Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995.

paulg_68 posted:

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If this was a Tea Party issue it would have come up in more than just one state. The Tea Party is in all 50 states and this only came up in Tennessee.

Think before you write AT. You're embarrassing yourself.

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Yukishiro1 posted:

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paulg_68 posted:

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If this was a Tea Party issue it would have come up in more than just one state. The Tea Party is in all 50 states and this only came up in Tennessee.

Think before you write AT. You're embarrassing yourself.

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Irony.

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GrilledCheez posted:

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The tea party is a grass roots organization. not a national party with a unified platform. Ironically tea party supporters were using this exact same defense to explain inconsistencies and distance "mainstream tea partiers" from fringe tea partiers. it must be awesome to get to redefine yourself to the situation every single time.

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Tych2 posted:

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I am just glad my kids went to school in Massachusetts.

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Sea_of_inK posted:

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We'll still have troll rwns claiming that most racists are liberal.

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Tych2 posted:

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Well I am not sure where or even how to find out where they come from. I thought the teacher choose their syllabus for the year. I've had some great teachers and believe it or not both of my kids had some of the very same ones which kind of freaked me out a little bit.

Again I have faith in our teachers.

Keep in mind this is MA and most politicians here are liberal democrats.

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Brother_Tempus posted:

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Sea_of_inK posted:

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We'll still have troll rwns claiming that most racists are liberal.

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anyone who thinks groups have rights or advocates conflict between different classes of individuals { rich, poor, black, gay, heterosexual},

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Crooq_Lionfang posted:

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Tali, wasn't slavery still around in form of criminal punishment in France after 1300? I thought it was, but I'm not entirely sure

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Kjarhall posted:

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Brother_Tempus posted:

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Sea_of_inK posted:

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We'll still have troll rwns claiming that most racists are liberal.

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anyone who thinks groups have rights or advocates conflict between different classes of individuals { rich, poor, black, gay, heterosexual},

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So how do they fight for rights that are available to all but them without conflict? So they don't get called bigots, that is.

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Scarne posted:

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If the Founding Fathers weren't perfect, then the Constitution may also not be perfect.

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SOI posted:

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We'll still have troll rwns claiming that most racists are liberal. Racism has been a bedrock of conservatism historically.

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Cedricke posted:

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Someone needs to pay closer attention in history class...


The original targets of the Ku Klux Klan were Republicans, both black and white, according to a new television program and book, which describe how the Democrats started the KKK and for decades harassed the GOP with lynchings and threats.

An estimated 3,446 blacks and 1,297 whites died at the end of KKK ropes from 1882 to 1964.

The documentation has been assembled by David Barton of Wallbuilders and published in his book "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White," which reveals that not only did the Democrats work hand-in-glove with the Ku Klux Klan for generations, they started the KKK and endorsed its mayhem.

"Of all forms of violent intimidation, lynchings were by far the most effective," Barton said in his book. "Republicans often led the efforts to pass federal anti-lynching laws and their platforms consistently called for a ban on lynching. Democrats successfully blocked those bills and their platforms never did condemn lynchings."

Further, the first grand wizard of the KKK was honored at the 1868 Democratic National Convention, no Democrats voted for the 14th Amendment to grant citizenship to former slaves and, to this day, the party website ignores those decades of racism, he said.

"Although it is relatively unreported today, historical documents are unequivocal that the Klan was established by Democrats and that the Klan played a prominent role in the Democratic Party," Barton writes in his book. "In fact, a 13-volume set of congressional investigations from 1872 conclusively and irrefutably documents that fact.

"The Klan terrorized black Americans through murders and public floggings; relief was granted only if individuals promised not to vote for Republican tickets, and violation of this oath was punishable by death," he said. "Since the Klan targeted Republicans in general, it did not limit its violence simply to black Republicans; white Republicans were also included."

Silly Liberals... Yep, this certainly proves that 'historically' the Conservatives/Republicans were the racists...

http://facta-non-verba.blogspot.com/2008/01/kkks-targets-were-black-and-white.html

And I'm no troll. More a mix of Ogre and Firbolg.

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The party favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; it opposed a national bank

Brother_Tempus posted:

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Kjarhall posted:

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Brother_Tempus posted:

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[quote=Sea_of_inK]We'll still have troll rwns claiming that most racists are liberal.

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anyone who thinks groups have rights or advocates conflict between different classes of individuals { rich, poor, black, gay, heterosexual},

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So how do they fight for rights that are available to all but them without conflict? So they don't get called bigots, that is.

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Taliesihne posted:

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Cedricke posted:

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Someone needs to pay closer attention in history class...


The original targets of the Ku Klux Klan were Republicans, both black and white, according to a new television program and book, which describe how the Democrats started the KKK and for decades harassed the GOP with lynchings and threats.

An estimated 3,446 blacks and 1,297 whites died at the end of KKK ropes from 1882 to 1964.

The documentation has been assembled by David Barton of Wallbuilders and published in his book "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White," which reveals that not only did the Democrats work hand-in-glove with the Ku Klux Klan for generations, they started the KKK and endorsed its mayhem.

"Of all forms of violent intimidation, lynchings were by far the most effective," Barton said in his book. "Republicans often led the efforts to pass federal anti-lynching laws and their platforms consistently called for a ban on lynching. Democrats successfully blocked those bills and their platforms never did condemn lynchings."

Further, the first grand wizard of the KKK was honored at the 1868 Democratic National Convention, no Democrats voted for the 14th Amendment to grant citizenship to former slaves and, to this day, the party website ignores those decades of racism, he said.

"Although it is relatively unreported today, historical documents are unequivocal that the Klan was established by Democrats and that the Klan played a prominent role in the Democratic Party," Barton writes in his book. "In fact, a 13-volume set of congressional investigations from 1872 conclusively and irrefutably documents that fact.

"The Klan terrorized black Americans through murders and public floggings; relief was granted only if individuals promised not to vote for Republican tickets, and violation of this oath was punishable by death," he said. "Since the Klan targeted Republicans in general, it did not limit its violence simply to black Republicans; white Republicans were also included."

Silly Liberals... Yep, this certainly proves that 'historically' the Conservatives/Republicans were the racists...

http://facta-non-verba.blogspot.com/2008/01/kkks-targets-were-black-and-white.html

And I'm no troll. More a mix of Ogre and Firbolg.

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Allright Cedricke, I'll bite - what defines liberal and conservative? Is it a set of values or is it a party label?

For example, if I told you that there was a party that believed

The party favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; it opposed a national bank

Would you say that was a conservative or liberal party?

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Taliesihne posted:

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Allright Cedricke, I'll bite - what defines liberal and conservative? Is it a set of values or is it a party label?

For example, if I told you that there was a party that believed

The party favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; it opposed a national bank

Would you say that was a conservative or liberal party?

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Groucho48 posted:

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There is no denying that the Democratic Party, in the South, was the home to racists and Jim Crow. Right up until LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act and almost all those Democrats became Republicans.

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Allstarslacker posted:

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Most Republicans like to pretend that there wasn't a massive shift in Southern political alignments in the 60's.

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Tali posted:

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Allright Cedricke, I'll bite - what defines liberal and conservative? Is it a set of values or is it a party label?

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Friarspam posted:

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Groucho48 posted:

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There is no denying that the Democratic Party, in the South, was the home to racists and Jim Crow. Right up until LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act and almost all those Democrats became Republicans.

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Yes, LBJ the "great civil rights" advocate. Who was it that FOUGHT against the Civil Rights Act when Eisenhower's administration was trying to push it? Why good old LBJ! Then when it was the politically expedient thing to do HE acts like it's "champion".

What a crock acting like LBJ was some kind of saint. He was a jerk and a racist.

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My first job after college was as a teacher in Cotulla, Texas, in a small Mexican-American school. Few of them could speak English, and I couldn't speak much Spanish. My students were poor and they often came to class without breakfast, hungry. And they knew, even in their youth, the pain of prejudice. They never seemed to know why people disliked them. But they knew it was so, because I saw it in their eyes. I often walked home late in the afternoon, after the classes were finished, wishing there was more that I could do. But all I knew was to teach them the little that I knew, hoping that it might help them against the hardships that lay ahead.

And somehow you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child. I never thought then, in 1928, that I would be standing here in 1965. It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country.

But now I do have that chance -- and I'll let you in on a secret -- I mean to use it.

And I hope that you will use it with me.

This is the richest and the most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion.

I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world.

I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be tax-payers instead of tax-eaters.

I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election.

I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men, and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties.

I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.

And so, at the request of your beloved Speaker, and the Senator from Montana, the majority leader, the Senator from Illinois, the minority leader, Mr. McCulloch, and other Members of both parties, I came here tonight -- not as President Roosevelt came down one time, in person, to veto a bonus bill, not as President Truman came down one time to urge the passage of a railroad bill -- but I came down here to ask you to share this task with me, and to share it with the people that we both work for. I want this to be the Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, which did all these things for all these people.

Beyond this great chamber, out yonder in fifty States, are the people that we serve. Who can tell what deep and unspoken hopes are in their hearts tonight as they sit there and listen. We all can guess, from our own lives, how difficult they often find their own pursuit of happiness, how many problems each little family has. They look most of all to themselves for their futures. But I think that they also look to each of us.

Above the pyramid on the great seal of the United States it says in Latin: "God has favored our undertaking." God will not favor everything that we do. It is rather our duty to divine His will.

But I cannot help believing that He truly understands and that He really favors the undertaking that we begin here tonight.