Mamacita: ‘I am not the teacher I once was’

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”- Socrates

From Mamacita:

I know that there are some teachers out there who feel that they are, in some lofty intellectual way, somehow superior to the students they teach…

…I admit that I had thoughts like that, sometimes. I was going to change the world, you see. I was going to inspire all of my students to greatness. I was going to make them all WANT to learn. In my classroom, they would all ENJOY learning. LOVE it. Want more, every day. All of them.

I have seen many horrors in our schools, but truth be told, the horrors were seldom the students…

I am now teaching the parents of students I had in class several years ago. These parents are, most of them, back in school because the only job they’ve ever had in all their lives is gone, and will never return… When I read their essays, and listen to their class participation, I am finding even more understanding about their lives, and many of the snotty, snobby comments I made 26 years ago are coming back to haunt me. I am ashamed of the teacher I once was..

Yesterday, one of my students, a really interesting and nice older lady, told me, as she was gathering her things to leave, that she’d gone back to school for her daughter.

“Oh,” I said. “Is your daughter in school, too?”

“My daughter was killed by a drunk driver eleven years ago…”

I have learned that ivory towers are meant to keep the people OUT, and that is, for a teacher, inexcusable. Our profession is the people, and that means we must learn as much about them as possible, not cloister ourselves away from them lest ’something’ rub off. Good things can rub off, too.

Teachers are professionals, yes, but we are also service people. We are caregivers. And we deserve respect only when we earn it.

Read it all.

The Left’s State Of Denial And Todays Weather

The State of the Union post game pundits are plowing ahead at full speed, telling us what we heard or didn’t hear, what it all means or doesn’t mean. Each ‘professional’ pundit tells us that he or she are merely reporting that ‘Clearly, the American people‘ are tired of this, or really want that or are ’sending a message.’

The Democrats want us to pull out of Iraq within 6 months. We can’t win the war, they say. We have placed ourselves in the middle of the civil war they say. The ideas, accusations and remarks are deliberately furious- and in fact, cloud reality. We wrote:

We have no more ‘lost’ the war in Iraq anymore than we ‘lost’ the war against Nazi Germany or Japan.Germany and Japan were devastated by war, but that war was a byproduct of the devastation wrought upon those countries by years of tyranny. When the Second World War ended, those nations chose to arise from the ashes and rebuild themselves into free and democratic societies that have become ‘a lamp unto the nations’ of the world.

If the Iraqis fail to learn from the devastation brought upon them by the tyranny of Saddam and the war that rid them of the hated tyrant, they will have made a very different choice than the Germans or Japanese.

America and the west cannot be held responsible for the moral toxicity that embraces tyranny over freedom.

Yes, there are insurgents- terrorists, really, in Iraq- and they commit deadly, horrific acts of terror. That said, they are not going to usurp the Iraqi people or government or the inevitable birth of democratic states emerging from the failed ‘Utopian’ societies and ‘People’s Paradise.’

The Democrats know we aren’t losing the war in Iraq. In fact, they know we are winning that war and they know the inevitable conclusion that will be reached can in no way be ambiguous. If the war ends in victory, defined by a popularly elected, functioning government in Iraq and the stirrings of democratic movements in the Middle East, the Democrats can kiss their chances of regaining the White House.

When it is all said and done and no matter how hard the left and their enablers, the MSM try, they cannot contain the ever expanding mercury of free markets, free ideas and free governments. The screams of ‘The sky is falling!’ are going to backfire on the left. Once again, for all the world to see, another agenda and ideology and regime of the left will fail- as it has every single time. The Soviet Union has collapsed, the Bader-Meinhof is no more, Arafat is barely remembered and Castro’s greatest legitimate accomplishment has been giving up cigars.

The Democrats have become mired in the quagmire of failure and deceit they have created that came about as the result of frustration. They have lost touch with Middle America and the values espoused by most Americans. No matter the election results, the Democrats know that the majority of Americans will not abandon their faith or espouse Hollywood values as if they were written on stone tablets by God- and Democrats know that. In Why The Democrats Are Finding Religion, we noted the words of Michael Lerner,

…Tens of millions of Americans feel betrayed by a society that seems to place materialism and selfishness above moral values. They know that “looking out for number one” has become the common sense of our society, but they want a life that is about something more — a framework of meaning and purpose to their lives that would transcend the grasping and narcissism that surrounds them. Sure, they will admit that they have material needs, and that they worry about adequate health care, stability in employment, and enough money to give their kids a college education. But even more deeply they want their lives to have meaning — and they respond to candidates who seem to care about values and some sense of transcendent purpose…

Yet to move in this direction, many Democrats would have to give up their attachment to a core belief: that those who voted for Bush are fundamentally stupid or evil. Its time they got over that elitist self righteousness and developed strategies that could affirm their common humanity with those who voted for the Right…it is this spiritual lesson — that our own well-being depends on the well-being of everyone else on the planet and on the well-being of the earth- a lesson rooted deeply in the spiritual wisdom of virtually every religion on the planet, that could be the center of a revived Democratic party. Yet to take that seriously, the Democrats are going to have to get over the false and demeaning perception that the Americans who voted for Bush could never be moved to care about the well being of anyone but themselves. That transformation in the Democrats would make them into serious contenders.

…liberals, trapped in a long-standing disdain for religion and tone-deaf to the spiritual needs that underlie the move to the Right, have been unable to engage these voters in a serious dialogue… the liberal world has developed such a knee-jerk hostility to religion that it has both marginalized those many people on the Left who actually do have spiritual yearnings and simultaneously refused to acknowledge that many who move to the Right have legitimate complaints about the ethos of selfishness in American life… …The hostility of the Left to spirituality is so deep, in fact, that when they hear us in Tikkun talking this way they often can’t even hear what we are saying —- so they systematically mis-hear it and say that we are calling for the Left to take up the politics of the Right…

That the Democrats are grudgingly accepting that the vast majority of Americans have very different values than those of the noisy left would have you believe, underlies a certain truth- that they are capable of discerning reality (Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had a politically shrewd ‘come to Jesus’ moment).

Sooner or later, the Iraqis will deal with the insurgents on their own and there will be a functioning, stable government in that country. Why? Because as we have noted, given the choice, people will always choose freedon over tyranny.

The war in Iraq is about another kind of Zionism. Not a Jewish Zionism, of course, but a moral one- and that is why the war is so bitterly fought and opposed, because of the truth that Zionism proved- that given the choice, a persecuted people will always choose freedom. It is that truth that the frightens so many people in the region. Given the choice, people will repudiate oppressive regimes. As the Zionists proved, even the most persecuted and tired of peoples, if given the choice, will repudiate regimes that offer nothing less than full freedom.

That is the truth that usurped the left and their fair weather allies in Congress, because with that truth, leftist credibility has been relegated to the dust bin of history.

Like opportunists before them, the left will be repudiated and reviled, because, like Joe McCarthy, they never gave a damn about America or real freedom. It was about their exercise of power- and the exercise to exorcise even nascent freedom from others. The left see only themselves of worthy of freedom. It matters little to them that millions have been been abandoned to the slavery of tyranny, FGM and ongoing genocide. That is the legacy of the left, for all to see, save themselves. They are trying to deny freedom to millions and they are failing

The proof is in the pudding. The citizens of those countries who lived under the Soviet shadow rejected communism and socialism outright. Once more, those who would sell human beings into bondage will be forever scorned.

The mighty ‘political analysts’ and proponents of the leftist ideologies are like 1950’s and 1960’s era weather forecasters, more often wrong than they are right. They have become irrelevant.

Weather forecasting is an inexact science, at best. It is also true that weather forecasting has become more precise over time. Certainly, technology has done much to make weather forecasting more accurate, but in fact, technology and experience have done much to enhance our understanding of weather phenomena.

Now, imagine a weather forecaster that was using 1950’s and 1960’s era technology and 1950’s and 1960’s understanding of weather and weather forecasting, standing in front of chalkboard (yes, that is how they did it back then), drawing, erasing and making smiley faces along the way.

That particular meteorologist would be regarded as an anachronism from the Middle Ages- quaint and funny. He or she might even be regarded with a touch of nostalgic fondness.

None of the ‘great victories for the people’ or prediction of People’s Paradises’ have come to pass. Neither have the predictions of imminent decline and scenarios of the great gloom and doom that were to engulf democratic and capitalist states. None of the political ideologies supported by the left have proved meritorious and none of the world political leaders endorsed by the left have a legacy of anything other than failure- and more often than not, a trail of dead bodies leading right up to their feet.

Nevertheless, the MSM dutifully reports on predictions of those schooled in 1960’s ideologies, today’s failed weather forecasters. Their predictions are given almost religious reverence, as if they were heralding the Second Coming. All this, despite an almost perfect track record of failed predictions.

When they predict rain, break out the tshirts and shorts and plan a BBQ.

As we noted, if the liberal democrat leadership were weather forecasters, they would be unceremoniously booted for incompetence- decades of incompetence- as the New York Times, et al, are at a loss as to why their influence is waning.

Dr Sanity, in The Left’s Last Chance In Iraq,

Actually, it is the political left’s last chance to ensure defeat in Iraq. That is their goal; it has always been their goal; and now they are quite desperate to achieve that goal. That is why all the stops have been pulled out in their reckless criticisms and defeatist rhetoric. Their neurotic glee at every American death is clearly palpable, because each death represents a marvelouos victory for their antiwar hysteria. This has been the case for the entire Iraq war, but the volume has been turned up to max on their voices of doom since they (mistakenly, I believe) appear to think that the results of the midterm elections are proof that America is buying into their agenda.

Of course they did not believe for a moment that America was buying into Bush when he soundly trounced them in the 2004 election–but consistency is not their strong suit.

You see, no matter what, the left MUST make sure that Bush–and America–lose in Iraq. The only catastrophic consequences they can visualise comes about if America–and Bush–are perceived to have succeeded. In that quite horrific scenario, they correctly understand that their ideology will truly be taken out will all the other 20th century trash.

Well, You can’t declare the losing team as winners, no matter how much you want your team to win. Sports fans understand that. Apparently news people have yet to learn that lesson. Until they do, expect the MSM to declare blizzards, even as the sun shines.

It’s About The Palestinians? Really?

So you think the ‘root cause’ of Middle East problems is the Israel Palestinian conflict? Do you believe the Arab world cares deeply about the Palestinians?

Think again.

BAGHDAD — Palestinians living in Iraq have been warned they will be killed by Shi’ite militias unless they leave the country immediately.

Iraqi police say the immigrants, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, are the target of a backlash by hard-line Shi’ites, including members of the Mahdi Army led by Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Yesterday, the United Nations refugee agency said more than two dozen Palestinians were seized by armed men wearing police uniforms in Baghdad. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said 17 Palestinians taken from a Baghdad house rented by the agency have apparently been released, but there were reports that another group of 13 Palestinians were seized in another part of Baghdad.

In the first case, witnesses said men dressed in Iraqi security force uniforms broke into the Palestinians’ apartments in the Hay el Nidal area of Baghdad, smashing doors and windows, UNHCR spokeswoman Astrid Van Genderen Stort said in Geneva.

“It is a very worrisome situation,” Reuters news agency quoted her as saying.

More than 600 Palestinians are believed to have died at the hands of Shi’ite militias since the war began in 2003, including at least 300 from the Baladiat area of Baghdad. Many were tortured with electric drills before they died.

Now the Shi’ite militias are stepping up their campaign to drive out Iraq’s 15,000 remaining Palestinians — less than half the estimated 40,000 living in the country at the start of the war, all of whom were welcomed by Saddam Hussein and provided with housing, money and free education.

Hundreds of Iraqis were forced to leave their homes to make way for the migrants, many of whom joined the ruling Ba’ath Party.

Sheik Mahmoud al-Hassani, a spokesman for the Mahdi Army, said the Palestinians had brought their suffering on themselves. He said Shi’ites believed the Palestinians were in league with Sunni extremists and al Qaeda.

“We are sure that all the Palestinians in Iraq are involved in killing the Shi’ite people and they have to pay the price now,” he said. “They lived off our blood under Saddam. We were hungry with no food and they were comfortable with full bellies. They should leave now, or they will have to pay.”

Kareem Zakia, a 61-year-old Palestinian, said his son, Yeha Ahmed, was kidnapped and killed in the Karada area of Baghdad two weeks ago.

“The kidnappers called me and told me that they had taken my son because he came from Palestine and all the Palestinians support the Sunni terrorists. I found my son’s body the next day with many holes in his belly made by a drill,” he said.

Mr. Zakia told his two other sons to leave with his wife and two daughters, but neighboring Jordan refused to allow them to cross the border — as it has with many Palestinians trying to flee Iraq.

Ahmed Mahmood, 26, a Palestinian in Baladiat, said he had paid a ransom of nearly $6,000 to free his brother, Murad, 38.

The kidnappers in Sadr City, a Shi’ite area of Baghdad, told him where to collect his brother, but he arrived to find his brother had been killed.

“We found him dead with signs of torture on his body,” Mr. Mahmood said. “They called us the next day and said, ‘We killed your brother because all the Palestinians in Iraq love Saddam Hussein and this is what will happen to you and all your families.’ “

Capt. Sary Farhan, a police spokesman, said people had been arrested for the killings but later released.

“All these criminals belong to Shi’ite militias and were released a few days after. They have strong backing in the government,” he said.

The Iraqi interior ministry said 7,700 police officers have been fired for suspected membership in death squads. Of those, 665 are in jail awaiting trial.

Gethin Chamberlain in London contributed to this article.