Condaleeza Rice

[Jim in CT]

Gave a great spech tonight. Raised in Birmingham (the most segregated city in the nation), her Dad told her that she might not be able to buy a hamburger at Woolworth's, but that she could someday be president. What a man he must have been, and I bet he knew how amazinghis daughter was even at the age of 6.

Dr Rice is elegant, gracious, and amazingly accomplished (she was SecState, National Security Advisor, as well as a classic pianist and accomplished figure skater). She was a Soviet-specialist in the Reagan administration, during the absolute peak of the Cold War.

Dr Rice is a national treasure, and a role model for every single kid in the country. If she could elevate herself from segregated Birmingham to the heights she has reached, then the simple truth is that anyone can do anything. Her book, called I think "No Higher Honor", is a really inspiring read, regardless of your politics

How, I wonder, did she miss the memo that her party hates women and blacks? And if the rumors are true, she belongs to yet another demographic that the GOP is supposed to hate.

I love her. God Bless her, and her parents, who must have truly been one-in-a-million.

Selfishly speaking, I pray she runs for office someday.

[Jim in CT]

Best line in her speech...

""The essence of America – that which really unites us — is not ethnicity, or nationality or religion – it is an idea — and what an idea it is: That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That it doesn’t matter where you came from but where you are going."

She nailed it. That is us. That's who we are, who I hope we will always be.

I cannot fathom that our current First Lady was never proud of that idea, until that idea culminated in her husband's nomination for his current position.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

I cannot fathom.

really? it shouldn't be surprising that many are either not proud of our founding and/or history past or recent....there has for some time been a movement that seeks to move away from our founding and eroded current principles and it's far easier to move on "progress" and detach from them or turn them on their head if you have/acknowledge no relationship to them or can villify them as unfair or incomplete(note how many here refuse to answer/ignore Detbuch's Constitutionality questions)...which is what explains these remarks that surprise and anger you, some can look at America's past as a source of inspiration and a triumph of ideals that are unique to our founding while acknowledging that it's not always been perfect or you can look for America's past faults to justify your anger and desire to overturn what is established in exchange for something that some consider better, smarter, fairer etc......you can follow the bouncing ball that is the Obama's to see very clearly that they represent the latter...

excerpt from something I read this morning that nails it...

"......progressivism’s unreflective rejection of the principles of the American Founding.

The old progressives were an oddly mixed bag; the movement’s roots could be seen in both parties at the time. On the one hand, people such as Woodrow Wilson and John Dewey explicitly rejected the natural-rights philosophy of the American Founding in favor of an admixture of Hegelian and Darwinian “pragmatism,” according to which “progress” is essentially the growth of the state. Many progressives thought our Constitution was obsolete, though they were able to fix that problem by bringing it to life. These beliefs remain the philosophical core of modern liberalism, though very few liberals, now that Richard Rorty is dead, can puzzle out the deep presuppositions of it anymore. Instead, today’s progressives hold a lazy presumption that progress entails politicizing every problem without end. This is the aspect of progressivism that Ryan most directly challenges."


don't you ever wonder how it is that some can argue ad nauseum over details of this and that in impressive detail suggesting that those that disageee are either ignorant or misinformed.... but at the same time are either unable or unwilling to answer even simple Constitutional questions?....my guess is that for them and many, these are irrelevant questions

[Scuttlebutt]

Jim, I cannot agree more! What more can you say...class, grace, intelligence, articulate, leadership, strength, poise...on and on. This was my favorite excerpt...

"You might not be able to control your circumstances but you could control your response to your circumstances. And your greatest ally in doing so was a quality education.

Let me ask you, though, today, when I can look at your zip code and can tell whether you are going to get a good education – can I really say that it doesn’t matter where you came from – it matters where you are going. The crisis in K-12 education is a grave threat to who we are.

My mom was a teacher – I have the greatest respect for the profession – we need great teachers – not poor or mediocre ones. We need to have high standards for our students – self-esteem comes from achievement not from lax standards and false praise. And we need to give parents greater choice – particularly poor parents whose kids – most often minorities are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights struggle of our day.

If we do anything less, we will condemn generations to joblessness, hopelessness and dependence on the government dole. To do anything less is to endanger our global economic competitiveness. To do anything less is to tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement a turn toward grievance and entitlement"

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Scuttlebutt

Jim, I cannot agree more! What more can you say...class, grace, intelligence, articulate, leadership, strength, poise..."

She has so much depth to her life story. She doesn't throw bombs, she doesn't blame whitey for anything (althjough yuo couldn't blame her if she did, growing up in segregated Birmingham).

She's just awesome...

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by Scuttlebutt

Let me ask you, though, today, when I can look at your zip code and can tell whether you are going to get a good education – can I really say that it doesn’t matter where you came from – it matters where you are going. The crisis in K-12 education is a grave threat to who we are.

"

was it different 30,40, 50 years ago? In the small town I grew up in, my parents told me how the italians, polacks and germans were always fighting, kids were dirt poor and their parents worked their butts off. Schools had no technology. Believe it not, they survived. What made teachers better then? Schools were BETTER then?

Serioulsy, how were SCHOOLs or teachers better then?

[Scuttlebutt]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

was it different 30,40, 50 years ago? In the small town I grew up in, my parents told me how the italians, polacks and germans were always fighting, kids were dirt poor and their parents worked their butts off. Schools had no technology. Believe it not, they survived. What made teachers better then? Schools were BETTER then?

Serioulsy, how were SCHOOLs or teachers better then?

Kids respected/feared teachers...and our parents backed them up! if you messed up in school the teacher took you in the coat room and "fixed" the problem...then, when you got home, the 'ol man fixed the problem again. Chances are you never messed up again. Today the 'ol man calls the lawyer...and the kid packs a steak knife in his back pack.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by Scuttlebutt

Kids respected/feared teachers...and our parents backed them up! if you messed up in school the teacher took you in the coat room and "fixed" the problem...then, when you got home, the 'ol man fixed the problem again. Chances are you never messed up again. Today the 'ol man calls the lawyer...and the kid packs a steak knife in his back pack.

agree and all the tax dollars and teachers are not going to change that

[rphud]

The more teachers you talk to, the more you know Kevin hit the nail directly on the head. The problem we now face is there are too few parents that will get it done for their children. This looming crisis is not class warfare, it is not economic warfare, it will be education warfare. Both class and economics will be the direct result of level of education. It is not jobs, it is not the economy, it is education of the masses of children who's parents will not educate them that will determine where the US goes in the very near future. This will be the measure of success of both the president and the senate and the congress. None of whom seem to get it, let alone talk about it. Planning on individual success by pulling oneself up by their bootstraps is not going to cut it much longer folks. Time to send this message to all parties and both sides to get their act together on this before it is too late. My guess is too late is not all that far away.

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

Serioulsy, how were SCHOOLs or teachers better then?

They weren't. I believe the parents were better then. Parents first, friend second to thier kids.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Thats not a problem with the Schools or the Teachers......Thats a problem with the Parents and the Kids

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

Thats not a problem with the Schools or the Teachers......Thats a problem with the Parents and the Kids

Yes and yes.

In the inner city schools most parents don't do enough to encourage or even
take an interest in their children's education. My brother teaches in the inner
city and my son special education in a poor area. Both tell me how the kids are
out of control because they don't get discipline at home.
At" Back to School Night" they are lucky if 2 or 3 parents show up. There are so
many problems with the parents on drugs,alcohol and lack of marital stability that
they live for themselves rather than their kids.
My brother tells me that many of the kids don't want to go home on weekends
or vacations because of the turmoil in their homes and neighborhoods. They know
they are safe in school and will get a lunch.
Children cannot learn in that kind of enviornment.

On the other side of the coin in the suburban schools the parents get involved too
much, afraid their kids won't be able to become Einstein's to compete in this world.
Teachers spend as much time with the parents that complain and stick up for
little Johnny as they do spending time in their class rooms.
Little Johnny is always right and it's the teacher that's wrong.
These kids are under so much pressure to become honor students and get into the top colleges they don't have time to be kids.

Schools and education are there for good learning, as the've always been, it's the attitude of the parents and students that has changed.

BTW Jim- I'm always amazed at how many of Debuch's probing questions suddenly get ignored or go unanswered too.

[spence]

I think most people would consider Rice to be a class act...it's probably why she was sidelined by the Bush Admin

He speech was good, but felt totally out of place given the tone of the GOP.

-spence