Education

00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Islam - Islamofascism - Israel - John Armor - Liberals - Media Bias - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Bigot, Marxist, Tenured Professor

February 3, 2009 by

-By John Armor

A movement has begun among American college professors to boycott Israeli universities and professors and Israeli culture, over the “oppression” of Palestinians by Israelis. I read some of the press accounts of this academic movement, and decided to investigate its leader.

David Lloyd, Professor of English at the University of Southern California, is the leader of this US effort. Anti-Semitism is commonplace in Europe, where such boycotts are old news. The background of Dr. Lloyd doesn’t look that bad on first glance.

On his Biographical Sketch, there are only a few hints that the man is off-balance. Half of his writing about literature is dedicated to the Irish. As a fellow Irishman, I consider all the Irish potentially dubious.
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00Publius Contributor - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Society/Culture

Petition drive launched for civil rights in education

February 3, 2009 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

Parents representing a cross section of society have launched a petition drive on behalf of proposed federal legislation dubbed the Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity (CRA for EEO). The text of the petition reads as follows:

“ ‘…The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness…And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.’ President Barack Obama (January 20, 2009)

“Although America has long recognized that a nation, founded on individual liberty, requires equal opportunity in housing, employment and public accommodations, state governments and the District of Columbia financially coerce parents to send their children to government run schools. This is the greatest government-sanctioned violation of civil rights in today’s America.

“The Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity will mandate equitable funding for children in non-public schools, while respecting the liberty of schools in hiring and provision of services. In accordance with the 10th Amendment, academic standards and means of funding would be left to the states.
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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Islam - Islamofascism - Israel - Liberals - Media Bias - News - Religion - Security/Safety - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

US Professors Attacking Israel and YOUR Tax $$ Fund It

February 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Sadly, we are used to the anti-Semitism of Europe. After all, that is where anti-Semitism has historically thrived in a most virulent form and does still today. We are also used to the Jew hatred of the illiterati of Europe’s universities having seen so often the petitions they’ve raised to denounce Israel and give succor to Hamas and Fatah — and any other terrorist group that comes down the pike, for that matter. Of course, this infection of hate, racism and self-destructive terror worship is increasingly appearing at our own universities in the U.S. Nothing is more representative of that than the example of the “U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel” recently emanating out of several California Universities.

Sponsored by several radical Muslimists that claim at being professors in a handful of California universities, this petition is one of the first of it’s kind here in the U.S. A disgusting milestone on the road to the Islamization of our tax payer funded institutions of higher learning. It is also an effort that pushes an extreme anti-intellectualism in our schools.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Liberals - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Pittsburgh Schools: Superbowl More Important Than Teaching

February 1, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Adding yet another chapter in that ever growing book The Decline and Fall of American Education now being written by our teacher’s unions and failed administrations nation wide, Pittsburgh Public Schools will be delayed two hours this Monday. It is assumed, it appears, that teachers will be too tired to make it in on time because of partying for the Superbowl the night before. It is also obviously assumed that parents will be irresponsible enough to allow their kids to stay up past bedtime for a mere football game.

Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt has announced the 2 hour delay noting that it is being implemented as a “safety precaution,” whatever that is supposed to mean? For its part, the teachers union said that these delays in the past, usually initiated because of foul weather, have only applied to students and not teachers. This time, though, it applies to the teachers and staff, too. Why? Well, it’s a union payback for that one day they all came to school even though foul weather made the administration cancel school that day, of course.

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00Publius Contributor - Education - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - News - Society/Culture

Letting the Evidence Speak for Itself

February 1, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

In a letter recently submitted to Education Week CITATION Ste09 \l 1033 (Stephen Krashen, 2009) Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, draws attention to the Reading First final impact study which showed that children following an intensive decoding-based curriculum do well on tests of decoding but not on measures of reading comprehension when compared with regular students. He reminds readers that the National Reading Panel, the foundation for Reading First, came up with similar results.

From these two studies, Dr. Krashen draws the following conclusion. A high level of proficiency in decoding is not necessary in order to learn to read. Yet, he has employed fallacious reasoning to confirm his obvious bias against Reading First.

What these studies actually confirm is precisely what the authors of Reading First already understood; Phonics is not an end in itself. Phonics is a critical step in supporting reading development. With this in mind, The National Reading Panel recommended explicit and systematic phonics instruction. By this, it is meant that teachers should be provided precise directions for modeling and for leading students through the process of using letter-sound relationships to read words; letter sound relationships should be taught in a clearly defined sequence; and students should be provided extensive practice in reading stories with many different words to decode. Phonics is most effective when introduced in Kindergarten and first grade.

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00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Frederick Meekins - History - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture

Christmas Responses Taken To Extremes

January 29, 2009 by

-By Frederick Meekins

At one point in its history, one could argue that the West was too sure of itself as the foremost of civilizations. However, such is no longer the case today.

In theory, pluralists and multiculturalists contend that no way of life or culture is better than any other. Thus, one would think that Western and American perspectives and traditions would be welcomed into this expanded showcase of human achievement.

Yet unless one wants to bash the West for its past short comings, they had better think again. If anything, one is expected to feel the same kind of shame in regards to the most innocuous of traditions that was once reserved for more carnal subjects during exceedingly Victorian times.
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00Publius Contributor - 1st Amendment - Barack Obama - Censorship - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Liberals - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Chicago Area College Fighting Over Adopting Student’s Bill of Rights

January 23, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the midst of the Obama coronation in Washington this week, school board member Sheila Patterson of the Jackson Public School System in Jackson, Michigan told teachers in her district that if they don’t show Barack Obama’s inauguration in the class room they should just “go home.” Patterson further told teachers that if they didn’t show the ceremony they “don’t belong in this school district.” Patterson also tsked such teachers sternly alerting them that she was “very, very disappointed.”

The news report of this incident notes that 43 percent of the school district is comprised of minorities. I suppose that means that the 57 percent that isn’t minority either does not deserve to have their opinions known, or is presumed not to have wanted to see the ceremony. Either way, we have what shapes up to be a school board member throwing the race card at what she is trying to paint as racist teachers.

It was later discovered that many teachers wanted to show the ceremony on their class computers, but the Internet of the District was overloaded and many couldn’t get a connection. No word if Sheila Patterson will apologize for her racist outburst and her assumptions that whites hate Barack Obama and didn’t want to celebrate his big day.

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Taxes - Vince Johnson

Dear American Kids: You OWE!!

January 23, 2009 by

-By Vince Johnson

This is my second effort (To get a response from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation)

On December 12, 2008 I wrote the Peter G. Peterson Foundation suggesting that they consider a full page ad based on the “Uncle Sam” concept ad which is enclosed. As yet, they have not responded. After re-reading their Mission Statement, I felt they might be receptive to a second effort. Their Mission Statement is repeated below:
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Google - Inernet - Liberals - Media Bias - News - Podcasting - President - Publius Forum - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

Rush Limbaugh and Warner Todd Huston

January 22, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last year, Rush Limbaugh read one of my Op Eds and reacted to it. I’ve had Rush read about 5 or so of my pieces, but here is one that I have the audio on.

Feel free to visit the Publius Forum TalkShoe page to see my past podcasts. New podcasts appear approximately monthly, or whenever the mood strikes me to do one.

00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Europe - History - Nancy Salvato - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law

The Right to Defend Sovereignty

January 21, 2009 by

-By Nancy Salvato

It is written in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Each and every one of us has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A seemingly simple idea, it’s the definition of when a life begins or should end, when the liberty of one being is to be considered encroaching on the liberty of another, and on the meaning of personal happiness on which we disagree.

I imagine one would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t want a peaceful existence which would allow us to go about our lives unencumbered by external threats. Again, it’s the method our country uses to achieve a relatively peaceful existence and at what cost –on which we currently disagree. While all of these topics are worthy of discussion and study, the question of our nation’s sovereignty begs examination at this moment in time because our present way of life is the direct result of our nation’s sovereign status in the world and so for many of us, it is worth preserving.
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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Israel Teitelbaum - Media Bias - News - President

President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech

January 21, 2009 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

If I were President Barack Obama’s speechwriter, I would begin this way.

Good afternoon fellow Americans:

Thank Heaven and thank you American People for this opportunity to serve our great nation, and help bring the change that is desperately needed by every man, woman and child in the USA. For far too long, government has reached well beyond the dictates of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and usurped the rights of moms, dads and children all across America, depriving them of their individual and religious liberty. Our state and local governments have interfered with parents’ right to raise their children to become contributing and law abiding citizens, who respect the rights of others and remain loyal to their family traditions. The results have been devastating to our families and communities.

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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - News - Race - Religion - Socialism - Society/Culture

MLK Was in Bed With Leading Communists!

January 20, 2009 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Martin Luther King, if not a Communist, was a fool and tool of the Communist Party that was actively seeking to overthrow our government in favor of the Soviet Union. Many of them worked for him and the Communist Party at the same time! A few of the main Communists were:

  • Abner W. Berry was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party official.
  • Bayard Rustin was a lifetime black Communist leader who spent time in jail for lewd vagrancy and performing lewd homosexual acts in public. He also spent twenty-six months in jail for draft dodging.
  • Hunter Pitts O’Dell was King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference top man in the Southeast and member of the National Committee of the Communist Party. After newspapers reported O’Dell’s association with Communists, King fired him making much to do about it. Then he immediately hired him (without making anything to do about it) to run the New York City SCLC office. O’Dell also worked for Jesse Jackson.
  • Stanley Levison was the bagman for the Communist Party. He distributed millions of dollars from the Russian KGB (the Soviet secret police) to finance Communist activities in the U.S.! King’s wife, Coretta, said he was “a devoted and trusted” friend of King. He edited King’s book Stride Toward Freedom, wrote many of his speeches and filled out his income tax returns. Remember that this dude was working for the Soviet KGB secret police and King at the same time!

The FBI recruited two former high-ranking Communist Party members, brothers Morris and Jack Childs as informants. This Operation Solo lasted until 1980 and looked into the funding of the Party. Jack revealed that the Soviet government funded the U.S. Communist Party about one million per year! Jack also revealed that New York attorney, Stanley Levison, was the bagman for the hostile foreign government.

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Communism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Founders - History - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Thinks Original Declaration of Independence Not Good Enough?

January 19, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In his Saturday remarks during his campaign train ride, President-elect Barack Obama issued some soaring rhetoric about the state of the country today. At least the Old Media thought it was soaring rhetoric, anyway. Typically, the media was overawed by his mellifluous tones, of course. But during these remarks in Baltimore Obama made a startling suggestion. He said we need a “new Declaration of Independence.”

Apparently the original one isn’t good enough for the new president, but it also seems a silly rhetorical flourish. After all, what is it that we are declaring independence from this time? Recall that the original one was a declaration of separation from an oppressive monarchy, one that led to a seven-year-long war. Are we in such dire straits now?

And, needless to say, it is also amazing the Old Media didn’t jump all over Obama for this conceit. Can you imagine the media giving a pass to a Republican that proposed making a new Declaration of Independence? Doubtless they would attack a Republican mercilessly for suggesting the original Declaration was out of date or no longer applicable — as well they should.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - GOP - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Warner Todd Huston

Republican John Millner: The Only Ill. State Sen. Voting Against Gutting Ethics Bill

January 18, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Meet Illinois State Senator John Millner (R-Carol Stream). He is the only Senator that voted “no” against a startling weakening of an Illinois ethics reform bill on January 14. In the worst ethics mess in Illinois history, when the eyes of the nation are on Illinois, not even one other Senator joined Senator Millner in voting against this cynical weakening of the state’s new “pay-to-play” ban — not even another Republican.

Supposedly, the “pay-to-play” ban was watered down in a 56-1 vote to exclude road building companies because federal transportation officials told the legislature that the ban as worded could put federal funds for transportation projects in jeopardy. One has to wonder why this was never realized all the way back last September when the bill was first introduced?

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - State Government - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Ill. School Board Member Creates New, Tax Funded Job Then Takes It Himself

January 18, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In these tough financial times it is no surprise that school districts all across the country are crying poor and some of them probably even are. Corners are being cut, positions go unfilled by new applicants, budgets are cut; it is an everyday occurrence these days. Justified or not, the same is no less true in Big Hollow School District 38 in Lake County, Illinois (North of Chicago).

Lennie Jarratt of the Education Matters blog has an interesting story of probable influence peddling by the Big Hollow School Board. Like school districts everywhere, for months the school board has turned down hiring a school nurse and has resisted filling other empty positions citing budget concerns. But that didn’t stop the School Board from inventing a whole new position, essentially in secret, and then picking one of its own members to take that position at an undisclosed salary.

So, a school nurse isn’t necessary but a new position for one of their pals on the school board is indispensable? This seems a bit hard to swallow.

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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - News - Race - Religion

Was MLK a Communist?

January 18, 2009 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Martin Luther King was closely aligned to the Communist philosophy if not the Communist Party. King’s very friendly biographer, David J. Garrow admitted, “King privately described himself as a Marxist.” In his book, he quotes King as saying to his SCLC staff: “We have moved into a new era, which must be an era of revolution….The whole structure of American life must be changed….We are engaged in the class struggle.” Of course, those words are right out the Communist handbook. Need I remind you that it was illegal to be a Communist in those days? The Communist Party was dedicated to overthrow our Constitution and way of life. It was a life and death struggle.

North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms thought, as I do, that the Communists looked for every opportunity to exploit weakness in our nation and used the racial issue to disrupt our government and way of life. That is why they promoted hatred between the races, and Martin Luther King and many white and black liberals permitted themselves to be used to reach that end. Racial war would at least destabilize our nation. King, while he preached non-violence, always seemed to promote violence. I do not pretend to know whether the Communists used King or King used the Communists. I say, “A pox on both their houses.”

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - Race - Religion - State Government

King’s Papers Prove He Was Not a Scholar or a Christian!

January 16, 2009 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

A person is not a Christian because he professes to be or because he belongs to a “Christian” Church or because he was baptized. One becomes a Christian when he or she repents, believes in the death and resurrection of Christ. King, according to his own words was not a believer!

We can know much about a person if we study what he has written, and I have spend days reading King. His seminary papers are very revealing as to what he believed and what his motives were. The following papers by King are courtesy of the King family and prove that he was not only not a Christian but far from being a scholar!
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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Media Bias - News - President - Socialism - Society/Culture - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Left Doesn’t Mind When Gov’t Takes Over Art… When Dems Are In Charge

January 15, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, what sort of hue and cry do you think would have been raised if President Bush had proposed that he develop an “art czar” like Obama is proposing? Do you think that the left would have eagerly agreed with the idea that a President Bush should be in control of art in America — at any level whatever?

No, high dudgeon would have been the likely outcome if Bush had proposed to invent the pseudo cabinet position of “art czar” answerable only to the executive branch. Once again Bush would have been excoriated by the left as stamping on people’s Constitutional rights of free expression. They would have lost their tiny little minds over the fact that government with a Republican at its head would be controlling art in any way at all. They would have been outraged anew over the audacity of the Bushhitler and apoplectic over his various evils.

And, at some level they’d have been right.

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00Publius Contributor - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - News - Race - Religion - The Law

Martin Luther King Was a Thief!

January 14, 2009 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

One of the easiest charges to prove against King is that he stole much of his material from the time he was 15 years old! King preached his first sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church but it was taken from Harry Emerson Fosdick’s “Life is What You Make it.” You will note that he chose the leading liberal (Modernist) preacher of the day from whom to steal.

King stole from others all his lifetime. The scholars of the King Papers Project confessed: “King’s plagiarism was a general pattern evident in nearly all of his academic writings….We found that instances of textual appropriation can be seen in his earliest extant writings as well as his dissertation. The pattern is also noticeable in his speeches and sermons throughout his career.” Note that the confession is from King’s own people!

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00Publius Contributor - Anti-Americanism - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - Security/Safety - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

LA Times Celebrates Communist ‘Art’ Show

January 13, 2009 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, picture this… you are a refugee from the fall of Saigon, or, after it fell and in the midst of the many millions murdered by the communist oppressors that overtook the country in the 70s and 80s, you were lucky enough to escape with your life. Let’s say you finally move to California to enjoy a communist free life in the United States. Paradoxically, though, there you encounter a newspaper that scolds you and says that you are just a fearmonger for getting upset that there is a communist art show in your new community. And all the while you know that millions of your countrymen were murdered by the same communists that this paper, the L.A. Times, wants you to celebrate in art.

Would you get a tad upset? I think you might. Yet the L.A. Times thinks you should rather be interested in breaking “taboos,” having “open dialog” and to stop “the fear.” You should not get so gosh darned all upset at the commie art show. YOU are at fault here, not the commies.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - President - Security/Safety

Reform Our Schools Mr. President Elect

January 9, 2009 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

Honorable President-elect Barack Obama:

In nominating Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, you stressed the need for school reform. In accepting the nomination, Duncan said, “Whether it’s fighting poverty, strengthening our economy, or promoting opportunity, education is the common thread. It is the civil rights issue of our generation, and it is the one sure path to a more equal, fair and just society.”

Denial of parental choice in education is in fact the greatest government-sanctioned violation of civil rights in today’s America, and society suffers in multiple ways. As with any system gone awry, just follow the money. The only way to fix this misguided system is to return control to parents, where it rightfully belongs. Our top-down system, where the provider holds the purse rather than the customer, is like shopping with no money, with the understanding that the store will provide for your needs.

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00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Jobs - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

UAW Floating ‘Phantom Employees’ and Avoiding Property Taxes At Luxury Golf Course?

January 5, 2009 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Some new tough questions are being asked about Black Lake Golf Club, the luxury golf course owned by the United Auto Workers union in Cheboygan County, Michigan. Along with the multi-million dollar golf resort, the UAW also funds what it calls an “education center” with the funding connected to the resort.

As the UAW cried that it needed a bailout from Congress, its ownership of this luxury resort was revealed to the chagrin of union employees everywhere. Millions of dollars of union member’s dues money have been pumped into this project over the years, but now there are questions being raised as to just where large portions of this funding is disappearing to.

Research by Laborpains.org and Zarko Research and Consulting is raising several vexing questions of the UAW’s resort golf project. Large amounts of money seems to be unaccounted for and it even seems to show that pension benefits are being paid to “shadow employees” that do not seem to exist.

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00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Energy - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

‘Dear Mr. Obama,’ Why are our Kids so Brainwashed?

December 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has launched a wonderful little feature that will run until Barack Obama takes the oath of office next month. They are calling it “Dear Mr. Obama” and it is a heartwarming exercise in child indoctrination and brainwashing. The Post-Gazette will be publishing letters from local students to Obama asking him for all sorts of global warming fixes, Iraq war enders, and big government programs.

Sadly, it appears that the government schools these kids have been subjected to have failed to teach their charges about anything like the American system, federalism, even science seems neglected. But they SURE taught their kiddies that government is there to spend, spend, spend, that government is to be treated like our collective parents, and that the war in Iraq is obviously an evil venture. Obviously.

And, yes little kiddies, The One, your very own Obamessiah, is flying to the rescue like a super hero. Cue the theme music — I’d suggest the theme to 2001, like Elvis used, is appropriate for the sentiment here. The Obamessiah has entered the building!

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00Publius Contributor - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Jobs - News - Society/Culture - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Pennsylvania’s Corrosive Strike Culture

December 27, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Wall Street Journal recently had an interesting article on the extremely high percentage of teacher’s strikes in the State of Pennsylvania. The Journal noted that Penn. teachers account for an astonishing 42% of all teacher walk outs in the nation.

This, apparently, despite the fact that Pennsylvania’s teachers are some of the highest paid in the nation.

The strikes take place despite the state’s ranking in the top 20% nationwide for teacher salaries in 2006-2007 — the most recent data available — with an average of $54,970. Those paychecks go even further when adjusted for the state’s cost of living compared to top-spending school districts in places like California.

The Journal notes that 37 states have passed various laws that limit or eliminate teacher walk outs but union bigwigs in Penn. have succeeded in burying all attempts to implement such laws in the Keystone state.

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00Publius Contributor - Education - News - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

Whence Comes the Concept of Fairness, of Right and Wrong?

December 23, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Without acknowledgment of God-created human souls, society is reduced to a random collection of people guided only by pursuit of their individual ideas of pleasure and avoidance of what they find painful. In such a society, nothing is inherently right or wrong.

Read Ben Shapiro’s Why Atheism Is Morally Bankrupt.

John Dewey, in the first half of the 20th century, taught that there is no such thing as timeless moral principles. Humans merely respond to pleasure and pain, while pursuing actions that redound to their benefit. Dewey’s compass, in his philosophy of pragmatism, was only whether an action achieved the actor’s aim, without regard to its effect on others.
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00Publius Contributor - Communism - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - History - Judges - News - Republicans - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

The GOP Cannot Win Until…

December 20, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Of course we are all roaming around trying to figure out what will work, what hasn’t worked and whose fault it all is. Powell blasts Limbaugh, Limbaugh replies, voters blast McCain, the moderate Republican illiterati try to blame it all on Palin and the social conservatives, the conservatives say the country club set has destroyed us, and EVERYONE knows that the GOP acted like drunken sailors on the spending side… there is enough finger pointing all around, for sure.

But, how are we going to get it all back? How are we going to win at the ballot box? That is the question, naturally. There is a model of how to achieve that victory, though, if we have the good sense to utilize it.

David Frum appeared on the Hugh Hewitt show on December 16 and said that, in his opinion, the “base” of the GOP is no longer enough to get a president elected. He defined the base as comprising white males that make over $30,000 a year and are not college graduates. He said that the more college a voter has the more likely that they will vote Democrat.

Now, Frum is 100% wrong on a lot of things — like Sarah Palin, for instance — but he is dead on with his assessment about what a college “education” does to an American. A college education turns an American into a Democrat for the simple reason that there isn’t anything truly American taught in the largest number of our colleges and universities. They are taught to be Euro-like, non-traditional Americans and the main outlet for that ideology is the Democratic Party.

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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - News - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture

The Ignoramus Americus

December 19, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

There is often a profound difference between morality and legality, and, if this were a just world, a good percentage of the American left would be tried for treason. If that seems a radical statement, I ask you: What price should be paid for sowing the seeds of your nation’s destruction? What should be the punishment for creating millions of people so ignorant, so effete, so corrupted in judgment that they are unable to sustain a free republic, resist enemies foreign and domestic, and perpetuate their culture? I’ll leave that to you to decide and just talk a bit about the state of the electorate.

I have often written about the ignorance that has resulted from decades of pathetic, dumbed-down parenting and schooling, and, sadly, there’s no shortage of material on this subject. In fact, you could probably read three large volumes on it and not know all Americans don’t know about what they should know. However, one short article recently written by economics professor and columnist Dr. Walter Williams perhaps tells us all we need to know. It is called “Ignorance reigns supreme” and relates the findings of a national survey measuring people’s knowledge of civics titled “Our Fading Heritage: Americans Fail a Basic Test on Their History and Institutions.” Its findings are staggering, although not at all surprising to me. For starters, 71 percent of Americans surveyed failed the test, and the average score on it was 49 percent. As for some details, Williams tells us (some of the following information he gleaned from sources other than the survey):
Continue reading “The Ignoramus Americus”

00Publius Contributor - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s New School Chief Supported Creating Gay High School in Chicago

December 16, 2008 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

So, how often do you think that the Old Media will mention that Barack Obama’s choice for Secretary of Education, Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, supported to be opened in Chicago a gay, lesbian and transgender high school? Any takers?

I have looked over many of the stories on Obama’s pick for Sec of Ed, but seen mention of his support of the gay high school only a few times. Only three stories mentioned it out of the first 20 I checked. Even the Wall Street Journal didn’t mention it in their announcement of the Obama pick.

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00Publius Contributor - David Huntwork - Education - Family - Morals/Sex - News - Society/Culture

Don’t lie to your kids this Christmas

December 14, 2008 by

-By David Huntwork

From the moment a child is born there is probably no greater “universal truth” pounded into their head by society and culture than of the existence of a fat jolly man dressed in red who brings good little boys and girls presents each year with his eight tiny reindeer. It is the one great myth that is inescapable. Stores, malls, songs, programs, teachers, relatives, as well as friends and neighbors rigorously propagate and enforce this little piece of fiction. While mostly harmless and enjoyable, the story of Santa Claus is unknowingly used and abused by many well-intentioned parents who otherwise are upright and honest. They insist on lying to their children that Santa Claus is real.

My wife and I have three young daughters and from the very first we agreed that we would not lie to our children. It was our contention that to instill proper values and traits in our children would require us to be consistent and honest with them. What we would tell our children about Santa Claus was to be based upon the idea that we wanted them to always trust us and that their faith in us to lead them on the path of truth would not be compromised. Most parents would agree and do attempt to instill such basic principles into the hearts and minds of their offspring. Then why do they insist on perpetuating the lie, that Santa Claus complete with chimney tricks and bag of toys is real?
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00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Marie Jon - Morals/Sex - News - Religion - Society/Culture

A mansion of a different kind: what are you building?

December 11, 2008 by

-By Marie Jon’

As President George W. Bush prepares to move to his beautiful new home in Texas, let me tell you about another home.

This particular house is considered one of the oddest homes in the entire world. The Winchester Mansion is located in San Jose, California, and sits on 160 acres of land. Although under construction for 38 years, it was never completed because its owner, Sarah Winchester, passed away in 1922.

Sarah had the home bustling constantly, under construction twenty-four hours, seven days a week. The home had one hundred and sixty rooms and probably would have had more if Sarah’s life hadn’t ended suddenly. The place started out as a simple eight-room house, but it was eventually converted into a multi-million-dollar estate.
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