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Posted on 11/20/2001 7:12:16 PM PST by Constitution Scholar

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                    "If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization,
                    it expects what never was and never will be...if we are to guard against
                    ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be
                    informed." Thomas Jefferson

Last Monday, November 12, 2001, I spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC for Bob Schulz' latest project: Operation Enduring Patriotism. If you are unfamiliar with this long-overdue and critical effort, please see:

http://www.devvy.com/enduring_20011101.html

Or, go directly to Bob's web site: www.givemeliberty.org

Bob Schulz is an amazing individual who has done some rather amazing things in the past three and a half years. His latest effort is best summed up as the absolute necessity of teaching America's children our history, all historical documents, i.e. constitution and what the Founding Fathers meant through their writings.

Not only are America's future adults and tomorrow's leadership not being taught these things in school, we learned last Monday that some schools have already discontinued teaching any civics lessons for school children. Is it any wonder that most thinking people realize that the public school system is nothing more than government indoctrination centers?

At the end of this piece is a recommended strategy for getting this initiative passed by your state legislature and enforced once it is passed. As far as concerns about the final curriculum under this initiative, this is being addressed and will be resolved long before it's needed for the classrooms.

What Are America's Children Being Taught?

I went through some of it in the piece cited above:

http://www.devvy.com/enduring_20011101.html

Here is more of what is taught in these cesspools they call schools. Please be advised once again that some of the material below is very graphic and of a sexual nature. I'm sorry, but this is what is being taught in the public schools and there is no way to get around the language. If you find it offensive, what do you suppose it does to the emotions of 6, 8 or 14 year olds?

Was Fistgate Unusual?

Paul Cellucci's Commonwealth

Trampling on Parents' Rights: Everyday Life in Massachusetts

By Brian Camenker
President, Parents' Rights Coalition
March 9, 2001

Parents across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are demanding protection. Protection from whom?

From their governor, their public schools and the "progressive" agenda of radical political groups! What follows is just the tip of an iceberg:

In Brookline, a transsexual adult came into a first-grade class and described to the children how sex changes take place. Parents had not been notified and had to counsel their frightened, confused children.

In many high schools across Massachusetts, entire days have been devoted to "Gay/Lesbian and Transgender" programs. Academic classes are canceled and students are led to the activities, including panels, speakers, etc.

In Natick, high school students in the "gay-straight alliance" club were shown an R-rated movie about a graphic "love story" between two boys.

In Newton, school officials announced in the local newspapers that masturbation would be covered in the required courses for ninth graders.

At a required school assembly in Chelmsford, an instructor used four-letter words to describe the joys of oral and anal sex. Children participated in licking condoms.

A 14-year-old girl came home from Beverly High School and told her father that he was a "homophobe". She had just returned from "Homophobia Week" sessions at the school.

In schools across the state, students were told to answer surveys on their use of drugs and about personal feelings on suicide, death, homosexual activity and similar subjects. The wording was very intrusive. Parents were outraged when they found out.

In several towns, ninth grade girls in the health classes were assigned to go to a drug store, buy condoms, and practice putting them on a banana.

At Lexington High School, a parent discovered that her thirteen-year-olds could borrow a book (bought with state health funds) telling how gay men at the opera can socialize with "the backs of their trousers discreetly parted so they could experience a little extra pleasure while viewing the spectacle on stage."

In Newton, a high-school principal told a group of parents that they may not remove their children from the condom distribution program because "it is too important."

At Silver Lake High School, the ninth-grade health text teaches: "Testing your ability to function sexually and to give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in the early teens with people of your own sex." Also, "You may come to the conclusion that growing-up means rejecting the values of your parents." Students were told to keep the book in their lockers and not take it home.

In Ashland, children were assigned to play "gays" in a school skit. One boy's line was, "It's natural to be attracted to the same sex." Two girls were told to hold hands and pretend they were lesbians. Parents were not informed.

In Manomet, an eight-grade health class was given material which one boy said was against his parents' beliefs. He was told by the instructor, "If you have any trouble with your parents, tell me and I'll handle them."

In Nutting Lake, "counselors" conducted a group session where a girl was asked to share the details about her parents' divorce and her father's affair with the class. The sessions were to be kept confidential from parents.

The Parents' Rights Coalition can be reached at www.parentsrightscoalition.org,

e-mail: office@parentsrightscoalition.org | telephone: 781-899-4905.

* * *

Dallas News.com

Students Urged to Forge Names

School Officials Tell Kids to Sign Funding Form for Parents

04/06/2001/Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Va. High school administrators encouraged dozens of students to forge their parents' signatures on forms that help the school get federal aid.

Student reporters at the West Springfield High School newspaper The Oracle broke the story Wednesday. Fairfax County police are investigating.

"I don't think there will be any criminal charges," police spokeswoman Julie Hersey said Thursday. "We just want to make sure that they know that we know what happened so it won't happen again."

On March 22, school officials gathered 47 students in the cafeteria and asked them to forge their parents' signatures on a county form that the school system uses to seek federal funding. Ten to 20 students did so.

Several students told The Oracle that school security staff and Bill Renner, a coach at the school, pressured them to forge the signatures.

"We had two options," freshman Christy Gudely told the paper. "Fill it out and sign it or put 'refuse' and be dealt with."

The school's honor code states that forging a parent's signature is punishable by at least a one-day suspension.

The forms are used to determine whether a student lives on federal property such as an Army base. The federal government reimburses school systems for the education of those children because their parents do not pay county property taxes.

Mr. Renner defended his actions to the paper, saying the students were supposed to turn in the forms three months ago.

"They didn't do it, and that's open defiance and disobedience. They need to have a better attitude," he said. "They don't have any reason to speak their voice, because they were in the wrong."

Principal David Smith told The Washington Post he takes responsibility for the incident and had asked Mr. Renner and the security staff to have the students sign their parents' names.

Mr. Smith told The Oracle, "I would say that it is not a good thing that we ask students to forge their parents' signatures, but if these students had done what they should have done for this form three months ago, we would not be in the position where we need to look for shortcuts."

On Thursday, Mr. Smith's secretary referred calls to the county school system.

County schools spokesman Paul Regnier said the incident is under investigation and that Mr. Smith and Mr. Renner could face disciplinary action. Mr. Regnier said the forms will be sent back so that forged documents can be weeded out.

The principal saw the article before it was printed and had the option to kill it but chose not to.

"I was not entirely comfortable with the slant of the article," Mr. Smith told The Post. "But I would have been even less comfortable censoring it."

* * *

Feds Fuel Anti-Christian Bigotry in Schoolchildren

Wes Vernon/Newsmax.com

May 26, 2001

The practice of Hitler, Stalin and every other tyrant of encouraging children to "inform" on their parents is quietly slipping into the United States.

H.R. 1, the education bill that recently passed the House, promotes a host of left-wing agenda items, many of which NewsMax.com described in an article May 17.

What is equally disappointing to cultural conservatives is what the measure does NOT do. It does nothing to eradicate federally sponsored anti-Christian bigotry. That program is left over from the Clinton administration. Conservatives are urging the Bush administration to move against it.

Urging Children to Spy on Parents

Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) cites a Justice Department Web page featured in the Clinton years that admonished children to monitor their homes for "bigotry" and to report infractions to teachers and others.

The program was begun during the publicity on violent crimes in schools against minorities, which sparked a congressional stampede to promote so-called "crime prevention" programs.

TVC says the program goes way beyond preventing any crimes.

By "labeling Christianity as the root of violence," warns the Washington-based values organization, "the federal government has attacked the very foundation of decency"

Programs funded by federal departments "embrace and teach an anti-Christian message to society's most vulnerable our children."

Although the national juvenile crime prevention program purports to address the evils of bigotry based on such characteristics as one's skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, in fact, "they establish a pervasively political program that targets the religious views and beliefs of school children and their families," alleges TVC,

The teacher is instructed to identify hate in its "broadest sense."

"Hate prevention" training turns out to be little more than what Traditional Values calls "indoctrination of a liberal, anti-Christian, pro-homosexual political view." The goal is to teach children that all "lifestyles" are equally acceptable and that believing otherwise is "the root of hate."

TVC cites another chapter in the federally supported curriculum that implies that those who speak out against the promotion of the organized homosexual agenda are Nazis.

One illustration of anti-Christian bias in the curriculum is the story of a white supremacist youth who attended a Baptist and a Pentecostal Church and was taught the "battle of Armageddon would be a race war."

The manual "Preventing Youth Crimes" recommends a "partnering" with homosexual advocacy groups.

What upsets the TVC is that the current education bill has done nothing to eliminate what the group calls "anti-Christian bigotry."

TVC Executive Director Andrea Sheldon Lafferty told NewsMax.com Friday that her group has urged conservative lawmakers to change the bill in conference committee negotiations between House and Senate lawmakers. She believes the Senate version is even worse than the House provision, allowing the "hate crimes" section to continue. She has also urged the Bush White House to nudge the lawmakers by saying that the "hate crimes" section could make the bill veto-bait.

Of course, it would be politically difficult for President Bush to veto legislation that has been touted as a cornerstone of his own agenda. But TVC says the so-called "crime prevention" section is "a very real step toward the regulating of speech within the schools, homes, and the workplace." That is why Lafferty thinks the White House may want to take preventive action so as to avoid being put in precisely the position of vetoing his own bill or allowing these dangerous provisions to survive.

The cultural Marxist ethic of "political correctness" that has manifested itself on college campuses with a vengeance in recent years now is being thrust on younger children.

If nothing else works, conservative lawmakers are being urged to fight back by eliminating federal dollars in appropriations bills that would fund the curriculum.

* * *

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=23356

June 23, 2001

Let our children go!

By Linda Harvey
2001 WorldNetDaily.com

"As the mother of two teenagers, my heart sank recently when I learned of another new twist in the seemingly infinite ways to assault our kids. Some schools now post pink triangles on classrooms they have designated as "safe" for homosexual-sex questions. Students who ask questions in these "safe" places are then linked up with gay activist groups outside the school. And this happens without any call to the student's home, to warn a parent their precious child is about to jump off a cliff.

"So, when I read that the most powerful lobbying machine in our country, the National Education Association, will meet next week in Los Angeles and vote on a sweeping set of measures to fast-track homosexuality even more swiftly into our nation's schools, I feel at the end of my rope. Isn't there anyone who has any sense anymore? Where are teachers with courage, principle and honor? Where are school board members who can see where this is leading? Surely, someone will listen and understand why I plead with the NEA and all the other purveyors of depravity, to let our children go."

* * *

From the August 2001 Idaho Observer:

Why Our Schools Teach Socialism

By Joe Larson

Congratulations America: Today there are over 10,000 openly marxist professors and thousands of humanist professors controlling the universities and colleges that produce America's

teachers and other professionals. Varying forms of marxist-humanism are the predominant philosophies of the educational establishment; yet we repeatedly send our most precious gift (our children) off to them for "education" (indoctrination).

Today's schools are filled with sex education, political correctness, environmental extremism, global unity, diversity training (pro-homosexuality) and higher order thinking skills [HOTS]; which boldly claim that to become a higher order thinker one must first believe the fact that there are no absolutes, absolutely! "The Greatest Story Ever Told" based on the greatest book ever written, "The Holy Bible," about the greatest teacher who ever lived, Jesus, is not allowed, let alone used, in the schools of America. The Bible was America's first textbook; yet today it is referred to as a book of fables.

Our schools are filled with violence, murder, extortion, rape, unwanted pregnancy, drug use, disrespect, foul language, declining test scores and children who cannot read. While the pontificators wonder why, God doesn't; He knows - Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I will also reject thee seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God; I will also forget thy children." Verse 7 says, "As they were increased, so they sinned against Me: Therefore, will I change their glory into shame."

The problem with America's educational system began with the birth of socialism and given impetus by federal government involvement. Lenin, one of the world's leading experts on socialism, tells us - "Communism is socialism in a hurry." Socialism, therefore, is communism by gradualism rather than by revolution. The socialist "Fabian Society," the forerunner of most socialist groups in America, had as their motto "Make Haste Slowly." "Democratic Socialism" became the battle cry to socialize the United States of America. The socialists' goal was to "permeate and penetrate," then control this nation from deep within. Their first target in America was our children through public instruction.

In the U.S. their followers would use language as their first line of attack and deceit. They would wear no badge nor socialist label, but were to call themselves "liberal," "progressive" and even "moderate." Words were the weapon of choice for this new war. By changing and shifting word meanings the socialists could cover their true purpose.

Everything would be done under the banners of "reform" and "social justice," suggesting all was for the public good, for humanitarian reasons, for true democracy -- and finally -- for the children. The buzzwords of socialism were then, and are today, "social" and "democracy" (i.e. social science, social studies and socialization of the child). Robert Conquest observed, "a communist never does anything under his own name that he can do under someone else's."

In the early 1900's, because of unrest in Europe, thousands of socialists flocked to America for safety. Large numbers held degrees in the fields of psychology, sociology and psychiatry (behavioral sciences, dealing with behavior and [social] change). Many went on to become college and university professors.

Norman Thomas, socialist and member of the Civil Liberties Union, boldly told the world, "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."

The story of how the socialists took over the American educational establishment would fill a book; so let us just listen to their own words.

John Dewey, called "the father of modern education," was an avowed socialist, the co-author of the 'Humanist Manifesto' and cited as belonging to fifteen Marxist-front organizations by the Committee on Un-American Activities. Do the words (the father of modern education) now take on new meaning? Remember, Dewey taught the professors who would train America's teachers. He was obsessed with "the group." In his own words, "You can't make socialists out of individualists. Children who know how to think for themselves spoil the harmony of the collective society which is coming, where everyone is interdependent."

Rosalie Gordon, writing on Dewey's progressive (socialist) education in her book "What's Happened To Our Schools," said, "The progressive system has reached all the way down to the lowest grades to prepare the children of America for their role as the collectivists of the future. The group -- not the individual child -- is the quintessence of progressivism. The child must always be made to feel part of the group. He must indulge in group thinking and group activity."

After visiting the Soviet Union, Dewey wrote six articles on the "wonders" of Soviet education. The School-To-Work system in our public schools (all 50 states) is modeled after the Soviet poly-technical system.

In 1936, the National Education Association stated its position, from which they have never wavered; "We stand for socializing the individual."

The NEA in its "Policy For American Education" stated, "The major problem of education in our times arises out of the fact that we live in a period of fundamental social change. In the new democracy [we were a Republic] education must share in the responsibility of giving purpose and direction to social change.. The major function of the school is the social orientation of the individual . Education must operate according to a well-formulated social policy."

Paul Haubner, specialist for the NEA, tells us, "The schools cannot allow parents to influence the kind of values-education their children receive in school; . that is what is wrong with those who say there is a universal system of values. [Christians?] Our (humanistic) goals are incompatible with theirs. We must change their values."

Professor Chester M. Pierce, M.D., Professor of Education and Psychiatry at Harvard, has this to say, "Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our Founding Fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It's up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well -- by creating the international child of the future."

Some politicians agree. Listen to former Senator Paul Hoagland of Nebraska: "The fundamentalist parents have no right to indoctrinate their children in their beliefs. We are preparing their children for the year 2000 and life in a global one-world society and those children will not fit in."

In the Humanist Review magazine it was observed that, "Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school's meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?"

P. Blanchard, in 'The Humanist" 1983, continues: "I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny how to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16 tends toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history."

John J. Dunphy wrote in the Jan/Feb 1983 edition of The Humanist, "The battle for mankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom. The classroom must and will become the arena of conflict between the old and the new, the rotting corpse of Christianity and the new faith of humanism."

Our bureaucrats, politicians and educators are constantly on television blaming either parents or lack of funds for our schools' dilemmas. The answer is always more money and more government control. For well over 50 years the American voter has believed this line of crap. Victor Gollancz, a famous socialist publisher tells us why he believed that socialism would take over America; "Christians are not exactly bright, so it will be easy for socialism to lead them down the garden path through their ideals of brotherly love and 'social justice.'"

It's (past) time that Christian men stand up for their families and their faith and put God back in charge of this nation and it's schools."

Joe Larson is the director of Restoring America, a nationwide association of individuals and organizations, including The Idaho Observer, that are dedicated to networking their information, activities and resources to further the effort of a peaceful restoration of our Constitutional Republic. Larson can be contacted at restoringamerica.org or by calling: (573) 793-3156.

The Idaho Observer
P.O. Box 457
Spirit Lake, Idaho 83869
Phone: 208-255-2307
Email: observer@coldreams.com

Web: http://proliberty.com/observer/

* * *

The Massachusetts News/Editorial

http://www.massnews.com/601ed3.htm

Jewish' Group Touts Homosexuality in Hingham Schools

It's Official: 'Diversity' Includes Sex-with-Children and Sex-with Animals
Mass. Schools Worse Than Dartmouth College

June 2001

A religious group is working in Hingham schools and across the state with selectmen, police, legislators and others to promote an outdated, discredited view about the gay gene. Anyone who disagrees with their antiquated theories is called a "hater."

It is reminiscent of the Lexington schools working with the Unitarian Church last year. Hundreds of parents protested at that time and that superintendent was fired this year without explanation, a few months after the protests.

The religious organization that is operating in Hingham is a "Jewish" organization known as the Anti-Defamation League.

It has a program called, "No Place for Hate." The only problem with their program is in deciding who is going to define the word "hate." It's a wonderful concept. But almost no one thinks beyond the catchy title.

On their website under "No Place for Hate," they list "sexual orientation" as one of the protected classes for whom they are working.

Many Jews disagree with this group of liberals. But any person who dares to dissent with their belief in the "gay gene," quickly becomes a "hater."

How can this religious group be working in our schools? Are other religious organizations also invited?

Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition says that the head of the ADL, Abe Foxman, is the Jews' "Own Worst Enemy." He told UPI that Foxman's "tireless efforts" to convince American Jews that they are beset by "a phantom of anti-Semitism," when their own experience suggests otherwise, "have helped to confirm many in the belief that being a Jew has to do mainly with being oppressed and hated."

He points out that the ADL "gets paid [by contributors] according to how much anti-Semitism it finds." It's also obvious that if ADL can add homosexuals to the list of people they "protect," they can get even more money flowing in for Mr. Foxman.

The Jewish columnist for the New York Times, William Safire, called for Foxman's resignation after it was disclosed that he had lobbied Bill Clinton for the pardon of Marc Rich who donated lavishly to the group.

Although everyone agrees with Foxman that we must end anti-Semitism, most are not convinced - if they stop to think about it - that homosexuality is in the same category and should be bundled with anti-Semitism.

A story in the Hingham Journal about the ADL program had the headline, "Teenagers take message of tolerance to community." The story talked about "advocating harmony and goodwill." No one could or will argue with that message.

A student and a teacher spoke to 350 school administrators, guidance counselors and district attorneys at a meeting of the state's Attorney General. They talked "about Hingham's ADL program" according to the Journal. The teacher told the paper, "Caitlin [Marshall] was the only student in the whole place." He added, "This was a big step for Hingham, because the town was referred to as a model community."

The paper said that Caitlin stresses the importance of extending the "ADL philosophy" beyond the school and into the community.

The students have addressed many other groups, including a convention of police officers in New Hampshire and a meeting of over 300 people in their own town and a group of more than 30 students met with their state legislator, Rep. Garrett Bradley.

Everyone will agree that political/religious proselytizing should not be permitted in our public schools. Why is this an exception?

* * *

The Massachusetts News

http://www.massnews.com/601ed.htm

It's Official: 'Diversity' Includes Sex-with-Children and Sex-with-Animals

June 2001

People used to laugh when told that "diversity" was going to expand to include 1) sex between men and boys and 2) sex between humans and animals.

But they can't laugh anymore. No one is sure how far "diversity" will continue to go before the citizens understand.

WGBH is advocating man/boy sex in its television show about a "love affair" between a man (29-years-old) and a boy (15-years-old), complete with graphic sex scenes. A professor of ethics at Princeton University is advocating sex with animals. The president of PETA writes approvingly of his thesis.

Much of this "diversity" was predicted in 1979 by two scholars, Dr. C. Everett Koop and Dr. Francis Schaeffer, who said that adult/child sex would be normalized in the 1990s. This was inevitable, they said, because we no longer had a "Judeo-Christian base." Instead, we had moved to humanism with no fixed standards of values and morality.

Sex With Animals

The Ira W. DeCamp professor at Princeton's "Center for Human Values," Peter Singer, is telling the nation that sex with animals is fine as long as it does not hurt the animal.

He says that the only reason we have a taboo against this is because of the "Judeo-Christian tradition." If we can get rid of that nonsense, the taboo would fall, he believes.

The president of PETA agrees with Singer's beliefs about animals. She said the following about his article which appeared on nerve.com. "It's daring and honest, and it does not do what some people read into it, which is condone any violent acts involving an animal, sexual or otherwise."

When asked how an animal can consent to sex, she said, "It sounds like [your question] is an attempt to make this so narrow and so unintellectual in its focus. You know, Peter Singer is an intellectual, and he looks at all nuances of an issue, the whole concept of consent with animals is very different."

Singer bases his argument on the fact that bestiality has always existed in the world, and therefore it must be normal. (Alcohol and drugs have always existed. Does that mean we should encourage them also?) He cited six pictures over a 2500-year period to show that this is "normal" behavior. He cites the discredited Alfred Kinsey for the ridiculous statement that over 50% of rural boys in America had sex with animals.

It's interesting to note that he agrees with Dr. Koop and Dr. Schaeffer that only Judeo-Christian values stop us from embracing his vision. He blames our problems on that tradition that he says teaches, "Humans alone are made in the image of God." He writes that under this tradition, "Only human beings have an immortal soul. In Genesis, God gives humans dominion over the animals. In the Renaissance idea of the Great Chain of Being, humans are halfway between the beasts and the angels. We are spiritual beings as well as physical beings." He believes that all of those teachings are wrong.

Singer recounts that all the taboos about sex have fallen except for those with animals. He says that bestiality is fine as long as you do not hurt the animal. Therefore, he cautions against sex with chickens because, he says, it always results in the death of the chicken.

Many will still giggle and say that this does not mean that Singer's beliefs are mainstream ideas. But the professor has not been in a dark closet at Princeton for the last thirty years. They just hired him last year for this prominent position after all of his views were well known. In addition, those of us who were around in 1973, when homosexuality was removed from the "disorder" list by the American Psychiatric Association, can remember the many claims made at that time which have proven to be false.

The article by Prof. Singer, which is titled "Heavy Petting," may be found at www.nerve.com.

Man/Boy Sex Is Fine

MassNews was one of the first newspapers in the country to report in 1999 that the American Psychological Association had published a study indicating that pedophilia can have a positive influence on a child.

According to the study, the use of "judgmental terms" such as "child abuse," "molestation" and "victims" must be eliminated. Instead, we should use neutral, value-free terms like "adult-child sex." We should not talk about the "severity of the abuse," but instead refer to "the level of sexual intimacy."

As a result of our efforts and a four-page report we mailed to residents in Newton, the leaders of that city responded with a rally against "hate mail." It was in reality a "hate MassNews" rally with all of the political leaders, teachers and homosexual activists attending.

We had only an Internet site at that time, but it was apparent after the Newton "hate" rally that we would be totally silenced by all the media unless we also published a print newspaper, which we have now done for two years.

In addition, we revealed at that time that the American Psychiatric Association was getting ready to support the "normalization" of sex with children. It had very quietly changed its Diagnostic Manual so that a person no longer has a "disorder" simply because he molests children. To be diagnosed as "disordered," the psychiatrists now look to the psyche of the adult. If the adult does not feel anxious about the relationship with the child or if the adult is not impaired in his work or social relationships, then he has no "disorder."

Aside from the Newton rally, which resulted from our pamphlet about pedophilia, the following events have taken place.

        November 1999. A gay organization in Boston, BAGLY, offers $25, plus free dinner and subway tokens, to boys who will come to their headquarters and discuss homosexual sex and other issues. The boys are also invited to a free, three-day, lakeside, weekend retreat in New Hampshire with other "boys" up to 25-years-old who are "attracted to or have sex with other men." None of the politicians or media are interested in this story - even though the organization receives money from the state and works closely with the public schools.

        March-April 2000. Channel 2 airs a program about a "romance" between a 29-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy which showed in graphic detail all of the nude scenes between them. It stated that the romance thrilled all of England and caused everyone to realize the "benefits" of sex between men and boys.

        March 2000. The Fistgate conference gives graphic instruction to teenagers on the practice of homosexual sex. This was done in sessions which mingled youth from 12-years-old to 21-years-old. It was sponsored by the homosexual organization, GLSEN, and the Department of Education. Complaints were made to Gov. Cellucci and his staff, but they ignored it until some parents went to Massachusetts News which printed the story in May and shocked the state.

        May 2000. A Massachusetts judge, Allan van Gestel, is not outraged with the unlawful teachings at Fistgate but with the parents who exposed what happened there. He imposes an unconstitutional gag order against everyone, which he lifts after the national press ridicules him. But he leaves the order in place against the two parents who have no money or power. It is expected that their legal fees will be in excess of $200,000 as the result of the action of Judge van Gestel.

        May 2000. An Editorial in the Boston Globe says that what was discussed at Fistgate were "the sorts of things teenagers ask every day." The Globe said this even though "fisting" was discussed in detail at the conference, as well as the following: "Do lesbians rub their clits together?" "Should you spit after you suck another boy or man?" "Is oral sex better with tongue rings?"

        July 6, 2000. The "At Home" section of the Boston Globe publishes an article which advised mothers to teach their children "the mechanics of sex," including homosexual sex, when their children are in fifth or sixth grade. They were told to expect 10- and 11-year-olds to ask, "What do gay men/lesbians do?" The parents were advised by the Globe to respond, "There are different ways people give each other pleasure, sometimes genital to genital, sometimes hand or mouth to genital."

        November 2000. When the homosexuals who sponsored Fistgate had a three-day fund raiser at the Sheraton in Braintree, with people arriving from across the country, there was a "meat market auction" on Friday with "beef, pork, chicken and sausage" for sale. The Saturday night affair was "A Return to the Chicken Ranch." In homosexual circles, the term "chicken" refers to young boys.

        Throughout 2000. After the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Boy Scouts can refuse to allow a homosexual to be a leader of boys, much of the establishment in the state, including some schools, two of the largest United Ways and other groups, terminate their relations with the Scouts. The elite do not demand that the Girl Scouts allow heterosexual men to be leaders of teenage girls, only that homosexual men be allowed to lead boys.

        May 2001. Boston Magazine has a long, two-part story about the North American Man/Boy Love Association which was very empathetic. It gave the impression that man/boy love is dead and no one need worry about it anymore. The story presented the members it interviewed as very nice people who were only doing good in the world. This was written despite a "Fact Sheet" from the American Psychiatric Association which says, "Some [pedophiles] develop complicated techniques for gaining access to children. They may select a job, hobby or volunteer work that brings them into contact with children."

It's difficult to understand why the elite in our state do not want to give any protection to young boys.

* * *

I've said it a million times and I'll keep saying it again: Sodomites and lesbians do not re- produce, therefore, they must continue to seek out fresh meat. They are recruiting and it's your children and grand children who are being perverted into their filthy death styles. This is your public school system, America. This is what "more money for education" buys for your precious children.

* * *

http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/Story/37593.html

Rutland County/Southern Vermont

Teacher Fired for Showing 'Graphic' Movies

November 16, 2001
By Donna Moxley Southern Vermont Bureau

CHESTER The Green Mountain Union High School Board fired 11-year teacher Jay Van Stechelman after asserting that he had shown students movies with graphic sexual content and profanity without notifying their parents, and that he discussed with students phallic symbolism in the Christian church.

In response to a request by the Rutland Herald, school officials Thursday released two letters to Van Stechelman associated with the firing. One is a brief notification of the board's decision to terminate him in a 3-2 vote after an executive session on Nov. 8, and the other is a three-page letter from Superintendent of Schools Ed Brown, dated Nov. 6, informing Van Stechelman of Brown's intention to recommend his firing.

"It is my determination that you engaged in conduct which is unbecoming of a teacher and that you have failed to carry out the reasonable directions of your principal," Brown wrote. "As such, I will recommend your immediate termination to the School Board."

Van Stechelman, who taught social studies and psychology, said after the firing that he was extremely upset by the board's action, and had received many phone calls of support from students and other community members the next day. He reiterated his appreciation for community support Thursday, but declined to comment much further on the accusations against him.

"There will be a time for me to comment and I look forward to it, but I don't want to compromise my legal case," he said.

His attorney, Donna Watts of the Vermont affiliate of the National Education Association in Montpelier, said Thursday she planned to file a grievance on Van Stechelman's behalf today. She also commented only briefly on the accusations.

"These are allegations and he's going to address them with the board through the grievance procedure," she said.

Watts and Van Stechelman decided against filing an injunction in court this week to keep the supervisory union from releasing the letters.

In the letter that outlines the allegations against Van Stechelman, Brown states that during the week of Oct. 29 the teacher showed two "R"-rated movies, "The Blair Witch Project" and "American History X," in two separate classes. The first film, he said, contains repeated profanity, and the second contains profanity, nudity and "graphic depictions of sexual acts."

Brown says in the letter that Van Stechelman admitted telling his class that Principal Carol Gilbert would not have approved of the movies, but that he thought the students could handle it. He also accuses Van Stechelman of veering from a well-established practice of notifying parents concerning "the nature and content of movies shown to your students."

In addition to the films, Brown wrote in his letter that during the same week, in a class called "Vermont, The Nation, The World," Van Stechelman discussed the Christian church as a male-dominated institution, describing the physical design of the church as "phallic."

When students said they didn't know what "phallic"meant, Brown wrote, Van Stechelman instructed a female student to read the dictionary definition of the word to the class.

Brown says in the letter that these deeds, and Van Stechelman's alleged admission of them, in addition to another incident last year, justified the firing. In that incident, according to the letter, Van Stechelman spoke graphically about genitals in a psychology class he was teaching.

Gilbert, who received a complaint about the discussion, told Van Stechelman, according to the letter, to "never again engage students in a discussion of similar issues, i.e., issues of a sexual nature."

Asha Bammarito, 18, a senior at the school whom Van Stechelman has coached on the track team for years, said Thursday that idea of not discussing sex in a psychology course was silly. She took the class last year in which the controversial discussion took place.

Bammarito said Van Stechelman, whom she and many other students say they consider a friend, crossed a line with the movies but that it wasn't reason enough to fire him.

"He just should have been suspended, and he should have come back to school," she said.

If the movies were inappropriate, she said, they also served a purpose.

"That is what real life is about and we're high school students and we should know what is really going on," she said. "He always did give people the opportunity to leave the classroom, and repeated himself about that.. Some of the movies were very violent but I think he did a good job of showing us and explaining to us what the world was like."

Other Green Mountain students said showing "R"-rated movies was not unusual in their school. Senior Jacob Parker, 18, who has collected more than 100 student signatures on a petition in support of Van Stechelman, said other teachers had shown equally disturbing movies, also "R" rated and not always with parental notification. He listed "Apocalypse Now," "The Matrix," "Saving Private Ryan," "The Green Mile" and "Schindler's List."

Parker said there was one positive result of the firing in the way it united the students.

"The atmosphere at the school after the students hearing the news on Friday ... it was gloomy and just a sad feeling everywhere," he said, "but there was one really good thing that came out of it. The student body came together it was really something awesome to witness."

Students have commented over the past week that they felt close to Van Stechelman that he treated them like adults, like friends and could get them to talk.

"He was the only one who really let us think, he made us think," said senior James Cole, who took psychology with the fired teacher. "It's horrible that he's gone, because the only things I really looked forward to were discussions in his class."

"In my mind it's exactly what a teacher was supposed to do," Cole said. "I don't really understand why we can't have adult conversations. ... He was always so careful about not offending anyone. ... He always makes it completely clear that any belief is fine in this class, any beliefs are accepted in this class. Everyone's equal and we're not discriminating."

Brown said Thursday that there was no policy in the district regarding "R"-rated movies, but there was a policy stating that "all materials shown should be appropriate."

Contact Donna Moxley at
donna.moxley@rutlandherald.com.

* * *

See what today's society has done to children and teenagers? They are so indoctrinated about how good sex is, sex ed and R-rated movies, they see nothing wrong with them being shown at school. Sure the students like it - they get to see movies that their parents would not normally allow them to see at a movie theater or propaganda trash like Schindler's List (full of naked men and women running around in circles and I mean full body shots).

Funny thing, courses in psychology have been taught for more than a hundred years in America's schools. How come teachers now need nudie movies laced with violence to teach these classes when it wasn't necessary before?

There is no longer any modesty among today's youth, yet it is these same children and teens who are getting pregnant, dying of AIDS and becoming increasingly sterile because they are contracting social diseases at an astronomical rate.

Think about it: Twenty, thirty years ago, we didn't have all this sexual promiscuity and trash being taught in public schools.Women didn't have a problem getting pregnant. Now, fertility clinics are big business in this country. How come so many men and women are sterile vs pre-'60s sexual revolution? Perhaps I am just an old dinosaur, but I have been watching my moral nation die of rot peddled by schools and politicians for the past 30 years and it's been a sad, sad thing to watch.

Oh, heck, Devvy, what's wrong with movies with lots of cussing and buck naked "actors" and "actresses"? It's learning about real life! Oh, good. The problem is, these children and teens are not emotionally equipped to handle what they're being fed even though they can mouth the popular cliches that go with cheapening America's children and robbing them of their childhood.

It's real life all right. Dad reads nudie magazines and mom watches naked men on HBO specials. These are the role models for kids today. Teens get into the movie houses every single day to watch inappropriate "adult" movies, so why shouldn't they be able to sit in class and watch them? After all, sex ed is healthy! I hope sometime you will be able to read a piece I did on the outstanding work of a woman named Dr. Judith A. Reisman. This will make you absolutely gag:

http://www.devvy.com/reisman_20001110.html

Notice what the students said in the piece above about this teacher: "Students have commented over the past week that they felt close to Van Stechelman that he treated them like adults, like friends and could get them to talk."

Teachers are not supposed to be friends or treat children and teenagers like adults. They aren't adults, not at 8, 12 or 17. Teachers are there to teach and counsel their students about educational options and choices, not sex and show "adult" level films to kids. Is it any wonder we hear so many stories about teachers having sex with their minor age students or the increase of teachers later discovered to be pedophilies?

When I went to school, we learned reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies/history and if we elected, took music and other optional classes. Sports were always popular and coaches did have a special relationship with students that participated, but it was clean and fun back then. That was it, period. Back then America had the most superior schools in the world.

Today, despite tens and tens of billions of dollars spent on "education," all we have are socialist indoctrination centers.

People should also read The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America....a Chronological Paper Trail by Charlotte Iserbyt which is available from worldnetdaily.com:

A Whistleblower's Account

"Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education, blew the whistle in the `80s on government activities withheld from the public. Her inside knowledge will help you protect your children from controversial methods and programs. In this book you will discover:

    *how good teachers across America have been forced to use controversial, non-academic methodology in their classrooms.

    *how "school choice" is being used to further dangerous reform goals, and how home schooling and private education are especially vulnerable.

    *how workforce training (school-to-work) is an essential part of an overall plan for a global economy, and how this plan will short-circuit your child's future career plans and opportunities.

    *how the international, national, regional, state and local agendas for education reform are all interconnected and have been for decades.

A Chronological Paper Trail

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America is a chronological history of the past 100+ years of education reform. Each chapter takes a period of history and recounts the significant events, including important geopolitical and societal contextual information. Citations from government plans, policy documents, and key writings by leading reformers record the rise of the modern education reform movement. Americans of all ages will welcome this riveting expose of what really happened to what was once the finest education system in the world.

Readers will appreciate the user-friendliness of this chronological history designed for the average reader not just the academician. This book will be used by citizens at public hearings, board meetings, or for easy presentation to elected officials.

Publication of the deliberate dumbing down of America is certain to add fuel to the fire in this nation's phonics wars. Iserbyt provides documentation that Direct Instruction, the latest education reform fad in the classroom, is being institutionalized under the guise of "traditional" phonics thanks to the passage of the unconstitutional Reading Excellence Act of 1998."

* * *

This book is excellent and should be read by every parent in this country. Of course most won't if it interferes with a basketball game on tv or painting of fingernails for work tomorrow. I simply don't understand how parents today can allow their children to be brainwashed in these so-called "schools." I just don't understand it.

What About Reading, Writing and Arithmetic?

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1/31/12314.shtml

November 17, 2001

NEA's 'Fuzzy' Math Yields Proud Dummies

NewsMax.com Wires

CNSNews.com) Characterizing math as a color may help students voice their feelings, one education policy researcher said, but test scores will continue to fall unless teachers return to the basics and promote facts and logic over cooperation and self-esteem.

By replacing the rational math system with the whole, or "fuzzy," system, educators have not only confused their students as reflected by recent comparative test scores but also forced them to abandon any semblance of lucid and independent thinking they might have possessed, said Andrew Bernstein, a senior writer with the Ayn Rand Institute and a philosophy professor at Pace University.

"Whole math is where they're teaching the children there are no right answers in math," Bernstein said. "It's when children are organized into small groups and they try to come up with a creative strategy to answer the problem."

For instance, he continued, the teacher might divide the class into groups and ask that each solve the multiplication problem, 13 times 13.

"An imaginative kid might get 13 objects together and then add it up that way," Bernstein said.

Regardless of the answers the various groups come up with, though, the teacher's comments are intended to praise each group for approaching the problem creatively rather than correcting any erroneous solution, Bernstein said.

"They're not using protractors to measure angles," he continued. "They use bent straws, or stretch a rubber band. Or they're asked, if math were a color and told to fill in the blank. That's to get them to discuss their feelings."

Not every school in the country practices the whole math method, but "this is the trend," Bernstein said, and "one of the major reasons why U.S. students are doing horribly in math," trailing Malaysia, Bulgaria, and Latvia in recent rankings.

President George W. Bush's education plan may be a "step in the right direction" of improving student scores and learning experiences, Bernstein said, but even his call for higher standards and parental choice does not address the root of the issue, epitomized in the National Education Association's 2000-2001 Resolutions.

Representatives from the NEA could not be reached for comment, but according to the group's Internet site, "The Association supports the development and maintenance of gender-free and culturally unbiased mathematics and science programs."

What that means, Bernstein said, is the NEA "wants to get rid of logic and independent thinking" and continue the trend of "fuzzy" teaching geared toward fostering self-esteem and the expression of feelings that is seen in today's schools.

The whole, or "fuzzy," method of computing math has angered many parents, too, according to The Center for Education Reform, which found that children tested in New York City school systems had a lot of trouble understanding how to estimate numbers.

"One parent ... said her son felt a lack of clarity when his teacher insisted that he estimate answers, rather than compute them precisely," The Center for Education Reform reported. "Another parent said she was troubled because her son ... spent months counting with coins and solving equations using friendly numbers, for instance, converting 71 plus 19 into 70 plus 20."

Protest groups comprised mostly of parents have formed in areas like Plano, Tex., and Lincoln, Mass., the education center stated, to combat such programs as MathLand, which proposes students count a million grains of birdseed in order that they might "get a feeling for the size of a million."

Meanwhile, math tutors have seen a resurgence in popularity of late; both Bernstein and the education reform center reported that "an epidemic of children" have sought private help to learn the basic skills.

* * *

Friday April 6, 2001

Two-Thirds of U.S. Fourth Graders Read Poorly

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two-thirds of U.S. fourth graders read below grade level and the weakest ones are falling further behind, according to the U.S. Education Department's reading ''Report Card'' released on Friday.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading study found only 32 percent of fourth-graders, who are usually 9 to 10 years old, read at or above the level of proficiency set by educators.

Thirty-one percent of the 8,000 students tested in 2000 had only basic reading skills while 37 percent read even below this mark, the study found.

Education Secretary Rod Paige voiced strong disappointment over the results and said they highlighted the need to implement President Bush education plan, which puts $5 billion into reading programs for young children.

``These results just are not good enough. Not in America. While we celebrate those scoring well, we can't turn a blind eye to those who are not,'' Paige told a news conference.

The level of reading skills, math and science scores among American students compared to other industrialized countries has long been seen as a national embarrassment.

Another study released this week showed U.S. eighth graders scored barely above average in math and science compared to the rest of the world and lagged far behind Asian nations.

The fourth grade report on reading is important because educators believe if students do not have good reading skills by this milestone grade, they will find it hard to grasp other subjects such as history or science.

Gap Between Racial, Ethnic Groups

The study highlighted the achievement gap between different racial and ethnic groups, with only 12 percent of black fourth graders reading at grade level against 40 percent of whites.

Asian students outperformed all groups with 46 percent reading at proficient or advanced levels while 16 percent of Hispanics and 17 percent of American Indians reached this standard.

``The first thing you notice from these reading data is that after decades of business-as-usual school reform, too many of our nation's children still cannot read,'' said Paige.

The report said fourth-graders overall showed a small improvement in reading since 1992 when just 29 percent read at grade level. Asians, however, improved dramatically, rising from a 25 percent proficiency level to 46 percent in 2000.

Students with proficient reading skills, the goal set by educators, must be able to show overall understanding of the text and draw inferences, conclusions and connections to their own experiences from it.

At the advanced level, they should be able to judge text critically and give thorough answers. At the basic level they must have an overall understanding of what they have read.

The report found the best-performing students had improved over the past eight years while the worst students were falling further behind, said Gary Phillips, acting commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics.

Reid Lyon, an adviser to the president on education, said it was key that teachers received new and better training on how to teach reading.

``These results suggest that before we can appropriately change our children's reading behavior, we must help adults change their behavior,'' said Lyon.

* * *

'Abysmal' Exit Test Results for 9th-graders - Most flunk if 70% is a Passing Grade

Greg Lucas, Sacramento (Bee) Bureau Chief

June 7, 2001

Sacramento -- Only a quarter of the ninth-graders who took California's high school exit exam this year would pass the math portion and fewer than half would pass the English section if state officials set the passing score at 70 percent or better.

The state Board of Education is scheduled today to decide what percentage of correct answers is needed to pass the eight-hour test -- a new high school graduation requirement that starts with the class of 2004, today's ninth- graders, who took the test in March.

Panels of educators that reviewed the test results have suggested that the Board of Education use the traditional passing score of 70 percent. But results obtained by The Chronicle show that most ninth-graders would fail the test if the passing score were 70 percent.

Lower Pass-Level Projections

The Board of Education could set a lower pass level.

At 60 percent, for example, nearly two-thirds of ninth-graders would pass the English portion of the test.

Lowering the passing score to 50 percent in math would elevate the number of overall students who pass to 50 percent.

Many educators say, however, that the Board of Education should not adopt a low pass-fail threshold simply for the purpose of ensuring that more students pass the exam.

"How many people do they think should pass this exit exam at the beginning of high school," asked Jim Burke of the California Association of Teachers of English and head of Burlingame High School's English Department. "What are we going to have, Lake Wobegon, where all of the children are above average at the beginning of high school? This is not a minimum competency test. The whole concept behind standards is that you're setting a goal to reach."

* * *

Tens and tens of billions of dollars go to "education" here in California. For what? To turn out dummies into society while making sure these same kids are well greased in the finer points of sodomy, lesbianism, sex with animals, multi-culturalism, diversity and other destructive social behavior? America's schools don't need another penny. They need to boot out the social engineering and go back to the way, along with the curriculum pre-1970. No? Well, I guess I'm failing in my effort here to show people the truth about America's "schools."

More Money For Education!

Audit shows Los Angeles School District Owes $120 million

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Unified School District owes the state $120 million after an audit revealed administrators inflated attendance figures, a key funding criterion, it was reported Tuesday.

The state audit found that the nation's second largest school district was awarded an extra $30 million annually for four years, state Controller Kathleen Connell told the Daily News of Los Angeles.

"They were sloppy," Connell said. "They had an uncaring attitude for a number of years."

District officials dispute the audit's findings and said they plan to sue rather than pay.

"I think the audit is fundamentally flawed," said district General Counsel Hal Kwalwasser. "It is an unreasonable take on the state of our records and our justification for the absences."

* * *

November 18, 2001

L.A. School Officials Opt for $7 Million in New Furniture

"LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Teacher and taxpayer groups are attacking Los Angeles school officials' plan to buy $7 million in furniture for the district's new headquarters, instead of hanging onto what they already have.

"Los Angeles Unified School District officials say buying new furniture will cost nearly twice as much as moving the old furniture, but added that the new equipment will last longer and make better use of space, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported.

"The purchase is part of a $184.2 million plan approved last month by the governing board to make room for a much-needed high school by relocating district headquarters to an existing 28-story high rise. Some equipment, including light fixtures, sprinklers, door handles and smoke detectors, will be reused in the new headquarters.

"The plans have not changed despite warnings last week that impending state budget cuts could cost the district $74 million.

"The kind of economy we are in now will cause us to look again at what the district is doing, and nothing will be exempt from that," said Anne Valenzuela-Smith, executive administrator in charge of the relocation project.

"But she added, "We're going to need that school no matter what the economy looks like, and (district staff) need to be housed somewhere. ... The question is how efficiently and cost-effectively."

"Critics said the furniture money should be spent on textbooks, academic programs and other crucial projects.

"This is the most ill-managed, poorly run school district in the nation, and for them to be buying $7 million for furniture (and carpets) for administrators, I don't see it and I don't think the taxpayers will see it," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in Sacramento.

"It just shocks the conscience to see what they spend on themselves," said Steve Weingarten, a spokesman for United Teachers Los Angeles who is part of a union team negotiating for higher teacher salaries.

"They feel entitled to it. But when it comes to classroom instruction, they want it at bargain-basement prices."

* * *

Sacramento Bee

By Dan Walters
August 13, 2001

Financial Collapse of Tiny School District Underscores Larger Problem

When a small East Bay school district agreed last week to place itself under state supervision because of its near-bankrupt finances, it underscored a disturbing trend in California education.

The Emery Unified School District is the fourth school district to go into virtual receivership in recent years, and there are others whose finances are very shaky.

The problem is not a lack of money, although everyone in public education always wants more money from state and local taxpayers. Thanks to a major court decision three decades ago and the state's assumption of financial responsibility for schools 23 years ago, all school systems receive about the same amount of money per pupil.

The problem is mismanagement, and there are common denominators among all of the troubled districts. They include school boards that hire administrators on the basis of their cultural credentials and/or their glibness rather than their executive abilities, unions that use political muscle to demand more in compensation than districts can afford, and parents and civic leaders who drop the ball.

The superintendent of the 900-student Emery Unified, until recently, was J.L. Handy, a man who talks a good game but who recently was charged with theft of public funds and violating conflict-of-interest laws. Tellingly, Handy had also been superintendent of Compton Unified in Southern California when it went belly-up in the early 1990s and was forced into state supervision. "Handy is responsible for 50 percent of the state takeovers -- two out of four," said state Department of Education spokesman Doug Stone.

The other two state takeovers have been in Richmond Unified, another East Bay district, and Coachella Valley Unified, in the Southern California desert.

Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto hasn't been seized yet, but state education officials are petitioning a federal judge to make it happen. San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Floyd Gonella is conducting a top-to-bottom investigation of Ravenswood's finances under an agreement with state Superintendent of Schools Delaine Eastin, and a federal judge already controls Ravens wood's special education program.

The district's superintendent, Charlie Mae Knight, insists that the investigations will find nothing amiss. The investigation was launched, however, as Knight stood trial on 19 felony conflict-of-interest charges. She was found not guilty of making illicit, school district-based loans to employees who were either tenants of Knight's rental units or personally owed her money.

San Francisco schools -- which are lavishly financed, relatively speaking -- are in all sorts of financial hot water, stemming from a series of unusual financial commitments made by a charismatic superintendent who has since departed. One audit cited "near fraud" in the San Francisco schools. And the huge Los Angeles Unified School District has flirted with financial meltdown for many of the same reasons, including its boneheaded decision to build a high school atop a former oil field saturated with toxic chemicals.

An Alameda County grand jury investigation into the Emeryville school district's woes uncovered what has become a classic pattern of mismanagement and neglect that's evident, to one degree or another, in all of the troubled or bankrupt districts.

The grand jury said that the school district began overspending its revenue almost immediately after Handy came aboard in 1993 -- shortly after he was ousted in Compton. Jurors discovered that the district's accounting system became so tangled as to be useless, the school board pulled back from oversight and "Dr. Handy effectively usurped the role of (the board) and controlled operations of the district." Two members of the Emeryville board resigned after the district's troubles became public and three other trustees face recall votes this month.

The essence of all these problems is that adults failed to take responsibility for their children's education, allowing politics, posturing and other agendas to overshadow their kids' welfare.

* * *

You have the same dummies, social engineers and outright socialist/communists who have graduated from public schools over the past 30 years now teaching and running these "institutions of higher learning." What a joke. Not only do these edurats attempt to steal the taxpayers blind with their ineptness or outright criminal activities, they go to great lengths to smother and quell any feelings of patriotism for this country that a student might feel. Have we all forgotten the garbage that went on right after the 9-11 slaughter and even before that fateful day?

* * *

Students Silenced While Singing National Anthem

May 03, 2001

Reporter: Andrea McCarren
Producer: Tracy Stokes
Watch ABC 7 eVideo

Washington, DC - A group of high school students visiting DC got more then they bargained for when they stopped at a national monument last month. The students were the winners of a nationwide patriotic essay contest.

It all happened at the Jefferson Memorial, a monument to one of our founding fathers. The award-winning group of high school students became so filled with patriotic pride, they spontaneously burst into singing the National Anthem.

"It was an awesome feeling. You just thought, I am so blessed to be a part of this great country," said Kirsten Winston, student. However, that feeling did not last long.

"We got to almost the very end and we were at the last stanza when the National Park Service asked us to stop," said Kirsten.

A Park Ranger asked them to stop because according to a federal regulation, any time a group of 26 people or more gathers at a national monument and attracts an audience, it is considered a demonstration, which requires a permit.

The students were the winners of the VFW sponsored essay contest, ironically entitled: What Price Freedom?

"I wish I could have been there. I'd have sung with them," said Cmdr. John Gwizdak, Veteran of Foreign Wars. The Commander in Chief of the 2.7 million Member VFW was so outraged he demanded an apology.

"It sends the chills up and down your spine and all of a sudden, here we go, putting them down, making them feel ashamed of being a part of this country," said Gwizdak.

Late Wednesday, the apology came and the National Park Service blamed a new employee.

"I believe this was an employee who cared deeply about the memorial and this is how they thought they needed to behave. But this is a mistake we won't make again," said Robert Fudge, National Park Service.

The National Park Service would not get into the specifics of the disciplinary action taken, but did say that employee has been reprimanded and won't be stopping anyone from singing the National Anthem again.

* * *

http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-96131820010914-180930.html

School Children Told American T-Shirts 'Not Appropriate'

Assistant Superintendent Says Incident Was 'Mistake'

September 14, 2001

PASADENA, Texas -- Most Americans, including children, want to show their national pride by wearing the colors of the United States flag -- the red, the white and the blue.

But when two Pasadena children wore T-shirts showing their pride, they were told it wasn't appropriate, according to a News2Houston report.

Because today was deemed a national day of prayer and remembrance by President Bush, Desert Storm veteran Donnie Meyer wanted to pass on patriotism to his two daughters. So, he allowed his 7-year-old and 9-year-old to wear T-shirts with the American flag emblazoned on them to school at McMasters Elementary School.

He never thought there would be a problem.

However, the school's principal asked 7-year-old Ashley to change her shirt because it wasn't part of the school's dress code.

The Pasadena Independent School District's assistant superintendent points out that McMasters remembered Tuesday's tragedy during several school programs Friday, and the T-shirt incident was merely a mistake.

The school district maintains that they allow each school to determine its own dress code, but Assistant Superintendent Kirk Lewis said that the Meyer children and other students will be allowed to wear American flags on their shirts on future similar occasions like today's remembrances.

* * *

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-092001noflag.story

September 20, 2001

2 Firemen Refuse to Ride Truck Displaying U.S. Flag

John-Thor Dahlburg, Times Staff Writer

MIAMI -- As the nation cheers the heroism and tireless efforts of New York City's firefighters, the conduct of two of their South Florida colleagues has stirred up a storm of criticism.

The two refused to ride an engine flying the American flag, said Jack Hackman, a spokesman for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. When news got out about the incident, which Hackman said occurred Saturday, hundreds of angry people telephoned the city of Opa-Locka, where the firefighters are stationed.

"Our switchboards have been crowded all morning," City Manager Newall Daughtrey said. "I'm a Vietnam veteran, a former Marine, so clearly I support our country. We really hope they get this resolved."

WIOD-AM, a local all-news radio station, identified the two firefighters as American Black Muslims. Hackman said that hadn't been confirmed, and that he had received contradictory information. He refused to identify the men, but said they took umbrage to a U.S. flag put on their engine by colleagues from the previous shift.

"Initial reports are that they refused to ride the fire truck while the flag was there," the spokesman said. "We're trying to look into it and decide what to do."

The two firefighters now are on scheduled vacations, Hackman said.

* * *

http://www.bouldernews.com/news/local/15lflag.html

September 20, 2001

Worker's Flag Bandana Raises Ruckus on the Job

By Christine Reid

Camera Staff Writer

Thupten Gawa's bosses sent him home after they deemed that his show of support for a country in mourning was too showy.

The 22-year-old Boulder man arrived at work Friday afternoon at John Elway Ford on 28th Street in Boulder with an American-flag bandana tied around his head. Manager Larry Martinez called the attire "unprofessional" and asked Gawa to take it off.

"We ask anyone to remove articles not in compliance" with the car dealership's dress code, said Martinez.

But Gawa said the request was not that simple.

"He showed no sense of respect for me or the tragedy that happened in this country," Gawa said. "His goal is to just sell cars."

Gawa's parents fled war-torn Tibet before he was born, but he has grown up hearing stories about the persecution of his relatives. When Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington occurred, he and his family were crushed, he said.

They gathered together Friday morning for a memorial service in front of the Boulder County Courthouse, and he and his brother-in-law tied Stars and Stripes bandanas around their heads.

"I was planning to wear it all day as my way to show respect," Gawa said.

But when he arrived for work, Martinez told him he could wear it all day if he wanted at home.

Gawa said Martinez then told him to make sure he called before coming to work next to make sure he still had a job.

"I feel insecure at work now," Gawa said.

Oscar Suris, a spokesman for John Elway Ford, said Gawa's job is not in jeopardy.

"This has been an emotion-filled day for Americans across this country," Suris said. "That includes two employees at John Elway Ford who had an honest disagreement about how to express patriotism."

* * *

September 20, 2001

Show of U.S. Pride Turns Into Sticky Issue at FGCU

By Alison Gerber, agerber@news-press.com

Florida Gulf Coast University's head librarian asked some employees to remove "Proud to be an American" stickers this week, saying she didn't want to offend international students.

Employees printed the homemade computer stickers in the wake of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11.

They wore the red, white and blue stickers last week, but Monday library services director Kathy Hoeth told those who work at service desks reference or circulation desks, for example to remove the stickers.

"My concern was that if a student comes to the desk and sees the slogan, it might make it uncomfortable," Hoeth said. "I think we have an obligation to think about how we present ourselves. We want to ensure civility and tolerance."

Copyright 2001, The News-Press.

* * *

I think that Ms. Hoeth should pack her suitcase and hit the road for some other country. This is our country and too bad if students from other countries are offended by Americans displaying Old Glory.

This is the symbol that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died to protect: Our nation, our way of life, our history and I am sick to death of all these "tolerance" hypocrites. I would not go to China, Russia, Australia, Sweden or Pakistan and demand that that entire nation change it's ways just to suit me or my religious beliefs. I would be a guest in whatever country and respect the history and culture of that nation because I feel that's the way it should be because it's not my country.

There are 500,000 foreign students here at our schools. The INS doesn't have a clue about how many have over stayed their visas. Some of those terrorists on 9-11 were also students and much of the blood of those who were slaughtered on September 11^th can be laid right at the door of the INS and the political animals who run that joke of an agency.

Most of these foreign students are here to learn and mean no harm to anyone. I hope they have a good experience, learn what they desire and put it to good use throughout their lives.

However, this is our country and if we want to show how much we love it by displaying the American flag, that is our God-given right. Foreign students have no constitutional rights. They are guests in our country, period. If they are offended by a show of patriotism by Americans for America, then I say pack your backpack and go home, there are plenty of natural born and naturalized American students who could fill those college slots.

* * *

The Daily Californian

September 20, 2001

U.S. Flags Removed From Fire Trucks for UC Protests

By Steve Sexton and Nate Tabak, Contributing Writers

Berkeley fire officials ordered flags to be removed from the city's fire trucks Wednesday, at least temporarily.

The decision was made by top department brass in order to avoid a confrontation between protesters who might try to steal the flags and the firefighters who would defend them, said Assistant Fire Chief David Orth. Orth said the "operational decision" was made in preparation for a protest today on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley.

"We are fearing protesters might try to rip the flags off the rigs," Orth said. "I am not concerned about losing a flag; I am concerned about them defending the flags instead of doing what they are supposed to do. They would defend the flag."

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean said the firefighters feel profoundly hurt by the ban on flags.

In Boca Raton, Fla., however, one business banned flags in the workplace. But to comply with Gov. Jeb Bush's request that Floridians fly the flag, the National Council of Compensation Insurance reversed its ban Monday, the Associated Press reported.

* * *

Even Now, 'God Bless America' Are Fighting Words for Some

By Michael Collins

Scripps Howard News Service

November 05, 2001

WASHINGTON - The banners started showing up on schools and government buildings across the country almost immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"God Bless America,'' they read. Or, "In God We Trust.''

To many, the signs are simple declarations of patriotism and faith in a time of national tragedy. For others, including Union, Ky., attorney Edwin Kagin, they are offensive and possibly unconstitutional.

"That is a backhanded slap at non-believers, with the subtle implication that if you don't think the 'God Bless America' part, you are not a good American,'' said Kagin, a member of the Free Inquiry Group, a Cincinnati-area organization of secular humanists who don't believe in God.

Across America, civil libertarians are concerned that the line separating church and state has been dangerously blurred - and in some cases blatantly crossed - in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.

In Ringgold, Ga., a new display featuring the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and an empty picture frame has gone up in city hall. City Councilman Bill McMillon said the empty frame is "for those who believe in nothing.''

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, participated in a prayer at a middle school on Oct. 18 and then promised to promote the issue of school prayer during his next election campaign. In South Carolina, legislators are looking to change the mandatory moment of silence in schools into a "moment of silent prayer.''

Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., said Americans' renewed interest in faith after Sept. 11 has encouraged him to re-introduce a constitutional amendment to allow more religious expression in the classroom.

There's even a bill pending in Congress to officially declare the Irving Berlin standard, "God Bless America,'' as the national hymn.

"Since Sept. 11, folks in a sense are looking to turn back to God,'' said Robert Reeves, spokesman for the Kentucky Baptist Convention. "Many who haven't had him in the forefront beforehand are probably realizing how short and fragile life is and are beginning to think how important their perspective is from a faith standpoint.''

There is nothing wrong with people turning to faith in times of crisis, said Elliott Mincberg, vice president and legal director of People for the American Way Foundation, a non-profit civil rights and liberties group based in Washington. The problem is when politicians and others fail to recognize that religion and patriotism are two different things, he said.

"One of the things that makes America different from other countries like Afghanistan is that religion is truly free here and is something that is not promoted by the government in one form or another,'' Mincberg said.

Some politicians who favor school prayer are trying to use the terrorist attacks to advance their own agenda, said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"People who turn to religion are turning to it more (since Sept. 11), but people who don't turn to religion are still hurting, and I don't think the government has any business trying to force people to be religious in their response to a national crisis,'' Lynn said.

Even the "God Bless America" banners are causing great debate. Berlin immortalized the phrase in his song, which members of Congress sang on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on the night of Sept. 11. But some argue that the religious overtones make the phrase inappropriate for display in public schools or government buildings.

"If you think about it, 'God Bless America' is a prayer,'' said Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis. "What if it said 'Allah Bless America' or 'Buddha Bless America'? Think about how distressed more people would be.

"This is clearly a Judeo-Christian God that is being advertised at public schools. And you can't have forced prayer in public school.''

Kent Ostrander, executive director of the Family Foundation of Kentucky, said civil liberties groups have "artificially and errantly drawn a line by interpreting the Constitution in a very narrow way.''

"Any believer in God naturally cries out for help, with the kind of outrage that happened on Sept. 11,'' Ostrander said. "To suggest that they shouldn't is a violation of the original intent of religious freedom.''

(Reach Michael Collins at collinsm(at)shns.com. Visit SHNS on the Web at http://www.shns.com.)

* * *

These self-serving hypocrites like Barry Lynn continually ignore some very important historical facts:

William O. Douglas (1898-1980), Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In the 1952 case of Zorach v. Clauson, 43 US 306 307 313, Justice Douglas asserted:

            "The First Amendment, however, does not say that in every respect there shall
            be a separation of Church and State. Rather, it studiously defines the manner,
            the specific ways, in which there shall be no concert or union or dependency of
            one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state
            and religion would be aliens to each other - hostile, suspicious and even unfriendly....

            "Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to
            religious groups. Policemen who helped parishioners into their places of
            worship would violate the Constitution. Prayers in our legislative halls;
            the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the
            proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; "so help me God" in
            our courtroom oaths - these and all other references to the Almighty that
            run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies, would be flouting
            the First Amendment.

            "We are a religious people and our institutions presuppose a Supreme being....
            No constitutional requirement makes it necessary for government to be hostile
            to religion and to throw its weight against the efforts to widen the scope of
            religious influence. The government must remain neutral when it comes to
            competition between sects....A fastidious atheist or agnostic could even object
            to the supplication with which the Court opens each session: "God save the
            United States and this Honorable Court."

This is historical fact that those quoted above continue to ignore, because after all, without all this conflict over God, these people would have to go out and find a real job. I submit that these oh-so-righteous fall into the category below:

            "We find few historians who have been diligent enough in their search for truth;
            it is their common method to take on trust what they help distribute to the public;
            by which means a falsehood once received from a famed writer becomes traditional
            to posterity." John Dryden English Poet, 1631-1700

For factual information on the hoax called 'separation of church and state" please see:

http://www.devvy.com/churchandstate.html

* * *

Pledge Divides School's Parents

By Neil Offen: The Herald-Sun
nho@herald-sun.com

Sep 26, 2001

CHAPEL HILL -- A number of parents at a local elementary school are angry their children can't begin the school day by reciting in unison the Pledge of Allegiance.

The school's principal says that building policy is not to recite the pledge school wide at the beginning of the day and that patriotism is not measured by rote recitation.

The controversy in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the nation has split McDougle Elementary down a patriotic divide, with parents on both sides of the issue.

Some of the parents say reciting the pledge is an essential part of character education and part of the school's responsibility to inculcate love of country. Other parents and administrators say that even optional recitation of the pledge is coercive and an unnecessary litmus test for patriotism.

"Parents are upset about this on both sides," said Sam Roman-Oertwig, the McDougle principal. "This is a very, very controversial issue, and people are angry."

McDougle's School Governance Committee will look at the issue at its meeting next month and determine whether it wants to enact a specific policy concerning the pledge. In the meantime, a group of about two dozen parents and their children have been meeting outside the school at 7:30 every morning to recite the pledge together and also sing the National Anthem.

The group had been meeting at the flagpole in front of the school, but Roman-Oertwig, who recited the pledge with the group Wednesday morning, said they were impeding traffic at McDougle. The group moved to a spot on the sidewalk in front of the school, which also concerned administrators, so in the future the students and their parents will gather inside the McDougle gym.

"We're going to keep doing this as long as we can," said Mary Kay Root, one of the parents calling for the recitation of the pledge. "This is a good way for the children to start their day and at this time in the country, I just believe our children need to feel they are doing something for our nation."

Wendy Scharren, a mother of two children at McDougle and one of the leaders of the campaign for the pledge, said the effort was about the values students are taught.

"What are we instilling in our children?" Scharren asked. "This is part of what it means to be an American. Everyone I've spoken to has said they're in favor of it. If this is truly a democratic society, we should do it."

But Roman-Oertwig said that while some parents have requested the pledge, an almost equal number have asked that the policy of not requiring the pledge remain at the school.

"We do teach it as part of the curriculum, we teach the children that it is one of the important symbols of America," Roman-Oertwig said. "But we do not mandate that every child in every classroom recite it. Anything you do school wide, by the fact that most people are doing it, does not allow young children to have an opportunity to not do it without feeling singled out. That's why it's optional for the teachers and most of our teachers choose not to do it."

Reciting the pledge is left to the policy-making bodies at each individual school, the Principal pointed out.

"And the policy in our school is that we do not do that. It was a decision very consciously made by the school's planning and governance committee before McDougle opened" a half-dozen years ago, Roman-Oertwig said.

The city schools' policy code 3530 devoted to citizenship and character education states that the citizenship curriculum "may include opportunities for the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance."

It goes on to note that "any curriculum providing for the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance must ensure that no student will be compelled to recite the Pledge of Allegiance or otherwise feel coerced to participate." In addition, the teachers may use the recitation of the pledge "as an opportunity to teach students about the history concerning coercion and the importance of the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights."

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, press, speech and assembly. With the decision therefore left to the individual schools, only one -- Carrboro Elementary -- routinely has had students start the day by reciting the pledge.

"Teachers and students are expected to stand during the pledge, but no one is obligated to actually say the pledge," said Carrboro Principal Randy Marshall. "It's a fairly common courtesy to stand, but it's a personal decision to recite the pledge, and we do not force anyone to participate if they do not want to."

District Superintendent Neil Pedersen said Carrboro was the only school in the district that he knew of over the years that has said the pledge on a school wide basis.

"In my 14 years here, there has never been a requirement to say the pledge," Pedersen said. "I think the [optional] policy recognizes the appropriateness for having a time for when the pledge is recited may vary with the grade level of a school. A practice at an elementary school, for instance, might not be well-received at a high school. That's probably the reason no school board has felt compelled to raise the issue or push for a common practice."

In Durham, the public schools also do not have a policy regarding recitation of the pledge. The decision is left to each individual school, and several schools do have the students recite the pledge in unison at the beginning of the day.

Locally, the Granville County Board of Education last year approved a policy that did require all elementary school students to recite the pledge every day, middle school students to recite the oath weekly and high school students to say the pledge a large-group events.

Nationally, policies regarding the pledge vary from state to state. In South Carolina, Virginia, Oregon and Arizona, among other states, legislatures have enacted laws requiring schoolchildren to start the day with the pledge. All the laws, however, allow students with philosophical or religious objections to opt out of the recitation.

But in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more schools and students are turning to the pledge. While Pennsylvania, for instance, doesn't have a statute mandating the pledge, legislative support for "the pledge law" has grown substantially since Sept. 11.

State laws requiring the daily recitation of the pledge have been found not to violate the Constitution. In a 1992 decision, the Seventh Circuit Court ruled that the purpose of the pledge was secular, "namely to instill patriotism and knowledge of American ideals in elementary school students."

As long as no students are required to recite the pledge, the court found that there is no violation of the Bill of Rights' free speech clause and upheld an Illinois law requiring the pledge's recitation in public schools.

Pedersen said that the issue hasn't arisen very much in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools.

"Given that fact, it suggests to me that the present practice is the one that people involved in our schools are comfortable with," the city school superintendent said. "I really don't think there is much opposition to that."

At schools other than McDougle, there doesn't appear to be. Assistant Superintendent Nettie Collins-Hart said she was not aware of any controversies raging at other schools in the district. Principal Dale Minge of Estes Hills Elementary, where the pledge is not recited school wide, said he had not received a single call about it.

"Parents haven't asked about it, and I don't know if we should knee-jerk do something without carefully thinking at asked about it," Minge said. "The pledge is too important and too controversial to do anything about unless we have all our ducks in a row."

But this month's terrorist attacks, Pedersen acknowledged, were likely to bring up the question again. The district central office has received a few calls from parents about the pledge, he noted.

Although Scharren first brought up the question a year ago at McDougle, she said that several parents started talking about it again in the wake of what happened on Sept. 11.

"A lot of parents assumed it was being said, and only just now have found out that it hasn't been," she said. Scharren and other parents brought up the question at a recent PTA meeting at the school. They were told it wasn't a PTA issue and they should bring it up before the school's SGC.

The parents went to the principal and were told again that it was an SGC issue and they should bring it up there.

Last week, at what parents on both sides described as a very emotional meeting, the cases were made to the school's SGC.

"This is about respect for America, respect for our nation," said Root, the parent of one McDougle student. "We just want to give our children the opportunity of standing up together as a group and saying the pledge. We don't want to force anybody to do anything they don't want to do."

But parent Perry Haaland, in an e-mail to the SGC, voiced opposition to the idea of requiring the pledge.

Opposition to reciting the pledge "will be branded as unpatriotic," Haaland pointed out, noting that "there are, in fact, many ways" to be patriotic. "In my opinion, this requirement is going to polarize the community, encourage people to see things in black and white and create a warlike atmosphere."

Stephanie Hebdon, a teacher at the school and the co-chairwoman of the SGC, said the group will discuss whether it even wants to take up the issue at its Oct. 10 meeting.

"We won't be discussing whether or not we should have the pledge, but whether the SGC wants to enact a policy on this or leave it the way it is, without a specific policy," Hebdon said.

While several parents in favor of reciting the pledge say that several teachers are now doing it in their classrooms, Hebdon said she was aware of only one teacher who did it on a regular basis.

"Personally, I have absolutely no problem with the pledge at all," she said. "But in a public school, we have children of all races, creeds and colors, and religions. We have to be very sensitive to whether saying the pledge might go against the beliefs of the parents of some of these children. It would be very difficult for a young child to make a decision on this by him or herself."

* * *

See what I mean? They're all like a bunch of parrots and they don't have a clue about the meaning or history of what comes belching out of their mouths. They only know they heard it somewhere and to be politically correct and 'tolerant,' they should all act like nincompoops. But! It's okay to show nudie movies to teenagers in class, but heaven help us that those same students should say the pledge of allegiance to the flag of their own country! The loons are running the nut ward, but, thankfully, they're all "sensitive"!

Actually this makes me sick. A nation divided is a nation that will never stand together and America is crumbling under the crush of "diversity." Never in my worst nightmare could I ever envision the day would come in my beloved Republic when saying the pledge of allegiance was "controversial."

How our enemies must laugh at US. I don't just mean our foreign enemies, I mean those right here, right now in this country who hate what we stand for and are using our children to destroy all that this proud Republic used to stand for, now being washed down the sewer by idiots who can't see the forest through the trees.

It's also the fault of parents who are more concerned with their good times and the stupid tube (tv) than finding out what's going on in the public indoctrination centers called schools.

* * *

Campus Protesters Ignite U.S. Flags

Friday, October 19, 2001
By Patrick Johnson

AMHERST Amherst College students were stunned moments after a pro-America rally involving more than 100 people ended yesterday when several protesters emerged from the crowd to set fire to a U.S. flag.

As the sounds of "God Bless America" continued through the public address system in front of the Keefe Campus Center, as many as 10 demonstrators doused two flags with lighter fluid and set them on fire.

Five members of the group then spread a larger flag on the ground and stood on it while chanting "This flag doesn't represent me; this flag doesn't represent us."

The crowd of more than 100 people, mostly Amherst College students who moments before rallied around the flag, stood in stunned silence as the same flag was desecrated.

"This is really upsetting to me," said Christopher Palacios, a sophomore from Miami.

Palacios, who said his parents fled Cuba in the 1960s to escape Fidel Castro, said, "It makes me sick when American kids say the American flag scares them."

The pro-America rally yesterday was organized by a new student group called Amherst Assembly for Patriotism.

The group formed in response to peace rallies at each of the Five Colleges in recent weeks as well as the controversial decision by the town of Amherst to limit flag displays downtown."

2001 UNION-NEWS. Used with permission.

* * *

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard. xsl?/base/portland_news/100081414019774185.xml

Portland News
09/18/01

Gresham Bus Driver Suspended in Flag Dispute

Like many Americans clamoring to display their patriotism in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, Paul Heeley proudly taped the nation's flag inside the window of his yellow school bus.

On Monday, Heeley discovered that the 12-by-16-inch cloth flag he'd taped in a side window behind the driver's seat had been taken down. Following a confrontation with his manager, Heeley was suspended from his job for one day for refusing to comply with state bus regulations.

"I want to show my support for my country," said Heeley, who works for First Student, a transportation company that serves Oregon school districts including Gresham-Barlow, Gladstone, Canby, Molalla, Tigard and Oregon Trail. "I feel it's my civic duty, my God-given right. So I was pretty fit to be tied."

The Oregon Department of Education issued a memo to all school districts Thursday reminding them that it is against state rules for school buses to display flags, ribbons or any other exterior signs because it might interfere with student safety.

"Our concern is that the driver and other drivers not be distracted from transporting their precious cargo," said Larry Austin, a department spokesman. "It's an emotional time, and we recognize that people are on edge and need to vent their feelings. But the issue here is student safety."

Austin said the Department of Education revisited the policy Monday after checking with school districts around the state but did not modify it. The department encourages flags to be displayed inside the bus, he said, as long as they're not visible from a window.

No other conflicts reported Other than Gresham-Barlow, the state has not received reports of conflicts in other school districts arising from the policy. Most area districts, including Centennial, Portland and Forest Grove, encourage drivers to show support by wearing ribbons, pins or black arm bands instead of decorating their buses.

"We only want people to see yellow," said Mabel Moist, director of Centennial School District's transportation department.

Mike McKay, the manager for Laidlaw Transit serving Portland Public Schools, said attachments of any kind could fly off the bus and block drivers' views.

The North Clackamas School District permits drivers to tape pictures of flags in their back window, said district spokesman Joe Krumm. Only several drivers have done so, but almost all the district's 100 buses have red, white and blue ribbons tied to their antennas. "We feel this fits the rule, and we've had no conflicts," Krumm said.

The Reynolds School District used protocol dating to Operation Desert Storm, when buses were permitted to display yellow ribbons. Most of the district's 80 buses have ribbons tied to their radio antennas and flags hanging from their grilles.

"We will go ahead and let our drivers show their support by displaying flags in a location of the vehicle that won't distract their view," said Bill Wagner, a driver's trainer for Reynolds' transportation department.

Beaverton School District administrators told their bus drivers Monday that state guidelines prohibited attaching anything to their buses, inside and out. That didn't sit well with some.

"They could just let it go for a couple weeks and then say, 'Take them down.' But right off the bat saying, 'No way'? That's just un-American at a time like this," said Brian Klocko, a former Beaverton bus driver.

Venting frustration Monday afternoon, Heeley vented his frustrations to fellow bus driver John Kearns outside First Students' bus barn in Gresham. Nearly one dozen buses honked their support before pulling in from their afternoon routes.

Kearns was told to go home Monday after he'd refused to remove a paper flag taped to a passenger window, but he was not formally suspended, said Cal Hull, First Student vice president.

Heeley said ribbons that a driver had tied onto the crossing arms of all the buses on Wednesday had been cut off the next day.

"I told them it was a crock," he said. "I'd hate to lost my job for something as petty as this, but this is what I believe in."

* * *

Is Mabel Moist really that woman's name? I'm sorry, but I just couldn't resist some humor here or I'd go nuts working on these pieces. Once you see how big this picture is, you can't help but come to the conclusion that the people of this country have gone off their rockers. 'Common Sense' may you rest in peace.

Children learn by example. Isn't it great what the adults of this nation are teaching her children? Please notice the common thread among the complainers and supporters of such trash, filth and anti-American sentiments in the public cesspool system: the privately owned National Teachers Association (NTA) and National Educational Association (NEA). Both clearly Marxist and/or socialist in doctrine, both private and not part of any government, yet they rule the publicly funded schools with an iron fist. Hey parents - you hold the big stick here - use it.

* * *

Before I forget: Thank you to all who phoned or e-mailed C-SPAN to cover Bob's event. They declined as they had a more important segment to run: Washington Journal. That's C- SPAN's regular program where they have a moderator who usually has a guest and they go over "stuff" in the government's media apparatus called newspapers. Yep, that's a fact and it's further proof that C-SPAN is no more impartial than the "Reverend" Al Sharpton. Be sure and tell people that C-SPAN ignores important events such as the one I just attended because they were too busy reading the newspaper on the air. How thrilling.

If you think America's children should be taught our history, our historical documents and what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote them, please get involved in getting the initiative to your state legislators.

The first step is to get the initiative (see www.givemeliberty.org) to a member of your state legislature. The more people who do this the better. Then each and every person - don't just assume someone else is doing all the work - must get this information to your community. Most likely the dominant media will poo-poo it as 'right-wing' stuff meant to corrupt children of America by teaching them our history and instilling patriotism at an early age.

Let me tell you something that I experienced when I ran for Congress. People would come up to me at debates or after speeches and ask me how I was going to vote on a certain issue. I tell you these questions were inane. Over and over and over I had to explain that Art. 1, Sec. 8 of the U.S. Constitution specifically enumerated the only areas where I could introduce and vote for legislation. Not for education, not the environment, not for a local sewer system or state roads. This confused people as they had no understanding of what a Republican form of government is vs the mob rule of a democracy. What a learning experience it was for me.

By teaching our children these critical documents and the actual writings of the Founding Fathers, we not only prepare them to be informed adults, we will also reach the adult population, namely parents. Those parents helping their children with homework will be exposed to the truth and not the bunk they have been selling in public "schools" for the past 40 years. This is a wonderful opportunity to get the education train really rolling.

Once you get the initiative to the legislature, you have to keep bugging them to move it along through the labyrinth of legislature procedures. At the same time, hand out copies at any and all public and private gatherings: Lion's Club, VFW's, Rotary, church, little league, you name it. If you're a member of a political party, go to their committee meetings, town hall meetings, dinners, breakfasts and anything else. Tell your party leadership that you demand they get behind this or you will walk from their party. Remember: They need you, use your clout.

Let parents and grand parents know about this effort to really educate America's children and tell them you need their help in calling their state rep and senator to get it passed. Once it's passed, each and every person must deluge their governor's office to sign the bill into law.

Once that happens, the curriculum will be finished and ready to use in the schools. I have had a very lengthy discussion with Bob Schulz about this because there's no doubt in my mind that the NTA and NEA will use their millions and considerable clout (even though they are private) to hijack the law once it's passed. They will come up with a million reasons why years are needed to formulate the curriculum and teacher's work books before it can go into the schools. I told Bob to cut them off at the pass and he is, as I write this, getting the process underway.

Keep Bob Schulz informed of your progress at least once a month. That way he can keep his web site updated so that people throughout the country will know what's going on where, and that they are not alone.

This can be done, but it will take people sacrificing their "off" time. If you're retired, we really need you out there on the front lines. If you belong to any retired association, AARP, NARFE, SIRS, etc., take copies of this initiative to your meetings. Tell these grandparents that their grand children deserve to know the history of their country. Tell these grandparents that the only way their beloved grandchildren stand any chance of keeping the government in line when those children grow up, is to be fully educated on our history and all the documents that went into creating this Republic.

My daughter is 26 and out of the public toilet system, but I will do my part here in California and I hope another 10,000 more Californians will join this effort. I hope everyone reading this in their respective state will get on-board with this. America's children deserve to be taught the truth, not the drivel being dished up now and crammed into their young, impressionable heads.

I thank you for your time and commitment to this effort.

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