Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?
Isn't that the point of having armed security guards?Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?
I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?
I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?[/QUOTE]Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?
I reiterate ... then why not get the DOD to send over actual army troops?[/QUOTE]Because armed soldiers are more intimidating than mall cops?
Experts say that Ronald Reagan gets the shaft in history textbooks.
Fucking Texas said:With childlike glee, McLeroy flipped through the pages and explained what he saw as the gaping holes in Darwin’s theory. “I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say,” he declared at one point. “Evolution is hooey.” This bled into a rant about American history. “The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation,” McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. “But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.”
Views like these are relatively common in East Texas, a region that prides itself on being the buckle of the Bible Belt. But McLeroy is no ordinary citizen. The jovial creationist sits on the Texas State Board of Education, where he is one of the leaders of an activist bloc that holds enormous sway over the body’s decisions. As the state goes through the once-in-a-decade process of rewriting the standards for its textbooks, the faction is using its clout to infuse them with ultraconservative ideals. Among other things, they aim to rehabilitate Joseph McCarthy, bring global-warming denial into science class, and downplay the contributions of the civil rights movement.
Texas: Thomas Jefferson didn't exist, the Treaty of Tripoli was never signed by John Adams and ratified unanimously by the Senate, MLK isn't that important, evolution is a sham, and Joe McCarthy was right.The New York Times Article said:AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers’ commitment to a purely secular government and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light.
The vote was 10 to 5 along party lines, with all the Republicans on the board voting for it.
The board, whose members are elected, has influence beyond Texas because the state is one of the largest buyers of textbooks. In the digital age, however, that influence has diminished as technological advances have made it possible for publishers to tailor books to individual states.
In recent years, board members have been locked in an ideological battle between a bloc of conservatives who question Darwin’s theory of evolution and believe the Founding Fathers were guided by Christian principles, and a handful of Democrats and moderate Republicans who have fought to preserve the teaching of Darwinism and the separation of church and state.
Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.
“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”
Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.
Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”
“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”
The curriculum standards will now be published in a state register, opening them up for 30 days of public comment. A final vote will be taken in May, but given the Republican dominance of the board, it is unlikely that many changes will be made.
The standards, reviewed every decade, serve as a template for textbook publishers, who must come before the board next year with drafts of their books. The board’s makeup will have changed by then because Dr. McLeroy lost in a primary this month to a more moderate Republican, and two others — one Democrat and one conservative Republican — announced they were not seeking re-election.
There are seven members of the conservative bloc on the board, but they are often joined by one of the other three Republicans on crucial votes. There were no historians, sociologists or economists consulted at the meetings, though some members of the conservative bloc held themselves out as experts on certain topics.
The conservative members maintain that they are trying to correct what they see as a liberal bias among the teachers who proposed the curriculum. To that end, they made dozens of minor changes aimed at calling into question, among other things, concepts like the separation of church and state and the secular nature of the American Revolution.
“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”
They also included a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
Dr. McLeroy, a dentist by training, pushed through a change to the teaching of the civil rights movement to ensure that students study the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the nonviolent approach of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also made sure that textbooks would mention the votes in Congress on civil rights legislation, which Republicans supported.
“Republicans need a little credit for that,” he said. “I think it’s going to surprise some students.”
Mr. Bradley won approval for an amendment saying students should study “the unintended consequences” of the Great Society legislation, affirmative action and Title IX legislation. He also won approval for an amendment stressing that Germans and Italians as well as Japanese were interned in the United States during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.
Other changes seem aimed at tamping down criticism of the right. Conservatives passed one amendment, for instance, requiring that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.
Mavis B. Knight, a Democrat from Dallas, introduced an amendment requiring that students study the reasons “the founding fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring the government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion above all others.”
It was defeated on a party-line vote.
After the vote, Ms. Knight said, “The social conservatives have perverted accurate history to fulfill their own agenda.”
In economics, the revisions add Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek, two champions of free-market economic theory, among the usual list of economists to be studied, like Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes. They also replaced the word “capitalism” throughout their texts with the “free-enterprise system.”
“Let’s face it, capitalism does have a negative connotation,” said one conservative member, Terri Leo. “You know, ‘capitalist pig!’ ”
In the field of sociology, another conservative member, Barbara Cargill, won passage of an amendment requiring the teaching of “the importance of personal responsibility for life choices” in a section on teenage suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.
“The topic of sociology tends to blame society for everything,” Ms. Cargill said.
Even the course on world history did not escape the board’s scalpel.
Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone. (Jefferson is not well liked among conservatives on the board because he coined the term “separation between church and state.”)
“The Enlightenment was not the only philosophy on which these revolutions were based,” Ms. Dunbar said.
Not anymore.do you live in Texas?
It's what I did.Re: Stupid Texas
It's okay. Any teacher worth a damn will see through this shit, block out the stupid parts of the curriculum, and teach students properly. It's what I would do.
since Texas has one of the largest school systems, the textbooks approved here, are what gets sold in other states.do you live in Texas?
since Texas has one of the largest school systems, the textbooks approved here, are what gets sold in other states.[/QUOTE]do you live in Texas?
From that article you linked.For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/
Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.
From that article you linked.For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/
Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.[/QUOTE]There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.
From that article you linked.For an unbiased view on what is in the healthcare bill as of the end of February-
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...ealth-care-reform-simple-explanation-updated/
Wut? This almost seems like a case of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking.[/QUOTE]There would be new taxes on prescription drug manufacturers, the makers of medical devices and indoor tanning salons.
The term "Rand Libertarian" is idiotic. Ayn Rand hated Libertarians with just as much passion as she hated leftists... but then again, Ayn Rand hated EVERYONE who didn't follow her philosophy to a T, so that's not too surprising.Is the rise of Rand libertarians good for progressives? Warning - frothing moonbattery inside.
That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.Does your family earn around $100,000 a year? You are going to be hit the hardest by Obamacare. Here's how.
I'd wage the most prevailent American opinion is going to be we want him alive, so we can kill him later. Publicly. Hell, if we really wanted to make it all "America FUCK YEAH!", we'd put it on Pay-Per-View with the proceeds going towards finally building something on Ground Zero.General Stanley McChrystal wants Osama bin Laden to be captured alive. Attorney General Eric Holder wants him dead. Discuss ...
Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.
Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.[/QUOTE]That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.
Are you comparing family income to individual income? I think you are.[/QUOTE]That's quite misleading, considering that according to these charts from the Census Bureau, earning around 100k CLEARLY puts you into the Top 10% of American incomes. Mind you, it's from 2001 and adjusted for 2006 dollars, but it is more than fair to claim that wages have not risen dramatically over the past ten years. That is NOT Middle class... that's very clearly upper class. Try again Gas.
Alright, let's discuss how he doesn't want him alive.General Stanley McChrystal wants Osama bin Laden to be captured alive. Attorney General Eric Holder wants him dead. Discuss ...
Oh wait he never actually said that at all.\\\"Let's deal with reality,\\\" Holder said. \\\"The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom.\\\"
Pressed further on that point, Holder said: \\\"The possibility of catching him alive is infinitesimal. He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people so he can't be captured by us.\\\"
If it makes you feel better, Dave, your son who is going to college can remain on your insurance until he is 26.BEAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES INTO SUBMISSION?!? Are you fucking HIGH? THEY are the biggest winners in this mess! Government forcing people to get health insurance? The insurance guys I know are all laughing their way to the bank! They LOVE this bill!
The fees for not getting health insurance are still less than the cost of health insurance.BEAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES INTO SUBMISSION?!? Are you fucking HIGH? THEY are the biggest winners in this mess! Government forcing people to get health insurance? The insurance guys I know are all laughing their way to the bank! They LOVE this bill!
According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is the first time in the history of the country that the federal government has ever ordered American citizens to buy any good or service.Do Democrats realize that we really have crossed the Rubicon? In the future when the Republicans gain majorities (and they will), the liberal modus operandi will be the model—bare 51% majorities, reconciliation, the nuclear option, talk of deem and pass, not a single Democrat vote—all ends justifying the means in order to radically restructure vast swaths of American economic and social life. Is someone unhinged at the DNC? They just blew up any shred of bipartisan consensus when their President polls below 50%, the Democratically-controlled Congress below 20%, and health care reform less than 50%. Usually unpopular leaders and their unpopular ideas seek the shelter of minority rights and prerogatives. What will they do when they are in the minority—since they’ve entered the arena, boasted “let the games begin” and shouted “by any means necessary”?