The irreligious wrong are all in favor of public school students being required by law to observe a moment of silence every day, but they are protesting the April 25, 2008, Day of Silence.
DAY OF SILENCE, April 25, 2008: This year?s Day of Silence will be held in memory of Lawrence King, who friends say was murdered in a California school February 12 because of his sexual orientation and gender expression. The event brings attention to anti-LGBT bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. Students observe the day in silence to echo the silence LGBT and ally students face every day.
My high school is listed as a participant, as well as the one down the street from me. AFA reports 4,000 high schools. I am surprised at the extent of the support for GLSENI guess only GOD can tell us why His followers are such hypocrites. You know what that means? We’ll never know!Peter Nuhn
Peter,
Moments of silence in public schools, lead by publicly paid officials are for GOD not dead homosexuals.
Duh! Of course they should be protesting!
end/sarcasm
I think public schools should be silent MOST of the time, in the same vein as libraries. Helps the students concentrate.
My son says he has trouble concentrating sometimes at his school. Because of the open layout, he can hear what is going on in other classrooms while he is doing his work.
A moment of silence? Isn’t that what the plethora of churches, temples and mosques all across this land are for?
Why don’t we encourage perpetual silence for all relgious organizations? That would sure make me happy, and they can continue to commune privately with their God without disturbing the rest of us secularists.
No, a day of silence would be dumb!
I am probably displaying my ignorance, but I do not know what these ‘in-language’ letters mean: LBGT and AFA.
This may just be me, but i’m not sure if the day is the most effective method to raise awareness. I remember red ribbon week when i was still a middle schooler, and no one really cared. I can understand the idea, but it’ll be a joke by the time the students participate.
Noel,
I am unsure about AFA, but I beleive it is the American Family Association.
http://www.afa.net/
As for LBGT, I am pretty sure it stands for Le$bian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender. But I have been wrong before and I am sure it won’t be the last time.
Ren,
You are correct in regards to LGBT.
I’m no fan of government schools; viewing them as the nation’s most expensive entitlement program.
(Viva Neal Boortz!)
The problem here is imposing one’s views on others. Is that the portent of tax-funded institutions?
The argument, of course, can be flipped and (no doubt) will be by the AFA.
Call it a stroke of genius by the LGBTetc advocates. If you say nothing, you’re presumed to be saying something by saying nothing.
If you say something you draw attention to those who say something by saying nothing.
Seeker,
You’re right, education should only be available to those with cash.
Alex,
Thank you for the confirmation. LGBT isn’t exactly my area of expertise.
DVan,
If I didn’t know better, I would swear you didn’t want to live in a country like India, with a Caste System. Me neither, but don’t tell anybody I said that. Might ruin my reputation as a closet socia1ist.
Ren,
Don’t get me wrong.
I believe that maintaining a separation between socio-economic classes by limiting access to education through economic means is the only real way to go.
I say keep the poor, poor AND stupid. : )
The AFA is indeed the American Family Association and I have the dubious honor of living just a few miles from their headquarters. In fact, the founder’s mother was my kindergarten teacher.
There’s nothing like competition to provide an equitable distribution of cash and, all the while, fueling prosperity to fund quality education.
I have no objections to providing education to the underprivileged. I do have a concern when a government monopoly squishes untenable ideas into the folds of young gray matter through moments or days of silence.
Seeker
Competition has done nothing to ease tuition costs for private school alternatives. Tuition rates have been climbing at an extremely alarming rate ? across all levels of education. Also, history makes a great example of how eliminating free education holds people in poverty. Competition sounds good in theory, but in some cases, it fails with disastrous results.
It’s likely that free education would have the biggest adverse effect on the middle class, actually driving them into poverty much the way health care costs do now.
I have a problem with certain things like this as well. But eliminating the entire system rather than addressing the individual problems seems irrational.
Yes, it would be lovely to be allowed to pick the students you WANT to teach. Ahem…
1. Those who have a minimum IQ to handle the tasks.
2. Those with stay at home moms to bring cupcakes on Valentine’s Day.
3. Those with NO learning disabilities or on medications or crippled or with physical challenges.
4. Preferably white.
5. Preferably Christian.
6. Preferably churched.
7. Those who come properly socialized.
8. Those with manners and buzz-cuts.
9. Preferably hetero (but who can tell?).
10. No bastardized products of divorce-remarriage-divorce-remarriage-divorce-remarriage-divorce-remarriage-divorce-remarriage…you get the picture. Divorce is such a moral failure.
11. Those who can teach themselves.
Competition is all about picking the best and brightest for your squad. And damn the rest. I LIKE ME!! ME,ME,ME!!!
dvw,
When New Zealand opted for competition in education there were dire warnings of mass exodus to private institutions. It didn’t happen.
Advocates of the revised system praise its results. Opponents (unions) find nothing but fault.
Agreed: Private schools exist and the cost is exorbitant. However, government schools maintain their monopoly and to my libertarian mind that contributes to the high cost by undermining the effects of competition.
Your posts always stray for atheism (get your own blog!)…
Moments of silence aren’t disruptive; DAYS of silence are. The way my highschools handled it was: if you got asked a question by a teacher or administration, you had to respond.
That’s the way it should be.
Besides, having a day of silence for anything is counterintuitive and stupid.
Seeker,
New Zealand didn’t eliminate the public school system. They just turned over more control of the management and governing of local institutions to local communities and schools. The Ministry of Education (i.e., the government) is still responsible for funding and setting curriculum standards, etc. I’m not sure how this is a comparison? Beside, I never made a point that offering education competition would result in an exodus from public schools. It?s obvious that isn?t happening.
First, there is no government monopoly in education. Private schools exist. Second, if that?s the real problem, then why hasn?t the absence of government helped competition bring down the costs associated with the health care industry? Also, many private schools I?m aware of are overflowing with applicants waiting to get in. This abundance of prospective students (tuition payers) hasn?t brought down the price either. Demand is up, and just like the free market dictates, price goes up. You can?t blame the government offering free education for the high cost of private education.
I have many libertarian-leaning beliefs, but market competition solves all cost issues isn?t one of them. I?ve just seen no evidence of it. : )
dvw,
You’re assessment of New Zealand is accurate; I didn’t mean to suggest there was no government control, only that pro-choice competition had been introduced to the benefit of students.
Here’s a review from Heritage Foundation:
http://www.heritage.org/press/dailybriefing/policyweblog.cfm?blogid=77ECD4DD-A0C9-D18A-0FA6BC8EAB6BA7D0
Dr. Arlene Ackerman’s pro-choice advocacy did wonders for academic acheivement in San Francisco. Unfortuantely, teachers unions cared little for her innovations and she was, subsequently, sent packing.
Read more here:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33295.html
Seeker,
Thanks for the links!
If christians have a moment of silence regularly, it seems only logical that other groups should have a day of silence from time to time, as they see a need to offset the christian delusion.
Moments of silence are stupid.
Are you saying this in regard to the heavy taxation instilled to maintain the schools? Other than that, for the life of me I can’t find any other logic in that statement.
cry4turtles,
I think you touched a core problem.
Entitlement programs are funded by the middle class through excessive taxation. The wealthy can absorb increases in property taxes (for example) to fund gov’t schools and often are the most vocal proponents.
Young families and retirees who benefit little from food stamps, housing hand-outs and other gov’t entitlements are typical of those most adversely affected. (Perhaps they deserve a moment of silence!)
Atheist Jon Ray is, perhaps, one of the most vociferous spokespersons for academic choice.
See here:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com/
Cry4turtles,
No. What “heavy” taxation are you referring to?
If free education is abandoned, middle-class families will be forced to send their children to private institutions. Since private education costs a fortune (far more than an any individual tax burden to pay for public schools), middle-income families will have to weigh the education of their children against being forced into poverty by high tuition costs. A bit like uninsured middle class having to weight their financial future against necessary medical treatments as they do now.
Health care expenses are the number one cause of bankruptcy in this country. You don?t see the logic in that? Maybe I’m missing something.
**OT**
The local news has released some surveillance photos of the suspected killer of the UNC student and they are looking for…wait for it…a young black male. Shocking, isn’t it? Now do you people understand why I feel the way that I do about blacks? Life experiences such as these is why. There was another murder a month or so ago at nearby Duke university of an Indian student by two young black males as well.
I am now carrying a gun in my car and avoiding placing myself around blacks at all costs-without apology. I hope they find the bastard that killed our student body president and fry him. Race relations are already high in this area thanks to the false rape accusations of a black stripper towards white Duke students and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some violent backlash in the coming days here. People are calling for a lynching and the razing of Durham to the ground.
This just in. The suspected killer of the college student at Auburn is…yet another young black male. Shock, surprise.
alexatheist,
You have never shown how any of your speculation is caused by skin color. How do you know it isn’t a social and culture issue?
Alex,
You mention three individuals that have been killed by blacks, recently, and your response is:
So three people are killed by blacks, and the response is to, “raze Durham to the ground?”
Are you sure you are not a former Israeli, instead of a former Brit?
I have an idea. Why don’t we hunt down the perpetrators of said horrendous crimes, and put them away forever so they can never harm anyone again? Oh wait, there’s no room in our prisons because they are full of addicts.
BTW, I feel just as horrible about the tragic loss of such promising young lives, as you do. I’m just not for punishing an entire race, becaue of the misdeeds of a certain segment of that race. What should we do with all the white males with former military backgrounds, because of the actions of Timothy McVeigh? I mean, if you are going to be consistent…
Historically speaking, I do not like the majority of blacks that I meet. It is not that I hate them because they are black, I simply have little in common with them and prefer to associate with people whom I share commonality with. Having said that, my best friend in the Army was a black man, and the best boss I ever had was a black man. So it is not a racial thing, with me, it is a cultural thing.
It *IS* a social and cultural issue among blacks who glorify the worst of human behaviours as something to aspire to. Just ask Bill Cosby, look up crime statistics by race, or ask Eve Carson…oh wait, you can’t because she was shot in the head by a black thug. Perhaps Indian PhD student Abhijit Mahato at Duke University could tell you all about race relations if he too hadn’t been killed by two black thugs back in January. Pull your head out of your politically correct arsehole and see the world for how it is and not how we want it to be-American has a problem with blacks.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2545076/
I never said that *I* wanted to raze Durham to the ground, what I said was that people around here I have been talking to in the last two days are suggesting this. If you are not from this area you really have no idea of the problems that come out of the black population in Durham on a daily basis. Come visit for a few weeks and then tell me there is no problem with our young black males.
alex,
I wonder how your life would have been different if you had been born into a ghetto, without a father figure around, surrounded by dealers and gang-bangers? Think you would have succumbed to the pressures around you, or would you have become the model citizen you are today?
Just curious. After all, we are all products of our environment.
Yes we are products of our environment which is all the more reason for us to stop pretending that black culture is anything but a dismal failure and start demanding change from within black communities. Whenever anyone suggests that black culture has a problem, even a black man like Cosby, they are shouted down as being racist or insensitive and things never change for the better. Blacks can’t blame whitey for their failings forever and they must stand up and say enough is enough.
alexatheist,
Why specify skin color as the problem, when that isn’t the cause?
Black isn’t just a skin colour, it is culture and mindset and it is a problem. Nomesayin’, dawg?
alex,
Werd, holmes! You wan’ a fitty rock wid dat ‘tude? Don’t be disrespeckin.
Ren,
Fo’ shizzle, player. Da Chapel Hill Po’po be lookin’ for da’ dude dat kilt dat white girl. Sheeet, a brother can’t get a break, yo, da’ haters be fuckin’ it up.
(Please no PC attacks on my post. Like most people in Chapel Hill right now I’m angry and need to vent it)
I’ll agree that “urban” culture these days has a lot of problems, but if you’re familiar with the “wigger” phenomenon you’ll understand that its not just a black thing.
the fact that it’s a predominantly black culture has everything to do with the demographics of poverty and nothing to do with ethnic background.
this sounds reasonable to me, but I maintain that you need to be more specific. part of the reason people get shouted down for being racist is that they make the leap from “thug” or “urban” culture to “black” culture.
before anything can be done about it people need to be able to properly identify the problem.
Alex,
I understand your frustration and refuse to pass judgement on you for your opinions. They are yours, and you are entitled to them.
Flying Weasel,
I agree with your assessment. I think you are “spot-on”.
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_49.html
? Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
? When blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
? Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the white rate.
? The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of the population that is black and Hispanic.
? Of the nearly 770,000 violent inter-racial crimes committed every year involving blacks and whites, blacks commit 85 percent and whites commit 15 percent.
? Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Forty-five percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are black, and 10 percent are Hispanic. When whites commit violent crime, only three percent of their victims are black.
? Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a white than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.
? Blacks are 2.25 times more likely to commit officially-designated hate crimes against whites than vice versa.
Incarceration
? Between 1980 and 2003 the US incarceration rate more than tripled, from 139 to 482 per 100,000, and the number of prisoners increased from 320,000 to 1.39 million.
? Blacks are seven times more likely to be in prison than whites. Hispanics are three times more likely.
Jesus,
This is not because of a rise in violent crime, it is because of JUST SAY NO, NANCY. Prohibition of drugs has been used extensivly to disenfranchise minorities. I wonder why they might be so pissed off at “THE MAN”.
I wonder if the (race thing) is an american thing or if say england has a black problem too?
ron, everywhere in the world crimes are commited by the poor, the disenfranchised, and the greedy.
the ethnic makeup of those groups varies from nation to nation.
Ron,
To believe that people groups can be genetically different physically is is undeniable. To believe people groups differ genetically in behavior and intellect will earn you the racist or eugenicist label in spite of the evidence.
Ashkenazi Jews are among the brightest people groups. Even when displaced and disenfranchised they achieve disproportionate representation among professional elite.
Certain Asian people groups also excel regardless of their cultural environment.
The link between intellect and achievement is indisputable. The brighter a people group, the less crime is committed by their members.
Not all blacks are criminals, nor are all criminals black. But only the most stubborn would reject the genetic predisposition to behavior. You may read a scholarly research paper here:
http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/1994egalitarianfiction.pdf
Unfortunately, the approach to ethnic crime is one of two: Deny or exploit it. Those with a multiculturalist agenda simply deny the genetic connection exist. Racists tend to exploit it as an excuse for abject hatred.
A third alternative is to acknowledge reality and confront it with positive affirmation.
Tragically, the superfluous nonsense typified by the subject matter of this tread supersedes the core purpose of schools: To educate!
That’s why black parents should be given the opportunity of choice; to allow their children to attend schools that are not steeped in rhetorical symbolism and avoiding the sins of the politically correct religion, but that about meeting the educational needs of their students.
This is achieved through school choice; private and charter schools address the educational needs of black students and, subsequently, their economic needs.
Promoting from within a clan almost exclusively tends to produce such results as well.
God is always ready to help us and expects us to help others
Judging by appearances
“The trouble with you is that you make your decisions on the basis of appearance. You must recognize that we belong to Christ.
Job 14:5 NLT
“
Little Woman, Long Shadow
“Two weeks before Christmas, on December 12, 1840, a baby girl was born into an aristocratic plantation family in Albemarle County, Virginia. Her name was Charlotte Diggs Moon, but everyone called her “Lottie.” She grew to just four feet three inches, yet her intellect and force of personality were enormous. Lottie spoke six languages and earned a master’s degree in education in 1861.
Lottie came from a family of dedicated Southern Baptists, but she became a staunch skeptic. Yet, it would be her intellect and skepticism that would bring her to faith one sleepless night in December 1858 as she pondered a message by Dr. John Broadus.
At age thirty-three, Lottie heard a call to missions “as clear as a bell.” In July 1873 the foreign mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention appointed her its first unmarried missionary to China. She tirelessly advocated for the needs of the people of China. In 1888 she persuaded SBC women to take an annual missions offering on Christmas Eve. By 1912, despite such gifts, thousands of people were dying every day in famine-ravaged Shantung Province.
At seventy-two, Lottie Moon was coming home. But that same night, aboard a ship off Japan, she died?of complications from starvation. A few months before she had written, “If I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the women of China.”" The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering continues to this day. The 2005 goal is $150 million.
This discussion is the reason why I say F culture, f race, hell…f anything that only divides the population…..
Monotheism certainly divides us and to boot provides a supernatural moral authority to kill….so to the trolls..
suck it monotheism and the next time you pray please tell your god I said Fuck You
i had a day of silence…but it was for a sign language class to show that we didnt need to talk (man that was a fun day). im all for the cause but not the idea, if you want to show support for a cause make a ruckus dont sit there and be silent.