Tuesday, the president is scheduled to address children in the public school systems nation wide. Let me begin by saying, I see nothing wrong with that, and it was done by George H. W. Bush many years ago. I even this president could speak about the need for education, and how kids should work hard to achieve their goals so that they can be successful in life.

But, then this administration went a bit farther. They “worked with” the Department of Education to concoct a lesson plan for the different grade levels. Now, these lesson plans were not innocuous, asking kids what their goals in life or education were, or asking them what they hoped to accomplish. They planned to ask the children what they could do to help support the president. They planned to ask them how they were “inspired” by the president. While that may not seem too problematic, it begins with the assumption that all the kids (or more importantly, their parents) are in agreement with the current direction this administration is taking, and therefore want to help, or support him in his policies. The lesson plans did not leave much room for those who might dissent. The DOE also encouraged teachers to put up banners and posters with “great Obama sayings” from previous education speeches. Not influential people. Not all the presidents/politicians. Only President Obama. Again, not a problem? This type of propaganda is reminiscent of various world leaders of the past, none of which live fondly in my memory…

Perhaps some still don’t see why this is so upsetting to me. Perhaps we could make a quick comparison and see if the point sinks home. If President Bush, in the midst of falling poll numbers, while trying to drum up support for fighting the Iraq War, had done the same thing, Liberals would have hit the roof! Think about the timing of Obama’s address. He is trying to ram-rod through his “health care reform”, and is quickly losing support. He has lost so much support, he is calling a joint session of congress together to address his plan. That will come on Wednesday night, one day after the address to students. Think that is accidental? Nope! The American people are expressing their outrage at the Democrats intended rape of the health care system in America. In fact, there will be a gathering of over 60,000 people in southern WV on Labor day (wish I could go!) of people who are fighting against the socialized medicine plan that is being shoved through. By going into the schools, and addressing the children, Obama (I believe…remember, this post is my opinion) is trying to steal the thunder of the protesting conservatives. He is trying to have the children talking about what a great guy he is. He wants them telling their parents that he isn’t as bad as they thought. It is the typical liberal ploy…if you can’t get something you want now, start putting it in the school systems so that it will be accepted int he next generation. Haven’t seen it before? Ask yourself why Homosexual Marriage is now legal in at least 5 states. Yep, they followed the same plan!

Now, some have made the argument that we as conservatives (and perhaps Christians?) shouldn’t think we need to protect our children from things such as this. And, that this will give us the opportunity to talk to our children about it… I have a couple of thoughts. First, if we don’t realize it IS our responsibility to protect our children, then we have missed our God given responsibility. There are some things that our children just don’t need to be exposed to at age 6. Trust me, my children are not going to be taught about sex by a public school teacher in the first grade! I’m going to protect them from such ungodliness. I wonder how many people who make the “we can’t shelter them” argument take the same approach on the physical dangers of life? “I’m going to let them play in the road, I guess they will learn that’s a bad idea one way or the other.” Having said that, I am not sure (since I haven’t seen the text of the speech itself) that this issue is a “protect the children” issue. This is more of a political issue. It has to do with abuse of power, and politicizing the Department of Education. With the lesson plans that were originally released, the DOE was being used as a tool to drum up support for the president, rather than its intended purpose of educating our children.

This is why, in my original status update, I said this is proof that we should never have created the DOE. This is certainly not the first time that it has been abused. Public schools are supposed to educate our children, not indoctrinate them with the beliefs of the current administration. Every day, we see abuses. As mentioned before, tolerance of Homosexuality is propagated, as is support for the unfounded “science” of global warming and a plethora of other policies. The sad thing is, in the midst of all of these “additions”, many children still aren’t taught to read or do arithmetic! I think the actions of the White House in this issue have shown their complete distrust in the competency of the teachers in the public schools. Why would they have to release a lesson plan for the teachers? Does the Obama administration believe that teachers couldn’t use his speech as a teaching moment without guidance from them? Or were they just afraid that some might take the discussion in a different direction than he wants them to go? Obviously, they want the teachers to be used as an arm of the government to encourage the youth of America to get behind the president and his policies (regardless of what they are).

The uproar among conservatives over this has led to some changes in the “lesson plans” released by the DOE. Some of the “support” wording has been taken out now, which is a good thing. What has not been changed is the encouragement to virtually idolize this president over all of the other men and women that could be held up as educational examples.

As I said when I started this post, I am not opposed to the President addressing school children. But, we need to examine all that is going on. Number one, he is giving a speech to all school children at once, from Pre-K all the way through High School. Now, if that is the case, how can address them all on a level that is understood? Can he really inspire seniors in HS with the same language that is understandable by children who are 4 or 5 years old? Of course not. So the goal must simply mean to get him in front of all the kids, and leave a positive impression. How could parents be so upset with a man who is so nice? Second, the speech itself will either contain policy, or it won’t. If it is simply encouraging kids to continue in their education and do the best they can, that is great. However, if it includes the need for them to fight global warming, be more compassionate toward others (code for socialism in most cases) and the need for “health care for all”, then it crosses the line. We don’t need any president campaigning to those that are 5 years old! Third, the propaganda that goes along with this speech is disturbing. Posters flaunting the greatness of this president can be classified as nothing less than propaganda.

Could this be done in a way that does not raise the ire of conservatives? Of course. But, this president, despite all of his claims to “bipartisanship” seems to constantly make decisions to inflame conservatives. I think it is a joke now to look back and see the accusations of the lack of bipartisanship on the part of George W. Bush and the Republicans (which actually had many, many pieces of legislation developed from reaching “across the aisle”) when considering the ram-rod governing we seem to have now! But, how could this be changed?

First, keep the DOE out of it. Teachers and school systems do not need specific lesson plans handed out to schools to tell them just how to use the president’s speech to his betterment. Second, make sure the speech itself is apolitical. There should be no policy, such as the need for universal health care, or the need for the students to fight global warming. Third, If you are going to ask questions, give the opportunity for students to voice disagreement with the president. Fourth, get rid of the posters. At the very least, put up posters of more than just the current president.

I know this is long, and that most will not read it all. But, this is why I think the speech on Tuesday is such a bad idea. I would not pull my kid out to “protect” them, I’d pull my kid out in protest of the abuse of the DOE by this White House, and attempt of this administration to indoctrinate the children with the greatness of this president, especially in the midst of his losing battle on health care reform.

Here’s an article to take a look at with some more info on the plan itself:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/02/wh-withdraws-call-students-help-obama/

I also thought I’d add a couple of videos that were pointed out to me, that should make people think about what is happening in this country.  People are now virtually worshiping the man, Barak Obama, instead of recognizing him as being our elected official, and thus the servant to the people.  The first video is one that reminds me of Hitler’s Youth:

The second is a PSA, asking people to basically pledge their loyalties to Obama, and his causes. Notice that many of the “pledges” seem to be very good in nature, but many of them are merely supporting Liberal Obama policy. Some are essentially deceitful, using the wording of conservative movements (like Alyssa Milano’s “I pledge to have a voice for those who have none” statement, taken directly from Pro-life members) to be applied to liberal policy. In the end, we are asked to pledge ourselves to the president. Are you kidding me? Can you even imagine the outrage if a conservative put out something as extreme as this?

It is time to say, “NO!” to all of this nonsense. Perhaps, it is time to get rid of some of the nonsense that can’t be paid for in the public schools today, and teach some good old fashioned civics. Maybe then, administrations that grab power like this one could never be put into the office!

Seriously, if you can get past the revolting view behind the president, you might hear a bit of what he is saying.  There is some irony to the speech.  The whole speech is about how much more of your (and my) money he is intending to spend.  This is beyond the almost 900 billion that he spent last week, and the 200 billion that he spent this week.  Oh yeah, and then he had a “Fiscal Responsibility Summit” at the White House yesterday.  Dick Morris said in an interview yesterday, “That’s like having Mike Tyson convene a summit on domestic violence.”  Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.  It would be funny if it were not so serious.  Ok, it is funny.  We might as well laugh, cause the government will be laughing all the way to the bank.  Probably the bank they will be bailing out next week.  Ok, I said seriously, but I guess I really didn’t mean it.

I am amazed that people think that all of this spending is going to be a good thing.  President Obama just told us in this speech that he wants us to have a “cradle to the grave” society.  We have to make sure that everyone has everything that they need from the time that they are born until they die. From this speech, all I have found out is that we are in a world of hurt financially.  There is no way, without huge tax increases that we can possibly pay for all the pet projects of this President.  But, we might as well get ready for it, as there is no way to stop it with the current political environment.

Now to his great plan for the deficit.  He tells us that he will cut the deficit in half over the next four years.  Folks, there is only one way for that to happen.  Tax increases are coming.  If you believe this line that your taxes aren’t going up unless you make over $250,000, then I have some property you might like to buy.  You see, Obama is still saying that 95% of working families will get a tax cut.  Do you ever wonder how 95% can get a tax cut when only 62% pay taxes?  If you do that math, it means that people who do not pay taxes will be receiving a check.  Folks, it is not from the government they are getting that check, it is from the 62% of us that already pay!  If you can’t figure out what that is called, let me help you out.  It’s socialism.

I think I must be watching a Saturday Night Political special.  The man impersonating the president just made the statement that he was proud that they passed the recovery plan that had no earmarks.  No earmarks?  I guess he didn’t read it either…like all the rest of the democrats that voted for that monstrosity.

Obama tries to act like he is going to be tough on terrorism?  You have to be kidding me!  There was no one tougher on terrorism than President Bush, and we know that because we have a prison full of terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.  At least we did.  Until President Obama decided that we need to shut it down, regardless of the fact that all investigations have shown that it has been run in compliance with the Geneva Convention.  President Obama promises that he will make us safer?  How?  By allowing the terrorist to walk out of prison and back into the general populace, just like he did yesterday?  Let’s ask the family members of the USS Cole whether this was a bright idea or not.

Folks, the “other shoe” dropped for me yesterday.  I was trying to figure out why the dems had to push the spending bill through, and inserted so much garbage that should have been voted on in the general budget.  I got the answer when I found out that the president was going to cut the deficit in half over the next 4 years.  Then, I heard that the bailout was not a part of the “budget”.  That’s right, it doesn’t count in the deficit, even though it is nearly a trillion dollars on the books.  So, they got their spending, without having it go against the budget.  I think I will do that with my “budget” at home.  I’ll just count my spending on my pet projects as not being “in the budget” so that I don’t have to worry about it when I pay my bills.  Yeah, it doesn’t work that way, and it shouldn’t work that way with the Obama administration either.  They intentionally put their earmarks in the bailout so that they didn’t have to try and get it passed in the budget.  Dishonest?  Yeah.  There is also hypocrisy in the complaint that he “inherited a trillion dollar deficit”, when he was a part of bringing on that deficit (he voted for the budgets as well), and he spent a trillion dollars himself!  I guess if the Republicans are responsible, then it is bad, if the Democrats are responsible, then it is good.  Here’s a newsflash–Both are bad!

This speech was proported to be “Reaganesque”.  There is no way that President Obama will ever be like Ronald Reagan.  I’m not sure why he wants to be.  It is funny to me how he tries to allign himself with the greatest of Republican presidents (Lincoln and Reagan), when in fact he is nothing like them.  The media has him as one of the greatest presidents ever, even though he has only been president for 35 days.  It’s not possible to be among the greats in that short a period of time, but it is possible to be one of the worst.  He is well on his way on that side.  He has spent a tremendous amount of money for things that are unnessesary.  So, Reaganesque?  Not so much.  I wish he would compare himself to the presidents that he is really like–FDR maybe?

Now, I am waiting on Bobby Jindal to speak.  I am hoping that he is going to be the answer fo those of us who are conservative fiscally and morally.  He is already turning down the stimulus money–more should do it!  We are only 35 days in…but there is some hope in 4 years!

I am amazed at the duplicity of this President.  During the campaign, any mention of needing a strong president that could and would fight against terrorism was attacked as being “alarmist” or “scare tactics.”  But, when elected this same man takes up the mantra of the democrats telling us that we are all going to go bankrupt if this “stimulus plan” is not passed today.  Do you think that would classify as scare tactics?  Yeah, I think so.  Especially considering that the current recession is nothing like the one from the 1930s that President Obama is so fond of referring to.  In fact, the current recession is not anything like what President Reagan inherited in the earl 80s.  I’m curious…did Reagan continually repeat a condemnation of the administration that went before him for wrecking the economy?  I doubt it.

If Obama really wanted to do something about the economy, he would follow Reagan’s plan.  He cut taxes!  He didn’t say that the only way out was to rely upon the government.  I don’t know how many times I have heard over the last couple of days that the private sector cannot possibly do anything to help us get out of this recession.  That is insane.  The mentality in Washington right now is that we should just turn everything over to the government, give them more of our money, and let them create jobs for us.  The problem is, if you let the government create the jobs, then you have government jobs.  The government does not produce anything, and so there is nothing to sell to make a profit of any kind.  So, you have a bunch of jobs that do nothing significant for the economy in the long run!  The only way that government jobs will stimulate the economy is if the government takes over the production of goods or services.  That, my friends, is full blown socialism.  And that is where we are headed if we let the mentality continue to rule the day!  Besides, we all know what a good job the government does when it takes over anything.  I know one thing, I’m going to start selling those nifty $500 hammers when that day comes!

Another thing that I found interesting with the press conference tonight was how fake it was.  It was completely staged, with President Obama having prescreened who was allowed to speak and when.  It would not surprise me if he had the gist of the questions as well.  It is amazing to me that the press, though they crucified Bush, still had a good repoir with him.  With Obama, the conference was like another power move.  He was going to ensure that they stayed in their place.  I know he has to control the conference, and Bush did that well.  But, Obama just wasn’t going to let any real tough questions be asked.  By the way, I would like for the press to be consistent.  I want to see them bash Obama for his complete inablity to put a sentence together with any eloquence.  Bush was an idiot because he stumbled over words.  What is Obama’s excuse?  He could have cut that 57 minute press conference down to 30 minutes if he could cut out just half of the “umms.”  I guess it is ok for him, since he is under so much pressure…

I am so tired of the arrogance of this president as well.  When Republicans held the presidency and both houses of Congress, all we heard was that they had to work together with the Democrats, and that they had to be bipartisan.  Now, Obama speaks condescendingly toward the Republicans, assuring them that they will be consulted.  That is a joke.  That was made clear by the vote on the spending bill in the House.  there was a reason that not a single Republican voted for it.  For Obama to act like they were being dishonest by not voting for the bill is dishonest on his part!  That bill had nothing to do with them.  If the Democrats are so confident in this bill, why are they complaining that the House Republicans won’t vote for it?  They are not needed, so what does it matter?  They simply don’t want to take the blame alone when this bloated bill fails to actually stimulate the economy.

Face it folks, this bill is not about stimulating the economy.  It is about getting all of the liberal programs paid for through scare tactics, so that it does not have to be done under the general budget, where it should be.  If they can scare the American people into accepting it now, it will be much easier than later.  And so, we are going to be strapped with a trillion dollars more in government spending.  Thanks.  That’ll work to whittle down that National Debt!

Look at the bright side:  at least now we have a president who can say “nuclear” correctly.  He can’t stop nations from having “nuclear bombs”, but he can at least say it right.  I feel much better now…

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Was it the policies that President Obama promised to inact? Was it the policies that he campaigned on throughout the campaigning process (the longest in the history of the country, by the way)?  No, it was not that, because there really wasn’t a lot of policy discussed.  We were promised “Change” and told that “Change was coming” and that it was “Change that you can believe in”, but we were never really told much about that change.  Essentially, we were told that we should just trust him, unquestioningly, and accept whatever “change” he might bring.  After all, as the media hammered so much over the last 2 years, any change from Bush must be for the better.  That is why, incidentally, the media aided the Obama Campaign in trying to make it appear that McCain was too much like President Bush.

Was it the smart people and associates that he surrounded himself with? No, I don’t think that is it either, seeing as it was a constant struggle for the media to cover up the associations that were detrimental to Obama, and yet reflected his very core principles.  They could not reveal that he had a hugely racist minister in his church, who was his spiritual mentor.  After all, Obama was trying to act as if he were a Christian.  They could not reveal that his friends were terrorists, who wanted to take over the country and get rid of any one who refused to accept thier socialist way of thinking.  Yet, men like William Ayers will have an impact on things like educational policy in this country over the next 4 years.  The list of poor associates is really too long to address in detail, but these couple of examples certainly makes the point.  He has tried to change this image within the last year by tossing all of his associates under the bus, and surrounding himself with Bill Clinton’s people.

Was it his past experiences, and successes? No, I don’t think that it is it, seeing as he has very little past experience, and has no real successes.  His major claim to fame has been to help a few kids in Chicago get summer jobs.  Every time Obama has gained a position in his political career, he has immediately started running for the next step.  In the process of that, he has done nothing in the jobs he was elected to do.  And yet 50 million + Americans voted for him.  He has proven nothing in his whole career, but we have “hope” that he will do something now as president of the United States.

If it was not any of thes foundationally solid principles that cause the media and so many Americans to faun over President Obama, then what is it?  Basically, it is a combination of two elements:  Race and Liberal Idealism.

I know, I will be labled a racist because I even suggest that race has a part to play in this “Obamamania”, but honest people will see that it is a definite factor.  Consider that throughout both the primary season, and the general campaign, racism accusations abounded.  That’s right, I was a racist because I didn’t vote for him in the primary.  And then I was told that I was a racist if I voted for McCain over Obama in the general election.  If that is not using race to try and control the outcome of the election, I don’t know what is!  I saw numerous news reports that accused whites of being racist in certain states becasue demographically they voted 60%-70% for McCain, but the same reports did not even mention that 95%+ of blacks voted for Obama.  Those that did mention the high percentage of blacks voting for Obama specifically, spun it in such a way as to say what a great thing it was to have such a great turn out.   The truth of the matter is, there were tons of people that showed up to vote for Obama, not because of his policies, but becasue of the color of his skin.  Politically speaking, he is not that much different than the other candidates marched out by the Democratic party over the last 3 elections, and yet he got a far greater turn out, most notably among non-white demographics.

But, color is not the only element in the election of Obama, and why these media personalities were head over heels for his inauguration ceremonies yesterday.  It also has to do with his liberal idealism.  You see, color alone does not earn the media’s respect.  President Bush had more minorities in his cabinet than any other president, including the “first black president”, Bill Clinton.  Yet, the media refused to give respect to those who served under a Republican president.  Colin Powell, for example, was shown little respect, and by many, was labled as a sell out for working in a Republican administration.  Condoleezza Rice was treated much the same way.  Think of how Clarence Thomas was treated in the media and among liberal america when he was nominated for Supreme Court Justice.  Each of these men and women went through extreme scrutiny before being able to take their positions.  The media did all they could to help the liberals in Washington keep these folks from getting their positions.  However, when Obama came on the scene, spouting the same liberal talking points, he was given a complete pass on the scrutiny.  We are still waiting for some realistic examination of the credentials, background and associates of this man.

Yesterday, you could flip through as many news channels as you wanted to, and the message was the same.  Everyone was commenting on the color of President Obama’s skin–not the character of his character.  On Monday, I found it interesting that this country celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  On that day, there were hundreds of interviews with people of color who proclaimed that the election of a “black man” was the fulfillment of the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr.  I tend to disagree to some extent.  I think he dreamed of a day when a black man could be president, but his dream included the idea that he could be president without reference to the color of his skin.  That is right, he saw a day when a black man could be president becasue of the “content of his character.”  We are not yet to Martin Luther King’s dream…we are only half way there.  I saw nothing about this man’s character that explains his election…though I hope that he develops that while in office.  He will certainly have to make some changes from how he has carried himself in times past.

It is amazing to me how many liberals have been calling for “uniting with Obama.”  They keep telling us that it is our American, and patriotic duty to stand behind him and basically agree with all that he decides to do or say.  I do notice that they don’t call upon their own example of uniting behind President Bush.  That is because they fought tooth and nail with everything that he did or said, even when it really benefited their agenda.  You see, one of the differences between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives do not try to silence the liberal voice.  We do not try to stop liberals from expressing their point of view, and standing in opposition to our thoughts and policies.  Liberals, on the other hand, are threatened by conservative thought, and therefor try to put an end to it.  One quick example:  Nancy Pelosi’s new rules i nthe congress, making it essentially impossible to get a true tax cut passed.  We certainly can’t have a tax cut.  Hmmmm…I wonder if that tells us where Mr. Obama really stands on tax cuts?  This is a move to shut conservative policy on taxes out of the congress completely!

We as conservatives know that dissenting opinions are necessary in a free state.  That explains why we have not, and do not, seek to silence voices that speak in opposition to our beliefs.  But, the principle certainly does not change now that a far left liberal in the sitting president.  We have the right (and will continue to exercise) to speak as the opposition to policies that will not be good for this country.  When this administration proposes and/or supports policy that will detrimental to the wellbeing of the country, we as conservatives will be there to challenge him.  You can tell me that my obligation is to goose step in line with the administration, but it just is not true!

One thing I will be interested to see over the next 3 or 4 months is how much the Obama administration will drop from their campaigning days.  It has already started.  They campaigned on big changes.  Remember the slogans?   Change we can believe in!  Yes We Can!  Well, come to find out, there wasn’t going to be that much change, and the truth is, “No they can’t”, at least for many things.  They have already been working diligently to lower all expectations.  We will see many of the far left supporters (who got Mr. Obama elected) start to become diheartened by his actual actions as president.  They will be upset that he is really incapable of getting all that he promised done.  There are many who already have shown their disapproval for his attempted move toward the center.  How dare he nominate any Repuplicans to serve in his cabinet?

I hope that the reports of his move back toward the center are true.  At least that will keep him from enacting policy that will be hard to stomach.  I suspect, however, that there will be some things taht he will seek to get enacted that will forever put him at odds with true conservatives.  If he is able to get the Freedom of Choice Act passed, there is no way he can unite with true conservatives.  If he is able to get Card Checks passed for the unions, he will have crossed a bridge that will alienate him with conservatives.  Not only that, but he will set free enterprise and workplace safety back 50 years.

I don’t want this to sound like all “doom and gloom.”  I hope that the policies of this administration will be such that they do not cause irreparable harm for our country.  I hope that they are able to turn this economy around, and make our country the prosperous place that it once was.  I hope that he will do a better job of bridging race relations in this country.  There is much good that could come during this administration.  But, if Obama chooses to be a “far left” president, then it will cause nothing but further division.  Many accused President Bush of being “far right,” but those of us that are on the “far right” know that he really was not, especially in fiscal matters.  He was centrist in a lot of ways, with conservative values shining through on some topics (like stem cell research and abortion).  It will be interesting to see just what happens over the next 4 (or 8 ) years!