Your Tax Dollars At Work

Teacher caught in Bush "rant"

An Overland High School teacher who criticized President Bush, capitalism and U.S. foreign policy during his geography class was placed on administrative leave Wednesday afternoon after a student who recorded the session went public with the tape.

In the 20-minute recording, made on an MP3 player, teacher Jay Bennish described capitalism as a system "at odds with human rights." He also said there were "eerie similarities" between what Bush said during his Jan. 28 State of the Union address and "things that Adolf Hitler used to say."

What is capitalism? Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. Under capitalism the state is separated from economics (production and trade), just like the state is separated from religion (the only system that allows freedom of religion, including freedom from it). Capitalism is the system of of laissez faire. It is the system of political freedom. Visit Capitalism.org to learn more.

As far as Bush/Hitler comparison goes, I'm really too tired of that illiterate and lazy argument to spend much more time than I already have on it. The only similarity I see is that they're both male (and have penises as well, I assume). Other than that there are no similarities, much less "eerie similarities". Hitler was hell bent on the complete destruction of the Jews while hoping Austria and Germany would unite. George Bush is all about preserving the Jews and eliminating the threat of destruction of the world by terrorists. On the other hand, one name ends the same as the other begins. Look at that H in the Bush name, pretty damning evidence.


The United States was "probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth," Bennish also said on the tape.

This "teacher" must have been living in a bunker below ground without any media access at all in an attempt to hide from a long line of Bushitlers to have missed so much violence that has occurred around the world.

R.J. Rummel Professor Emeritus of Political Science sheds some light, through suitable applications of fact, on this common accusation and says:

The next time a so called "anti-war" activist, self-righteous "peace researcher," or blathering leftist declares that the U.S. is the most violent nation in the world, kindly tell them that their ignorance is only exceeded by their ideological blindness.

The 20-minute recording of only a portion of the class was made by 16-year-old sophomore Sean Allen the day after the president's speech.

Click here to listen.

Sean said in an interview he had been disturbed by the "political rants" he heard in Bennish's class. He added that he wanted to tape the session for his father, who later shared it with the media.

Sean, who described himself as a political independent, said the comments seemed inappropriate for a geography class.

"If he wants to give an opinion in class, I'm perfectly OK with that," he said. "But he has to give both sides of the story."

James McGrath Morris, an author who has written about academic freedom issues, said Bennish's comments are acceptable for an adult audience, but they are hard to defend in a high school classroom.

In a number of legal cases, courts have ruled that "up until the age of majority, children are easily influenced ... in a way that they don't have the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs," Morris said.

Apparently not having the faculties to sort out rights from wrongs doesn't affect all children (the student was clearly aware of Bennish's wrong doing in the classroom) while this lack of faculty follows some (like Bennish) well into adulthood.