You would think that here in Canada we would have at least few more moments of sanity. Apparently not.
“A trip for students from two Ottawa Catholic high schools to observe the U.S. presidential election has been cancelled because of an article on an anti-abortion website, leaving students and parents confused and disappointed.”
The Fetus Fetishists along with their religiously deluded supporters are curtailing childrens’ education because their nose slipped a notch out of joint.
“Scott Searle, a teacher at St. Peter, organized the trip to give them a first-hand glimpse of the American presidential election campaign and voting process as the campaign heads into its final days.
They would have participated in incumbent President Barack Obama’s ‘get out the vote’ program by reminding pre-determined Obama supporters to vote. The students would have come home Wednesday after the results were in.”
Wow, participating in the US political process, it would have been a engaging learning experience. But we certainly can’t have that, education opens minds – precisely what the church and fetus-worshippers detest the most.
“It [an article from LifeSiteNews.com] quotes an anonymous mother who said she’s incensed about the trip’s support for Obama, who is pro-choice. It also points out that Searle’s online LinkedIn profile lists him as an Obama volunteer.”
Yep, apparently Obama is still the anti-christ and letting students even in directly participate in anything that involves him pretty much will stop the Earth from turning [spiralling into the sun is next if Obama wins].
“Clatney said he’s upset about the trip being taken out of context.
“I’m very disappointed that the community was unable to understand that the trip was about observing the American political system and not [being] there on behalf of Obama or supporting him,” Clatney said.
“I was also disappointed that our school and some of our staff members were portrayed as anti-Christian, anti-life, anti-family, and that it was blown way out of proportion and exaggerated.”
Well if you associate with the religious regressive sorts, is this sort of action really surprising? I mean how shocking is it that religion is holding back education opportunities? Religion is the poisonous crimson ichor that turns people away from reason, away from tolerance and away from modern civilized society. Religion worked great when we were stupid, ignorant and afraid of just about everything in the world; now, no so much.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
6 comments
November 3, 2012 at 10:27 am
Mark
While I may not agree with the reasons given by some of the parents as to why they object, if it was my kid going on this field trip, I would also object. This is despite the fact that I pretty much agree with Joss Whedon on Mitt Romney:
The claim that is is supposed to be “educational,” or “observing the electoral system” is pretty transparent. You’ll notice that the plan was to only knock on the doors of Obama supporters. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would have arisen if the teacher tried to pull this same stunt for political candidate here in Canada, regardless if it was a right or left-wing candidate?
Furthermore, in terms of educational activity, surely there are far better ways, even interesting ways, to learn about another country’s electoral system than to spend a lot of time just knocking on doors.
I have no doubt that a lot of people in Canada want to support Obama, and that a lot of people even feel strongly about it. I don’t have a problem with that. However, political partisanship has absolutely no place in the educational system.
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November 3, 2012 at 11:19 am
rww
“However, political partisanship has absolutely no place in the educational system.”
Does that include using taxpayers money to bus students on school time to political demonstrations on Parliament Hill
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November 3, 2012 at 12:16 pm
The Arbourist
Absolutely. This was the intended nature of the trip – the article says:
So it was going down south to participate in a activity to help decided voters to get to the polls.
I’m not really seeing the partisan angle, if the news story has its facts correct.
But religious interference is a-okay? I’m pretty sure neither is okay, but cancelling a trip because someones fetus fetish is ludicrous.
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November 3, 2012 at 12:20 pm
Mark
“Does that include using taxpayers money to bus students on school time to political demonstrations on Parliament Hill”
Yes it does, which is exactly my point. Political partisanship runs both ways. If you want to criticize the tactics of your opponents, it helps if you’re not engaging in the same bullshit yourself.
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November 3, 2012 at 12:59 pm
Mark
“I’m not really seeing the partisan angle, if the news story has its facts correct.”
If you’re truly not seeing how this is partisan, then to be blunt, you’re remarkably naive.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been involved with political campaigns, that I’ve seen how important it is to a political party to have a good get-out-the-vote campaign. Ask yourself this: if this was supposed to be non-partisan, then why not knock on the door of everyone, without knowing how they were going to vote, or even if they were going to vote?
GOTV campaigns are important for political parties for a reason. There’s always a big gap between “decided” voters, and those who actually drag their butts out to the polls. The percentage of “undecided” voters in telephone polls is usually not very large, particularly as the election day draws near. Yet actual voter turn-out, in both Canada and the US, tends to be in the 50 to 60 percent range. A successful GOTV campaign can make a big difference, and can even be the deciding difference in close races. That’s why all political parties make a big effort of their GOTV campaign.
It’s also important to note that Ohio (which is were these students would have gone,) is not just a swing state, but one of the more important swing states, given the number of Electoral College votes Ohio has. To have a GOTV campaign for one specific candidate is clearly and blatantly an attempt to swing the vote in favour of that candidate.
“But religious interference is a-okay? I’m pretty sure neither is okay, but cancelling a trip because someones fetus fetish is ludicrous.”
You’ll notice that my argument against did not include the religious angle. If the only objection was strictly religious, then I’d agree with you. While the parents who objected voiced their objection in terms of their religious beliefs, the underlying problem is still political partisanship.
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November 4, 2012 at 11:25 am
slqblindman
Absolutely Mark.
[ed. You don’t follow directions well do you. See ya. :)]
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