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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Obama Pep-Rallies and Freedom of Speech


    By Wendy Day, Section News
    Posted on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 10:15:36 AM EST
    Tags: Education (all tags)

    (Promoted by Nick... Scary indeed! If your school or your kids' school is up to any shanahanigans, shout!)

    Is your child's school showing the Inauguration on Tuesday? There is a good chance they are.

    I agree that children need to see the historic transfer of power in America.  Unfortunately, I have found very few students who watched the 2004 Inauguration in school.  

    For many students, the viewing of Obama's swearing in may be more like a pep-rally than a civics lesson. One teacher called into the Sean Hannity Show and said that all 1200 students in the school where she worked would be watching the event.  She said it was the first time they had watched the Inauguration in school during her teaching career. Some schools are even having parties to celebrate the event.

    The problem isn't that kids will be watching the Inauguration.  The problem is how the event may be handled by teachers and students. I sat down with the Principal of my kids' school and asked some important questions.  The last thing I want my kids doing is attending a pep rally for Obama and facing possible ridicule from other kids if they don't support him.  

    See what one school has admitted to...

    Dayton Daily News
    Superintendent warns against 'inappropriate comments'
    Bright sends out e-mail to Mason parents in advance of Inauguration Day.
    By Eric Schwartzberg and Marie Rossiter

    Staff writers
    Thursday, January 15, 2009

    Mason school officials said they are taking a proactive educational approach in advance of next week's planned Inauguration Day activities.

    "Inappropriate comments that may make other students, staff or families feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in school or on the bus will not be tolerated," Superintendent Kevin Bright said in an e-mail sent to parents Monday, Jan. 12.

    Who decides what is inappropriate?

    The district, he said, expects students and staff to show respect for President-elect Obama and the incoming administration, as well as President Bush and the outgoing administration, and recognize that "while the election is a competitive process, our nation's greatness is displayed when all sides come together for a united country."

    Jeff Schlaeger, Mason High School's psychologist, said "inappropriate comments" occurred around election week when doctored pictures of Obama appeared at the school, including "derogatory caricatures" of him dressed like a terrorist and signs that read "Obama '08/Biden '09."

    Since when is a cartoon or drawing a "comment"? Sounds fishy.

    "There were groups of students that were worked up over the results of the election," said Schlaeger, who is a member of the district's racial equity committee and curriculum organizer for MHS Freshman Diversity Week.

    The school is offering a variety of events for students at every grade level, ranging from letter-writing and books, to videos, reflection and watching the inauguration itself, Bright said in the e-mail.

    "We're attempting to take a more proactive approach now and, first of all, celebrate the passing of power in our country and at the same time also celebrate this historic inauguration and the election of our first African-American president," Bright said during an interview Tuesday.

    While we should support more informed students, I wonder if schools would be this eager to interrupt classes to show McCain being sworn in?

    Warren County Commissioner Dave Young, who has three children in the school district, said he questions an "inappropriate comments" policy based on what makes someone feel "unwelcome or uncomfortable."

    "It's not 'We're discouraging you from saying those (comments)' it's 'It won't be tolerated,' " Young said. "That's a very dangerous precedent."

    He is right.  "Won't be tolerated," is a strong warning to those who may speak out against Obama. We can't teach students to be active participants in the election process and at the same time deny their First Amendment Rights, or can we?

    < Monday in the Sphere, January 19 | Rep. Gaffney's 30 silver pieces >


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    Display: Sort:
    I hope there are some attorneys out there (none / 0) (#1)
    by jgillmanjr on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 12:27:15 PM EST
    Who would be willing to hit people hard. I mean seriously hard. As in "Oh shit, we f*cked up big. I wish we hadn't done this" hard.

    Recently my family visited some relatives that came into the state. We found out that one of their daughters almost got suspended for making a gun gesture with her hand - not to anyone mind you - just making the shape.

    Gah! (none / 0) (#2)
    by thejmfc on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 12:38:45 PM EST
    Well, it figures.  With the teachers' unions strongly behind Obama, it's no surprise that they would subject their victims to indoctrination.  And that's just because Obama is a liberal.  Throw in the fact that Obama is half-black, and that makes it a Historic Event (c), so naturally everyone must watch and celebrate.  It's on par with the first moon landing, it seems.  

    Looking at the news headlines for the past week, it seems that this is the rule, not the exception.  Rallies everywhere.  Well, it's times like this that reinforce my decision to never send my kids to the public schools.  Even if I have to teach them when I come home from work at night.  Public schools are like a modern "Hitler Youth", and I won't have them brainwashing my kids.

    • An historic event by Ingham Conservative, 01/19/2009 01:09:12 PM EST (none / 0)
      • uhhh by quigonjames, 01/19/2009 07:37:04 PM EST (none / 0)
    Here we go again (none / 0) (#5)
    by LookingforReagan on Mon Jan 19, 2009 at 08:11:32 PM EST
    The behavior Nazi's are polishing their boots and gleefully awaiting orders to march and trample on the rights of Americans no matter what their ages. All to typical of the extreme left wing. The precedence for behavior of an incoming President was established by the left in 2001. Now it is our turn. We will give the new President the same chance the left gave Mr. Bush. From day one he can count on his every word being examined for the "real" meaning. Everything about his past will be brought up and examined. His decisions will be questioned and I would hope that legal action brought in the most controversial cases. Let the left reap what they have sown.

    Obama Youth (none / 0) (#6)
    by Victor Laszlo on Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 05:41:39 PM EST
    In case you missed it, here is a video of children along the Messiah's inauguration parade route:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-2Fwx5RU0

    That was prophetic... (none / 0) (#7)
    by Cheetorbolt on Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 05:57:14 PM EST
    One of these rally's did happen today in my school.

    Granted, two seniors were at the inauguration, and talked to us live on the phone before-hand. That's cool (although they were a bit hard to hear).

    If that's all that was going on, and perhaps an insightful view into what's going to happen in the next 4 years, and what historic significance Obama's election bears, this rally would have been hard to have a real grudge against.

    Although I might find a way anyways. As stated in the above post, I don't remember any 2004 rallies. But then again, sure, this was especially historic.

    O.k., I've gotten the non-aggression out of my system. Despite what could have happened, here's what did.

    First, we opened with one our students telling us the reason this was historic was that Obama was the first president we could relate to, the first president in history who was like us.

    If there was any way to have masked my school's bias towards this man, that was not it.

    But it got better. We looked at pictures sent to us by the two seniors in D.C. And those running the assembly couldn't help but include a picture of a caricature of Bush with an abnormally long nose, to the description "Here is a picture [nameless] took of some in D.C. saying their farewell to our 43rd president."

    (Cue uproarious applause and cheers.)

    Soon enough, we ventured off into a feel-good trivia game about Obama's life up to this date. While the question were being asked and answered (and much to my shame, my class was trouncing all the others in the game), there was a stationary power point display of some of Obama's campaign insignias just sitting there in the front of the room.

    I honestly couldn't help but think of the idols of old.

    Then we moved on to a recap of how the election process went for Obama, which ended in some reflection questions, namely:

    1.) How did you feel when Obama was elected (you ought to know my answer)?
    2.) Where were you when you heard?
    3.) Did you play a part in the campaign process?
    4.) How did you feel about seeing him in person in Grand Rapids (A field trip was especially reserved in October at my school for those who wanted to go see his rally. I respectfully declined)?

    What was strange for me was that I detected a last day of school feeling throughout the school. It was almost contagious. Except for me, it felt like the last day of summer break.

    I'm just saying...

    • Snap! by Nick, 01/20/2009 07:06:41 PM EST (none / 0)
    Here's something to think about.. (none / 0) (#9)
    by jgillmanjr on Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 10:06:37 PM EST
    One of the profs that my fiance has for a clinical psych class called class off early so they could watch the inauguration. This cat, as described by her, is a pacifist hippie. You know the type.

    Apparently he did mention that if McCain won, he wouldn't have been doing the same thing.

    For those of you who have met me in person will know what I mean when I say "Cheese Richard"...

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