Obama's Back to School message: "Study hard, set goals, get ahead"- Page 6

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 2:45pm

You really find NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC and CNN right-leaning?!!!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 2:54pm

Absolutely. CBS reported a George Bush scandal that was shown to be forged and heads rolled. Who's been fired anywhere for reporting on the Obama birth certificate "Controversy"? MSNBC is labeled 'the liberal network' because they have an evening block of programs that are left-leaning, but the rest of the day, they are either neutral or right leaning (something that used to be called "Balance"). By it's very nature, all big media is conservative as you HAVE to be a huge, multi-national corporation to be able to afford owning a media outlet and so, their vested interest is in preserving the status quo.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 3:07pm

FYI, Henry said they did not show it in his class. I don't know if they showed it to the older kids or not. (He's in 1st grade)

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 3:58pm

Joe, I neither watch television news programs, nor listen to political talk radio; but, on a casual flip-by, it seems to me that television news is left-leaning, and talk-radio is right-leaning. But, you would know better than I.

[violet72]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:03pm

Reguarding it being inconvient due to it being the first day is bull. Being a teacher the first day is full of just laying out the rules/routine/guidelines of the school and the speech was given at noon, most kids on the east coast were at lunch or at home because most first days of school are half days. It was all of 15 to 20 minutes and most schools watched it in class or the teacher brought it up on their computer after it was done

I was at home for lunch and I watched Fox news after the speech and of course they covered the fact that some parents didn't allow their kids to watch.

Also I remember George H Bush making a speech like that and telling us to write to him and tell him how we are doing. BTW the whole lesson plan thing happens more then you know. Many states have given us lesson plans about how to teach certain subjects like the Holocaust/Civics.

I think the loons have taken over the media and thats why I get my news from the BBC

Updated On: 9/8/09 at 04:03 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:17pm

Radio is entirely the province of the right.

If you look at TV News, Fox is the #1 network. They are unarguably a conservative mouthpiece. The occasional "liberal" who pops up is sort of like the rabbit in a greyhound race. Most recent "news" ratings:
FNC ? 1,405,000 viewers
CNN ? 672,000 viewers
MSNBC ?423,000 viewers
CNBC ? 192,000 viewers
HLN ? 316,000 viewers

P2+ Prime Time
FNC ? 2,682,000viewers
CNN? 1,202,000 viewers
MSNBC ?958,000 viewers
CNBC ? 138,000 viewers
HLN ? 549,000viewers

Some days you can add all it's competitors up and still have more people watching Fox.



If you look at print media, there is somewhat more balance. But a paper like the New York Times is perennially held up as a "liberal" paper and indeed, their editorial stance does shift left. But when you read the news coverage, it seems to bme they struggle mightily to be objective. Look at their news coverage of a political story against a "Conservative" paper like the LA Times, Chicago Tribune or Wall Street Journal and you won't see much difference. They do have some outspoken liberal columnists, but there too, they also feature conservative columns by the likes of George Will, while the typical paper runs a handful of conservative columns and perhaps a single liberal columnist for "Balance."
Updated On: 9/8/09 at 04:17 PM

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:42pm

violet, not a half-day, here in Virginia. A lesson plan from the Federal Department of Education, sent directly to schools? That is not done. They may make something available for teachers to use, from various federal agencies, but lesson plans for schools should be mandated by the state, if at all. For the Feds to do it, is suspect, and not part of their charter. Writing the president and telling him how they are doing in school, is perfectly fine.

[violet72]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:51pm

First off the federal and state education departments are idiots, no matter who the president is. I am a little impressed they put together lesson plans because that means they are or were teachers. (the person who created NCLB was a business major(nothing to do with education) thats why kids are treated like numbers). I just don't understand why people are so enraged.

Also a women in Texas came in the school to pull her kid out and the principal told her she could take her kid to the library but if she takes him out it will be an unexcused absence, she pulled him out and is going to the school board.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:53pm

That is her right. You have the right to be an idiot in the United States.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 4:55pm

I guess I am still having trouble understanding the outrage. Yes, the Department of Education made a lesson plan available but as was evidenced by the number of schools who used neither the president's speech or the lesson plan, it hardly seemed "Mandated" in any way.

The department of education has about a bazillion lesson plans schools can use from astronomy to zoology tied to existing government resources. I don't know who came up wioth idea, but it's exactly the kind of thing our government should eb doing.

[nmartin]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 5:15pm

"First off the federal and state education departments are idiots, no matter who the president is."

As someone who has taught for twenty-three years, THANK YOU!!!!!
By the way we did watch the President's speech in my classroom today and had a discussion afterwards.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 5:20pm

[lesson plan] was created and distributed by the Department of Education, which took time, money and resources, paid for by taxpayers. NOT THEIR JOB!!!

What is the job of the Department of Education if not to create resources to benefit the schools and students of this country?


That YouTube video is great. Especially the comment the parents not being able to tell the difference between Hitler and Stalin. Parents like that are the last people who need to be pulling their children out of class.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 5:37pm

Joe, I'm totally with you. I just don't understand the outrage. Why?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 5:53pm

It's the same reason that Teabaggers stand in the rain and scream that their taxes are TOO HIGH when they haven't changed at all and are still at the amounts set by George W. Bush.

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 5:59pm

"It's the same reason that Teabaggers stand in the rain and scream that their taxes are TOO HIGH when they haven't changed at all and are still at the amounts set by George W. Bush."

That's not true...for the vast majority of Americans (>95%), taxes have been lowered. You know, part of the stimulus package that the GOP wouldn't vote for.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 7:40pm

All in all, a good day for Obama.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 9/8/09 at 8:18pm

Well, the speech moved me to tears for the first time since election night, November 2008. (Okay, maybe I've been waiting to be moved to tears again, but still...)

May we please say what must be said: Obama's story IS inspiring. So is Michelle's. Both of these exemplary Americans did what is supposedly the American dream: they out-achieved the education and career expectation of their parents, based on hard work, self-discipline, sacrifice (parental included). The idea that such a "message" is anything other than patriotic is deeply un-American. And yet let's just say it is also -- REPUBLICAN boilerplate. The entire GOP philosophy of personal responsibility, not "a handout" has been illustrated in the career of this President and his wife. The idea of a basic Republican cornerstone can be spun as Marxism is beyond anything we might've anticipated in November or January. I'm so appalled by all of it, I feel like a weepier version of Peter Finch in NETWORK. I'd like to open my windown and howl.

Updated On: 9/8/09 at 08:18 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/9/09 at 10:57am

"or the vast majority of Americans (>95%), taxes have been lowered. You know, part of the stimulus package that the GOP wouldn't vote for."

I stand corrected- It makes them seem even loonier.