By Lisa Schencker

The Salt Lake Tribune

A school principal has apologized for showing a video at an assembly that a politically conservative group leader is calling "radical, leftist propaganda."

Children at Eagle Bay Elementary School in Farmington were shown a short video called "I pledge" on Aug. 28. The video opens with an image of President Barack Obama and part of a speech in which he says, "Let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other." The video then features celebrities making pledges about how they will help the president and the world -- and that's where some say the problem lies.

Many pledges, such as supporting local food banks,

"Showing the video in a public school is completely inappropriate," said Jennifer Cieslewicz, whose daughter is a first-grader at the school. "I don't believe a video such as this that promotes certain values should be shown to elementary students, especially without parents being aware. "

Chris Williams, Davis School District spokesman, said school principal Ofelia Wade and school PTA leaders decided to show the video as part of an assembly about the school's theme for the year, service. He said the PTA board chose the video and Wade did not see it before it was shown in the assembly.

"It got to a point where she turned to her assistant and said, 'Oops, I wish I would have seen this before. I don't think I would have shown it,' " Williams said. He said Wade could see how some adults might find the video political.

"She acknowledges she was wrong and apologizes for it and says she's sorry," Williams said. Attempts to reach school PTA leaders Tuesday evening were unsuccessful.

Williams said Wade plans to send a letter home to parents Wednesday about the issue.

Gayle Ruzicka, president of conservative Utah Eagle Forum, said the video was blatantly political. She said other offensive pledges included, "I pledge to be of service to Barack Obama," "I pledge allegiance to the funk, to the united funk of funkadelica," and pledges to not use plastic grocery bags and not flush the toilet after urinating.

"It's very inappropriate to show a radical, leftist propaganda piece that political to children," Ruzicka said. "If parents want their children to learn about those things and do them in the home, wonderful, fine, but it's not the place of the school to show a one-sided propaganda piece to children without parents knowing about it."

Cieslewicz said such values should be decided in the home, not at school.

"They shouldn't be troubling our youth with the woes of the world and making them feel like we're in slavery or they have to worry about how many times they flush the toilet or if they have a plastic water bottle," Cieslewicz said, referring to pledges in the video to "end slavery."

Ruzicka said she contacted local media about the video after receiving complaints from several parents. Ruzicka said she worried the video's messages would confuse children whose parents might choose to use plastic bags when shopping or who want their children to flush the toilet after every use. Also she said she didn't like a pledge "to be of service to Barack Obama" as he is here to serve Americans, not the other way around.

Ruzicka said she'd like to see the school district send a link to the video to all parents before an upcoming back-to-school night so they can voice their opinions and discuss it with their children. Williams said it's unlikely the district will send out a link, but parents are welcome to access the video on YouTube.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Protection_policy#semi">

Michael Klonsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NLN_Mike_Klonsky.jpg"> Mike Klonsky speaking at Loyola University, Chicago, 2007.

Michael Klonsky (born 1943) is an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States - American http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educator - educator , author, ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-0 - [1]} and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activist - political activist . Klonsky is one of the leaders of the modern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_schools_movement - small schools movement which has done much to transform the face of secondary school education in the United State. His early research http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED386517&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED386517 - [1] on issues of school size and its impact on student achievement, school violence, and dropout rates, helped pave the way towards the development of thousands of new small and charter schools across the country.

In the 1970s he became a leader of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Communist_Movement - New Communist Movement which broke away from the older http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_USA - Communist Party USA and its allegiance to the Soviet Union. Klonsky later became critical of Marxist dogma but stayed active in civil rights, anti-war and educational reform politics. Klonsky is now a retired professor of education after teaching at several universities, including the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Illinois,_Chicago - University of Illinois, Chicago ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-1 - [2]} and the Fischler School of Education at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Southeastern_University - Nova Southeastern University . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-2 - [3]} His academic work focused on small school size as a solution to the problems of inner city schools. He is now the director of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Schools_Workshop - Small Schools Workshop , a school outreach program associated with UIC. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-3 - [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-4 - [5]}

Klonsky's father, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Klonsky - Robert Klonsky , a WWII veteran who fought as a volunteer against the Franco fascists during the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War - Spanish Civil War , had been arrested and convicted of "conspiring to advocate Marxist views" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act - Smith Act during the McCarthy period. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-5 - [6]} The Supreme Court later overturned the case. In the late 1960s Michael Klonsky became the national secretary of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society_%281960_organization%29 - Students for a Democratic Society , ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-arrest-6 - [7]} which he joined as a student at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fernando_Valley_State_College - San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University, Northridge). ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-7 - [8]} He was one of five S.D.S. members arrested on May 12, 1969, when prank phone calls sent police and firefighters to the S.D.S. offices in Chicago. ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-arrest-6 - [7]} In the 1970s he headed the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_%28Marxist-Leninist%29_%28USA%29 - Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) , ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-hua-8 - [9]} in which role he was one of the first westerners allowed to visit the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Republic_of_China - People's Republic of China . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-hua-8 - [9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-9 - [10]}

In 2008, Klonsky's thirty-year-old political positions became prominent again due to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2008 - United States presidential election of 2008 . Several people questioned http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama - Barack Obama , incluing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton - Hillary Clinton , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stephanopoulos - George Stephanopoulos ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-10 - [11]} , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain - John McCain and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin - Sarah Palin , based upon Obama's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers_presidential_election_controversy - relationship with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ayers - William Ayers and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Annenberg_Challenge - Chicago Annenberg Challenge . ^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klonsky#cite_note-11 - [12]}

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/09/08/update-the-nea-and-mainstream-media-remain-silent/ - WHO SET UP GOVERNMENT ‘PROPAGANDA’ CONFERENCE CALL? Newly Revealed White House, NEA Audio Contradict

Another conference call has materialized, revealing a concerted effort by government to use the arts to address political issues.

Lee Rosenbaum, a blogger for Artsjournal.com, http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2009/09/united_we_serve.html - posted her experience with a meeting that occurred on August 27th and confessed that she also felt “uneasy” about the government’s arts effort.  The meeting invitation ( http://serve.artsusa.org/blog/entry/invitation-join-us-for-a-conference-call-with-the-white-house-this-thursday/ - viewable here ) went out to all “member local, state, and regional arts agencies, community-based arts organizations, and national partners of Americans for Arts.” Americans for Arts is a non-profit arts organization that has received substantial grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

As with my conference call, the art group was invited to the meeting to work together to “tackle some of the nation’s toughest issues: education; health; energy and the environment; community renewal; and safety and security.” Also like my call, it included a private citizen moderating the phone call with key White House representatives participating. Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, was to represent the White House and key representatives from the National Endowment for the Arts were also to participate.

Even more disturbing than learning that the White House and NEA are using the arts to address specific issues, is to learn what was discussed on this new conference call. Rosenbaum mentions that there was much talk of “leveraging federal dollars” to get artists and cultural organizations involved in social-service projects. 

Leveraging federal dollars? This is the problem with marrying issue specific topics, like health care and energy, with a group that is funded by tax dollars; it increases the potential of taxpayer-funded propaganda.

As mentioned in the invitation, the NEA was to be on this phone call. However at the last minute, as Rosenbaum blogged, “Modi informed us that ‘unfortunately our colleagues from NEA and NEH [the National Endowment for the Humanities]’ were tied up in meetings and couldn’t participate, as had been planned.”

Could it have anything to do with http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/ - the article I posted two days earlier ? We can only guess but Rosenbaum also hopes that they might have been “having second thoughts about commandeering their constituents for this political adventure.”

What appears to be emerging is a concerted and deliberate effort by the White House and the NEA to encourage the art community to create issue specific art. This new conference call shows the same modus operandi, including a “third party” individual moderating the call to apparently distance the NEA and the White House from initiating the meeting.

The National Endowment for the Arts has yet to comment regarding their involvement with this effort, except for one small, but damaging, comment by their Communications Director Yosi Sergant.

When asked by Kerry Picket of the Washington Times about the NEA’s involvement in inviting artists to my conference call, Sergant said that “the NEA didn’t invite, we were a participant in a call, there was a third party that did the invitations.” When asked for a copy of the invitation, Sergant responded that the invitation “didn’t come from us…so I don’t have it…” He went on to state that Michael Skolnik was the “third party” and that the Corporation for National and Community Service was the party who set up the conference call. This dialogue can be heard here:

We’ve already proved there are two dishonest remarks in this statement from the NEA in http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/31/contradictions-are-revealing-politicizing-the-nea/ - a previous post , namely that the NEA did have the invite and they did send it out to the art community.

When the “Corporation” (referenced by Sergant) was asked by Josh Miller of Foxnews.com about my conference call, a representative stated that “the call was organized by an ‘individual interested’ in the group…”

Interesting. Because this same interested individual, Michael Skolnik, contradicts both of these federal agency’s statements in his opening remarks of the conference call I was on.

Skolnik states that it was the White House and the National Endowment for the Arts that asked him to bring together this independent art group. Skolnik’s statement can be heard here:

These obvious contradictions, as well as http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/sep/01/official-dishonesty-national-endowment-arts/ - the documented dishonesty on the part of the National Endowment for the Arts, support a conclusion that the NEA may feel their involvement with this effort is outside of their mandate. George Will, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper journalist, appears to agree with my conclusion. On this past Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, George Will referenced the NEA’s involvement in the conference call and stated, “ http://www.breitbart.tv/george-will-nea-call-for-recovery-agenda-art-likely-broke-some-laws/ - I don’t know how many laws that breaks but I’m sure there are some. ”

With the building evidence of bad behavior by the NEA, you’d think this federal agency would have issued a statement explaining their position on this “brand new” direction for the arts. But as the cliché goes, the silence has been deafening. This taxpayer funded agency and their civil servants haven’t even returned phone calls from legitimate press outlets such as the Boston Globe, Foxnews.com, or the Washington Times.

Even more deafening is the silence on the part of the mainstream media. Documented dishonesty by White House appointed officials should easily draw the ire of our media watchdogs. But the liberal media, historically a protector of the arts, has turned its back on the community of which it adores. Like the Van Jones story, it appears that the blogosphere and conservative media are the only two forums that break news anymore. And the news that they break has dire consequences for those involved regardless of the mainstream media’s blind eye.

We need the National Endowment for the Arts to respond to these issues immediately. The NEA needs to issue a statement explaining the agency’s involvement in encouraging the art community to create art on issues being vehemently debated, contradictions made by their Communications Director, and lack of response to the inquiries of both the concerned public and press outlets.

As the former deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2E0NGU4ZmVmMDI4M2E5YzBhMzNjN2RhNDYyZmU0ODg= - Lynne Munson, stated in a recent post , during her tenure as deputy chairman “any action resembling this call would have triggered immediate dismissal.” I think http://www.breitbart.tv/administration-uses-nea-to-recruit-artists-to-push-obama-agenda/ - we’ve shown action resembling this call.

Bad behavior must have consequences, or else that behavior becomes the norm. The actions of the National Endowment for the Arts are leaving the agency vulnerable to attacks on its credibility and rationale for existence.

The NEA needs to address this issue.

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 Some Comments:

John A. Jauregui · http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/09/08/update-the-nea-and-mainstream-media-remain-silent/#IDComment33651837 - 4 hours ago

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FamilyFoodExperts">

Our Family Food Experts, Dr. Sally Byrd and Food Consultant Ellen Briggs, interview food and health industry experts about the food we feed our families and how to make Better Food Choices that will make a difference in the health of our families. Visit us at BetterFoodChoices.com.

By http://www.washingtontimes.com/users/kpicket/ - Kerry Picket on Sept. 1, 2009 into http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/ - Water Cooler

9/2/09 UPDATE: Video from Fox News Channel's http://www.foxnews.com/glennbeck/index.html - Glenn Beck playing excerpts from the August 10th conference call

9/2/09 UPDATE: Transcript of phone interview added.

On a http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2009/aug/27/art-obamas-sake-nea-pushes-white-house-agenda/ - previous blog , the Washington Times Water Cooler reported that we contacted the National Endowment for the Arts's (NEA) Yosi Sergant about an August 10th conference call invitation sent out to artists and other creative influence peddlers.  When asked if the NEA sent the invitation, Mr. Sergant http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/audio/2009/Sep/01/y_sergant_1-2.wav - denied the NEA had sent the invitations to any participants for the conference call and refused to send the Washington Times a copy of the invite.  http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/audio/2009/Sep/01/y_sergant_1-2.wav - AUDIO 

OPERATOR: Kerry?

WASHINGTON TIMES: Yeah?

OPERATOR: You have Yosi Sergant in the communications office.

WASHINGTON TIMES : Okay.

YOSI SERGANT: Hello?

WASHINGTON TIMES: Hi, this is Kerry Picket.  I’m calling from the Washington Times Editorial page.

SERGANT: Hi, Kerry.  How are you?

WASHINGTON TIMES: Fine thank you.  Hey, I understand that there was a conference call on August 10^th that the NEA invited producers, artists, marketers, etcetera.

SERGANT:  The NEA didn’t invite…We were a participant in a call.  It was a third party that did the invitation. 

WASHINGTON TIMES: I see.  I was wondering If you could send me, if possible,  a copy of the invitation?

SERGANT: Umm…It didn’t come from us, so I don’t have it to distribute.  You’d go to them for that.

WASHINGTON TIMES: Uh-huh.  So who is the third party?

SERGANT – I believe it was Michael Skolnick.  This is something you should call the Corporation for National Service about.

WASHINGTON TIMES:  National Corporation of…I’m sorry?

SERGANT – The Corporation for National and Community Service.

WASHINGTON TIMES: Michael Skolnick?

SERGANT:  No, he’s a third party, but the Corporation who set up the conference call,  and who conducted the conference call is another federal agency.

WASHINGTON TIMES: Great.  Thank you.

 

 Yet, Big Hollywood's Patrick Courrielche was invited to participate in the August 10th pow-wow, and he posted the email invite from Yosi Sergant yesterday on Andrew Breitbart's http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/31/contradictions-are-revealing-politicizing-the-nea/ - Big Hollywood's website :

It looks as if Mr. Sergant seems to be playing fast and loose with the truth. The Washington Times called Mr. Sergant three times today to comment on this invitation that Mr. Courrielche had received from Mr. Sergant's NEA email, but we have not received a response yet.  This blog will be updated should new information come in. 

Below...From an earlier post in this thread.

Post Options http://avianflutalk.com/new_reply_form.asp?TID=24996&PN=5&TR=61 - Post Reply http://avianflutalk.com/new_reply_form.asp?M=Q&PID=195964&PN=5&TR=61 - Quote sjf53 http://avianflutalk.com/edit_post_form.asp?PID=195964&PN=4 - Edit Post    http://avianflutalk.com/new_reply_form.asp?M=Q&PID=195964&PN=5&TR=61 - Quote    http://avianflutalk.com/new_reply_form.asp?PID=195964&PN=5&TR=61 - Reply http://avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=24996&PID=195964#195964"> Posted: 08 September 2009 at 2:42pm

Maybe this is why one of the educational activities suggested for the children were to make posters.  And you wonder why so many people including educators are worried about propaganda.    http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/ - http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/08/25/the-national-endowment-for-the-art-of-persuasion-patrick-courrielche/   Click here for article   " recently wrote a critique of the art community’s lack of dissent in the face of many controversial decisions made by the current administration. Entitled “ http://www.reason.com/news/show/135293.html - The Artist Formerly Known as Dissident ,” one of the key points argued in the article was the potential danger associated with the use of the art community as a tool of the state. Little did I know how quickly this concern would be elevated to an outright probability. " http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/files/2009/08/25kennedy_xlarge1.jpg - ---------------------------------------------------------------------   http://serve.artsusa.org/blog/entry/invitation-join-us-for-a-conference-call-with-the-white-house-this-thursday/ - Invitation: Join Us for a Conference Call With the White House This Thursday | Americans for the Arts   http://serve.artsusa.org/blog/entry/invitation-join-us-for-a-conference-call-with-the-white-house-this-thursday/ - http://serve.artsusa.org/blog/entry/invitation-join-us-for-a-conference-call-with-the-white-house-this-Thursday/   Click Here for article   "Even more disturbing than learning that the White House and NEA are using the arts to address specific issues, is to learn what was discussed on this new conference call. Rosenbaum mentions that there was much talk of “leveraging federal dollars” to get artists and cultural organizations involved in social-service projects.  Leveraging federal dollars? This is the problem with marrying issue specific topics, like health care and energy, with a group that is funded by tax dollars; it increases the potential of taxpayer-funded propaganda"

 

ACORN and the Census