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Bill Ayers, Obama and Education

Posted by Lisa Graas on Monday, October 20, 2008 8:45:25 AM
Barack Obama had this to say about Bill Ayers on his website [emphasis mine]:
 
"Ayers is a tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a respected advisor to Mayor Daley on School Reform".
 
Apparently, Barack Obama isn't the only person who "respects" Bill Ayers' capabilities as an "advisor". So does Hugo Chavez and other Venezuelan "comrades" of Ayers. ("Comrade" is Ayers' word for them, not mine. See below.) Ayers' comments at the 2006 World Education Forum in Venezuela have been covered somewhat, including by Andy McCarthy at National Review here.
 
As McCarthy points out, whether or not Obama knew about Ayers' terrorist acts or has condemned them isn't really the issue. We can probably take Obama at his word that he never condoned Ayers' acts of terrorism. The real issue to me, as a parent of schoolchildren, is Obama's willingness to work alongside Ayers to bring about change in the educational system and that it would be nearly impossible for Obama not to have known Ayers' radical views for which he is unrepentant. What parent wants an educational system designed by the likes of Bill Ayers? Answer: Communist parents. Here, for your review, are the comments of Bill Ayers at the 2006 World Education Forum in Venezuela:
 
President Hugo Chavez, Vice-President Vicente Rangel, Ministers Moncada and Isturiz, invited guests,comrades. I’m honored and humbled to be here with you this morning. I bring greetings and support from your brothers and sisters throughout Northamerica. Welcome to the World Education Forum! Amamos la revolucion Bolivariana!
 
This is my fourth visit to Venezuela, each time at the invitation of my comrade and friend Luis Bonilla, a brilliant educator and inspiring fighter for justice. Luis has taught me a great deal about the Bolivarian Revolution and about the profound educational reforms underway here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution, and I’ve come to appreciate Luis as a major asset in both the Venezuelan and the international struggle—I look forward to seeing how he and all of you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane. Thank you, Luis, for everything you’ve done.
 
I also thank my youngest son, Chesa Boudin, who is interpreting my talk this morning and whose book on the Bolivarian revolution has played an important part in countering the barrage of lies spread by the U.S. State Department and the corrupted Northamerican media.
 
On my last trip to Caracas I spoke of traveling to a literacy class—Mission Robinson— in the hills above the city along a long and winding road. As we made our way higher and higher, the talk turned to politics as it inevitably does here, and someone noted that the wealthy—here and everywhere, here and in the US surely—have certain received opinions, a kind of absolute judgment about poor and working people, and yet they have never traveled this road, nor any road like it. They have never boarded this bus up into these hills, and not just the oligarchy or the wealthy—this lack of first-hand knowledge, of open investigation, of generous regard is also a condition of the everyday liberals, and even many of the radicals and armchair intellectuals whose formulations sit lifeless and stifling in a crypt of mythology about poor people. Everyone should come and travel these roads into the hills, we agreed then—and not just once, but again and again and again – if they will ever learn anything of the real conditions of life here, surely, but more important than that, if they will ever encounter the wisdom and experience and insight that lives here as well.
 
We arrived at eight o’clock to a literacy circle already underway being conducted in a small, poorly-lit classroom. And here in an odd and dark space, a sun was shining: ten people had pulled their chairs close together—a young woman maybe 19, a grandmother maybe 65, two men in their 40s—each struggling to read. And I thought of a poem called A Poor Woman Learns to Write by Margaret Atwood about a woman working laboriously to print her name in the dirt. She never thought she could do it, the poet notes, not her– this writing business was for others. But she does it, prints her name, her first word so far, and she looks up and smiles— for she did it right.
 
The woman in the poem—just like the students in Mission Robinson—is living out a universal dialectic that embodies education at its very best: she wrote her name, she changed herself, and she altered the conditions of her life. As she wrote the word, she changed the world, and another world became—suddenly and surprisingly—possible.
 
I began teaching when I was 20 years old in a small freedom school affiliated with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The year was 1965, and I’d been arrested in a demonstration. Jailed for ten days, I met several activists who were finding ways to link teaching and education with deep and fundamental social change. They were following Dewey and DuBois, King and Helen Keller who wrote: “We can’t have education without revolution. We have tried peace education for 1,900 years and it has failed. Let us try revolution and see what it will do now.”
 
I walked out of jail and into my first teaching position—and from that day until this I’ve thought of myself as a teacher, but I’ve also understood teaching as a project intimately connected with social justice. After all, the fundamental message of the teacher is this: you can change your life—whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve done, another world is possible. As students and teachers begin to see themselves as linked to one another, as tied to history and capable of collective action, the fundamental message of teaching shifts slightly, and becomes broader, more generous: we must change ourselves as we come together to change the world. Teaching invites transformations, it urges revolutions small and large. La educacion es revolucion!
I taught at first in something like a Simoncito—called Head Start—and eventually taught at every level in barrios and prisons and insurgent projects across the United States. I learned then that education is never neutral. It always has a value, a position, a politics. Education either reinforces or challenges the existing social order, and school is always a contested space – what should be taught? In what way? Toward what end? By and for whom? At bottom, it involves a struggle over the essential questions: what does it mean to be a human being living in a human society?
 
Totalitarianism demands obedience and conformity, hierarchy, command and control. Royalty requires allegiance. Capitalism promotes racism and militarism – turning people into consumers, not citizens. Participatory democracy, by contrast, requires free people coming together voluntarily as equals who are capable of both self-realization and, at the same time, full participation in a shared political and economic life.
 
Education contributes to human liberation to the extent that people reflect on their lives, and, becoming more conscious, insert themselves as subjects in history. To be a good teacher means above all to have faith in the people, to believe in the possibility that people can create and change things. Education is not preparation for life, but rather education is life itself ,an active process in which everyone— students and teachers– participates as co-learners. Despite being under constant attack from within and from abroad, the Bolivarian revolution has made astonishing strides in a brief period: from the Mission Simoncito to the Mission Robinson to the Mission Ribas to the Mission Sucre, to the Bolivarian schools and the UBV, Venezuelans have shown the world that with full participation, full inclusion, and popular empowerment, the failings of capitalist schooling can be resisted and overcome. Venezuela is a beacon to the world in its accomplishment of eliminating illiteracy in record time, and engaging virtually the entire population in the ongoing project of education.
 
The great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote a poem to his fellow writers called “The Poet’s Obligation” in which he instructed them in their core responsibility: you must, he said, become aware of your sisters and brothers who are trapped in subjugation and meaninglessness, imprisoned in ignorance and despair. You must move in and out of windows carrying a vision of the vast oceans just beyond the bars of the prison– a message of hope and possibility. Neruda ends with this: it is through me that freedom and the sea will call in answer to the shrouded heart.
 
Let those of us who are gathered here today read this poem as “The Teacher’s Obligation.” We, too, must move in and out of windows, we, too, must build a project of radical imagination and fundamental change. Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education– a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation. This World Education Forum provides us a unique opportunity to develop and share the lessons and challenges of this profound educational project that is the Bolivarian Revolution.
 
Viva Mission Sucre!
Viva Presidente Chavez!
Viva La Revolucion Bolivariana!
Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
 
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Faith of My Fathers

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Poll: Do Obama's Policies Resemble Socialism?

Posted by Lisa Graas on Monday, October 20, 2008 12:04:38 AM
Much is being made of Obama's comments to "Joe the Plumber" that taxes are necessary to "spread the wealth". Obama seems to be coming at this from a standpoint of morality since historically tax cuts generate more revenue. Regardless of whether or not you think Obama's policies are "right" or "wrong", do you think they are socialistic in nature at all? Take the poll. ``````````````````````````````` <a href="http://www.buzzdash.com/index.php?page=buzzbite&BB_id=124185">Do you think Obama's policies resemble socialism?</a> | <a href="http://www.buzzdash.com">BuzzDash polls</a>

Vote McCain Palin 2008 Adult T-Shirt

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Nurse Who Exposed Infanticide-Based Abortions: Obama Lied During Debate

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 10:42:51 PM

Chicago, IL (LifeNews.com) -- The Chicago-area nurse who exposed the practice of life-birth abortions that led to he bill Barack Obama repeatedly opposed in the Illinois legislature says Obama lied about his record during the final presidential debate. Jill Stanek says Obama again misrepresented his position and record before the American people. McCain took Obama to task during the debate when the topic turned to abortion. Obama responded to the charge by repeating his claim that he voted against the bill because it would have undermined Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that allowed virtually unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy. However, as Stanek explains, Obama voted for an amendment to the bill to mitigate those concerns and subsequently voted against the legislation anyway. Stanek said the bill, the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, “simply stated all born alive babies became legally protected persons immediately upon birth, no matter what gestational age and no matter if unwanted abortion survivors.” “Obama voted against this straightforward human rights legislation four times stating as the sole state senator speaking against it on the Senate floor in 2001 it would be ‘unconstitutional’ to declare very premature abortion survivors persons,” Stanek explained. Obama also defended his votes against the anti-infanticide bill by claiming "there was already a law on the books in Illinois that required providing lifesaving treatment.” Stanek also called that a “lie” saying “Illinois abortion law to this day only protects abortion survivors their abortionist deems fit to live."

Full story at LifeNews.com.

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Stealing Elections, Revised and Updated: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy

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Obama's Advantage Seems to Be Slipping in Ohio

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 8:13:52 PM
According to the General Election Ohio poll by NBC Mason Dixon: Ohio -- the state that decided the last election -- McCain has a slim one-point edge over Obama, 46%-45%. ```````````````````````

Stealing Elections, Revised and Updated: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy

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Nonpartisan Analysis: Barack Obama Misrepresented Key Pro-Abortion Vote

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 7:54:59 PM
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Another analysis from a nonpartisan group shows Barack Obama misrepresented his votes in the Illinois legislature against bills to provide medical care for newborns who survive failed abortions. The analysis says a pro-life group was right and that an Obama ad on the issue was misleading. At issue are Obama's votes on the Born Alive Infants Protection Act bills in the Illinois legislature. Obama voted against them because he claimed they would interfere with Roe v. Wade. The federal bill had language saying it would not impact Roe and the National Right to Life Committee obtained documents showing an amendment with that same Roe neutrality language was added to one version of the bill Obama opposed anyway. Obama eventually called NRLC liars, a group representing one woman who survived a failed abortion criticized Obama in a television ad for his votes and Obama's campaign released a misleading advertisement attacking the ad and John McCain. The PolitiFact.com web site, a nonpartisan site run jointly by Congressional Quarterly and the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times newspaper, says NRLC is right and Obama is wrong. "We requested documentation from the Illinois State Archives about the 2003 bill and found that it did have a neutrality clause, as the National Right to Life said," PolitiFact concludes, agreeing with NRLC. PolitiFact went on to critique the Obama ad defending his votes and attacking the ad from Gianna Jessen, the woman who survive a failed abortion and attacked Obama in her own television ad. Full story at LifeNews.com ``````````````````````````````

Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments Are Scamming Us ... and What to Do About It

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Sarah Palin: Barack Obama "Absolutely Atrocious" by Supporting Unlimited Abortion

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 7:29:56 PM

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With debate moderators not asking any questions of the candidates on abortion, pro-life advocates have been hoping John McCain and Sarah Palin would criticize Barack Obama's pro-abortion record. In a national radio interview on Thursday, Palin did just that and called Obama's record "atrocious." During an interview with nationally syndicated radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, Palin described Obama's view that abortions should be legal for any reason throughout pregnancy “absolutely atrocious." Palin heavily criticized Obama's votes in the Illinois legislature against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, a bill that would require hospital staff to provide medical care for infants who survive failed abortions. “His position on this and on life has been his vote against legislation--three times voting against legislation that would provide medical care to a baby born having been a survivor of an abortion," the Alaska governor said. Palin went back to the issue of abortion later in the interview and continued criticizing Obama for the votes on the anti-infanticide bill and also tagged him for opposing a ban on partial-birth abortions. “It's appalling enough I think even for those who are pro-abortion to understand that Barack Obama opposes banning partial-birth abortion because that's quite extreme," Palin explained.

Full story at LifeNews.com.

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Why Can't We Love Them Both : Questions and Answers About Abortion

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Palin on SNL - Part 2

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 2:20:51 PM
As I write, this clip has been viewed nearly a half million times at the SNL website.

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SARAH PALIN: In Her Own Words - Recent Speeches, Interviews and Official Biography (includes Republican Convention Speech)

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Palin on SNL

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 2:19:16 PM
Sarah Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live last night and actually looked a lot more like Sarah Palin than Tina Fey does! Both Fey and Palin did a great job. They did not speak to each other but passed each other on stage and the moment was carried flawlessly by both. Alec Baldwin had great lines but he was obviously reading from a prompter which diminished the impact of what might have been a riotous skit. The video appears below. Enjoy! ```````````````` ```````````````````````````````

Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down

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Poll: Which Candidate Will You Vote For?

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 2:16:30 PM
Many have already voted in this poll.  Time is running out.  Cast your vote now in this online poll.
 
 
<a href="http://www.buzzdash.com/index.php?page=buzzbite&BB_id=122380">Right now, do you plan to vote for McCain or Obama?</a> <a href="http://www.buzzdash.com">BuzzDash polls</a> `````````````````````````````````````````` Stealing Elections, Revised and Updated: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy
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Update on America's Cities

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 2:13:03 PM
My military analyist (my big brother who retired from the military after a distinguished career) tells me he thinks it may be time for America to "pull out" of Chicago after he received an email stating that the murder rate in Chicago is higher than the death toll in Iraq when taken per capita. I promised him that I would do a bit of research to see if this is so. I did find some information about the murder rate in American cities as compared to the violent death rate in Iraq and I came up with some numbers that may surprise you.
According to government figures, Iraq's violent death rate in 2006 was 56.49 per 100,000 residents. Mind you, these figures are for the country of Iraq as a whole. Now lets' compare the per capita rate to some major U.S. cities. I'm looking at a report by Forbes on America's Most Murderous Cities.

Cities in America with the highest murder rate, per capita:
Detroit = 47.3
Baltimore = 43.3
New Orleans = 37.6
Newark, NJ = 37.4
St. Louis = 37.2
Oakland, CA = 36.4
Washington, DC = 29.1
Cincinnati = 28.8
Philadelphia = 27.7
Buffalo, NY = 26.4
 
Okay, so America's most murderous cities are a bit safer than the country of Iraq was in 2006. The numbers really aren't a great deal better for America, though, than they are for Iraq. Is it appropriate, then, to refer to Iraq as a quagmire when safety in some of America's cities is only negligibly better? Let's take a deeper look into America's numbers. Tom Blumer did some digging into murder rates in American cities in recent years and found the following numbers.

Various American cities and murder rates per capita in recent years:
 
Washington, DC (1991) -- 83.1
Gary, IN (2005) -- 58.0
Detroit, MI (1991) -- roughly 60
Compton, CA (2005) -- 67.1
New Orleans (2006) -- 67.5
Atlanta (1973) -- 57.7
E. St. Louis, IL (2004) -- 63.4
 
The numbers are clear. The average Iraqi citizen was less likely to be murdered in 2006 than the average Detroit citizen in 1991. Wow. Look at the number for DC in 1991. That's not a typo, friends. The per capita rate was 83.1 -- far higher than the 2006 rate in Iraq. Again I say, "wow".
 
Note to bro: Exact numbers for Chicago have been a bit hard to find. I will get back to you if I can find some detailed and reliable information.
 
In conclusion, I will simply remind readers that numbers don't lie. Do with the information what you will, but there is the information, for whatever it's worth.
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My Dad, John McCain

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America's Most Miserable Cities and Who Runs Them

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:56:11 PM
In January, Forbes magazine rated America's cities to find which ones are the "most miserable". Cities were rated on the following criteria: unemployment, tax rates, commute times, weather, crime and Superfund sites. Here are the top ten most miserable cities, according to Forbes magazine, and the party affiliations of their mayors.

Does anyone else see a pattern here?

Photo: Mayor Cockrel, Detroit

Ten worst cities in America.

Detroit, MI – Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr., Democrat (Detroit has had Democratic mayors since 1962.)

Stockton, CA – Mayor Edward Chavez, Democrat (Data not available on former mayors.)

Flint, MI – Mayor Don Williamson, Democrat (Flint has had Democratic mayors since at least 1991. Data prior to that unavailable.)

New York, NY – Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Lifelong Democrat, switched to Independent in 2001. (NYC has had Democratic mayors for 56 of the last 63 years.)

Philadelphia, PA – Mayor Michael Nutter, Democrat (Philadelphia has had Democratic mayors since 1952.)

Chicago, IL – Mayor Richard Daley, Democrat (Chicago has had Democratic mayors since 1931.

Los Angeles, CA – Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Democrat (Los Angeles has had Democratic mayors for 55 of the last 70 years.)

Modesto, CA – Mayor Jim Ridenour, Republican. (Data not available prior to Ridenour’s term but the Congressional delegation is both Republican and Democrat.)

Charlotte, NC – Mayor Pat McCrory, Republican (Last three mayors were Republican.)

Providence, RI – Mayor David Cicilline, Democrat (Providence has had Democratic mayors for 68 of the last 77 years.)

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Stealing Elections, Revised and Updated: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy

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IBD Series: The Audacity of Socialism

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:54:32 PM

 

 

Investor's Business Daily offers an in-depth look at the real Barack Obama. Click Here to Read This Important Series

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The Reagan I Knew

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Distractions, distractions.

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:48:38 PM
Sarah Palin visited North Carolina on Thursday. She addressed the assembled masses on the issues of the federal budget, taxes and offshore drilling according to this report in the Miami Herald. While in North Carolina, she was interviewed by a reporter with the Raleigh News and Observor and answered questions on free trade, the late Senator Jesse Helms, her readiness to be vice president, and reports about harsh things shouted at her rallies. When asked what her thoughts were about the 2005 tobacco buyout, she admitted that she didn't know enough about it to comment. The Obama campaign responded by twisting a casual comment she made about being in small-town America. ```````````````````````````````````

Faith of My Fathers

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Joe has no plumbing license.

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:45:01 PM
And this matters why??? I can't help thinking that poor Joe has had the "audacity to hope" for the American dream and it's just been shot down in flames by Obama's media posse. An excerpt: Should have known better than to ask a media darling a tough question before your affairs were in order, Joe. Exit question: The law’s the law and it is, after all, his own fault for not having the papers he needs. If, say, an illegal alien had asked McCain a tough question and some righty media source responded by bringing his status to light, would the left feel the same way? ``````````````````````````````````

SARAH PALIN: In Her Own Words - Recent Speeches, Interviews and Official Biography (includes Republican Convention Speech)

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Meet the Change Candidate(s)

Posted by Lisa Graas on Sunday, October 19, 2008 1:43:10 PM
So, you're looking for change? And you think Obama is "the" change candidate? Thanks to a great resource online called the Museum of the Moving Image, we can all take a step back in history and find that every election is about change. The "change" message is certainly not new. In fact, it's rather old news. Which "change" candidate do you like? Eisenhower? Kennedy? (What a jingle. I hope this doesn't get stuck in my head.) How 'bout Ford? Yeah, that's right. FORD was a "change" candidate even though he was the incumbent. Carter? Clinton? Yes, Clinton/Gore were a "new generation of Democrats" that supported the death penalty and hated welfare. Yup. Yes, even George W. Bush was a "change" candidate. Go figure. ```````````````````````````````````

Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down

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