Make it Stop....I Can't Take Anymore, Can You? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

host · 02-04-2005, 04:17 AM

Has the right thought through the implications of their agenda? Will the
Republican party implode under the weight of the results of Bush/Rove strategic alliances?

Quote:

<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002169932_goodman04.html">http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002169932_goodman04.html</a>
If tolerance isn't tolerated, we're really in a pickle

Ellen Goodman / Syndicated columnist

BOSTON — I have to confess that I am nowhere nearly as tolerant as I thought I was. Midway through the episode of "Postcards From Buster" that is at the center of the latest culture skirmish, the animated bunny is handed a plate of Vermont's finest maple syrup on snow. With a pickle on the side.

Pickle? I have watched the making of maple syrup many times. Last year, after my granddaughter had her first taste, she looked at us with a combination of joy and outrage as if to say, "Why did you keep this from me?" But pickles and maple syrup? I don't think so.

Nevertheless, it is not the culinary preferences in this show that freaked out the Department of Education. It's the sexual preferences.

"Postcards" is the PBS kids program produced by Boston's WGBH with a clear mandate to "help children understand and respect differences and learn to live in a multicultural society." Buster flies around the country talking to real kids in real families. They include everything from Muslims to Native Americans, households with one parent or two grandparents. He has been to Salt Lake City to meet a Mormon family of eight and even to Roswell, N.M., homeland of extraterrestrial sightings.

Then he got to Vermont, land of civil unions and maple syrup. In the Green Mountain State, Buster met up with an admittedly proto-diverse family of two mommies, three kids, including one who is biracial, all of whom light candles and say Hebrew prayers on Friday night. (But do not blame them for the pickles!)

The mommies were in the background in the program but they are in the foreground of the controversy. PBS pulled this "postcard" as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter expressing "strong and very serious concerns" because "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode." At least 24 stations are running it anyway. (Seattle PBS station KCTS will air the episode Feb. 11 at 4:30 p.m.)

So here we are in the Buster brouhaha. Cultural conservatives complain once more about liberal propaganda. Tolerance and diversity are dismissed once again as code.

This time, the government not only disapproves of the "lifestyle" message, but is considering asking PBS to return the money. You will note that the very same Department of Education paid Armstrong Williams to put out its own propaganda. Williams has yet to be asked to pay back the $240,000. But then, one side's propaganda is another side's message.

When it was revealed that the Department of Education had paid Williams, the president said, "Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet."

But the Bush agenda has been standing on more than two feet. We now know that the administration put out phony news spots with phony journalists. We know that the government asked Social Security employees to be flacks for the Bush plan. Propaganda? Last week, Rep. Rosa DeLauro even introduced a Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act to codify regulations against government-funded "self-aggrandizement" or "puffery."

What a pickle we are in, if you will forgive the expression. Conservatives have become the most deft at mainstreaming their message. The estate tax was turned into the death tax. Tax cuts became tax relief. Global warming became climate change. Privatization is a personal investment account.

Meanwhile, many are trying to redefine tolerance and diversity as a nefarious "agenda." The right didn't protestSpongeBob SquarePant's gay icon status as much as his use in a video distributed to schools along with a tolerance pledge that included homosexuality.

As Tom Minnery of the Focus on the Family says, "What's at stake is the forced normalization of homosexuality in the public schools." One side's normal is the other side's "forced normalization."

I am now in my second generation as a card-carrying member of the counterculture, trying to counter the culture. There is much more than pickles and maple syrup to protest. But Buster?

Here is a small geography lesson for the Department of Education. Vermont with its civil unions is a part of the American landscape. The bunny is animated but the families are not. For the three kids of the two mommies who were the stars of the segment, this is not a lifestyle but a life, not propaganda but reality.

Imagine what exactly the Department of Education has taught these children who were invited as tour guides to their state in maple season. Imagine what it's saying to their neighbors and friends.

Is tolerance part of the gay agenda? I should hope so. But how did acceptance become translated into propaganda? And what on Earth happens if tolerance is defined as intolerable?

Quote:

<a href="http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10816144.htm">http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10816144.htm</a>
Posted on Fri, Feb. 04, 2005

It's time to teach, not harass

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

(KRT) - The following editorial appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on Thursday, Feb. 3:
X X X
Anyone who has spent time with middle schoolers knows that ``gay'' has become their synonym for ``loser.'' So schools committed to fostering tolerance cannot exclude sexual orientation from their lessons on prejudice.

A squeamish Bush administration insists otherwise. Let's hope that parents and teachers who are trying to sort through the issue can do better.

Last week, PBS yanked an episode from its popular kids' program ``Postcards from Buster'' after receiving a condemning, if not threatening, letter from President Bush's new education secretary, Margaret Spellings.

The show was about life in Vermont; Spellings was distressed that Emma, the child featured in the show, has lesbian parents. ``Many parents,'' Spellings wrote, ``would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode.''

Never mind that the show was about making maple syrup, not the parents; no mention was made of their sexuality. Never mind that the language in the request for a federal grant that funded the program said, ``Diversity will be incorporated into the fabric of the series to help children understand and respect differences and learn to live in a multicultural society.''

Gay parents in Vermont, where civil unions are legal, are as much a part of the fabric of this country as kids living with single parents, five siblings sharing a trailer, a Mormon family in Utah and the fundamentalist Christians, Muslims, American Indians and Hmong families that Buster, an 8-year-old animated rabbit with asthma, visits during other episodes. If some Americans are disapproving of gay couples, so be it. But government shouldn't be shunning gay people to accommodate the conservative version of political correctness. ...

Diversity isn't an abstraction. It is the sum of distinctions, and those differences must be recognized and discussed openly - not, as in the Bush administration's mistreatment of poor Buster, scared down a rabbit hole.

Quote:

<a href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-ref04.html">http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-ref04.html</a>
Students have appallingly weak grasp of free speech

............There have been hundreds of incidents of the theft and destruction of college newspapers by some groups, on campus and off, who feel they are expressing their freedom of speech by suppressing access to speech with which they disagree in the paper. Even the mayor of Berkeley, Calif., felt free to confiscate copies of a student newspaper that opposed his election. And less than a dozen have yet been arrested or even investigated and disciplined by any college administration to date.

What to do? This week, Margaret Spellings was sworn in to office "to protect and defend the Constitution" as the new secretary of education. The Department of Education's budget of more than $53 billion actually serves as a huge transfer bank of tens of billions of dollars going to all levels of education, including student loans. A Department of Education review with a possible delay of funding of educational institutions neglecting their responsibilities under the First Amendment could concentrate the minds of educational administrators wonderfully.

<h2>Uhhhh.......something tells me that Margaret Spellings tenure at
the Dept. of Education Propaganda ain't gonna be about free speech.....
just a feeling.....so far!!</h2>

Locke7 · 02-04-2005, 08:02 AM

I see no problem with the department of education funding or not funding whatever they want. In my opinion we shouldn't be wasting any money on a public broadcasting system. Where in the consitution does it say anything about a TV show??? Remember the overall agenda of the current administration would be more a vision of the "traditional" family. And while that is the case, this type of thing is going to happen.

NCB · 02-04-2005, 08:18 AM

I wish the D of E would be abolished and left the control to local govts. That way, local communities can teach about traditional families and that SF districts can teach about gay families

The_Dunedan · 02-04-2005, 08:37 AM

No kidding! The Fed doesn't have the Constitutional authority to be mucking around in this sort of thing anyway. Get Education-control back into the States, where it belongs. If we really insist on having Publik Skools, at least we can keep them local.

Blaspheme · 02-04-2005, 08:53 AM

Education about things like religion and sexuality isn't a job for the school system or the government, and it certainly shouldn't be a job for a cartoon. No matter what your beliefs are, this kind of education is too important to be left to some third party or government institution.

Parents need to have the sense to turn off the television, to make themselves aware of the local school's curriculum, and to take the time to teach their children this kind of thing personally.

stevo · 02-04-2005, 10:25 AM

PBS has been and continues to be a huge waste of money. I hope bush shuts it down.

boatin · 02-04-2005, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevo

PBS has been and continues to be a huge waste of money. I hope bush shuts it down.

I'm certainly no expert on TV, but the Jim Lehrer news hour is the only TV news I can stand. Actual discussions - no yelling! No fear mongering, actual reporting.

Pretty much appreciate the science (with actual science!) shows too. Not sure if it's worth the price - cause I don't know what the price is. But there is sure value for me, which is more than I can say for many govt programs...

KMA-628 · 02-04-2005, 10:57 AM

NCB & The_Dunedan

I couldn't agree more. Education used to be that way until Carter bowed under pressure (there isn't enough disdain around here for Carter--he started a whole bunch of messes that we are still dealing with today).

Anyway, while you are at it, we need to do something with the NEA as well.

How about cutting funding to the DoE and trying something new? Funding isn't the problem as we spend more than any other country, our problem is where the money goes. Maybe some type of spending allowance that offers raises/promotions/bonuses directly to the teachers and bypasses all of the educrats, almost like a stipend. That way, the people who deserve more, get it.

I also think each school district should have an advisory panel for all budgetary matters (including salaries for non-teachers) that involves parents that have children in said school district.

The_wall · 02-04-2005, 11:04 AM

I agree the news hour is the best news on tv and nova and frontline are great shows. We need at least one channel that isn't privately owned.

ObieX · 02-04-2005, 12:27 PM

I agree withthat, Nova and Frontline are fantastic. And what would kids do without sesame street? Jim Lehrer is ok too, i catch that from time to time and the discussions seem ok.

When I'm elected president in 2020 my first order will be that the FCC be disbanded. Next will be the DoE, with proposed scholarship plan to replace it. Sweeping tax changes if Bush doesnt beat me to it. And the proposed removal of any anti-gay amendments to the constitution if needed. The war on drugs will be ended (marijuana and, more importantly HEMP will be legalized, along with many many other drugs. *pause for applause*), and the scheduling of drugs will be compltely revamped or trashed completely. This will only be the first 5 minutes.

So in the future if any of you see a presidential candidate with the first name of Casey you had better vote for him. If you don't I will arrive at each of your houses individually and make you eat yourself with a spork and butter knife. You may have your choice of condiment.

Mojo_PeiPei · 02-04-2005, 12:52 PM

Biscuits and gravy?

ObieX · 02-04-2005, 12:57 PM

gravy yes, biscuits no.

Lebell · 02-04-2005, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ObieX

biscuits no.

Dictator!

Viva la revolucion!

Scipio · 02-05-2005, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Dunedan

No kidding! The Fed doesn't have the Constitutional authority to be mucking around in this sort of thing anyway. Get Education-control back into the States, where it belongs. If we really insist on having Publik Skools, at least we can keep them local.

Nonsense. Ever hear of "equal protection" or "interstate commerce?" The Federal Government has the power to make sure that the states apply the laws fairly to everyone. The power to regulate is quite explicit.

On the issue at hand, I'm quite worried that the bureaucracy has become an almost explicitly political arm of the White House. Political appointments are one thing, but bureaucratic professionalism has been the cornerstone of governmental operations at all levels of government for decades now. Of course, it makes perfect sense if you remember that conservative ideology doesn't contain "good government."

02-04-2005, 08:53 AM	#5 (permalink)
Blaspheme Tilted Location: Oregon, USA	Education about things like religion and sexuality isn't a job for the school system or the government, and it certainly shouldn't be a job for a cartoon. No matter what your beliefs are, this kind of education is too important to be left to some third party or government institution. Parents need to have the sense to turn off the television, to make themselves aware of the local school's curriculum, and to take the time to teach their children this kind of thing personally. __________________ Faith: not wanting to know what is true. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

02-04-2005, 11:04 AM	#9 (permalink)
The_wall Psycho Location: Rhode Island biatches!	I agree the news hour is the best news on tv and nova and frontline are great shows. We need at least one channel that isn't privately owned. __________________ "We do what we like and we like what we do!"~andrew Wk Procrastinate now, don't put off to the last minute.

02-04-2005, 12:27 PM	#10 (permalink)
ObieX Pickles Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)	I agree withthat, Nova and Frontline are fantastic. And what would kids do without sesame street? Jim Lehrer is ok too, i catch that from time to time and the discussions seem ok. When I'm elected president in 2020 my first order will be that the FCC be disbanded. Next will be the DoE, with proposed scholarship plan to replace it. Sweeping tax changes if Bush doesnt beat me to it. And the proposed removal of any anti-gay amendments to the constitution if needed. The war on drugs will be ended (marijuana and, more importantly HEMP will be legalized, along with many many other drugs. pause for applause), and the scheduling of drugs will be compltely revamped or trashed completely. This will only be the first 5 minutes. So in the future if any of you see a presidential candidate with the first name of Casey you had better vote for him. If you don't I will arrive at each of your houses individually and make you eat yourself with a spork and butter knife. You may have your choice of condiment. __________________ We Must Dissent.

02-04-2005, 12:52 PM	#11 (permalink)
Mojo_PeiPei Kiss of Death Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow	Biscuits and gravy? __________________ To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.

02-04-2005, 12:57 PM	#12 (permalink)
ObieX Pickles Location: Shirt and Pants (NJ)	gravy yes, biscuits no. __________________ We Must Dissent.

02-04-2005, 08:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
Locke7 Insane	I see no problem with the department of education funding or not funding whatever they want. In my opinion we shouldn't be wasting any money on a public broadcasting system. Where in the consitution does it say anything about a TV show??? Remember the overall agenda of the current administration would be more a vision of the "traditional" family. And while that is the case, this type of thing is going to happen.

02-04-2005, 08:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
NCB Junkie Location: Tobacco Road	I wish the D of E would be abolished and left the control to local govts. That way, local communities can teach about traditional families and that SF districts can teach about gay families

02-04-2005, 08:37 AM	#4 (permalink)
The_Dunedan Junkie	No kidding! The Fed doesn't have the Constitutional authority to be mucking around in this sort of thing anyway. Get Education-control back into the States, where it belongs. If we really insist on having Publik Skools, at least we can keep them local.

02-04-2005, 10:25 AM	#6 (permalink)
stevo Rail Baron Location: Tallyfla	PBS has been and continues to be a huge waste of money. I hope bush shuts it down.

02-04-2005, 10:57 AM	#8 (permalink)
KMA-628 ....is off his meds...you were warned. Location: The Wild Wild West	NCB & The_Dunedan I couldn't agree more. Education used to be that way until Carter bowed under pressure (there isn't enough disdain around here for Carter--he started a whole bunch of messes that we are still dealing with today). Anyway, while you are at it, we need to do something with the NEA as well. How about cutting funding to the DoE and trying something new? Funding isn't the problem as we spend more than any other country, our problem is where the money goes. Maybe some type of spending allowance that offers raises/promotions/bonuses directly to the teachers and bypasses all of the educrats, almost like a stipend. That way, the people who deserve more, get it. I also think each school district should have an advisory panel for all budgetary matters (including salaries for non-teachers) that involves parents that have children in said school district.