My Stupid State, part XV, Florida Legislates History

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten


And Bush is exactly right when he says that freedom has been America's greatest gift to the world.

What freedom would that be ?


It's incredibly easy to talk in meaningless, anodyne soundbites- or 'mistalk', as I suppose Bushbaby might put it, off-script.


The 'freedom we understand in America'- well, that's just succinctly delineated the subject of freedom so neatly for us, hasn't it ?


The freedom from thinking out the full consequences of our actions or inactions, perhaps:

"We ought to have a commander in chief who understands how to earn the respect of the military, by setting a clear mission, which is to win and fight war, and therefore deter war."

'This Week', ABC, January 23rd, 2000

Still looking for that particular commander in chief, then, eh ?

And why does the Chinese government expend so much effort blocking off the parts of the Internet they find objectionable?

Oh, for much the same reason any American politican would seek to censor or restrict information that they didn't like, I expect:

" There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of this (web) site [gwbush.com], and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is."

Associated Press, May 21st, 1999


On the press freedom 'we' understand in the U.S. of A. :

" It concerns me. As much as I'd like to stifle it occasionally."

The New York Times, January 14th, 2001

I'd wager that fear that access to the uncensored Internet would lead to democratic impulses and a push for more freedoms by the Chinese populace has something to do with it.

Then make that wager then.

Of course it could just perhaps be because, like some other 'concerned' people, the Chinese are scared that something will affect the:

"...life of children living in, you know, the dark dungeons of the Internet. "

Arlington Heights, Illinois, October 24th 2000 Slate

The Thoughts of Chairman Bush on 'The Freedom We Understand' in America.

Still, I expect his and his brother's 'education messages' will 'resignate amongst all parents', even though 'higher education [was not his] priority'.

With this Florida state-approved version of history I suppose the question for teachers and parents and students will be:

" What's not fine is, rarely is the question asked, are, 'Is our children learning? ' "

[MRT144]

Is our children learning? is that even correct grammar?

[Proteus_MST]

Nope it isn´t,
which might be the reason why this sentence is listed among the Bushisms

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by MRT144
Is our children learning? is that even correct grammar?

Give that man a cigar.


Rest assured- Yale and Harvard Business School were not wasted on that gilded youth from a privileged background, Bushbaby. Clearly his cerebral prowess managed to send him through the hallowed portals of those bastions of America's intellectual elite, the creme de la creme.

You need not fear for his education, however:

"As Governor of Texas, I have set high standards for our public schools, and I have met those standards."

C.N.N. online chat, August 30th, 2000


Remember:

" If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything. If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything."

Austin-American Statesman, November 2nd 2000

[Dr Strangelove]

I'm not certain what this law is banishing from history education. It would seem to allow teachers to present objective facts to their students. Does it completely ban the teaching of causation of historical events and trends? What exactly do they object to?

[Tim_Augustus]

[q=Dr. Strangelove]
I'm not certain what this law is banishing from history education. It would seem to allow teachers to present objective facts to their students. Does it completely ban the teaching of causation of historical events and trends? What exactly do they object to?[/q]

From the looks of the article, it (the law) seems to be pushing the line that history teachers are a mob of left-wing bleeding heart crybabies and need a law to stop them placing emphasis on or analysing the mistreatment of aboriginal peoples and ethnic minorities through their country's history... The same debate crops up over here from time to time.

I don't really understand why this movement exists - surely it's not so hard to admit that bad things happen when you colonise an inhabited land? But I digress...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Tim_Augustus


I don't really understand why this movement exists - surely it's not so hard to admit that bad things happen when you colonise an inhabited land? But I digress...

But it is that difficult. Which is why people invent 'terra nullius' .

Orwell said it best:

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

O'Brien, 1984

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by molly bloom



Give that man a cigar.


Rest assured- Yale and Harvard Business School were not wasted on that gilded youth from a privileged background, Bushbaby. Clearly his cerebral prowess managed to send him through the hallowed portals of those bastions of America's intellectual elite, the creme de la creme.

You need not fear for his education, however:



C.N.N. online chat, August 30th, 2000


Remember:



Austin-American Statesman, November 2nd 2000

I'm sorry, but neither of those qultes quite matyches the sheer precious quality of: "Because of the malpractice crisis many of our nations finest Ob-Gyb doctors have had to stop spreading their love for women around our country."

Judging from the thread about Bush and the German leader he's trying to make up for this trajedy.

[Drake Tungsten]

What freedom would that be?

The rejection of monarchy and other unrepresentative forms of government which the American Revolution set into motion and which the United States has greatly supported throughout its 230-year history.

[Proteus_MST]

Unless the Dictators, Kings or unrepresentative governments are on side of the USA of course
(thinking of Saddam during the 80s or the saudi arabian government as examples )

[Drake Tungsten]

We certainly don't have a perfect track-record. Then again, we've done more for global democracy and freedom than whatever piss-ant Euro country you come from...

[Proteus_MST]

While at the same time doing more for the global terrorism than any european nation has done so far (for example by doing things like equipping and training groups like the Taliban and major Al Quaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden)

[Dr Strangelove]

I wonder if it would be possible to make a complete list of the terrorist organizations trained by the former USSR? Take into consideration terrorist groups trained by countries which were at the time aided and abetted by the Soviet union, so the list would not only include the IRA, Bader-Meyerhoff gang, Brigate Rose, Red Army Faction, Shining Path, and PLO, but also Hamas, a tool of Syria which in turn was a tool of the SU.

[Proteus_MST]

This would be indeed interesting.

But the list, of course, should only include those countries where Moscow (or Washington) was either directly responsible for training and supplying the terrorists (for example via KGB or CIA-Agents) or where at least the orders for the puppet regimes to train and supply terrorists came directly from Moscow (or Washington)
Which excludes countries which were given military aid by the UDSSR (or USA) but made a decision for themselves to train, supply or harbor terrorists and therefore did not receive any help from Moscow/Washington especially for this purpose.

[chequita guevara]

You could put all the terrorist organizations of the left (and even right-wing Islamist ones like Hamas) together, and they still wouldn't equal one UNITA or RENAMO, both of whom killed over a million people.

BTW, Dr. S, Hamas was funded and nutured by the Israeli government, not the USSR. The Israelis hoped that the then non-political, but conservative and religious Hamas would serve as a foil to the left-wing, secular, nationalist PLO. It took 30 years, but I think Israel succeeded nicely. Too bad their monster is out to destroy them.