There's buzz surrounding the latest targeted czar by mass emails and talking heads: Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (at the Dept. of Education): the Safe-School Czar.
Before I dive into the career of Kevin Jennings, let me point out the incredible hypocrisy of conservatives and Republicans (especially those talking heads) who have ignored the "czar program" that has grown from Nixon, to Reagan, Clinton and through both Bush Presidencies -- all with minimal outrage. Read this post on "Insight" to expand on this point:
So NOW, when Obama pushes that total to over 35, the conservatives want to start speaking out. The Van Jones controversy stoked the ratings fire at FOX, so they're primed to pounce.
At the root of most emails railing on Kevin Jennings (and the segments on Sean Hannity et al.) begin with Jennings, a homosexual, who recounts a story of a young teenage boy (age 15 or 16) who confided in him about having sex with an adult male. Rather than reporting an incident of statutory rape, Jennings merely counseled him to "use a condom" in his next sexual encounter with the man.
Jennings has said: "Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training or guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers.”
Breitbart's Scott Baker narrates this video which covers Harry Hay, Jennings and more:
http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-czars-textbook-points-teens-to-pro-nambla-incident/
So I'm going to verge away from the great NAMBLA and Harry Hay debate exploring into an arena NOT covered as well, but to me is more telling. Kevin Jennings wrote the foreward for "Queering of Elementary Education"
I feel this book and Jennings creating, promoting it real reveals his character and truth of how he views a very controversial issue: teaching homosexual tolerance in school, as early as kindergarten.
"Nowhere is this failure (a lack of tolerance leading to violence and hatred - my addition) more evident than when it comes to antigay prejudice, and nowhere is that particular failure more manifest than it is in our elementary schools."
He equates how kids spout "That's so gay" and the perception of "gay is something bad" to the precursor that leads to violent gay bashing (his example is the Matthew Shepard case)
"...anyone who is driven to kill is atypical. But the hatred and attitudes they express are not the exception - they are the rule" and he later states how the "antigay bigotry is already in our schools."
The book begins with a chapter called "Teaching Queerly" which taunts how educators "mold children into curriculum cookie-cutter identities" and socialized into this "make-believe world of " male/female, hetero-homosexual, man/woman, masculine/feminine -- everything is relative.
Make-believe world - whoa.
This is the most destructive element of this movement. Many Progressives want to preach tolerance and pretend how men and women are NOT different and create relativism to everything "sexual" - -anything goes, everything is okay.
See, as it's stated in this book, "Father Knows Best" only can exist on TV, because "normal" families are the exception. In Mr. Jennings' universe, we must make exceptions to include everyone, every dynamic, without analyzing the destructive nature of the behavior. We all should lower the standards for the "family" and accept every possible pervasive identity: the gayby Boom, in vitro fertilization, single and second parent adoption.
I feel we deal with the problems. The deep, dirty, difficult problems that are laid at our feet are presented as a challenge for growth and NOT a reason to result in indoctrination of Elementary school kids.
"Queering" expounds on teachers, NOT parents, should explore what kids think "gay", "lesbian" or "homosexual" means. They explain sex is already in schools and most kids don't have "one mommy and one daddy" so it's okay to explore more diverse family dynamics.
There's no enough Tylenol to get me through all of this book. Let's press on...
Then again, and I quote:
"The affirmation of gay and lesbian people in elementary curricula is roughly analogous to respecting the rights of religious minorities."
They cite a Canadian legal case that was successful in making this comparison and staying away from parallels to race or ethnicity. If you can handle the chapter on "Sexuality in the Elementary Curriculum" page 181 you already more tolerant than me.
I'll ask one question: how can elementary and middle school kids have a clue if they are gay or not?
The clincher: the back of the book, a cameo endorsement by Bill Ayers
"Queering Elementary Education is an important contribution to nourishing the ethical heart of teaching, reminding us how anemic and cold and partial our embrace of our students has too often been. For some readers this collection will be an affirmation, for others a surprise and challenge. But it is a book for all teachers and parents, indeed for anyone concerned with the healthy development of children and schools. And, yes, it has an agenda: it stands straight and strong for fairness, for respect, for humanity, for simple decency."
The AFA, American Family Association, has jumped into the campaign against Kevin Jennings but I want to challenge you: support ending the czars.
ALL OF THEM!
If there was a Congressional confirmation process NABLA, Harry Hay and "Queerly" would have come out - yeah, maybe.
You can argue that this is a breach of the Constitutional power - well, yes, but where were you over the last 35 years?
Our fight is deep and dirty and difficult.
http://www.rightreborn.com/2009/10/04/writer-queering-elementary-education-obamas-safe-schools-czar/1. http://books.google.com/books?id=3jrULETBwt8C&pg=PR9&lpg=PR9&dq=foreword+queering+elementary&source=bl&ots=epaovQo8pj&sig=wHejG8H8dlbkVSJlwiv7Cag6LYk&hl=en&ei=Qc_TSuz7BdTR8QbfsM30CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212261213.shtml
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=77640
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