Meet the Next "Czar" Target
You will soon be hearing a lot about Barack Obama's "Safe Schools Czar." His name is Kevin Jennings, and you will learn that he wants to promote homosexuality, he hates God, and he does drugs.
Jennings' real job title is "Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools." It is, indeed, an unconfirmed position, but it was, of course, created by an act of Congress.
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools was created by George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. It was designed as the successor to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program, which was created in 1986, as part of the general Reagan and Congress anti-drug hysteria leading up to the '86 midterms.
In other words, it was the "drug-free school zone" program for a couple years until it got tossed in with some Columbine hysteria in 2002.
Kevin Jennings's book Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son is the story of growing up gay and Southern Baptist in the '60s and early-'70s. He got a lot of grief. And he went on to become an educator himself, and the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. There is basically not a single bad thing you can say about that organization unless you actually do think gay kids (and even not gay kids) should be taunted by teachers and classmates until they kill themselves. So, obviously, the Family Research Council is leading the charge against Jennings. They want gay kids to die. Sorry! It's the truth!
And guess who is more than happy to play along? Fox News! They officially deemed him a Czar and aired all the out-of-context quotes and read the charges against him running a heretofore completely unknown and relatively powerless little corner of the Department of Education.
The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools is, like most "Czars," responsible for almost nothing. He or she helps decide where anti-violence and anti-drug money goes and recommends how it is to be spent. He or she helps draft school violence policy. He or she goes to conferences.
So. Let's go back in time!
Eric Andell, George W. Bush's first Deputy Secretary of Education for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (you can see why the media decided to call everyone with a long title a "Czar" now, right?), was a juvenile court judge, Texas Court of Appeals justice, and a senior adviser to then-Education Secretary Rod Paige. As it was 2002, Endell's job description involved a lot of talk of Homeland Security, terrorism, and school shootings. Also, indoctrination:
Andell will oversee all activities related to safe schools, crisis response, alcohol and drug prevention, health and well being of students, and building strong character and citizenship in the new unit. His office will also take the leadership role in the department's Homeland Security efforts.
Andell left the Education Department when he was charged with a misdemeanor count of using federal money to pay for personal expenses—he pleaded guilty to traveling for "private personal and financial matters" on the government dime 14 times in one year.
He was succeeded by a woman who directed the National Prayer Breakfast and had a series of policy gigs at Bush's DoE.
Now, instead of a conservative policy wonk or a someone whose job it was to lock up children we have a dude who has written extensively on bullying and how to prevent it. Republicans are literally up in arms about him because they are afraid he will make it more difficult to bully children for being gay.