Praise the Lord and Pass the Hemlock

Praise the Lord and pass the hemlock.  Poor Obama, I mean Socrates, poisoned for corrupting the youth. http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/obama.schools/index.html?iref=mpstoryview There goes another teachable moment moved to the far right.

OK, you do not want your child to hear the speech from the President of the United States about the importance of setting goals and staying in school. Let me see if I understand.  Does that mean you are opposed to Barack Obama or opposed to staying in school? Or is it fear of what he might say?  Is it because you as a parent cannot provide an opposing argument? Can you imagine what might happen if children were actually taught to think?  Isn’t learning to think the responsibility of the educational institution?

This opposition seems to center on intervention of the federal government into education. The firestorm is about the lesson plan and what conservatives, led by the Chairman of the Republican Party in Florida, thought the president might say.  Jim Greer thought the speech might contain something about policy.

Those of you opposed, please make sure you do not mix your educational institutions, metaphorically speaking.  If you choose to not send your child to his or her school that day, it is your child’s school that will suffer, not the federal government or the president of the United States. This is due to the fact that state dollars are based on attendance. That is the mechanism that determines how much money comes from your state to your child’s school in support public education.

And what about the suggestion to call in sick with swine flu symptoms? What message does that send to the children?  That is acceptable to lie if you disagree?

Besides every child being kept home is saying “Cool! A snow day in September. Pass me the remote to the Xbox.”

Rather than harm your child’s school, have him or her go to school. You will probably need to take him because the school bus that picks up your child could have been purchased with federal dollars.

Tuck a note into his red, white and blue backpack that says “I do not want my child to hear the leader of my country because I do not like his policies because they are not mine.”  Another optional inclusion might be, “I am unable to distinguish between respect for the office of the President of my country and the individual who holds the office.” You may choose to include statements such as “In spite of the fact that I do not have any facts about the president’s address, as a parent, I prefer to censor any thing that I do not believe in or support.” And last, “As a parent, I will determine what my child sees and hears.”

Good luck on that last one. Instruct your child that he is to go to the large gathering place like the library and read The Pet Goat. Unless of course, the library books were purchased with federal funds.