Just heard something on the "radio" that made me go 'wow'

[The Straight Story]

I put radio in quotes because it is actually a download of an mp3 from coast to coast am.

Red Elk is on (seems a little wacky to me...but hey, it's entertainment) and in a rant he said:

"and we have young people coming home from wars"

Wars - plural.

We compare our time and Iraq to Vietnam, but I guess sometimes we forget that in this case we are in more than one war.

And we stand on the brink of Iran to boot.

I thought the 70's were a trip....What do our young people have to look forward to? War, Wars, and rumor of wars.

Pretty damned sad. Humankind has been on this planet for this long and we are still killing each other - and not over religion, it's over oil, land, and so on.

I remember when I was in the 4th grade, 1975 IIRC, and we were talking (for some reason) about Vietnam and Guerrilla warfare. Our teacher, well she seemed pretty distraught over vietnam. I often wonder now if she lost someone she loved there. I remember that day because I honestly had no clue what it was and when she asked kids what it meant I blurted out "It's when gorillas fight the monkeys for bananas!" The word sounded the same. she was upset and I had to leave the group and go back to my desk.

What are they talking about to our kids regarding the wars we are in now? And how much do they really understand?

[illinoisprogressive]

1. more than most adults realize

[soothsayer]

2. I dig Red Elk when he's on C2C. That was a good show.

[The Straight Story]

4. This was his last appearance, he is leaving the public eye.

bummer :(

[walldude]

3. My second grader's class wrote letters to Bush

saying whether they approve of the surge or not. I though it was kind of disingenuous because really, how much of the nuances of this situation can a 8 year old really understand. Plus the teacher is a Republican and supports the war. I can't say what the rest of the class wrote but my 8 year old is probably a little better informed than most. He wrote:
Dear Mr Bush, I am writing to ask you to stop sending more troops to Iraq and make the war go away. 3000 people are already dead, I don't want any more.

I didn't have the heart to explain to him just how many people are actually dead and maimed. He's already lost his grandfather and his father(we adopted him after his dad died of MD) and death is on his mind all the time anyway. My 12 year old has a better grasp but everything is still brought down to a child's level of understanding. At least they are talking about it.

[DRoseDARs]

5. You ought to complain to the school principal about this teacher's interjection of politics...

...into a second grade class. That's something that should be discussed in high school, not between reading See Spot Run books and multiplication tables.

[walldude]

6. Well I have issues with her anyway, besides politics

and I have called the school. My oldest was also in her class years ago, after knowing him for 10 minutes she called me in to school to demand I put him on Ritalin. I think she was getting kickbacks or something but I could never prove it. This is the second of my kids she's had and both of them came out of her class hating school. It took 4 years to get my oldest back on track. He is now in an advanced middle school, his last report card was 4 A's and 2 B's. You can bet I shoved that in her face. I have a conference with her coming up soon and I intend to thank her for taking 2 of my kids who loved school and managing to make them hate going. She knows it's coming too, whenever she see's me she runs the other way. Other parents have complained but I think she's friends with the principle. The sad part is it's a good school, she's the one bad apple.

[roody]

8. Is there another 2nd grade class that

you could have your child switched to?

[DRoseDARs]

9. Next step: Bring the Superindendent unannounced with you to your next parent/teacher conference...

That ought to put some real fear of God in her. ;)

[roody]

7. They don't even have to multiply yet.

This is not in the 2nd grade standards. The teacher should let 2nd graders be children. What a dirty trick.