My vote is for CHAD VEGAS regardless of your opinion.  

I know I'm not going to vote for him if I register to vote.

I got the "Women have worked so hard to be able to vote" speech the other day on Facebook from a friend. I suppose I should register, huh? Does anyone know for sure when the last day to register is?

By the way, Lois, great column. I enjoyed reading it. That ABC thing was genius! How did you come up with something so brilliant?

Oct 20 is the last day.

Way to go, Lois.

Chad Vegas will not win re-election.

Chad Vegas needs to GO! 

But please return Bob Hampton to the board.  He's like a beacon in the darkness.

Here is hoping for change at the local level. Thanks for a great column!

BLAH BLAH BLAH

Your hatred and bigotry toward Chad Vegas specifically and Christians in general shines very bright.....you must be VERY proud of yourself, and your parents must be very proud of the wonderful tolerent person you have grown up to be.

Lois Henry, take a nice long look in the mirror at the HATE FILLED BIGOT YOU ARE and smile at a job well done!

LAME!

Let's hope Chad doesn't win.  We don't need him wasting more tax payer time and money to satisfy his "false Christian" agenda.

Yes, Robin, you *DO* have to register to vote. 

.

Vegas will benefit if there are too many choices--the anti-Vegas vote will be split amongst several candidates.  I plan on voting for the Californian's endorsed candidates.

Later:  Guess they must be going senile there at the Cal.  OK, I'll vote for everyone *BUT* their endorsements

Unless this is reverse psychology to make the fundies' crania explode...

Oh, and if he does get re-upped and includes teaching Creationism in the classroom I'm starting the recall personally.

“My oath was not to uphold every statute or decision made by the courts,”  Are you freakin kidding me? Does this nutjob seriously believe that? OK, so lets have a cop pull you over for speeding, yank you from your car, beat you to death, kill your kids and wife and burn your car to the ground. His defense will be "My oath was not to uphold every statute or decision made by the courts.” Hey, if it's good enough for our elected officials, it's good enough for me. Un...freakin...beleavable.

Today I had the absolute last laugh when I read the Bakersfield Californian Editorial page and the paper

ENDORSED CHAD VEGAS!

Lois, I guess your opinion, does not matter to management.

Another voter that will not pick Vegas, here. Time for the KCSD to get back to basics~ reading,math writing.

No on Vegas, yes on Hampton. Well said TomW.

Put "register to vote" on you to do list Robin!

 What the Christian right spends a lot of time doing," says Marc Wolin, a moderate Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress from San Francisco, "is going after obscure party posts. They try to control the party apparatus in each county.  "They want to set up a theocracy in America".

The CA editorial claimed that Vegas promised to stick to educational issues. Didn't Vegas say earlier that he decided to run, because students needed more moral instruction since gay marriage is allowed?

I wish you would check board history.  In the late 1980's the board voted to change the breaks from Christmas break and Easter break to winter and spring breaks.....the only reason they did this was because Dave Stanton was on the board and was Jewish.  He felt it wasn't politically correct.....so they canged it.   It has always been the two weeks centered around the Christian holiday of Christmas and the week before the other Christian holiday, Easter.  So no one quite understood what his point was in the first place.  So, don't put that one on Chad Vegas.....for wanting to change it back to what it had been for since the district's inception. 

Wow, The Californian really should look at the quality of their columnists work.

This is such a poorly written column, its disgusting that you even focused it on a topic relating to education.

Furthermore, "[H]e has also publicly stated that he would not follow a law if it crossed his religious beliefs."

What if Martin Luther King Jr. had always followed the law, even when it crossed his religious and moral beliefs?  You're ignorance is astounding.

bigballerob,

Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" explains the difference between a just law and an unjust law. A law that takes away people's rights or prohibits them being treated as equals  is an unjust law, such as making gay marriage illegal and segregation.

 amuzininch,

If I was a strong Christian, I would not want people throwing around the names of my religious holidays and using it as an excuse to get out of work or school. Similarly, religious people find it offensive if I use the words "God" or "JesusChrist" when swearing. Listing the vacations as "Christmas" and "Easter" on a school calendar has reduced their religious value and further secularized them. 

It is comforting to see that so many Bakersfield citizens wish to keep America a free society, opposed to the theology that Mr. Vegas proposes. I really do hope that Chad is not reelected as I am tired of explaining to people that, in Bakersfield, it only appears that we are obsessed with sticking Jesus into everything. Mr Vegas needs to keep his religious opinions at his church, where my tax dollars are not involved. Even some of the most devout amongst us find this blatant disregard for the religious freedoms of others as disgusting and very un Christian.

In the end, it will be the religious fanatics among us who destroy the word of God.

That many of the trustees failed classes in high school? Anyone else find that alarming?

Was the second string on duty when the BC endorsed Chad Vegas.  Or, do they have a deeper motive.  He made good press and filled columns in TBC with his antics.

Call me Cyncial Audrey

Actually, Audrey, it *DOES* fit with the Californian's past formula for endorsements:

1.  Endorse the sure winner.  (They obviously think he's that).

2.  If there's no sure winner, endorse the Republican (Ditto).

3.  If it's a non-partisan race and no clear winner, endorse the incumbent.  (Ditto)

I just hoped for better this time.

Robinislost:

Please, please, please register to vote. You deserve to be heard as much as anyone else.

By the way, on Sept. 23, in a TBC blog about Chad Vegas, I wrote, "ABC = Anyone But Chad." Not saying that's where Lois got it, though ... it's a take-off on the 2004 election and "Anyone But Bush."

Why don't we just remove all inference of any religious holiday from the school system because we surely do not want to offend, promote religious beliefs nor instill any religious beliefs on anyone ever again. I certainly would not want any elected official with any values, beliefs or original ideas of their own in office. This is just one area that we can start change.

Next we can eliminate History so we do not have to reflect on our nation as to not make some of our same mistakes nor understand on what has worked or not worked in the past. That way we will only have politicians that are only making decisions that benefit peoples needs today.

We can even call it "Flavor of the month politicing". We will then only have politicians that vote for agenda items that benefit the person or group that bends the ear of the politician the most. So then we will be completely left with politicians that have no morals, values or ethics because our school system will no longer be able to teach or instill any values for fear of offending someone.

Maybe we should just change the school system to year-round school so everyone is treated equally and fairly and no favortism is given due to someones religious beliefs. Historical values and past practice are no longer reasons to maintain the status quo any longer when it relates to education.

So what is it we plan on teaching our youth after everything is removed that may offend someone. Because what I was taught growing up was that the more you know about something the better decision you are able to make for yourself. What happened to the thought that you can never be too educated and knowledge is power.

When you begin to restrict the educational process and only allow certain concepts or philosophies then you begin down the Socialist path.  When you restrict views or opinions to one-sided philosophies then you are no longer educating someone you are now conditioning someone.

There is some historical value to teaching religion in school. This country was founded on religious freedoms with a strong christian influence since its inception. If you do not like it, too bad its history. Do you really think Chad Vegas is the first person elected into office with religious beliefs that sees a positive influence from those beliefs.

Vote for who you think is the Best candidate to get the best possible positive results. Or vote for the lesser of the two evils.The most important thing is that you vote because You wil have no right to complain if you don't.

"When you begin to restrict the educational process and only allow certain concepts or philosophies then you begin down the Socialist path. " Swright2

And you base your statement on personal experience or what? How can you back up your statement? If I was to say you are mistaken by using my personal experience can you prove me wrong?
 

I am not endorsing Chad Vegas, I am just against restricting what has been in place in our educational system for centuries and calling it offensive.

It is ok to disagree with something or someone. Offensive is someone going to the extreme by suing because their right to disagree is not enough but rather they want to prevent someone else from having those feelings also.

Offensive is a school district like Lamont changing their Christmas Break to accomodate Seasonal Farm workers annual trek to Mexico and removing their children from school during the period from Thanksgiving til Christmas. They accomodate and promote non-american ideals to maintain their state ADA funding for student enrollment and attendance during the holiday break.

Our educational values are withering. We are now a nation known for accomodating by taking the path of least resistance for fear of offending someone. Its like teaching someone its ok to give up.

Maggiepoo;

Socialism refers to a broad set of theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society.

Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals, and have the same political, economic, social, and civil rights.^[1] Generally it applies to being held equal under the law and society at large. In actual practice, one may be considered an egalitarian in most areas listed above, even if not subscribing to equality in every possible area of individual difference.

When you remove something from society as a collective i.e.(educational board) to ensure everyone is treated the same for fear of  individualism this a form of socialism. A single group or collective that limits education to instill preset values or instruction upon society is Socialism.

A federal court judge orders 'In god we trust' removed from public buildings in the south eastern United States.

We cannot have a moment of silence any longer in school.

Someone sues because they do not want their child saluting the U.S. flag in school.

Cant have Christmas break any longer but rather a 'Winter break'.  Cant have 'Easter break' but rather a Spring break.

Esentially Socialism is the fear or prevention of Individualism. An individual is offended and sues so the collective changes to accomodate the individual.

During Vietnam most Vietnamese were uneducated. The Government chose to educate by way of Propaganda to gain a predisposed opinion of Americans and the American way of life. It is a rather crude example but it applies because the collective instilled a preset amount of information to society.

  A single group or collective that limits education to instill preset values or instruction upon society is Socialism

That is not Socialism. That sounds more like a Junta.

I have not read one thing you stated that " limits" education. Can you enlighten me as what you are trying to get across, You seem to be quite mixed up in terminologies .

I fail to see how court decisions are socialism. George Bush promoting policy to nationalize banks owning assets of failing mortgage securities. Barack Obama promoting UHC.  Those are probably better examples of Socialism.

I agree.. I think someone is having a hard time trying to put a term on what they want to put a term on,

Federal Court decisions are based on an individual suing because they feel they have been wronged in someway. Society has had something removed due to an individual believing they should not be subjected to a religious inference in government. By allowing the individual to to become more important than society as a whole, obviously society must now be placed on an even and equal amount of exposure to what it is the individual has sued.

I did refer to Federal Court NOT Supreme Court. By way of the federal court deciding what it did based on In God We Trust on federal public buildings it has paved the way to the Supreme Court to have petition that All government references to In God We Trust removed. And since Socialism refers to Economics can you see where having In God We Trust removed from our currency applies.

Since religion is not able to be referenced in school any longer school districts in the central states have gone the extreme and removed instruction to anything religion. The holocaust, The Crusades, the New England witch hunts, even the bible as a written record of law dated back to 411 bc.

So yes there are some limitations that have been made to what will be taught by education boards across the U.S.

Maggiepoo;

Ok, when will enough be enough by way of not making reference to something in education for fear of offending someone. My point is that. If you continue to limit what can be taught then you continue to give into policy making by a small group to decide what will be taught. Decision making by fear is not prudent in any form.

I just watched an editorial tonight about Sam Sex education in grade schools in Massachusettes. Law has allowed same sex marriage there and now that it is law of the land, public schools Will now teach this in their curriculum. Parental rights in what their children are being taught do not apply when what is being taught is based on law.

A group of educators (or collective) has decided what will now be taught without parental input as to their childs education. Parents were not notified and they became aware of it when their children had already brought home the materials purchased by the school district and distributed to the students to read.

Im sorry but I want to have input into my childs education. I do not want a group deciding what is best for my child especially in that respect of sexual education or orientation.

America is not and will never be a nation founded on Christian values.

The values of "thou shall not kill, thou shall not murder and etc" are not Christian values only, they are values that were around long before Christianity came to power.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this idea of America being a Christian nation or founded on such things is historically inaccurate. No where in the Constitution does it say such a thing. In 1797 America made a treaty with Tripoli, declaring that "the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." This reassurance to Islam was written under Washington's presidency, and approved by the Senate under John Adams. (These men know more about history than Chad)

While in High school I learned all about Christianities influence on history, but never did we speak of ANY other religion or point of view. There is nothing wrong with instructing people on the history of religion, but Chad Vegas does not want to instruct people on religion, he wants it to force it into places it does not belong. Forget socialism, that is a theocracy.

We need to get everyone in this country to do the research and realize that this is NOT a Christian nation. The phrase, "a wall of separation between church and state," was coined by President Thomas Jefferson in a carefully crafted letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, when they had asked him to explain the First Amendment. The Supreme Court, and lower courts, have used Jefferson's phrase repeatedly in major decisions upholding neutrality in matters of religion.

You do not need religion to influence your morals. If you need a 2000 year old book to tell you murder is wrong, Jesus isn't gong to save you. but therapy might. Scary as it might sound, religion does not create a moral code, it just instills an already present one.

ABC indeed.

P.S. My extended family lives all over Mass and their children have not learned ONE thing about same sex marriage. They learn the exact same thing they learned before gay marriage was legal. That TWO consenting adults can marry and form a family. The school system never spoke of a man and a woman, because they have been aware that some of their students come from same sex homes. This idea that same sex marriage is going to be taught to kindergartners with sexual imagery is a scare tactic. These tactics work all over this country every day, because people don't do the research to back them up, which is why they are so effective.

Case and point - "We are not sure when and we are not sure where... but we are pretty sure that there will be a terrorist attack sometime this week. You can tell the severity of the situation by the eerie orange color."

In the end, if you do not like what your children are learning in a public school, send them to a private one. All the money spent on this prop 8 crap could have gone to funding local schools. At the rate they are going, they wont be learning anything, let alone gay marriage.

  And since Socialism refers to Economics can you see where having In God We Trust removed from our currency applies.

No. I don't. It seems quite non-sequitir to me.

swright2, then why did you go through the trouble of using terminology that is not associated with your argument,  it seems like a misguided attempt to try to fix something that needed a change and you don`t agree, that`s all you had to say.

Well from my views I believe everything applies to what I am seeing. Everyone uses Religion as an excuse for feeling persecuted and it begins in the school setting. It has now expanded into the court forums citing personal rights and arguing separation of church and state.

 This country was begun by pilgrims that fled England from Religious persecution because they did not want to follow the Church of England philosophy. The Mormons settling in Utah fleeing from religious persecution. The wars in the middle east citing religious differences. The crusades. The salem witch hunts. The holocaust. These are all areas in our current educational system that teach religion in one form or another. They all have historical value. They all have a strong religious influence in our country.

Please do not take things out of context and try to put words into my mouth as something I said when it is not Spartan. I never said Christian values is what this country was founded on. History has shown that the Christian church has done some of the most brutal things in the name of religion.

I could have said it better but the entire original article was Sarcastic in nature and the last thing I said was to vote if you want change. Im tired of A single person screaming their personal rights are being violated in an educational setting. Some school districts actually go the extra mile and restrict anything with religious content because of the separation of church and state.The is simply not fair to the open minded invidual that has the ability to say, "Hey I appreciate what you are saying, but I dont agree with that".

Economics becomes affected when the cost to reprint money by the treasury occurs. It all begins somewhere and it has all started by someone suing our educational system for religious beliefs as a parent exercising their parental rights in their childs up-bringing. It has all started with those four little words, "In God We Trust".

 Why don't we just remove all inference of any religious holiday from the school system because we surely do not want to offend, promote religious beliefs nor instill any religious beliefs on anyone ever again. I certainly would not want any elected official with any values, beliefs or original ideas of their own in office.

...any values? Yes Swright, you actually did say the exact thing you are trying to refute. By sarcastically saying we should outright remove religion from schools, then follow with that line, you are stating that religion is the reason people have values. If we remove those religious influences then our teachers, would somehow forget murder is wrong?.... awkward.

No one is putting any words in your mouth, I am merely commenting on the fact that you made a mistake by assuming values are instilled by religion only. The same goes with this misguided notion that America was founded with strong Christian influences. Neither are true.

Keeping religion out of school does not hurt anyone, but those who wish to push their religions into a secular institution. I don't think I have ever seen evolution taught in a church, so Jesus or Buddha do not need to be in any school. Barring religious influence of important historical events, "In God we Trust" should be no where near a school setting.

I have assumed nothing.

The Sarcasm part you must have missed. I'll spell it out for you. People actually think that by changing the Name of a school break so that "Christ" is not in the name will make a child's Psyche better. But that is what everyone has all gone off the deep end about when Chad Vegas suggested changing the Winter Break back to Christmas.

You can create a smokescreen and the illusion that religion or the mention of religion is removed from public education. Its a Farce to even think such a thing if you have any knowledge of History at all. If you removed everything religion from public education, then you would be leaving so much of our past untaught.

There is some misguided person out there right now that actually believes what I said sarcastically and is trying to figure out a way to instill his misguided ideals on every person by way of suing to have a court ruling what we may or may not do. The irony of that idea is that for someone to sue based on religion, they tend to be very well versed in religion to prove their point.

The idea of a separation of Church and State occurring is a Farce. Nobody actually considers this concept as achievable.  In the Law there is a term described as Letter of the Law and Spirit of the Law. Spirit of the law provides for a loose interpretation of a law to provide for an application of the law for the intended outcome. Sometimes when creating a law the writing of the law never is precise enough or defined enough so a Spirit of the Law application may be applied.

I do not want to ever see a school system with a Letter of the Law interpretation. A precise enforcement of separation of church and state and the removal of religious influence. The misguided person that tries to enforce that through a court system is what scares me.

How many wars have been fought over religious differences that could not be taught. How many US wars were fought over the biblical pretense that all men are created equal. How many time periods in history could not be taught due to religious beliefs and influence. How many US time periods could not be taught because of the religious influence.

Imagine no more teaching:

The Civil War because all men are created equal.

The Civil Rights movement because all men are created equal and we do not want to influence anyone with the teachings of Minister Martin Luther King.

The Dark ages and Medieval Times due to most of the worldwide population being uneducated. The people who were educated documented history in writings and taught and advised the leaders and noblemen. Those people were called Priests, Monks, cardinal, scientists and the Pope.

We would not be ale to teach about the original colonies nor the first settlers and why they came to America because it was for religious freedoms.

We would not be able to teach about World War II due to the premise behind the war being the Holocaust.

When and where would it end. What would be left to teach. People want religion removed from our educational system. The laws are already there to enforce, all one has to do is to exercise their rights to have them enforced. People continue to ask and demand that religion be removed from public education. What they continue to ask for will eventually lead to someone or some entity deciding for the whole what can be taught. Then nobody will be satisfied on the outcome.

One persons interpretation of law is never the same therefore this topic is like Pandora's Box.

Spartan;

Here is a sarcastic scenario for you. Why doesn't someone just sue the US Government for instilling Religious values on the American people because they continue to support education and subject our citizens to those four little words "In God We Trust". How does this occur , through funding public education with US Tax dollars that have those four little words written on the US greenback.

Obviously the US Government must surely be doing our children harm by subjecting them to this type of influence.

Separation of Church and State will become a more widely debated topic than it already is and some Religious Fanatic will make that scenario a reality someday. We already have a Federal court decision in the lower south-eastern states removing 'In God We Trust from public buildings paving the way to the US Supreme Court to hear the argument to have ALL phrases removed from Government including currency. That is a sad reality and consider the outcome.

Spartan;

You made the statement:

In the end, it will be the religious fanatics among us who destroy the word of God.

I disagree; It will be the religious fanatics who will destroy our educational system. 

Ironically the ones who sue by way of parental rights were educated under the older systems of education that embraced Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and its teachings, Hanukkah, Passover. Back when tolerance and personal values were respected and we accepted differences in everyone.

Back before individualism was more important with a me, me , me attitude and I can no longer be tolerant of other peoples beliefs or ideals. There always has to be someone responsible for making someone feel bad. Why cant people realize that they are capable of disagreement . There always has to be someone or something punished for making a person feel a certain way.

So lets blame Chad Vegas for seeing how he was educated and the things he learned or saw and trying to have those things placed into the classroom where I remember seeing them. Different teachers displayed different reference material and we all learned because of what the teacher was teaching and not displaying in the classroom.

Its like having laws banning guns because guns kill people. People kill people while using guns. How do you not learn because of a sign on a wall inside of a classroom. Ridiculous.

If you dont like the Politican then vote for someone else. Quit making these arguments because they just lead to more and nothing good ever comes out of it.