Left Coast Lunacy

The Oakland, CA School Board held a “teach-in” on the impending war with Iraq, reports Fox News. The event seems to have been mandatory, as some parents criticized that it “[took] away from the curriculum.” School Board Member Dan Siegal asked suggestively: “What is the role of oil in this dispute?” Also, they featured a presentation on Palestinian refugees and brought in a pro-Palestinian speaker. What this has to do with a war against Iraq is anyone’s guess.

One Oakland High senior noted that no one said anything in support of war. In his defense, Siegal noted that they could not find anyone in support of the war to present the other side, although they had invited President Bush and SoS Colin Powell. (They should have invited me.)

Now, normally I would get in a huff about this. But frankly, I’d expect nothing less from Oakland. Just living there is indoctrination.

UPDATE Here’s an update from The Oakland Tribune that has a bit more candor. Here’s the first sentence:

Schools held 1960s-style teach-ins Tuesday against President Bush’s possible war in Iraq, encouraging students to remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s message of nonviolence on his birthday today and urging them to march against war.

I just don’t know where to begin with what’s wrong with this. But it goes on:

Groups scheduled to speak included Veterans for Peace, the Black Radical Congress and the Middle East Children’s Alliance.

Indeed! Further:

Still, the teach-ins were about education, not anti-war rhetoric, Siegel said. “Our teachers and our students here in Oakland are too smart to be victims of propaganda,” he said.

If Propaganda Minister Siegal says so, then it must be true!

And here we have white, limosine liberal guilt in action:

“It’s Dr. King’s birthday. Dr. King didn’t die so we can take a three-day weekend and go skiing,” Hodge said.