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Obama In His Own Words

Here is part of an interview Barack Obama gave in 1995 to pump sales of his book Dreams From My Father

At 2:14 Obama states:

In times of economic scarcity generally the politicians of this country right now want to look for scapegoats.

Contrast that with this Obama for President campaign advertisement:

It seems Obama is placing blame on his opponent and President Bush. Isn’t that scapegoating?

At 2:46 Obama speaks about Rev. Wright:

Wright, who is my pastor. And uh, he is a wonderful man.

and again at 3:50 he says:

Rev. Wright, my pastor, who I speak about in a chapter of the book represents the best of what the black church has to offer.

This is Rev. Wright:

This is the man would-be president Obama said was the best of what the black church has to offer. This is the man that inspired not only Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope but also the speech Obama gave at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

At 5:08 Obama declares:

. . .fully embrace that side of my family . . . and to understand what that country’s about. My older brother Roy . . . He reasserted his heritage Both of them teach me about family.

Obama’s younger brother has lived in a shack on about about $1-a-month and is ashamed of his penury.

The Democratic National Convention has convened to nominate this man to run for President of the United States. Are you comfortable with his statements above in light of the contrasting information?

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Menschkeit

Sometimes one reads something that so simply cuts to the nub; this is such a thing. It is edited only slightly to protect the guilty innocent.

There are some I’ve looked for multiple times over years (yup,
I said YEARS) before I’ve found them. Lemme tell ya, when I finally
did find it, it was the sweetest victory!

Menschkeit, baby!

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Line of the Day

 Some correspondent for CNN (I never watch the channel, so have never heard of him) was arrested last evening in Central Park.  He was initially arrested for loitering.  When found, he had a rope tied around his neck and scrotum.  Drug charges will be added.

According to the official police report:

The criminal complaint says the officer at the scene was able to ID the drug because of “his prior experience as a police officer in drug arrests, observation of packaging which is characteristic of this type of drug, and defendant’s statements that . . . ‘I’ve got some meth in my pocket.’ “

Classic!

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Feeling Proud

One of the difficulties of being an elementary teacher is that I do not see the fruit of my labor.  Yes, I see growth from September to June, but it is in small doses and only when I reflect upon something specific is it really seen.

I teach long division and do see growth.  Students begin not being able to do it and end up being able to knock out any problem placed before them.  Yet, the students move on at the end of the year and I am unaware of whether they retain that skill.  I am unaware of if they build upon their skills.  Etc.

I don’t make widgets.  A widget maker sees the product he creates.

Today seemed to be a bonanza for me learning about my students.  One of my current students was on the front page of the paper yesterday for participating in a walk to help the local SPCA.  That walk raised $26,000.  How proud I am, Travis.

I was informed by a parent of a former student that the boy, now 22, will be enlisting in the Marines in May.  He wants to serve his country.  How proud I am, Michael.

Another one of my students was on the Odyssey of the Mind team that won the state championship over the weekend.  She got her start in OM the year I taught her.  How proud I am, Elena.

Another former student is spearheading a fund raising drive to build a three-hole putting range for the local Veterans Memorial Home.  Once raised, he will construct the golf course as his Eagle Scout project.  How proud I am, Nick.

It isn’t always good news when a teacher hears about former students.  It is uplifting when the good work my students (they’ll always be my students) do trickles back to me.

No, I am not responsible for these good acts.  But it is nice to know I was part of the team that produced these fine people.

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Dot . . . Dot . . . Dot . . .

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, the US government loves the life Gert and I live. Having a mortgage with children reduces the tax load significantly! . . . My nephew passed his jury for Eagle Scout this evening. Way to go, Parker . . . Well, this is certainly not the kind of press an upstart magazine should want . . . I’ve must not be well-read. I believe there are but 13 books on this list that I have read. I have a few others on the bookshelf . . . Not that anyone needed any further proof, but President Clinton does not tell the truth . . . Obama wasn’t going to win Pennsylvania, but thanks to foot-in-mouth disease (aka elitism), he surely has no shot now . . . spring has finally sprung . . . We all make mistakes, but shouldn’t a school district’s language arts supervisor not send e-mail with typos? . . . The AP counts differently than I do. According to Tom Hester, “Corzine’s $33 billion budget proposal would cut spending by $2.7 billion.” Yet, this year’s NJ’s budget was $33,293,000 and the proposed budget for next year is $33,968,603. That’s a spending increase the way I teach my fourth graders. Budget numbers are fluid, but I’ve yet to see a set of figures which actually shows spending will be less next year . . . Yikes! I shudder to think what this college would have done to us for our radio shows 20+ years ago . . . I agree with Justice Alito. I even wrote about it back in 2001. Of course, I approached it from a citizen of New Jersey, not as an Italian-American . . .

Posted in Education, GPS Games, Geocaching, Miscellaneous, New Jersey, Politics | 1 Comment »