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Saturday, February 05, 2005
This is not a family
This is the "non-family" that was at the center of the Buster controversy. Seeing these people would damage America's children, according to the United States government.
Ms. Spellings said in the letter to PBS that parents would not want their children exposed to households headed by lesbians. PBS's chief operating officer, Wayne Godwin, said in an interview that the decision not to distribute the episode was "in the better interest of the trust factor with parents and children of this country." And what about the parents and children in the picture? How do they feel about it?But for Emma Riesner, 11, who was supposed to be a star of the now-controversial episode of "Postcards From Buster," what began as a participatory social studies lesson has become a harsh lesson in exclusionary politics.
"I was pretty upset when the show was canceled, because I was very excited about it," Emma said in a telephone interview from her home in Vermont. "I know some people don't like gays and lesbians because they think they are bad people. That's just a stereotype and it's kind of hurtful. I don't think people should think of us as very different. We are just the same except we have two moms." Yep, it's All About the Children.
posted by jeev |
10:20 AM |
 
Friday, February 04, 2005
I guess Ms. Spellings really doesn't like maple syrup: The Department of Education has canceled an invitation to Carol Greenwald, executive producer of "Postcards from Buster," to speak at a children's television conference in Baltimore on Friday, according to a PBS official.
The move followed last week's criticism by Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings about an episode of the "Postcards from Buster" cartoon that featured two lesbian couples in Vermont. Ah, government by nimrods.
posted by jeev |
1:31 PM |
From the February 2005 Harper's, in the Readings section, from teaching materials from federally funded abstinence programs. The Bush administration spent $167 million this year for abstinence-only programs:Circle the item(s) that can be totally eliminated through the use of a condom: infertility, isolation, jealousy, poverty, heartbreak, pregnancy, AIDS, substance abuse, genital herpes, wedding, distrust of others, sexual violence, cervical cancer, personal disppointment, feelings of being used, pelvic inflammatory disease, loss of reputation, suicide.
Now cross out the item(s) that can be eliminated by being abstinent until marriage.
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Sexual relationships often lower the self-respect of both partners--one feeling used, the other feeling like the user. Emotional pain can cause a downward spiral, leading to intense feelings of worthlessness.
Investment in another results in pain when break-up occurs; he/she feels deeper pain because he/she already sees events in an emotional way. This depression may lead to attempted, or successful, suicide. Your tax dollars at work.
posted by jeev |
1:25 PM |
Thursday, February 03, 2005
I posted something about this in my del.icio.us links over there -> a couple of days ago, but it's a story with some legs. Yesterday the Boston Globe ran a bit farther with it. Seems not only is the White House paying "commentators" and coercing civil servants, it (or its surrogate) is hiring "reporters" to ask softball questions during press briefings.The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.
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Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them "divorced from reality." During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service This is the administration we elected: people who believe it's all a matter of spin. Feh.
posted by jeev |
1:25 PM |
In case you've seen this fly through your inbox and wondered if it was true: it is.U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote:
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 — United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here. Not to deny the tremendous courage of those who voted in Iraq, but this is a situation that is still unfolding.
posted by jeev |
10:55 AM |
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