Two revealing personal observations

[Chip45]

(#1) June 24th, I happened to turn onto Chris Matthew's Hardball as I was "channel surfing" this day and heard him say the exact following quote, (in this context - he was criticizing the apparent lack of a clear chain of command in Obama's administration) .... "I want to know how this president RULES the country" ! RULES .... the country! In a republic like the Founder's designed, the president doesn't "rule" the country. However, this quote does reveal the apparent totalitarian attitude the Chris Matthews has toward our government and in particular, the Executive Branch of the Federal government.

(#2) My daughter has a good friend from high school and they have kept in contact. This friend now lives in a Chicago, Ill. suburben area. This week, this person revealed that he has "had it" with the local public school system. He scanned the history text book being used in one of his children's schools and could not find one mention about our nation's "war for independence", nothing! Not one reference! BUT, he did find a whole paragraph about ... Oprah Winfrey ! He has decided, as difficult as it will be, to take his school age children out of the Chicago public school system and home school them.

[linj2fly]

Not surprised about Chris.

As to the history book...wow...I'd be interested to know the title and publisher of the history book. I'm sure it wouldn't help, but he should notify his school board about it. On the other hand, here in Oregon, with budget cut scares every few years, we've had districts talk about cutting out history altogether. I homeschool my kids, and history is one of the many reasons I do.

[Col. Flagg]

Thomas Jefferson's name is now officially not in History or Social Studies books in the public schools of the state of Texas because he questioned Christianity and wrote about the need for the separation of church and state for the viability of the new republic.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/1 ... 97440.html

The Texas Board of Education approved for its social studies curriculum and textbooks:

- The Board removed Thomas Jefferson from the Texas curriculum, "replacing him with religious right icon John Calvin."

- The Board refused to require that "students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others."

April Castro, ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN, Texas — A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic," and students will be required to study the decline in value of the U.S. dollar, including the abandonment of the gold standard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/educa ... texas.html

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.

Hmm... all republicans voted for it... I thought the republicans were the good guys?