Tommy's Enlightened Democracy...

When I'm on my own, I like to watch Headline News... they get straight to the point, no fuss, frills, or otherwise, and in about thirty minutes, you've got the gist of everything going on in current events.
Today, I was on my own, watching Headline News, when a segment on Texas textbooks came up.
I watched in horror as they talked of the changes they want to make.
Here's a more in-depth video...


A few thoughts on the changes...

* Axing Democracy for Constitutional Republic
They want Democracy changed to Constitutional Republic because it sounds too much like the Democratic party? I thought this was why we educated our children; so they'd know the difference between democracy as a form of government, and the democratic party as a set of same-minded people.
The words are practically synonyms, but that isn't the point. The point is that we're changing things that needn't be changed.

* Capitalism for Free Enterprise
Again... uh, what? Why aren't we teaching the sprogs the difference between capitalism as our economic system, and the Marxist Theory? Why should we change the wording so we won't have to explain the different meanings in different contexts?
If the kids can't figure out that some words have multiple meanings, we really are going to all have to switch to Net-and-Textspeak.

And, in my opinion, the biggest and baddest problem...
* Omitting Jefferson as a participant in the Enlightenment
I suppose we're going to stop telling the nippers that JFK was Catholic, too, 'cause it might offend somebody.
The Enlightenment was a huge movement for a nation in it's infancy; it helped shape part of our ideals, and it's effects are still being felt today (for example, their philosophy of the relationship between the citizen and the role of the state).
And, more to the point, it was part of our nation's history... why are we excluding fact? It happened, therefore, it shouldn't be excluded... particularly since it was important enough at one point to INCLUDE it.
Why in monkey hell are we taking it OUT of school books, then?
The best way to effect the future is to limit the knowledge of tomorrow's leaders, and that's exactly what I think is happening here... maybe not intentionally, but it's happening.


Now, anyone who knows anything about me will tell you that I am absolutely against the public education system, but this is just stupidity on a new level.
Isn't it bad enough that slavery (which, I shall state now, I do not condone or defend in any way) has been blown totally out of proportion?
I have argued endlessly with people, because facts are simply ignored when it comes to the meat and potatoes of the issue... and the fabrications aren't even consistent.
But, hey, what do I know?

In other news, have you seen this?

They had to put frigging closed captioning on it so the rest of us could understand what they were saying.

Oh, and speaking of the 2010 Census, I urge all of you to only answer how many people are living in your household, since that's all the Constitution says they're allowed to ask.

How about a song? You know, one without closed captioning...