The Riggsby Report » Marxism

Obama is not the cause, merely the symptom

Dan Riggsby — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:49:28 +0000

Contact Congress Today!

A recent Rassmussen Poll showed that 18% of Americans believe Socialism to be better than Capitalism, and 21% are not sure. How pathetic is that?

Over 1/3 of this country doesn’t recognize that Capitalism is what made this country great? That’s how we ended up with an administration like this in the White House.

President Obama did not create this socialist trend, he’s merely taking advantage of it. Our problems seem to be with the education of our children in this country.

Based on donation records since 1999, compiled by campaignmoney.com 75% percent of college professors supported Democratic Candidates while only 9% supported Republicans.

There is a great study at americancivicliteracy.org that explains how college fails to educate our students about civics, but as the understanding of how the government is supposed to work increases, the respect for free enterprise and free institutions increases.

The reality is that we are losing the war. We are losing this country, not because Barack Obama is President, but because 60% of the nation thought his ideals were America’s.

Obama is not a Marxist

Dan Riggsby — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:08:42 +0000

Ok, here’s a man who is doing everything to socialize this nation, if he isn’t a Marxist, what is he?

If you look back through history, Obama isn’t following the path of Karl Marx and his regime. He’s following the path of the National Socialist Party of Germany.

Let’s see, socialize Health Care: Check

Socialize the Auto Industry: Check

Attack Smoking: Check

Socialize Banking: Working on it

These were all strategies of the National Socialists. We need to wake up. These guys are much more dangerous than Marx. This is the same path that the National Socialists took in Germany. And we all know how that played out.

Obama-Gination

Dan Riggsby — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:22:01 +0000

I was watching the Health Care debacle this morning and began thinking of John Lennon’s tribute to Communism. I rewrote the words to reflect the happenings of today. I sent them off to our favorite singer/songwriter Anne Harpen and she made some revisions, then recorded it. The video below is the result.

Here are the Lyrics
Obama-gination

Imagine there’re no voters
It’s easy if you try
No elections to thwart us
No one asking why
Imagine all the people
Living all our way

Imagine there’s no parties
It isn’t hard to do
No one questioning decisions
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life our way

You may say that I’m a socialist
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
It’ll happen soon
If Obama has his way now
And Nancy Pelosi too
Imagine all the people
Living on the dole

You may say that I’m a Socialist
But I’m not the only one
I know someday you’ll join us
At the barrel of a gun

They Understood Back Then!

Dan Riggsby — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:58:40 +0000

This cartoon is brilliant! Everyone in the United States should watch this cartoon.

The President's Speech to Our Children

Dan Riggsby — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:17:32 +0000

President Barack Obama

Below is the President’s speech to our children on September 8th. I said before that the idea of the President speaking to our kids didn’t bother me, it was the curriculum that was sent out that was the problem. That feeling has been re-enforced with the release of the President’s speech. It is the kind of thing we want the President to say to kids. There is a slightly liberal tint to his hopes for the children, but he’s a liberal. It’s nothing that will hurt them. I encourage everyone with children to let them hear the President’s speech and then discuss it with them at home tomorrow evening. I am printing it here so you can read it yourself and decide from there.

President Obama’s Remarks

(Taken from the White House website)

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Should the President Address the School Children?

Dan Riggsby — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 14:14:36 +0000

We'll educate the children!

I have to admit, my first reaction to this whole thing was, “This isn’t uncommon, other Presidents have done this!” I didn’t think this was a big deal. Then I read more about it. In the true Obama fashion, he couldn’t just give the kids a stay in school speech. He has to send out an entire curriculum. Because, of course, Obama knows better how to educate our children about the Presidency than our teacher’s and school board. The reality is that speaking to our children is not a horrible thing. However, sending out indoctrination instructions to our school systems is something entirely different.

These are some of the suggestions sent out by the White House:

1. “Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important? ”

2. ” As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following: What is the President trying to tell me? What is the President asking me to do? What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about? “”

3. “Students could discuss their responses to the following questions: What do you think the President wants us to do? Does the speech make you want to do anything? Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us? What would you like to tell the President? ”

4. “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals. ”

5. “Create posters of their educational goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants or puzzle pieces or trails marked with the labels: personal, academic, community, country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in those areas. It might make sense to focus on personal and academic so community and country goals come more readily. ”

Here’s my problem with this lesson plan. It places the President and Congress upon pedestals as if they are more important. Then it adds questions like “Are we able to do what the President is asking of us?” How about “Should we do what the President is asking of us?’ That answer might be a resounding “Yes!” The President might be making a very worthwhile speech. But shouldn’t we teach our children to question directives from the government? Instead the Obama administration sends out lesson plans that encourage our children to blindly follow the directives of the government. I don’t care who is in office, my kids will not blindly follow them!

Then they send out garbage like Obama’s speech will inspire them to set goals for their community and country? Ok, Mr. Obama, how about we let Dick Cheney set goals for Malia and Natasha for how they should improve their community and country? Are you ok with that?

The administrations defense is that other Presidents have spoken to the school children. That is very true. However, I don’t remember indoctrination packets accompanying the speech.

Many schools are recording the speech and allowing teachers to show it later. I think this is a good idea. For those showing it live, I do not recommend that parents have their children removed from the speech. I recommend that, if you can, you go to the school and watch the speech with your children. Then you sit with them for the discussion after. If you cannot, watch the speech yourself and discuss with your children how this speech fits in with your values. You cannot ignore the opposing ideas. You must meet them, challenge them and overcome them, or they will overcome you.