Posted on 04/12/2009 9:04:02 PM PDT by neverdem
While President Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Attorney General Eric Holder share an anti-gun ideology, they might not be the greatest threat to the Second Amendment among the current administration. Their gun control efforts could be vastly outdone by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s habit of equating gun bans with curing a “public health epidemic.”
Prior to becoming secretary of education, Duncan was CEO of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) from 2001 to 2008. During that time, student performance in CPS remained static or fell even further behind the national average. For example, in October 2008 the Chicago Tribune reported: “The percentage of Chicago public high school students who met or exceeded state standards on a test tied to the ACT college-entrance exam dropped for the third consecutive year.”
According to the Progressive Review, fourth-grade tests improved by “less than three tenths of a percent” between 2003 and 2007 and eighth-grade math tests remained two points behind the national average for that same time period. Yet Duncan was lauded by his fellow leftists for his concern for the children, especially when he showed that concern through rallies against gun ownership, his heavy involvement with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, and speech upon speech containing lines like: “I wish that our society valued children more than it values…traditions that might have been at home in a frontier society two centuries ago but make absolutely no sense today.”
For any of you who are new to Democrat double-speak, the “traditions” he criticizes are those tied to our nation’s heritage of keeping arms and bearing them.
In another Chicago Tribune story which ran in October 2008, Duncan said: “[Gun violence] is a public health epidemic. We are struggling to find the cure for AIDS, we are struggling to find the cure for cancer; [yet] we know the cure for this public health epidemic -- getting rid of guns.”
Ironically, Duncan spewed a similar rant on April 1, 2008, at “a gun control rally sponsored by Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina's Catholic Church.” (Yes, you read that right: the same race-baiting Michael Pfleger who preached to Obama when the regular race-baiter, Jeremiah Wright, was on hiatus.)
According to the Illinois State Rifle Association, at the very time Duncan was fighting against gun rights with Pfleger, the Chicago Police Department was releasing studies which indicated that the vast majority of “children” dying in Chicago shootings were not average kids: “88% of murders [were] committed by people with previous criminal records" and “about 76% of murder victims had records as well.”
Isn’t it a little duplicitous to include the deaths of habitual criminals with those of innocent children shot on the playground? Doing so makes it look like someone is trying to inflate casualty figures in order to better the chance of securing a gun ban.
Men like Duncan and the anti-gun movements of which he was a part deserve more than a little scrutiny concerning the current crime spree in Chicago. It is, after all, on the homepage of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence that one finds the boast, “Keeping Illinois one of only two states that does not allow the carrying of loaded, concealed handguns in public places.”
The fact that such laws make Illinois one of only two states that keep law-abiding citizens unarmed in public places, where most mass shootings of unarmed law-abiding civilians occur, makes no difference to Duncan. He is convinced that Illinois current ban against concealed weapons doesn’t go far enough. Instead, he wants a completely gun-free society and promises to “keep fighting the NRA, the gun makers, the gun dealers, the gang bangers and everyone else who refuses to accept the undeniable fact that guns and kids don’t mix.” He even promises to reach “in the home” in his fight against gun ownership.
Perhaps it seems I’ve exaggerated Duncan’s threat to our freedom. Especially in light of the fact that states and schools, rather than the secretary of education, traditionally control book buys and curricula. But the key word with this administration is “change,” folks, and Duncan has promised to change the way the secretary of education oversees education.
To achieve this change, “[Duncan’s] discretionary money…is $5 billion, [which is] more than the entire budget of the Department of Education 35 years ago.” And in a recent interview conducted by John Merrow, Duncan not only made it clear that he will pursue “national standards” in curriculum but also that the funds in his budget will not make it to states that don’t educate his way: “States have to behave in…different ways [than they have]. … The idea of 50 states doing things, you know, their own way doesn't quite make sense.”
Merrow asked Duncan if he meant to imply that money would only go to states that “do [what] Duncan wants.” And Duncan replied, “If you play by these rules, absolutely right.”
So there you have it. One of the most anti-gun ideologues in Washington not only plans to take it upon himself to set state curriculum via national standards but also to withhold money from states that don’t go his way. And if we sit idly by, it won’t be long till our children are taught that “we live in a society that values the right to bear arms over the lives of our children.”
We’ll have to counter this by reminding our children that “we the people,” not the government, are the defenders of our freedom, possessions and selves. And contrary to Duncan’s opinion, that defense is best done with a gun.
You took a lot of guns. You took a lot of gun, too, lol.
Back in 1965, Lyndon Johnson wanted to seize the Louisiana school system so he could forcibly integrate it. So he gave out federal grants for high-school football equipment. In the case of Opelousas schools (near Lafayette, La.), as soon as Opelousas High School accepted the equipment, the district was informed that they now worked for the United States Government and would do exactly as they were told, first time and every time without fail, immediately. The board members were also told they could not resign their positions; if they did, they would immediately go to prison.
That was Leon Panetta who did that for LBJ, by the way.
Same old faces, same old crew, over and over and over again.
Mess with the Second and blood will flow.
LLS
Well...
Too bad we couldn’t convince enough people to think beyond the color of ones skin, and keep this rabble in Chicago...
Chicago politics is in D.C., and the rest of the world is apparently not impressed...Go figure that one out...
Come try to take them and health is going to become the conditions of mine and the ones trying to take them.
This is my thinking ever time the ads for Progressive Insurance run. The CEO of Progressive Insurance is a major “progressive” from what I have read.
To be fair, I have never had any health professional ask me about guns in the house or guns in general, even though I wear my NRA Instructor hat.
The Faustian/Marxist bargain. If you take their money, they think they own you. Barney Frank thinks the inclusion of money in the stimulus for build out of additional broadband capacity gives the government authority to dictate every aspect of how the internet is operated. It's a liberal mental illness.
I didn't take the 500 S&W Magnum revolver. That one will give you a pretty good smack in the palms with a 440 gr hardcast at 2580 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. There is a new load at 350 gr/1975 fps/3031 ft-lbs. I haven't tried that yet, but 350 gr JHP is my preferred bullet for handloads. The Ruger 454 Casull firing the Hornady 300 gr @1500 fps develops 1500 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. After shooting 20 of those (one box), you feel like a quivering bowl of jello for a while. It's quite a jolt.
Interesting and thanks for the info, the guy has always been a snake whenever I've seen him on TV.
From Wiki: Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wasn't happy with the Leon Panetta selection: “I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA Director. I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read. My position has consistently been that I believe the Agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”[6]
Ha, even Diane smells a rat. Takes one to know one, I guess.
You nailed it; where is Travis McGee now that we need him.
Be Ever Vigilant!
There are a whole lot of do-nothing FReepers, who thought their "duty" was done when they cast a ballot, who thought themselves way too good to get involved in political campaigns, who by their lazy and selfish inaction allowed this to come to pass.
I bet when they come for your guns you hand them over butt-first, not bullet first, like proper sheeple.
In another Chicago Tribune story which ran in October 2008, Duncan said: “[Gun violence] is a public health epidemic. We are struggling to find the cure for AIDS, we are struggling to find the cure for cancer; [yet] we know the cure for this public health epidemic -- getting rid of guns.”
"And there is a sense in which violence is a public health problem. So let me illustrate the limitations of this line of reasoning with a public-health analogy.
After research disclosed that mosquitos were the vector for transmission of yellow fever, the disease was not controlled by sending men in white coats to the swamps to remove the mouth parts from all the insects they could find. The only sensible, efficient way to stop the biting was to attack the environment where the mosquitos bred.
Guns are the mouth parts of the violence epidemic. The contemporary urban environment breeds violence no less than swamps breed mosquitos. Attempting to control the problem of violence by trying to disarm the perpetrators is as hopeless as trying to contain yellow fever through mandible control."
-- James D. Wright, PhD, Bad Guys, Bad Guns, Nat'l Rev., March 6, 1995, at 51
>In another Chicago Tribune story which ran in October 2008, Duncan said: “[Gun violence] is a public health epidemic. We are struggling to find the cure for AIDS, we are struggling to find the cure for cancer; [yet] we know the cure for this public health epidemic — getting rid of guns.”
How about moving to England?
LOL - That is a funny pic, thanks for the chuckle.
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