Sandy Hook Elementary Now Leveled…

By Marion Algier – AskMarion – h/t to Free Republic

Across the botton of the screen, as I was watching Fox News, scrolled: Sandy Hook Elementary Now Leveled; no additional information and no coverage.

The photograph below was likely taken in mid-December. It shows all that remains of the Sandy Hook Elementary School crime scene, where all evidence has now been destroyed. The demolition of the 57-year-old structure commenced in October, shortly after a $50 million appropriation made by Connecticut Governor Dannell Malloy to rebuild the school and a $2.5 million payout by President Obama’s Department of Justice to local and regional law enforcement agencies participating in the December 14, 2012 event.

There has been something wrong with this story and scenario since day one!  And now that they didn’t get the gun control legislation out of this they have destroyed all the evidence…  There is an old saying:  You can fool some of the people (the uninformed and kool-aid drinkers) some of the the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time!

Sandy Hook Massacre Compendium of Research and Analysis:

Beginning in the late 1960s Operation Gladio and its corollary maneuvers proceeded throughout Europe, spanning over two decades. Researchers and even the testimony of public officials have since proven that the series of seemingly random orchestrated bombings and shootings was intended to cultivate the necessary degree of anxiety and “tension” that would keep the populace tethered to police state authority and supportive of the right wing regimes preferred by Western powers.

The events of September 11, 2001 have their attendant punctuation marks that reverberate through the body politic. The Sikh Temple. Aurora. Sandy Hook. Navy Yard. And most recently the Arapahoe School in Colorado. For over one year the American public has been subject to a steady mass-mediated drumbeat of school shootings and “active shooter drills.” The breathless corporate coverage of such events often blurs the line between contrivance and reality. While federal agencies clamor for resources to keep the public “safe” from “terrorists and other bad guys,” the undue hysteria has served to keep families on edge over the welfare of their school age children.

Over the past twelve months Memory Hole Blog has published a variety of stories and commentaries seeking to probe behind the corporate media’s overly sensationalistic, and in many cases terrifying, headlines and soundbites related to “school safety” in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

In early January 2013 such analyses caught the attention of the national media, especially since some of the unanswered questions concerning Sandy Hook were being raised or echoed by an academician–indeed, by a member of the establishment who might be intimidated (or embarrassed) into silence. Such efforts have resulted in Memory Hole building its list of followers by several thousand, and making it a destination where those so inclined often engage in vigorous debate via their commentaries on posts. This is another (albeit modest) example of intelligent and discerning citizens exhibiting warranted skepticism toward public events and condemning the disinformation and make believe corporate media offer as a regular diet to their reader/viewerships.

The following is a collection of posts written by James Tracy and MHB guest contributors over the past year specifically addressing one of US history’s more recent controversial events–one that has broad implications for public safety, health, and education-related policies: the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre.-JFT

False Flag Terror and Conspiracies of Silence
August 10, 2012
The news media’s readiness to accept official pronouncements and failure to more vigorously analyze and question government authorities in the wake of “domestic terrorist” incidents including mass shootings and bombings contributes to the American public’s already acute case of collective historical amnesia, while further rationalizing the twenty-first century police state and continued demise of civil society.

Analyzing the Newtown Narrative: Sandy Hook’s Disappearing Shooter Suspects
December 20, 2012
It is now beyond question that the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. all involved patsies, additional gunman and perhaps most importantly, mass media complicity to achieve their political ends. Along these lines and in a fashion now characteristic of how such public executions are framed, the observations and analyses of citizen journalists and alternative media suggest how coverage of the Newtown Connecticut school shooting was substantially altered in the several hours and days following the event.

The Sandy Hook Massacre: Unanswered Questions and Missing Information
December 24, 2012
Inconsistencies and anomalies abound when one turns an analytical eye to news of the Newtown school massacre. The public’s general acceptance of the event’s validity and faith in its resolution suggest a deepened credulousness borne from a world where almost all news and information is electronically mediated and controlled.

James Tracy on the Kevin Barrett Show
January 2, 2013
James Tracy’s  recent article The Sandy Hook School Massacre: Unanswered Questions and Missing Information has gone viral, suggesting that more and more Americans are waking up to the fact that the “deep state” or “dual state” is behind almost all “terrorist attacks,” school shootings, and massacres of civilians. If you doubt that, please study the history of Operation Gladio, which appears to be alive and well in the USA.

Sandy Hook School Massacre Part II: Continued Ambiguity and Augmented Realities  -  January 4, 2013
As documents relating to the Sandy Hook shooting continue to be assessed and interpreted by independent researchers there is a growing awareness that the media coverage of the massacre of 26 children and adults was intended primarily for public consumption to further larger political ends. A considerable amount of evidence has been withheld by authorities, who in a telling move have successfully postponed public disclosure of items culled from Nancy and Adam Lanzas’ residence and vehicles for an additional ninety days.

Sandy Hook School Massacre Timeline
January 6, 2013
The following timeline of the December 14 mass killing of 20 children and 8 adults in Newtown Connecticut attempts to demonstrate how the event was presented to the public by corporate news media. The chronological assemblage of coverage is not comprehensive of all reports published on the incident but rather seeks to verify how the storyline was to a substantial degree constructed by federal and state law enforcement authorities and major media around the theory that 20-year-old Adam Lanza was the sole agent in the massacre.

James Tracy on KPFA’s Guns and Butter
January 10, 2013
“Sandy Hook: Unanswered Questions” with Professor James F. Tracy. Discrepancies in media coverage; coroner’s press conference; political fallout.

January 10 Infowars Nightly News with Rob Dew
January 15, 2013

Video: Prof. Claims Sandy Hook Massacre MSM Misinformation

Anderson Cooper’s Anti-Conspiracy Tirade
January 12, 2013
CNN anchor spends two segments of “AC360″ giving James Tracy’s photograph a nasty finger-wagging. Cooper also “interviews” establishment anti-conspiracists Alex Seitz-Wald and Jonathan Kay concerning Tracy’s alleged derangement.

Taft Union High School Drill Becomes “Real Life”
January 16, 2013
Was the tragic January 10 shooting at Taft Union High School part of a drill that “went live”? This is the impression one gets when analyzing media reports of the incident, such as those from CNN correspondent Khung Lah. Taft School District Superintendent Bill McDermott stated that on the morning of January 10 at 7:30AM PST Taft Union High School staff participated in “lockdown training.” The public school, located roughly two hours northwest of Los Angeles, encompasses grades nine through 12 with about 935 students and 64 faculty members.

Higher Education and Academic Freedom Under Attack
January 19, 2013
James Tracy discusses the Sandy Hook media frenzy and academic freedom on KPFA’s The Morning Mix with Project Censored’s Mickey Huff and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s Robert Shipley.

CIA Document 1035-960: Foundation of a Weaponized Term
January 20, 2013
“Conspiracy theory” is a term that at once strikes fear and anxiety in the hearts of most every public figure, particularly journalists and academics. Since the 1960s the label has become a disciplinary device that has been overwhelmingly effective in defining certain events off limits to inquiry or debate.

An Open Letter In Support of Dr. Tracy and Academic Freedom
January 25, 2013
Dear Florida Atlantic University administrators: I am writing to express support for Dr. Tracy’s right to express his views and pose his questions. Indeed, as an associate professor, he has a professional responsibility to do so. Sadly, voicing unpopular views is a responsibility that is largely neglected in the academy. And even if Dr. Tracy has made some misjudgments regarding the present case (about which I reserve judgment), at least he has demonstrated an uncommon degree of courage in voicing opinions that risk engendering personal troubles.

The Sandy Hook Controversy: James Tracy on GRTV
January 28, 2013
After writing a series of articles documenting the discrepancies and outright lies in the official narrative of the Sandy Hook shooting, Professor James Tracy of Florida Atlantic University shot to international attention when the establishment media began covering his work. Now, Dr. Tracy is left trying to explain the misinterpretations, lies and soundbites that the mainstream media is using to discredit his work.

An Inquisitive Couple’s Visit to Newtown Connecticut
January 28, 2013
My partner and I became fed up with the mainstream media’s depiction of what took place in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. So on January 20 we traveled there from our home in Ottawa Canada in an effort to visit the sites and respectfully approach the locals.

Live Shooter Drill Hoax Played on Nation’s Most Vulnerable Children
February 2, 2013
On the morning of December 18, 2012 administrators at New York City Public School 79 (the Horan School) in East Harlem conducted an entirely unannounced “active shooter drill.” The event, which took place just four days after the high profile Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown Connecticut, terrified the school’s 300 special needs adolescent and young adult students and the 100 teaching and counseling staff members.

An Open Letter to FAU Faculty, Staff, and Administration About Sandy Hook
February 6, 2013
All, Because James Tracy and I have been attacked as faculty members–I am now retired, while he is not–for speaking out about  Sandy Hook, I would observe that this is a very messy case and that serious questions are being raised about it from a wide range of perspectives.   It is clearly complex and controversial but also falls squarely within Dr. Tracy’s areas of professional competence, which include conspiracy theories and culture, malfeasance by the media and related issues. Tenure was created to protect faculty from the political consequences that might otherwise attend addressing complex and controversial matters of this very kind.

Corporate Media’s Lone Gunman Storyline Losing Ground
February 9, 2013
A cross section of kill-to-injury ratios of major mass shootings suggests that if Adam Lanza acted alone in carrying out the Sandy Hook Elementary School carnage he was among the most accurate killers in modern history, exceeding even the lethal damage meted out by Al Capone’s machine gun-wielding henchmen in the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

The Sandy Hook Massacre Versus the Dorner Rampage: Corporate Media Double Standard
February 16, 2013
It’s no secret that journalists working for the bulk of mainstream news outlets seek to uncover and exploit every facet of gruesome events such as ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner’s apparent rampage or the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown Connecticut.

PBS Defies Basic Journalistic Standards to Push Sandy Hook Official Narrative
February 23, 2013
This past week the Public Broadcasting Service presented its viewership with a flurry of reportage and commentary on the Newtown tragedy, taking special care to closely associate the incident with the issues of gun control, mental health, and school safety. Specific programs have included Washington Week, PBS NewsHour, NOVA, and FRONTLINE.

Open Letter to FAU Administration by Filmmaker Adnan Zuberi
February 28, 2013
I have examined Professor James Tracy’s writings regarding the Newtown, Conn., massacre and I am briefly presenting a case-study to you on how a university can deal with this situation. I was awarded by the University of Toronto for my documentary entitled 9/11 in the Academic Community which examines how academia treats critical perspectives of media or governmental narratives.

“Extremist” Publicity and Historical Reality
March 13, 2013
The Southern Poverty Law Center[1] is advising the US government of the alleged “domestic terror threat” posed by political conservatives, “conspiracy theorists,” and others skeptical of their government’s policies and behavior. A March 5, 2012 letter to the US Departments of Justice and Homeland Security points to the group’s recent report, “The Year in Hate and Extremism.” The study uses SPLC data to point to an almost one thousand percent upsurge in “militias and radical antigovernment groups … from 149 in 2008 to 1,360 in 2012.”

Video: Sandy Hook News Coverage
March 20, 2013
“Sandy Hook: Do You Believe That America?” includes several important clips, many of which have been overlooked or disappeared from the web since December 14. The selection and sequence overall highlight the inconsistent and contradictory news coverage of that day. Produced by insanemedia.net

In Search of the Last Liberal Intellectual
March 27, 2013
In the wake of the Sandy Hook School shooting public incredulity with the official version of events led to numerous speculations on what really happened. In short order corporate media marshaled pundits to disparage such alternative interpretations as “conspiracy theories” and the work of deranged and even malevolent Sandy Hook “truthers.”

A Remarkable Confluence of Events
March 29, 2013
Recent entries on the Sandy Hook Massacre Timeline suggest how March 28, 2013 was an especially important date coordinated to bring together the United Nations-led campaign to address the conventional weapons trade and accelerate gun control-related public relations efforts directed toward the American people.

Crisis Actors at Sandy Hook?
April 11, 2013
A Memoryholeblog reader who wishes to remain anonymous has submitted the following Internet Archive captures of previously-published profiles from the CrisisActors.org website. These have been juxtaposed by the contributor with stills from news interviews with individuals appearing in various footage of the Sandy Hook massacre aftermath.

Higher Ed Outlets Address Reprimand of Professor for Blog
April 12, 2013
Two notable professional academic publications examine disciplinary measures taken against James Tracy for media attention given to articles appearing on memoryholeblog that questioned the official Newtown narrative.

Newtown World Order Religion
April 14, 2013
The Sandy Hook School massacre of December 14 has no doubt been seized upon by the present police state as a raison d’être for heightened gun control measures. Yet a more subtle element of the event is the promotion of a political worldview under the cloak of psychiatry and an increasingly prominent notion of “community building.”

“The Most Crucial of All Human Rights”
April 22, 2013

AAUP Letter to FAU President Mary Jane Saunders
April 25, 2013
In a letter to the president of Florida Atlantic University, the AAUP defended a communication professor’s right, under principles of academic freedom, to speak on matters of public concern without fear of institutional discipline.

“Why James Tracy Should Resign”
May 15, 2013
In a recent letter to local newspapers I have been publicly accused by colleagues of being a “conspiracy theorist.” The statement’s authors are asking that I resign my university post because my extracurricular commentary is deemed offensive and allegedly interferes with my ability to properly assess and articulate complex ideas in a scholarly manner.

Secret Government, Deep Events, and the Emerging Police State
May 18, 2013
Most will likely agree that 9/11 is a qualitatively different event from the Sandy Hook massacre and Boston bombing. Nevertheless, with such highly questionable events the first question that must be asked is, “Did something happen?” The second question is, “What happened?” These questions lead us to ask why such events happen, what parties are behind the events and what are their possible rationales.

Media Disinformation and the Conspiracy Panic Phenomenon
May 24, 2013
To posit that one’s government may be partially composed of unaccountable criminal elements is cause for serious censure in polite circles. Labeled “conspiracy theories” by a corporate media that prompt and channel emotionally-laden mass consent, such perspectives are quickly dispatched to the memory hole lest they prompt meaningful discussion of the political prerogatives and designs held by a global power elite coordinating governments and broader geopolitical configurations.

A Memorial Day Trip to Sandy Hook
June 1, 2013

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Letter to FAU President Mary Jane Saunders
June 5, 2013
… FIRE is concerned with the threat to freedom of expression presented by Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU’s) sanctions against Professor James Tracy due to the content of his personal blog. FAU’s actions violate Tracy’s right to freedom of expression and threaten the academic freedom of all FAU faculty. FAU must recognize its moral and legal obligations under the First Amendment and immediately reverse its disciplinary actions.

What Time Are Newtown Schools in Session
June 12, 2013
A central assumed data point of the December 14 2012 Newtown Connecticut shooting as evidenced on the Sandy Hook Timeline and through government pronouncements and press reports is that at 9:30AM a deranged Adam Lanza, dressed for combat and wielding several firearms, gained entry into Sandy Hook Elementary School and slaughtered 26 students and educators.

An Open Letter to the South Florida Sun Sentinel
June 20, 2013
On June 3 James Tracy sent a letter to Sun-Sentinel editor-in-chief Howard Saltz citing the paper’s repeated attacks on Tracy for publicly questioning government pronouncements and overall news coverage of the Sandy Hook massacre and Boston Marathon bombing. In a June 17 response to the letter Saltz maintains that the Sun-Sentinel‘s coverage is defensible given its newsworthiness and under the tenets of free speech.

Video: “No Blood” and “The Watcher is Back”
June 22, 2013
In a conference call of Sandy Hook researchers earlier this month, one individual explains her unanswered queries to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Lieutenant J. Paul Vance concerning what parties were responsible for cleaning up the gruesome crime scene at the Sandy Hook school last December. DEEP deferred to the State Police. “What blood?” Vance responded, before deferring to yet another state agency.

Mass Traumatization and the Body Politic
July 2, 2013
A long-held desire of the technocratic worldview involves manipulation and control of a national and even international body politic. “This planetary consciousness,” Zbigniew Brzezinski observes, brings into closer view a single indivisible humanity united by the soft tyranny of depersonalized and omnipresent coercion.

James Tracy on The Power Hour, July 17, 2013
July 18, 2013
James Tracy discusses the latest investigation into the Sandy Hook shooting and related topics on GCN with Joyce Riley.

Nationwide Post-Sandy Hook Terror Drills: Real or Fake?
August 22, 2013
With the school year now underway a flurry of federally-coordinated “active shooter drills” are taking place across the country. The exercises are part of a broader program the FBI is carrying out as a result of an Obama’s directive following the December 2012 Newtown school massacre.

US Public Schools Train to Finger Mental Cases
August 26, 2013
An appendage of the world’s foremost advocate of psychiatric treatment, the American Psychiatric Association, is actively promoting a “teacher training program” that will enlist public school staff to identify “troubled thought patterns” of teenage students, NBC news reports.[1] The campaign is being pushed by the American Psychiatric Foundation, the “philanthropic and educational arm of the American Psychiatric Association,” according to APF’s own website.

Obama DOJ in $2.5 Million Sandy Hook Payout
September 3, 2013
As the nation’s attention turned to potential US military aggression in the Middle East, the Obama administration has made an unusual $2.5 million payout to Connecticut law enforcement and emergency response agencies for their participation in the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre event.

Video: Over 30 Sandy Hook Homes “Gifted” in 2009?
September 13, 2013
Newtown property records suggest that on December 25, 2009 a total of 35 properties located on and around Yogananda Street in Sandy Hook were transferred at zero value to new owners.

Video: James Tracy Responds to Latest MSM Assault
September 20, 2013
Early on September 18 James Tracy posted several videos, photos and other materials, most of which were emailed to him by MHB readers concerning the September 16 DC Navy Yard shooting incident. No discernible claims or arguments were made regarding what took place at Navy Yard, only attempted descriptions of the items posted.

Sandy Hook School Slated for Demolition
October 5, 2013
Connecticut political leaders are moving decisively to destroy the site of the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. On September 24 Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced the state’s $50 million commitment to tear down the 57-year-old Sandy Hook School structure and replace it with a new high-priced facility.

Sandy Hook Actors’ Elite Political Connections
October 13, 2013
Francine Wheeler (Lobis), the mother of 6-year-old Benjamin Wheeler who authorities say was killed alongside 25 others at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, is also a professional musician and actor.

The AR15 Dog and Pony Show
October 18, 2013
As someone who has followed the Sandy Hook story and the subsequent push for increased gun control quite closely, imagine my surprise to learn from a June 2013 article published in the literary magazine Harper’s that the hue and cry around having the public’s access to weapons reined in may indeed be an ongoing dog-and-pony show intended for perception management only.

Sandy Hook Demolition Crew Sworn to Silence
October 15, 2013
Employees of a construction company contracted by Newtown to demolish Sandy Hook Elementary School must sign non-disclosure agreements before commencing work on the project, scheduled to begin October 21.

Video: Brendan Hunt Returns to Sandy Hook
October 22, 2013
On Sunday, October 20 New York-based videographer and independent researcher Brendan Hunt visited Newtown to further document the Sandy Hook Elementary School and its surroundings. The School is scheduled for demolition this week.

Demolition Underway at Sandy Hook
October 25, 2013

Unraveling Sandy Hook in 2, 3, 4, and 5 Dimensions
November 7, 2013
In this ninety-minute video independent researcher Sofia Smallstorm presents a thoroughgoing examination of the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre event.

Smallstorm and Fetzer on Sandy Hook, Fukushima, Radiation
November 20, 2013
Sofia Smallstorm offers a detailed discussion of her recent video presentation, Unraveling Sandy Hook, on Professor Jim Fetzer’s The Real Deal radio program.

Video: Survivors

Newtown 911 Calls Released
December 5, 2013

CT State Emergency System Hijacked on December 14, 2012
December 9, 2013
We can now prove that the entire CT State emergency communications system was ‘hijacked’ and ‘unplugged’ on December 14th., 2012, per an elaborate frequency change plan implemented merely 5 hours in advance on that morning, effectively supplanting and replacing normal police and EMS with FEMA / DHS ‘shadow’ command center personnel, where it turns out that they (the HOAX perpetrators from FEMA) made one critical mistake that they hoped nobody would catch.

Sandy Hook One Year After
December 12, 2013
As the nation approaches the first anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, mainstream media are predictably excluding from their tragedy porn any substantive analysis of the idiosyncratic, misleading, and in some cases flagrantly propagandistic reportage of the event that might call the official story into question.

Video: Sandy Hook Child Victims at 2013 Super Bowl
December 14, 2013
The words might be more fitting as a banner on the National Enquirer. Yet according to this brief (2:33) video, several of the first graders slain in Newtown Connecticut on December 14, 2012 are not only alive and well, but rather famously performing the US National Anthem at Super Bowl XLVII.

Update: The Obama administration announced two new executive actions (bypassing Congress) concerning background checks on firearm purchasers

January 3, 2014

These come just over four months after Obama last used executive actions to bypass Congress and just weeks after Vice President Joe Biden said the White House was shifting its focus away from gun control. 

According to Fox News, Biden now says the administration is issuing two executive actions to broaden access to mental health records during background checks.

One of the actions allows states to provide mental health information heretofore off-limits due to HIPAA privacy laws. The second action broadens the criteria for the label "committed to a mental institution," so that those who are "involuntarily committed" to an institution for outpatient care are viewed the same as those who are "involuntarily committed" for inpatient care.

When announcing the executive actions, Obama and Biden renewed their call for Congress to pass "common-sense gun safety legislation."

The administration points to the heinous crime at Sandy Hook Elementary as justification for the new executive actions as well as for its calls for more gun control. It should be noted that these new actions would not have stopped Adam Lanza from carrying out his crime because he did not buy his guns.

He stole them. 

All coincidence? You be the judge…

    Video: Theater shooter actors linked to Sandy hook actors- Exposed As a Fraud 

Sandy Hook School Massacre Timeline 

Sandy Hook Hoax and Cover-up… to Promote Obama’s Gun Control Agenda

Sandy Hook Planned: Video Tribute Video Uploaded Weeks Before Massacre

Technorati Tags: Obamaland,Journalism,propaganda,Public Opinion,Sandy Hook Elementary,Smoke and mirror,Lies,Holder,Hoax,Gun Control,Gun Confiscation,Second Amendment,Big Brother Tactics,Manipulation,The Plan,Obama's Agenda,Progressivism,Disarming America,Newtown,Shootings,Lanza,Gun Control EOs,Coincidence,You Be the Judge

Obama Thanksgiving Disgrace

By Marion Algier - AskMarion

Thanksgiving is a time for family, for remembering those who founded this country… long before it was a nation, and to give thanks.

President Obama wants a seat at your table to propagandize during the Holidays… Thanksgiving and Christmas to promote his agenda, especially ObamaCare.

Daily Caller: America’s families will soon get their turkey, potatoes and cranberries at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners — but some will also get a tableside political pitch for the Obamacare insurance network.

President Barack Obama’s deputies at Organizing for Action are urging supporters to give an Obamacare pitch to their relatives during the most iconic of American family and religious events.

“Take advantage of downtime after meals or between holiday activities to start your talk,” says OFA’s marketing script, titled “Health Care for the Holidays.”

At Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, “people will be under the “misconception that the government-designed health-payment plans are too expensive,” says the presidential pitch, which was emailed out on Nov. 23.

“Tell them: There are a variety of plans available in the new health insurance marketplace, so you can pick one that fits your budget. There’s also financial assistance available based on how much you make,” says OFA’s script.

Obama’s effort to push his political priorities into Americans’ private family and religious events reflects his determination to take over the nation’s health-care sector.

Obama and his progressives allies believe that average Americans need their professional, university-learned and well-paid skills to manage their lives.  That’s very different from Americans’ evolved popular culture, which declares that families are best able to help young people develop good character.

The progressives’ determination to gatecrash iconic family events reflects self-confidence in their own expertise, their long-held pity and contempt for ordinary Americans and for the institution of family, plus their ability to attract young people to their cause.

But it also shows how Obama and his deputies are worried that their trouble-plagued Obamacare network is in peril.

The online script tries to build up the confidence of young people nervous about making the dinner-table pitch. “If you have family members who are uninsured, you can play a big part in helping them find coverage that works for them. It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you. So have the talk,” isays the pitch.

The pitch was previewed Nov. 18 by Sara El-Amine, OFA’s national training director at Organizing for Action. “We all have that uncle or that cousin who needs to be convinced or who needs health-insurance… so [OFA volunteers have begun to] practice those sometime-hard conversations,” she said in a phone call to OFA’s volunteers.

“If every person on this call committed to something small, like talking to your uninsured cousin or nephew at the Thanksgiving table, think about the impact we could have,” she said.

“We’re not going to be able to fight this fight without you,” she told the volunteers, who had gathered to hear a statement from their leader, Obama.

The online script glosses over the many problems with the Obamacare website. But it urges supporters to ask relatives to bring personal information, such as Social Security Numbers, to the dinner so they can use the family computer to join Obamacare after dessert.

The OFA script includes a short video, in which two drab parents urge their friendless young son to buy health-insurance, while they eat Obamacare-compliant small portions of drab food.

The script downplays the cost of Obamacare premiums and deductibles, which are especially high for young, healthy people.

The Obamacare system depends on the monthly Obamcare tax payments from young and healthy people, many of whom are already struggling to save money, get married, pay off student loans or even get a full-time job in stalled economy.

Young peoples’ Obamacare taxes are used to offset the huge cost of providing very expensive insurance to Democrat-leaning groups of immigrants, unskilled, unmarried or sick people.

Other regimes have used children to help government penetrate private family and religious events.

One extreme example is provided by the violent rulers of the Soviet Union, who urged the nation’s children to follow the fabricated example of 14 year-old Pavel Morozov. The boy, according to the official Soviet investigation of his death in 1932, was killed by relatives after he called the secret police to arrest his father for illegal activities. The father was shot after a trial, according to the fabricated story.

Four of his Morozov’s relatives were reputedly shot by the Soviet government to help boost the story, which was used to persuade millions of kids to be loyal to government rather than to their families.

Obama’s determination to pitch his Obamacare program is now tinged with desperation, following the public’s recognition that Obama’s university-trained aides spectacularly failed to manage a staged rollout of the Obamacare network, despite three years of planning.

In recent weeks, Obama’s ratings have plunged down to roughly 40 percent, following the public’s recognition that he lied when he said in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2103 that Americans would be able to keep their insurance plans and doctors after the Obamcare networks is established.

Many Americans’ access to their healthcare is being reduced by Obamacare’s crippled malfunctioning website, by large price spikes, by shrinking access to doctors and reduced marketplace choices.

GOP legislators are trying to develop a replacement system, that would provide large tax-breaks to help people to buy health-insurance from any qualified company in the nation. The GOP alternative would provide federal money to help sick people offset the cost of debilitating medical conditions, and allow them to keep their insurance when they lose or change jobs.

This holiday season, getting a lump of coal in your stocking might actually be preferable, considering the alternative gift from the folks at Organizing for Action is Obamacare. Their newest cult campaign is called "Health Care for the Holidays." How festive. "This holiday season, make sure to talk to your loved ones about getting covered," the group's newest ad campaign says. "These conversations don't have to be tough — OFA can help." Because your family holiday gathering should actually be an opportunity for you to register them for Obamacare, or something. OFA even provides you with these handy talking points to sell your loved ones on signing up. Follow these easy steps and you're sure to be the life of any holiday get-together:

Start by asking: "Have you thought about signing up for health insurance on the new marketplace?"

Offer to walk them through it: "Would you like to take some time with me to sign up right now?"

Ask them to make a plan, and commit to it: "When do you plan on signing up?"

Don't forget to follow up: "Have you signed up yet?"

"It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you," OFA says. "So have the talk."

See their creepy cult video ad...

Video: HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND MERRY CHRISTMAS: OBAMA CAMPAIGN WANTS YOU TO GIVE 'HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS' … REALLY?

I come from a family that talks politics at the dinner table and at holiday gatherings.  We also talk religion, history and about pretty much everything.  But there are people at the table from both parties as well as independents.  There are Christians, Jews and Atheists represented.  And there are recent immigrants, immigrants from 60+ years ago and Americans who don’t know when their ancestors got here or even where from.  There are Veterans from WWII, Korea,  Vietnam, Somalia, and Iraq and even some who fought on the German side in WWII and everyone speaks their mind. And there are friends from a large variety of ethnic groups and every race.  It gets pretty lively at times! But we don’t do propaganda or promoting agendas for anyone especially for Obama’s failed and power-grabbing policies. 

In a country where 85% of the people say they believe in God, regardless of their religious affiliation, President Obama has left God our of his Thanksgiving message the past 4-years; guess we will see about this year.  And this Thanksgiving many Americans are finding themselves without medical insurance because it was cancelled due to ObamaCare… some with serious illnesses, and many that used to have healthcare insurance can no longer afford it.  And now President Obama wants you to convince your friends and family to step-up and save his flawed policy on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Since when is that a holiday activity or even American??  The President’s request is disgraceful!!

What we do talk about is how grateful we are to live in America and we talk a bit about Thanksgiving and the history that surrounds it. We also talk about trivia surrounding Thanksgiving. We say a prayer, honor the troops and veterans and thank God for all our blessings.  We watch football, eat too much and we also have It’s a Wonderful Life playing on (a non-football designated) TV.  It seems to capture the feeling of Thanksgiving as well as kick us off into the Christmas Season. 

We also exchange recipes, talk about years past and try to involve our children in our traditions as well as inform them about our past, family and country, like both Sarah Palin and Ann Romney talk about in their new books: ‘Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas’ (Kindle) and The Romney Family Table: Sharing Home-Cooked Recipes & Favorite Traditions (Kindle).  We serve the same menu whether it is only immediate family or we are seating 50, our largest celebration, but extra dishes are always welcome!

During dessert we have added a grateful bowl tradition to our Thanksgiving Celebration. It is a great addition to your festivities! This year as everyone arrives for Thanksgiving Dinner, have each of them fill out a grateful note, to be deposited in a bowl, basket or container.  After dessert has been served, (with the TV temporarily turned off if possible) have everyone gather within earshot and have someone draw out the slips of paper one by one and have a designated person read them aloud.  It will give your Thanksgiving a very different feeling.

The Thanksgiving Bowl

May all of you have the happiest and most blessed of Thanksgivings that brings you and yours closer and fills all with joy!!

Forum: How does your family traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving? 

Keeping Pets Safe for Thanksgiving: The “Not So Safe” or No-No Pet Food List 

How to keep your dog safe during the Thanksgiving holidays

Adrift at Sea

Cruisin for a Bruisin     

“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

AskMarion: The similarities between the horrific voyage of the Carnival Triumph and the tragic voyage of the dysfunctional ship of state we call America are many. We have a ruling class consisting of the President, Congress, Judiciary, Central bankers, Media titans, and goliath corporation CEOs who care not for the citizens of this country. You are ignorant peasants in their eyes. They only care about maintaining and expanding their wealth, control and power through the complete capture of our financial markets, political system and media propaganda to the masses. The health and welfare of the peasants isn’t even on their radar screen. The ruling class steering this ship of fools have no interest in the truth or the best long – erm interests of the country. The vast majority of the passengers on this impaired listing ship prefers to believe the propaganda and lies spewed by the captain and his minions. They prefer the illusion of safety and security to the truth about the real condition of this ship. When the engines of this ship come to a grinding halt, their illusions will be shattered. Big government will come up small when it counts. The government propaganda and public relations will be revealed as nothing but hot putrid air and fecal matter.

Speaking of fecal matter, President Obama’s State of the Union address, which was watched by 33 million (down from 52 million in 2009) believers, was a perfect reflection of the thinking that led to the Carnival Triumph disaster. The reality facing the country is: $220 trillion of unfunded entitlement liabilities; a $16.5 trillion national debt; annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion; 48 million citizens on food stamps; 11 million people on SSDI; a true unemployment rate of 23%; true inflation exceeding 5%; record high gasoline prices; 0% interest rates for senior citizen savers; free money for criminal bankers provided by their sugar daddy Bernanke; not one criminal prosecution of a Wall Street executive for the greatest financial fraud in history; a war department that spends $1 trillion per year and fights undeclared wars around the world; a chief executive that invokes dictatorial executive orders to murder Americans with his fleet of predator drones and imprison citizens indefinitely without charges; and a bureaucratic nightmare called Obamacare that will drive up deficits, drive up healthcare costs for every family, enrich the healthcare industrial complex, drive doctors into retirement, and drive small businesses into bankruptcy.

Rather than deal with this reality, Obama chose the Carnival Cruise Line method of public relations, misinformation, denial and delusion. He has embraced the Big Lie concept as if he had created it. With a straight face he proposes “investments” in infrastructure, new jobs programs, new education initiatives, more green energy projects, pollution control schemes, bailing out more underwater mortgages, and raising the minimum wage, all done for the children – and it won’t add one cent to the deficit. Instead of leveling with the American people and explaining the dire economic issues confronting our nation that require sacrifice, reality based thinking, and tough choices, we got more platitudes, class warfare, divide and conquer, phantom spending cuts, disingenuous twisting of the truth, intellectual dishonesty and fuzzy math. Public relations spin created by Madison Avenue maggots and pronounced grandly by corrupt puppet politician hacks will not prevent the catastrophic engine failure that will leave this country adrift in a sea of its own feces.

Our cruise of illusions and delusions is headed for troubled water. The math challenged citizens on this ship have been enjoying the 24 hour pizza buffet without the labor required to pay for the bounty. When your leaders boldly lie and tell you we don’t have a spending problem, refer to proposed spending increases as “investments”, and hail $1.6 trillion of spending cuts that did not happen, you’ve got a ship that will be signaling SOS in the imminent future. Both political parties are laughable in their blathering about spending cuts as Bush and his Republican cronies drove spending from $1.9 trillion in 2001 to $3.0 trillion in 2008 with their unfunded wars, unfunded new entitlements (Medicare Part D), Wall Street bailouts, and creation of police state agencies (DHS); while Obama and his Democrat co-conspirators have driven spending up to $3.8 trillion in four years with new unfunded entitlements (Obamacare), expansion of warfare in the Middle East (they sit on top of “our” oil), $800 billion stimulus handouts, $60 billion hurricane relief pork handed out for $25 billion of uninsured losses, and bailing out banks, auto companies, homeowners, and other gamblers who took undo risks and lost to the tune of hundreds of billions. Politicians and the inhabitants of this country have forgotten there are consequences to their actions and inactions.

Carnival Cruise Line is trying to buy off the passengers with refunds and $500 bribes to keep them quiet and sedated, while protecting their continued hundreds of millions in profits and million dollar bonuses for their executives. The ruling class in the United States has bought off the American people with entitlement promises that can’t possibly be honored, food stamps, SSDI, tax rebates, homebuyer tax credits, loan modification programs, Cash for Clunkers, payroll tax cuts, $1 trillion of taxpayer financed student loans, taxpayer financed subprime auto loans, and a myriad of other handouts designed to keep the masses sedated, while the ruling class continues to pillage the national wealth. It’s as if the entire country has been charging their food, drinks, excursions, and purchases to their room number and the bill has reached $16.5 trillion, rising by $3 billion per day. This voyage is reaching an end and the bill is coming due. The engine is on fire but the captain is telling us all is well. Eventually, everyone will know the captain lied.        

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Leonard Cohen – Everybody Knows

VIDEO:  Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows

h/t to MJ

Related:

It Finally Hit Me: Barack Obama Will Never Be Held Responsible for Anything

Technorati Tags: Nietzsche,truth,ship of state,ruling class,ruling elites,low-informed voters,divide and conquers,Big Business,banksters,Big Brother,osterich syndrome,smoke and mirrors,critical thinking,connecting the dots,Executive Branch,Congress,Judiciary,Carnival Cruise Lines,manipulation of the public,propaganda

There’s No Truth In The News And No News In The Truth

The Americans on FX

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton  -  The NoisyRoom

As Trevor Loudon and I have discussed numerous times, the Cold War never went away… it merely shifted. Communists never went away either – they are plentiful and infiltrated throughout our government and institutions. With the election of an avowed Marxist, they are emboldened and have whet their appetite for the downfall of a once great nation and the rise of a monolithic fascist regime, desired in their eyes and hearts, hopefully worldwide.

The Progressive’s most potent tool is propaganda, which the media and Hollywood (who are the toadies of Obama and the Leftists) wield masterfully as a powerful weapon with which to continuously bludgeon America, trying to force her into submission.

Enter a new television series premiering on FX on Jan. 30th – The Americans.

From: Defeat Communism

The series takes place in the early 1980s, where two KGB agents pose as an American married couple embedded in Washington DC. Their union was arranged in the old country, but glorified in America as our media works arduously at making you feel for these Russkies. Ah, young Commie spy love! Mix in some nationalism, anti-Americanism and violence and you have a new series that will blow America away (they wish).

And as Glenn Beck has predicted many times, the mask is totally coming off. The producers are not shy in stating who Americans should be rooting for:

“It might be a little different to believe and get used to, but we want you to root for the KGB,” said EP Joel Fields. “They’re going to try to get the Soviets to win the Cold War.”

History knows they’re fighting a losing battle, but the creative team behind the high-profile launch expressed a confidence that more than enough time has passed for American audiences to not hold a grudge.

“If you tried to tell a story like this about al-Qaeda now, it would be impossible; no one would want to hear it,” Fields continued. “I feel even the same could have been said up to 10 years after the cold war ended.”

Get that? Americans should now cheer for the Commies, because hey… we’re all Communists now. And the closing pitch? Well, take a gander:

As a closing pitch to root for the bad guy protagonists, Weisberg said he wanted viewers to take a hard look at both sides of the Cold War.

“These were these really competing value systems,” he said. “And there’s no question that repressive socialism failed, but unbridled consumption hasn’t exactly led to great satisfaction — and one problem is how do we express that dramatically.”

Well, rock me Putin! We should all hail Stalin and just ditch that pesky Constitution. Not. This is one Conservative Constitutionalist who will watch at least the first couple of episodes to record them in KeyWiki. In fact, they’ll get their very own page – how’s that for infamous?

But, it’s not just our television shows that are replete with Marxist propaganda or our movies, produced by Progressives. Nor is it just Marxist actors and actresses or music performers. We are assailed by it these days everywhere we turn. It’s the ultimate in peer pressure – go Commie! Be cool!

Simply look at the President’s upcoming inauguration tomorrow (which I will NOT be watching). Above and below, you can see posters that are being hawked in DC depicting Obama as the second coming. It is the ultimate blasphemy. Running only a close second to Obama using children as human shields when railing on cable against the Second Amendment.

A stunning Caesar profile, don’t you think?

Photo by Art & Response

The Left would have us worship at the bloody feet of Obama – not happening. And the propaganda is insidious – watch your favorite shows very closely, you will see where it has been woven into the plots and commercials. Our media now goes where dictators in the past never had the means to go and boldly, I might add.

Then there is the other face of this chaotic coin. What you don’t hear. While Americans rightfully took to the streets in protest of Obama’s anti-gun tactics, he was pushing a full-frontal anti-Netanyahu PR campaign in Israel.

From Galganov.com:

Israel goes to the polls on Tuesday January 22, 2013, in what is surely Israel’s MOST important election ever.

AND OBAMA IS IN THE THICK OF IT.

Not only is Obama telling the Israeli people through his LEFTIST media sycophants in Israel and the USA, that he DOESN’T want Netanyahu reelected, he is THREATENING the Israeli people with dire predictions of serious consequences for the future of Israel if they don’t heed his words.

I was reading Y-NET News Saturday morning (January 19, 2013), which is a popular English language VERY LEFTIST Israeli News Web Site, where they had published an editorial CASTIGATING Prime Minister Netanyahu for NOT listening to Obama.

Obama will never be satisfied until both America and Israel are on their knees awaiting gutting by our enemies. I hope Netanyahu gets reelected and tells Obama to get his Marxist snout out of Israel’s business and go straight to hell.

So, always look at what Obama is doing with one hand while he is shredding the Constitution with the other. He is not content with the level of propaganda currently, so he is going turbo by creating a mass organization promoting – well, him:

President Obama will remake his presidential campaign into a massive new movement devoted to supporting his agenda, an unprecedented move that creates a brand new political organization devoted not to a Party, not to an idea – but to one charismatic leader.

The group, to be called Organizing for Action, opens for business Sunday, the day Obama is officially inaugurated.

If this type of organization has existed before in American politics on any similar scale, I’m not aware of it.

There are excellent reasons why we haven’t had mass groups devoted to powerful leaders in this country. Our whole system of government is designed to provide checks to protect against the accretion of too much power, to forestall mob rule. A mass organization that does the bidding of a single individual who also happens to be the president of the United States undermines such intentions.

And — wait for it — it is ‘non-profit.’ What a horrific joke.

Propaganda for the masses in fascist moves that would make Hitler blush. You can no longer trust the news or the media, with few exceptions.

One of the running jokes throughout most of the Soviet dominion over Russia was this assessment of the two newspapers by the non-Communist citizenry: “There is no Pravda in Izvestia and there is no Izvestia in Pravda” or in English: “There is no truth in News and there is no news in Truth.” But this was said carefully and to people who would not report you to the Central Committee. Which, I hear, Barack Obama is forming as I write this.

As the names of the main Communist newspaper and the main Soviet newspaper, Pravda and Izvestia, meant “the truth” and “the news” respectively, a popular Russian saying was “V Pravde net Izvestiy, v Izvestiyakh net Pravdy” (In the Truth there is no news, and in the News there is no truth).

Technorati Tags: Trevor Loudon,TV,FX,media,liberal media bias,Pravda,Progressivism,Cold War,Communism,Hollywood,inauguration,propadanda,Obamaland,watch the other hand,elections have consequences

Obama Assembling De Facto Propaganda Ministry

By Steve Peacock – WND

The U.S. State Department is planning to “buy” media broadcasts, as the Obama administration assembles a de facto propaganda machine, according to documents that reveal the president’s plans moving closer to the 2012 election.

According to information WND located via routine database research, State’s Bureau of Public Affairs is soliciting the help of “global news coverage service providers” to create and disseminate department “news.”

The selected contractor will provide “full-time, 24/7 service,” the Statement of Work for the plan said.

“The department seeks a service provider for full, turn-key news-style global television coverage of ad hoc open press events featuring the Secretary of State and other officials across the United States and throughout the world,” according to the SOW, “and to send this content back to the department’s Washington headquarters…”

Upon receiving these privately packaged productions, the department, in turn, “will distribute this video content to media organizations through an array of traditional and new media platforms.”

Indeed, just as the department is awaiting contractor bids on the project, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s representative at the World Press Freedom Day in Tunisia heaped accolades upon UNESCO for hosting the annual event.

Read about how the U.S. mission at the United Nations works with reporters, and find out what the White House does with some of those raising questions.

In a “tweet” from Tunisia, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer said, “I applaud the tireless, continuing work of #UNESCO in promoting the ideals of free and open media.”

Brimmer delivered remarks on behalf of the Obama administration during the opening ceremony, along with presenting a video speech from Clinton.

Referring to the Arab Spring demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa, Clinton said, according to a prepared statement, “Voice by voice, text by text, Tunisians, Egyptians, Libyans and many others have dared to say what they believe and stand up for their own rights.

“Many others have dared to report on what they see happening, even when their lives were at risk.”

The State Department plan is twofold: to hire a single contractor to provide television news crew services on the one hand, and to provide transmission/streaming services as a corollary service.

“The television news crew category is both one and two-person crews, and includes one and multi-camera productions,” the SOW pointed out. “The transmission category includes both traditional fiber, terrestrial and satellite-based as well as file-based and Internet delivery platforms.”

The use of such government- as well as industry-funded broadcasts, known as “video news releases,” or VNRs, has increasingly come under fire in the past decade.

VNRs “are segments designed to be indistinguishable from independently produced news reports that are distributed and promoted to television newsrooms,” according to Source Watch, a Center for Media and Democracy project that chronicles the intersecting of public relations and public policy.

The General Accountability Office – the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress – in 2005 declared that several federal entities, such as the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services, may have violated the law by disseminating VNRs as fact-based news reports.

Subsequent to the GAO’s findings, the “Stop Government Propaganda Act” was introduced to rein in and punish such activities; it died, however, after being introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Proponents of VNR distribution claim that use of the video products is wholly legitimate. The Public Relations Society of America is that a VNR simply is “the video equivalent of a press release.”

The organization does advocate that industry members abide by certain parameters to ensure the integrity of VNR usage:

1. Organizations that produce VNRs should clearly identify the VNR as such and fully disclose who produced and paid for it at the time the VNR is provided to TV stations.
2. PRSA recommends that organizations that prepare VNRs should not use the word “reporting” if the narrator is not a reporter.
3. Use of VNRs or footage provided by sources other than the station or network should be identified as to source by the media outlet when it is aired.

Despite congressional refusal to crack down on VNRs, the Federal Communications Commission issued a reminder to licensees of their sponsor-identification requirements under the Communications Act or 1934. Rather than holding liable the creators of the reports, the commission has placed the burden of disclosure on who ultimately airs the VNR.

“These rules are grounded in the principle that listeners and viewers are entitled to know who seeks to persuade them with the programming offered over broadcast stations and cable systems,” the FCC said.

When such VNRs are aired, “licensees and operators generally must clearly disclose to members of their audiences the nature, source and sponsorship of the material that they are viewing.”

Although the FCC continues to enforce these rules, the penalties arguably have been light.

Last year, for instance, it issued a forfeiture order to Fox Television Stations, Inc. when station affiliate KMSP-TV of Minneapolis used – but failed to identify – a General Motors-provided VNR during a news broadcast.

The FCC fined Fox $4,000 for failing to disclose GM sponsorship of the report.

Among other VNR-related enforcement actions, in 2007 it imposed a $4,000 fine on Comcast Corp. for also violating the sponsorship disclosure rules. Comcast’s CN8 news affiliate in that case had aired a VNR produced on behalf of Nelson’s Rescue Sleep.

The FCC soon after separately slapped a $16,000 forfeiture against Comcast for airing two VNRs from General Mills and Allstate, respectively.

The State Department through May 21 is reviewing contractor proposals in response to the new solicitation. It did not disclose the estimated cost of the endeavor, for which it will award a year contract with four one-year options.

The Obama Christmas Song for Liberals

Video:  The Obama Christmas Song for Liberals

Obama’s New ‘Holiday’ Ad Encourages You to Convert Conservative Family Members

The Obama campaign released a new YouTube video on Tuesday just in time for the season entitled, “Home for the Holidays: Share Why You’re Working to Re-elect President Obama.”

Going back and forth between a collage of young 2008 Obama voters from different backgrounds now working on the campaign, each individual tells his or her story of propagandizing conservative family members, and encourages you to preach the same this Christmas — I mean holiday season.

Here is the video:

Video: Home for the Holidays: Share Why You're Working to Re-elect President Obama

Obama's Back-to-School Speech Blacked Out After Parents Complained

AP  -  By Heather Carney, Naples Daily News

Public schools in Broward County will show President Barack Obama live. Schools in Palm Beach County are showing today’s back-to-school speech live, too. Students in Lee County public schools will also hear what the President has to say live.

Other Florida school districts like Hendry and Miami-Dade are leaving the live showing up to the discretion of individual school principals.

But Collier County Public Schools decided that none of the district’s schools will show the President’s education pep-talk live.

The back-to-school speech has been a politically charged controversy in Collier County ever since Obama first addressed students in 2009. He will give his third back-to-school address today at 1:30 p.m.

Collier schools didn’t show it then; nor will they show it now.

“In the past, this event was somewhat controversial,” said Beth Thompson, chief instructional officer with the district. “Parents called-in and said they did not want children to watch the speech.”

She said Superintendent Kamela Patton and a team of district administrators made the decision not to show the speech live. Instead, the district will give teachers the opportunity to share the speech at a later day if it fits with the curriculum.

“We’re trying to maximize the message,” said Patton. “We want teachers to show it in a controlled setting.”

Lee and Collier schools are giving parents the chance to “opt-out” from watching the speech, whether they watch it live or at a later date.

Thompson and Patton explained that teachers can present the message as a resource for history, speech writing, oral techniques or for other instructional purposes.

Joseph Burke, Superintendent of Lee County Public Schools, thinks it’s important to make the speech available to all students.

“The President clearly defines what it means to have a good public education system,” said Burke.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools aired the speech live the past two years. Before taking the Collier County superintendent job, Patton worked in Miami-Dade Public Schools for 24 years.

So then, why the decision not to show the speech live in Collier County?

“I know that historically we haven’t shown it. I always want to be sensitive of the past,” Patton said.

School board members and local party representatives are keeping their mouths shut. No one wants to admit that the decision is a political one.

County voter registration numbers show that Collier County has double the number of registered Republicans than

Democrats – 89,603 to 44,334. Lee County has 157,876 registered Republicans and 107,196 registered Democrats.

School board member Barbara Berry said the board should not be involved in the district’s decision.

“The running of the schools is left up to the district. This is not a political decision. This decision shouldn’t be up to the board,” Berry said.

Democratic national party chairwoman Sandra McClinton remembers there being “a big hassle” about the speech in past years.

“If you can’t trust the President to talk to your children, who can you?” Mclinton said.

She said that since the students are not of voting age, the President’s political affiliation shouldn’t make a difference.

“The students should be able to hear an even line,” she said. “I would trust any of our presidents to speak to the students.”

Attempts to reach the Collier County Republican executive committee Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Obama is not the first President to directly address students. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush gave an address to schools nationwide. Ronald Reagan also answered questions from students at the White House in 1986. The session aired nationally.

In last year’s back-to-school speech, some of Obama’s comments included:

“You future is in your hands. Your life is what you make of it. And nothing – absolutely nothing – is beyond your reach. So as you’re willing to dream big. So long as you’re willing to work hard. So long as you’re willing to stay focused on your education.

“The farther you go in school, the farther you’ll go in life.

“We shouldn’t be embarrassed by the things that make us different. We should be proud of them. Because it’s the things that make us different that make us who we are. And the strength and character of this country have always come from our ability recognize ourselves in one another, no matter who we are, or where we come from, what we look like, or what abilities or disabilities we have.”

This year’s speech may make an educational impact on students. Or it may not.

Source: Fox News

Related:

Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System… and Obama’s Back to School Speech(es)

Stupid in America~

Privatize Me!

A Principal With Principles

Teach All Children About Global Warming

Why Young Americans Can’t Think Morally

Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools