Forest Lake Principal Steve Massey Is A Hypocrite

After reading about this outrageous decision, I decided to look into the principal's background, only to see if he's had a problem with politics in education before. It seems safe to assume he's been fine with it in the past, as long as the politics were liberal.

A national tour featuring decorated veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan won't be stopping at Forest Lake Area High School today as planned, after school leaders abruptly canceled the visit.

Steve Massey, the school principal, said the decision to cancel was prompted by concerns that the event was becoming political rather than educational and therefore was not suitable for a public school.

Here's the announcement of his appointment in 2003: - a quick aside, the flag was stolen from Central Learning Center soon after Massey left and the VFW came up with money for a new flag pole and flag.

He came to ISD 831 four years ago and spent two years as an assistant principal at Central-Century junior high school. He has worked the past two years as the ALC-Montessori principal at the Central Learning Center.

Prior to coming to Forest Lake, he worked at PEASE Academy, a contract alternative school in the Minneapolis Public Schools system.

He was a guidance counselor and classroom teacher at PEASE from 1989 to 1992. He worked as executive director of PEASE from 1992 to 1999 when he left for his job in Forest Lake.

PEASE stands for Peers Enjoying A Sober Education - offering courses in politics and ecology, with a significant emphasis on Human Rights. So much so, that they were even able to discuss the Iraq War prior to the invasion as part of classwork. From pdf linked at The Advocates.

Through such exercises, students developed critical thinking skills, discovered different news media sources, and learned the value of comparing and contrasting varied information and opinion. Ms. Wilcox found these processes especially helpful when discussions focused on the build-up to the U.S.-led war against Iraq. The
students presented a variety of opinions and perspectives in regard to the developments in Iraq. The format of the classes allowed students to openly express their own beliefs while maintaining respect for one another. Despite differing opinions about the actions in Iraq, the students consistently concluded that they wanted an outcome that was best for the Iraqi people.

More on PEASE from above link - also see here for more:

At P.E.A.S.E. Academy, an alternative sobriety high school in Minneapolis, students have the option of taking a weekly human rights course. The class discusses current events related to international issues, as well as providing an introduction to the concepts of human rights. A local attorney volunteers to co-teach the course each week, and students are encouraged to actively participate in discussion of the issues. In part because of the course, P.E.A.S.E. Academy students have taken initiative to help shape the school policy on harassment. The human rights course fits well with the mission and guidelines of the school, which advocates acceptance, support, respect, and sobriety. At the school's recent graduation ceremony, teachers commented on the virtues of members of the graduating class, citing promotion of human rights and respect for fellow students as two salient qualities.

Comments

[IslamoLlama]

Only a true wingnut would consider "Human Rights" a strictly partisan issue. I guess all that talk about beating back the Soviets, restoring Democracy, and tearing down the Berlin Wall made Ronald Reagen a wide-eyed liberal. Who knew?

[chris]

Wow, all those links and 'important' bold-faced passages to.say.nothing.

[templar knight]

Dan, the guy is just another leftwing nut. If someone on the right had threatened to disrupt his hippie peacenick activities, you can bet he would be seeking police protection to further them, and would not cancel them as he did this visit. I would put him in the same category as chris/Boob and Moe. Just another Leftist charlatan.

[IslamoLlama]

Horray for hypotheticals! The least you could do is use the Berkley Code Pink demonstrations or the various college campus anti-war rallies to bolster your claim. Instead, you don't even have the balls to site a source. Just a bunch of flub - "If the shoe was on the other foot you'd be the exact same way!"

Such an ignorant slob. Buckley turns in his grave every time you make a post. I'm amazed you've got the logical coherence to operate a keyboard. Why not just copypasta your next nutty post? $5 says no one will notice a difference.

[chris]

Maybe if you guys would win a war or catch bin Laden people would be more receptive to having soldiers in the classroom.

[Fred Beloit]

shris says: "Maybe if you guys would win a war..." Remember Saddam. He was deposed as a result of warfare. He and his party are no longer governing as a result of their losing a war. Guess with whom they lost the war.

[chris]

So there has been 'victory' in Iraq?? Cmon...

Point is, if the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan were actually successful, people would be more interested in them. As they stand, there're just VERY expensive failures.

[Fred Beloit]

If your enemy is defeated and your head of state is deposed, let's see. Oh yes, you have won. Hurray, yea, Saddam is dead; the Baathists have won. Is this what you are saying?

[Eric Langness, Forest Lake Area Schools Board Member]

Readers,

I am as frustrated about this as you are. It was a week ago (yesterday) that I watched my brother take off on a naval ship headed to Iraq, again. I am a firm supporter of our military and as I always tell my brother, "You protect our country overseas, and as a politician I'll protect you here." I intend to take whatever necessary actions to do just that for him and all of our military persons and veterans.

I will address the serious concerns I have with our administration’s decision on this.

Best Regards,
Eric Langness
Forest Lake Area Schools Board Member
Metro ECSU Executive Committee Member
www.EricLangness.com

[Cory]

Rank hypocrisy!

[chris]

You guys should run Eric for president instead of that infirm little old man.

[Scrapiron]

I blame the parents for sitting home watching Days of our lives and getting the fat a$$. I would be in the principals face, if that didn't work I'd catch him at a baseball game and make sure he ended up in the ER and then rehab for a long stay. That's just the facts.
Chris, seek help. BDS is eating you alive and once it advances to a point it is no longer curable. Death in a nut house is the worst kind of death, besides dying people come by to laugh at you. Look at the little nut pounding his pud and licking his fingers will be one of the kindest you will hear daily.

[GMax]

{B}Maybe if you guys would win a war{/b}

Funny I thought the guys fighting were wearing US Army and US Marine uniforms. Wouldn't the proper pronoun be "we" and "our guys"?

Is this another instance of supporting the troops but not the war, or not so much?

[IslamoLlama]

Ok, I call spoof on Scrapiron. Seriously, don't be a jerk, especially when you've got the attention of someone who matters on the issue.

"-- I intend to take whatever necessary actions to do just that for him and all of our military persons and veterans. --"

That's all anyone can ask. Iraq is a touchy subject for everyone involved. Keep in mind that the vast majority support the troops even if they don't support the war. We hope things turn out for the best.

[seekeronos]

And now for our next installment of "Guess which Political Party this Scandallous Scallywag Belongs to" :

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23431795-5012748,00.html

Here's a hint: the article does not indicate which (party) he belongs to. :)

Give up?

Here's another hint:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kilpatrick

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"That's all anyone can ask."

Dammit LLama, stop agreeing with me!

[seekeronos]

Funny thing that chris/Boob/LOL/MoLlamatard, etc. like to refer to our brave soldiers and Marines (and other servicemembers) as "you guys" and not "we", "us", and "our", as GMax pointed out.

Sad that these guys hate America and her people, and her defenders. These poor deranged Marxist-Islamist sympathizers should have left the country and joined al-Qaeda already; their continued breathing of our air grows burdensome.

[ooogaboooga]

yawn..... that's the best you can come up with? lame

[BobInStamford]

"I would be in the principals face, if that didn't work I'd catch him at a baseball game and make sure he ended up in the ER and then rehab for a long stay. That's just the facts."

Rednecks is dumm...

John Kerry was right about your kind.

[notjenna]

students:

developed critical thinking skills

discovered different news media sources

learned the value of comparing and contrasting varied information and opinion

presented a variety of opinions and perspectives in regard to the developments in Iraq

openly expressed their own beliefs while maintaining respect for one another

All to the end of being:

helpful when discussions focused on the build-up to the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

Despite differing opinions about the actions in Iraq, the students consistently concluded that they wanted an outcome that was best for the Iraqi people.

Ohhh! The humanity... the humanity.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- Despite differing opinions about the actions in Iraq, the students consistently concluded that they wanted an outcome that was best for the Iraqi people.

Ohhh! The humanity... the humanity. --"

It is difficult to envision and build a world in which a country can support its public servants without condoning senseless violence against foreigners. But we continue to try.

"-- Funny thing that chris/Boob/LOL/MoLlamatard, etc. like to refer to our brave soldiers and Marines (and other servicemembers) as "you guys" and not "we", "us", and "our" --"

When did I say this?
Lulz for baseless allegations.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

I guess those stupid kids don't know what's good fore them:
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S389680.shtml?cat=1

[GMax]

Keep in mind that the vast majority support the troops even if they don't support the war.

I keep hearing that. But it seems to me the words and the music dont match. Sorry if that offends you, my right to say and you right to act petulant and obnoxious.

[Packrat]

a quote for the trolls:
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill
English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)

A vet and the father of vets

[packrat]

Bob:...
Where you engaging in satire: " Rednecks is dumm...

John Kerry was right about your kind" or are you dumber than a rock?

[BobInStamford]

Yes, them there rednecks is verry dumm. You, on the other hand, are an erudite patriot who knows how to google quotes. Congratulations on that and the many victories that you and your kind see daily in Iraq.

[falasafa]

for packrat

Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946)

[Forest Lake High School Student]

Elijah's a good kid. And so are all the others who skipped. They don't know what's good for them? I'm pretty sure you have no right to comment on that. I see Dr. Massey's side of the whole thing, but if the kids wanted to see it, then so be it.

[MarkJ]

Dear chris,

"You guys should run Eric for president instead of that infirm little old man."

That "little old man" is "infirm" to a large extent because he was continually tortured and denied medical care by the North Vietnamese for 5 1/2 years. Senator McCain still can't raise his arms above his head due to his injuries.

So here's a cordial suggestion, chrissie-poo: YOU find somebody to knock out most of your teeth, hang you from a ceiling by a meathook, and feed you fish heads and rice twice a day for a couple of years. Then we'll see how "infirm" you are.

Has anybody reminded you lately that you're an insufferable, ignorant, end-stage-BDS Arschloch? If not, pray allow me to have the honor of doing so.

[FLHS Attendee]

Don't talk bad about the student body of FLHS. We didn't have anything to do with this. The responsibility lies in Massey and the administration hands. It's them that are giving our community a bad rep. But before you talk, you should know all the details.

[jharp]

I don't really give a dam about the decision one way or another.

What strikes me is the issues that outrage the posters here.

Send 4,000 soldiers to their deaths and and get another 25,000 wounded, some maimed for life, in a war based on lies.

But cancel their appearance at a high school and you have gone too far.

[fauxmaxbaer]

Dear MarkJ,

I am not in favor of torture conducted on behalf of the Viet Cong or the Bush Administration. The actions taken against John McCain were deplorable. That being said, what was he dropping from his airplane on the country of Vietnam? Kudos to Senator McCain for standing up to the abuse, but he was dropping bombs on their country, wasn't he? Just following orders, right?

[Capitalist Infidel]

So, the students heard different opinions about the war? Bwahahahaha!!! Like, one opinion is that Bush=Hitler the other opinion is Bush=Mussolini. Bush is the devil.....no he's not he's the anti-christ. Those are the differing opinions they hear.

[scarshapedstar]

Um... can someone spell out the "hypocrisy"? Evidently the BDS has blinded me.

[joe28]

wow! judging from the comments, it seems liberal arsewipes *really* don't like having one of their own criticized! it might also be interesting to tot up the number of times principal fairness allowed his lazy, propagandizing teachers to show 'inconvenient truth', in true triumph-of-the-will fashion, in lieu of actual teaching.

[Capitalist Infidel]

In all honesty, if you can't see the hypocrisy pointing it out will not help you one bit.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"They don't know what's good for them? I'm pretty sure you have no right to comment on that."

OK cutie, I have a RIGHT to comment on anything, in any way I please. I guess you haven't gotten to the Constitution yet. At any rate, the statement was a wise crack at those (like your principal) who seem to prefer that you kids hear only one side of any argument and not get the info to make your own minds. If any of the kids who ditched school to go hear these guys were mine, I'd be pretty proud of them. And yes, leftist friends, even if it were to go hear an anti-war protest.

[BobInStamford]

Its interesting that you patriots mention your broken old man of a candidate. Perhaps if he did a little better in school he would have been a better pilot and would not have had to spend 6 years wearing pajamas in a SE Asian Hyatt.

Same here. Stay in school - stay out of Iraq.

See patriots - it all makes sense in the end.

[seekeronos]

"--- Same here. Stay in school - stay out of Iraq. ---"

Ah, the same pompous, elitist spirit that lead your Great White Hope of 2004, John Kerry to believe that the soldiers were ignorant savages who needed "halp" to get them un-stuck in Iraq for being a bunch of dirt-eating hillbillies (there - did I get your misanthropic tone right?)...

Why do you hate Americans, Bob? Why do you rage against our soldiers?

One could understand your impotent rage and fist-shaking directed at the government...

But what did individual American soldiers ever do to YOU to deserve such ill-treatment?

Or are you just a callous reprobate, on top of being a generally evil human being?

[missy]

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, speech entitled “Citizenship in a Republic”, given at the Sorbonne, Paris on April 23, 1910

I seriously doubt that the future President, having experienced five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton loses any sleep over an ignorant, cold and timid soul who sits in front of his computer screen and contributes nothing of value.

[templar knight]

Thank you, missy, I couldn't have said it better myself. Bravo!

[IslamoLlama]

"-- I seriously doubt that the future President, having experienced five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton loses any sleep over an ignorant, cold and timid soul who sits in front of his computer screen and contributes nothing of value. --"

Shorter Missy: Dear American Citizen, I don't need your vote.

Horray for "Little people don't count" rhetoric! Just imagine if McCain was coming back from Vietnam and got to stay at the Bush League VA. Of course, I imagine a Purple Heart Veteran who rode a swiftboat into enemy fire shouldn't lose any sleep over ignorant, cold and timid souls who sit in front of their computer screens buying "purple heart" band-aids on e-bay. But it was the ignorant, cold and timid souls who gave Mr. 43 his second tour of White House duty. So perhaps they've got some input after all.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"the Bush League VA."

Prhaps if you knew what you're talking about you wouldn't appear to be such a dumbass. VA hospitals have always been dumps. So much so that there have been a couple movies made about what hell holes they are. Would seem that someone who pays lip service to how much they "care about the troops" would know that.......Of course, truth treats BDS symptoms.

[WAHOO WILLIE]

http://movies.go.com/article-99/d807038/drama

[WAHOO WILLIE]

LLama here's another link from people you'll likely trust. This hospital is in Dallas. Close enough for you to go volunteer at least once a month! Since it serves such a large area, it may include your county and just think, you could REALLY show you "care" by giving rides to disabled vets.

http://www.infowars.com/articles/military/tx_dallas_va_hospital_nations_worst.htm

[WAHOO WILLIE]

Last one: http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,103813,00.html

Check the date, get a laugh but the point is that at least back to Vietnam the VA hospitals make the old sanitariums look like St Jude. Just makes me look so forward to the same government running the entire health care system. It's a damned shame what you people ask of your soldiers only to treat them like dirt when they come home.

[templar knight]

Thank you for that info, Willie. And it's a real shame that our vets have always come out on the short end of the stick, no matter the party in power. The noisy wheel always gets the grease, and our veterans have never been complainers.

[templar knight]

"Just makes me look forward to the same government running the entire health care system."

Yep, me too, Willie. I shudder when I think about it, especially as I start to get older, and I know that the baby boomers will be flooding the program over the next few years, with less and less working people to pay for it. Add to that the upcoming Social Security time bomb, and I can't even imagine how all this can possibly work.

[missy]

So Izzy, you have no problem with bobinstanford's putrid remarks about John McCain's service, only John Kerry's matters. McCain not losing sleep over a boob has nothing to do with "little people don't count" there were no victims in that comment, try again.

Perhaps, the Feinstein/Blum's can help the VAs out, they've been filching off the VA long enough:

"The MILCON subcommittee is not only in charge of supervising military construction, it also oversees "quality of life" issues for veterans, which includes building housing for military families and operating hospitals and clinics for wounded soldiers. Perhaps Feinstein is trying to disassociate herself from MILCON's incredible failure to provide decent medical care for wounded soldiers.

Two years ago, before the Washington Post became belatedly involved, the online magazine Salon.com exposed the horrors of deficient medical care for Iraq war veterans. While leading MILCON, Feinstein had ample warning of the medical-care meltdown. But she was not proactive on veteran's affairs.

Feinstein abandoned MILCON as her ethical problems were surfacing in the media, and as it was becoming clear that her subcommittee left grievously wounded veterans to rot while her family was profiting from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It turns out that Blum also holds large investments in companies that were selling medical equipment and supplies and real estate leases—often without the benefit of competitive bidding—to the Department of Veterans Affairs, even as the system of medical care for veterans collapsed on his wife's watch."

[WAHOO WILLIE]

"baby boomers will be flooding the program over the next few years, with less and less working people to pay for it. Add to that the upcoming Social Security time bomb, and I can't even imagine how all this can possibly work."

Temp you've been around long enough to know how this works. The "evil rich" become those with incomes of 250K, then 200K then 150K. There will be a "user fee" for medical care and retirement age becomes 70. Working folk to pay the taxes? Hummm hard to figure that one out with open borders and workers who dont pay taxes or socsec. Let's ask LLama, she has *ALL* the answers.