LAT: (Ed. Dept.) Booklet That Upset Mrs. Cheney Is History (destroy 300K)

[DeepModem Mom]

THE NATION
Booklet That Upset Mrs. Cheney Is History
The Department of Education destroys 300,000 parent guides to remove references to national standards.

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Jean Merl, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — The Education Department this summer destroyed more than 300,000 copies of a booklet designed for parents to help their children learn history after the office of Vice President Dick Cheney's wife complained that it mentioned the National Standards for History, which she has long opposed.

In June, during a routine update, the Education Department began distributing a new edition of a 10-year-old how-to guide called "Helping Your Child Learn History." Aimed at parents of children from preschool through fifth grade, the 73-page booklet presented an assortment of advice, including taking children to museums and visiting historical sites.

The booklet included several brief references to the National Standards for History, which were developed at UCLA in the mid-1990s with federal support. Created by scholars and educators to help school officials design better history courses, they are voluntary benchmarks, not mandatory requirements.

At the time, Lynne Cheney, the wife of now-Vice President Cheney, led a vociferous campaign complaining that the standards were not positive enough about America's achievements and paid too little attention to figures such as Gen. Robert E. Lee, Paul Revere and Thomas Edison....

***

As the wife of the vice president, Cheney has no executive position in the federal government. But when her office spotted the references to the National Standards for History in the new edition of the history booklet, her staff communicated its displeasure to the Education Department.

Subsequently, the department decided it was necessary to kill the new edition and reprint it with references to the standards removed....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-history8oct08,1,993774.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Dhalgren]

1. Why should anyone give a fuck what Lynne Cheney thinks?

She's the VP's wife, right? 0 + 0 = 0

[Raster]

16. mrs. darth cheney is no lightweight. lynne is one of....

...the original authors and signers of the p.n.a.c. manifesto. In other words, she doesn't just bask in the reflected glow of her husband's neocon cred, she is the real deal. she is intelligent, demanding and V-I-C-I-O-U-S. Recently when darth refused to tow the repuke line about gay marriage, lynne had no problems. "sell out my daughter's freedom and happiness for my ideology, SURE!!!, no problem."

lynne cheney gives depth and meaning to the term "evil, scheming, conniving bitch."

on edit: vaderess has long been a proponent of state-controlled and managed information. From lyrics to music, to content of text books. It should be noted, that although she is propably no christian--far too pragmatic for that nonsense--she has no problem peddling the creationalism drivel as long as it brings in rubes for the cheap seats. when you think of lynne cheney, you should think of elsa the she-wolf. And NOT in a fun, playful way. This elsa won't tickle your nuts, she'll rip them off with her teeth.

[Javaman]

20. Ava Braun...

[Kierkegaard]

39. No one should.

But she is a gestapo sympathizer. Welcome to Stalag 17...

[napi21]

2. Lynne has this much clout? How'd that happen???

Is this just a "Clinton supported those National standars" so burn 'em? Or is she just trying to whitewash history the same as they try to whitewash shrub's image?

[tom_paine]

4. We live in a Totalitarian Orwellian Nation rending towards Third-World

Tyranny.

Of course the wife of the Vice-Emperor (who is in fact the actual Emperor along with Uncle Karl and the aged Poppy Augustus) has that kind of lucky

The people who wrote the pamphlet should consider themselves lucky they weren;t jailed or killed.

But that's more of a 2050 Emperor George P. Caligula thing.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. She objects to the content to be taught -- too much KKK, McCarthy, Tubman

"Cheney led the charge on the original UCLA draft. In a widely read opinion piece published in 1994, she complained that 'We are a better people than the National Standards indicate, and our children deserve to know it.'

The standards contained repeated references to the Ku Klux Klan and to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the anti-Communist demagogue of the 1950s, she said. And she noted that Harriet Tubman, the escaped slave who helped run the Underground Railroad, was mentioned six times.

But Revere, Lee, the Wright brothers and other prominent figures went unmentioned, she said."

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. Welcome to the Fourth Reich.

[KDLarsen]

48. Gee I hope not

.. *points to signature*

[Arianrhod]

24. She is the head of the Republican Ministry of Truth.

The revision of history, the banning of evolution theory, the distortion of science--all for political ends; these are common tactics of the Republican Party. Their goal is to completely obliterate the last 400 years, and return the nation to a mental, physical, and spiritual state akin to the Dark Ages.

They cannot rule over intelligent, compassionate, informed human beings.

[realFedUp]

3. "Big sister" is watching

snip-

Retired UCLA professor Gary Nash, co-chairman of the effort to develop the National Standards for History, said he found the decision to destroy the booklets after Cheney's office complained "extremely troubling."

"That's a pretty god-awful example of spending the taxpayers' money and also a pretty god-awful example of interference — intellectual interference," Nash said. "If that's not Big Brother or Big Sister, I don't know what is."

[Wind Dancer]

42. This is extremely disturbing!

She is extremely powerful, I am afraid we will see more of this in the future until we can get rid of all the criminals within the government. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

[DrZeeLit]

7. Wait a minute, wait a minute...

... Cheney's the Vice President??? Wow, that'll be news to him, thus to Lynn. All this time, we all thought he was the real Prez. So that means, she thought she was the... real First Lady. Boy, this explains a lot!

While Laura Bush was busy chain smoking, sneaking in and out of libraries, the real power -- to ban books -- went to Lynn Cheney.

I still don't get it... who's the President???

[DeepModem Mom]

25. Thanks for posting, DrZeeLit -- and welcome to DU!

[realFedUp]

8. a little on Cheney's background...

Photo Opportunity June 17, DOI University:

LYNNE V. CHENEY TO SHOWCASE AMERICA: A PATRIOTIC PRIMER

Author Lynne Cheney, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and wife of the Vice President, will present ideas from her new book America: A Patriotic Primer, on June 17 to U.S. federal employees, their families and children hosted by the Department of the Interior. Mrs. Cheney will be the latest guest in the DOI University's series of author events.

Mrs. Cheney will discuss American history, patriotism and her book with the children and their families. America: A Patriotic Primer, published by Simon & Schuster, is an alphabet book in which each letter stands for one of the founding principles, historical events or noted figures in American history.

"A is for America, of course," says Mrs. Cheney, who has long been an advocate for improving history education in America. "America's story is a compelling one," she says, "and it helps us understand how fortunate we are to live in freedom."

Additional guests include more than 200 children from Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts in the Metro area and four Washington, D.C. schools - Stevens Elementary School, Ross Elementary School, C. Melvin Sharpe Health School, Bunker Hill Elementary School, and Minor Elementary School.

Mrs. Cheney has long stressed the importance of knowing American history, noting that history should not be a mystery for the nation's youth. Before her tenure at AEI, Mrs. Cheney served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993. America: A Patriotic Primer celebrates the ideas and ideals that are the foundations of our country. Mrs. Cheney's net proceeds from the book will go to the American Red Cross and to projects that foster the study and appreciation of American history.

[Hobarticus]

14. Ironic that her book "celebrates the ideas and ideals..."

That her ghoulish husband's doing his damndest to shred.

[Bandit]

26. She considers herself a Patriot and wants Robert E Lee to be

Prominent in the History Books. I wonder if she considers Lee a US Patriot. We know he was a Patriot for the Confederacy which was in fact Traitorous to the USA. So how does she feel about Lee?

[DBoon]

31. Harriet Tubman was a greater patriot

Than Lee and Cheney put together.

[Carla in Ca]

46. I was sorry that was one of the first articles I read this morning

I was barely through my first cup of coffee. All I took from reading it, all that stuck with me is it bothering her that Harriet Tubman was mentioned in the booklet 6 times...I just keep thinking about November 2nd...she gets the boot, too!

[DBoon]

32. Harriet Tubman was a greater patriot

Than Lee and Cheney put together.

[DBoon]

33. Harriet Tubman was a greater patriot

Than Lee and Cheney put together.

[rvgwinn]

9. The Dept. of Education

Don't they have a backbone? W'ere they threatened? Or was someone looking for a job? Talk about censorship!

[Hand]

21. Secretary of Education....

Ron ("Rastus") Paige does massa and missy's bidding.

:grr:

[Supersedeas]

10. give us rosey colored history or burn the history all together-Rovian

version of 'Merican democracy?

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Oh, man. I long for the days of the civil servant.

[CBHagman]

12. Lynne Cheney's next children's book: "F Is for...."

Given that she wrote (well, they SAID she wrote) "A Is for Abigail," I think the next book should be about her spouse's LANGUAGE problem. Or perhaps they can call it "Grandpa's Special Word" or "Daddies Don't Get Time-out."

[KC21304]

13. I guess we know where the Prez and VP

are getting their talking points. She has been re-writing history for the last 20 years and now they are not only re-writing history but cannot tell the truth about the present.

[readmylips]

15. hey they stold bushie's word: vociferous

Lynn Cheney, the dragon lady, will soon have her ass kicked out of the White House by Elizabeth Edwards.

[dray178355]

17. Mrs Cheney....

someone needs to get copy of the pornographic book she wrote and splatter it all over the web and send excerpts to the fundie churches. They are such hypocrites. It's hard to believe the country has come to this.

[July]

18. So Hillary as First Lady was criticized for meddling in govt.

affairs, since she wasn't elected, but Lynne Cheney can do whatever the hell she wants?

Okay, got it.

[Ripley]

19. Yes, my first thought too.

I'll never forget repukes screaming on TV that Hillary wasn't elected. She was not allowed to do anything.

And what did Hillary do, except try to fix health care in America. Not rewrite history like this nut case.

[gatlingforme]

22. You can't expect the Bi>>> Cheney to respect something she does not

have nor is capable of achieving which is intelligence

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. i guess she wouldn't approve of my home-schooling using Howard Zinn's book

which i did use....tsk tsk what a an asshole she is

[Obamarama]

27. Lynn is the "Girl from the fiction department"...

Her offices are headquartered at the Ministry of Truth.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

28. The Kerry Administration should send her an invoice...

for the printing of the booklet. She should have to personnaly reimburse the American taxpayers for her little snit. Dammit, I can't wait to get these evil pricks out of our White House.

[progressivebydesign]

29. Brochure-Gate??

Wow.. I'm certain educators and scholars all over the country will be interested in Lynn Cheney's role in destroying textbooks.

Okay.. so the legislators in Texas (republican, of course), forced Harcourt Brace remove textbooks that mentioned Al Gore, and preplace them.. because they felt it was politically devisive to mention his name in a history book (okay, even tho he WAS VP and a Sentator).. and now this? I know we shouldn't even hint that this regime is like the Nazis.. but can someone ,who is better than me at these things, give me a suitable regime to compare Bush's too?

[VegasWolf]

30. Why didn't they just hold onto the 300K copies until Nov 2?

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[JitterbugPerfume]

34. propaganda in place of facts

Is our children learning?

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. So who runs education in the USA?

The government officials who are paid by the taxpayers to do so, or some tart who got where she is by getting pregnant at the right time to keep Darth Vader out of the draft?

The first thing Kerry should do after his swearing-in is send her the bill.

[donsu]

37. most school books are printed in Texas

decades ago, when I discovered this I was in shock. They write and publish the books in Texas. can you spell propaganda and brainwashing?

somebody should start a collection of school books from across the nation and really see what our children are being taught.

[Cocoa]

36. I emailed Lynne Cheney about history

when Rumsfeld gave a speech comparing Iraq to revolutionary America, I emailed her and expressed my concern that he was perverting history and miseducating our children, and asked her if there was anything she could do in her capacity as an education expert, to correct the damage Rumsfeld did.

[GRLMGC]

38. She has a history with this crap

She's always been about revising history for other means. She's one of those people who doesn't think that kids should learn about negative things America has done. I posted an article about it earlier. She's evil, VERY evil. Dickie and her deserve eachother.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/26/lynne_cheney/index.html

[dansolo]

40. At how much cost to the taxpayers?

[daleo]

41. She is angry about the lack of mention of lesbian pioneer women

She figures that would help sell her famous novel.

Not that I have anything against lesbian pioneer women.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. Lynne, you dumbfuck...First get kids interested in history

then they'll be interested in Paul Revere, Thomas Edison, and even Robert E. Lee. They'll also be interested in Sojourner Truth, Sitting Bull, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

They'll even want to learn about our nation's darker figures, like Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Dole, and GWB...or is this what you're really afraid of?

[ismnotwasm]

44. Disgusting

I don't know much about the history of the National Standards for History, (more homework for me!) but I do know the history of the United States is full of knee-jerk responses to a variety of situations. I'm reading a book called "Unbound Feet" that details first generation Chinese women immigrants. Too complicated to go into, but most of these women were basically slaves--prostitutes, with no way out. In large part because of racist immigration policies for the Chinese, which dovetailed nicely with the agenda of criminal Chinese gangs. I love America, but how can we make better decisions for the future without an awareness of the past? The good, bad, and the ugly. This woman needs to go right out the door with the rest of them.

[LeinesRed]

45. can't wait till that b*tch is sent packing...

as a history teacher I hate her the most of all.

[truthisfreedom]

47. i dunno. i personally think Edison was pretty freaking amazing.

it's a good thing to have him at the forefront of any examination of American history. his (and Tesla's) efforts changed the world we live in so dramatically that they may have had a greater impact than any other two technological innovators ever. well... then there's the issue of personal computers... sigh.