Some St. Tammany schools banned talk of Obama's election; many parents outraged

by Kia Hall Hayes, The Times-Picayune
Thursday November 20, 2008, 7:00 AM
Crowded into the multipurpose room at Mandeville Elementary School on the morning of Nov. 5, the student body of more than 500 boys and girls joined American citizens and people throughout the world in celebrating the election of Barack Obama, who will become the country's first black president.
That experience was not mirrored, however, at some other public schools in St. Tammany Parish. According to interviews with many students and school administrators in the past week, some teachers not only avoided talk of the election, but also banned students from discussing it or mentioning Obama's name.
The reports have many parents up in arms and black leaders on alert. Greater Covington NAACP President James "Gus" Davis and a coalition of local black ministers met with schools Superintendent Gayle Sloan on Wednesday morning to discuss the issue.
"It's racial, " Davis said afterward. "We have a person that's black that made president. This is the South, this is a completely Republican parish."
Sloan said that while many white students in district schools supported Obama, she understands why black leaders "would see this as a particular concern."
The administration is investigating the allegations, which Sloan said may have resulted from an attempt to prevent arguments between students on opposing sides of the political fence. "Teachers are human and they sometimes make mistakes, " she said.
While some students reported a clamp-down on political talk, many said other teachers at some of the same schools incorporated the election in their classrooms by holding mock elections and having students write papers about the candidates.
"It was never our intention that students not be able to say the president's name or comment on him having won the election, " Sloan said, who was named state Superintendent of the Year on Monday by the Louisiana Association of School Executives.
Tammany for McCain
But, according to interviews with pupils in the 35,890-student district, that was the impression many students received from school officials.
In the presidential election, St. Tammany Parish voted for Republican candidate John McCain over Obama 76 percent to 22 percent. African-Americans are 13 percent of the population, with white people making up 84 percent, according to a 2006 census update.
In some cases, students said they were threatened with punishment if they talked about the election.
"She said that if we did talk about (the election) she'd write us up, " 14 year-old Briana Seals, who is black, said of a teacher at Slidell Junior High School.
In Covington, parent Dominique Elzy, who is black, said she complained to the principal at E.E. Lyon Elementary School after her 7-year-old son told her that he was made to stand along the playground wall after he shouted, "Obama won!" during recess.
Lyon Principal Jeanine Barnes, who is white, said Wednesday that she investigated the complaint and found inconsistencies in the boy's story, adding, "Our school does not advocate prejudice."
Kasey Terrebonne, a senior at Slidell High School who is white, said Principal William Percy announced two days after the election that some students had received detention for discussing it.
Reached for comment, Percy, who is white, disputed that he banned political discussion and that students were punished.
'Pretty tense'
Many students said teachers displayed a clear political bias, and praised McCain in class while making disparaging remarks about the president-elect. Brandy Welch, a black eighth-grader at Slidell Junior High, said one of her teachers said that "Obama's not even from this country and that McCain is a war hero."
Rachel Weaver, a senior at Northshore High School in Slidell and a white Obama supporter, said teacher and peer bias made her reluctant to voice her opinions. Some students used racial slurs to refer to the president-elect and her American history teacher simply ignored the election, Weaver said.
"It was pretty tense most of the time, " she said.
Davis, with the NAACP, said he and ministers from churches in Mandeville, Covington, Madisonville and Folsom, as well as with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, requested the meeting with Sloan after hearing complaints.
"I know they want to keep problems down, but they're going about it the wrong way, " said Davis. Students "have a right to be proud that a black man won."
Davis said the coalition was satisfied that Sloan intends to address the situation and said the group plans to monitor the school system's progress.
"Nobody was there to disrespect the school system or Ms. Sloan, " he said. "We just want to work with the school to get something done."
Letting passions die
Sloan, who began hearing reports from parents last week, said she has talked with principals and sent out an e-mail reminding them of the importance of letting students express their feelings about the election.
Principals were not told to prohibit election discussion, "but there were schools where principals and teachers made decisions that, because students were being acrimonious about it, to hold off on talking about it, and let passionate feelings die down, " she said.
Deeming the situation "a communication problem, " Sloan said she would hope that teachers would not broadcast their political affiliations in class and urged parents with concerns about teachers to contact the School Board to "let us know and we'll take appropriate action."
After Wednesday's meeting, Sloan said she spent the day calling principals, and said she might ask members of the black community to serve as advisers to schools.
Another possibility is incorporating the upcoming inauguration into the district's curriculum.
"These elections are usually hard-fought and people have a favorite candidate, but when the election's over it's time to come together and support the new president, " Sloan said.

Just 3 Days After Making History, We Still Have to Deal With Comments Like This Made by Jim Quinn

Posted Nov. 7, 2008 – A syndicated satellite radio show host is creating quite a stir after his Nov. 6 comparison of slavery and welfare.

On The War Room with Quinn & Rose, Jim Quinn said: "You know, if you were a slave in the old South, what did you get as a slave? You got free room and board; you got free money; and you got rewarded for having children because that was just, you know, tomorrow's slave. ... Can I ask a question? How's that different from welfare? You get a free house, you get free food, and you get rewarded for having children. Oh, wait a minute, hold on a second. There is a difference: The slave had to work for it."
The show then aired an audio clip of a buzzer sounding and a voice repeating, “Insensitivity!”
Quinn then stated: “Ah, the truth stings, does it not?” The context of the remarks are not clear.
Talkers Magazine lists Quinn & Rose on its “Heavy Hundred” list, which it describes as a list of the “100 most important radio talk show hosts in America.” According to the show's Web site, it airs on 18 radio stations and XM Satellite Radio.

Bogus Robocall Tells Floridians They Can Vote By Phone

By Sarah Lai Stirland October 31, 2008 6:37:34 PMCategories: Election '08


The residents of Broward County, Florida have recently received misleading robocalls telling them that they can vote by phone on Election Day, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Friday.


The report didn't provide many details, other than the fact that the voice fallaciously identified itself as Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes.
When asked whether she had heard about the calls, the supervisor's public service director said that she hadn't, and that of course voting by phone is not an option.
The call is just one of a number of dirty tricks being pulled off around the country just before record numbers of voters are expected to turn up at the polls on Election Day.
Another unknown group is distributing flyers (see the flyer after the jump) with official-looking letterhead around the area of Hampton Roads, Virgina that erroneously inform recipients that because of the crowds at the polls, the Virginia State Board of Elections is scheduling Republicans to vote on November 4th, and Democrats on the 5th.
Democratic congressmen Jerry Nadler of New York, John Conyers of Michigan and Bobby Scott of Virginia on Thursday asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into the matter and to bring criminal charges against the originators of the flyers.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that people in the area have been receiving robocalls with the same message. This particular trick is an old one: In 2004, the New York Times reported the same message going out in the Pittsburgh area via flyers.

It ain't over until it's over.Watch out for more dirty election tricks brought to you by the real "axis of evil" (a.k.a repugnant party).

Palin takes prank call from fake French president

By CHARMAINE NORONH

AAssociated Press Writer TORONTO (AP) -

Sarah Palin unwittingly took a prank call Saturday from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and telling her she would make a good president someday."Maybe in eight years," replies a laughing Palin.The Republican vice presidential nominee discusses politics, the perils of hunting with Vice President Dick Cheney, and Sarkozy's "beautiful wife," in a recording of the six-minute call released Saturday and set to air Monday on a Quebec radio station.Palin campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt confirmed she had received the prank call."Governor Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy and other celebrities, in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie," she said.The call was made by a well-known Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel. Known as the Masked Avengers, the two are notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state.Audette, posing as Sarkozy, speaks in an exaggerated French accent and drops ample hints that the conversation is a joke. But Palin seemingly does not pick up on them.He tells Palin one of his favorite pastimes is hunting, also a passion of the 44-year-old Alaska governor."I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun," the fake Sarkozy says.He proposes they go hunting together by helicopter, something he says he has never done."Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done," Palin counters. "We can kill two birds with one stone that way."The comedian jokes that they shouldn't bring Cheney along on the hunt, referring to the 2006 incident in which the vice-president shot and injured a friend while hunting quail."I'll be a careful shot," responds Palin.Playing off the governor's much-mocked comment in an early television interview that she had insights into foreign policy because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska," the caller tells her: "You know we have a lot in common also, because ... from my house I can see Belgium."She replies: "Well, see, we're right next door to different countries that we all need to be working with, yes."When Audette refers to Canadian singer Steph Carse as Canada's prime minister, Palin replies: "Well, he's doing fine and yeah, when you come into a position underestimated it gives you an opportunity to prove the pundits and the critics wrong. You work that much harder." Canada's prime minister is Stephen Harper.Palin praises Sarkozy throughout the call and also mentions his wife Carla Bruni, a model-turned-songwriter."You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife," Palin says. "Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours."The Sarkozy impersonator tells Palin his wife is "so hot in bed" and then informs her that Bruni has written a song for her about Joe the Plumber entitled "Du rouge a levres sur une cochonne" - which translates as "Lipstick on a Pig."Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama derided his Republican challenger John McCain's call for change in Washington as "lipstick on a pig," days after Palin made a lipstick joke at the Republican convention. The McCain-Palin campaign then released an ad implying Obama was calling Palin a pig with that remark.The caller asks Palin if Joe the Plumber is her husband and adds: "We have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit."He also tells the Alaska governor that he loved the "documentary" made about her and referred to a pornographic film with a Palin look-alike made by Hustler founder Larry Flynt.She answers tentatively, "Ohh, good, thank you, yes."The callers then reveal the prank and identify themselves and their radio station."Ohhh, have we been pranked?" Palin asks before handing the phone to an aide who ends the call.Obama's campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on the prank, said: "I'm glad we check out our calls before we hand the phone to Barack Obama."

Bush Admin. Outs Obama Auntie ' Nov.1,08

As Dave has informed us in an earlier post, Barack Obama has an aunt (a half-sister of his father), Zeituni Onyango, an illegal alien living in a public housing complex in Boston. This aunt also illegally contributed $260 to Obama's campaign.This story, that the Associated Press picked up and confirmed from Rupert Murdoch's Times of London and trumpeted on Murdoch-owned Fox News and of course Drudge, has some interesting twists not readily apparent in the original story. It looks like Bush administration may have helped the right-leaning media, and hence the McCain campaign, with some helpful information on Onyango's immigration status.Highlighted by Talking Points Memo, is a portion of the AP story that missed some scrutiny:
Information about the deportation case was disclosed and confirmed by two separate sources, one a federal law enforcement official. The information they made available is known to officials in the federal government, but the AP could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved in its release.Onyango's case - coming to light just days before the presidential election - led to an unusual nationwide directive within Immigrations and Customs Enforcement requiring that any deportations before Tuesday's election be approved at least at the level of the agency's regional directors, the U.S. law enforcement official told the AP.The directive suggests that the administration is sensitive to the political implications of Onyango's case coming to light so close to the election.This wouldn't be the first time information was leaked to the media by helpful administration operatives. Just last month it was disclosed that the FBI leaked information, also to the AP, about the ongoing investigation of ACORN.A Bush administration scandal-weary Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has requested that Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff take a look at this:
Dear Mr. Chertoff:I was startled to read in today's Associated Press that a "federal law enforcement official" has leaked information about an immigration case involving a relative of Senator Obama. Even more troubling, the AP reports that it could not "could not establish whether anyone at a political level in the Bush administration or in the McCain campaign had been involved," a very disturbing suggesting indeed. This leak is deplorable and I urge you to take immediate action to investigate and discipline those responsible.I note that this is not the first leak of law enforcement information apparently designed to influence the coming Presidential election -- in recent weeks law enforcement sources leaked information about an alleged investigation of a community services organization, a leak that the Department of Justice informs me is now under investigation by the Department's Office of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility.Such leaks are deeply harmful to the political process, and the American people expect and deserve better from their government and its law enforcement agencies.Sincerely,John Conyers, Jr.It's now being reported that the Obama campaign will give back the money that his aunt donated.