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Lucky the environmentalists did not hold the debate like they did municipally or they might have been boycotted too by the Libs! Oops sorry meant the NDP this time perhaps! BC politics is very topsy turvy now a days! The tree huggers in their municipal debate even went to the extent of educating the candidates at their debate on their partisan view of the environmental issues too. Yet the candidates still showed respect and showed up even if they disagreed with them! It is shamefully the height of arrogance to boycot this teachers election debate under any circumstance. There is NO excuse. Shame on MLAs Coleman/Polak. More shady BC Liberal democracy?
Edited By LFP EDITOR
Way to NOT go Rich & Mary and do you think that the Langley Chamber of Commerce debates arn't even MORE Liberal Biased? Get a life and lose the arrogance or lose your seats. You have both set a terrible precedent that is abhorrent and totally contrary to essential democracy. Disgusting display of Langley BC Liberal arrogance yet once again.
Edited By LFP EDITOR
Interesting comments by rafe about STV voting. Personally I have nothing good to say about the idea. I hope the electorate votes NO on it.
How the local paper Editors respond or worse still perhaps even rather ignore our arrogant incumbent legislature reps (who are supposed thick skinned cabinet ministers) will be the important revealing story of how these Editors themselves lean both politically and how we should view these so called paid professional local news editors.
Remember, If Coleman and Polak can refuse during an election which is only once every 4 years to NOT go to a well organized debate partisan or not, they can certainly then at any time also snub the local papers and Editors at their whim and wish too.
I look forward to many "snubs" in future from my local politicos. Don't call me. I'll call you, maybe.
Flash: To all those that care on evening last the parents and children from Uplands school were horribly betrayed in my opinion by the vote of city Trustee Stacy Cody.
Following many months of agreed support to the parents for Uplands reconfiguration and expansion of the Montessori program she did an about "Face" turn and voted against even seeking an impact report thereby killing all hope for these parents.
Sadly, many of those parents worked to elect this person. What is it that makes the some Trustees turn on their constitants?
Langley is truly living up to it's reputation of "loony".
Remember folks next time "anybody but Cody".
Edited By LFP Editor
EDITOR's NOTE: see this link----> for Times article on controversial issue.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surre...s/
44020297.html
Coleman and Polak flip flop back and forth when it comes to when they will and will not be involved education.
They are quite willing to take credit for the building of RC Garnett school (I'm not sure why they feel they have anything to do with it)
and they certainly had no qualms about endorsing certain candidates for school trustees in the last municipal election!
They went as far as to say that they had a great working relationship with the candidates (even though quite a few had never held office before) and
to top it off Coleman wasn't even sure who paid for the Ad!
If Coleman and Polak want to take credit for the good things happening in our school district then they can take the blame for the closure of many schools and the disastrous reconfigurations.
Teachers are Adults who have a huge influence on our children, anyone who isn't willing to listen to what they have to say and questions they have won't ever get my vote.
Teachers seem to have two prime purposes-get more money and push the liberal/gay agenda.
Of course the money issue is always for the "good of the children"
The gay/liberal agenda---well........
Horny toad
By the way- I am now calling Polak and Coleman "Poleman" as they have two bodies but share only one political brain, in my opinion.
Edited By LFP EDITOR
It looks like Jordan(I've never met a camera I don't like) is just as thin skinned as his mentor, Coleman. True to form Jordan showed up at the tree planting on Arbour Day (just like he showed up at the reconstruction of the Patullo Bridge for a photo-op.) The mayor was there representing the township and Jordan was there representing----ummmm-- Jordan. Of course he had his children along (good PR) and he posted that as well as showed pictures of his children. When I suggested Jordan did this as a photo-op he took exception and banned (censored) me suggesting I should leave his kids out of this even though it was he who included them in the first place.
And this after someone on his blog congratulated hm for being so "democratic" and allowing people to criticism him on his own blog. So much for democracy.
Horny Toad
Edited By LFP Editor
We all know that JB is a jerk, politically in my opinion., who is only interested in promoting one person...himself.....so he's using his kids now too aye?
Edited By LFP Editor
I see that at least Advance Editor Groenveld is very critical of Coleman and Polak's arrogance of not attending last monday's debate. Sadly he only has printed this on line and NOT on the more widely read newspaper. Why?
Edited Comment By LFP EDITOR See the specific comments here on the Advance on line----->
http://communities.canada.com/
va...nstituents.aspx
Ferguson never misses a chance to mention his kids as well, but he does not have a blog to add the photos. Whoopy, at least we have been spared from that self administered pat on the back.
That sort of thing is a bit too obvious as a ploy to promote that perfect family image in my opinion, but it's their choice not mine. Neither get my X anyway. Ya gotta look a little deeper.
Wonder when the Burton, Ross and McVeigh team will return the favour someway to Poleman for their endorsements that may have got them their seats they currently hold?
Edited By LFP Editor
I see the love in at Jordans alternate blog continues unababted.Horny Toad picked up on the fact that Jordan likes to ---ahh--involve his kids in some civic functions that he attends. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that except that Jordan put the pictures of him and his kids on the internet for all to see. When Horny Toad suggested to Jordan that that was a crass political move Jordan apparently blew a gasket suggesting personal stuff was off limits.That fine except that it was Jordan who posted the pictures.
Incidentally, in all the civic functions I have attended in the last 4 years(open houses etc)I have only seen 3 councillors there. They were Dornan, Ward and Richter. But then again one wouldn't expect to see Jordan at most of those-there were no cameras there.
Golly H. Toad banned from Bateman's site. What an honor! How about getting banned from Bateman's alter ego site ( You know, the site he promoted extensively on his own site! The one that he is also not involved in by his own words! Cough! ).
H. T., I mean the site that everyone else also take great pain to NOT be associated with, especially Township councilors who send pics and articles and info to, while others write articles and provide audio tapes for too! Yet they are ALL not associated, AT ALL with! Cough...Cough!
So now we have the 'Bridge To Nowhere' and now the Local Langley Liberal Domination Fan Club & Promotion site that also has 'Contributors From Nowhere' too! How fitting and conveniently complimentary and without any accountability!
Good on you H.Toad since your truth is real, courageous, refreshing, honest and above board unlike the others. Remember, the truth will always prevail over lies every time.
Actually, Nowhere,while I'm not banned from Jordans other site I just don't post there. After I went there(Jordan linked to it) I posted for a few days but soon discovered what it really was. Whoever runs that blog likes to portray themselves as "insiders" and people who really know what's going on. They profess to have a so called "15 member editorial board". This claim, however , is betrayed by the fact that even in their so called 'polls" they still get minimal response. I found their constant attacks against Green and Richter to be juvenile and "over the top". They should rename the blog the "Broken Record" It reminds me of schoolyard bullies.
Their current topic is a good example of this.
I was critical of Jordan for using his kids to promote himself. Apparently only Jordan and Green were there. Green representing the township , and Jordan representing .......None of the other 7 councilors were there(apparently). So what does the Broken Record respond with.
They said - yah-but-er-umm- councilor Richter wasn't there either-SO THERE!
I personally don't care how many twonship reps attend these photo-ops as long as one is there if the twonship needs representation. Where I take exception is where they don't show up at things like "open houses" where I would like to ask some questions. And I have NEVER seen Bateman at any of the open houses I have attended. It reminds me of Mark Messier who would only attend functions if he knew the press would be there.
And for anyone who has read the comments(when there are any)they mostly consist of one sentence responses which simply agree with the topic(again which is usually bashing Richter and Green).I suspect that the comments are written by the blog editor in an attempt to fool people into thinking anyone actually pays attention to it. Comments on this blog and Bateman's primary blog are usually well thought out and insiteful.Many of them are critical of council and certain councillors and some are quite nasty but they usually have a point to make and are interesting.
Thats why they generate the traffic they do.
HT.
Burton, McVeigh and Ross showed their loyalty and support of Poleman last Monday night when they also boycotted the all candidates debate.
You would think that as school trustees they should be available to hear the teachers and publics questions so they too can make an
"INFORMED" decision when they go to the Polls. (ha ha)
Even If I was traditionally a Liberal supporter, Poleman would never, ever, get my vote.
HT,
We all know how much the number of 'hits' on his site mean to JB and I'm sure that you not being there is going to hurt him big time.
Most of the bloggers suck up and try to pad his ego, and if this doesn't happen I guess he had to find a way to get rid of it,so he banned you for a month....haha is that his time out punishment?
I agree with Nowhere, you deserve a pat on the back for not backing away from truth and honesty.
Horny Toad:
Teachers seem to have two prime purposes-get more money and push the liberal/gay agenda.
1. $$$ Why is it that the gov't is ready to jump and bail out businesses, but hesitate to properly fund education? How many teachers purchase their own classroom resources and supplies? I know of teachers who were told to purchase their own photocopy paper because the school couldn't afford it. Of course it's about money.
2. Gay/Liberal Agenda? Are you serious? When teachers spoke out against segregation or advocated for universal franchise, would you have called it the Black Agenda? Perhaps you're comfortable with sitting by while bigotry proliferates but some people aren't.
The issue here is that two elected representatives were not present to respond to the questions of their constituents.
Kurt, how come you have no editorials in your Aldergrove Star about the, in my opinion, the Liberal arrogant snub of the teacher's debate? Is it perhaps because you are far too comfortable with democracy as dictated by the ruling Langley Liberals at ALL levels of local controlled politics?
Democracy Rocks, the money part is self explainatory.
When the teachers go on strike it is ALWAYS "for the good of the children"
As for the liberal agenda you might want to read this article.
http://www.city-journal.org/2009...n-
pedagogy.html
Here is the first paragraph.
"Pedagogy of the Oppressor
Another reason why U.S. ed schools are so awful: the ongoing influence of Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire
Like the more famous Teach for America, the New York Teaching Fellows program provides an alternate route to state certification for about 1,700 new teachers annually. When I met with a group of the fellows taking a required class at a school of education last summer, we began by discussing education reform, but the conversation soon took a turn, with many recounting one horror story after another from their rocky first year: chaotic classrooms, indifferent administrators, veteran teachers who rarely offered a helping hand. You might expect the required readings for these struggling rookies to contain good practical tips on classroom management, say, or sensible advice on teaching reading to disadvantaged students. Instead, the one book that the fellows had to read in full was Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire."
And here is a synopsis of the article.
"The odd thing is that Freire’s magnum opus isn’t, in the end, about education—certainly not the education of children. Pedagogy of the Oppressed mentions none of the issues that troubled education reformers throughout the twentieth century: testing, standards, curriculum, the role of parents, how to organize schools, what subjects should be taught in various grades, how best to train teachers, the most effective way of teaching disadvantaged students. This ed-school bestseller is, instead, a utopian political tract calling for the overthrow of capitalist hegemony and the creation of classless societies. Teachers who adopt its pernicious ideas risk harming their students—and ironically, their most disadvantaged students will suffer the most."
HT.
Should educators be purchasing resources for student use out of their own pockets then? Should teachers be purchasing stationary items such as photocopy paper, folders and pens?
There are vast differences between the American public system and the Canadian system. Vast differences between American and Canadian values and ideals. Quoting an article from a right wing American think tank isn't relevant. Evidence from a Canadian source would be more applicable.
Ask any teacher who Freire is and I'm sure the majority of them will look at you with blank stares. Have you read Freire? Mention Skinner, Adler, Dreikurs, Piaget, Bloom or even Coloroso or Borba and you'll probably get more a response.
It still begs the question, would you prefer that the education system does not teach against bigotry?
DR and HT how about talking about our MLA Polak's much referenced stance that she wanted to censor books when she was an Education board Trustee?
They also did not want to be questioned on their, what I think,were poor decision making skills and choosing to endorse people that they did not know in the municipal elections. That will cost them a few votes too. It may not have been illegal what the two chose to do but was it really right?
Another concern is over conflict of interest between public duty and private interest are topical in Canadian public life today, but they are hardly new to issues of governance.
Take a look at what is happening within the Education Board or Township/City councils. Do you not think similar situations occur in the provincial and federal levels?
Edited By LFP EDITOR
"It still begs the question, would you prefer that the education system does not teach against bigotry?"
Actually. I would prefer that the education system taught what it was intended to teach and leave the social engineering to the parents. I don't want teachers telling my child that same sex marriage is OK or that Americans (especially George Bush)are bad people. I would rather they were taught how to read properly, how to write a coherent letter, how to actually figure out how to give the correct change as a cashier rather than have the cash register figure it out,how to balance their bank account, how to determine what the difference is between a 1/2 inch bolt and a 5/16 bolt is. You know, the basic skills of life that prepares a child for the real world.
According to the dictionary bigotry is described as such.
"stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one's own."
By using this definition then you are a bigot because you dissagree with my opinion.
Liberals like to use words like bigotry, racist etc. because it tends to shut down the argument rather quickly.
As far as teachers having to buy supplies for the classroom I dissagree with that if they are basic supplies. If the teacher wants to do something special that is a different story. BUT, that is not what I was talking about. You know as well as anyone that when teachers go out on strike it is for THEIR benefit primarily. Any advantage that may accrue to the students is purely coincidental.If they wanted to prove it is for the benefit of students then they could suggest that they would forgo a raise and have the money go towards the programs they seem so passionate about. Yea, like thats going to happen.
And while we are on the topic of bigotry and racism lets also discuss bullying. Can you tell me how teachers can possibly fight bullying in the schools when, in the previous strike, they themselves were guilty of that very act?
HT.
FYI Editor
Add these two interesting comparisons I gleaned from posts on the recent headline of a posting on the 'blog to nowhere' that Clr. Bateman btw would obviously say he has nothing at all to do with:
'Reason 493 Why Kim Richter Can't Be....'
which is posted May 2nd 2009 by '.. Record Editor'.
And then compare this other recent twitter comment from Clr. Bateman's *********** own Twitter site:
'RT @buzzbishop: Why I hate unions reason #2493: teachers union sending propaganda home with students during election campaign10:01 AM Apr 30th from TweetDeck'....
which is posted April 30 2009 on Bateman's Twitter website.
The similarity is strikingly amazing don't you think, especially the almost identical use of the 'reason 493' parts in both postings, don't you think? By the way tweetdeck is Clr. Bateman and Editor you can go to his tweet site via his own political blog site too to see what I mean. So then who could possibly be the 'Blog To Nowhere' Editor/Owner?
---Edited By LFP EDITOR (& sorry for the edits & thanks for the info, lfp editor)---
WOW A Freudian slip of terrific magnitude! It says it all so simply! Very sad! Anonymous should get a award!
Anon, and this blog are obviously not up with the times when it comes Twitter. If you were you would know that that was not a tweet by Jordan but a RT ( Re-Tweet) the comment was made by Radio personality Buzz Bishop. The comment on Jordan's page shows that "RT @buzzbishop" click on the buzzbishop and scroll down on his page till you reach April 30th, you will see his comment was:
"Why I hate unions reason #2493: teachers union sending propaganda home with students during election campaign"
Hey, maybe you guys are on to something, could it be that the illusive editor of the Record, is Buzz!!!???
Really....... You guys have too much time on your hands!!!!
Edited Comment By LFP EDITOR - LOL - This all sort of Reminds me of the search for the elusive terrorist Bin Laden ---LOL !!!!!-----But he's hiding in a cave too out of fear of being found out---LOL ---still interesting correlation anon -lol!! Or maybe this is all more like the Tom Hanks search for the very phony Grail perhaps---lol! But it is a curious coincidence though! REALLY, Anon's point I think was that the use of the same wording within days was amazing and perhaps, just perhaps was it a borrowed line used by someone? And he made no conclusions as to who. But What's the old adage about smoke & Fire REALLY? But in either event I still tire of purely venomous and slimy capital B.S.! And Go See our blog sidebar just above our most recent comments that allows 'fair comment' (unlike others) on LFP that we at LFP may not always or ever agree with anyway! ---LFP EDITOR---
WOW, talk about thin skinned. I happen to comment in a previous post
about the few( i.e. almost non existant) number of comments on the Broken Record blog. Plus when there actually is a comment it is usually a one liner.
So lo and behold if the editor(don't know if his so called "15 member editorial board" helped or not)didn't take almost a full post to explain how much traffic they get and how much information they put up due to the substantive amount of research they do. Here is a hint on the amount of research they do. The schedule for the township meetings can be downloaded from the web.
But the real kicker is their reason for low comments(as in almost none). It seems, according to the editor of the Broken Record blog (don't know if the so called "15 member editorial board" helped in this reasoning or not),that because they have so much information on their blog " by the time they have read all of these facts and links they run out of time to comment". Wow, who da thunk it?
My take on it differs slightly. I think that some people actually do read the Broken Record blog HOPING to find something interesting. But when they read the same old attacks on the same people time after time they get tired of it and simply move on to blogs that actually ARE interesting.
HT.
"Anon's point I think was that the use of the same wording within days was amazing and perhaps, just perhaps was it a borrowed line used by someone? And he made no conclusions as to who"
The quote he used was from Buzz, even though he states it was Jordan's. Are you trying to tell me, Anon's comments and statement of similarities were directed to Buzz? I think not!! I thinkthis.... Anon though he/she was on to something, that they had cracked the case!!! .........
Edited & Comment By LFP EDITOR - Probably Correct & Corrected - Thanks. Just like there are those like Anons that scrutinize ever detail on the other blog sites for inaccuracies and clues, I guess I also have you too Really, to do that for LFP---lol---LFP EDITOR---
I just read an astonishing admission over on the Broken Record.
In the ongoing attempt to smear our good mayor the Broken Record (and their so called 15 member editorial board)accused the mayor's committee of spending 100,000 in their attempt to reduce the "out of control" spending of this council. Of course the Broken Record was flabbergasted to find out no extra money was spent as staff did their work during regular working hours. NEWS FLASH!! That's what hired staff do.So then the Broken Record says "but-but-but-they could have been doing something else". Maybe the Broken Record should add yet another member to their so called "15 member editorial board" but that would then make it the so called"16 member editorial board". Maybe they could find someone who-oh I don't know-maybe someone who actually understands business.
And then to top it all off B.... come along and blows their calculations out of the water.
So all in all its been a bad day over at the Broken Record (and their so called "15 member editorial board")
I love it!!
HT.
Edited By LFP EDITOR - H.T. See our comment after yours.
Perhaps teachers wouldn't have to teach value based lessons if parents were actually being parents rather than their children's "friends". One less lesson that needs to be covered; one less unit that has to be planned. Note that the Social Justice course was constructed by the Ministry of Education and not the BCTF. If parents were parenting, teachers wouldn't have to.
H.Toad, we at LFP and our readers appreciate your common sense and your active participation in dialog around community political issues. We are posting your previous comment now out of respect for you. However we have recently obtained legal advice and we will no longer be posting any comments or other articles relative to the slander that is being written elsewhere. Therefore you have the distinction of being the last post here about them. Further information will come through other means.
Best Regards, ---LFP Editor---
(P.s. Your comments H.T. are always more than welcome on LFP on ANY other community issues.)
.....something stinks.
Thanks for your input and interesting comments on it HT, there are many other issues that can be discussed.
Edited By LFP EDITOR
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