Posted on 02/22/2005 4:09:30 AM PST by Jon Alvarez
Middle School Students Encouraged to Send Demoralizing Letters to Soldier
Pfc. Rob Jacobs is a soldier based ten miles from the North Korean border. His home is in New Jersey. Therefore, it was not a surprise that he was excited when he received letters from sixth-grade students at JHS 51 in Park Slope; near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. But, that was before Pfc. Jacobs opened and read the letters. Monday, David Andreatta of the New York Post reported that these letters were “strewn with politically charged rhetoric, vicious accusations and demoralizing predictions that only a handful of soldiers would leave the Iraq war alive.”
The students’ indoctrinator (AKA “teacher”), Alex Kunhardt, had encouraged them to send letters to Jacobs that were to be filled with leftist rhetoric against the Iraq war, the soldiers and President Bush. At least nine of Kunhardt’s students followed his orders. As an example, a letter from a Muslim boy included: "Even thoe [sic] you are risking your life for our country, have you seen how many civilians you or some other soldier killed?" and "I know your [sic] trying to save our country and kill the terrorists but you are also destroying holy places like Mosques." To add insult to injury, Andreatta also advised that the envelope had a ‘smiley-face’ stamped on it.
Although “indoctrinator Kunhardt” refused to return phone calls, his principal Xavier Costelli responded in an inordinately cavalier fashion when he stated: “While we would never censor anything that our children write, we sincerely apologize for forwarding letters that were in any way inappropriate to Pfc. Jacobs. This assignment was not intended to be insensitive, but to be supportive of the men and women in service to our nation." You can tell he really meant it. Sure he did.
This is merely another example of leftist “academia”, now at the lower-grade levels, indoctrinating our children into their malicious and ever-increasing sadistic philosophies. It’s one thing for the leftists to write letters and complain to government leaders but, quite another to try to demoralize our troops by using their new and improved desperate weapon…our kids. This is a new low, even for the Left. So, the next time you hear a liberal/leftist say “we hate the war but, support our troops”, remember this scenario. Then, you can fairly and accurately (and with all intended sarcasm) say: “SURE you do!”
That's funny.
Done! E-mails sent!
Having several military pen pals in various countries around the world, I well know how much words of support mean to them and can only imagine how that soldier felt when he read those letters.......letters from children.
I'm sick at heart.
Having several military pen pals in various countries around the world, I well know how much words of support mean to them and can only imagine how that soldier felt when he read those letters.......letters from children.
I'm sick at heart.
Thanks for the ping.
The heat is on and FReepers in action often get great results. Let's hope this is one of those cases.
Thanks for adding your voice in this matter and welcome to FR.
Ping
Look at post 49 - DBR put the info there....
Great Jon! You are added!
The following is from the VP of NEA/NY:
http://www.nea-ny.org/page.asp?PageID=248&SectionID=18&ParentSectionId=18&SHL=matt%20jacobs
Where Have All the Liberals Gone?
by NEA/NY Vice President Matt Jacobs
A poll of the delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July revealed that only 38% percent considered themselves to be "liberals." The rest classified themselves as "moderates" – whatever that means. As an unreconstructed liberal, I found this to be shocking and disheartening. It speaks volumes about why so many people today are having difficulty identifying with the Democratic Party, a party that has lost its identity and core values.
One of the great conservative coups of the administrations of Reagan and Bush pere was to convince many Americans that liberalism is a bankrupt political philosophy consisting of nothing more than the levying of increasingly ruinous taxes on hard-working citizens to pay for unnecessary government spending schemes devised by arrogant, pointy-headed, east coast intellectuals. Instead of rising to the defense of liberalism’s proud achievements, liberals ceded the field to the conservative desecration of their creed and frantically cast about for a new identity – one sufficiently centrist and innocuous to appeal to almost everyone. Predictably, this misguided effort has come to grief; instead of broadening their appeal, they’ve narrowed it.
A little history. The origins of liberalism reach back to the European Enlightenment and before. By the 18th century, "liberalism" had emerged as a distinct political philosophy anchored by the belief that the oppressive power of government is the greatest obstacle to human happiness and well-being. "Classical" liberalism, which found its foremost American exponent in Thomas Jefferson, therefore sought to maximize individual liberty by restraining the power of government.
By the late 19th century, however, changing social and economic circumstances had convinced liberals that greatest threat to individual liberty and happiness came no longer from government but from the enormous concentrations of wealth created by the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, government had become little more than the servant of those captains of industry whom Teddy Roosevelt would later label "malefactors of great wealth." From that point on, liberals recognized that only a strong government committed to the common good could check the power of concentrated wealth. Government became the indispensable ally of progressive efforts to defend the public interest and modern-day "big-government" liberalism was born. It continues in that form to this day.
Is liberalism a philosophy whose time has passed? Are the achievements of liberal politics no longer relevant – or worse yet, antithetical – to the values of 21st century America?
We cannot consign liberalism to the trash bin of history unless we are prepared to repudiate liberalism’s achievements. Consider the following list of reforms that liberals fought for and conservatives consistently fought against over the last century.
Increasing access to public education and higher education for all children without regard to race or class
Effective regulation of big business
Consumer protection laws
Women’s suffrage
Maintaining the wall of separation between church and state
Banking and stock market regulation
Environmental protection laws
Minimum wage laws
Social Security
Right of workers to unionize and have collective bargaining
Truth in labeling laws
Unemployment and disability insurance
Product safety laws
Automobile safety and emissions standards
Workplace health and safety laws
Civil rights legislation
Protection of civil liberties
Medicare and Medicaid
Outlawing discrimination based on religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation
Reproductive freedom
Child labor laws
Government action to promote economic stability and growth
Government assistance to the victims of economic distress
Antitrust laws
Voting rights legislation
These achievements, and many others that could have been included, are the heritage of liberalism. It is a distinguished heritage and one, I would submit, that is as relevant and important to America today as ever. Furthermore, I would challenge those who profess to be something other than liberal to identify which of the achievements on this list they would repudiate. Even staunch conservatives would hesitate to repeal all of them and I would bet that most Americans, being far more liberal than they realize, would have considerable difficulty jettisoning more than a few.
So, how did so many Americans – even delegates to the Democratic Convention – get the idea that they’re not liberals anymore and that liberalism is bankrupt? Certainly the Republicans’ ceaseless "liberal = tax and spend" sloganeering combined with the media’s recently acquired tendency to report events uncritically are partly to blame. Ultimately, however, it is a lazy electorate’s willingness to passively ingest a steady diet of unadulterated political hooey that must be held primarily responsible for the decline of liberalism as a force in American politics.
It’s not too late, however, to reverse this decline and breathe life back into the moribund body of progressive politics. If we recover our historical sense of the enormous contribution liberalism has made to the improvement of American society, millions may once again rally to the liberal standard and the Democratic Party may find the courage to reclaim its true heritage.
Failing that, as one of a vanishing breed, I take some comfort in the knowledge that liberals still surpass Yale’s Skull and Bones Society … in numbers if not in influence.
done. the creeps.
According to the dad the teacher DID read the letters & sent them off anyway. The teacher probably either agreed with the letters, or helped with the "writing" of them, ro both.
Thank you for your service. I'd be interested to know how such letters came to be sent to you? I'm grateful you had the fortitude to handle them, and I hope all the military personnel who may be receiving such letters are as well-adjusted as you. How is this happening?? I'm so angry I could spit.
thx...
don't forget to tune into Hannity
"Park Slope in Brooklyn has become an anti-US haven for failed bohemians who came to NYC from red states and europe and couldn't make it."
They're slowly moving toward my community, Crown Heights, for the cheap housing. They're pretty distinct & brazen. They hate the religious people in our area.
If they hate the religious then CH is gonna be hell on earth for them.
Child Abuse
Help Support our Troops! :)
What happened to teaching children what is appropriate? What if the student wrote a completely tasteless letter to some dying of cancer or with some other serious ailment? Would the "teacher" say it is OK and send it because the kid was merely expressing himself?
What are the reasons given by the school for sending out these terribly bad letters to soldiers?
The teacher was probably a flaming,liberal, America-hating, commie-kisser who AGREED with what the children wrote. He/she wouldn't "correct" anything, he/she would send the letter on its merry way hoping to hurt the heart of someone fighting for the USA.
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