Governor praises student who taped criticism of Bush (Owens blathering)

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3576309

He says he's surprised by the backlash against the teen and says the teacher should have balanced his lesson.

By Robert Sanchez and Chris Frates
Denver Post Staff Writers

Gov. Bill Owens praised the Overland High School student who taped and then made public a teacher's classroom criticism of President Bush's foreign policy, saying Monday that the teenager has been unfairly targeted for ridicule.

Speaking on a radio show, Owens said the Cherry Creek School District is properly handling an investigation into the recording of teacher Jay Bennish by one of his geography students, Sean Allen, 16.

"What's interesting to me is the backlash" against Allen, Owens said on "The Mike Rosen Show" on 850 KOA-AM, adding that Bennish would now have to "defend himself to the people that pay his salary."

>snip (part of Bennish's attorney response)


"The governor has demonstrated a lack of knowledge about the First Amendment for many, many years," Lane said. He "has a First Amendment right to say whatever he wants."

Another article, if you can stomach it, about the kid playing the victim now.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3575830

Thank goodness Owens has enough skeletons to fill a couple of closets. He's not going to be going any further in public service with his baggage.

Our esteemed gov, foot in mouth yet again:
MKJ
on edit: I couldn't resist posting this pic of the student, milking the "I'm a victim" thing for all it's worth.

[LaurenG]

1. Owens has his head firmly entrenched in

an unmentionable place. I may have to take a break from DU today with all the wicked news coming out.

[BOSSHOG]

2. What would constitute "balancing" his lesson?

Praising bush as a wonderful president and charming human being? Tell about his heroic exploits while honorably serving in TANG? How about a review of his business practices at harken? Or maybe, how its okay if the President lies once in awhile, cause its important that the president get his way. I got your balance hanging right here Governor.

[Lerkfish]

3. exclusive pictures....

this is what we've become.

[HuffleClaw]

4. *puke*

truly disgusting, an elected official applauding some snitch.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. He's not a snitch

To call him a snitch, implies that the teacher did something wrong, and the student is an informer.

[Ben Ceremos]

19. I would rather refer to the student as

a model Bush Soldier and a weaselscum. I wish I could victimize him...

[MrModerate]

5. I'm of several minds about this case . . .

I don't fault the student for recording the lecture. While it might be considered a violation of trust (as in "this classroom is a laboratory for ideas, and our discussions should be ours alone"), I haven't heard anything from the teacher that suggests he has a problem with it.

I do fault the parent for being an incipient brownshirt for turning the tape over and demanding "action" from the school district.

In a spirit of full disclosure, I should point out that I went to Cherry Creek schools some (mumble) decades ago, so this story struck a chord with me, and so my greatest scorn is reserved for the school district itself. To put the teacher on leave, to essentially wreck his class for an entire term because a puffed-up parent didn't like his ideas, is stupid, cowardly, and probably illegal.

I had a teacher in the Cherry Creek system those many years ago who made us question EVERYTHING, who introduced outrageous ideas just to force us to stretch our provinical brains a bit. He was the best teacher -- before or since -- I've ever had.

As reported, the teacher's allusions to world opinion of Bush and Hitler were accurate and appropriate. And even if they weren't, the school district has dishonored itself far beyond anything one teacher could do by mentioning unpleasant truths.

As for Colorado's guv, I don't live there anymore, thank heavens.

[ovidsen]

6. If this teacher had praised Bush

If Jay Bennish had said the idiot in the White House was the greatest American ever, that his decision to invade and occupy Iraq was a stroke of genius, that his handling of the Katrina disaster was superb, and so on, all during a geography class for cryin' out loud...

And a student had taped it and his Dad made it public...

Would you complain? Would you call the taper a snitch?

Just askin'... :dilemma:

[gratuitous]

8. If the teacher had praised Bush and my kid was in the classroom

I'd expect my kid to be smart enough and strong enough to challenge the fathead, and back it up with a reasoned, cogent argument (in the rhetorical sense of "argument"), instead of taping the monologue and running like a pussy to the nearest reporter. In other words, by the time he or she was a teen-ager, I'd have trained my kid to fight his or her own battles. If the discussion carried outside the classroom, for example, the empty-headed teacher chose to run like a pussy to a school administrator, or act like a dictator when making an argument he couldn't defend, then I'd get involved. And God help the teacher.

[ovidsen]

16. You and BHP are right

OR I should say, I agree with both of you.

I don't blame the kid for this. I blame his father. What a great example he would have made if he had told his son to debate the teacher if he disagreed with him. If the teacher had refused to debate, or had "punished" him with a lower grade, the dad could have taken his case to the principal, or the schools superintent, or the school board.

But nooooooooo!!!

Instead, role-model Dad ran to the logal radio wingnut.

[Ben Ceremos]

20. Does this imply that the proverbial apple can

actually launch itself into geo-synchronous orbit? I prefer the Newtonian gravitation model. Kid is a shit because dad is a shit. Any takers?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

10. I think the issue is this: the student taped it and went directly to RW

hate radio (Mike Rosen, our homegrown Rush), instead of reporting it to the school district.

It was a ploy for fame and recognition by the student, and perhaps the parent(s), nothing more.

As the parent of a high school student, who was in her first year of HS during the Iraq war build up, she had exactly that type of teacher. She and I talked about it and she made up her own mind. It never occured to me to report the teacher, since he was still teaching to requisite subject matter, Social Studies.

High school kids need to hear different view points, and then decide on their own how their values align with those views. So, I probably would call any kid that did that a "snitch". MKJ

[KittyWampus]

11. I tagged this as a set-up from start- Kid read about GOP'ers paying

college students for taping their professors and decided he give it a try.

Remember that father who repeatedly used his kids as props while entrapping "mean liberals" at rallies etc.

[The Stranger]

9. Thoughtcrime.

[Drum]

13. exACTLY!!! nt

[fishnfla]

12. Warning to teachers, administrators and govenors: a bite in the ass

watch this new fad sweep the nation. The Govenor said it was good.

Blowback is a bitch

[RethugAssKicker]

14. There is a maor attack on brains in this country...

The RW wants to censure everything progressive.

There is a concerted attack on all "liberal" teachers. From the University level to kindergarten teachers.

If the RW had their way there would be one textbook: THE BIBLE.
and all teachers would only use that one book for all subject matter.

This is absolute nonsense

[cantstandbush]

15. Reminds me of Hitler's Youth. n/t

[underpants]

17. What backlash?

Some internet postings? That's all I've heard about.

WHAT BACKLASH?

[ninkasi]

18. Oh, c'mon, underpants...

You know what cowards these conservatives really are. They control every branch of government, and still love playing the victim. This kid has a lot of growing up to do. I will say that from everything I've seen about young Republicans, they just strike me as creepy. Youth should be a time for questioning and exploring new ideas, not turning into carbon copies of their parents.

Apparently, playing a tattletale exposed this delicate youth to some snickering and rude comments from his peers, I would imagine. That's why the Young College Republicans aren't lining up in droves to enlist in their god Bush's wars...they are much, much too fragile, too weak, to face anything like war. The little dears must be nurtured, and shielded from the realities of the kind of life they wish to impose on others.

[underpants]

21. All Ihave seen is rational explanation of the teacher's point

and what you automatically take away from this the the dripping irony that a class that was supposed to stimulate debate and foster other questions has been met not with debate but screaming and talking points about how inappropriate asking questions is.

BTW- see my sig line. I wrote that just for this sort of thing.

[Ben Ceremos]

22. Excuse me , underpants,

but the American disdain of the intellect is almost cliche, it is so common. Luckily, you have the fortune of having Noam Chomsky and that makes up for a lot of the anti-intellectual bias in the Useless A. Brains that make money are ok. Brains that think and ask hard questions are not welcome. Ergo, Bush.
Do you follow?

[underpants]

23. Oh Bush

Bush is backwash

Welcome to DU Ben :hi:

[superconnected]

24. This whole subject - tape and turn in your teacher

is scary as hell.

This governer praising it is, is a big part of the problem.

It's not okay. It's orwellian. It's tactics that hitler used.

The teacher should have been turned into the principal, not the secret service.

All of it is scary, wether you agree with the teachers rant or not.

[underpants]

25. It reminds me of the war on drugs in the 80's

stories of kids reporting their parents to the cops. They were saluted as heroes for mostly recreational stuff.