Textbook Horrors
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) has
introduced the ?Recognizing the Importance
of Western Civilization Resolution?
in the House of Representatives,
to combat the anti-Western bias of
schools. He recently delivered a long
speech to Congress in which he described
the bias in school textbooks. One
now in use in an Arizona district is called
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures
and was, in the author?s words, written
?in response to the bicentennial celebration
of the 1776 American Revolution
and its lies.? Its purpose is to ?celebrate
our resistance? to American colonization.
Chapter headings include ?U.S.
Conquest and Betrayal,? ?We Are Now
a U.S. Colony in America,? and ?They
Stole the Land.? The book also calls
Davey Crockett a cannibal, and describes
the defenders of the Alamo as
slave owners and Indian killers.
New Jersey?s 2002 guidelines for
teaching history in the public schools
contained no mention of the Founding
Fathers, the Pilgrims, or the Mayflower.
The first five pages of the section on
World War II in a textbook used by
Palm Beach County are exclusively
about such fashionable topics as sex
roles in the armed forces, racial segregation
and the war, women and the
war effort, and the relocation camps
for Japanese (AR, January 2002).
A popular textbook published by
McDougal Littell says US soldiers
killed women and children at the
battle of Sand Creek, but fails to
mention that Indians killed white women
and children the summer before the
battle. This book contains a 107-line discussion
of the relocation of the Japanese,
but never mentions the Bataan death
march. It contrasts Mao Tse Tung?s benevolence
towards peasants favorably
with Chiang Kai-Shek?s treatment of
them; the death of 65 million Chinese
after Mao came to power is unrecorded.
It calls the immigration reformers of the
1920s racists, as it does all others who
oppose unlimited immigration.
Holt Rinehart Winston?s American
Nation in the Modern Era contains exercises
for students to criticize, but never
to defend 19th century immigration
restrictions. Such ?radical multiculturalist
philosophy? is, Mr. Tancredo states,
?the norm.? [Tom Tancredo, Rewriting
American History, Speech to House of
Representatives, March 3, 2004.]
Bill to Penalize Corrupt Officials Quietly Dies
A bill that would cut the retirement benefits of elected officials convicted of felony corruption charges appears to have died Friday for lack of support in a key Assembly committee.
The bill by Assemblyman Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) was prompted by San Bernardino County's political corruption scandals. Among the public officials indicted in a series of controversies over the past decade was Supervisor Gerald "Jerry" Eaves, who retired in January before pleading guilty to one felony corruption charge. He now collects an annual state pension of nearly $50,000.
Under the bill, politicians elected after Jan. 1, 2005, would forfeit their retirement benefits ? except for their own contributions ? if they are convicted of a felony corruption charge.
But the bill failed to get the five votes needed Wednesday to pass the Assembly's Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee. Instead of recording a vote, the committee members sent the bill to the Assembly Rules Committee, asking that it be assigned to another panel. But the bill remained in the rules committee Friday, missing a deadline to be considered. "It's deader than dirt," said Russell Lowery, Dutton's chief of staff.
Another bill prompted by San Bernardino County's corruption scandals was approved Tuesday by the Senate committee on Public Employment and Retirement. The bill, by Sen. Nell Soto (D-Pomona), would allow counties to reduce the retirement benefits of officials who use fraud to boost their county pensions.
County officials discovered several years ago that the county's then-tax collector and then-public health administrator paid kickbacks to the chief administrative officer in exchange for hefty raises that resulted in higher retirement benefits.
Bad Chemistry
New York City pays high school
chemistry teacher Elihu McMahon
$77,000 a year to do nothing. Because
of his history of insubordination, incompetent
teaching, improper grading, sexual
harassment, and racist remarks to
students, administrators won?t let the 69-
year-old black man near a classroom, but
union rules make it nearly impossible to
fire him. During the past 15 years, the
city has paid $600,000 for his non-services.
[Chuck Shepherd, He Gets a Buck
for Doing a Nothing Job, News of the
Weird (Syndicated Feature), Minneapolis
Star Tribune, March 18, 2004, p.
E7.]
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) has
introduced the ?Recognizing the Importance
of Western Civilization Resolution?
in the House of Representatives,
to combat the anti-Western bias of
schools. He recently delivered a long
speech to Congress in which he described
the bias in school textbooks. One
now in use in an Arizona district is called
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures
and was, in the author?s words, written
?in response to the bicentennial celebration
of the 1776 American Revolution
and its lies.? Its purpose is to ?celebrate
our resistance? to American colonization.
Chapter headings include ?U.S.
Conquest and Betrayal,? ?We Are Now
a U.S. Colony in America,? and ?They
Stole the Land.? The book also calls
Davey Crockett a cannibal, and describes
the defenders of the Alamo as
slave owners and Indian killers.
New Jersey?s 2002 guidelines for
teaching history in the public schools
contained no mention of the Founding
Fathers, the Pilgrims, or the Mayflower.
The first five pages of the section on
World War II in a textbook used by
Palm Beach County are exclusively
about such fashionable topics as sex
roles in the armed forces, racial segregation
and the war, women and the
war effort, and the relocation camps
for Japanese (AR, January 2002).
A popular textbook published by
McDougal Littell says US soldiers
killed women and children at the
battle of Sand Creek, but fails to
mention that Indians killed white women
and children the summer before the
battle. This book contains a 107-line discussion
of the relocation of the Japanese,
but never mentions the Bataan death
march. It contrasts Mao Tse Tung?s benevolence
towards peasants favorably
with Chiang Kai-Shek?s treatment of
them; the death of 65 million Chinese
after Mao came to power is unrecorded.
It calls the immigration reformers of the
1920s racists, as it does all others who
oppose unlimited immigration.
Holt Rinehart Winston?s American
Nation in the Modern Era contains exercises
for students to criticize, but never
to defend 19th century immigration
restrictions. Such ?radical multiculturalist
philosophy? is, Mr. Tancredo states,
?the norm.? [Tom Tancredo, Rewriting
American History, Speech to House of
Representatives, March 3, 2004.]
Bill to Penalize Corrupt Officials Quietly Dies
A bill that would cut the retirement benefits of elected officials convicted of felony corruption charges appears to have died Friday for lack of support in a key Assembly committee.
The bill by Assemblyman Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) was prompted by San Bernardino County's political corruption scandals. Among the public officials indicted in a series of controversies over the past decade was Supervisor Gerald "Jerry" Eaves, who retired in January before pleading guilty to one felony corruption charge. He now collects an annual state pension of nearly $50,000.
Under the bill, politicians elected after Jan. 1, 2005, would forfeit their retirement benefits ? except for their own contributions ? if they are convicted of a felony corruption charge.
But the bill failed to get the five votes needed Wednesday to pass the Assembly's Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee. Instead of recording a vote, the committee members sent the bill to the Assembly Rules Committee, asking that it be assigned to another panel. But the bill remained in the rules committee Friday, missing a deadline to be considered. "It's deader than dirt," said Russell Lowery, Dutton's chief of staff.
Another bill prompted by San Bernardino County's corruption scandals was approved Tuesday by the Senate committee on Public Employment and Retirement. The bill, by Sen. Nell Soto (D-Pomona), would allow counties to reduce the retirement benefits of officials who use fraud to boost their county pensions.
County officials discovered several years ago that the county's then-tax collector and then-public health administrator paid kickbacks to the chief administrative officer in exchange for hefty raises that resulted in higher retirement benefits.
Bad Chemistry
New York City pays high school
chemistry teacher Elihu McMahon
$77,000 a year to do nothing. Because
of his history of insubordination, incompetent
teaching, improper grading, sexual
harassment, and racist remarks to
students, administrators won?t let the 69-
year-old black man near a classroom, but
union rules make it nearly impossible to
fire him. During the past 15 years, the
city has paid $600,000 for his non-services.
[Chuck Shepherd, He Gets a Buck
for Doing a Nothing Job, News of the
Weird (Syndicated Feature), Minneapolis
Star Tribune, March 18, 2004, p.
E7.]