Dumbing Down History (Again)

Once again, North Carolina's educational system is making national headlines. Thanks to Fox News for alerting us to this year's plan by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to remove U.S. history from the course in U.S. history. Under the plan, the required 11th-grade course will now include "U.S. history only from 1877 onward."

Not so fast, says June Atkinson, Superintendent of Public Instruction, who claims the plan increases the amount of history education in the curriculum. "The years prior to reconstruction would have been covered with students three times before - in fourth grade (as part of North Carolina history) in fifth grade and in seventh grade."

However, a closer look at the proposed elementary school curriculum shows what's really going on. The 4th grade class in North Carolina history seems to be transformed into a study of how the North Carolina colonists destroyed the indigenous Native Americans. Fourth graders will now learn to explain the "causes and effects of European exploration and colonization on North Carolina American Indian groups." Fifth graders will learn to "analyze the relationships between European explorers and native peoples."

Things don't get better in middle school. Gone is any mention of the War Between the States in the 7th-grade course in North Carolina history. Instead, our children will learn about "the Indian Removal Act, governmental authority & racial tension during the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, desegregation during the Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education." [Question for DPI: Are there any historic events worth teaching that don't involve discrimination against minority groups?]

This is the same stunt DPI attempted in 2001, when it plotted to remove the middle school course in North Carolina history, all the while claiming that it was actually increasing North Carolina history education. We didn't fall for it then, and after outraged parents showed up at town hall meetings around the state, the N.C. General Assembly amended the General Statutes to require two full years of North Carolina history education in the public schools.

Since DPI apparently didn't learn its lesson, contact your legislators again and let them know that you oppose this plan. North Carolina has too much history for the public schools to ignore it.

International Shakedown Museum

When the new International Civil Rights Museum opened this week in Greensboro NC, it was no surprise that the ribbon was officially cut by Skip Alston and Jesse Jackson.



Jackson is an alumnus of North Carolina A&T, the school whose students sparked the sit-in "movement" at the Woolworth's cafeteria where the museum is located today. Alston, past president of the North Carolina NAACP, is chairman of the non-profit Sit-In Movement, Inc., which was established to develop and run the museum.

It's also not a surprise that the museum has received annual donations in the $250,000 range from the City of Greensboro.

However, what surprises city councilmembers, according to the Rhino Times, is that the museum is actually renting the old Woolworth's building from the for-profit Museum Landlord LLC. And the sole member of this LLC is -- Skip Alston!

Perhaps the city council shouldn't have been surprised. Just last month, it was revealed that Alston convinced the Guilford County Commission (of which he is a member) to put the put the Ole Asheboro hotel project (of which he is a broker) first in line for federal stimulus money!

It seems Alston has learned to play the shakedown game well.

That Bastard Lincoln

North Carolinians have long held that Abraham Lincoln was a bastard, but now even the News & Observer is publicizing that argument.



Folks in Bostic NC claim that Lincoln was born nearby (on Lincoln Hill!) the illegitimate son of Abraham Enloe. Nancy Hanks, the future President's mother, was a servant girl in Enloe's house when she became pregnant and was banished from the Enloe home. She later married Thomas Lincoln, who adopted her infant son Abraham.

We see no reason to wait for DNA testing -- North Carolina should go ahead and stake its claim by adding the original Log Cabin Republican to its "Three Presidents" statue in front of the State Capitol, alongside his vice-president Andrew Johnson. We have a long history of ignoring "official" birthplaces. The monument's centerpiece -- Andy Jackson -- long claimed that he was actually born in South Carolina.

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be ALE Agents

Why in the world did they have to pick Willie Nelson?



North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) officers protected the ticket-buying citizens of North Carolina from dangerous country outlaws on Friday, arresting Willie Nelson's band for possession of moonshine and marijuana. As a result, Willie's Friday night concert in Kenansville was cancelled.

This might make sense except:

- ALE is supposed to be investigating the growing scandal that is North Carolina's state-run alcohol monopoly, not ruining everybody's weekend.

- It is practically entrapment for the state to promote its moonshine heritage for tourism purposes and then arrest visitors for partaking while they are here.

- There are tons of worthless stoned musicians constantly playing in this state, whose arrest would actually improve North Carolina.

North Carolina law enforcement is looking more and more like Roscoe P. Coltrane, serving no purpose except to protect Boss Hogg's monopoly on the liquor business. Maybe it's time we disband not only ABC but ALE as well.

Bipartisan Mismanagement

Chris Kromm of the Institute for Southern Studies frets that the North Carolina legislature is the most likely Southern state legislature to come under Republican control in the 2010 elections due to public disapproval of the Democratic party. If only 10 percent of existing Democratic seats change hands, the Republican party will enjoy an 8-vote advantage in the House and reach a "deadlock" in the Senate.




Kromm's concern seems to be that Republicans would use their newfound ability to control the redistricting process to disenfranchise "urban voters, African-Americans, Latinos and other key demographic groups." He needn't worry. The last time the Republicans held such a strategic position, they managed to squander it by scandalously selling control back to the Democrats. Just because former House Speaker Jim Black is now in prison doesn't mean that the corrupt North Carolina Democratic party is somehow above using any and all means to retain its majority.

NC Attorney General Asks for Federal Control

Who does Roy Cooper work for?

The Attorney General for North Carolina filed an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case encouraging the federal government to continue to have control over North Carolina state elections.

The case challenges the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which gives the US Justice Department total control over elections in states that have "historically suppressed minority votes." So why would Cooper, a state elected official, beg the US Supreme Court to put the federal government in charge of him?

These days, it seems North Carolina voters have more to fear from state elected officials like Cooper than the federal government. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court said the state could no longer rely on the Voting Rights Act to force the election of minority candidates. Hopefully, the Court will continue this trend and put North Carolina elections back in the hands of North Carolina voters.

Lottery Corruption Spreads to Supreme Court

Despite being passed in violation of the General Assembly's own rules and all standards of professional ethics, the North Carolina "education" lottery is here to stay.

The NC Supreme Court deadlocked in a 3-3 tie, which means that the lottery survives. Unfortunately for people who support good government and accountability, we will never know which Justices voted which way. Like everything else related to the lottery's creation, this becomes just another backroom deal that the public can know nothing about.

State Sen. Tony Rand says he's "delighted" that this "goes into the win column" in favor of the corrupt General Assembly. "To think that the taxpayers of North Carolina might be deprived that significant amount of money at a time when the state is facing unprecedented fiscal problems was a frightening thought to me." Tony, where is the money coming from if not from the taxpayers of North Carolina?