I come back to scandal today after a busy week at work with a heavy heart and a firm resolve. Things are both better and worse than it first looked on this story.
First, the better, which has me laying some "fact checking" on myself. It looks like my earlier report of problems in Texas was a emotion driven misinterpretation on my part of an e-mail sent to me. The gentleman involved said he would not be surprised that there were several incidences in Texas, not that he knew of several incidences in Texas. I apologize for that. Growing up as a military dependent, I let my anger over this color my objectivity.
Now for the "worse" part: further checking of the report from Kansas revealed that the Gulf War in question was 1991, not 2003. I thought this was an improvement, at first. Then I went to our track back "linkie love" and found this from Emily's blog:
"...Teachers are entitled to their opinions the same as everybody else, but they should be expressly forbidden for making their students suffer by them, especially when those students happen to be between the ages of 7 and 9 years old.My fourth grade teacher, a judgmental sixties throwback, was very cruel to me once he found out that my father was an officer in the Air Force and had served in Cambodia. He taunted and picked on me, even humiliated me on more than one occasion in the front of the entire class. I feel for these children so badly, almost to tears. Here their parents have made a tremendous sacrifice for their country, followed their orders as they promised, and are putting their very lives on the line and these... people make their kids feel like worm-rot? I'm with Joe: MAKE THEM PAY."
So this sort of thing hasn’t just happened before, it has happened repeatedly over the decades, and it was done by individuals associating themselves with the anti-war movement. It just hasn't had the Web to advertise these abuses (and >AMEN< to Emily's last line above).
CTD...
...CTD.
Unfortunately for these child abusing low lives nationwide, I was not the only one fact checking for this abusive behavior. For one, I now have an e-mail reply from a really pissed off mother from New York about a teacher cursing her son in class for enlisting. The wider media has started to run with the Maine story as well. Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh have all picked up this story as has Fox News, CNN, ABC News, World Net Daily, and the Washington Times.
There are two things I have not seen in this story yet from the mainstream media, and they very much worse, as far as the abuse of military dependents is concerned. The first is from of all places a BBS for the science fiction publisher Baen (registration is required for posting there):
"The bad news is that it is a dozen confirmed cases, more cases are being checked, and it is widespread with complaints being documented in Portland, Bangor, and Augusta. Also, kids being kids, it has been confirmed as well that this has now gone to the playground and such, with the other kids taking the cue from the teachers and taunting the kids of the troops."
The fact that we have three separate places where teachers did the same thing at the same time suggests a coordinated campaign. Whether this was simply a group of people sharing the same feelings spinning each other up to vent on kids at the same time, or active and coordinated malice, is something that needs to be investigated and not swept under the rug.
No political movement is so noble and just that it doesn’t attract its share of nuts. On that basis, an acquaintance from my "list of usual suspects" mailing list suggested looking at the Maine Chapter of "Educators for Social Responsibility." The "ESR" is a spin-off from the 1980's anti-nuclear group "Physicists for Social Responsibility." The largest and most active chapter of the ESR was in Maine. My acquaintance, who is a very leftist college professor, viewed the support of the Maine chapter of the ESR for the anti-nuclear movement, and other leftist causes, "in the same way Republicans would view the support of a chapter of the KKK."
I don't know for a fact if this organization is involved or if it is just a "cultural marker" for the politics of Maine academia. I do think it is a good starting point for people investigating these incidences in Maine to run down.
When you Google search "Maine Teachers" most of the first 20 stories are about Maine teachers abusing military children. The primary world image of Maine teachers is that they are child abusers. This is something Maine residents know and have been debating over on places like the "As Maine Goes" BBS (registration required). Maine State Rep. Michael Vaughan, R-Durham, has set up his own clearing house e-mail address at repmavaughan@hotmail.com for parents of children victimized by this or others knowledgeable of this matter to contact. He has also called for the dismissal of the teachers involved.
The problem here is that neither the Maine education establishment, nor their supporters in the Maine Democratic Party, have realized the potential for violence and negative stereotyping here. They are too busy covering up, papering over, and spinning. If they do not see to it that the teachers involved are suspended at the very least for these actions, they are ratifying, condoning and endorsing them.
The most important point of public justice is to preempt people taking private justice. This was the real and ignored lesson of Waco and the run up to the Murrah building bombing.
The BATF's screw ups and abuse of power that caused the Branch Davidian stand off were ignored by the Clinton Administration, the mainstream media, and the then Democratically controlled Congress. Newt Gingrich and the NRA used the public discontent with that outcome in mailings and talk radio to build a really poisonous public climate that resulted in the 1994 Republican take over of the Congress.
Gingrich's failure to follow through with long public hearings over the BATF's handling of the Branch Davidians and the FBI's handling of the Ruby Ridge incident left the public field open for nuts like McVeigh to act out their fantasies of war against the Federal Government.
Gingrich and his crowd ran like scalded dogs from that hate talk when the Murrah building bombing happened. They did this in large part because of the picture of the fireman carrying a dead child from the wreckage of the Murrah Building's day care center. That image overpowered anything the Republicans and the NRA could say. This turn of events let Clinton stereotype Republicans as "mean and evil haters of women and children" for the 1996 election.
What is different this time around is that the Maine establish cannot spin this for public sympathy like the Clinton Administration did. They are not protecting children from David Koresh's child abuse. They are protecting child abusing teachers from the public. That makes all the difference in the world.
The Maine education establishment is ignoring this at its peril. The names of the teachers who did this *will* become public domain. If they are not punished by the school system, and the school system actively frustrates attempts by the public's political representatives to do so, they may be punished by vigilantes via physical violence.
Please note carefully that I am not advocating or condoning violence. It's just that I've seen this before.
The day of the Murrah Building bombing, I was President of AFGE local 2128. I got to call the local Defense Contracts Management Command commander to find out if any of workers from my local had died (none had). My cubicle mate a couple of years later had moved to a job in my facility because his wife had worked in the Murrah Building and had been out sick that day. The change of scenery was necessary for her mental health.
I don't want to see this happen in Maine, but having seen it once, I can imagine it happening again.
This is precisely why i wrote these books (www.booksforbrats.net) for young children of military personnel. I hoped and prayed that America had matured since I was the child of a soldier during Vietnam. But sadly, some people will even sacrifice children to make a political point.
I have had to cancel several interviews with members of the press because they want to know why the books don't delve into the dangers of war. And what can you say to someone who would share such horrible and dramatic information with a child?
Growing up moving every three years and sometimes 1 year always seemed horrible as a kid. You always had to make new friends and prove yourself the first week in a new school. Sometimes that meant fighting and sometimes in sports. The teachers I had were all very good and never challenged me about my father's career and I am glad they didn't because I am sure I would not of put of it nor my father if he found out.
I am now a 14 year veteran in the army, and after serving in Northern Iraq, Haiti, Ecuador, Honduras, Germany, Turkey, Panama and Colombia. I know how great our country is, The liberal teachers have probably never left the U.S. and feel they are politically correct in their stance. To me they are cowards and throw a blanket of shame on thier profession. The silent majority needs to start speaking up more and shut down these protestors who are so misguided that treason is not a far reach for them.
Maine's leadership should be firing every teacher they find that has harrassed a student (any student) because of thier beliefs!!!
THANK YOU Sean Carney, and all the others who e-mailed in and are supporting our military, and especially our military kids. For the ones who don't I say: Don't be to sure that the draft is not around the corner, and if the draft should be re-instated I say Canada watch out you will be over populated with all the draft dodgers coming to you, don't forget President Carter is not in office anymore, and who knows if the next president/presidents will be as forgiving as Carter was and will give these draft dodgers/turning their back on their country amnesty. And for all the protesters out there: Well, a bunch of "human shields" already have left Iraq because Iraq did not let them get near to hospitals, but I'm sure this is not the only reason. Can't these people see that they're not appreciated by the Iraqi government??? I wonder if they are coming back because the fire is getting to hot in hell's kitchen. Just remember OUR SOLDIERS ARE FIGHTING PROUDLY IN THAT HELL'S KITCHEN FOR YOUR FREEDEM.
Proud Army Wife (for 25yrs)
the toughest job in the Army
I am a Viet Nam vet who also recieved the scorn of liberals when I returned home. I was a big boy and I could deal with it, however when you attack children (for any reason) this will always get my dander up. Right now I can only look into this but when I get my facts stright and can find an outlet for my anger, I will add my voice and money (if needed). These "evil Doers" (teachers?, another good reason to home school)need to be held accountable. I see that I am venting to the choir here but I needed to say something.
These stinking liberals just don't get it,speaking out against our institutions is good and acceptable (I fully support this even when I don't agree) but attacking the individuals and now their children is way over the top.
Although I am too old now (53) too serve my counry again (actively) we know several young men that are standing in the gap for us now in Kuwait. We hold them and their families up in prayer daily and will add "Proud Army Wife" to that list.
Respectfully; Lance Frahm
There seems to be a feeling that this is restricted to Maine.
It may be. But the reason we know about this is that the Guard has a family assistance office which was in a position to hear and collect the complaints.
It would be strange to think that the only place this happens is the only place there was an organization which would hear the complaints from all over.
What about Reservists? Active duty people whose families live in Maine? If a kid's uncle were smeared, would that register with the Guard's family assistance office?
And so far, we're considering only Guardsmen.
What about: conservative Christians. Children of, say, cops. There are more opportunities, and more states.