I'm Back (to Indoctrinate your Children)

Ok, I am sufficiently outraged as to start blogging again. I took a break for a while (a long while), partly because of school, because I moved, and honestly, because I didn't have much to complain about for a while. True, I've been quite disappointed by the reaction of many Central Texans to Obama's election, but not enough to write too much about it. Let me clarify that statement. I do not expect everyone to bow down and worship Obama. Many of his hard-core supporters think there are some things that he could be doing differently. No, I am simply sick of the fearmongering that is swirling about. I'm tired of Obama's critics tossing out a few political catchphrases designed to get their based good and riled up, and then listening to the ensuing chaos.

One more qualification: I was a Bush-basher. I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads "So the Dixie Chicks were right after all." I was an informed Bush-basher, however. I can handle debate; I can handle disagreement. What I can't handle is the ignorance. If all you've heard is the Fox News version, then please either a.) sit down and shut the up, or b.) do some more research. If you've learned some things about what you are bitching about, and still have the same opinion, bring it on. I'd love to talk to you. If neither choice a. nor b. applies to you, get a hobby or something. Join a monastery and take a vow of silence. Learn to knit...anything but this.

What's gotten me so annoyed is the uproar over Obama's address to students on Tuesday. I'm hearing people saying they are pulling their kids out of school that day. There are so many reasons why this is ridiculous. First of all, my understanding is that the speech is going to be a standard, "hey-kids-stay-in-school-don't-do-drugs" kinda thing. I remember watching George H.W. Bush do the same thing when I was in 1st-2nd grade. There may have been an uproar then, but I was a little to young to join in on the fun. Anyway, unless Obama will be sending subliminal messages to the kiddies, I highly doubt that any of them are going to be receiving instructions on how to get a quickie abortion, join the gay rights movement, hug a treee, or become a Socialist. The message is to do well in school, which, ironically, is best achieved by having good attendance. So, go to school on Tuesday, kids.

All in all, I think this is a minor thing that will hopefully blow over. We have bigger fish to fry. It's not worth getting this upset over. We've got some real problems to fix.

On a side note, I'm going to try to post more often, now that I'm settled at my new school and in my new apartment. Before, I kinda wanted people to read and comment my blog, now I don't care. This is just an outlet for my frustrations. If you like it great, if not...that's also great. This is going to be my equivalent of a punching bag from now on.

What my favorite bigots have been up to...

With all the attention surrounding the actual candidates this year, I almost forgot about some of my favorite crazy people. I mentioned in an earlier post that I hadn't heard much from Ann Coulter. None of the newspapers that I read publish her anymore, and, during the election, I did not care enough about her to go online. However, since there isn't much going on right now, I thought I would scope out the reaction of some of my favorite crazies to Obama's election.

Ann Coulter. Such a sore loser. She is a bit upset over the Obama, victory, but mainly because the Republicans blew it. Wow, she almost sounds like a Democrat. Anyway, Coulter is planted firmly on the Palin bandwagon (of course), think Colin Powell's endorsement was meant to be be sarcastic, and refers to Obama only as "B. Hussein Obama." Here's more of what she had to say:

After showing nearly superhuman restraint throughout this campaign, which was lost the night McCain won the California primary, I am now liberated to announce that all I care about is hunting down and punishing every Republican who voted for McCain in the primaries. I have a list and am prepared to produce the names of every person who told me he was voting for McCain to the proper authorities.

Ok, now she sounds like a Republican again. I was getting worried...

Fred Phelps. The pastor of Westboro Baptist "Church" is an anti-homosexual nutjob who is mostly known for picketing soldiers' funerals. Some trademark picket signs that the church uses are: God Hates Fags, You're Going to Hell, Thank God for Dead Soldiers, AIDS Cures Fags, and Priests Rape Boys. He is so extreme that it is impossible to take him seriously, but people do. He mostly hides behind the First Amendment (as is his right), but federal and state laws have been enacted to keep him and his crazies a certain distance away from cemeteries.

The Westboro Baptist Church's website (godhatesfags.com, ironically) is another joke that uses inflammatory language and twisted Bible verses to get the point across. The main message is, big surprise, that God hates fags.

Anyway, according to Wikipedia, Phelps is a Democrat that supported Al Gore. Another joke. But anyway, I expected the response to Barack Obama's win to be less than positive. Since no one really takes this man seriously anymore, I haven't seen him on the news or anything, but he has preached several sermons in which Obama is mentioned.

Of course, they believe that Obama is the anti-christ and Phelps even calls him an "evil, black Nimrod."

Ted Nugent. He is one of the few "columnists" that I physically cannot stand to read. I can handle Ann Coulter, I can handle Michelle Malkin, hell, I can even watch Bill O'Reilly from time to time. Ted Nugent, however, pisses me off. He writes blatantly racist crap in the Waco Trib all the time, and they still refer to him affectionately as "Nuge." It makes me shudder.

Here are samples from a recent column where he outlined who has a soul and who does not:

It is soulless to purchase blingbling, tobacco, booze and more, then claim that you can't afford a sandwich and an apple for your kid's school lunch — then to ask the government to waste some more tax dollars on your so-called needs.

Let me translate. The term "blingbling," as used here by this ignorant bastard, is code for "I'm about to start bashing black people."

You have no soul, Barack Obama, to borrow a page from Mao Tse-Tung to "take those profits . . ." from an American corporation and redistribute it to your blingbling-infested, irresponsible constituents.

I'll translate for the ignorant redneck once again. "Blingbling infested, irresponsible constituents," in Nugent's world, equals black people. After all, don't we now know that only black people voted for Obama?

I haven't seen an official response to Obama's election yet, mayne Nugent in too busy purchasing guns and stockpiling food, but here is some of what he wrote a couple of days before Election Day:

...the good governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has proven to be a bureaucrat-stomping, status quo-destroying political warrior. Everybody I know is genuinely moved by her defiance of the old-guard politicos.

Ah. How did I know that he would be a Palin fan?

People who are too cowardly to associate their names with their opinions. I use my real name on this blog, and that might be stupid, but at least I am willing to stand up for my opinions. Sarah Palin kinda had a point when she said that the anonymous bloggers who bashed her continually were cowards. Here are more examples:

• A noose is hung from a tree at Baylor University.
• An Obama cutout is hung from a tree on the University of Kentucky campus. (for the record, I disapprove of the person who hung a cutout of Sarah Palin and depicted John McCain in flames as Halloween decorations, as well).
• Anti-Obama graffiti is found on Purdue's campus.

Why are so many of the cowardly incidents happening on college campuses? Young people are supposed to be the tolerant ones. You have a right to free speech, but you cross the line when you threaten someone. Nooses hanging from trees, especially in the South, are threats. I've said this before.

Some people have this gut reaction to Obama that they cannot quote describe. It's not that they disagree with his politics, but there's just "something about him." That's the official answer, anyway. How about, from now on, we just call it what it is: good old-fashioned Southern racism. You can complain about our next president all you want, and you have a right to hate him based on his skin color, I suppose. I disagree with this vehemently, and I think it makes you less than a person, but I can't help how you feel. Just stop using euphemisms and admit that you are racist. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, after all.

Obama the Dictator

Rep. Paul Broun, of Georgia, has said that he is afraid that Obama will be a dictator, and that he is planning to use a Gestapo-like police force to help him achieve dictatorship. From the Associated Press:

Broun said he was not fear-mongering but wants to warn people that the
nation could be going down that path.

How is saying that Obama is leading down the same path the Hitler led Germany not fearmongering?

Broun goes on to say:

We can't be lulled into complacency. You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential of going down that road.

That's like saying, "I'm not gonna compare Obama to Hitler, but hey, this guy's a lot like Hitler."

Obama did say that he supported civilian support for our military, to help in postwar construction, but he was talking about using reserve units. This idea has been supported by W. himself. Has anyone,besides maybe this idiot, ever considered the Army National Guard to be a Gestapo-like police force? Probably not.

Then he begins to rant about gun control. It has been widely reported that gun sales are way up, because rednecks are losing their damn minds, thinking Obama's going to take their guns away. Obama supports "common sense" gun laws, which means he'll probably only focus on assault weapons and concealed handguns.

Ok, here's my position on gun control. If you are a hunter and use hunting rifles for game, great. You shoot for sport, fine. If you feel that you need protection, and are trained to use a handgun, go for it. Get a license if you carry it with you. But why does any law-abiding citizen need an assault rifle? There may be perfectly valid reasons for this, but I can't think of any.

So, Broun will continue the fearmongering, yes, it is fearmongering, that was such a vital part of the Republican campaign. Most of the rest of us will get behind our new president and wait for a new day to come.