20060912 KDDC In Baltimore Staying Home for School by Jabari Asim WaPo

"In Baltimore, Staying Home for School"

An interesting vignette about the phenomenon of African American’s home schooling their children in Baltimore City by Jabari Asim, who writes for the Washington Post. The column was posted on the Washington Post’s web site Tuesday, September 12, 2006; 12:00 AM.

My hat is off to anyone who home schools their children. The task seems so overwhelming… He begins his column with:

"Write something positive about our school," my son's pre-kindergarten teacher urged me when we met for the first time last fall.

As a veteran of the Baltimore public school system, she was accustomed to loads of negative publicity about her employer. As a concerned parent, so was I. For that reason, my wife approached our entry into that world with considerable trepidation. Our experiences soon justified our initial fears.

Read the rest of Mr. Asim’s column here.

I wrote a column that touched upon schools as a campaign issue in this year’s Maryland gubernatorial contest in The Tentacle: “An apple for the governor.” You can find it here.

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20060911 KDDC Former mayor err Governor elect Palin by 14

Former mayor err next Alaska Governor Palin by 14

September 11, 2006

Rasmussen Reports has former Republican Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin ahead of former Democratic Alaskan governor Tony Knowles 52 to 38 for this fall’s Alaska governor’s race. (“Alaska governor: Palin by 14”)

Rasmussen writes “Coming off the heels of her pronounced victory in the Republican primary against incumbent Frank Murkowski, Sarah Palin (R) is readily handling her next round of competition—former Governor Tony Knowles (D)—in her bid to become Alaska’s next governor. The latest Rasmussen Reports election survey shows Palin leading Knowles 52% to 38%.”

Read the rest of the report here.

According to “Governor Forecast 2006” by Jonathan Singer posted September 8, 3:00 PM on the My Direct Democracy web site (MyDD,) mayor Palin is “Likely” to be the next governor of Alaska.

Some credence can be put to this prognostication because if there was anyway that MyDD could rationalize a Democrat prevailing, MyDD would do it.

According to Mr. Singer’s post, Alaska’s gubernatorial race this fall is listed as “Likely Republican:”

12. Alaska (Democrat: Tony Knowles). This race showed a lot of potential given the candidacy of former Democratic Governor Tony Knowles, the sub-20 percent approval rating of Republican Governor Frank Murkowski.

But now that Murkowski is out having lost badly in the GOP primary to former Wasilla mayor Sarah Pallin (sic), this race leans Republican.

Latest polling: Rasmussen Reports, Palin 52 - Knowles 38, September 8; Dittman Research, Palin 46 - Knowles 29, September 6.

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Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
http://www.thetentacle.com/
Westminster Eagle Opinion and
Winchester Report
http://www.thewestminstereagle.com/
http://www.kevindayhoff.com/

20060910 KDDC Path not taken

Path not taken

September 10^th, 2006

No – I have not watched the ABC docudrama “Path to 9/11.” Nor do I approve of it – no matter who it portrays in a negative light. I’m not sure where there is a place in public discourse for media phenomenon such as “Fahrenheit 9/11” or “Path to 9/11.”

I only wish the folks who have been so aggressive in denouncing “Path to 9/11,” would have been as equally damning of “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Both “Path” and “Fahrenheit” trivializes and bastardizes a necessary discussion that needs to take place in our nation about what to do, now and in the future, about folks who want to kill us and our way of life.

If you haven’t “got it” by now - - I am not a fan of docudramas. They always remind me of the famous quote about history that I have always attributed to American Anthropologist Ernest Albert Hooten (1887 – 1954): "History is principally the inaccurate narration of events which ought not to have happened."

To repeat a wonderful observation by the Washington Post some time ago – that I sure wish I had written: “The numbing repetition of uncorrected falsehoods creates a phony atmosphere of uncertainty around key questions... Eventually voters throw up their hands and accept the fact that they’ll never know for sure what the truth is, and confusion ensues.”

While the liberal lefties and their sycophant megaphones in the liberal media harass President Bush, I say a prayer that we’ve had President Bush in the White House in the five years since 9/11. I think that when it comes to public safety and national defense, most contemporary Democrats cannot be trusted to defend our nation or my family.

I like it whenever I view a television ad in which the candidate says that he or she “will stand up to President Bush…” It makes casting my vote that much easier as that is a candidate for whom I cannot vote.

And a word to all candidates who wish to “run away from” the Bush Administration in the upcoming fall elections. I’m not voting for you. If your core constituency voted you in office, than it very well may be that same core constituency that could vote you back in office because you stood for something.

Being against the President is not the same as being for something. Come up with a plan that I can vote for or shut up. If you want to be mealy-mouthed at this important juncture in history, I can only assume that you will be mealy-mouthed when it comes to standing up to the purveyors of the politics of appeasement that threatened the safety of our nation.

As far as Path to 9/11: a post on Michelle Malkin links to an entry on Betsy’s Page entitled, “It's about time that people remember Sandy Berger,” that summed it all quite well for me. Including, but certainly not limited to the following paragraph (which I have reformatted for readability on a blog…):

“Think for a moment about the concerted action by Democrats, their lawyers, former White House operatives, Bill Clinton, sympathetic historians, and lefty bloggers to stop this show.

Remember that this was the same crowd that was full of praise of for Fahrenheit 9/11 for crystallizing their opposition to George Bush. Accuracy and versimilitude didn't bother them then. And they weren't saying a word about 60 Minutes "fake but accurate" story on Bush's National Guard service.

Now, ask yourself. If this crowd were to control the White House, how many more of these attempts to stifle any criticism of them would we be seeing?

Think of how much has been aired during Bush's tenure, even a movie depicting him being assassinated and more denials of civil liberties gets made without Bush's White House unleashing its lawyers. But, for this thing, the Democrats go to the mattresses. Are they perhaps modeling for us what their response would be to further criticism if they should gain control of the White House - or even of Congress? Don't forget those not-so-veiled threats to ABC's license. Ponder that chill wind.”

“Ponder that chill wind” indeed.

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