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Forget learning how to balance a checkbook . . . you’re going to memorize those effing 10 commandments, or else!



Photo above - congress debating why America has a $34 trillion national debt. "Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie"

Memorize the 10 commandments! Sez who? Or what?

Apparently, your diploma might be at risk. Louisiana’s Christian Governor Jeff Landry has made it clear that he expects “strict compliance” with the new ten commandments classroom rule. Because it’s an 11th commandment straight from the mouth of politicians.

This will be astonishing, if Landry makes good on his threat. Right now – in almost every school district – you can get a diploma without knowing ANYTHING. Covid 19 proved this. For several years no students were held back for any reason. Offerings of 1 hour a day of online instruction were ignored. Those free PCs were evidently pawned, vandalized, or used for online gaming. Here’s your diploma. Good luck getting a job. Amazon always needs more pickers.

What do most schools NOT have? Any requirement for financial literacy. When was the last time you heard a kid complaining “Oh geeze, I forgot to do my checkbook balancing homework”. Or asking mom for help? (“Go ask your father. Math is hard.”)

If you don’t think ignorance of addition and subtraction is a risk, I can give you 34 trillion reasons why you’re wrong. Each year hundreds of bills are proposed in congress, with no idea how much they will cost, or how they will be paid for.

There USED to be courses in how to make change from a dollar. Store checkouts are now mostly card readers. And shoppers barely glance at the bottom line, since they don’t have to pay with actual money - just plastic. “How to make change” was replaced with “how to comply with police during arrest and detainment” in some schools. Which brought howls of outrage from some parents, and sighs of relief from others, because their kid will explicitly have been told not brandish that replica pistol at police and curse. Like the kid in New York who did last week, and was shot immediately. Maybe he was absent from school that day, or it they didn’t get to it during 1 hour a day of internet instruction?

Here's another effect of American schools refusal to teach financial literacy : the Student Loan Crisis. Couldn’t there be just ONE SEMESTER of loan basics in the senior year? “If you borrow $90,000, your monthly payment will be $500 a month for 40 years.” We don’t let kids drink liquor or sign up for credit cards at age 18, but they can commit themselves to a lifetime of student loan debt. It’s at $2 Trillion now, and growing.

Some parents are already suing over the 10 commandments law. Evidently jews/ Parents filed at least 3 lawsuits last week in Louisiana alone. Will America's Muslims join this suit, or oppose it because it was launched by Zionists? And if Muslims get control of some school system, will they pass an order requiring the posting of Quranic verses like: “Men are the maintainers of women . . .good women are therefore obedient . . . if you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them. Surely Allah is Great.” What would Buddhists require kids to memorize? Possibly their famous aphorism “Pain is inevitable”?

But that’s the future. Today, in Louisiana, and probably some other states soon, you will have to be able to know what “Thou shalt not bear false witness” means. Which actually might be a good idea, if you’re a politician running for office, or participating in a televised debate.

I’m just sayin’ . ..
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Speaking for myself, if the 10 Commandments had been on display when I was a student, I would have written an obnoxious parody of them.

Several other religious groups have sued for their own tenets to be displayed. This is the real reason we can't have school prayer. After you've accommodated everyone, there wouldn't be time left for anything else.
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@LeopoldBloom Since Trump violates all of them, should they change the name to the Ten Suggestions?
@windinhishair I always liked this version.

Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipp'd, except the currency:
Swear not at all; for, for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse:
At church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend:
Honour thy parents; that is, all
From whom advancement may befall:
Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive
Officiously to keep alive:
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it:
Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When it's so lucrative to cheat:
Bear not false witness; let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly:
Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.

The Latest Decalogue by Arthur Hugh Clough
windinhishair · 61-69, M
@LeopoldBloom I haven't seen that one before. I like it.
SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@LeopoldBloom i'm okay with a moment of silence. for silent prayer to your parent's graven image, or reflection on why you didn't complete your homework. Okay - 30 seconds are over. Now let's begin class . . .
@SusanInFlorida The Supreme Court has ruled that "a moment of silent prayer" is unconstitutional. At least, they did until Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. You can be sure that case would have turned out differently if it was Ahmed v. Bremerton School District or Finkelstein v. Bremerton School District.
SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@LeopoldBloom i'm an originalist. my theory is that . . .

1. the founding fathers would be horrified to learn that silent prayer in school was illegal

2. the internet could be censored

3. the guarantee of a "swift" trial usually means 2 years if the feds are involved

4. california was allowed to charge an "exit fee" for residents to move out (restraint of interstate commerce)

5. Free needles were being provided with tax money

6. you need a license to own a dog, or go fishing

7. police need to be equipped with body cams to keep them from committing atrocities when nobody is watching.
@SusanInFlorida If the founding fathers were told that 50 million people live in California, their response would be "50 million people live in what?" Originalism is just another way of interpreting the Constitution, and when it comes from the current court, it's just an excuse to cherry-pick history to arrive at the desired conservative outcome. The framers weren't gods. They probably would also be shocked to learn...

1. Slavery is illegal and Black people are equal to whites under the law

2. We had a Black president with an Arab name whose father was from Kenya. We also had 2 Catholic presidents and 1 Quaker (Nixon)

3. A Jewish state exists in the historic homeland of the Jewish people

4. For most of the 20th century, our main enemy was Russia

5. Women can vote, hold office, and have the same rights as men

6. The most spoken language in the US after English is Spanish

7. Native Americans were completely subjugated and almost killed off to the point that they comprise 1% of the population

8. There are more than twice as many Muslims in the US as Native Americans

9. Citizens are allowed to own firearms that can shoot hundreds of rounds a minute, and do not have to be militia members

10. The oceans are polluted