Posted on 03/18/2002 7:41:40 PM PST by gohabsgo
California incumbent Governor Gray Davis, already bubbling with overconfidence and disdain towards challenger Bill Simon, prepares himself for certain victory in November. "Bill Simon is a true-blue think-tank conservative. I am a practical problem-solver," says Davis. "I believe many of his ideas are out of step and out of touch with most Californians. We need to keep moving California forward. Not backward--and certainly not to the right." In this article you’ll discover what Davis means by "forward", specifically on education, though it is unlikely you are fully aware of the deceitful and destructive cover Davis is, and has been running, for an increasingly powerful agenda in this state.
A prediction: Gray Davis will be defeated this November by a whopping margin and it will be one of the biggest ideological turnarounds in U.S. history, and could in time lead to Bill Simon’s eventual ascendancy to the White House. It will occur as a result of the abject failure of liberal tactics already foaming out of the mouths of boastful egomaniacs in the Democratic establishment. Believe it or not, California is largely a conservative state, but it has been co-opted by a very powerful minority of liberal lawyers, lobbyists, and judges, as well as thug-like civil rights activists and race-baiters, all comfortably protected by a Marxian socialist press led by the LA Times.
First, some background. In March of 2000, California voters overwhelming passed Proposition 22, the Marriage Initiative, by a 61% margin. The initiative states that a legal marriage is between a man and a woman. At that time, California political analyst George Neumayr stated "there's nothing before the governor as incendiary as Proposition 22, the ballot measure in which voters said the covenant of matrimony should be reserved for heterosexual couples. But beneath the relative calm, sexual politics continue to collide with conservative religious beliefs -- even as the fallout from Proposition 22 settles." Gray Davis, evincing contempt for the will of the voters, publicly labeled Proposition 22 "divisive." More on the relevance of this fact later.
Proposition 227, requiring that all public school instruction be conducted in English, passed by a similar 61% margin in 1998. Test scores tell an amazing story of success. In 1998, 21 % of Hispanic students ranked at the 50th percentile or higher for reading and 27 percent managed the same for math. In 2001, these figures jumped to 35 % and 46 %, respectively. However, the "education governor" is opposed to enforcement of the will of the voters and seeks to undermine Prop 227. John J. Miller of National Review Online stated in "Bilingual Boondoggle, Beating Gray Davis, in English (2/14/02)," "the state board of education, dominated by Davis appointees, would gut Prop. 227. Under current law, kids can get out of English-language classes only if their parents sign waivers. The state board, however, would give teachers the same authority. It would also delete the provision requiring that children spend the first month of each school year in English classrooms". According to Miller, the GOP has been "handed a fantastic new issue to use against the Democrat incumbent - but only if they're willing to set aside their fear of criticizing the bilingual-education establishment." Gray Davis, the "education" governor.
The point of this column is this: Davis has little substantive regard for improving the educational performance of California minority students as evidenced by his end-around 227, but more importantly, he is entirely beholden to, and is one of the major proponents of, a strategy to promote homosexual and transgender instruction, advocacy, and indoctrination into the California public school system, under the standard, and often unchallenged trick of tolerance, diversity, and alternative life styles. Davis has become so focused on the ascension of this agenda into the K-12 classroom that he has subordinated continuous demands for substantive improvements in core subjects, aptitudes and test scores, in favor of the objectives of an increasingly brazen activist group that enjoys labeling anyone who gets in their way as "extremist, hateful, right-wing bigots". And, as you know, most people back down from these assaults, and the tactic has become art form.
Several of the more vocal and aggressive advocates of homosexuality in the classroom have few qualms about their take no prisoner attitudes on the subject. According to Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Alliance (GLSEN) director of communications James Anderson, "We’re going to raise a generation of kids who don’t believe [the claims of] the Religious Right." And Cathy Renna of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), "We have to … convince them that there is no other side to these issues [emphasis added]." Others in GLAAD have said, "we’re the mainstream now." These are the same people who attacked Dr. Laura Schlessinger mercilessly, eventually forcing cancellation of her TV program. Do you have any idea how committed these people are? Be sure that Gray Davis is in substantial agreement with the goals of GLAAD and GLSEN and realizes the effectiveness of the ruthless schemes they employ.
So where do the students who want to improve their GPA’s, performance on SAT scores, and eligibility for entrance into elite colleges stand in all this? Sorry, first we need to make sure our diversity and bilingual programs are properly respective of everyone. If you excel, well maybe that’s because you were from an "advantaged" and not a "disadvantaged" household. Then, we have to ensure that your attitudes and opinions of our gay, bi-sexual and transgendered students fit within policy. Got it? Your Governor is putting your education first, we’re just not sure what that "education" consists of. Doesn’t sound like reading, writing, and arithmetic!
The facts of California’s woeful and embarrassing national position near the basement in educational attainment bear this out. And it is for this deceitful, hidden agenda alone that not only outraged parents of California students, but average voters who have taken the time to discover these provable facts, should throw Davis out on his behind in record numbers.
At the watershed GLSEN national conference held on October 3, 1999 in Atlanta, GLSEN said of Davis: "GLSEN today applauded Governor Gray Davis for signing the California Student Safety and Violence Protection Act (AB537), making California the fourth state in the nation to extend protections based on sexual orientation to students in public schools." Sounds nice right? Nobody is arguing that students, all students including gays, should not feel safe in their schools.
But what evidence does GLSEN have to prove that implied levels of gay student harassment exist to elevate the issue to the extent of passing laws to address the problem (if a problem exists at all)? At the conference, GLSEN released a first of its kind "national school climate survey" in which 496 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students from 32 states were surveyed about their experiences in school. The results were that 91% of students hear homophobic comments, 69% experienced verbal harassment, and 24% physical harassment. Knowing how much statistics can be skewed to produce intended results, I asked myself, what value is there in a study about "school climate" when ONLY gay students are interviewed? Better yet, dividing 496 students by 32 states equals 15.5 students. So 15.5 gay students per state (and we don’t know which states) were interviewed? Only a complete imbecile would embrace such a haphazard survey, making the conclusion highly suspect. But it worked for GLSEN and was enough to persuade a highly supportive Gray Davis.
California parents are starting to get wind of where the real priorities of the "education governor" are. In February of this year, eight Novato parents sued the Novato School District for allowing their elementary school children to witness "a theatrical presentation on diversity" that contained references to homosexuality. The lawsuit asserted that the parents were denied the freedom to opt-out of the program, when school officials told them that opt-out forms were missing. Cute huh?
According to the Pacific Justice Institute counsel Brad Dacus representing the parents, "the lawsuit is the first in a major litigation campaign to combat school districts who attempt to undermine the constitutional rights of parents through the execution of AB 537 recommendations." Remember, this is THE AB537, the one supported by compelling feedback from 15.5 gay students per 32 states. You know, the one signed into law by the "education governor." Consider what is really happening here. The governor of California has approved a law effectively denying parents the right to make a moral and values-based judgment as to whether it is they who will address the topic of homosexuality with their children, or whether this provocative issue will be left to Gray Davis and the state. One can pretty much conclude the direction the "education governor" wants to take your children on this one.
The state of California, a state containing the fifth largest economy in the world, preoccupies itself (with the apparent blessing of Gray Davis), with a largely unreported pro-homosexual social engineering project that places "diversity" over talent and "tolerance" over accomplishment, while using public school students as guinea pigs. Does one really think that the majority of California parents, perhaps those among the 61% who voted for Proposition 22, support this stealth campaign? Perhaps the real question should be, does Governor Davis really give a rats behind what you the California voters think anyway? He hasn’t respected what you have expressed at the polls before, and he isn’t listening now. And who’s going to disclose and validate the factual authenticity of information used in this column, the LA Times? How about the San Francisco Chronicle? The San Francisco Examiner?
Novato parent counsel Brad Dacus put the issue more succinctly: "No parent whose child is enrolled in a public school should ever have to worry that their values or how they’re raising their children should be so grotesquely undermined by a school district that chooses to keep them in the dark." Not of course if you live in a state run by an "education governor" like Gray Davis.
So, Bill Simon, the governorship is yours for the asking. Your values, belief system and honesty connect with the majority. But do you have the guts to tell the California voters who Gray Davis really is, what Gray Davis is all about, and especially what he is doing with the education of this great state’s students? Clock’s ticking!
The writer is on drugs.
Only the first 9 words will turn out true.
Anyone who thinks energy hurt Davis, undoubtedly thinks Clinton hurt Gore in California. It they were running nationwide, Simon would have a chance. Simon has a much smaller chance of carrying California than Bush did, simply becuase Dubya is a better candidate than Simon, and Davis is a better candidate than Gore.
Davis should give Simon a job in his administration when he is re-elected. Davis would not be re-elected with out Simon's help. Davis owes Simon big time.
Go Simon!
That's nonsense. Simon's record in California is a disaster. He pissed millions of taxpayers dollars down the drain, right there in the open for everyone to see. If he had done NOTHING whatsoever about the enery "crisis", the State would be much, much better of financially. The one thing people hate is to witness abject incompetence. Davis would lose to almost anyone, IMO. Even Simon.
But that will be good enough, we dont need a landslide - 52% will be landslide enough. :-)
The article made some good points. Voters in 1994, 1998 and 2000 *passed* conservative ballot propositions. The media couldnt *taint* the ballot props the way they can candidates, and people showed their true beliefs - they know bilingual education doesnt work, they know illegal immigrant are a burden on social services, and they think marriage is between men and women. These are no "divisive" so much as non-PC beliefs. The voters suppported that. The writer is right ... the recent Democratic dominance does not mean the state is Liberal. It's far less Liberal than New York, a state that now has GOP Governor and New York mayor.
The right GOP candidate can appeal and overcome the nasty lock the liberal special interests have on the statehouse. Bill Simon has the right appeal. It wont be easy, but he will win: $12B deficit; Davis totally bungled energy and socked Cali with $40B in energy bills; education, he gave the rundown, it is helping kids (simon is "pro-kid") versus sucking up to the leftwing special interests as Davis has done, and ignore the kids. If Simon make the fiscal budget, energy and education *his* issues, and shows a positive agenda that disarms the leftists, he will win and Davis will LOSE.
Boy is this ever the truth!
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