Schools Superintendent Huppenthal acknowledges anonymous blog posts Editor's note: This story contains sensitive language. Since at least 2011, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal has shared controversial, conservative opinions anonymously on blog websites, he revealed this week. At times, his anonymous statements have been harsh. They have called people who receive public assistance "lazy pigs" and compared Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger to the Nazis. Late Tuesday, June 17, Huppenthal issued a statement exclusively to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com about the reasons he commented on blog posts under the names "Falcon9" and "Thucydides" instead of his own. He also apologized, saying in the statement, "I sincerely regret if my comments have offended anyone." His chief of staff, Merle Bianchi, e-mailed the statement to The Republic. "I have chosen to participate in online blogs as a forum to advocate for and discuss issues related to economics, energy, criminal-justice reform and in recent years, education," Huppenthal wrote. "I have engaged in these debates under the monikers 'Falcon9' and 'Thucydides.' I chose this approach because I felt that any other would limit a free and open exchange." Huppenthal, a Republican running for re-election, said through his staff he would provide a more in-depth response to questions later today. Writers of blogs for the liberal political website Blog for Arizona and conservative political website Seeing Red AZ have speculated that Huppenthal was the man behind the names Thucydides and Falcon9. The websites include posts on issues including education, the economy, health care and immigration. Huppenthal had not responded to questions from bloggers and the news media about his involvement with these comments until June 17. Under the monikers, Huppenthal joined discussions and shared views on other issues, including abortion and child protection. Some examples: "There is no aspect of (Child Protective Services) nationwide which protects children. No correlation between spending on CPS and child safety," Thucydides posted in January on Blog for Arizona. "No correlation between number of CPS workers and child safety. No correlation between child removal and child safety. The only factors which provide safety for children are employment of parents and good schools on the positive side and welfare enrollment on the negative side." "When Darwin wrote his treatise on evolution, it was titled 'Survival of the Favored Races,'" Thucydides posted in September 2013 on Seeing Red AZ. "There were two parts to his work, one was to give a foundation to evolution, the other was to explain the dramatic differences between species. As he explained it in his 1859 work, as a species evolves it begins to develop different races. When one of those races develops a superior advantage, it wipes out the genetically inferior race. It was Darwin, not Hitler, who named the Germans the master race. It was Darwin who expressed approval of eliminating both Jews and Africans. Hitler worked to eliminate the Jews. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood was given the job of eliminating African-Americans. Hitler fed 6 million Jews into the ovens. Sanger has fed 16 million African-Americans into the abortion mills." "Common Core is selling well in the schools and teachers and it is selling well among people who understand it," Thucydides posted in September on Blog for Arizona. "Letter identification, reading fluently by third grade, multiplication by third grade (no calculators), long division, fractions (no new math), grammar and punctuation algebra by freshman in high school, and actually being able to use this math to solve real world problems." (Editor's note: Parentheses included in posting) "We now know that (Franklin D. Roosevelt) was almost completely responsible for the great depression," Falcon9 posted in 2013 on Blog for Arizona. "Only in liberal mythology did FDR 'save' the nation. ... Worse yet, Roosevelt's disastrous economic policies drug down the whole world and directly led to the rise of a no-name hack named Adolph Hitler who was going nowhere until Germany's economy went into the tank." "Our successful small businessmen/job creators are being taxed to death," Falcon9 posted in October 2011 on Blog for Arizona. "At most, they should give up 40 cents on the dollar to expanding government burden. But, Obama demands 63 cents. Meanwhile, Obama is rewarding the lazy pigs with food stamps (44 million people), air- conditioning, free health care, flat-screen TV's (typical of "poor" families)." (Editor's note: Parentheses included in posting) Huppenthal often refers to himself as a "wonk" who reads academic and scientific research after hours instead of reading novels or watching television. Bianchi said Wednesday, June 18, that Huppenthal has insomnia and often stays up through the late hours reading scientific reasearch and political blogs. "He is a Republican conservative who is advancing the ideals he believe in," she said. "I take my role as an American citizen seriously, and public policy has been a passion of mine for my entire life," Huppenthal said in Tuesday's statement. "Anonymous discourse has been an established practice throughout U.S. history, including the development of the Federalist Papers, and has become even more prevalent since the advent of the Internet. I strongly believe that no citizens should give up their right to free speech — sourced or anonymous — simply because of a position they hold. "However, I take my position as an Arizona leader very seriously, and I sincerely regret if my comments have offended anyone." Huppenthal has served as the Arizona's top education leader since 2011 and has launched a campaign for re-election to a second term. Throughout his term, conservatives have criticized him for his support of the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards, based on the Common Core. Liberals also have criticized his support of charter schools and private-school vouchers.
Late Tuesday, June 17, Huppenthal issued a statement exclusively to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com about the reasons he commented on blog posts under the names "Falcon9" and "Thucydides" instead of his own. He also apologized, saying in the statement, "I sincerely regret if my comments have offended anyone." Dammit I hate that shit. Fuck anyone who is offended. I post here. If for some reason my real life and this board identity went public I wouldn't apologize for shit. I said what I said and I stand by it. If you're offended please feel free to kill yourself. I'm sick of people getting into these situations and apologizing for what they said. If you believed it when you said it then have the balls to not apologize for it.
^ It sounds like you're kind of offended by him saying that. Does that mean you are going to go kill yourelf?
Yep, "I'm sorry that my views (which I still hold) bothered you," is weak ass non-apology bullshit. If you hold the view, stand up and say so, then detractors can criticize you if they don't like it. This idea that we should be weary of offending people by exercising free speach belongs in the same trash bin as everybody wins a trophy.
I choose my words more carefully than I used to, in case people are someday interested in tracking down things I've said online. The main reason for that, however, is that I've tried to become a) more thoughtful and b) less reactive, with the bonus of trying to be more clearly understood. Also:
Bullshit - Joe Biden can't work a computer. His only communication is a tin can and a string Obama's daughters made him.
Usually when I hear "I'm sorry" from people like this, it's usually an incomplete sentence. The rest of the sentence is "for getting caught."
He's sticking around: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/26/superintendent-anonymous-blog-posts/11394027/
Good, as I've advocated before, people should be allowed to have contrversial opinions without the PC police deciding they should be completely destroyed.
