Roxbury parents to Government School Board: textbook whitewashes Islam, should be removed
A history textbook being used in Roxbury’s middle school inappropriately glorifies violence, dangerously whitewashes its descriptions of Islam and engages in pro-Muslim indoctrination, say residents who want it removed from the classroom.
The book, “History Alive! Medieval World and Beyond” has been removed from use by a number of school districts across the nation, including four in Bergen County, said Succasunna resident Laurel Whitney, who is spearheading the opposition to its use in Roxbury. She said the book is being used as a supplemental text in Roxbury’s Eisenhower Middle School. The district has shown reluctance to remove it.
Whitney created a summary of her issues with the book and sent it to school officials. But in a Nov. 9 email to Whitney, Roxbury Schools Assistant Superintendent Loretta Radulic said the book was staying, at least for the time being.
“Your passion for the issue is evident, and I do appreciate your concerns for the safety of the students,” wrote Radulic. “The supervisor, building principal, Board Members, and I have had several meetings to discuss your concerns. At this point we do not believe eliminating the textbook is the appropriate road.”
Happy Veterans Day!
What Is A Veteran? (Attributed to Father Denis Edward O’Brian, USMC)
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity.Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?
A vet is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
A vet is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th Parallel.
A vet is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
A vet is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn’t come back at all.
A vet is the drill instructor who has never seen combat – but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account punks and gang members into marines, airmen, sailors, soldiers and coast guardsmen, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
A vet is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
A vet is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
A vet is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
A vet is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket – palsied now and aggravatingly slow – who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
A vet is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
A vet is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more that the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, “Thank You.” That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Again, two little words that mean a lot to any Veteran – “THANK YOU.”
After 22 years, Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace ready to say farewell
Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday
Tennessee bill would bar Islamic “religious doctrine” from being taught in government schools
…there’s 28 pages they have to learn about Islam, and Mohammad, and how it all came about, and about the holy Koran, and the Five Pillars of Islam, and how they pray, and when they pray, and where they pray, and how they pray, and why they pray, and about pilgrimages and all this and then they say that Allah is the only God.
Tennessee government school district runs out of money cancels school
A small, financially struggling school district in northern Tennessee has canceled classes until officials can find a way to generate more revenue.
Clay County Director of Schools Jerry Strong said the school board made the decision Thursday night after struggling with budget concerns for three years. He said the district doesn’t have enough revenue to pay for partially unfunded mandates from the state.
Strong said the county commission, which funds the schools, has declined to increase property taxes and a proposed wheel tax referendum vote won’t take place until March.
Strong said school administrators plan to meet with county officials in an effort to resolve the problem. He said he hopes classes for the 1,150 students in the district will resume sometime in November.
Senate to vote on future of A-10 aircraft
A Senate vote Tuesday could be key for the future of the A-10 Thunderbolt, which the Air Force wants to retire over the objections of infantry troops and lawmakers. An annual defense policy bill scheduled for a vote by Senate Republican leadership – and facing staunch Democratic opposition — would require the service to maintain 171 of the A-10s and bar it from spending any money on retirement efforts over the coming year.
The House passed the measure Thursday but Democrats rallied against it. Republicans were unable to get enough votes to protect the bill from a threatened White House veto. The Air Force hopes to save money by retiring the 1970s-era aircraft and make way for advanced aircraft such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which remains in development. But supporters of the so-called Warthogs, especially former A-10 pilot Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., said there are no good replacements for now and phasing it out could risk U.S. security and lives on the battlefield.
“These aircraft are critical to our local economy as well as our current military efforts in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where A-10s are deployed to train with our NATO allies and deter Russian aggression,” McSally said in a released statement. “We absolutely cannot afford to see these capabilities sidelined prematurely, and I will continue to work tirelessly to prevent that.”
The Purpose of Government Schools
H. L Mencken famously proclaimed: “Th[e] erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.” And that was in 1924!
Trump: I’m Not Thin-Skinned, I’m Fighting False Stories and Liars
They write lies, they write false stories. They know they’re false. It makes no difference. And frankly I don’t call it thin-skinned, I’m angry.”
Return of the Conservatives 