Sadly, No!

See what all the cool Wing Nuts are wearing this fall.

Well, Seb?s off on his two-week nude vacation in the Seychelles so nobody?s favorite guest-blogger is back to keep you from getting too restless (and to make sure you don?t wander off and start reading other big-time blogs instead). I have several time-constraints myself over the next couple of weeks so I?ll only be posting here intermittently. But when I?m not here, you can find all kinds of great stuff over in those blogs listed to your right.

If you?re dead set on the usual low-quality fare you normally find here, Seb should drop in from time to time to post some unclothed entries himself. If that?s not low-quality enough, you can always find me back at my own blog.

In the meantime, I?m here and you?re a captive audience so sit back, relax, and read the following entry about the rising menace of school textbooks and Native American cannibals. If you don?t like it, Seb will refund your price of admission.

Everybody?s all upset over at the Christian Broadcasting Network (the Pat Robertson Channel) because today?s school kids might be learning about Islam. And worse, they might be learning that it isn?t all evil. Fortunately, David Brody, CBN?s crack Congressional Correspondent, is on top of things with a piece entitled A Seat at the Table: Islam Makes Inroads in Education.

CBN.com ? WASHINGTON — If you look closely, what is inside your child’s textbooks may shock you. They are full of evolution theories, and many liberal historians are rewriting American history as well.

Good God, no! They?re learning biology and being exposed to the horrid idea that people lived in North America before Christopher Columbus arrived! No wonder CBN sent their Congressional Correspondent to cover this important story.

But there is even more.

That practically boggles the mind.

How Islam is portrayed in today’s textbooks is a subject of concern also.

I can only imagine.

The familiar images of Islam include praying at Mecca, and the prophet Muhammad, a man Muslims say is the messenger of God. But this is not the whole story.

No, ladies and gentlemen, there?s also the little fact that Islam is the religion of Satan.

Since the early 1990’s, teaching Islam to kids has taken on a new dimension. As our society moved into the era of political correctness where it became taboo to offend any one group, many educational analysts say that the controversial nature of Islam started to not only be downplayed, but to be totally ignored.

?Many educational analysts.? I love when ?reporters? use phrases like that.

Here?s an example (citing an American Textbook Council report) of what?s being ignored:

And the report says, when it comes to women, most textbooks do not mention how many men in the Islamic world look at women as just another possession. Many times, it just ignores that aspect altogether. One textbook says, “Although men had most of the power in Arab society, women had some freedom. For example, women could own and inherit property. Women contributed to the group through such activities as spinning and weaving.”

The nerve!

At this point, ace congressional reporter David Brody decides to provide some balance and asks Shabbir Mansuri from the Council on Islamic Education if students are getting a ?complete and true picture? of Islam.

Mansuri answered, “I think that is a valid point. I don’t think it’s a point we shouldn’t put on the table for us to discuss. I think it’s a valid point.”

But, Mansuri says, with just a few pages devoted to Islam in the textbooks, you can only include so much. And, he says, kids in grade school may not be ready to comprehend it all, anyway.

Mansuri added, “You can make an argument that we want them to know the good and bad of it. Valid argument. [But] are they equipped to understand the good and bad of it?”

One wonders how CBN would react if there were a clamor to discuss ?the good and bad? of Christianity in school textbooks.

Mansuri said that all his group is trying to do, is to make sure that what is written about Islam comforms to the textbook standards in each state. In California, the standards say, “When ethnic or cultural groups are portrayed, portrayals must not depict differences in customs or lifestyles as undesirable, and must not reflect adversely on such differences.”

So, Mansuri says that he strives to make that happen.

Sounds like an evil man to me.

But Historian David Barton says that all the facts must be put on the table. Barton remarked, “They [Muslims] may want to be presented well today, but historically there are some footprints that have to be looked at.”

And he says those footprints are not always so flattering. Barton said, “There was a Barbary Powers war that went on for 16 years in America, where America was dealing with Muslim terrorists for 16 years back, from 1790 through 1806. That is the reason we have the Marine Corps hymn. ‘From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’ was because the American Marines went inland in the same area where they are now, to release enslaved Americans [who] had been taken prisoner by Muslim terrorists. And for 16 years, for four presidents, we fought a war against Muslim terrorists.”

Having recently read Max Boot?s excellent book about small wars (like the Barbary Coast incidents) that greatly affected US history, I would agree that the story of Tripoli doesn?t get the attention it deserves. But Barton?s point is ridiculous. Because the Barbary pirates were Muslim, he?s saying that these stories should be included in textbooks when they?re discussing Islam. Does this mean that Barton would include the major wars of Europe when discussing Christianity because the participants were at least nominally Christian? Or how about the Crusades? Or the European pogroms? Are those ?footprints? that must be ?looked at? as representing Christianity?

But in today’s textbooks, Muhammad is not made to look bad at all.

Replace Mohammed with Christ and imagine how the Wing Nuts would howl.

He is mentioned numerous times in a positive light, but critics are curious as to why there is no mention of the controversy in which he supposedly had multiple wives, and one of them was a very young girl. Instead, you find role-playing exercises for students, like reading the Koran in class or dressing up as Muslim pilgrims on their way to Mecca.

Again with the unnamed ?critics.?

Just who is this Barton guy? CBN Congressional Correspondent David Brody and he made a special appearance at the Dark Window back in June in which they shared many of the same ideas we?re hearing from them today:

Political correctness seems to be the problem. In an effort to not offend any one group, especially when it comes to history, what happens is that the full story is not being told. Barton says key information is ignored or left out. Like with the Native American Indians.

Says Barton, “There were just some Native American tribes that were cannibalistic and that’s just the way they were, and you just can’t make them look good.”

Dave has an excellent point. If little Jeffy doesn?t learn these important facts, he?s in grave danger of becoming lunch for a tribe of hungry savages.

So how would Barton have our textbook writers frame history for the kids instead?

Barton says when writing history, those writing these textbooks might want to look at how the Bible does it.

Okay, so he?s a nut. A real live Wing Nut. But why devote so much space to him? It?s not like he has any influence.

Well, except that he does.

Barton is the founder of an organization called Wallbuilders, a group ?dedicated to the restoration of the constitutional, moral, and religious foundation on which America was built.?

WallBuilders? goal is to exert a direct and positive influence in government, education, and the family by (1) educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country; (2) providing information to federal, state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values; and (3) encouraging Christians to be involved in the civic arena.

And, you know, to talk about how the cannibalistic Commanches are just waiting for a chance to eat your kids. Don?t forget that one.

It would be easy to dismiss the WallBuilders as a fringe group but they seem to have some prominent fans:

?While watching [your] tape The Spirit of the American Revolution, I wept thinking how far our nation has moved away from the concepts of the Founding Fathers . . . . What can we do to get back to the founding concepts and blessings that our forefathers received???U. S. Senator Sam Brownback (Kansas)

Well, if we?ve learned one thing today, Sam, it?s that you won?t find that answer in your kids? textbooks so you?d probably better just ask Dave.

Unless you started reading Sadly, No! late this week, you know that we just moved to Kaiserslautern (aka K-Town) to spend 2 months working here. That, at least, is what we said.

The truth is that while we just finished our first week, we won’t be working for the next two. Have we been fired you wonder? Sadly, No! For one thing, if you read The Washington Times, you know that it’s impossible to get fired in Germany. Besides, who would ever want to fire us? The answer is simpler and, dare we say, more European: after working for a full week, we are taking two weeks off. It’s not easy being Sadly. We won’t be too far though, and we will be checking in on you, posting various poorly researched, ill advised, gramatically deficient entries. And when we can’t do that, Pete M. will do it for us.

For now, we leave you with this rather depressing news story:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment Saturday banning same-sex marriages and civil unions, one of up to 12 such measures on the ballot around the country this year.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the amendment was winning approval with 78 percent of the vote, and support for it was evident statewide. Only in New Orleans, home to a politically strong gay community, was the race relatively close, and even there the amendment was winning passage. Turnout statewide appeared to be about 27 percent of Louisiana’s 2.8 million voters, somewhat low for a state election.

You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave:

… Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in two car bombings on the road leading to the Baghdad International Airport.

In the first attack Saturday afternoon, a suicide bomber drove up beside a convoy near a checkpoint outside the airport and detonated the vehicle, wounding three soldiers, according to Master Sgt. David Larsen of the 1st Cavalry Division.

Another convoy on its way to assist the first was also hit by a car bomb, Larsen said. That attack killed two soldiers and destroyed two Humvees and a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which some of the troops were riding.

A security alert had been issued before the attacks for travel on the airport road and U.S. Embassy personnel were temporarily prohibited from using it.

Sometimes even reading something isn’t sufficient to convince you that it’s true. This is one of those times:

In the lobby, Holly (for Holland) Coors, the thin, blond doyenne of the Colorado beer outfit, had just returned from Madison Square Garden […]

“It’s [President Bush’s] faith,” Mrs. Coors said. “It breaks my heart to hear him criticized. They hated our Lord, too.” [Emphasis added.]

Just in case anyone needed a reason not to drink Coors anymore. (Yes, Blair sent us the link.)

The answer, by the way, is nobody:

They say that most stalkers imagine themselves to be the victim, and I guess I’m no different.

My first look at Vice President Dick Cheney was from a baking lawn on Ellis Island as he made his grand entrance into New York on a National Park Service tugboat, waving to the sweating crowd. I was just part of the small pack of reporters watching as he posed before the backdrop of Lower Manhattan, my first day on Cheney duty.

The vice president travels on Air Force Two, a tech-packed wide-body with private areas in the front, a Secret Service buffer in the middle and a media cabin in the back. A crew of about 10 reporters flies with him, representing all the networks, the wire services and two or three newspapers. There are snacks, cable television and camaraderie.

But there is not a seat for me.

If we had to choose whether I share a plane with a guy who writes articles like that, we also have to say… sadly, no! (Thanks to Blair for the link.)

Judson Cox continues to show that his decision to drop out of college early probably wasn’t for the best:

No college professor, with multiple degrees, tenure and a shelf full of books bearing his name, ever made a contribution to humanity greater than a single one of our soldiers.

Hmm, how shall we say… Sadly, No!:

After graduation from Princeton (then the College of New Jersey) and the University of Virginia Law School, Wilson earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University and entered upon an academic career. […]

Wilson advanced rapidly as a conservative young professor of political science and became president of Princeton in 1902. […]

Wilson maneuvered through Congress three major pieces of legislation. The first was a lower tariff, the Underwood Act; attached to the measure was a graduated Federal income tax. The passage of the Federal Reserve Act provided the Nation with the more elastic money supply it badly needed. In 1914 antitrust legislation established a Federal Trade Commission to prohibit unfair business practices.

Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan “he kept us out of war,” Wilson narrowly won re-election.

But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

We’d add, just for fun, that it wouldn’t take someone very long to come up with a very long list of ideas, policies and inventions that can be attributed to university professors. (Nor would anyone besides Judson miss the obvious fact that a great many conservatives have taught at universities across the country. Oh yeah, her too.)

Over at Outside the Tent, clifburns reports that it’s time to put up a Mission Accomplished sign for Bob Dole’s quest to become even more pathetic:

So, says Bob Dole to himself, “It’s time to get back in the game again.” And how does a faded Republicanist get back in the game? Why — you guessed it — by making stuff up. First, Bob made up the miracle of the bloodless shrapnel wound. And yesterday he made up a story about how those Michael Moore wannabes and shadowy surrender monkeys at MoveOn have run a commercial showing an American soldier “surrendering” in Iraq.

Umm, Bob, have you actually watched the commercial or are you just taking Ed Gillespie’s word for it? Have Libby show it to you on her laptop if you can’t figure out how to work your own — laptop, that is. The commercial shows a soldier struggling as he is swallowed up in a sand hole, while the narrator says “George Bush got us into this quagmire and it will take another President to get us out.” Doesn’t much look like a surrender to me.

Uncle Stinky Meat Horn Head quotes the UPI’s analysis of the DOD’s math skills:

NEW YORK (UPI) Nearly 17,000 service members medically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan are absent from public Pentagon casualty reports commonly cited by newspapers, according to military data reviewed by United Press International. Most don’t fit the definition of casualties, according to the Pentagon, but a veterans’ advocate said they should all be counted. […]

In a statement Wednesday, the Pentagon gave a different definition that included casualty descriptions by severity and type and said most medical evacuations did not count. “The great majority of service members medically evacuated from Operation Iraqi Freedom are not casualties, by either Department of Defense definitions or the common understanding of the average newspaper reader.”

No More Mister Nice Blog has the great adventures of private schools going bankrupt and what happens to their students, as well as a chart on differences in coverage of Kerry & Bush during the conventions.

Over at xpat.org, Yamantaka seems to have gone insane:

And they interview an Islamofacist sympathizing ‘academic’ by the name of W. Andrew Terrill, professor at the Army War College’s strategic studies institute and so-called ‘Iraq expert’ smarty-pants: “I don’t think that you can kill the insurgency”.

Another liberal candy-ass! Where do they dig-up these flag-burning pinko zanies?!

Finally, from earlier this week the incomparable uggabugga unspins Bob Woodard’s attempt to give Bush credit for, well, not much of anything:

MR. WOODWARD: “One of the common themes you find in talking to people in the White House and in the government here at all levels is, if you want to understand Bush, look at this decision. It defines him, and he knows that. What interests me, from the point of view of our business, the news media, is we have not found a way–we know how Bush operated. I mean, to his credit, he was willing to sit for three and a half hours and answer questions about how and why he made these decisions. We have not found a way to go to the political opponent, Senator Kerry, and say, “How would you deal with these things?” Not with sound bites, but in a long, detailed excavation of how John Kerry would be commander in chief. That’s the missing piece in this political campaign.”

The “three and a half hours” Woodward is referring to is the Cheney-accompanied, secret, no-transcript, long-resisted, initially-only-agreeing-to-meet-with-the-two-chairmen, accompanied by two White House lawyers, and not-under-oath interview. Which Bush finally sat down for, “to his credit”.

It appears to be written in Meekinsese, the anti-Esperanto:

If International Olympic Committee officials and their sycophants in multinational corporations continue to undermine basic human freedoms — foremost among them being the right to consume whatever foodstuffs one has legally acquired irrespective of brand — hopefully this antiquated pageant of feigned brotherhood and other hypocritical drivel will once again go the way of the heathen deities such athletic spectacles were invoked to venerate as curious but best forgotten footnotes of ancient history.

Brother, can you spare a comma?