Thread: Groups question legality of Obama speech to kids

Groups question legality of Obama speech to kids

Prohibition against fed 'control' of curriculum cited by lawyers

Posted: September 05, 2009
11:10 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A lawyer whose work has included myriad civil rights disputes and who has practice before the U.S. Supreme Court is accusing President Obama of trying to push his social agenda by reaching out directly to young children, bypassing parents who may challenge his statements.

And what Obama plans to do on Sept. 8 with a planned speech directly to students in public schools across the United States may even be illegal, according to Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel as well as dean of Liberty University School of Law.

"Obama has pushed his political agenda to the extreme by forcing himself on America's children," Staver said in a statement today. "Obama's political agenda on healthcare and his expansive vision for government is being rejected by the American people. Now Obama is after our children, who, like some socialist members of Congress, have not read the healthcare bill. Americans do not appreciate the president's attempt to use our children as political pawns in his game of chess. Mr. President, you must abide by the rule of law and stop this illegal activity. Our children do not belong to you."

Staver's critique cited 20 U.S.C. § 3403, which regards the Department of Education and states, "No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system."

Staver's concerns were echoed by others as well, including Liberty Legal Alliance spokesman Matt Barber, who said, "Not only is this a violation of federal law, it's just plain creepy. It's surreal. Obama's actions here are right out of the playbooks of Saul Alinsky and Chairman Mao. Soviet Russia? Sure. America? No way. I'm furious. Hands of my children, Mr. President!"

"Who Killed the Constitution?" Here's a dirty little secret: The bedrock of our country is ... dead

WND also reported when the Texas Justice Foundation warned the "classroom activities" suggested by the president's administration connected to the speech possibly were illegal.

"The questions, comments, evaluations and analysis that occurs before, during, and after the president's speech will clearly 'reveal information concerning political affiliations' and probably, 'critical appraisals of other individuals with whom the child(ren) has/have close family relationships' (such as parents)," the foundation said in an analysis of the situation.

"This is perhaps one of the greatest invasions of personal privacy and injecting political affiliation into the public school system in the history of the United States," the Texas Justice Foundation said.

The group cited the Pupil Rights Amendment:


"It also violates 34 Code of Federal Regulations Section 98.4[c] [1] and [2] that defines psychological testing as:
(1) Psychiatric or psychological examination or test means a method of obtaining information, including a group activity, that is not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs or feelings; (emphasis added)

(2) Psychiatric or psychological treatment means an activity involving the planned, systematic use of methods or techniques that are not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group. (emphasis added)

Texas Justice Foundation officials said the group activities suggested by the Department of Education "are not directly related to academic instruction and that are designed to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings."

"At this time of intense controversy over the president's far-reaching plans to transform America, it is incredible that he would consider using children to advance his political agenda," Justice Foundation President Allan Parker said. "It violates the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children, federal law and is perhaps the greatest intrusion of a president into the education process in the history of the United States. In the opinion of the Texas Justice Foundation lawyers, it is both morally and legally wrong."

Liberty Counsel described Obama's actions as "an unprecedented and an illegal political move."

WND telephone calls and e-mails to the White House press office did not generate a response.

But Liberty Counsel's analysis of the event condemned Obama plans to "bypass parents and directly target their children in an effort to implement his political agenda. Millions of parents are justifiably outraged.

"Federal law expressly forbids the Secretary of Education or any officer from exercising 'any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system,'" the analysis said.

The law is:

20 U.S.C. § 3403. (Pub.L. 96-88, Title I, § 103, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 670) United States Code Title 20. Education Chapter 48. Department of Education Subchapter I. General Provisions § 3403. Relationship with States (a) Rights of local governments and educational institutions It is the intention of the Congress in the establishment of the Department to protect the rights of State and local governments and public and private educational institutions in the areas of educational policies and administration of programs and to strengthen and improve the control of such governments and institutions over their own educational programs and policies. The establishment of the Department of Education shall not increase the authority of the Federal Government over education or diminish the responsibility for education which is reserved to the States and the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States. (b) Curriculum, administration, and personnel; library resources No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system, except to the extent authorized by law.
Also targeted for criticism was the letter sent by U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan to school principals "encouraging them to cease academic instruction and have clsses tune into a live speech Obama will give to children during schools hours."

"The DOE even provided lesson plans, sample activities and questions that teachers can use to promote the event. The letter encourages teachers to 'build background knowledge about the president by reading books about Barack Obama,'" the analysis said.

Liberty Counsel noted that because of backlash that already has developed, "some of the most offensive language has been softened."

However, "Students as young as kindergarten will, nonetheless, be asked: 'Why is it important that we listen to the president?' and then, initially, were to be asked to write about 'what they can do to help the president.' Their writings would later be used 'to make students accountable to their goals,'" Liberty Counsel said.

"We are a nation of laws," said Barber, "not a federal cult of personality. Obama and the DOE had better pull the plug on this or outraged parents across the country may just insist that members of Congress dust of their 'high crimes and misdemeanors' cheat sheets from the 1990s."

Obama will give the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. The speech is scheduled to be broadcast live at 12 noon EST on C-SPAN and at whitehouse.gov.

As WND reported, worksheets provided by the U.S. Department of Education encouraged teachers to ask pre-K through 6th-grade students the following questions:

What is the president trying to tell me to do?
What is the president asking me to do?
What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
Students may be asked to write down "key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful, make posters of their goals, create a "supportive community" by sharing those goals with one another.

Junior-high and high-school students may be asked to brainstorm answers to the following questions before the speech:

Why does President Obama want to speak with us today?
How will he inspire us?
How will he challenge us?
What might he say?
They are encouraged to take notes while Obama speaks about personal responsibility, goals or persistence. As part of a "guided discussion," they may talk about what Obama has inspired or challenged them to do.

Officials with the Thomas More Law Center said they were suggesting to concerned parents that students go to school, wearing black arm bands.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel for the center, said, "Many Americans view the president's speech and the distributed lesson plan as an attempt to foster the cult of personality. It provides a pretext for liberal teachers to engage in political indoctrination. Students should not have to miss school because of the president, but can teach him a lesson in constitutional protesting by wearing the black arm bands."

This type of protest, the law firm notes, was the same type of student protest of the Vietnam War that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=108915

Something we rarely focus-on at ALIPAC is getting our own kids interested again in the value of hard work, mowing lawns, learning how to do simple carpentry (I admit that I'm not the best in this area, although I'm trying), cleaning, mowing lawns, planting flowers, learning about farms and farm animals, etc. We've done a good job of sending them to college, being technically saavy, etc, but have gotten away from outdoor work and the trades (carpentry, plumbing, masonry, etc).

How can we, either as a group or individuals, get back into doing this, and encouraging others? If our kids were interested again in this, or at least willing to try it, as opposed to constant video games, computer interaction, texting, lack of sports, etc, we'd get more people in landscaping, more people in the trades, etc, and the perceived need for illegal labor would decrease. We place way too much emphasis on college these days...it's important for some people, but for others, it will not get them a good job, and they'll just be in debt from the experience.

It's a side of the equation that rarely gets discussed at ALIPAC, but I think bears some discussion. In more rural parts of the country, kids are already busy with part time jobs, working during the summer, etc. In more affluent areas, there are many who don't even bother. Or their parents don't want them to work. Some kids are blocked by illegal labor already (hard to work at McDonald's if you are the only one who doesn't speak Spanish, as an example) but if we teach our kids, and encourage our local communities, to get kids to volunteer on farms, mow the neighbors grass (mow mom and dad's grass), clean the bathroom (the proper way), learn how to use a hammer and saw, etc, we would do these kids a favor. Things are different now and kids need to learn the value of hard work, and be exposed to blue collar work, or we may never reach them.

Maybe this involves going to the school board and demanding that kids have more industrial arts, more opportunities to learn a trade, etc. Maybe it means going to local businesses and saying, "Hey, will you take a chance on some teenagers, instead of adult immigrants?" They need to learn the value of work and it will help all of us in the long run.

I hope that some of you can appreciate what I am trying to say. And can think of some ways to expand upon it.

Ostrich