Education

00Publius Contributor - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Media Bias - News - Socialism - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

CA Teachers Union Illegally Uses Dues for Political Campaigns

August 6, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday, August 1, the Press-Telegram of Long Beach, CA reported that the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB) has apparently been using general union funds to assist political campaigns of favored candidates for school board during the 2006 and 2008 campaign season. At least $110,000 was illegally used for political purposes.

An audit of the TALB’s books seems to show that, along with the funds legally set up to be used for political purposes, the general fund was also used for political campaigning. This is illegal because in California, union members can request that their dues not be used for political purposes. If a member makes such a request his dues are supposed to go to the general union fund and not into the political accounts.

Along with the misappropriation of funds for political purposes, there are questions on the method used by the union to pay back past political campaign overruns. The union basically extorted it from the members and also used funds that were to go for campaigning in other years.

Continue reading “CA Teachers Union Illegally Uses Dues for Political Campaigns”

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

John Edwards Stiffs the Kids, Cancels Scholarships… Hello Media?

July 31, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Yes, there are two Americas. The one where John Edwards used to have a scholarship program that he intended to set up as an example for all of America to follow… and the one where he cancels that scholarship program. Is it because he isn’t running for president any more? Since Edwards has other things to do now — like hiding from the media in his mistresses’ house and maybe getting a few $400 haircuts — Edwards has pulled the plug on his pilot scholarship program in North Carolina. It was for the kids… now it isn’t. As the media ignores Edwards’ love child story, any takers if they will ignore this one, too?

In May of 2007, to great fanfare, Edwards rolled out his “College for Everyone” plan saying that this was a college plan for “any student wishing to work hard.” At that time, the well coifed, two-time presidential candidate said that he wanted “every young person” to go to college and touted his new program then beginning at Greene Central High School in Snow Hill, NC.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Society/Culture - Taxes

The Elephant in the Room

July 29, 2008 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

According to Wikipedia, “The elephant in the room is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook. It is sometimes used to refer to a question or problem that is obvious, but which is ignored out of embarrassment or taboo. The idiom also implies a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly. The term is often used to describe an issue that involves a social taboo, such as racism or religion, which everyone understands to be an issue but which no one is willing to admit.”

This is a perfect description of the one issue that most sharply divides the two major parties, but no one is willing to discuss. Whether your issue is self defense, taxes, education or government-run healthcare, your position depends on which side of the culture divide you are on. Those on the right favor less government control and more individual liberty, while those on the left believe that government is the solution to all our problems.

The party that wins this year’s election will either move our nation farther to the left and increase government authority, or hold the line. Our sharp turn to the left began in the 1960’s, and has scarcely stopped turning. Being that our nation’s culture begins with the education of our children, the issue we should be addressing is who should be in control – parents or educrats?

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Society/Culture

School Choice Advocates: Act Now!

July 23, 2008 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

It was a sign of true leadership for John McCain to address the NAACP on the importance of parental choice in education. The NAACP has long opposed this, to the great detriment of inner-city youth, and others, who cannot afford good private schools. Competition will undoubtedly improve the quality and efficiency of education, just as it does for enterprise.

Now that school choice has become an issue in this presidential campaign, this is a most opportune time for voters to speak out and petition for their constitutional right to raise and nurture their children without government interference. A nation founded upon individual and religious liberty should not be financially coercing parents to send their children to government run schools.

There is now a proposal before members of Congress to sponsor the Civil Rights Act for Equal Educational Opportunity. This would require the states to equitably fund the education of children in public and non-public schools, while respecting the liberty of schools in hiring and provision of services.

We can change the tenor of this election campaign by calling upon our representatives in Washington, at 202-224-3121, and urging them to sponsor this legislation.
Continue reading “School Choice Advocates: Act Now!”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Family - Religion - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

The Gift

July 21, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Through Jesus Christ we have received the inestimable gift of the Holy Spirit as our counselor and comforter.

Pastor Steve Treash’s sermon this past Sunday at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was on God’s gift to us of the Holy Spirit.

Unlike the major imperial religions that appeared in the world before Jesus Christ, Christianity gives believers a personal relationship with God. In earlier religions the ruler was the only connection between his subjects and the gods. From Hammurabi to the Pharaohs, law was promulgated by the ruler in the name of the gods, and social order was handed down from on high through the ruler.

Christianity turned this upside down, making it possible for every individual to gain remission of his sins directly by accepting Jesus Christ as his savior and repenting. To aid repentance and sanctification, God manifested Himself individually to believers as the Holy Spirit.

To describe the gift, Pastor Treash’s main text was Acts 1:1-5.
Continue reading “The Gift”

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

Teachers Union Head Seeks to Become Tin Pot Dictator

July 19, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Randi Weingarten has delusions of grandeur. She thinks she should be given the power of a dictator instead of those of a teachers union president. Instead of just teaching kids, Weingarten imagines that she should become doctor, nanny, nutritionist, psychologist, and mother to every kid in America. She imagines that she should be given the care and feeding of all the nation’s kids.

Parents? Who need ’em when we’ve got Mother Weingarten to trot them off to re-education camps where they will be fed and cared for on a daily basis?

Catch the arrogance, see this nanny-state despot lining up her dream state in her tiny, anti-family mind.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - Media Bias - Nancy Salvato - News - Society/Culture

Academic Freedom

July 18, 2008 by

-By Nancy Salvato

An article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education reflects the notion that academic freedom means being allowed to advocate a personal point of view in the classroom.

Outspoken scholars fared much better than one would have expected in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Richard Berthold, at the University of New Mexico, incurred only a reprimand for telling his freshman history class that “anyone who bombs the Pentagon gets an A in my book.” At Columbia University, Nicholas DeGenova got essentially a pass when he called for “a million Mogadishus.” Arthur Butz remained a professor in good standing at Northwestern University after he lauded Iran’s president for Holocaust denial. The moderate and deliberative response to such incidents and others suggests that academic freedom is in excellent health.

Others would define the above examples of academic freedom as proselytizing in the classroom or using the classroom as a “Bully Pulpit.”

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00Publius Contributor - Education - History - News - Religion - Society/Culture

Baptist Blood Bought Liberty!

July 14, 2008 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Down through the ages Baptists have been about the most hated and persecuted religious group because their distinctiveness made them a threat to religious tyrants.

Baptists believe that salvation comes only through repenting of sin and placing faith in the sacrificial death of Christ. Works and godly living always follow salvation, but they do not produce salvation. By rejecting baby baptism, they insisted that only converted people should be baptized.

Therefore, the cause of the Baptists’ persecution in the middle ages was that they refused to baptize babies. In baptizing babies, a church has been able to keep its thumb on the people. No family wants to be responsible for a child going to hell (which does not happen) so they must “baptize” each baby to “protect” his soul. Religious leaders could see the threat to their religious empire if baby baptism were no longer practiced, so they persecuted Baptists.
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00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Frank Salvato - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - Military - News - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture

Once Again, It’s About Associations and Judgment

July 13, 2008 by

-By Frank Salvato

There has been much ado about Barack Obama’s associations and the judgment used in maintaining and entering into those associations. Obama’s associations with Jeremiah Wright, Williams Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, the Progressive-Left activist group ACORN and his ideological association with Saul Alinsky are all perfect examples of his judgment, his willingness to associate with radical and troubled individuals and organizations. Is it fair to judge Barack Obama by his associations and the judgment used in acquiring and maintaining those associations? Sorry Mr. Colmes, all is fair in love and war…and politics.

Many of us have a friend or acquaintance that may possess a questionable background. Such is life. Many of us like to believe that, with our help, these individuals can straighten out their lives, or “see the light,” setting themselves on a path of health, prosperity and productivity. It is noble to want to help those in need or those whose full potential has not been recognized. It’s what Americans do. But we Americans expect more from our leaders. We do so because we want to believe in them, in their judgment. We want them to have vision and foresight, judgment that proves to us that they possess the ability to stay above the fray. This is exactly the problem that Barack Obama is having with the electorate. His judgment hasn’t allowed him to “stay above the fray.” In fact, by his own refusal to readily explain and disassociate himself with the less than savory characters and organizations noted above, he chooses to remain “in the fray.” Not a good place to be for someone who wants to be the leader of the free world.
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00Publius Contributor - Education - Europe - Founders - History - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - Religion - Society/Culture

Baptists, Puritans, and the Witch Hunt!

July 12, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Hatred of Baptists was not limited to the Old World. The New World had its haters also and Baptists had to suffer the whip, the club, and prison to gain their religious liberty.

Boston authorities imprisoned three Baptists and whipped one of them grievously. This whipping of Obadiah Holmes was witnessed by Henry Dunster, president of Harvard College, and it made a life-changing impression on him. Dunster looked closer at the question of infant baptism and concluded that the Baptist position was the Bible position. When he made that announcement, it produced heartburn in every Puritan in New England.

Dunster was a scholar of Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and the Oriental languages. He was also an able preacher, and his conversion to Baptist principles was one of the most sensational events that occurred during that period. He refused to permit his own child to be “baptized” in the Congregational Church where he was a member! He felt strongly impressed (by the Puritans) to resign his position at Harvard. (Hey, what happened to academic freedom?)

All this sensational news didn’t hurt the growth of Baptists in New England, and they continued to erect buildings (illegally) while the Puritans turned up the heat. The Baptists built a church building in 1679, but the Puritan officials passed a law that required a “license from the authorities.” The Puritan authorities thought they could control the Baptists if they required a license to meet. That is what a license is for today—control.

Continue reading “Baptists, Puritans, and the Witch Hunt!”

00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - GOP - News - Patriotism - President - Society/Culture - Thomas Brewton

Divisive Politics

July 11, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Senator Obama’s campaign is based upon a fantasy: his claimed ability to transcend politics-as-usual and thereby to unite the nation for a common purpose.

It isn’t just that Senator Obama lacks his claimed power. It’s that the secular religion he represents is entirely antithetical to everything that led to the foundation of the United States. The very existence of liberal-progressivism is divisive.

We Constitutional traditionalists were here first. It is the liberal-progressives who are an invading army of conquest, marching under the banner of an alien, Continental European philosophy of atheistic socialism.
Continue reading “Divisive Politics”

00Publius Contributor - Congress - Constitution - Education - Founders - News - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - The Law

Did Baptists Influence Thomas Jefferson?

July 11, 2008 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Baptist people have been the most principled people since the time of Christ. I do not believe that the designation of “Baptist” is nearly as important as the doctrine, but I want people to know where I stand. I am a Baptist, and am proud of my heritage that has made an incredible impact on this world—even Jefferson and the U.S. Constitution!

Baptists have stood for the free exercise of a person’s will and against oppression (religious or political) down through the ages.

The English historian, Skeats wrote, “It is the singular and distinguished honor of the Baptists to have repudiated from their earliest history all coercive power over the consciences and actions of men with reference to religion. They were the proto-evangelists of the voluntary principle.”

While that is true, it is also true that there have always been people, since the time of Christ, who held Baptist principles. In fact, a Methodist historian, John Clark Ridpath, who died in 1900 wrote, “I should not readily admit that there was a Baptist Church as far back as 100 A.D., although without doubt there were Baptist Churches then, as all Christians were then Baptists.” (Emphasis added.)
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - History - News - Security/Safety

The Mike Bates Independence Day Quiz

July 3, 2008 by

-By Michael M. Bates

Happy Birthday, America. It’s been 232 years since the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. Take a quick quiz to see how much you know about this statement that changed the world.

  1. From what country did the American colonies declare their independence?
  2. In what city was the Declaration written?
  3. What colony did George Washington represent when he signed the Declaration?
  4. What two signers died on an anniversary of the Declaration?
  5. How many of the 13 colonies approved the Declaration?
  6. Who signed the Declaration on July 4, 1776?
  7. Whose authorship of the Declaration was treated as a state secret for 24 years?
  8. What U.S. bill depicts the Declaration?
  9. In what year was July 4 declared a federal holiday?
    10. Which signer included where he lived on the Declaration?
    That was fun, wasn’t it? Here are the answers.

  10. Great Britain. You might think everyone knows that, but they don’t. One Gallup poll found that only 76 percent of Americans answered the question correctly.
  11. Philadelphia.
  12. Sorry, that was a trick question. George Washington didn’t sign the Declaration of Independence. He was busy commanding the Continental army.
  13. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration. Political adversaries at times, and friends at others, these two remarkable men were vital to the creation of the United States. In his wonderful biography of Adams, David McCullough writes that, when told it was the Fourth, Mr. Adams answered “It is a great day. It is a good day.” Among his last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.” Mr. Jefferson had died several hours earlier.
  14. Only 12 colonies approved the document. New York abstained.
  15. On the great day itself, just two men signed the Declaration. They were John Hancock, the Continental Congress’s president, and Charles Thomson, its secretary. Most of the delegates signed the document on August 2.
  16. Thomas Jefferson. It wasn’t until he ran for president in 1800 that his authorship of the Declaration became widely known. In his later years, John Adams recounted the arguments he used to persuade Mr. Jefferson to write the Declaration: “Reason first: You are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second: I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third: You can write ten times better than I can.” That wasn’t Tom’s recollection, but it still makes a good anecdote.
  17. The $2 Federal Reserve Note. Thomas Jefferson’s portrait has been on the front of the note since 1869. Observing our bicentennial in 1976, the back of note was changed to feature an engraving of John Trumbull’s painting “The Signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
  18. If you knew the answer to this one, you need to get out more. It was in 1870 and, according to the Congressional Research Service, Independence Day, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Thanksgiving were the first four days thus recognized.
  19. Maryland’s Charles Carroll added “of Carrollton” after his signature. It’s believed that was done so relatives with the same name weren’t confused for him. Signing the Declaration was treason pure and simple, and the courageous men who affixed their names to it were risking everything. Mr. Carroll was also the only Catholic to sign, a not inconsequential deed at a time when people of his faith weren’t even permitted to vote. He was the last signer to die, passing away in 1832.

If your score is 9 or 10: You sure know how to use Google.

If your score is 6-8: Someone was paying attention in high school.

If your score is 4 or 5: Someone wasn’t paying attention in high school.

If your score is 3 or less: Been a Democrat long?

I’ll spend Independence Day trying not to remember it’s my birthday and dwelling on what a blessing it is to have been born in these United States of America.

Have a terrific Fourth!

(This Michael Bates column appeared in the July 3, 2008 Reporter Newspapers.)
____________
Michael M. Bates has written a weekly column of opinion – or nonsense, depending on your viewpoint – since 1985 for the (southwest suburban Chicago) Reporter Newspapers. Additionally, his articles have appeared in the Congressional Record, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Mensa Journal. He has been a guest on Milt Rosenberg’s program on WGN Radio Chicago, the Bruce Elliott show on Baltimore’s WBAL, the Jim Sumpter show on the USA Radio Network and the New Media Journal’s Blog Radio. As a lad, Mike distributed Goldwater campaign literature and since then has steadily moved further to the Right. He is the author of “Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths.” In 2007, he won an Illinois Press Association award for Original Column.

His presence on the web can be viewed at www.michaelmbates.com And he can be reached at mikembates-at-gmail.com

00Publius Contributor - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Founders - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - News - Patriotism - President - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Philly Inquirer Says No 4th For You, America is Evil, WOT is a ‘Scam’

July 1, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

You know, I was wondering when this was going to happen, when someone in the MSM would say Bush has ruined July Fourth? The Philadelphia Inquirer didn’t disappoint by wallowing in the worst example of blame-America-above-all as well as the most extreme case of BDS that I’ve seen outside the kind of nutroot sites like Daily Kos and the Democratic Underground. A mainstream paper has now gone that extra mile to let us all know that America does not deserve a July Fourth celebration this year because of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, CIA secret prisons, and, lest you imagine otherwise, the fact that we have made George W. Bush our president. “Cancel the parade” because America is evil. It’s all there in all it’s anti-American splendor in A not-so-glorious Fourth, U.S. atrocities are unworthy of our heritage.

Inquirer columnist Chris Satullo thinks that America is fraught with sin and that we don’t deserve a Fourth celebration. “This year, America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday,” he whines. “This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.”

We have failed to pay attention. We’ve settled for lame excuses. We’ve spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.

We’ve “spit on the memory” of the Founders? Does he mean when the Democratic Party helped us lose Vietnam? How about when liberals somehow divined in the Founder’s name a “right to privacy” in the Constitution? Were either of those times when we spit in their faces? How about when the American left destroyed religion in America, or when they invented a “right” to abortion, or when they turned our various systems of education into places where fringe, wackos reign supreme and American history, civics and… well, anything actually educational… is banished into the mists of the past? Does Our pal Chris Satullo mean those times when the Founders saw the spittle fly?

You can guess that no is the answer to my questions.

No, to Chris Satullo, the only time we’ve “spit on the memory” of the founders is when we reacted to the time when 3,000 of our own were killed in New York City by Islamic terrorists. He is all upset that we’ve tortured prisoners, illegally imprisoned people “for years,” and practiced “rendition.”

Continue reading “Philly Inquirer Says No 4th For You, America is Evil, WOT is a ‘Scam’”

00Publius Contributor - Business - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Media Bias - News - Society/Culture - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Says Public Has No Right to Know About State Payments to Unions

July 1, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

What happened when the Evergreen Freedom Foundation decided to request the public government records of the negotiations between unions and government in Washington State? All hell broke loose, that’s what.

The bloated public employee unions banded together to stop the public from finding out what went on between the government and the unions during the negotiations of state contracts — that is contracts FUNDED by tax money, by the way — for employee benefits and rules. They filed suit saying that the public had no right to know how their own tax money was to be spent.

One union official even said that if he thought his words would become public record he would “not be comfortable speaking” until he had “fully thought through” what he had to say. Of course, this forces one to wonder why he would open his yap without thinking about what he is saying whether his yammering would be public knowledge or not?

Yes, the Unions fought the EFF tooth and nail to keep their negotiations secret from the very public that is paying their bills.

Check out the whole outrageous story at Capital Research Center’s “When unions negotiate with governments” and download the PDF report. Its a great read and a cautionary tale that supports our contention here on the Union Label Blog that unions are antithetical to good government.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Family - Media Bias - News - Security/Safety - Selwyn Duke - Society/Culture

The War on Boys: Where Feminists and Men’s Rights Activists Go Wrong

June 30, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

One problem with one-issue activists, it seems, is that they often view matters from only one dimension. This has always been one of the characteristics of feminists. Men get blame for being history’s conquerors and killers, for instance, but no credit for being its innovators and healers. We will hear about how women “create life” while men only destroy it, but forgotten are the fruits of men’s labors. Were it not for male medical advances that virtually eliminated female death during childbirth, many feminists wouldn’t be around to crow about their fecundity.

Given this misandrist atmosphere, it’s not surprising that an opposing group called “men’s rights activists” would arise. They rebut feminist ideology, bring many important issues to light and usually make excellent points. And I tend to like them.

One issue they’re front and center on is the “war against boys.” This refers to the characteristic problems exhibited by modern lads – such as higher dropout rates, worse grades, and lower college attendance than girls and a far greater likelihood that they’ll be targeted by the ADHD police for a pickling with Ritalin – and the causes of these things. As for the latter, men’s rights activists implicate a prevailing anti-male attitude in a highly-feminized society. And I essentially agree with that analysis. Yet, despite this, like the feminists, they go badly astray. In fact, the two groups have more in common than they would care to admit.
Really, this is no surprise, as the problem I speak of isn’t unique to an activist of a given stripe but is one of modernity. To introduce it, I will cite a recent article by one David Kupelian titled “The war on fathers.” It’s an excellent piece by a man who has much of value to say, and I encourage you to read it. Yet it also contains the following line, “. . . young boys . . . don’t naturally thrive when forced to sit still at a desk listening to a teacher lecture for six hours a day . . . .”
Continue reading “The War on Boys: Where Feminists and Men’s Rights Activists Go Wrong”

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

A Socialist by Any Other Name . . .

June 28, 2008 by

By Selwyn Duke

One of the consequences of being right in an age of lies is that it brands you as a radical. Remember that being an extremist doesn’t mean you’re wrong, but simply that your views deviate greatly from those of the mainstream. If you say that 2+2=4 in a land where everyone else insists it’s 5, you’ll be labeled a radical. The same is true if you assert that a certain society of men is full of wolves when everyone else believes they’re sheep.

Now, for years I’ve been telling people that most of our Democrats are essentially socialists; sure, either they won’t admit it publicly or aren’t fully aware of it themselves (quite common; self knowledge is often sorely lacking, especially among leftists). It was a message as hard to relate as it is for many to accept, as it renders you something less than the kind of “credible” commentator who gets invitations to appear on Fox News (bigot Opio Sokoni was on O’Reilly last week). But that message now goes down a little easier with the recent Democrat proposal to nationalize oil refineries.

There is a great article on this very subject by a writer named Lance Fairchok; it is titled “Why Do We Call Them ‘Democrats’?” After quoting a couple of Democrats who waxed enthusiastic about nationalizing the oil refineries, he presents this Freudian slip by Congressman Maxine Waters:
Continue reading “A Socialist by Any Other Name . . .”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - News - Society/Culture - Vince Johnson

Find out who you really are at Chemeketa Community College

June 26, 2008 by

-By Vince Johnson

There is a surprising course awaiting your discovery in Chemeketa’s 2008 summer class schedule.

It is about something more important than computers, or history, or math, or nutrition or any of those things. In fact, this course may very well be dealing with the most important subject you can learn about in your entire life. I know this first-hand because I experienced this course last summer.

It is a three-hour course starting Saturday, June 28, and yes, if you haven’t guessed already, I’ve registered to experience it again this summer. Notice that I said “experience” this course rather than “take”. You can’t “take” this kind of course because it is an “experience” and one that will find a permanent home wherever your pleasant memories are kept.

When you “take” a course, as in History or Biology, you learn by using a combination of thought processes requiring logic, memory, reasoning, etc. Emotions have nothing to do with it. When you “experience” a course, you learn by using a combination of energies such as surprise, anger, bewilderment, fear, disgust, pleasure, etc. Emotions have everything to do with it. Yes, you can learn about emotions from courses in Psychology, Human Relations, Nursing, Counseling, etc. But you can learn much more about emotions by experiencing them rather than reading about them.
Continue reading “Find out who you really are at Chemeketa Community College”

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

Farnsworth of CBS News Needs American History Lesson

June 25, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember when the 49ers gold rush happened in Maine? How about when Dan’l Boone explored California? Do you remember when Lee surrendered his Confederate army in Fargo, North Dakota? Well, to those famous places with famous incidents we can add that great Revolutionary War battle of Lexington and Concord… Virginia. At least we can do so in the reckoning of one Jamie Fansworth of the CBS News blog “From the Road” because it seems our friend Farnsworth is a little fuzzy on where some of the most famous battles of the American Revolution were held.

Today, in the CBS blog post about McCain declaring “Energy Independence by 2025,” CBS News’ Jamie Farnsworth wrote the following (my bold for emphasis):

Las Vegas, NV — Senator John McCain unveiled the name of his energy project in Las Vegas today as he wrapped up the western swing of his two week energy tour. Deemed the Lexington Project, McCain’s plan states the U.S. will be independent of foreign energy sources by the year 2025.

“For the town where Americans asserted their independence once before,” McCain explained of the plan’s namesake in Virginia. “Let it begin today with this commitment: In a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025.”

One teenie, weenie problem. The famous battles of the Revolution in question occurred in Massachusetts not Virginia.

In fact, Lexington, Virginia wasn’t even founded until after the great Revolutionary War battle in Massachusetts. We know this because the battle in Massachusetts was what the town in Virginia was named after.

Here is a bit of help for Farnsworth.

The City of Lexington, originally known as Gilbert Campbell’s Ford, was established as the town of Lexington in the Spring of 1778. The name chosen by the Virginia Legislature for the new county seat was in honor of the first great battle of the Revolutionary War, the battle of Lexington, Massachusetts, which had occurred three years earlier.

As Max Smart is wont to say, “Missed it by that much.”

Continue reading “Farnsworth of CBS News Needs American History Lesson”

00Publius Contributor - Education - Inernet - News - Patriotism - Society/Culture - Technology - Warner Todd Huston

What for a Blog?

June 25, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Everyone is talking about the “importance” of blogging and wondering where it will all lead at least where it concerns the influence blogging might have on politics. There was even a warning that bloggers are facing oppression and arrest at an increasing rate in some despotic countries proving that blogging is already causing at least some ripples in the political waters about the world. There is no reason at all to assume this is a fluke or that these ripples will cease to radiate from bloggers any time soon. All in all, to many it seems blogging is a newfangled concern we all face.

But is it new? And what the heck is it all for, really?

To answer the first question, let’s be clear about the relative newness of blogging. The only things that make it new is that it is done via a computer and has opened up the world of social comment for more people to indulge in then ever before. But we have seen something the like of blogging before. In fact, without a past relative of the blog we would not have became the United States of America in the first place.

Continue reading “What for a Blog?”

00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Islam - Islamofascism - Media Bias - News - Religion - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

American School Books Redefine ‘Jihad’ to Exclude Violence

June 22, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In yet another example of why the west could be too weak to fight the sort of global terrorism that takes the form of Islamofascism, a textbook monitoring group is charging that American textbooks have been cleansed of mentioning the violence inherent in the Islamic “Jihad.” Now, our children will not be taught what “Jihad” truly means, nor that it has been used as an excuse to kill their fellow citizens because our schools have sanitized Islam of all outrage and violence. Will the media follow this story and report that our children are being exposed to Islamic propaganda like this?

According to the New York Examiner, the American Textbook Council reports that textbooks approved for middle and high schools students have caved in to a politically correct cleansing of Islam and dumbed down history critical to a fuller understanding of Muslim history — one that reflects on our own times.

“Textbook editors try to avoid any subject that could turn into a political grenade,” wrote Gilbert Sewall, director of the council, who railed against five popular history texts for “adjust[ing] the definition of jihad or sharia or remov[ing] these words from lessons to avoid inconvenient truths.”

According to Sewall, several new textbooks, such as Houghton Mifflin’s “Across the Centuries,” have gone through an “amazing cultural reorchestration” to erase the history of violence associated with the word “jihad.”

Sewall fears that a political process has replaced an academic process where it concerns the production and approval of our textbooks.

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

Teachers Unions Succeed in Ending Scholarships

June 22, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

One would assume that everyone wants to see that our kids get the best education possible. I mean, who could possibly be against kids getting the best opportunities? Well, apparently the one entity that you’d expect to really care about kids is the one standing in the way of their education: teachers. Sadly, it is obvious that teachers as a group don’t care a whit about kids, at least as far as their union is concerned.

Take the Republican led policy called the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. It is a program that provides worthy minority student in the Washington D.C. school system with $7,500 a year for tuition and fees at private schools. We all know that government schools are nearly universally substandard and this program helps minority kids find their way to better schools so that they might get a better education.

Naturally, the Teachers union opposes it.

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

Serving

June 22, 2008 by

-By Thomas E. Brewton

Being a Christian is more than attending church. And it’s not being selective in the ways you choose to follow Jesus.

Sunday’s sermon at Black Rock-Long Ridge Congregational Church (North Stamford, Connecticut) was delivered by Pastor Steve Treash. His subject was “I Serve.”

Christianity is more than just desiring to become a better person. You must be be ready to act when God presents opportunities for you to serve others.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)

Again in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi:

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. _

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! _

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)

Christians must be prepared, indeed eager, to serve at home, in the workplace, and especially in the church.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Serve joyfully and with a full heart.

Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. (Ephesians 6:7-8)

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:12-17)

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Israel Teitelbaum - News - Society/Culture

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to Address Independence Day Rally

June 21, 2008 by

-By Israel Teitelbaum

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, host of the daily national radio program, The Rabbi Shmuley Show on Oprah & Friends, XM Satellite Radio, and host of the award-winning national TV show, Shalom in the Home on TLC, will address a rally for school choice this coming July 3rd, 7:30 PM, at the Leon and Toby Cooperman JCC, 760 Northfield Ave., West Orange, NJ. This event, combined with a Freedom Concert, will launch a grass roots drive on behalf of national legislation to restore equal educational opportunity for every child.

Boteach has been a long time advocate of parental choice in education and is also the international best-selling author of 19 books, including his most recent work, The Broken American Male: And How to Fix Him, released by St. Martin’s Press in January of 2008. His recent works, Parenting With Fire and Ten Conversations You Need to Have With Your Children were both launched on Oprah’s TV show.

In 2007, Rabbi Shmuley was labeled “a cultural phenomenon” and “the most famous rabbi in America” by Newsweek magazine, and was named one of the ten most influential rabbis in America. Also in 2007, Rabbi Shmuley was honored by The National Fatherhood Initiative, receiving their most prestigious award for his efforts on Shalom in the Home to promote the importance of a caring father in the contemporary family. He was also named by Talkers Magazine as one of the hundred most important radio hosts in America.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Education - Elections - Media Bias - News - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Labor’s Voice Louder Than Public Support

June 18, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Steve Peoples of the Providence Journal (Rhode Island) gives us a great reminder that the voice of the labor movement has far more power than it does public support. He details all the politicians, lobbyists and union reps intertwined in government in the State House and how, even if the people of the state aren’t realizing it, those union voices are every day scheming to get the union agenda passed at every level of State government.

While union membership is at its lowest level in 50 years, labor leaders’ daily contact with lawmakers is as strong as ever.

Most days on Smith Hill, union lobbyists far outnumber those from other interest groups.

“In fairness to labor, they’re up here every single day, talking to people,” says Senate Finance Committee Chairman Stephen D. Alves. “You don’t see the Chamber [of Commerce] people here every single day. Do [unions] have more access? I suppose they do — only because they’re here. They catch you in the corridor. If business people were up here and want to talk to us, they’re more than welcome to.”

This is the insidious method. While the people are unawares, the labor movement worms its way into every aspect of our lives. Union member or not, we pay the ultimate price for unionism in higher prices, lost jobs, and high taxes, regulation, etc.

And it’s because unions slither their way into every crack of our governments.

People’s does a great job of detailing the undue influence unions have at least in Rhode Island. But, writ larger, it is the same in every state as well as the Federal government.

Voter beware.
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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Elections - Media Bias - News - President - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

College Gives Credit for Obama Campaign Volunteers, None for McCain

June 16, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is our children learning? It seems they are learning at least one thing; their college supports Barack Obama. Students at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are being presented with a new opportunity to indulge in what is being called a “gap year.” An idea popular in Europe, the “gap year” is a year taken off from studies between high school and the first year of college. That year is supposedly spent traveling or doing volunteer work. To regulate this, the college gives credit to the students for approved “gap year” activities, one of which is volunteering for the Barack Obama presidential campaign. No mention of allowing the same benefit for a volunteer to John McCain’s campaign is made, naturally.

Projects of the past year and the coming fall include study in Florence, Italy, and London, volunteer work on Barack Obama’s campaign, travel to Israel, and a mountaineering course. The school stays in contact with the students during the fall, helping them maintain ties to the college, register for classes, and hosts a special orientation for them before the spring semester begins.

To explain what this time wasting “gap year” is, an article from the Patriot-News reports that Europeans love this concept. The paper says that, “…slowly but surely, an old standard in European education is starting to catch on across the United States, giving some college-bound students an opportunity to catch their breath.”

Popular throughout Europe, gap years allow students the chance to defer their admission to university, and take a semester or a year off in between high school and college. With the time off, students travel, undertake volunteer projects abroad, or embark on working holidays. In 2007, 7 percent of university-bound U.K. students opted to take a gap year, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services.

Why American’s would want to emulate any such practice as appears in Europe is beyond me, but it appears that some students would rather sit around and do nothing, wasting valuable time, instead of starting the next leg of their education as soon as possible.

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

Militant Atheism At U of Virginia

June 12, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The one thing that always makes me wonder about atheists is how upset they seem to get about nothing. After all, they claim that there is no God and that religion is based on myth and foolishness, don’t they? They claim it is all “nothing,” yet many of them are highly incensed by what they believe is “nothing.” Some of them even actively try to destroy “nothing” for everyone else, going about eliminating people’s observance, expression, and belief in “nothing.” Even constantly taking their case against “nothing” to our courts.

On one hand atheists claim they are forcibly confronted with religion every time they turn around. Naturally, many atheists base their attack on “nothing” on the premise that they just want to be left alone and that if those who believe in “nothing” would just keep their beliefs to themselves, why everything would be wonderful. With this argument, atheists seem to be telling us that they themselves would not try impose their unbelief on the rest of us.

Sweet, sweet “nothing.”

But, on the other hand, it seems that all too often atheists do, indeed, try to impose their religion — their militant faith that God doesn’t exist — on the rest of us. And here we have another example of this from the University of Virginia.

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00Publius Contributor - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Health - Media Bias - Morals/Sex - News - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston

Media Get it Wrong: 1 in 4 Teens do NOT Have STDs

June 9, 2008 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Could science and statistics be beyond the media’s ability to understand and report upon them? One might be excused to think so by the hash the MSM made of the supposed claim that in the U.S. one in four teenaged girls have a sexually transmitted disease. On March 11, the CDC issued a press release announcing a study that made the claim, but did not release the full study so that anyone interested might see the whole story. Regardless of the further facts that serves to sharply decreases that one in four number, the media rushed to sensationalize the shocking claim that 25 percent of our young girls have STDs.

Making it political, The New York Times rushed the story to their front page in order to attack the Bush Administration’s so-called “abstinence-only programs” with a slam by the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards. The Times quotes Richards as saying, “The national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure and teenage girls are paying the real price.” But, unfortunately for this claim, lower rates of sexual activity has, indeed, brought down the number of STDs in the U.S. So, contrary to the breathless exclamations by Planned Parenthood and The New York Times, abstinence-only programs cannot be fingered as a negative in disease rates.

But the Times wasn’t the only one. Just about every major newssource on TV and print media went on a feeding frenzy with the “one in four” claim. Only, further review of the CDC’s report seems to show that the “one in four” claim is not really the case.

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

Making Fun of ‘Bush-isms,’ Movie Reviewer Makes Self Look Uneducated

June 9, 2008 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was tooling about the Internets looking for movie reviews and came across a hilarious example of “stupid is as stupid does” that I just couldn’t resist fisking here. It is on a flashy, kitchy site called ioncinema, presumably where the cool kids meet to find out about all that’s new in cinema and run by bunches and bunches of 20 somethings. There we see a featured post by one Eric Lavallee (apparently the site’s main honcho) that is so filled with grammatical errors and misspellings that it had me chuckling. But, the really hilarious thing is that the posting is one that attacks George W. Bush for being stupid. We can only assume that Eric the reviewer thinks he is smarter than W, but his horribly garbled writing sure doesn’t help us prove his superiority.

The posting is supposed to be a report of the upcoming Oliver Stone debacle “W,” a film that by all accounts badly mischaracterizes the presidency of George W. Bush. Naturally, our young Mister Lavallee takes the position that Bush was a “person who should stray [sic] away from big metaphors” and who “has trouble picking up after himself.”

Now, I don’t claim to be the king of grammar, but I try to clean up my work before it’s posted. But, well, this film site posting is so riddled with errors that, just for fun, I have to detail each one. And I probably missed a few myself.

Continue reading “Making Fun of ‘Bush-isms,’ Movie Reviewer Makes Self Look Uneducated”