Just when I thought today was all blah and drab... Thanks Tamara! Stacey is always good for a laugh.

Perhaps there should be no references to crime in our educational system as well. Wouldn't want our kids to grow up to be thugs, right?

Every time I read about something dumb Stacey has done I think about the voters in his district who could have elected Gary Drinnen or Schree Pettigrew, either one of which would have been a good legislator.

Those voters are the really dumb ones - and the ones I hold responsible for Stacey.

Ever notice how Campfield just has one of those faces that you wanna introduce to the bottom of your golf shoe?

"The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's open."

This entry for "transgenderism" from Wikipedia and a thought about Stacey and his ilk.

If you want to see an about face from the Stacey Campfields in this world on the subject of abortion, just wait until there is a reliable test to discover if a fetus will become a homa sexule.

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Explaining what something is, isn't advocating doing it. Telling someone it's not acceptable to assault or ridicule someone because they are different from you is not "condoning" the behavior. It astounds me that people continue to believe "tolerance" means teaching someone that "this is a perfectly acceptable way to behave and if you don't agree with it, then you're an evil bigot." It really is possible to take Leviticus Chapter 19 and Romans Chapter 1 literally without calling people names or beating them into bloody pulps.

By the way, you can tell when something has truly gotten me upset when I resort to preaching to the choir.

where there was a call for support of understanding diversity in sexual orientation."

"Support of understanding diversity in sexual orientation" isn't the call to arms it's being made out to be.

This goes on frequently anyway because of th no-bullying policies, and greater tolerance among youth for the differences among us. See Sen. Obama's support as a reference.

I don't think the NEA is calling for an understanding of sexual orientation, but is calling for an understanding that there are differences among us, and these differences should not result in discrimination or prejudice.

Kids know about it from the world outside the school, and I think the vast majority of teachers and administrators are quite capable are dealing with the issue when it surfaces.

It astounds me that people continue to believe "tolerance" means teaching someone that "this is a perfectly acceptable way to behave and if you don't agree with it, then you're an evil bigot."

Allow me to direct your attention to the words of this Baptist preacher. Please note his comments about Leviticus and Romans.

And Beanster, I don't need to be in the same room with the Rep to get a blip.

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(His Freudian slip is showing.)

At what age should a child be taught anything about gays and lesbians? I would say sometime before the child starts referring to another human being as a faggot or a queer, pretty popular epithets nowadays.

Some who read these pages may be surprised at how young that age can be. Some probably think it harmless of even cute.

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At what age should a child be taught anything about gays and lesbians? I would say sometime before the child starts referring to another human being as a faggot or a queer, pretty popular epithets nowadays.

the problem is that small kids use these words a lot without a clue to what they mean.

Does that mean I want to sit them down in class and have someone, or myself, go over this stuff with, say, 1st through 4-5th graders? Probably not.

It could probably be done by a guidance counselor, if the kid was calling another kid a faggot or a queer because he/she thought it was true. But kids use these words a lot, like adults use offensive language about someone without knowing that person's parental lineage.

I think it crosses the line when you have a situation where some kid is being singled out. Although it's not happening fast enough, I think those cases are becoming less frequent.

Belief that a person is gay or lesbian has nothing to do with it. A child does not call another child a 'fag' because he believes the child is homosexual, he does it because he has been taught that this is the most insulting epithet he can hurl at him.

In today's society use of those words is acceptable, even fashionable, simply as a way of showing contempt. A child would be counseled soon enough for using the 'N' word but all of them are equally hateful.

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At what age should a child be taught anything about gays and lesbians? I would say sometime before the child starts referring to another human being as a faggot or a queer, pretty popular epithets nowadays.

Would you use this reasoning when a kid uses a profanity that might offend religious believers to instruct all the children about religions and their beliefs, and how children shouldn't say things that offend others?

You wouldn't get any academic instruction done during the day.

Belief that a person is gay or lesbian has nothing to do with it. A child does not call another child a 'fag' because he believes the child is homosexual, he does it because he has been taught that this is the most insulting epithet he can hurl at him.

Belief that a child is gay never has anything to do with it? And this is based on how many years of experience you have as a public school teacher?

When kids get together and something happens, I don't believe that most of them stand around thinking "Hmmmm, what's the most insulting epithet I can use to insult him?" What I noticed is that they tend to use words that make them seem the toughest or the baddest.

Kids do call kids, who they think act in, or what they consider to be a homosexual way, "fag" or "queer." Maybe not real young kids, but in middle schools and high schools it is done, not all the time, but probably more often than not.

If you're worried about stopping name calling, good luck.

I think the best way to deal with the issue of name calling by young kids is simply to teach kids how to get along, which is done on an hourly basis in most classrooms. But I think we're dealing with different issues that need to be addressed in different ways in the middle schools and high schools.

Belief that a person is gay or lesbian has nothing to do with it. A child does not call another child a 'fag' because he believes the child is homosexual, he does it because he has been taught that this is the most insulting epithet he can hurl at him.

This reminded me of an event that happened to my godson and his best friend when they were in fifth grade. They are high school sophomores now, so it would have been five years ago. These are good kids who never got a dreaded behavior document, and they came home from school one day with news that they had a three-day suspension. Both boys claimed to their parents that they had no idea why, but said they had been talking to a girl I'll call AL. The parents managed to get an appointment with the principal the first thing the next morning. During the meeting, the principal kept saying that the boys had called AL a name. Finally, the parent's convinced her that they wouldn't be offended if she told them exactly what the name was.

"She said they called her a lesbian," the principal said. At that point, my godson's dad burst out laughing and said: "In our house that's a compliment."

The principal, an older black woman looked puzzled.

Dad responds: "We have lots of gay friends. They are welcomed to family dinners. Our kids know that we think they are just other people, but that other folks have problems with it. N wouldn't know to insult someone by calling them that."

The suspension was removed. AL later admitted that she made it up because she was mad at N and his friend for doing something else.

pgs

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

I'm one of the bumpkins in Stacey's district and I want to assure Rachel that not all of us should be lumped together as idiots. I saw him at the last election at the Downtown West early voting site and showed him the sticker in my car's window that has a W inside a red circle with slash, just above the Support the Troops yellow ribbon. I told him that somebody can actually be supportive of the troops, who are forced to take orders, while being against the orderer/decider.

Is Campfield friends with Burchett?

(link...)

Toll roads in Tennessee would have to be majority American-owned under a bill headed for a full Senate vote. Sen. Tim Burchett, a Knoxville Republican, says he does not support toll facilities, but if they come to Tennessee they should be operated by Americans for security reasons.

I guess it all starts with letting them 'gays' in the schools...next thing you know the terrorists are going to start buying our toll roads. Wake up Amerika! /sarcasm