Should this teacher be fired?

[Tashah]

Is it "my" truth the entire world hates America because of our current foreign policy? Is it "my" truth our national debt is a result of our current fiscal policy? Is it "my" truth that his entire class emphatically supports him? And finally, is it "my" truth that you are trying to spin this into "my" truth?

Your interpretation of truth isn't the issue Billo. The issue here is the 'truths' that Bennish was disseminating to his students in a high school geography class. I am fairly certain that 'Bennishisms' are not part and parcel of the geography course syllabus the school board certified and contracted with Bennish to teach.

Whether you agree or not with the worldview of Bennish is not the point. The core point here is that Bennish, in the guise of a teacher, proffered his personal beliefs to students in leiu of teaching empirical professional knowledge. In my opinion, this behavior is unprofessional, self-serving, and antithetical. By a current 2:1 ratio, the DP community agrees with this synopsis.

 

[Billo_Really]

More from Trajan's source on Bennish:
A stern warning to parents: If you do not become immediately involved in what is occurring with the education of you children, there will soon be another generation of adults who have both no concept as to what America is really about and will practice anarchy against the US. These kids are also being raised to fight everything America stands for and to offer up no resistance, whatsoever, to the enemies of our country. In fact, these "teachers" are programming their students to believe that the enemies of the US are their "friends" and that the US, itself, is the enemy. Is this what you want? If not, GET INVOLVED! Tell those who allow these contemptible behaviors to continue that they are not only unacceptable but, that you will refuse to send your children to school unless the indoctrinators either stop their brainwashing or are removed from classrooms.

Premiere Nikita Khrushchev of the former Communist Soviet Socialist "Republic" said: "We will destroy you from within!" If parents do nothing, it will become a reality. And there is another enemy of freedom who is now saying much the same thing — radical Islam. If our children are being taught to believe that the barbarians are their friends, the kids will be easier for this enemy to destroy and, ultimately, result in a murdered or converted-to-Islam generation. Remember, your children are now being raised to embrace appeasement and hate their own country. If you don't intercede — and now — this will be yours and our entire legacy.

The end of the US' beliefs and way of life is closer than it has ever been. Parents' immediate involvement and participation in their children's education is essential.

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/zieve/060302

I cannot believe the garbage this battle ax is spewing. This is typical neocon BS. Full of general statements and jumps to conclusions that are a stretch of the imagination. Who is teaching anyone to be friends of terrorists? She talks of what America is about without having a clue as to what that is herself. Because of her and her kind, America is the most violent nation on earth. We attacked a country that did nothing to us. Doesn't anyone realize just how wrong that is? We are violating International Laws right and left. And our leaders (civilian and military) don't give a damn about the rule of law. Here's an excerpt from a colonel talking to a detainee at one of these military tribunals:

I do not care about international law. I do not want to hear the words international law again. We are not concerned about international law," the colonel says.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GUANTANAMO_DETAINEES?SITE=PASTR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

This is not America. This is more like Stalin's Russia. And to think people defend this crap. Has America lost it's soul?

 

[hipsterdufus]

If the teacher was doing nothing wrong then why would he have something to fear from a student bring a tape recorder to school?The teacher works for us the tax payers to teach our kids,how he does his job teaching our kids is our business.Everything that that goes on in that classroom is our business.

It's the old "I've done nothing wrong, search all you want Big Brother" argument. I take it, then you would have no problem with a webcam attached to you at all times for your employer (if you have one) to monitor your actions?

If that's a yes, then can we put a 24/7 webcam on Bush, Delay and Frist since we're paying their salary? They could turn it off when discussing classified issues of course.

He says nothing untrue, however he could have been more subtle about it.
If political topics are not part of his curriculum, then he is guilty of a bad lesson plan. With that said, he should have been warned in private, not suspended.

 

[doughgirl]

“All you folks who like to use those terms "you liberals" with the frequency you do -- what if he were talking like Mr. Savage or Ms. Coulter? Would you be up in arms then? For those who think his indoctrination is okey dokey because you happen to agree with it, same question.”

If they did what this teacher did then they also should be fired.

Billo said, “I don't consider the truth "proselytizing".”

The truth means something different for many different people.

Billo said, “Is it "my" truth the entire world hates America because of our current foreign policy? Is it "my" truth our national debt is a result of our current fiscal policy? Is it "my" truth that his entire class emphatically supports him? And finally, is it "my" truth that you are trying to spin this into "my" truth?”

Can I as a teacher teach the "truth" about Islam, abortion, homosexuality, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party the WAY I SEE IT?

A teacher should stick to the subject matter that he/she teaches. Billo we are talking about high school children here. They all took that guys class to learn about geography, not his views on the world. A teacher does not have that much time in the classroom a day for the subject content let alone going off on a tagent about his/her views. I mean who is the class FOR?

The kid who tape recorded the class should have informed the office about this teacher and told them to listen through the intercom system. Most rooms have intercom systems for announcements made during the day.

Jamesrage said, “If the teacher was doing nothing wrong then why would he have something to fear from a student bring a tape recorder to school?”

So true. Not many kids in high school tape lectures... so the teacher would assumed something was up. And if he knew that he was being taped that might have altered what he had said that day.

Billo you said, “What that teacher stated in his classroom are irrefutable facts.”

They are NOT FACTS PERTAINING TO THE SUBJECT THIS MORON WAS TO BE TEACHING.

Now Billo you know how adamant I am against abortion. If I am a math teacher in a classroom and I decide one day that I will share my views on abortion with the class and I bring pictures that have been documented to be the truth and show them what an abortion looks like, would this be an acceptable thing to do?

They would be truth, they would be factual…..do they have a place in my classroom and do I have the right to expose my students to THIS TRUTH?

No they do not, and anyone who would do such a thing should be fired, canned…..horsewhipped. I wouldn’t do that to college kids.

Scarcrow said, “A better question is why did the student feel the need to record the guy in the first place. That tells us that this teacher had a history of shooting his mouth off inappropriately.”

Right on……..there was a pattern to his madness and he got what he wanted. I think he probably planned the whole thing to get some press attention. He obviously could care less about teaching and wanted more attention for himself……and his wish came true.

As it has been said before, whether he is right or not is NOT THE ISSUE. He had no right using the students in his class as his guinie pigs.

hipsterdufus said,” If that's a yes, then can we put a 24/7 webcam on Bush, Delay and Frist since we're paying their salary? They could turn it off when discussing classified issues of course.”

Hey had we put one on Kennedy, it would have sunk down to the bottom of the river. Had we put one on Clinton, well we would have seen what the underneath side of the oval office desk looked like. :rofl

 

[DivineComedy]

“Bennish also questioned that Hamas is a terrorist group, when he responded to a statement by one of his students (also on the 20-minute tape) that Hamas is a terrorist group. Bennish asked the student: ‘Who is defining what is a terrorist?’"

If that is an accurate description of the events the teacher should be fired, or better yet an e-d-u-c-a-t-o-r should provide the proper exhibit for the class debate.

To really teach the idiots in that class, and win the debate, some students should have come to Bennish’s class disguised like Hamas (in student’s clothing) to more easily facilitate blowing the teacher‘s head clean off, and they should have asked each student separately, “Who is defining what is a terrorist?”

Right answers (“civilization“) get an “A.” Wrong answers get to stand next to the Hamas dressed as a student wearing the explosive suicide apparatus, and they get an “F.“ And the “F” students have to redo the entire year and every class (regardless of their grades), while wearing a video game t-shirt showing a picture of the frightened class and teacher ******* his pants on the front with the life bar showing they have only one life left, with the saying on the back, “I should have known civilization defines who is a terrorist.”

“If the student hasn’t learned the instructor hasn’t taught,” my father used to say that all the time.

 

[Gardener]

Whether it is Ward Churchill, the PSM hatefests held annually on College campuses, or this fellow here, the right is very adept at capturing the most extreme elements of the left in such a way as to turn people's natural abhorrance for such stuff into political capital. "Look -- this is what the left is all about!", they say.

The left, for it's part plays right into the hands of the right, for they allow the stink to cling to the entire left side of the political spectrum because so many defend this stuff. Until the left learns to divorce itself from the terrorist apologists, nut jobs and antisemites in its ranks, the stink will continue to cling.

This teacher isn't a liberal. He's merely a knee jerk leftist idiot. Playing mind games with kids in an attempt to create doubt about the nature of intentional murder is beneath contempt. The left will continue to flounder in this country until such a time as it rediscovers the true moral basis for liberality and stops acting as apologists for these authoritarian leftists who have completely abandoned any notion of morality because their minds are so consumed with hatred thay have lost their rudder.

Hamas is a terrorist group. They are a terrorist group because they intentionally murder innocent civilians. End of story.

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

I cannot believe the garbage this battle ax is spewing. This is typical neocon BS. Full of general statements and jumps to conclusions that are a stretch of the imagination. Who is teaching anyone to be friends of terrorists? She talks of what America is about without having a clue as to what that is herself. Because of her and her kind, America is the most violent nation on earth. We attacked a country that did nothing to us. Doesn't anyone realize just how wrong that is? We are violating International Laws right and left. And our leaders (civilian and military) don't give a damn about the rule of law. Here's an excerpt from a colonel talking to a detainee at one of these military tribunals:This is not America. This is more like Stalin's Russia. And to think people defend this crap. Has America lost it's soul?

I didn't even read the primary source material, I really don't care about the opinion in the article, I only used it to post the quotes of the guy.

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

Yeah, ever since Bush was elected all the liberals are vociferously proclaiming how investing more power in the state is the remedy for all of man’s troubles. Let us pray that you stalwart conservatives will always be there to stop their mad rush to mutilate the Constitution and aggrandize their leader.

LOL, um ya it is the liberals who are pushing for a welfare state and a super-federal government, do you know what big government even means?

Sorry, Trotts, my bad. Of course a conservative would never dream of making sodomy illegal. It must be a nefarious plot concocted by one of those liberals that PTSD and NP are always talking about. By the way, whoever said anything about outlawing homosexuality? Do try not to jump to tangents, it would be sad for a self-proclaimed stoner evince a longer attention-span than yourself.

Prove it, what Conservative politician is presently attemting to outlaw homosexuality? Name the bill and the sponsor of that bill. I'm sorry but all you do is post your opinion and try to pass it off as fact.

Secondly, I was saying nothing of the kind. My post quite clearly stated that wiretapping without oversight is far from antithetical to a fascist regime. (which is exactly what you had posited in the post I was quoting) So, you are now saying that simply because three democrats have done this in the past, the entire practice becomes completely unpalatable to fascist regimes?

Governmental actions during war time are not the same as those done during peace time, Bush is wiretapping people during a time of war, Clinton did it during peace time, see the difference?

Firstly, we’re only at war if Congress declares it, and the records seem to indicate that they haven’t done that since 1942. Sure, you can say that the president has gotten broader authority, but until Congress passes that formal declaration of war, it ain’t the Constitution that’s doing the broadening.

You have no idea what you're talking about from the war powers resolution of 1973 section 2 sub-section c:

(c) The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.

The difference between a formal Declaration of War and a specific statutory authorization is a semantical difference not a lega one.

Oh, you caught me. Conservatives would never categorically deny parenthood to a specific class of individuals (gays). I guess I’ll have to stop making **** up and having it printed in newspapers across the country. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-20-gay-adoption_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
Thank you for showing us just how opposed to truthiness you are, Trotts.

Oh wow so now fundamentalist Christianity is the same thing as conservatism? Here's the thing brush up on your definitions and get back to me. I'm conservative and I'm agnostic.

I can’t argue with that, not after showing its truth by deigning one of your posts worthy of such scrutiny.

Umm I provided evidence to back my claims you posted opinion and tried to pass it off as fact much in the same way as this Bennish guy does. "Truthiness," and that's the word.

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

Is it "my" truth the entire world hates America because of our current foreign policy?

If you're referring to Bush's foriegn policy then yes it is. It's America that they don't like it doesn't matter what we do they're still going to hate us. If we don't have an interventionalist policy then we support tyrants, if we do have an interventionalist policy then we're imperialists. It's a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario.

Is it "my" truth our national debt is a result of our current fiscal policy?

Yes it is, our national debt has been increasing exponentially since WW2.

Is it "my" truth that his entire class emphatically supports him?

That's because they've been brainwashed by that piece of sh!t and obviously someone didn't agree with him that's why they made the tape.

And finally, is it "my" truth that you are trying to spin this into "my" truth?

And that brings us to tonight's word: 'truthiness.' Now I'm sure some of the 'word police,' the 'wordanistas' over at websters are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word.' Well, anyone who knows me knows I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books....

I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart.

Anyone can read the news to you, I promise to feel the news at you.

I'm not a fan of facts, you see, facts can change, but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts are.

And that's the word.

 

[mixedmedia]

I appreciate all the conservative equanimity when it comes to this subject. That teachers shouldn't be influencing their students politically, whether right or left. But back in the day when I was still living in Louisiana and I brought up the fact on Debate Politics that my daughters' teachers were espousing conservative and Christian philosophy to their students (one of them being an algebra teacher) the conservative response was, in a nutshell, What's the big deal? Is it going to harm your kids?

Somehow I think, if this thread weren't about a liberal teacher espousing liberal philosophy in the classroom, that opinion wouldn't change much among some of the conservatives posting here.

 

[cherokee]

I appreciate all the conservative equanimity when it comes to this subject. That teachers shouldn't be influencing their students politically, whether right or left. But back in the day when I was still living in Louisiana and I brought up the fact on Debate Politics that my daughters' teachers were espousing conservative and Christian philosophy to their students (one of them being an algebra teacher) the conservative response was, in a nutshell, What's the big deal? Is it going to harm your kids?

Somehow I think, if this thread weren't about a liberal teacher espousing liberal philosophy in the classroom, that opinion wouldn't change much among some of the conservatives posting here.

Yes Mam it would....

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

I appreciate all the conservative equanimity when it comes to this subject. That teachers shouldn't be influencing their students politically, whether right or left. But back in the day when I was still living in Louisiana and I brought up the fact on Debate Politics that my daughters' teachers were espousing conservative and Christian philosophy to their students (one of them being an algebra teacher) the conservative response was, in a nutshell, What's the big deal? Is it going to harm your kids?

Somehow I think, if this thread weren't about a liberal teacher espousing liberal philosophy in the classroom, that opinion wouldn't change much among some of the conservatives posting here.

Like what? Give an example, I am willing to wager that it was nothing along the extremity lines of what this teacher said, it's not about politics in the classroom, it's about extremist revisionist historians indoctrinating our kids with their bullshit.

For example if I were to teach in a geography class that the United States was founded on the principles of biblical individualism with strong roots in the Judae-Christian religions, that is not wrong because that is merely stating a fact, but when this guy says that the American flag is equatable to the swastika that is not stating a fact that is expressing a radical leftist opinion which has no basis in fact. Or when this guy says that the Americans perpetrated a genocide against the Native Americans which is equatable to the holocaust, that is not factual either that is revisionist history spinned in such a way as to leave a false impression. Did many Native Americans die? Yes. Were some killed by American settlers? Yes. Were all of them killed intentionally by American settlers? No, many native Americans died through disease and starvation or through wars between one another so while many Native Americans died pinning it all on American settlers is fallacious and an invented causation. And to label it a genocide is to undermine the very severity of that word and it creates a false sense of moral equivalency between early America and Nazi Germany.

 

[mixedmedia]

Yes Mam it would....

I beg to differ. :lol:

 

[mixedmedia]

Like what? Give an example, I am willing to wager that it was nothing along the extremity lines of what this teacher said, it's not about politics in the classroom, it's about extremist revisionist historians indoctrinating our kids with their bullshit.

For example if I were to teach in a geography class that the United States was founded on the principles of biblical individualism with strong roots in the Judae-Christian religions, that is not wrong because that is merely stating a fact, but when this guy says that the American flag is equatable to the swastika that is not stating a fact that is expressing a radical leftist opinion which has no basis in fact.

So telling my children that they and their parents and everyone they love is going to hell is not extreme? Marginalizing them among their peers so they stand out in their lack of Christian faith is not extreme?

I don't care what the extent of the influence being exerted is. I think all of it is wrong. But, I can't help but recall the reaction of conservatives here on DP when I brought this same subject up but in reverse before.

Nevertheless, it is taking the thread off topic so I won't push it.

 

[cherokee]

I beg to differ. :lol:

lol...I was agreeing with you Mam.....
Maybe I should have just said, "I agree"
But I be tired….lol

And now for something completely different...

Wife buys 300 gallon pond kit..$150

Taking 2 years to install it…… Priceless

 

[mixedmedia]

lol...I was agreeing with you Mam.....
Maybe I should have just said, "I agree"
But I be tired….lol

And now for something completely different...

Wife buys 300 gallon pond kit..$150

Taking 2 years to install it…… Priceless

LOL

My mistake, man. Sorry..........

Good luck with that pond thingie.

 

[Tashah]

Somehow I think, if this thread weren't about a liberal teacher espousing liberal philosophy in the classroom, that opinion wouldn't change much among some of the conservatives posting here.

According to Post #1, Bennish is a Marxist. He also seems to believe that Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Does a terrorism apologetic with a Marxist worldview equate with a Liberal and liberal philosophy? It seems that you're trying to connect estranged dots that are not implicit in the storyline. On the other hand, perhaps my interpretation of liberal philosophy is faulty.

 

[cherokee]

LOL

My mistake, man. Sorry..........

Good luck with that pond thingie.

NP ...Thanks but I got it done already...
My wife suffers from M.P.S


Multiple Pond Syndrome.........lol.........

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

So telling my children that they and their parents and everyone they love is going to hell is not extreme? Marginalizing them among their peers so they stand out in their lack of Christian faith is not extreme?

I don't care what the extent of the influence being exerted is. I think all of it is wrong. But, I can't help but recall the reaction of conservatives here on DP when I brought this same subject up but in reverse before.

Nevertheless, it is taking the thread off topic so I won't push it.

Yes that is extreme did you catch a teacher saying that on tape?

Teachers are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts, if they're going to state their opinions then they have to give the students all of the facts so they can formulate their own opinions, this guy was giving a speech not teaching:

When this guy says that the Americans perpetrated a genocide against the Native Americans which is equatable to the holocaust, that is not factual either that is revisionist history spinned in such a way as to leave a false impression. Did many Native Americans die? Yes. Were some killed by American settlers? Yes. Were all of them killed intentionally and by American settlers? No, many native Americans died through disease and starvation or through wars between one another, so, while many Native Americans died pinning it all on American settlers is fallacious and an invented causation. And to label it a genocide is to undermine the very severity of that word and it creates a false sense of moral equivalency between early America and Nazi Germany. Some people on this forum are still under the impression that we gave the Native Americans blankets infected with smallpoks, or that we were allied with Saddam Hussein and gave him WMD these are examples of how revisionist agenda driven history with no factual basis in reality has a way of becoming fact simply by repeating it often enough. The truth is that we gave Hussein legitimate duel use chemicals intended to be used for something other than WMD production and we (along with half of the world) gave him viruses for legitimate vaccine research in truth the U.S. supplied .5% of foriegn arms support during the Iran-Iraq war the bulk was supplied by the French and the Soviets. Secondly, there has never been any corraborating historical evidence to support the claim that American soldiers gave smallpoks blankets to the native American population.

I like the latest installment to the American vernacular: "truthiness,"

Anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you.

I will speak to you in plain, simple English. And that brings us to tonight's word: 'truthiness.' Now I'm sure some of the 'word police,' the 'wordanistas' over at websters are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word.' Well, anyone who knows me knows I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books....

I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart.

I'm not a fan of facts, you see, facts can change, but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts are.

And that's the word.

 

[mixedmedia]

According to Post #1, Bennish is a Marxist. He also seems to believe that Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Does a terrorism apologetic with a Marxist worldview equate with a Liberal and liberal philosophy? It seems that you're trying to connect estranged dots that are not implicit in the storyline. On the other hand, perhaps my interpretation of liberal philosophy is faulty.

You are right to an extent. But most people would equate his views with extreme liberal views. Which they are - socialist views are absolutely an extreme on the left of the political scale. Just as there are degrees of conservative philosophy.

I agree I am guilty here of some estrangement.
I owned up to that. Not trying to derail the thread.

 

[Gardener]

You are right to an extent. But most people would equate his views with extreme liberal views. Which they are - socialist views are absolutely an extreme on the left of the political scale. Just as there are degrees of conservative philosophy.

I agree I am guilty here of some estrangement.
I owned up to that. Not trying to derail the thread.

It's a trap. It really is, and when liberals defend these uberleftist terrorist apologists, they do more to harm to the liberal cause than anything conservatives could do.


I have noticed many more self-described conservatives renounce their own right wing extreme elements (such as Fred Phelps or the right wing racists) than I have liberals renounce the extreme leftists and leftist racists. This is becoming an increasing problem in terms of credibility, for it is this knee jerk, reactionary left wing element that provides all the fodder for the right wing propaganda machine. Why validate them by giving them exactly what they want?

Believe me -- I am no conservative, and that is why I am very very concerned with the way these nut jobs are held up as examples of liberal thought by conservatives, and then LIBERALS nod their head in agreement and say "yes they are". The word liberal has been demonized through a calculated campaign on the part of the right, and unless actual liberals reclaim the name by distancing themselves from from these extremists, there will be no hope for true liberal philosophy to ever flourish.

IMO, you shouldn't have to defend that for which you do not stand, and if it is these labels that are getting in the way, perhaps it is time to work a little harder to clarify the distinctions.

 

[mixedmedia]

Yes that is extreme did you catch a teacher saying that on tape?

No we didn't catch her on tape (the algebra teacher was a woman; but there were a few others who spoke to their classes about religion and politics, including one who spoke very disparagingly of Saudis who come to America for healthcare). Truth is, when I got there, to Louisiana (this was a small town called Sulphur near the Texas border), I was dead-set against tolerating what I had heard beforehand was a very heavy Christian influence on the school board as well as in the schools. But this very real influence was so pervasive and I felt like such an outsider, that I was afraid to come forward and speak out - just as the few native residents I met there who felt same way as we did were reluctant to speak out. The whole place was totally alien to us. So we kept our mouths shut. As a side note, there were fully-sanctioned, teacher-sponsored Christian student groups at both the middle schools and the one high school there. This sort of thing would never fly here in Orlando.

Teachers are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts, if they're going to state their opinions then they have to give the students all of the facts so they can formulate their own opinions, this guy was giving a speech not teaching:

When this guy says that the Americans perpetrated a genocide against the Native Americans which is equatable to the holocaust, that is not factual either that is revisionist history spinned in such a way as to leave a false impression. Did many Native Americans die? Yes. Were some killed by American settlers? Yes. Were all of them killed intentionally and by American settlers? No, many native Americans died through disease and starvation or through wars between one another, so, while many Native Americans died pinning it all on American settlers is fallacious and an invented causation. And to label it a genocide is to undermine the very severity of that word and it creates a false sense of moral equivalency between early America and Nazi Germany. Some people on this forum are still under the impression that we gave the Native Americans blankets infected with smallpoks, or that we were allied with Saddam Hussein and gave him WMD these are examples of how revisionist agenda driven history with no factual basis in reality has a way of becoming fact simply by repeating it often enough. The truth is that we gave Hussein legitimate duel use chemicals intended to be used for something other than WMD production and we (along with half of the world) gave him viruses for legitimate vaccine research in truth the U.S. supplied .5% of foriegn arms support during the Iran-Iraq war the bulk was supplied by the French and the Soviets. Secondly, there has never been any corraborating historical evidence to support the claim that American soldiers gave smallpoks blankets to the native American population.

I like the latest installment to the American vernacular: "truthiness,"

Anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you.

I will speak to you in plain, simple English. And that brings us to tonight's word: 'truthiness.' Now I'm sure some of the 'word police,' the 'wordanistas' over at websters are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word.' Well, anyone who knows me knows I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books....

I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart.

I'm not a fan of facts, you see, facts can change, but my opinion will never change, no matter what the facts are.

And that's the word.

Well, as far as I am concerned there is very little known truth and a whole helluva lot of speculation about what is truth. So chances are, anyone who believes they possess the truth is most likely in possession of their own variable of someone else's speculation.

I think it is out of line what this teacher did, and I voted that he should be fired. But from my own experience, I know that ideology has permeated entire school districts in some areas of the country, particularly in small southern towns with nary a peep out of anyone. Myself, I'm just glad to be back home.

 

[mixedmedia]

It's a trap. It really is, and when liberals defend these uberleftist terrorist apologists, they do more to harm to the liberal cause than anything conservatives could do.


I have noticed many more self-described conservatives renounce their own right wing extreme elements (such as Fred Phelps or the right wing racists) than I have liberals renounce the extreme leftists and leftist racists. This is becoming an increasing problem in terms of credibility, for it is this knee jerk, reactionary left wing element that provides all the fodder for the right wing propaganda machine. Why validate them by giving them exactly what they want?

Believe me -- I am no conservative, and that is why I am very very concerned with the way these nut jobs are held up as examples of liberal thought by conservatives, and then LIBERALS nod their head in agreement and say "yes they are". The word liberal has been demonized through a calculated campaign on the part of the right, and unless actual liberals reclaim the name by distancing themselves from from these extremists, there will be no hope for true liberal philosophy to ever flourish.

IMO, you shouldn't have to defend that for which you do not stand, and if it is these labels that are getting in the way, perhaps it is time to work a little harder to clarify the distinctions.

I agree with you, but I often disagree with who the right labels as left-wing extremists. Very often. To many of them it seems anyone to the left of Joe Lieberman is an extremist.

 

[talloulou]

But from my own experience, I know that ideology has permeated entire school districts in some areas of the country, particularly in small southern towns with nary a peep out of anyone. Myself, I'm just glad to be back home.

That's no excuse for this teacher in this situation! I'm not sure if you're intending it to be an excuse but it comes off sounding that way. Religious ideology doesn't belong in public schools either so I would fire teachers pushing their own religion as well.

However I do see a huge difference in pushing your religious ideology on students vs saying the pledge of allegiance in the morning. I know some who will claim they are one in the same.....so sadly there are grey areas.

 

[jamesrage]

The examples you are giving is biased rhetoric. What that teacher stated in his classroom are irrefutable facts.

But in the minds of alot of people what that teacher said is biased rhetoric and not irrefutable fact.You beleave the techer because you are a anti-war,anti-bush,anti-conservative individual so anything a person with similar thought to yours you are automaticly going to jump on that band wagon.