Wipe your mouth.. there’s still a bit of bullshit around your lips. September 10, 2009

My disdain for the conservatives and wingnuts in this country has been well documented over the last year with this blog. But after the past few days, and last night especially, my disgust has turned to downright abhorrence.   I speak, of course, in particular, of the appallingly disrespectful behavior of Rep. Joe Wilson (R- Doucheville) during Obama’s health care speech to Congress, and the insanely inappropriate reaction on behalf of conservatives to Obama’s inspiring speech to school children.

You lie!

Thinking back on Bush’s 8 years in office, I can’t recall a single instance of disrespect this huge… except, perhaps, the shoe throwing incidence- but that did not occur in America or by an American. (And honestly, who can blame them… ) But my point is, the democrats never displayed anywhere near the level of disrespect that the conservatives in this country show Obama.  Despite how much we hated Bush, we showed the respect due his office. Yet, Obama has faced nothing but obstinacy, childishness, and downright rudeness since his swearing in.

The wingnuts, in typical wingnut fashion, are chalking it up to free speech… which no one denies they have.  However, we’re not talking about squashing their rights to complain and be whiny, sniveling toddlers, we’re talking about common decency, courteousness, and a certain level of civil discourse… of which republicans obviously know nothing about.

It matters not whether you agree with the President at all. You can vehemently disagree with every fiber of your being, but you should still respect his office and show your objection in a civil manner.

I am so sick and tired of the level of insolence and incivility coming from the conservative camp. I am appalled at the number of blatantly racist comments I see on all my social networking feeds every day, to the point I am defriending, unfollowing, and deleting people DAILY to escape the negativity and outright hatred. Its disgusting.

And I am sick and tired of ignorance and uninformed opinion being displayed and accepted as fact, of anti-intellectualism heralded as inspiring and worthy of respect, and of lies being accepted without a thought as to where they came from and who said them.

I am sick of things like Fox News, and Conservapedia, and right-wing talk radio being accepted as fact… and being allowed to enter public discourse as credible sources with such an obvious bias.

I don’t understand the conservative penchant for telling outright lies, masquerading them as truths, and either getting away with it, or not being held responsible when caught.

I am sick and tired of the sky-scraping level of hypocrisy, unscrupulousness, and unethical behavior that is flourishing in conservative politics today.

And while I openly admit my biases… I can’t help but feel that they’re not overly influencing my opinion here. I know many, many conservatives who are as equally disgusted with the behavior of their fellow wingnuts.

I’m just so sick…. and tired.

I feel beaten down by it. Which of course, is probably their goal.

I need a reprieve. A vacation.  I’d love to hop a jet to Europe… maybe Sweden… visit some friends and blissfully bask in the warmth of neutrality for a few weeks.

Repost: The Mainstreaming of Crazy September 9, 2009

I was going to discuss Obama’s “controversial” speech to schoolchildren, but I came across this post at Bad Astronomy and realized he said everything for me.   So enjoy this repost.

Perhaps you’ve heard all the uproar about President Obama’s speech today. A group of folks is very concerned about a speech of his today, because he’s talking to schoolkids. And hey, didn’t Hitler talk to kids…?

That’s about as good as their logic gets. I wish I were kidding. Read the transcript of Obama’s speech, and see if you can find the alarming parts where he calls for the formation of Brown Shirts, or the extermination of a group of humans, or the invasion of Poland. I must have missed it, instead seeing things like where he says,

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Call the Allies! Load the B-29s!

Seriously, read this whole speech. It’s inspiring, wonderful, and designed to inspire kids to stay in school, accept the responsibility of the education, learn things, and then go and and do good for the world.

Of course, there is a lunatic fringe in this country who will go ballistic about Obama no matter what he does; these are the ones saying the speech is indoctrinating children into accepting his socialist health care plan that will mutilate puppies and convert our elderly into Soylent Green. These people may be rabid racists, or simply mentally unbalanced, but we know for a rock solid fact that these people are utterly, completely wrong. Whatever you want to call them, it’s clear they are so far from the norm of the American people that they can’t even see the horizon from where they are. Simply reading the speech transcript shows that simply and clearly. But it’s also a fact that this subset of the population will always be with us.

But you know what? That doesn’t mean we have to give them a voice in the mainstream press. They have a right to their speech, but that doesn’t obligate anyone to pay attention to them, especially on the platform of national TV. I’m looking you right in the eye, Fox News. Not only do you give these people — factually wrong and provably so — a voice, you reiterate their comments and use your own voice to back them up.

…

If I sound angry, then, yeah, I am. I’m tired of ignorance held up as inspiration, where vicious anti-intellectualism is considered a positive trait, and where uninformed opinion is displayed as fact.

Read the rest here.

Disappointment: Now the sweet is turning sour. September 9, 2009

As much as the current administration is a breath of fresh air compared to the stagnant, bleak Bush era… I do find myself disappointed from time to time with some of their actions (or lack thereof). One of these disappointments comes in the form of a series of PSAs put out by the Department of Health and Human Services on their 4parents.gov site.

An example of one of the offending commercials:

Now, I won’t be too harsh in my criticism yet because I don’t know if the administration is *actually* endorsing this view, or if they’re just using up the rest of the misappropriated funds earmarked for abstinence only education. That being said, either way, this is extremely disappointing.

Now, obviously I am thrilled that the administration is pushing parents to talk to their children about sex. We need open lines of communication with children in order to help them grow… bravo for that point. However, if you know me at all, you know I’m screaming inside over the abstinence part.

I think promoting abstinence to your children is counter productive to what the PSA is trying to accomplish. You might as well tell your children, “Honey, I want to talk about sex, and I want us to be open about things and able to communicate in the future. However, I’m going to hold you to unrealistic and antiquated expectations and I will be very, very, disappointed in you if you succumb to temptation and break those expectations. Consequently, those open lines of communication will be broken because you’ll be too ashamed to tell me and all this will be for naught. So, forget we ever had this conversation and go do what you want. I’ll yell at you later when you get pregnant because you didn’t understand proper birth control practices.”  Way to go parents!

Honestly, when you think about it, how unrealistic is this message? What you should sit down and discuss with your children is… wait for sex until you are mature enough to handle it. And in the event you do choose to have sex before you are married (if you ever choose to marry), let’s discuss birth control options to best protect you. You are your own person and must make your own decisions and mistakes… lets just try to prepare you so your decision does not end up being one you regret.

And, what the hell do you tell your gay child?  “Honey, I want y0u to wait until marriage to have sex. Oh wait! You can’t ever get married because our state passed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage! Oops! Looks like you can’t EVER have sex. By the way, god hates you because you’re gay.”

Furthermore, the PSAs are counterproductive in that, while encouraging a frank, open discussion, one of the commercials actually says, “you don’t have to talk about the parts.” Because, you know, its just too embarrasing to say naughty words like “penis” and “vagina” to that child/teen that you feel is mature enough for this conversation… while you, on the other hand, are not mature enough.  Way to undercut your own message.

:Sigh: