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The last few days, Claire and Katie have been talking about voting and the election. Since we live in a conservative area, most of what they have been hearing is the name John McCain. Katie informed me that she was voting McCain. Claire hadn’t made up her mind mostly because she couldn’t remember the other guy’s name.
Claire told me on Monday that her teacher said that John McCain was going to be our next president. I just told her that I was sorry, but her teacher was wrong. There was a lot of discussion among the 2nd and 3rd graders at Claire’s school the day after the election. Claire came home with a lot of concerns.
Claire- “Barack Obama is going to take away Christmas.”
Me- “Claire, that is ridiculous. Where did you hear that?”
Claire- “From a 3rd grader, so it’s true.”
Me- “Claire, that is not true. Barack Obama is a dad and he’s nice. Even if he could take away Christmas, he wouldn’t.”
Claire- “Well, I heard it from a 3rd grader! And she said he’s not smart.”
Me- “He went to Harvard and not just Harvard. He went to law school at Harvard. It’s the best place to go to college and they only let really smart people go there.”
Claire- “I heard that he’s not smart and he blows up buildings and then people don’t have a place to live.”
Me- “That is not true. Don’t you think I know more than a 3rd grader?”
Claire- “No.”
The most disturbing thing she said was that Obama won’t be president for long. She was told that someone would kill him.
I am disgusted that parents would discuss such things either with or in front of their children. I think it’s great to talk about the election process and who the candidates are but that should be the end of it. The overwhelming interest among grade-school children in this particular election makes me uneasy. Even among this age group, some of it reeks of racism.
I think it would be appropriate for the schools to discuss the new president and address the concerns of the kids. Clearly there is misinformation being conveyed in some of the homes that is then being passed on to all of our children. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only parent that does not want children being exposed to ignorance and hatred.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
The Republicans Think Women are Stupid Cows
Like many out in the blog world, I was shocked by McCain’s choice of the relatively unknown Sarah Palin as his running mate. It felt a lot like the Republicans were throwing us a bone, thinking that we would be so caught up in the idea of a woman in the white house that it wouldn’t occur to us that she wasn’t the right woman.
The Republican camp is fighting the attacks on Palin, saying that the only ones that have a problem with her are the “elitist liberals.” I was unaware that being intelligent enough to read the available information and form an educated opinion caused one to fall into the category of being an “elitist liberal.” That tells me that there are a whole lot of us out here that are distressing the Republican party by having the nerve to think for ourselves as opposed to shutting up other than to say, “Thank you, sir. I’ll take another.”
I would like to review just a few of Governor Palin’s positions on issues. To start she believes in teaching abstinence only, despite the fact that statistics show that this actually increases the rate of teen pregnancy. I would like to point out that there is clear evidence that this sort of thinking did not even work in her own house. Why would you encourage that type of policy?
She is ultra-conservative socially. Pro-Life, creationist and doesn’t believe in protecting the environment. She does not believe in global warming and would like to increase domestic drilling. She has not supported alternative energy sources. She has been accused of advocating censorship in libraries. She tried to fire her small town librarian when she “failed to prove her loyalty.” Which in reality, was the librarian just refusing to pull books at Palin’s request.
To make the whole thing worse, she is not fiscally conservative. She took over as a small town mayor in a town with no debt. She left it with nearly 20 million in debt with little accomplished in real improvement. In order to accomplish this task she fired many people that might be a threat to getting her way. She also required a city manager and was responsible for the largest increase in the size of the local city government, ever.
One of the things that the Republican’s have attacked Barack Obama on is his relative lack of experience. Obama is a US senator with a diverse background and education. Palin a small town mayor and Alaskan governor. I would like to also point out that the Republican’s like to twist the facts and focus on how large Alaska is and therefore her experience should carry more weight. Alaska has a tiny population and is actually number 47 of all the states. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Obama and Palin’s educations respectively:
“Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[9] He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[10] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then worked for a year at the Business International Corporation[11] and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.[12][13]
After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[12][14] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[15] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[16] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks then Kenya for five weeks where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[17]
Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition.[18] In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.[19] Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[19] He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[18][20]”
“Palin spent her first college semester at Hawaii Pacific College, transferring in 1983 to North Idaho College and then to the University of Idaho. She attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term, returning to the University of Idaho to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.[15][16]”
It appears that Palin had to bounce around quite a bit to get that one bachelor’s degree. I didn’t catch any reference to her graduating with honors either.
I’m counting on the fact that women are going to pay attention and not allow McCain/Palin to replace the fiasco that was Bush/Cheney.
The LA Times had a good article about Palin by Gloria Steinem that you kind find here. Also be sure to check out the email from the woman that knows Palin. It’s making it’s way around the internet and it’s worth reading.
I also want to mention John McCain's ex-wife. She was recently interviewed and it was something I had never read about before. I'll most likely be on McCain tomorrow. Don't forget to register to vote before the cut-off date.
One last link for you from Comedy Central. It really shows how the conservatives change their opinion when they are talking about one of their own. Very funny but also disturbing in a way.
The Republican camp is fighting the attacks on Palin, saying that the only ones that have a problem with her are the “elitist liberals.” I was unaware that being intelligent enough to read the available information and form an educated opinion caused one to fall into the category of being an “elitist liberal.” That tells me that there are a whole lot of us out here that are distressing the Republican party by having the nerve to think for ourselves as opposed to shutting up other than to say, “Thank you, sir. I’ll take another.”
I would like to review just a few of Governor Palin’s positions on issues. To start she believes in teaching abstinence only, despite the fact that statistics show that this actually increases the rate of teen pregnancy. I would like to point out that there is clear evidence that this sort of thinking did not even work in her own house. Why would you encourage that type of policy?
She is ultra-conservative socially. Pro-Life, creationist and doesn’t believe in protecting the environment. She does not believe in global warming and would like to increase domestic drilling. She has not supported alternative energy sources. She has been accused of advocating censorship in libraries. She tried to fire her small town librarian when she “failed to prove her loyalty.” Which in reality, was the librarian just refusing to pull books at Palin’s request.
To make the whole thing worse, she is not fiscally conservative. She took over as a small town mayor in a town with no debt. She left it with nearly 20 million in debt with little accomplished in real improvement. In order to accomplish this task she fired many people that might be a threat to getting her way. She also required a city manager and was responsible for the largest increase in the size of the local city government, ever.
One of the things that the Republican’s have attacked Barack Obama on is his relative lack of experience. Obama is a US senator with a diverse background and education. Palin a small town mayor and Alaskan governor. I would like to also point out that the Republican’s like to twist the facts and focus on how large Alaska is and therefore her experience should carry more weight. Alaska has a tiny population and is actually number 47 of all the states. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Obama and Palin’s educations respectively:
“Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[9] He then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[10] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then worked for a year at the Business International Corporation[11] and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.[12][13]
After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side.[12][14] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[15] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[16] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks then Kenya for five weeks where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[17]
Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988 and at the end of his first year was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review based on his grades and a writing competition.[18] In his second year he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the law review's staff of 80 editors.[19] Obama's election in February 1990 as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[19] He graduated with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and returned to Chicago where he had worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[18][20]”
“Palin spent her first college semester at Hawaii Pacific College, transferring in 1983 to North Idaho College and then to the University of Idaho. She attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term, returning to the University of Idaho to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.[15][16]”
It appears that Palin had to bounce around quite a bit to get that one bachelor’s degree. I didn’t catch any reference to her graduating with honors either.
I’m counting on the fact that women are going to pay attention and not allow McCain/Palin to replace the fiasco that was Bush/Cheney.
The LA Times had a good article about Palin by Gloria Steinem that you kind find here. Also be sure to check out the email from the woman that knows Palin. It’s making it’s way around the internet and it’s worth reading.
I also want to mention John McCain's ex-wife. She was recently interviewed and it was something I had never read about before. I'll most likely be on McCain tomorrow. Don't forget to register to vote before the cut-off date.
One last link for you from Comedy Central. It really shows how the conservatives change their opinion when they are talking about one of their own. Very funny but also disturbing in a way.
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