Quote of the Day (August 16, 2010)

*
Gregory Ferenstein at CNN:

"...the path from half-baked accusation to news story seems pretty well paved. Palin makes an ambiguous eye roll after a critic mentions that she's a teacher. Almost immediately, Internet headlines read, 'Did Palin role (sic) her eyes at teaching?' and blogger attention shoots the video to viral superstardom. True, eye rolling is a marker for aggression, but body language expert Paul Ekman always cautions amateur face-readers when interpreting the cause of an emotion. For instance, it is equally likely that Palin, who comes from a family of teachers, was frustrated to meet a woman in a profession she thinks should make someone more open to civil dialogue. Indeed, it's almost ludicrous to suggest that Palin, or any political figure, holds disdain for teachers. Disdain for teacher unions, maybe. Ivory tower professors, quite possibly. But, all teachers?"

- JP

Jay Homnick: 'Why, the optic nerve of that woman!'

*
Humorist Jay Homnick shares his thoughts on the left's knickers-in-a-twist outrage over Gov. Palin, who can evidently kill teachers with her eyes:

She rolled her eyes at a teacher! At the whole teaching profession! What if she becomes a roll model?! Why, the optic nerve of that woman! It's bad enough that she turns heads, now she's rolling eyes!

[...]

TRUTH BE TOLD, if truth is a meaningful element in such discussions, I join Sarah in rolling my eyes at teachers. The profession of teaching is an honorable one, but the leftist teachers who dominate schools today are dishonoring it by much of what they profess. Look at this woman herself. First, her conclusion that Sarah left office just to cash in her celebrity sounds like one she reached via a long jump, hardly the stuff of judicious analysis. Second, her bestowal of the Worst Governor Ever lifetime achievement award based on that critique smacks of the hyperbolic rhetoric students are supposed to unlearn in school.

My own children, despite attending Jewish parochial schools, are constantly subjected to this brand of haranguing by the teachers in the secular department. One daughter had an entire test in science period devoted to global warming. A class play about forests (in 3rd grade!) included speaking birds who advocated for killing the woodchopper for his desecration of trees.

A different daughter, as a junior in high school, had to write a report on an angry novel about Southern racism in the early 20th Century, where blacks had to wait for whites to go first over the bridge and a host of similar indignities. In her essay, she wrote that such atrocities are a thing of the past. In the margin the teacher commented: "Who says?" In each case, I considered unleashing angry missives but remembered that these activists held my children's grades hostage.

So when these teachers stop being so contentious and tendentious we will begin again to eye them with respect. In the meantime, they should be not surprised to see some rotation of pupils.

Curious how "progressives" obsess and rage over literally every little thing they perceive Sarah Palin to do, but when a Democrat candidate for public office in New Hampshire publicly wishes for her death in an airplane crash, mostly what we hear from stage left is the sound of canned crickets.

h/t: roy y

- JP

Palin is Nasty Because She 'Rolls Her Eyes' or Something

*
-By Warner Todd Huston

What's the Old Media's latest nit-picking Palin apostasy? They claim she rolled her eyes at a nasty, negative constituent. Mean, rotten, evil Sarah the "eye roller" should be tarred and feathered over this, I guess.

Here's how The New York Times' The Caucus Blog is reporting it:

In a video that has been widely reported, Ms. Palin asks a woman standing next to a large “Worst Governor Ever” banner what she does for a living. The woman — Kathleen Gustafson, according to news media reports – responds that she’s a teacher. That leads to a response that prompted several outlets to comment that Ms. Palin rolled her eyes — or at least looked like she was rolling them.

This supposed "eye rolling" occurs after the woman told the Governor that she was a teacher (about 1:10 into the video). Many of the left-media are claiming that Palin rolls her eyes and gives a "knowing glance" to her supporters as if to say, "oh, a teacher, now we know this constituent is a left-wing, loony."

But if you look at the video closely there is no "eye rolling." The Gov. does look at her supporters and does give a sort of shrug-like look, but one has to assume and read into what that all means because the Gov. does not actually say anything to inform anyone of what she was thinking at that moment. Nor does she make an obvious face to inform. A look and a slight grin does not adequately reveal her thinking. One has to read her mind to really know what she was thinking at that instant.

But then, the Old Media are experts at mind reading, right? They are also experts at creating the news instead of reporting on it. One has only to remember the "fake but accurate" news as reported by Dan Rather of G.W. Bush's AWOL. It never happened, of course, but Rather had all the fake documents to prove it regardless.

For that matter, we have the story of Palin's non existent book-banning in Wasilla and the thousands of Trig-truther stories that continue to be circulated by the Old Media to prove the BS that is treated like fact among these writers of fiction.

But, above all, this shows the pettiness of the Old Media. The fact that the Old Media is attacking Gov. Palin for "eye rolling" is evidence of this.

See JP's post below on Gov. Palin's reply to the Old Media on this issue.

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, Red County and a number of other websites.

About the Left's New Palin-Confronting 'Drama Teacher'

*
-By Warner Todd Huston

Earlier today the left sent up cheers for an Alaska "teacher" that is seen on video attacking Governor Palin as "the worst Governor ever" as the sign she was putting up read.

When Gov. Palin interacted with her, the woman told Palin she was a "teacher."

Looks like the woman, Kathleen Gustafson, is a liar. As we find on GatewayPundit, she isn't a teacher but a theater tech. Even more absurdly, the woman belongs to a band that features drag queens as its attraction!

Another blogger whose blog is named Mac'sMind did some digging and the only Kathleen Gustafson he could find connected to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District works in the theater dept. as a tech.

So, once again, the left's hero turns out to be a whack-job and a liar. Are we surprised?

Here's that confrontation with Gov. Palin:



**UPDATE**

It is beginning to look like the original researcher of this woman's background misunderstood what the woman's role was in the schools. In my day "theater tech" was just a stage hand and it appears that the original poster also thought the same thing. But apparently the modern name for a drama teacher is now "theater tech." So it looks like this woman is, indeed, a drama teacher.

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, Red County and a number of other websites.

'I don't know how you could support that woman'

*
Lawrence, Kansas high school teacher Tim Latham, who was first told that his contract would not renewed, has now been reinstated.

Latham had claimed that the initial decision not to renew his contract was because of his conservative political views. Although he was never given one specific reason for the school apparently wanting him gone, Latham was criticized several times by Assistant Principal Jan Gentry, each time for a different reason. On one occasion, Latham was told that his school-affiliated web site was "too patriotic."

On another occasion, Latham says he was called into Gentry's office and was told he was picking on then-candidate Barack Obama in class. This happened after an unidentified student allegedly complained to Gentry that Latham had been too critical of Obama when the American history and government teacher's class lessons covered the presidential race between Obama and John McCain.

One of Latham's former students disputes that the teacher was unfair to Obama:

Chloe Mercer, who graduated Lawrence High School last month, said Latham's class was her favorite and said he was fair despite his decision not to show Obama's inauguration in class.

"He chose not to show it, but he printed out Obama's speech and we read it and discussed what we felt was good about it," Mercer told FOXNews.com earlier this month. "[Latham] was fair. He listened to all sides of every issue. He actually made print-outs of every candidate and how they felt on certain hot-button issues."

Latham also said that Gentry asked him about a "McCain-Palin" bumper sticker on his car:

"She said, 'I don't know how you could support that woman,'" Latham said. "That was the beginning of what was going on. They were trying to find a reason to get rid of me."

District Superintendent Randy Weseman said that the initial decision not to renew Latham's contract was the result of "inconsistencies in the evaluation process."

Weseman confirmed to FOXNews.com that that the popular 44-year-old teacher will be back next year. He said administrators erred by not conducting enough in-class evaluations:

"To make a long story short, they didn't do what they were supposed to," Weseman said. "Obviously there are implications to procedures not being followed."

Latham conducted himself in a "respectful and dignified" manner throughout the process, Weseman said, adding that the "injustice" claimed by Latham had been confirmed.

Latham will return this fall to the high school, where he'll continue teaching American history and government for a second consecutive year. Since the contract renewal became official late last week, Latham, a teaching veteran of 20 years, said he's received countless well-wishes from students and teachers alike.

Prior to his reinstatement, a number of Latham's students had created a Facebook page entitled "Save Mr.Latham, Lawrence High History Teacher." It is not known how much of an impact the Facebook page or Latham's appearance on Fox & Friends may have had on the reversal of the decision not to renew his contract. What is clear is that the assistant principal there is a liberal who considers any website which doesn't apologize for the United States "too patriotic" and support of Sarah Palin sufficient grounds for dismissing a teacher.

Update: From the Lawrence Journal World & News:

Lawrence High School Assistant Principal Jan Gentry was arrested during the weekend for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

A sheriff’s deputy stopped the 53-year-old Gentry for a traffic violation about 10:19 p.m. Saturday on westbound U.S. Highway 56 near East 400 Road in eastern Douglas County. She was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail, where she was released on $250 bond and ordered to appear in court June 5.

Lawrence school district Supt. Randy Weseman said he was still investigating the situation and could not yet comment about how the incident might affect Gentry's job.

h/t: TX4P Reader pabluni

- JP