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[rayzentz AT aim.com]

 This depends totally on the maturity level of the children. Most of the kids 
I teach at the jr high level do not have the ability to tell the difference 
between beef and chicken, let alone being able to differentiate between the 
subtle nuances in the speech of a professional politician. Heck, most adults 
have problems with this. You expect our children to be able to do so? 

Ray


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Fri, Sep 4, 2009 1:43 pm
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Talk about disrespect! now czars..very long











Bev; I completely agree about the 'czar' stuff...it's a way around the check 
and 
balances built into the government (and I REALLY hate the term 'czar'). I 
don't 
like the direction this administration is taking (and it isn't even the 
'socialilst' part I don't like...I think he's alienating both the left and 
the 
right).

But I wonder what Obama could possibly say that people could find frightening 
enough that they don't want their children to hear it. It amazes me that 
people 
are so paranoid and have so little faith in 1) the President to not hypnotize 
their children and 2) their children not to listen and become mindless 
Hitler-zombies or whatever it is they fear. I have faith that my children are 
open-minded enough to listen and independent-thinking enough to make up their 
own minds about the merits of what Obama says. Critical thinking and free 
speech, not fear and censorship, are the key to having a first-class citizens.

Lynn Wigglesworth


> Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 15:08:42 -0400
> From: erthnsky AT bellsouth.net
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Talk about disrespect! now czars..very long
> 
> There are a lot of people in this country who are raising their children
> as they see fit, which is not always in the mindset of 'serve your
> country'. These days, people are not asking what they can do for their
> country, they are asking what their country will be doing for them. (Sad
> but true, IMO)  I realize that President Obama claims to address this
> very point, but many people are suspicious of exactly what his message
> will be.  Additionally, there are a lot of people who are dissatisfied
> with public schools, but who have not or can not pull their children out
> to homeschool or to private school.   I believe it is in part these
> people who are now becoming more vocal about government involvement in
> their lives. In these parts, the attitude is "Don't lecture my children
> on what they should be doing for their country-go and lecture the
> Congress on social activism and service or your Czars or whatever-just
> leave me alone".
> 
> No one wants to be 'forced' into anything.  At some schools, watching
> the speech is mandatory.  A lot of parents want to know what will be
> said and why.  They don't want the assignment list-that's for
> teachers-they want the speech...  They know of Obama's intent to reform
> education, and they are leery.
> 
> Even those who supported Obama and were neutral to him have recently
> taken issue with his appointments and declarations.  A lot of people,
> for example, are upset with his labeling of 9/11 as a "National Day of
> Service".  Some parents want their children to remember 9/11 for the
> lives lost in the attack on our country.   Additionally, there is a lot
> of concern about some of his appointments, like Green Jobs Czar Van
> Jones who has linked pollution with race issues in the past, and who
> calls himself a socialist and communist.  Standard thinking is that if
> President Obama does not want to be called a Socialist or a Communist,
> why does he continue to associate with those ideologies, act as if he
> personally believes in such(share the wealth, among other things), and
> promote and appoint people like Jones who claim to be
> Socialist/Communist/Marxist and who as recently as February
> sarcastically asked "How's capitalism working for ya?".  Things like
> that scare a lot of conservatives(half the country) and they don't want
> their children to be a part of that.  If Obama would release his speech
> and make parents aware of what will be said, I think you would see a lot
> less paranoia about it.
> In 300 years, the Romanov's produced 18 czars in Russia.  President
> Nixon had one, an Energy Czar, even though it wasn't really called that;
>   In the Reagan administration, Joe Biden, of all people, coined the term
> Drug Czar when the War on Drugs was initiated.  Clinton added an AIDS
> czar, Bush added a Cybersecurity czar, a Regulatory czar, Faith based
> czar, a Manufacturing czar, a Katrina Czar, a Bird Flu czar,
> Intelligence Czar, a Copyright Czar, a Spy Czar, a Corruption czar, a
> TARP czar and a War czar. I'm probably missing a few in the Clinton and
> Bush administrations, but you get the idea Previous administrations had
> between 1 and 15 czars for various things.  It seems like up until
> President Obama, the czars were more or less appointees who would
> oversee  certain crises or what should be temporary problems like Bird
> Flu and Hurricane Katrina, at least until the last few years of the
> President Bush's administration when more and more czars were named..
> However, in less than nine months, President Obama has created the
> following permanent positions(exceptions as noted):
> 
> Border Czar Alan Bersin
> Energy czar Carol Browner
> Urban affairs czar Adolfo Carrion, Jr.
> Infotech czar Vivek Kundra
> Faith-based czar Joshua DuBois--continued from Bush Admin
> 
> Health reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle
> TARP/Bailout czar Herb Allison--continued from Bush Admin
> Stimulus accountability czar Earl Devaney
> Non-proliferation czar Gary Samore
> Terrorism czar John Brennan
> 
> Regulatory czar--continued from Bush Admin
> Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske--continuation of Reagan Admin
> Guantanamo closure czar Daniel Fried
> Science and weather czar John Holdren
> Green jobs czar Anthony 'Van' Jones
> 
> Intelligence Czar Dennis Blair (confirmed as the Director of          
> Nat.Intel.)--continued from Bush Admin
> Weapons Czar Ashton Carter
> Technology Czar Aneesh Chopra
> AIDS Czar Jeffrey Crowley
> Great Lakes Czar Cameron Davis
> 
> Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg
> Sudan Czar J. Scott Gration
> Afghanistan Czar Richard Holbrooke
> Mideast Peace Czar George Mitchell
> Auto Recovery Czar Ed Montgomery
> 
> Car Czar Ron Bloom
> Mideast Policy Czar Dennis Ross
> WMD Czar Gary Samore
> Domestic Violence Czar Lynn Rosenthal
> Climate Czar Todd Stern
> 
> Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein --continued from Bush Admin
> Economic Czar I Larry Summers
> Economic Czar II Paul Volcker
> California Water Czar David J. Hayes
> Government Performance Czar Jeffrey Zients
> 
> Disinformation Czar Linda Douglass
> Media Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd
> Education Czar Arne Duncan (confirmed as Secretary of Education)
> Food Safety Czar Michael Taylor
> Latin American Czar Arturo Valenzuela
> 
> Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings
> Trade Czar Ron Kirk
> Cybersecurity czar Melissa Hathaway(resigned)--continued from Bush Admin
> War Czar Douglas Lute--continued from Bush Admin
> 
> That's 44 to date, with no end in sight and surely more to come.
> Potential Czars will include Income Redistribution Czar(WTF?-I'll bet
> that gets renamed!), Protection Czar, aka Mortgage Czar, Land-Use Czar,
> Radio-Internet Fairness Czar, Student Loan Czar, Voter List Czar, Zoning
> Czar, etc. etc. ad nauseum
> 
> This is serious stuff. Czar appointments are fundamentally changing our
> government. They do not have to be approved or confirmed by Congress or
> be forced to testify in Congressional hearings. They answer to no one
> except President Obama, and their position holds a status over the
> Senate approved and appointed Cabinet Secretaries and they have the
> luxury of NO accountability.  They are not beholden to testify before
> any kind of investigation.  Is this the way he creates new jobs? He is
> doing the same thing Bush did, only he is expanding on it and making it
> more permanent!
> 
> In the Constitution, there is the advice and consent clause, which
> requires POTUS to obtain Senate approval for appointments like Cabinet
> secretaries, ambassadors and other officials like the director of the
> CIA. This separates the executive and legislative branches and provides
> a republic balance since the Senators are elected.  Legally, the czars,
> as presidential advisers, don't need confirmation, but when they take
> over duties of other officials who have that confirmation, you enter a
> giant gray area under the constitution, in my opinion.  President Obama,
> as someone who taught Constitutional Law is well aware of these
> loopholes. Most importantly, he campaigned on the promise of
> accountability and transparency and inclusion.  All of these czar
> appointments run counter to that promise.  It certainly does not include
> my voice or yours or our respective Senators.  There certainly is no
> accountability, and with that, no transparency.  The people should have
> a voice in the appointments through their Senators.  Our forefathers
> specifically wrote the constitution so that the Executive Branch could
> not consolidate power by officials who have been confirmed by the Senate.
> 
> I guess I digressed a bit there, combining off list conversations with
> list conversations, but I think it is all related. In my opinion, the
> Obama administration is exploring the boundaries of the constitution and
> finally, with the Jones hoopla and other missteps, people are starting
> to pay attention and question when is enough, enough and because they
> are not being heard or acknowledged-the Obama train rolls on doing as it
> wants-the people are becoming more upset, and things that might
> otherwise get little attention, like a presidential address to the
> nation's schoolchildren, now become huge issues of control.  Parents
> want to be in control of what their children hear, see, and learn.  Many
> resent Obama's emphasis on what they understand as social activism in
> lieu of academic proficiency. The old Bill Ayers/Annenberg controversy
> is about to raise its head again.  Education reform?  Many parents in
> this part of the country are saying 'Thanks but no thanks, stick to
> healthcare-if you can succeed in fixing that mess, maybe we will be more
> open to your education reform ideas...'  This whole mess is a symptom of
> the larger problem at hand.  As if NCLB wasn't a big enough mess, now we
> will be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
> 
> Bev, who has many friends who are teachers
> p.s. in case anyone is wondering, I will be returning to the workforce,
> and hence leaving the list, on October 1st.
> 
> 
> 
> Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
> > 
> > I can't believe the fuss about President Obama's speech to school 
> > children! People claim he's 'indoctrinating' children (we all know 
> > about the 'mind control vibes' broadcasts send out), and tell parents
> >  to take their children out of school that day because children 
> > "shouldn't be required" to listen to the president. What message does
> >  THAT send to children? To me, to refuse to even let your children 
> > listen is total disrespect to the office of the President (and 
> > disrespectful of the children; not letting them form their own 
> > opinions).
> > 
> > Reagan and Bush Sr. both spoke nation-wide to schools. Reagan's was 
> > apparently very political, laced with how he cut taxes, etc. Was 
> > there this kind of protest over his speech (I was out of school and 
> > didn't have kids yet, so I'm clueless)? What has this country come 
> > to?
> > 
> > Lynn Wigglesworth Tioga Co. PA
> >
> 
> -- 
> Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's depths, MY son is
> protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently deployed
> somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go Navy!
> EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA
> 
> 
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