Remember Jay Bennish - the teacher who ranted for 20 minutes and was recorded? You may remember the name, but not the face because Mr. Bennish had an "extreme makeover" before appearing on this morning's Today Show.

After:
(Photos via Michelle Malkin.)

Also, an anonymous commentor on my HSB blog said this:

First of all... lets not take Mr. Bennish's, who by the way is one of the most known and respected teachers at Overland High School (my school), out of context. For example the exerpt you put on your front page is a small part of sucha big lecture that was ended with, "Alright, and so this becomes very, very muddled. And I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position. But what I'm trying to get you to do is to think, right, about these issues more in-depth, you know, and not just take things from the surface. And I'm glad you asked all your questions, because they're very good, legitimate questions. And hopefully that allows other people to begin to think about some of those things, too." (Quote from your very own Michelle Malkin) So make sure you keep this part in mind, when you are so glad you stay homeschooled.

Student records a political rant by his geography teacher. Sean Allen, is a 16 year old student at Overland High School in Denver Colorado. He recorded a 20 minute political rant by his teacher, Jay Bennish who teaches "world geography".

The rant was downright hilarious (and sad) and it just goes to show how radical the Liberals are. I heard several clips of the tape on Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and found it very enlightening, to say the least.

Michelle Malkin has posted the entire transcript and I'd encourage you to read it.

Teacher Jay Bennish: Who is probably the single most violent nation on planet Earth?!
Unidentified brainwashed student interjects: We are.
Bennish: The United States of America!

Make sure you read the rest. It makes you shake your head and wonder what has happened to our schools. Thankfully I've avoided this indoctrination stuff - there's only one way for me: homeschooling. Thanks Mom and Dad for saving me from the madness.

(HT: Mom)

World Magazine had an interesting article in the current issue about many churches in America closing by Joel Belz.

For those of us who were children of the '40s or '50s, it wasn't uncommon to worry a little at the thought that a fierce cadre of Russian communist soldiers might suddenly burst through the doors of our church, arrest the pastor, and lock the place up. Especially because our pastor was also my father, I remember that we kids from time to time discussed what our options might be in the case that religious persecution might come to our very doorstep.

Nor do I mean through such recollection to trivialize what is in fact happening right now in many places of the world. Church doors are indeed being locked in more places than we like to think, as Christians are being told forcefully that they may not openly practice their faith.

But in our own setting these days, I think we Americans should worry a good bit more about another trend that I doubt we're prepared for. That movement is the locking of thousands of church doors from the inside, just because there are so few folks in there to keep things going.

This is so sad. It's one thing for the government to shut churches down, but it's another thing for the church to shut itself down. When we walk away from the Lord, sin prevails. We've seen some of this sin in our nation already. Shutting down churches would only aide that "movement." Something needs to be done...someone needs to stand up...perhaps it'll be the next genereation - which would include me, that will take a stand. We can only hope.

God help our nation.

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Don't forget to go vote for Teen Blogger of the Year at MVB's blog! Here's the rules and place to vote and make sure you know who the nominees are! So, get over there and vote! MVB has picked an awesome list of talented bloggers...and I can't say it enough...go and vote! Oh yes, you only have October 21 (today) - October 28 to vote...

Looks as thought Harriet Miers has made more news...as if she already hadn't. From Townhall.com via Time Magazine:

Get ready for a whole new Harriet. After a disastrous two weeks, White House officials say they hope to relaunch the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court by moving from what they call a "biographical phase" to an "accomplishment phase." In other words, stop debating her religion and personality and start focusing on her résumé as a pioneering female lawyer of the Southwest.

I'll have to follow this closely. Any new information on Harriet Miers I'd love to hear and read about.

David Ketter of The Account also alerted me to SecDef's interesting tidbits about Harriet Miers. Something worth checking out. I like what he said at the bottom:

...the safest thing for us to do, politically, is to oppose her. Why? Because if her nomination is withdrawn, or if she is voted down, or even if she passes with a very low vote - President Bush will have gotten the message that the conservative base wants a conservative candidate.

I agree with that. My views have been swaying with Harriet Miers, and I'm still not fully confident that I support her. I've gone back and forth with my support of her...and these articles have made me a bit more cautious.

You also may be interested in my view of Harriet Miers here and here.

I think I'm beginning to like Harriet Miers. I am still hesitant, but the more I read and hear about her, the more I'm inclined to support her. In the end, I think she'll be more like a John Roberts.

This morning, I finally got the chance to listen to SquareTalk Radio show. This episode was devoted to Harriet Miers. I really liked the way they presented each side and this got me to see why she'd make a great judge. This show was very beneficial to me and because of it, I'm very inclined to support Harriet Miers. Travis (also know as the Boy Scout Blogger), Alex King (Smart Homeschool) and Tim Sweetman (Agent Tim) had a wonderful perspective on Harriet Miers. Great show and worth every minute to listen to!

I have also been reading a myriad of articles in the past couple of days, one happens to be from Townhall.com by Thomas Sowell:

It would be nice to have someone with ringing rhetoric and dazzling intellectual firepower. But the bottom line is how they vote. If the President is right about Harriet Miers, she may be the best choice he could make under the circumstances. (snip)

The very fact that Harriet Miers is a member of an evangelical church suggests that she is not dying to be accepted by the beautiful people, and is unlikely to sell out the Constitution of the United States in order to be the toast of Georgetown cocktail parties or praised in the New York Times. Considering some of the turkeys that Republicans have put on the Supreme Court in the past, she could be a big improvement.

Mr. Sowell hits makes many points that I would have to agree with. He outlines most of what I've been hesitant about, but adds some good points about her. Overall a really good article and worth a read.