I know a lot of you are outraged over this government school in North Carolina.  Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, NC is selling test scores to students in order to raise money for the school.  Twenty test points will cost students $20.

 

Here's how it works: "Students can add 10 extra points to each of two tests of their choice. The extra points could take a student from a 'B' to an 'A' on those tests or from a failing grade to a passing grade."
 

Folks .. our government schools couldn't get any worse than they already are.  Look at it this way, these students will probably learn more about math and problem solving or something by participating in this little ploy than they would sitting in the back of a government classroom listening to a government bureaucrat. 

 

Too late.  They nixed the idea.  But ... it's a government school, so look for more asinine ideas to come.

From this story:

An 11-year-old Des Moines girl was at home on suspension Tuesday for bringing a handful of empty shotgun shells to school last week.



Jazmine Martin, a sixth-grader at Brody Middle School, picked up the shells as souvenirs during a family trip to a ranch in South Dakota, where the rounds were fired as part of a show. They were blanks.

Remember ... Zero Tolerance policies are brought to you by government officials who want to escape the hard work of logical thought. Behind every zero tolerance policy you will find a collection of bureaucrats celebrating the fact that they won't actually have to use any common sense to noodle out a problem when the need arises. Zero tolerance policies are the essence of bureaucratic thought, and hence government.

Yesterday in Atlanta, we had a school in lockdown because somewhere in the area there had been a car-jacking. And I pointed out to the caller the fact that someday, these kids ... locked up inside a school, unable to play in dirt or eat birthday cake at lunch or play a sport that might cause bruising ... someday we are going to be asking these kids to fight for our country. Go, you little pansy, put your life on the line! There is no way in hell that these kids will be able to handle it.

And it is stories like this that just add to my collection of stories about the wussification of America. This story takes place in Delaware. Zachary Christie is 6-years-old. He recently joined the Cub Scouts. Good. I'm glad his parents signed him up for the Scouts, now we have to work on the whole government school thing ... but that is another rant. So Zachary joins the Cub Scouts and his parents take him to the store so he can buy some camping equipment. And Zachary is really excited about his new gadget - a camping utensil that serves as a knife, fork and a spoon. So Zachary packs his lunch for school the next day. In his lunch box he throws his new utensil so he can eat his lunch. So he gets to school, whips out his new utensil and it wasn't two minutes before Zachary is being harassed by school officials. Why? For bringing a knife to school.

Zachary is suspended from school. Not only that, but then he faces 45 days in the school district's reform school. Zero tolerance policies. He was accused of bringing a weapon to school and knives are strictly banned, "regardless of possessor's intent."

That, folks, is what we call the wussification of America. And you have government schools to thank for it.

Again, read my notes below .. then come back here.

OK .. you see those lyrics I have posted? Here's one of the verses:

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight.

Well, that's just mighty fine, isn't it?

Now ... take a look at this verse of a hymn written by Rebecca St. James.

Jesus loves the little children,

All the children of the world.

Red and yellow, black and white,

All are precious in His sight,

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Yup .. there you go. You know that song, don't you? Most of us sang "Jesus loves the little children" when we were little children! Now they've taken this song and substituted Obama for Jesus! Amazing!

It's the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, New Jersey. Up until yesterday you've probably never heard of this place. Now, thanks to the Internet and to evil, hate-filled talk radio hosts, you probably know good old BBY as the place where those students were led in an Mmm Mmm Mmm, Barack Hussein Obama praise chant earlier this year. It couldn't have been more outrageous. Here we had these government employees - government agents, if you will - leading these young kids in a rap, song, chant .. whatever .. with lines like "equal pay for equal work! Mmm Mmm Mmm, Barack Hussein Obama."

Lyrics? We have the complete lyrics here for you! Ready?

Mm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that all must lend a hand

To make this country strong again

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today

Equal work means equal pay

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand

To make sure everyone gets a chance

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white

All are equal in his sight

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!

Mmm, mmm, mm

Barack Hussein Obama

But wait! There was more! We didn't catch this yesterday, but there was another taught to these children. Here are the lyrics for the second song:

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!

For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"
Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!

The first black American to lead this great nation!
Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans

To make this country's economy number one again!
Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!

And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!
So continue --- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick

So here's a hearty hip-hooray ---
Hip, hip hooray!

Hip, hip hooray!

Hip, hip hooray!

When America's nasty, evil, disgusting, putrid talk show hosts, along with the Fox News Channel, started playing the video yesterday the website for the B. Bernice Young Elementary School was there for all to see. You could find it at http://www.burltwpsch.org/schools/ys/. Now as of last night, when I was actually writing this particular note, that website is dead. It's still dead this morning. You get the magic "page cannot be displayed" message. It's no secret as to why. The school officials were fed up with the emails from irate parents and Americans across the country. The less information publicly available about this school, the better.

Fear not though: The school superintendent weighed in to explain everything. This was all part of a celebration of black history. No big deal. So .. there you are! Now you understand everything, don't you? They were just trying to teach the kids something about the nation's first black president. I feel so much better now.

Look ... these are government schools, staffed by government workers. The people teaching our children are members of the nation's most powerful union, the National Education Association. We really should not be surprised when the children who attend these institutions start sounding and acting like the old Soviet Union's Young Pioneers. All these kids needed was a little red book of quotations from Chairman Barack.

Wait! Before I move on, let's check in with Media Myrmidons to see what these leftist footstools have to say about this episode: Here you go:

Conservative media fearmonger about unauthorized YouTube video of school kids "praising" Obama The Drudge Report: "SHOCK VIDEO: School kids taught to praise Obama ..." On September 23, Internet gossip Matt Drudge linked to a YouTube video purportedly showing "[s]chool kids taught to praise Obama." The video, showing young schoolchildren in New Jersey singing a song about Obama, provides no evidence that the children or their parents consented to having the video posted on YouTube.

Now that's some hard-hitting stuff there. Is that all they brought to this bar fight? The video was "unauthorized!" Oh my gosh! Dogs and cats sleeping together! Then these weak sisters complain that parents hadn't consented to having the video posted on YouTube. You gotta love the quotes around "praising." Apparently Media Myrmidons isn't concerned about parents being consulted before their kids were taught these Obama praise songs. Gotta love 'em. By the way, they haven't given me my props for some time. I'll need to step it up a bit.

Have you ever heard me refer to our government schools as indoctrination
centers? If' you've listened for more than a day you have. Check out this video from a government school:

At first I thought this article was a joke. I really thought that there was no way our government schools have gotten this bad. But I was wrong. Go figure.

The Tucson Unified School District has decided to implement a two-tiered system for student discipline. One tier will be for blacks and Hispanics ... and the other tier will be for everyone else.

The goal of this system is to create a "'restorative school culture and climate' that conveys a 'sense of belonging to all students,' the board is insisting that its schools reduce its suspensions and/or expulsions of minority students to the point that the data reflect 'no ethnic/racial disparities.'"

With this comes the creation of an "Equity Team" that will ... get this ... oversee the plan to ensure "a commitment to social justice for all students."

OK ... now what does this look like to you? I'm thinking that the Tucson school district will not be allowed to discipline minority students except in accordance with strict quotas. If 60% of the students are black and Hispanic, then only 60% of disciplinary actions can be taken against black and Hispanic students. The other 40% of disciplinary actions must be taken against whites ... regardless of who is committing the infractions.

Let's apply this to crime enforcement in your city. Why knows? Maybe the Tucson idea will catch on and this will come to pass?

Let's say the breakdown in your city is 30% black and Hispanic, and 70% white. Statistics show that about 70% of the violent crimes are committed by the black and Hispanic population. As I understand the Tucson plan, the cops in your city will have to charge 7 whites for every 3 blacks and Hispanics for these crimes. You gotta stick with the ratios, you know.

But wait! There's more! As I understand it, the school disciplinarians in Tucson will also have to treat every infraction based on the color of the infractor. (OK ... I made the word up.) A brilliant example follows. The MF word is a part of black culture; not so much for white culture. Maybe only whites should be punished for uttering that epithet.

Precedence? You want precedence? OK, I got your precedence right here. Several years ago the NBA decided to strengthen the penalties for swearing on the basketball court during a game. Black players asked that the "MF" phrase be exclused because it was a part of their culture and, thus, was not swearing.

Keeps getting stranger and stranger folks.

Today at noon Barack Obama addresses the nation's schoolchildren .. or a good number of them anyway. Many students won't hear the speech because of a rather severe miscalculation from the right. Republican screaming and wailing made it sound as if Hugo Chavez was flying in via Aeroflot to speak to our poor, innocent, unsuspecting angels. School districts reacted ... and millions of school kids will sit around picking their noses at noon instead of watching the speech.

So now the speech is out. As of yesterday afternoon you could read it on the Internet. I've read it, and if there is anything in there that I wouldn't want my child to have heard from a U.S. President, I certainly couldn't find it.

Egad! The speech is innocuous! What are we going to do now? I know! We'll all claim that Obama changed the speech after the uproar from the right! Well, duhhhhhh. Of course he did! Why wouldn't he! Well, actually he really didn't have to change it. It probably wasn't written by the time conservative boxers bunched up en masse. So Obama's speechwriters took their cue from the right and made the speech essentially bulletproof from the get-go. One sharp mind in a Republican strategy session could have seen this one coming from the next galaxy.

• President says he will give speech to schoolchildren.
• Republicans say the speech will be full of leftist propaganda
• Parents run in circles flailing arms overhead while screaming and shouting.
• Some school officials black out Obama's speech. (racist comment)
• Grinning speechwriters prepare speech with no leftist propaganda.
• Republicans look like fools.
• People now more reluctant to listen to conservative complaints about Obama.

Now how easy was that? For about three days we have parents, the Republican Party and assorted odds spinning around on their eyebrows and spitting wooden nickels over Obama's speech. He's going to indoctrinate our children. He's going to fill them full of socialist ideology. They're all going to come away from school today singing Kumbaya and waving red flags. They'll probably stop on the way home from school to buy a Che Guevara t-shirt from vendors the Democrats will have waiting out in front of their schools. Then the hopelessly indoctrinated kids will come home and destroy all the incandescent light bulbs and turn the spare bathtub into a recycling bin. Before they do their homework (reading The Communist Manifesto) they'll hide the car keys so daddy has to take mass transportation to work on Wednesday.

TeamObama must have loved this one. Talk about a hanging curveball. Once the manic inanity started all they had to do is sit back, prepare an innocuous speech for The One, and let the people scratch their heads wondering what in the hell the Republicans were so upset about!

Now that the speech is out .. and now that most stable people realize that there is nothing in the speech worthy of such an uproar ... it's time to change tactics. "It's not the speech! It's the lesson plan!" Oh yeah ... if that makes you feel better, go for it. You can just tell everyone that you really weren't upset about Obama actually speaking to the students ... it was the lesson plan that had you so angry all along. Yup! Works for me! Sure .. some Department of Education hack messed up the lesson plan, but that was so easily corrected and it was on to the speech. Now the next time the right comes up with an objection to some Obama concept, people who last week might have been on board will stand back and look at the Republicans with a jaundiced eye.

The massively dysfunctional Congress is back today .. with one thought in mind: Rescue Obama's presidency. The danger that this man and his congressional sycophants presents to this country is far from over. Obama will be doubling his effort to destroy much of America's private economic sector, starting with the seizure of the 18 percent of our economy represented by health care. This nonsense over the speech to the school children has boosted Obama's image as he and the congress get back to the business of promoting government. He will make a speech to the congress tomorrow night outlining his vision of government-controlled health care. No doubt his vision will contain many threats to liberty ... but opposing views will be filtered through the school speech debacle. Two steps forward and four steps back. Unless PrezBO really messes up his address to Congress tonight watch for his popularity ratings to rise. Thanks, Republicans!

A version of the foregoing Nuze segment about Obama's school speech appeared as a column at Townhall.com today ... and it wasn't what you might call "welcomed." You can click here to read the comments.

This is a story that keeps on giving.

A lot of you have your thongs in a square knot over the fact that Barack Obama will be addressing school children next week. Some schools have decided that they are not going to show the speech. Others will require parent permission. But you parents are pretty upset. You're upset with me as well because I'm not all that upset. All I'm saying is to give the speech a chance. This really is a win-win situation for conservatives. If he says something that suggests "indoctrination," then conservatives can nail him. If he says something worthwhile, then what harm could it really do?

Question: What type of kool-aid do they serve in the green rooms of MSNBC? Have you been listening to these people? No wonder Dr. G and her bolt cutters have a bigger audience. Here's the latest example of MSNBC idiocy: Keith Boykin appeared on MSNBC yesterday to discuss this presidential address to students. Boykin says, "So much of the debate about President Obama has been politicized in an effort by some to delegitimize his presidency ... This is clearly much ado about nothing. We're talking about the President of the United States speaking to school kids. Why wouldn't schools want this to happen?"

Ok, I can agree with him so far. But then he goes on to say, "That's why our kids are so dumb today, because they don't want to have basic common sense in the classroom." Hey Keith, maybe our children are "so dumb today" because we send them to the government to be educated. Ever think about that?

 

Are we ready to chill out about Obama's speech to the nation's government school children next week? Is there a potential for a disaster? Sure there is, but I think it's unlikely. Obama isn't going to go on the classroom tubes and tell the kids to "go home and tell your folks to call their elected officials and tell them to support my health care plan. If you don't, you're gonna die." The White House says that the purpose of the speech is for PrezBO to "address the students on the importance of taking responsibility for their success in school." Who in the world wouldn't want this message delivered to our students? Do you think you would have had your panties in a wad if it was George W. Bush delivering the same message to the students?

Obama is in a position to do some good here. Many of these school children look up to him. They have no awareness of his flirtations with Marxism in college. They don't understand his complete lack of experience as he stood for election last year. They just know that he's the president, and that's important. Young black students see him as an incredible roll model. If he delivers them a positive message about personal responsibility we're all the better off for it.

All this doesn't mean we sleep through his speech. Let's watch carefully to see if there is any pro-big government propaganda that needs to be addressed. Until then ... find something else to get all worked up over.

So Barack Obama is going to give this little speech to students across this nation. Yeah, yeah I know ... I'm sure that students in private schools will be watching too, but students in government schools will be REQUIRED to watch and participate.

So I've come up with a little treat of my own. Next week, I am going to give the Boortz address to government school students. This is the speech that students in this country SHOULD be hearing, but won't. I challenge any of you government school teachers to include my version of Obama's address in your lesson plans ... see how long it takes for your administration to put a stop to that.

No ... no rant here. It's just disappointing. The evidence is there in the form of letters, articles and memos. The people who engineered the evolution of our government school system in the early 1900s were clear ... the goal of "public education" was only to educate our children to the point that they would be good employees and government subjects. Nothing more. The evidence of the failure of our government schools is everywhere .. yet today, without a second thought, millions of people who call themselves "parents" will turn their children over to the government for nothing more than a mediocre education. They will be spit out at the end of the school year barely able to make change or read a simple lease agreement.

Here's a wonderful quote of H.L. Mencken that fits in real nicely:

"That erroneous assumption is to the effort that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence ... Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else.

To those of you who make the sacrifice to get your children away from the government and the teacher's unions .. my admiration and thanks. Your children will be the key to our country's future. The kids going to government schools will be working for your kids .. or for the government.

Barack Obama announced yesterday that he wants to see 5,000 failing government schools closed and reopened with new principals and teachers. A few questions immediately come to mind.

Since Obama doesn't have the authority to do this, how exactly is he going to see that local school districts follow suit? Or will he expand his role as president to make sure this happens ... wouldn't shock me. Maybe he'll just withhold federal funding. That seems to work.

What the heck are these schools going to do with these teachers and principals in the meantime? Will they get paid not to work? Will they be fired? Will they be transferred? Fired? Did I say fired? No way. There will be some other government job for them somewhere. You don't expect them to survive in the private sector, do you?

That leads to the next, giant question ...

How long will it be before the teachers unions throw a fit? Unless their jobs are guaranteed ... I would give them minutes rather than hours to blow a union gasket.

My last question would have been how much money is the going to cost the taxpayers? But I managed to find the answer ... about a million dollars per school. Yep, Obama's budget sets aside up to $5 billion to facilitate this type of school turnarounds for failing government schools.

Here's an idea, Obama ... ever heard of a voucher or a private school? Rather than spending $5 billion to build more government schools, why not use that money to give students vouchers to attend the schools of their choice. That's what you and the First Lady did? Or here's another idea .. why not allow that money to be used by private companies or individuals or churches or what-have-you to build and run private schools. Just because you build a brand-new school doesn't mean that the education is going to be any better .. especially when you are dealing with government.

Unions rule in the education world, my friends. They're doing to the government schools what they did to our auto industry. We're just going to stand by and let them get away with it.

Our education secretary Arne Duncan had a message for your government educated children out there: Americans need to be in class more. Yep. He wants a six day school week and wants classes to run at least 11 months a year.

Hey, Arne. Here's an idea. Maybe the solution isn't more government indoctrination. Maybe the solution would be to take our children out of the hands of government and let them be educated in schools their parents choose. You might also give some thought to getting rid of the politically correct aspects of our education system and actually try to get back to teaching the basics. You may find this hard to believe, Secretary Duncan, but John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington are actually more important figures in our history than Harriet Tubman. If you really want to compete with schools in India and China, our government education system isn't the way to do it. You could board the children and make them sing "God Bless America" in their sleep ... but they are still coming out with a government education.

And perhaps my favorite part of the whole story is this .... Arne was giving this speech to 400 middle and high school students at a government school in northeast Denver. And when he made the suggestion of adding more class time, he told the children that they could boo him all they want. But instead, Arne was met with nothing more than bored stares.

Yep, that sounds about right. Half of the students were probably text messaging on their cell phones. The other half were probably concerned about who was getting kicked off American Idol that night. The fact is, none of them even cared.

How sad. Almost sad as the thought that this clown actually believes that we'll ever send our children to school six days a week 11 months a year. Ain't going to happen.

Just a little updated on our wonderful government education system in this country. According to the national survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences:

• Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
• Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
• Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth's surface that is covered with water.*
• Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.

I've said before that the most dangerous group of people in this country ... and that would include drug dealers, gang bankers and terrorist cells ... is the teacher's unions.

Last Friday afternoon I spoke at the 29th Annual Eagle Forum luncheon in Naples, Florida. I was a stand-in for Phylis Schlaffley who had fallen and suffered a broken hip. There were a few dozen high school students at the speech. I'm not sure if they came from several area high schools, but one group was from Barron Collier High. During the speech I asked how many of the students present knew that America was not, nor was America ever supposed to be a Democracy. The entire Barron Collier contingent raised their hands. Later they introduced me to their history teacher. He makes it a practice to teach every class the truth about out Republic .. including the fact that our founding fathers abhorred the idea of a democracy. Remember, to the people who put this country together for us .. the word "democrat" was an epithet. It meant "one who panders to the mindless whims of the masses." These students knew that ... and what a refreshing discovery that was. It is wonderful to find shining lights like these in our hideous government education system.

In Barack Obama's address to Congress, he made a point of emphasizing education. He pointed out that our education system is failing. I wonder what his first clue was? Could it be the kid at his Starbucks who couldn't make change when the computerized cash register went on the blink?

Well ... "failing" probably isn't the right word here. Perhaps these schools are doing exactly what they were designed to do. I've said on the air how much I would like for all Americans to become aware of at least two things. One, this country is not, nor was it ever designed to be a democracy. Two, our government schools were not designed to really educate our children. I know you're not going to believe me here, and there is scant chance that you're going to take the chance top do the research yourself; but if you do you will find writings and statements from the very people and organizations who developed our system of government education - a system later mimicked by the Soviet Union - making it clear that the true goal behind this education system was not to truly educate children. The goal was to teach our children just enough that they would make good employees for industry and good government subjects. So, when it comes to our government education system, I wouldn't say that it is failing .. In fact, I would say that it is doing exactly what it was meant to do. Just look around you. There is no shortage of citizens who could do anything but work for someone else, and be obedient little Democrat voters. By the way ... these are the people the unions are after with their card check bill.

Read on .............. more on schools.

John Taylor Gatto came up in conversation with a caller today. If you ever wanted details on why government education is bad, he is the author for you. Just to make it easy for you, here's a link to his books on amazon.com. 

That would be government school bus drivers, by the way. They're all going to be dressed up in khaki pants, blue blazers and red shirts. This is happening at a time the school is laying off workers due to budget shortfalls. Also .. just in case you didn't know ... this school lost its accreditation last year, generally because its being run by a bunch of idiots. The cost of these snazzy uniforms? About $75,000. Now of course when a government official comes up with an asinine idea like this, they have to have a reason. So ... here's your reason. The uniforms will prevent school bus hijackings. Now does Clayton County have a history of school bus hijackings? Nope. Can't think of one .. but when a hijacker does happen to come along he will most certainly be frightened off by the uniformed drivers.

Clayton County is losing students hand over fist. There are actually some parents there who don't want their children attending unaccredited schools. These uniforms should bring them back. They will turn the looser cruiser into a party bus!

A listener pointed us to this quote by his own Congresswoman in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her name is Betsy Markey and she is the first Democrat to represent this district in almost 40 years. And what does she do? She goes and votes with her fellow Democrats in supporting this so-called economic stimulus package.

But if it makes you feel any better (trust me .. it shouldn't), Markey did struggle with her decision. What tipped her over the edge was a message she received from a government school superintendent in her district. This government school hack sent Markey a message saying that a vote for this bill would be like "Congress throwing us a lifeline." And that is why Markey decided to vote on the bill. I guess she did not take into account the fact that not only is this gargantuan spending bill a "life line," this legislation literally doubles the amount of federal dollars spent on government education. This is something that Markey's grandchildren are going to be paying for. That doesn't matter. She's a Democrat. When she runs for reelection she's going to need the help of the teacher's unions and education bureaucrats. Connect the dots.

But that brings me to this quote, which would explain why a politician like Markey would make such a crucial decision based on a message from a government school bureaucrat. Markey says, "Is it a stimulus tomorrow that we're going to put money into education? No. But (the public education system) has always been the basis of our economic prosperity."

Did you hear that? This woman believes that it is our government education system which makes this country and our economy great. No credit to capitalism. All credit to government schools.

A headline in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution reads "Teens mourn Cobb athlete killed in wreck." Not a Cobb "student." A Cobb "athlete." Well, being an athlete is more important than being a student, I guess. I love this paragraph from the AJC story:

"Griggers [the school Principal] called Reed a "nice kid -- just a regular kid who came to school and did what he was supposed to do, played sports and was part of the community."

Yup .. that's what you're supposed to do in school. Be a part of the community (who isn't?) and play sports.

Oh .. and yes. There were grief counselors at the school yesterday. Above all you have to teach these kids that the government is always there ... even to hug their necks and tell them everything is going to be OK.

I'm not as mean and uncompassionate as I sound here. But how many years have I --- and many other people --- been saying that you don't give car keys to a 16-year-old kid. These kids don't have the judgment to be driving with the rest of us. And let's not lose sight of the fact that this teenager was driving illegally. Is there a role for parental responsibility here? Some people learn this lesson the hard way, and that's very sad.

Received this email from a listener:

The listener has it right .. this sign is actually doing more damage in this school than good. Poverty is a punishment for lack of effort. The school should change the sign to read:

A sign like that would cause the pitiful government school hostages to actually ask some questions, and if there is an astute teacher around they might get some answers that are worth that day in school.

The American Federation of Teachers, the largest teacher's union, wants your children in their classrooms at an even earlier age. The union says that children as young as three years old should be in government pre-school programs.

Now here is the deal. These teachers unions believe that government is the solution. Government is best and can do it better. And they feel like the sooner you can get your child into the government education system, the better off you are for it and the earlier they can start the "government is great" indoctrination process on your carpet crawlers.

Former Assistant Education Secretary Susan Neuman says, "The reality is that most of our children need child care, regardless ... Many parents are lucky enough to be home for the day. But more often than not they will need child care." What she means, of course, is GOVERNMENT child care. So there you go. We are admitting that this isn't about education, this is about child care. A government-sponsored, taxpayer funded baby sitting service.

A school resource officer by the name of Derek Jones in a Massachusetts better be looking for another job. You see, Derek had the idea that government school children need to be trained to defend themselves if they are ever being held by a gunman. Common sense and government schools don't mix very well .. and I'm afraid Derek may learn the hard way.

Naturally, his idea didn't go over too well. His proposal was to teach children fifth grade and up (that's about 10 years old) to fight back against a gunman than came into the classroom. They would learn techniques on how to use their backpacks or textbooks to fight or defend themselves.

Derek says, "Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?" Boy, isn't that the painful truth? Most parents don't want to answer that question. Instead, they are worried about how the children would handle the training emotionally. It may frighten them!

Protecting yourself from an attack? Is this guy nuts? Doesn't he know that the standard practice in any school - right up to and through college - is to sit there and wait for your turn to be attacked?

Needless to say, I don't think government school children in Massachusetts will be getting this training any time soon.

The day before Thanksgiving I got on the air and ranted for four and a half hours about Florida Gulf Coast University and its decision to ban Christmas from campus.  Cristina spent the entire show trying to get the president of the University, Wilson Bradshaw, on the air to discuss his asinine decision.  His calendar was "completely booked."  Yeah ... I'll just bet.  Everyone completely books their calendar the day before Thanksgiving. 

But wait!  It turns out that Bradshaw's calendar was indeed booked - he was busy drafting a new press release to reverse his decision to ban Christmas from campus.  By Wednesday afternoon, Bradshaw had a change of heart.  He says that he changed his mind due to the "overwhelming negative response."  Gee, ya think?  Don't you just hate it when some SAWB talk show host picks up on your absurd politically correct machinations? 

Anyway, I figured that you would be happy to know that some sanity has been restored to the campus of Gulf Coast University.  Although, it shouldn't take a national talk show and the national media to point out the idiocy of the original plan. 

If you have been listening to me for a while, or have been a regular reader of Nealz Nuze, you know how I feel about the Pledge of Allegiance. Particularly the idea of anyone expecting government school children to pledge allegiance to their country.

So apparently there is a little brouhaha in Vermont over how and where children should say the Pledge of Allegiance. This departs from the typical - whether or not they would be allowed to say it or forced to say it. Here's the brief scenario: A parent by the name of Ted Tedesco wanted his child's school to return to the daily practice of saying the pledge. So school officials say OK, but they decide not to have the children say the pledge in the classroom. Instead, they assign a student to go around the school and gather anyone who wants to say the pledge ... then they all walk to the gym and a student leads the pledge. Apparently about half of the students participate. This wasn't good enough for Ted Tedesco. He says that this solution is "disruptive to routine and inappropriate." He says, "Saying the Pledge in the classroom is legal, convenient and traditional ... Asking kindergarten through sixth graders who want to say the Pledge to leave their classrooms to do so is neither convenient nor traditional."

So the school changed its routine, again. This time all of the students came out into the hallway at 8am and said the pledge. Then the filed back into their classrooms. People aren't happy with this solution either. They want to know why the children can't just say it in the classrooms.

Look, folks. If we put this much passion and interest into what students were actually learning in the classroom, maybe our education system wouldn't be producing a nation of burger flippers.

Subject: government schooling
Name: jerry
Message:
neal, your as full of crap as a christmas turkey. you have spent, who
knows how many years, telling us how bad the government school system is
and yet don't have any idea how a privately conducted school system
would fair in our nation.surely you jest...you have more opions than i
have hairs on my backside...come on brainiac, tell me how much better it
would turn out. you've been saying the same thing ,word for word, for
years now...i should know since i can recite what you're going to say
and the examples you use over and over again (maybe not word for word).
same drivle different day.

why do i continue to listen to you? beats me...i guess i like hollering
at you untill i'm hoarse...maybe i'm just bored...maybe i don't have
have anything better to do while driving this truck.

luvyaforever you jerk

Yes, I've heard it ... and you can bet we'll play it on the air today for those of you who haven't. We're talking here about the video of a government school teacher in North Carolina telling a student that her dad is going to be the military for another 100 years because she was supporting John McCain for President. Here's the video clip, for those of you who haven't seen it.

Now this teacher in the video is a woman by the name of Diantha Harris. She is employed by your tax dollars - and has been for over 25 years. The parents of the student in the video, Cathy, say that Harris didn't do anything wrong. Cathy herself says that Harris "is usually messing around" and that she wasn't upset when Harris said those statements. Keep in mind that Cathy is also in elementary school. Can she really understand what is going on here? But Cathy's parents also say that they aren't mad at the teacher and they believe that Harris is "getting a rough deal" with all the controversy. They don't want any repercussions for the teacher because "there was no harm done to anybody."

Harris has called the parents and Cathy to apologize. She says, "If I could take anything back from that video, it would be that statement. I should not have said that."

Meanwhile, Cumberland County Schools Superintendent William Harrison says that the statements were inappropriate and there will be an investigation into the incident.

How many times have I called our government schools indoctrination centers? It seems that our children are taught from day one that dependence on government is a far better course than true self reliance. They're taught so many things that are just flat-out wrong that it's hard to keep count. Let's see ... America is a Democracy ... you have a right to health care ... Republicans only care about rich people ... you have a right to vote for president ... etc. Is it any wonder that we see so many big businesses stepping up to the government bail-out trough right now? The leaders of this business were taught this stuff by their very own government teachers who-knows-how many years ago.

I'm not buying the sweet innocence of Diantha Harris. I would imagine that this type of propagandizing goes on in her classroom on a regular basis, but she's so popular with the kids that nobody wants to really call her out on this. She got caught on tape - now she's claiming that the tape was altered. Yeah ... right.

The last thing I would want to do is discourage any capable and qualified voter from heading out today to vote. Now by capable and qualified I mean someone who is actually a citizen and someone who has somewhat of a clue as to what is going on out there. The sad truth is that there are going to be legions of voters like that idiot woman at an Obama rally who thought that once Obama wins here mortgage payments and gas for her car were going to be taken care of.

Obama is going to win this thing. There are only two mysteries left. How big will the victory be, and will Obama get a filibuster-proof U.S. Senate. If I had not already case my vote during early voting I would stand in line as long as it took here in Georgia to make sure that our Republican Senator is not replaced by a left-wing Democrat - one who is destined to become Harry Reid's sock puppet if he wins.

So ... some Election Day thoughts:

Thanks, Republicans. This one belongs to you. The Republican Party completely abandoned its principles after the voter revolution of 1994. The GOP became the party of big spending and big government. Beltway Republicans became drunk on power and completely forgot why they were there. They gave us no real reason to go to the polls and vote for them save for that filibuster-proof Senate scare and the fear of what the election of a Marxist will mean to our freedoms.

Thanks, George Bush. Thanks for your spectacular lack of leadership on issues of spending and big government over the past two terms. You get all the credit in the world for keeping America safe from another terrorist attack ... but when a president signs a bill he thinks is unconstitutional (McCain-Feingold) just because he thinks the Supreme Court will straighten things out; and when a president introduces grand new entitlement programs (Medicare drug benefits) and fails to veto even one pork-laden spending bill ... well, the result is an uninspired electorate and ... Barack Obama.

Thanks, Government Schools. Back to that woman at the Obama rally: Does she really believe that once Obama is elected she won't have to worry about putting gas in her car or paying her mortgage? Yup, she probably does. Then we have those Harlem voters who think that Barack Obama did a fine job in selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. This election, more than any I can remember, illustrates why Democrats are so determined to preserve our system of government education. American voters are, for the most part, spectacularly uninformed about the issues and the candidates they are voting for. Did I say "uninformed?" I meant to say ignorant. For the most part these people casting ballots today could not name their two U.S. Senators and their Congressman if their flat-screens and cell phones depended on it. Things are only going to get worse. Get ready for an all-out war on school choice .. and that includes the home schooling option. The era of the teacher's unions is upon us.

And thanks Voters. This is an election that has been driven by wealth envy and celebrity worship. I really don't see any of this changing anytime soon ... so, whatchagonnado?

I really should be saving most of this for tomorrow .. when we find out just how much trouble our Republic is really in. For today ... all we can realistically hope for is keeping those big-government numbers down in the Senate.