from the radicals in Chicago. But you can't take the Chicago radicalism out of Obama.
Showing posts with label Obama Speech to School Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama Speech to School Children. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Parents rebel against Obama TV speech to schools
'President doesn't get to speak to my children unchallenged'
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Parents across the country are rebelling against plans by President Barack Obama to speak directly to their children through the classrooms of the nation's public schools without their presence, participation and approval.
The plans announced by Obama also have been cited as raising the specter of the Civilian National Security Force, to which he's referred several times since his election campaign began, but never fully explained.
"He's recruiting his civilian army. His 'Hitler' youth brigade," wrote one participant in a forum at Free Republic.
"I am not going to compare President Obama to Hitler. We'll leave that to others and you can form your own opinions about them and their analogies. … However, we can learn a lot from the spread of propaganda in Europe that led to Hitler's power. A key ingredient in that spread of propaganda was through the youth," wrote a blogger at the AmericanElephant.com blog, where the subject of the day was a national "Keep-Your-Child-at-Home-Day."
"Totalitarian regimes around the world have sought to spread their propaganda and entrench their power by brainwashing the children. I guess it's easier to indoctrinate a six-year-old instead of fighting a 26-year-old or being challenged by a 46-year-old in the voting booth," the blogger wrote.
At issue was an announcement that Obama plans to deliver a message directly to students via the Internet into public school classrooms across the nation on Sept.8.
According to announcement posted on ServiceWire.org, Obama will address students "about the importance of persisting and succeeding in school" at 1 p.m. Eastern at the WhiteHouse.gov website.
The announcement said the federal Department of Education "is encouraging educators, students and parents to use this opportunity to help students get focused and begin the school year strong."
The government also is publicizing a list of suggestions for students and teachers to do in preparation for the speech, including studying Barack Obama's writings and presidency.
Obama had announced the speech during a child reporter's visiting the White House.
During the interview, Obama said, "On September 8, when young people around the country are … will have just started or are about to go back to school, I'm going to be making a big speech to young people all across the country…"
But opposition is assembling quickly, similar to the concerns expressed on the AmericanElephant blog:
"Now the former community organizer and current president of the United States is making an unprecedented speech to the school children of our nation. I'd like to believe his motives were pure and politics didn't play into this. But viewing this administration's track record doesn’t afford such benefit of the doubt.
"When the president browbeats property owners who want to protect their legal rights… when the president admits he doesn't know the facts but impugns the integrity of a police force… when the president calls me a liar for reporting what is actually in the health care bills and encourages my neighbors to report me to some enemies list… when the president apologizes to nations around the world and bows to a Saudi king… he loses the benefit of the doubt," the blogger wrote.
"Without benefit of the doubt, the president doesn't get to speak to my children unchallenged," the writer said.
The education department's suggestions include building background knowledge for students about Obama, and then asking, "What do you think he'll say to you?"
During the speech, students should be instructed to "think about the following: What is the president trying to tell me? What is the president asking me to do?"
Another exercise would be to have students write letters to themselves about "what they can do to help the president."
"These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals," the recommendations suggest.
At the Docstoc website where the announcement about the speech was drawing negative reaction, one forum participant confirmed that his grandchildren would not be in school that day.
"What's he going to do, tell the kids to report their parents to the Thought Police if they don't support Obamacare?" added another.
"I don't care what the heck he's going to talk about, unless he holds a teaching degree for every state, and he plans on actually TEACHING a lesson, this SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED!!!" added another.
Obama earned some support for his plan, though.
"First of all, there is no reason to believe that Obama is going to try and brainwash your kid (I think you've done that just fine on your own), he'll talk about how important it is to do well in school and work hard and whatnot... Kids are smarter than you think and are plenty capable of critical thinking," wrote one supporter of the president.
But it was a lone voice.
"Let the brain washing begin. Yes, it is a bit of a stretch. But I remember from history class that some other very prominent figures in history started out like this, all about education and change for the better. Capture the hearts and minds and all that. You can call it what you will but Obama Youth or Hitler Youth … This is much too slippery a slope, this day and age with the role of government becoming more invasive the last thing I want is for 'them' to get a tooth into my kids," wrote a contributor.
On columnist Michelle Malkin's forum page, one person wrote simply, "The Obama Youth Corps has to start somewhere."
On the DailyPaul website publicizing U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, another parent wrote, "Perhaps its harmless, but Obama's past behavior and his push for 'service' and community over individuals make me very uncomfortable…
"My kids will be forced to listen to the views of a president that is perhaps the most anti-American in history, not to mention one who believes we need a 'civilian national security force just as strong, powerful and well-funded as our military.'"
WND has reported on Obama's civilian force plans several times, including when he signed into law the "Give Act," H.R. 1388, which massively expanded the National Service Corporation and allocated to it billions of dollars.
Obama had told a campaign stop in Colorado Springs last year he wants a "Civilian National Security Force" as big and as well-funded as the U.S. military.
As the presidential campaign advanced last year, another video appeared that for many crystallized their concerns over such a "corps." It shows a squad of young men marching and shouting praises to Obama.
Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WND, used his daily column first to raise the issue of a "national civilian force" and then to elevate it with a call to all reporters to start asking questions.
"If we're going to create some kind of national police force as big, powerful and well-funded as our combined U.S. military forces, isn't this rather a big deal?" Farah wrote. "I thought Democrats generally believed the U.S. spent too much on the military. How is it possible their candidate is seeking to create some kind of massive but secret national police force that will be even bigger than the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force put together?
"Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force bigger and more expensive than that? If not, why did he say it? What did he mean?" Farah wrote.
Duane Lester, writing at All American Blogger, has verbalized opponents' worst fears.
"Hitler knew that if you control the youth, you control the future. I wrote about him in 'The Threats to Homeschooling: From Hitler to the NEA.' As I noted in that article, Hitler said: 'The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of innoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled,'" he wrote.
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Parents across the country are rebelling against plans by President Barack Obama to speak directly to their children through the classrooms of the nation's public schools without their presence, participation and approval.
The plans announced by Obama also have been cited as raising the specter of the Civilian National Security Force, to which he's referred several times since his election campaign began, but never fully explained.
"He's recruiting his civilian army. His 'Hitler' youth brigade," wrote one participant in a forum at Free Republic.
"I am not going to compare President Obama to Hitler. We'll leave that to others and you can form your own opinions about them and their analogies. … However, we can learn a lot from the spread of propaganda in Europe that led to Hitler's power. A key ingredient in that spread of propaganda was through the youth," wrote a blogger at the AmericanElephant.com blog, where the subject of the day was a national "Keep-Your-Child-at-Home-Day."
"Totalitarian regimes around the world have sought to spread their propaganda and entrench their power by brainwashing the children. I guess it's easier to indoctrinate a six-year-old instead of fighting a 26-year-old or being challenged by a 46-year-old in the voting booth," the blogger wrote.
At issue was an announcement that Obama plans to deliver a message directly to students via the Internet into public school classrooms across the nation on Sept.8.
According to announcement posted on ServiceWire.org, Obama will address students "about the importance of persisting and succeeding in school" at 1 p.m. Eastern at the WhiteHouse.gov website.
The announcement said the federal Department of Education "is encouraging educators, students and parents to use this opportunity to help students get focused and begin the school year strong."
The government also is publicizing a list of suggestions for students and teachers to do in preparation for the speech, including studying Barack Obama's writings and presidency.
Obama had announced the speech during a child reporter's visiting the White House.
During the interview, Obama said, "On September 8, when young people around the country are … will have just started or are about to go back to school, I'm going to be making a big speech to young people all across the country…"
But opposition is assembling quickly, similar to the concerns expressed on the AmericanElephant blog:
"Now the former community organizer and current president of the United States is making an unprecedented speech to the school children of our nation. I'd like to believe his motives were pure and politics didn't play into this. But viewing this administration's track record doesn’t afford such benefit of the doubt.
"When the president browbeats property owners who want to protect their legal rights… when the president admits he doesn't know the facts but impugns the integrity of a police force… when the president calls me a liar for reporting what is actually in the health care bills and encourages my neighbors to report me to some enemies list… when the president apologizes to nations around the world and bows to a Saudi king… he loses the benefit of the doubt," the blogger wrote.
"Without benefit of the doubt, the president doesn't get to speak to my children unchallenged," the writer said.
The education department's suggestions include building background knowledge for students about Obama, and then asking, "What do you think he'll say to you?"
During the speech, students should be instructed to "think about the following: What is the president trying to tell me? What is the president asking me to do?"
Another exercise would be to have students write letters to themselves about "what they can do to help the president."
"These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals," the recommendations suggest.
At the Docstoc website where the announcement about the speech was drawing negative reaction, one forum participant confirmed that his grandchildren would not be in school that day.
"What's he going to do, tell the kids to report their parents to the Thought Police if they don't support Obamacare?" added another.
"I don't care what the heck he's going to talk about, unless he holds a teaching degree for every state, and he plans on actually TEACHING a lesson, this SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED!!!" added another.
Obama earned some support for his plan, though.
"First of all, there is no reason to believe that Obama is going to try and brainwash your kid (I think you've done that just fine on your own), he'll talk about how important it is to do well in school and work hard and whatnot... Kids are smarter than you think and are plenty capable of critical thinking," wrote one supporter of the president.
But it was a lone voice.
"Let the brain washing begin. Yes, it is a bit of a stretch. But I remember from history class that some other very prominent figures in history started out like this, all about education and change for the better. Capture the hearts and minds and all that. You can call it what you will but Obama Youth or Hitler Youth … This is much too slippery a slope, this day and age with the role of government becoming more invasive the last thing I want is for 'them' to get a tooth into my kids," wrote a contributor.
On columnist Michelle Malkin's forum page, one person wrote simply, "The Obama Youth Corps has to start somewhere."
On the DailyPaul website publicizing U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, another parent wrote, "Perhaps its harmless, but Obama's past behavior and his push for 'service' and community over individuals make me very uncomfortable…
"My kids will be forced to listen to the views of a president that is perhaps the most anti-American in history, not to mention one who believes we need a 'civilian national security force just as strong, powerful and well-funded as our military.'"
WND has reported on Obama's civilian force plans several times, including when he signed into law the "Give Act," H.R. 1388, which massively expanded the National Service Corporation and allocated to it billions of dollars.
Obama had told a campaign stop in Colorado Springs last year he wants a "Civilian National Security Force" as big and as well-funded as the U.S. military.
As the presidential campaign advanced last year, another video appeared that for many crystallized their concerns over such a "corps." It shows a squad of young men marching and shouting praises to Obama.
Joseph Farah, founder and editor of WND, used his daily column first to raise the issue of a "national civilian force" and then to elevate it with a call to all reporters to start asking questions.
"If we're going to create some kind of national police force as big, powerful and well-funded as our combined U.S. military forces, isn't this rather a big deal?" Farah wrote. "I thought Democrats generally believed the U.S. spent too much on the military. How is it possible their candidate is seeking to create some kind of massive but secret national police force that will be even bigger than the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force put together?
"Is Obama serious about creating some kind of domestic security force bigger and more expensive than that? If not, why did he say it? What did he mean?" Farah wrote.
Duane Lester, writing at All American Blogger, has verbalized opponents' worst fears.
"Hitler knew that if you control the youth, you control the future. I wrote about him in 'The Threats to Homeschooling: From Hitler to the NEA.' As I noted in that article, Hitler said: 'The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of innoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled,'" he wrote.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)