End of Issue #58 |

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Editorial and Rants

National Mall
Washington, D.C.
January 21, 2009

Overhead Satellite View
And it starts... "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" nails the hacker spirit perfectly. No wonder people like Eric Corley want to ban it.
Teacher Wants to Expel Huck Finn
January 19, 2009 - From: www.latimes.com
By Kim Murphy
Reporting from Ridgefield, Wash. -- John Foley figures he has pretty much maxed out on explaining to African American mothers why it's OK to call a black man the N-word -- as long as it's in a novel that is considered a classic.
For years, English teachers have been explaining away the obvious racism in Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." And for years, the book that perhaps best explains Americans' genetic predilection for hitting the road, only to later find themselves, has stayed near the top of many high school reading lists.
However, with an African American about to be inaugurated as president, Foley wonders whether 'Huck Finn' ought to be sent back down the river. Why not replace it with a more modern, less discomfiting novel documenting the epic journey of discovery?
"The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms," Foley wrote in a guest column this month for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "Barack Obama is president-elect of the United States, and novels that use the 'N-word' repeatedly need to go."
Foley, 48, teaches at a largely white suburban high school near Portland, Ore. Year after year, he said, he patiently explains to his students that Jim, a black man, is actually the hero of the novel, and that Huck comes to see the error of his ways and commits to helping Jim escape slavery. But many of them find the book dull and plodding, and they sometimes never get past the demeaning word Huck uses to refer to his friend.
"This is particularly true, of course, of African American students," Foley wrote. "With few exceptions, all the black students in my classes over the years have appeared very uncomfortable when I've discussed these matters at the beginning of the unit. And I never want to rationalize 'Huck Finn' to an angry African American mom again as long as I breathe."
He also thinks "To Kill a Mockingbird," Harper Lee's classic about racial inequity in the Deep South, and John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" should be removed from the curriculum for similar reasons.
Foley had wanted to talk to the staff at Ridgefield High School about his proposal, but after his op-ed was published, it was as though a stink bomb had landed in a crowded room.
"Obama would be horrified if he knew this censorship was done in his name," wrote Trudy J. Sundberg, a retired teacher of American literature from Oak Harbor, Wash. Her response to Foley's column was just one in a barrage of letters and e-mails that the newspape received.
"What an amazingly stupid teacher this is," another reader wrote. "There is nothing in American literature that more succinctly and directly attacks racial prejudice than Mark Twain's 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' This is another teacher anxious to pursue political correctness more than seek to understand what is involved in truly 'reading' a book."
Foley said he was most bemused by critics who insisted he was being satirical, that he couldn't have seriously been attacking three novels that say more against human intolerance than almost any you could think of. "Whenever you take a couple of shots at sacred cows, people assume it's satire," he said one recent afternoon at a Starbucks as students streamed in for lattes and spiced tea.
"It's just my experience teaching, especially 'Huck Finn.' Every year, it seems to be a tougher sell to the kids. I have a lot of passion for 'Huck Finn,' and my enthusiasm usually carries the book. But I have kids come up to me, very smart kids, who say, 'Mr. Foley, I hate this book.' "They hate not only the difficult dialogue, he said, but what students -- usually white ones -- object to as "demeaning stereotypes."
"Our new president is this very intelligent, highly articulate guy, and the literature we're foisting on our children typically depicts black men as ignorant, inarticulate, uneducated. And the contrast just jumped out at me," he said.
Foley said his students were now reading "To Kill a Mockingbird." The character Tom Robinson is very noble, he said, "but again, he's uneducated, inarticulate. I was just thinking, for students here in Washington anyway, wouldn't 'Snow Falling on Cedars' be just as valuable?"
That book, written by David Guterson, documents the internment of Japanese American residents of the San Juan Islands during World War II and the efforts of a few islanders to defend their neighbors against an onslaught of bigotry, jealousy and false accusations. If Foley could, he would replace "Huck Finn" with the epic tale of two old cowboys' last great cattle drive, Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove," and "Of Mice and Men" with Tim O'Brien's Vietnam novel, "Going After Cacciato."
"Like George and Lennie in Steinbeck's novel, Cacciato dreams of peace and a better world. And the Vietnam War is a more recent -- and arguably more painful -- era in American history than the Depression and one of more interest to teens," Foley said in his op-ed. His objections to reading "Finn," "Mice" and "Mockingbird" in the classroom are hardly new; such criticism has been lobbed at the books over the years. Some schools have gone so far as to take them off reading lists and library shelves.
But those against censorship have countered that such books contain civilized values in direct opposition to racism that make them deserving of being read and taught as the classics they are. That seems to be the prevailing view at Ridgefield High.
"I have a 14-year-old son, and he's read 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' " said Julie Olson, chairwoman of the school board. "He clearly understands the concepts involved, and it wasn't really a stretch for him to get it."
Foley said he doesn't want to ban the books. He just thinks they shouldn't be the backbone of the American literature curriculum in 2009, he said, at a time when getting kids to read anything at all is a struggle.
"You have to remember, it's hard to sell kids these days on books. I write young adult novels, and sometimes I wonder, why bother? You're writing for three girls who like to read."
These Muslim politicians are insane and definitely into the woo-woo...
Obama Support Group Code Pink Held Witchcraft Ceremony to Cleanse White House
January 20, 2009 - From: www.freerepublic.com
A reporter for The Nation magazine reported today that the President Barack Hussein Obama support group Code Pink held a witchcraft ceremony to 'cleanse' the White House on President Bush's last full day in office.
One of Code Pink's leaders, Jodie Evans, was an early financial supporter of Obama's, serving as a bundler for his campaign and donating the maximum to his primary and general election campaigns, as well as thousands of dollars to the Obama Victory Fund. Code Pink also organized get out the vote efforts for Obama.
Code Pink's affiliation with witchcraft was present at its creation--a Wiccan who calls herself Starhawk is a co-founder of the group.
Last year, Code Pink held a witchcraft ceremony at the Berkeley Marine Corps officer recruitment center.
Victor Navasky, in his report in The Nation titled The Work has Begun wrote of his train ride to Washington yesterday for the inaugural that his seatmate, Joanna Lawrence, was planning to attend a "shoe-in", or shoe-out, to protest President Bush on his last day in office.
He wrote:
It also included a rally organized by Medea Benjamin, who was joined by witches from CodePink and Kate Clinton, the comedienne, whose object would be to "cleanse the White House." Don't ask.
Besides invoking witchcraft against the United States, Code Pink also works with state sponsors of terrorism and the terrorists in Iraq to undermine America in the war on terror. And Code Pink works with President Obama.
God help us, please.

"Obviously he [Rahm Emanuel] will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
--- November 11, 2008 quote from Benjamin M. Emanuel, Rahm's father, which has been censored from Wikipedia.
The following is from a 2005 Guardian (Eurosavage) newspaper article entitled "Bush 'The King' Blows $50m on Coronation."
Barack Hussein Obama's "iniggeration" cost $150 million and used a hell of alot more security forces. They didn't exactly cover that story... LOL! Murder ALL Europeans!
"It will be one of the biggest parties in American history, but half of the country will be left out. With a price tag of up to $50 million, President George W. Bush's inauguration in 11 days' time will be an unashamed celebration of Red America's victory over Blue America in last November's election.
It is going to be the most expensive, most security-obsessed event in the history of Washington D.C. An army of 10,000 police, secret service officers and FBI agents will patrol the capital for four days of massive celebrations that some critics have derided as reminiscent of the lavish shindigs thrown by Louis XIV, France's extravagant Sun King.
...
Many observers say it is all too much. 'We have elected a President who seems to have quite a monarchical role. It is a bit of a coronation,' said Larry Haas, a former official in Bill Clinton's White House."
"There is no liberal bias in the media!"
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/09/usa.theobserver)


Yeah, so... you see... A small piece of copper is going from Green Bay to Obama...
Green Bay Company Makes the Official Inaugural Medallion
January 20, 2009 - From: www.wbay.com
By Sarah Thomsen
A Green Bay company is eagerly awaiting next week's presidential inauguration.
The Medalcraft Mint has been working for months to create the official medallion to commemorate the historic event.
Inside a small factory on Green Bay's west side, a piece of history is carefully crafted -- well, more like pressed -- right before your eyes.
"It's the official inaugural medallion," Medalcraft president Jerry Moran said proudly.
President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural committee hand-picked Medalcraft Mint to strike the only official inaugural medallion -- the only company in the country to earn the honor.
"It's kind of like the crown jewel of minting," regional sales manager Tony Ullman said. "For us, a three-peat, it's like a Super Bowl in this arena."
Medalcraft minted the official medallion for both of President George W. Bush's inaugurations.
But this time the inaugural committee was a little pickier about the final product. The medal being minted is a second draft. The first one had Obama smiling.
"This one took a little different approach to kind of show probably what Barack Obama was thinking at the time or what he is thinking at the time -- the economic conditions, two wars we're in, the worldeconomics, and the job ahead of him," Moran explained.
Coming up with the design, though, isn't easy. It takes four to five months -- time sculptors obviously don't have between the election and inauguration.
"We had sculpts done of John McCain and Barack Obama, not knowing who was going to win the election," Moran said. "We had it down, medals made before the election, and as soon as the election was done, ten days later they wanted product in D.C. to start selecting."
So far employees have boxed and shipped nearly 25,000 medallions for purchase but Medalcraft expects more Internet orders.
It hopes to make a run for 200,000 inaugural medallions -- the record set when John F. Kennedy took office.
Dirty Jew bankers get billions in free taxpayer handouts - while World War 2 veterans freeze to death! Change!
WWII Veteran Freezes To Death In Own Home
January 26, 2009 - From: www.wnem.com
BAY CITY, Mich. -- Officials in central Michigan say a 93-year-old man who owned more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home -- where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.
Neighbors and friends of Marvin Schur want answers as to how this could happen.
"Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there's a whole bunch of feelings that I've got going through me," said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur's. "There's anger, for the city and the electrical company."
Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.
An autopsy determined Schur, 93, died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.
Bay City Electric Light and Power sent Schur a shutoff notice through the mail a few weeks ago.
Then crews placed a shutoff notice on his front door. A few days later, Schur was found by neighbors. Bay City Electric Light and Power, which is owned by the city, said a limiter was placed on Schur's electrical line. The device limits the power that reaches a home, and it blows out like a fuse if power consumption rises past a set level.
The manager of Bay City said the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man's body.
The city manager said city workers keep the limiter on a house for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so.
A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.
Dr. Kanu Varani has done hundreds of autopsies, and he said he'd never seen a person die of hypothermia indoors.
A neighbor who lives across the street from Schur is angered that the city didn't personally notify the elderly man about his utility situation.
Schur's neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.
Right now the city said the situation is still under investigation. Marvin Schur was a World War II veteran.
A memorial service for him will take place Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Gephart Funeral Home in Bay City.


Hope your house doesn't catch on fire!

Russians Fucking Rule
