Tagged: Health Curriculum

Posted: October 9, 2010 at 1:27 pm

Tea Party Leader Struggles To Explain UN-Helena School Health Conspiracy

Jim Walker, the chairman of the Big Sky Tea Party Association board post-Ravndal and Allen-Gailushas, has argued that a proposed new curriculum to teach students about health and nutrition is based on

United Nations’ established philosophies with an emphasis on development of “global citizens” while intentionally diminishing the importance of national heritage.

In late September, Walker wrote a guest opinion in the Helena IR that told us that teaching children about health and nutrition with lessons based teaching to the whole child, (which he claims is linked to the International Baccalaureate program, and through that, he presumes, the UN) will have “negative impacts on American heritage and culture” and has been implemented in such a way that is a direct violation of the Montana Constitution.

Despite the TEA Party’s dark fears, the Helena health and nutrition lessons carry no legal obligations for students to even participate if parents so choose, and raises no constitutional issues.

Nor is it associated in any way with the United Nations, as the Director of Communications for the group the TEA Party is trying to denigrate through UN association writes in a letter to the editor yesterday in the Helena IR.

Posted: September 27, 2010 at 9:49 pm

Helena Right-wing Candidate on “Jihad” and the Right to “Bare[sic] Arms”

Really Helena?! This is the woman that you want to let the tell the school board what to teach children? A woman who calls herself “Lady Knight of the Gun” on what is the creepiest Myspace page I’ve ever seen, but can’t spell the right have a gun herself?

Kristi Allen-Gailushas, the infamous Helena candidate for the Montana legislature on the Republican ticket, via her Facebook page.

According to the Queen City News I am a controversial candidate and I made it on to crooksandliars.com. WOOHOO!!! If you stand up for something and get attacked then you are doing something right – - as in standing up to the Helena School District. I also do not like terrorists calling for Jihad against our citizens and country and I will proudly support and defend our 2nd Amendment right to keep and bare[sic] arms!

Kristi Allen Gailushas wants the right to "bare arms."

Kristi Allen-Gailushas is seeking to defeat Mike Menahan for the Montana Legislature.

Posted: September 26, 2010 at 4:18 pm

So Weak

After reading Pogie’s post over at Intelligent Discontent on what may be the worst editorial opinion ever, seriously, I ask for your views on whether this might also be a contender.  It is, at any rate, very very weak.

The Helena IR’s managing editor John Doran, making the unusual move of signing the editorial himself, writes:

Mid-term elections are in full swing, with each party united, and the caustic rhetoric isn’t exactly music to voters’ ears as they blast away from both sides of the aisle [emphasis added].

He sites as examples (1) the TEA Party’s hateful rhetoric and (2) the Montana GOP ‘s platform position in favor of imprisoning gay citizens of Montana.

The opinion piece offers no evidence of this kind of rhetoric from the Democratic Party, but that doesn’t stop Mr. Doran.  No, he doesn’t appear to notice the inherent flaw in his arguments when he makes the conclusion that:

the notion of “disagreeing without being disagreeable” is noticeably absent from all things political these days.

His argument suffers from his failure to provide evidence that Democrats are calling for anyone to be imprisoned or joking about others being beaten and left to die on the side of a fence.  We won’t even get into the fact that every other paper in America has already discovered that “united” is the last word one uses to describe the GOP this year.    It also suffers from another omission.

Mr. Doran writes that:

The Helena School District health curriculum debate has been fierce, with accusations of lying, manipulating facts and driving an agenda flying from both opponents and proponents.

But he need only ask any member of the School Board or School District staff from whom are they receiving the death threats  to determine that the threatening violent rhetoric comes squarely from those on one side of the issue, the opponents.

UPDATE: Pogie has a really interesting theory about this editorial.  Go read it.

Posted: September 4, 2010 at 3:19 pm

War on error

Let’s play “fact or fiction” with the Helena IR.

If you read the IR’s coverage of Dr. Miriam Grossman’s anti-sex education events this week, you probably found yourself wondering what was fact…and what was the IR doing its part to spread misinformation on behalf of Kristi Allen-Gailushas and her merry band of anti-health crusading tea-baggers.

Is it fact or fiction when the Helena IR calls Miriam Grossman, the woman Kristi-Allen Gailushas brought in to bolster her ridiculous crusade against healthiness a:

Los Angeles-based sex education expert and author?

If you guessed fiction, you’d be correct. Had the Helena IR done some basic research, they would have found out that Grossman’s opinions on comprehensive sex education are contrary to the well established position of the medical and educational community.

Next, is the IR reporting fact or fiction when they portray a statement from the coalition in favor of teaching kids about health, nutrition, the harm caused by bullying, and how to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease as saying they:

urged community members to stay home and talk to their kids about having sex instead of attending the talks.

Fiction again.  Here’s what the organizations actually said:

Instead of attending this lecture, the Montana Partnership for Sex Education is asking community members to consider staying home and talking to their kids about sex and their values around family and relationships.

This game is heating up over Intelligent Discontent, where Pogie and The Polish Wolf do a great job of holding them accountable for more bad and absent reporting.

Posted: August 25, 2010 at 12:43 pm

Anti-health crusader smokes crack, discloses conspiracy theory on the radio

Anti-health crusader Kristi Allen-Gailushas has put her staggering intellect and world-view on the radio. She has figured out the secret health curriculum conspiracy, and she isn’t afraid to share it with you.

But if Ms. Allen-Gailushas really thinks that any sane individual believes that the goal of the health curriculum is, as she says, to…
to push the homosexual agenda into the schools and to eventually they will their goal is to get rid of the regular subjects like math and economics.
…then she is, metaphorically, smoking crack.

Montana Public Radio’s Emilie Ritter has the whole story here. It is worth a listen to the first story in this audio archive of Montana Evening Edition, which starts at 45 seconds in.
For those of you who can’t listen to audio right now, I have transcribed all of Ms. Allen-Gailushas comments below:
I believe that needs to be taught in the home, it doesn’t need to be taught in the schools.

I have a problem with the nutrition as well, as that is taught in the home. The environmental health, that basically is just indoctrination on global warming or climate change or whatever they are calling it now.

I sent a letter to Messinger asking to have a seat at the table during the revision process so that parents could have can observe what is going on and possibly also have input in it.

There is an agenda behind this whole sex ed and the whole child education. It is to push the homosexual agenda into the schools and to eventually they will their goal is to get rid of the regular subjects like math and economics.

The majority of parents do teach their children these subjects at home, um and if there is kids that don’t get this um education, I’m not sure how they come about with these kids with that the numbers that these kids aren’t taught or whatever, but maybe they just need to have a separate class at night for these minority of children that supposedly don’t get taught.

Grammar is the speaker’s own.

Posted: August 25, 2010 at 12:23 pm

‘Jihad this’ lady garners national attention for her campaign against health

And not in a good way.  On of my favorite blogs, Wonkette, has picked up the story of Montana’s “anti-health” teabag candidate for legislature on the Republican ticket. Here’s a tidbit from their post entitled “Teabag Lady First Person Ever To Use ‘Forced Down Our Throats’ Correctly“:

Yes, Kristi, Michelle Obama would like nothing more than to come to your home, where you teach your family about how McNuggets are fucking delicious, and literally force health and nutrition down your throat, in the form of arugula and other fancy foods that aren’t made entirely out of processed corn byproducts. They also set the portion size standards tyrannically, so that every American will be forced to eat meals that are no larger than a quarter, like at a comical French restaurant in a sitcom.

Read more at Wonkette.com And then go over to Intelligent Discontent and read the lawsuit.

Posted: August 23, 2010 at 10:46 pm

Tea Partier, GOP candidate displays lack of constitutional understanding

GOP Legislative candidate, Tea Party Secretary Kristi Allen-Gailushas REALLY doesn't want kids to be taught nutritionI’m sure you will be stunned to read this, but it seem that no one in the Big Sky Tea Party association actually knows what’s in the Constitution.

They took the opportunity to prove this fact Friday afternoon in Helena, when the Tea Party Secretary and Republican Legislative candidate Kristi Allen-Gailushas shared more about her uninformed and poorly-thought-out world view by filing a pro se lawsuit to stop the local school from teaching about health.   Pogie does a great job of pointing out some of the many ironies in their actions, to which I would like to add just one.

These folks claim that they are making their complaint on the basis of the Montana Constitution, but had they actually read said document, they would know that it prohibits state education regulators and the Montana Legislature from dictating local curriculum.  Even the Helena IR figured this one out.

Given the Tea Partiers’ lack of understanding about the Montana Constitution, state law, nutrition, and general common sense, the fact that they think they should have a roll in teaching children anything is beyond frightening.  Here’s a gem from the previous ramblings of this Republican candidate for the Montana Legislature. The whole “editorial” she wrote is so hilarious:

The section about nutrition is not the responsibility of the school to teach. This is something taught in the home. The proponents like to say our schoolchildren are obese. By whose standards? Every child is different. Kids are short, tall, skinny or bigger. Who sets the standards for obesity? Whose business is it if some kids are a little overweight? They also want to teach proper portion size in a meal. Who sets those standards? This is no one’s business to teach outside of the home. I am tired of health and nutrition being forced down our throats day in and day out. If I want to take myself and my family to eat pizza four times a week and have McDonald’s the other three days of the week, that is no one’s business but my own.

Ms. Kristi Allen-Gailushas is running for Helena’s House District 82 against Representative Mike Menahan.

Posted: July 15, 2010 at 12:08 pm

News Hounds exposes Bill O’Reilly’s Lies re: Helena health curriculum

The fine folks at News Hounds (We watch FOX so you don’t have to.) have a new post up exposing Bill O’Reilly’s homophobic lies regarding the Helena School District’s proposed health curriculum. The post is worth reading because it lays out what the curriculum goals really are and gives folks an action we can take to fight back. If we don’t call them and complain, no one will, and that’s the only way this is going to stop, as it appears that the local school district is being really slow to take the proper action. They need to stand up for themselves in the national media and demand equal time on Fox to refute the lies being spread about them on that station.

My favorite part:

I really don’t know how Bill O’Reilly and Fox “News” can claim that they represent American patriotism because this line of crap (and crap it is) just serves to further divide Americans by vilifying those who don’t adhere to a conservative point of view. Rather than promoting tolerance and diversity, this type of “opinion” journalism serves to create a climate of hate which is very damaging to our society. But Bill doesn’t care. Again, there is no mention of same sex relationships in Kindergarten. Will Bill correct his mistake? Don’t hold your breath!