http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/7348 Thompson Is for Real. By Robert D. Novak. Monday, April 2, 2007. WASHINGTON&mdash;In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has improbably transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in national polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles, because he is filling the conservative void in the Republican field of candidates. Republican activists have complained for months that none of the big-three contenders&mdash;Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney&mdash;fits the model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in conversations with them the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on &ldquo;Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.&rdquo; His statement to Wallace that he was &ldquo;giving some thought&rdquo; to a presidential run generated a reaction that surprised Thompson. In the first Gallup poll that listed Thompson (March 23-25), he scored 12 percent&mdash;amazing for someone out of public life for more than four years who has not campaigned. More important than the polling data is his backing within the political community. Buyer&rsquo;s remorse is expressed by several House members who had endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Romney... For those of us who early recognized Fred Thompson would be the best choice for President none of what Novak has said comes as a surprise. But there are several hurdles for Fred to overcome should he make the decision to run. But I continue to hope he will do so, and I encourage you to sign a &ldquo;Draft Fred&rdquo; petition if you have not. &ldquo;Good men must not obey the laws too well. What satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the word politic, which now for ages has signified cunning, intimating the State is a trick?... From neither party, when in power, has the world any benefit to expect in science, art, or humanity, at all commensurate with the resources of the nation.&rdquo; Things have only worsened in America since Emerson made his astute observation concerning the facts of the matter. By now most know the laws protect the criminals while abusing their victims, how great a &ldquo;trick&rdquo; the State has played on us, and the depths of degradation to which the word &ldquo;politic&rdquo; has fallen. And the primary resource of America, our children, have not been the beneficiaries &ldquo;at all commensurate with the resources of the nation.&rdquo; For example, &ldquo;No Child Left Behind&rdquo; made for good political rhetoric, but the history of it is a case of the blind leading the blind, and as such doomed from the beginning. Apart from the duplicity involved the really sinister aspects of this legislation is the fact had it not been for the fraud of Rod Paige cooking the books during his education career George Bush may never have become President. Now that should send a chill through anyone that thinks the federal government can be trusted to decide what is best when it comes to educating children. The failed system of education in America is symptomatic of our federal government throughout, but the bottom line is the fact it takes successful parenting to have successful children and America has become downright hostile to such parenting. And no matter what spin is attempted it comes down to a lack of wisdom on the part of America&rsquo;s leadership. In respect to the kind of madness and bullying that seems all-pervading and prevents good people from seizing the initiative in acquiring wisdom, in &ldquo;To Kill A Mockingbird&rdquo; Harper Lee has Calpurnia telling the children after taking them to her church and being criticized for it, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to change any of them by talkin&rsquo; right; they&rsquo;ve got to want to learn themselves. And when they don&rsquo;t want to learn there&rsquo;s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.&rdquo; And sure enough most do not want to learn (as teachers across America can tell you); they not only have no interest in talkin&rsquo; right, they want to bully others into talking their language no matter how ignorant or self-serving, to be polite to their idols, myths and superstitions no matter how antithetical and harmful to wisdom. The worst of these insist on everyone either talking their language or they will mount a jihad in order to destroy anyone who does not! In spite of how very, even selfishly ignorant their own language may be, they not only do not know better like some of the ignorant people in Calpurnia&rsquo;s church and the Ewell&rsquo;s of the novel they have no interest in doing any better. Of course, someone had better start telling children, all children, they need to learn to speak correctly; but where are the adults, especially adults in the home, that should be responsible for teaching children to speak correctly? While Newt Gingrich was correct in his criticism of &ldquo;ghetto speech&rdquo; he is not exactly a role model for children. But Bill Cosby didn&rsquo;t pull any punches when he pointed out how harmful &ldquo;ghetto speech&rdquo; is to Negroes, how parents harm their children by giving them peculiar and nearly unpronounceable names not only difficult to spell but shouts &ldquo;Ghetto!&rdquo; ever as much as children named &ldquo;Jesus&rdquo; and &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; shouts &ldquo;Barrio!&rdquo; among the educated, the kinds of ignorance and illiteracy that is so pronounced in the forms of &ldquo;entertainment&rdquo; being offered, the lack of fathers in homes and the lack of encouragement to get a good education. Cosby made it clear no one deserves entitlement on the basis of race, and as expected the left-wing excoriated him for his forthright candid honesty. Even after one has made the obligatory criticisms calling Cosby&rsquo;s own character into question, once it has all been distilled there remains the legitimate faults he points out, those things that work to the detriment of Negroes, and few of these things need attention more than the manner of speech too often associated with ignorance and illiteracy regardless of race or position. Money, proper attire, and a manicure will not overcome a deficiency of proper speech. Eliza Doolittle knew her manner of speech prevented her being able to improve her station in life; but she had the intelligence to understand her dream of doing so would require learning to speak properly so as to get a job in a flower shop rather than a form of begging by selling flowers on the streets. It would seem a rather humble goal, but one that would elevate her far above being a street person without hope of anything better. But we have every reason to doubt Eliza&rsquo;s father ever told her to look up a word in the dictionary or ever corrected her manner of speech. We assume there was no dictionary, and Eliza&rsquo;s father being a street person himself would not have known to correct her speech. I&rsquo;m very familiar with the Herculean task teachers face in the ghettos and barrios of America, having experienced doing the work for years as a teacher in such environments. I know the kind of desperation of just trying to live day-to-day in such places that prevents the encouraging of children to get an education. I was not na&iuml;ve to the fact most of the homes my pupils came from did not have dictionaries or even parents to tell a child to look up a word or much in the way of books of any kind, that most did not have parents capable of correcting their children&rsquo;s grammar any more than we would have expected of Eliza&rsquo;s father. But now children and teachers suffer the handicap of TV being the predominant &ldquo;teacher&rdquo; of children, exerting an influence on them that the best of parents and teachers cannot overcome, so much so that it would not be misplaced to call TV a &ldquo;bullying&rdquo; influence on children; not that this bullying is directed solely at children; far from it. However, unlike the school or neighborhood bully TV exerts a bullying influence that is all pervasive 24/7 throughout the homes of America. However, let&rsquo;s assume a teacher requires a child to speak correctly in class, and let&rsquo;s assume the child&rsquo;s grade will suffer if the child refuses to learn to speak correctly. There is the ACLU threatening suit because the teacher is denying the child&rsquo;s &ldquo;freedom of speech,&rdquo; is suffering personally from being &ldquo;shamed&rdquo; in front of his peers, and there are the parents being encouraged to sue the school district if teachers are supported in this form of &ldquo;intimidation&rdquo; of children. And if you do not know the real threat of such lawsuits, the pressure on teachers to not teach children how to either speak or write correctly you are ignorant of the facts. Harper Lee correctly condemned the low level to which America had descended in the matter of writing and literature, and children in the ghetto and barrio schools of America have little chance of success when they do not learn to speak and write correctly. One would think the deck is already stacked sufficiently against such children without teachers and schools being threatened by lawsuits if they attempt to really teach. And this is the truth no matter what you may think of the source, and to the point &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to change any of them by talkin&rsquo; right; they&rsquo;ve got to want to learn themselves.&rdquo; Now just where, gentle reader, are those who are going to encourage children to not only talk right but want to learn themselves? They won&rsquo;t be found on TV where the emphasis is on an entirely different definition of &ldquo;success&rdquo; not requiring an education or learning to speak or write correctly. And it would appear the left wing of America not only prefers children not be taught to speak correctly, but would rather the ignorant and illiterate ghetto speech they are learning be in Spanish. Thompson Is for Real. By Robert D. Novak. Monday, April 2, 2007. WASHINGTON&mdash;In just three weeks, Fred Thompson has improbably transformed the contest for the Republican presidential nomination. It is not merely that he has come from nowhere to double digits in national polls. He is the talk of GOP political circles, because he is filling the conservative void in the Republican field of candidates. Republican activists have complained for months that none of the big-three contenders&mdash;Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney&mdash;fits the model of a conservative leader for a conservative party. The party faithful have been waiting for another Ronald Reagan. But in conversations with them the past year, nobody mentioned Thompson as the messiah until he appeared March 11 on &ldquo;Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.&rdquo; His statement to Wallace that he was &ldquo;giving some thought&rdquo; to a presidential run generated a reaction that surprised Thompson. In the first Gallup poll that listed Thompson (March 23-25), he scored 12 percent&mdash;amazing for someone out of public life for more than four years who has not campaigned. More important than the polling data is his backing within the political community. Buyer&rsquo;s remorse is expressed by several House members who had endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Romney... For those of us who early recognized Fred Thompson would be the best choice for President none of what Novak has said comes as a surprise. But there are several hurdles for Fred to overcome should he make the decision to run. But I continue to hope he will do so, and I encourage you to sign a &ldquo;Draft Fred&rdquo; petition if you have not. &ldquo;Good men must not obey the laws too well. What satire on government can equal the severity of censure conveyed in the word politic, which now for ages has signified cunning, intimating the State is a trick?... From neither party, when in power, has the world any benefit to expect in science, art, or humanity, at all commensurate with the resources of the nation.&rdquo; Things have only worsened in America since Emerson made his astute observation concerning the facts of the matter. By now most know the laws protect the criminals while abusing their victims, how great a &ldquo;trick&rdquo; the State has played on us, and the depths of degradation to which the word &ldquo;politic&rdquo; has fallen. And the primary resource of America, our children, have not been the beneficiaries &ldquo;at all commensurate with the resources of the nation.&rdquo; For example, &ldquo;No Child Left Behind&rdquo; made for good political rhetoric, but the history of it is a case of the blind leading the blind, and as such doomed from the beginning. Apart from the duplicity involved the really sinister aspects of this legislation is the fact had it not been for the fraud of Rod Paige cooking the books during his education career George Bush may never have become President. Now that should send a chill through anyone that thinks the federal government can be trusted to decide what is best when it comes to educating children. The failed system of education in America is symptomatic of our federal government throughout, but the bottom line is the fact it takes successful parenting to have successful children and America has become downright hostile to such parenting. And no matter what spin is attempted it comes down to a lack of wisdom on the part of America&rsquo;s leadership. In respect to the kind of madness and bullying that seems all-pervading and prevents good people from seizing the initiative in acquiring wisdom, in &ldquo;To Kill A Mockingbird&rdquo; Harper Lee has Calpurnia telling the children after taking them to her church and being criticized for it, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to change any of them by talkin&rsquo; right; they&rsquo;ve got to want to learn themselves. And when they don&rsquo;t want to learn there&rsquo;s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language.&rdquo; And sure enough most do not want to learn (as teachers across America can tell you); they not only have no interest in talkin&rsquo; right, they want to bully others into talking their language no matter how ignorant or self-serving, to be polite to their idols, myths and superstitions no matter how antithetical and harmful to wisdom. The worst of these insist on everyone either talking their language or they will mount a jihad in order to destroy anyone who does not! In spite of how very, even selfishly ignorant their own language may be, they not only do not know better like some of the ignorant people in Calpurnia&rsquo;s church and the Ewell&rsquo;s of the novel they have no interest in doing any better. Of course, someone had better start telling children, all children, they need to learn to speak correctly; but where are the adults, especially adults in the home, that should be responsible for teaching children to speak correctly? While Newt Gingrich was correct in his criticism of &ldquo;ghetto speech&rdquo; he is not exactly a role model for children. But Bill Cosby didn&rsquo;t pull any punches when he pointed out how harmful &ldquo;ghetto speech&rdquo; is to Negroes, how parents harm their children by giving them peculiar and nearly unpronounceable names not only difficult to spell but shouts &ldquo;Ghetto!&rdquo; ever as much as children named &ldquo;Jesus&rdquo; and &ldquo;Angel&rdquo; shouts &ldquo;Barrio!&rdquo; among the educated, the kinds of ignorance and illiteracy that is so pronounced in the forms of &ldquo;entertainment&rdquo; being offered, the lack of fathers in homes and the lack of encouragement to get a good education. Cosby made it clear no one deserves entitlement on the basis of race, and as expected the left-wing excoriated him for his forthright candid honesty. Even after one has made the obligatory criticisms calling Cosby&rsquo;s own character into question, once it has all been distilled there remains the legitimate faults he points out, those things that work to the detriment of Negroes, and few of these things need attention more than the manner of speech too often associated with ignorance and illiteracy regardless of race or position. Money, proper attire, and a manicure will not overcome a deficiency of proper speech. Eliza Doolittle knew her manner of speech prevented her being able to improve her station in life; but she had the intelligence to understand her dream of doing so would require learning to speak properly so as to get a job in a flower shop rather than a form of begging by selling flowers on the streets. It would seem a rather humble goal, but one that would elevate her far above being a street person without hope of anything better. But we have every reason to doubt Eliza&rsquo;s father ever told her to look up a word in the dictionary or ever corrected her manner of speech. We assume there was no dictionary, and Eliza&rsquo;s father being a street person himself would not have known to correct her speech. I&rsquo;m very familiar with the Herculean task teachers face in the ghettos and barrios of America, having experienced doing the work for years as a teacher in such environments. I know the kind of desperation of just trying to live day-to-day in such places that prevents the encouraging of children to get an education. I was not na&iuml;ve to the fact most of the homes my pupils came from did not have dictionaries or even parents to tell a child to look up a word or much in the way of books of any kind, that most did not have parents capable of correcting their children&rsquo;s grammar any more than we would have expected of Eliza&rsquo;s father. But now children and teachers suffer the handicap of TV being the predominant &ldquo;teacher&rdquo; of children, exerting an influence on them that the best of parents and teachers cannot overcome, so much so that it would not be misplaced to call TV a &ldquo;bullying&rdquo; influence on children; not that this bullying is directed solely at children; far from it. However, unlike the school or neighborhood bully TV exerts a bullying influence that is all pervasive 24/7 throughout the homes of America. However, let&rsquo;s assume a teacher requires a child to speak correctly in class, and let&rsquo;s assume the child&rsquo;s grade will suffer if the child refuses to learn to speak correctly. There is the ACLU threatening suit because the teacher is denying the child&rsquo;s &ldquo;freedom of speech,&rdquo; is suffering personally from being &ldquo;shamed&rdquo; in front of his peers, and there are the parents being encouraged to sue the school district if teachers are supported in this form of &ldquo;intimidation&rdquo; of children. And if you do not know the real threat of such lawsuits, the pressure on teachers to not teach children how to either speak or write correctly you are ignorant of the facts. Harper Lee correctly condemned the low level to which America had descended in the matter of writing and literature, and children in the ghetto and barrio schools of America have little chance of success when they do not learn to speak and write correctly. One would think the deck is already stacked sufficiently against such children without teachers and schools being threatened by lawsuits if they attempt to really teach. And this is the truth no matter what you may think of the source, and to the point &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to change any of them by talkin&rsquo; right; they&rsquo;ve got to want to learn themselves.&rdquo; Now just where, gentle reader, are those who are going to encourage children to not only talk right but want to learn themselves? They won&rsquo;t be found on TV where the emphasis is on an entirely different definition of &ldquo;success&rdquo; not requiring an education or learning to speak or write correctly. And it would appear the left wing of America not only prefers children not be taught to speak correctly, but would rather the ignorant and illiterate ghetto speech they are learning be in Spanish. en-us <p>People do not always have the better schools they need today it is not the fault of just one person or one political party . We need to talk more positive talk like Ronald Reagen did . Just get up and tell kids they are individuals again what happened to hearing about beinh Individuals instead of part of a group. Children need to learn that they can succeed again they need to hear it often . We need people talking to children about going to the libary why not show the president or Laura Bush at a libary and talk about how people never quit learning .</p> <p>We need to get children to the libary to let them figure out what they want to do with their lives . They need to pick one area read all of the books their local libary has on that subject take notes and order books from other libaries sent to the local libary to get more new books on the same subject . </p> <p>If you flunk a class go to summer school take something you like it might motivate you to do better in school.</p> <p>If you feel angry with your school for not teaching you get even by becoming someone . Don't do dumb things to hurt people taht hurts you in the long run channel your energy to get ahead in life . Nothing feels better then becoming someone when your school tells you you cannot . Don't give up on you hire a tutor keep going to the libary actually do your homework read each chapter 3 times if that is what it takes to learn it .</p> http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/7348/#c_73408 http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/7348/#c_73408 <p>People do not always have the better schools they need today it is not the fault of just one person or one political party . We need to talk more positive talk like Ronald Reagen did . Just get up and tell kids they are individuals again what happened to hearing about beinh Individuals instead of part of a group. Children need to learn that they can succeed again they need to hear it often . We need people talking to children about going to the libary why not show the president or Laura Bush at a libary and talk about how people never quit learning .</p> <p>We need to get children to the libary to let them figure out what they want to do with their lives . They need to pick one area read all of the books their local libary has on that subject take notes and order books from other libaries sent to the local libary to get more new books on the same subject . </p> <p>If you flunk a class go to summer school take something you like it might motivate you to do better in school.</p> <p>If you feel angry with your school for not teaching you get even by becoming someone . Don't do dumb things to hurt people taht hurts you in the long run channel your energy to get ahead in life . Nothing feels better then becoming someone when your school tells you you cannot . Don't give up on you hire a tutor keep going to the libary actually do your homework read each chapter 3 times if that is what it takes to learn it .</p>