By all means, keep your little ones out of school. They'll likely end up like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvVAV09-dQ8

But what the hay! It'll make Jesus real proud.

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The harder the wackos on the right push their children to embrace their lunatic beliefs, the more certain it is that they'll reject them.


FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

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Now that the shoe's on the other foot, the right wing(nuts) are acting out in exactly the immature and irrational manner that reflects how I felt in the long wilderness of the Bush administration.

I think people who are progressive tend to behave less irrationally. There is a distinct need to have one's position supported by facts, even if one's conclusions and point of view are emotionally charged. And, generally, a mature recognition that screaming and irrational half-truths do not lend credibility to one's argument.

The right wing's diffused and pervasive anxiety at finding themselves out of power, and their simplistic world view not assumed to be fact, seems to result in the childish acting out and tantrum throwing over fears based on lies that we've witnessed over the summer (town hall astroturfing being a classic example).

Had progressives behaved, and spoken with anything approaching the virulence and hate-filled rhetoric we've witnessed this summer, we'd have been rounded up and thrown in jail. I can't imagine the blow-back had anyone on the "left" suggested secession and bloodshed.

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how does anyone explain the arrogance of Obama suggesting that one activity would be for students to read about Obama's presidency and read Obama's writings. Not presidents in general, but Obama specifically. (Reported in Crooks and Liars as being on the government's list of suggestions for students and teachers in preparation for the speech. No, they didn't seem to see anything wrong with it either, just referred to it in their article on right-wing crazies.)

Wingnuts Are In Full Bloom

I don't recall George H W Bush doing that, and he never suffered from a shortage of arrogance.
(Please save it: I am not defending George H W Bush in any way - just suggesting Obama's ego
is that far out of control.)

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Not only did Bush senior talk to kids in school on tv when he was pres, as was mentioned, but the other former President Bush WAS VISITING A SCHOOL on 911, talking to kids and doing "storytime" (ironically) to promote reading, for cryin' out loud! Surely someone remembers that part of that day!

My son told me he watched the second Bush several times on tv at his school.

Laura Bush was a former librarian- she was always visiting schools, also.

Also Governor Perry would come to my public school kid's "Marathon Kids" Kick-off or Final Lap ceremonies to talk to the kids to "promote physical education and health" on several occasions here in Austin.

Governor Schwartenegger promotes fitness in the schools all the time.

I remember our school being visited several times by politicians when I was growing up, too, telling us to work hard and stay in school, etc.

I could go on and on, but the point is, this is a totally normal thing for an elected official to do. How can anyone be taking this charge seriously? These people are purposefully obtuse.

You can even read what Obama is going to say ahead of time on the internet, making it even less "threatening".

As FDR (another commie pinko) once said, "The only thing we have to fear...is fear itself."

Because that's one of the most effective ways to manipulate people.

And by the way, the extreme right really DOES try to censor and change what is in the textbooks and curriculum in the public schools to reflect their own religious beliefs-
and WHO is trying to "indoctrinate our youth"?

There was one case in the 90's where they went to court to try to get them to remove a very simple non-detailed line drawing of one breast with arrows and a hand, showing how to do a self breast exam to check for lumps, from a high school level health book.

There is stuff like this going on in every state- be sure to pay attention to your school board races and textbook review public hearings.

A good bet is that every time they accuse the left of something, it's usually because they have already been doing it themselves.

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parent so distrust him they don't want our President talking to their children... sad commentary on the trust he has earned thus far.

Probably be seen as on a level with Carter after his is defeated in 3 more years!

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At the present level of smarts in the Republican party it is quite clear that anyone with an IQ above 78 is considered a threat to their party. You know, "birds of a feather"?

Pity the poor sods.

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Does this make sense? Tell your children not to attend school. These lunatics hate our black president so much. They will say or do anything. This is scary stuff. I remember when President Clinton was in office they tried so hard to destroy his presidency. With president Obama they have gone over board.They are a scary bunch and they believe it is okay to carry a gun strapped to their leg. I fear for our president. The religious right wing are spewing lies and hate and it is tearing this country apart. Total ignorance.

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My only question is - these are PUBLIC SCHOOLS paid for with TAXPAYER DOLLARS, so I have no children, but I have payed into a very expensive school system for over 20 years, do I get to call the Superintendent and complain ?

As far as I am concerned America has given too much power to parents of school children, in fear of lawsuits.

I say if you don't like the public school way - take your child to some private school so you can get your way.

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Yup, the hate is coming on hard now.

GOP'ers can't stand that they have a black president and they are lashing out at EVERYTHING.

GOP'ers are so afraid of our BLACK PRESIDENT, they have been consumed by hate.

Doesn't matter how much good he does, their fear and HATE is all consuming.

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for saying he "wouldn't put anything past this stupid country". He makes sense though. This country is chock full of imbeciles, nutjobs, delusionals and just plain stupid people. And the media just can't resist giving them all the publicity they crave.

This country has made Dr. Phil the 2nd wealthiest talk-show host, tabloid commentary the new journalism, and now endless parades of mentally unstable paranoids educating themselves on current issues based on what Glenn Beck told them.

Bill Maher was absolutely right.

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If kids see globes in schools they will find out that the world is round instead of flat and reject the church. If they study geology they will find out that the world is older than 6,000 years. If they study history, sociology, anthropology and economics they will find out that Fox News lies every time it talks. We can't have that happen because the Republicanazi Party would go out of existence and the Greens would compete in elections vs the Democratic Party that would wonder who it could cave into (it caves in to the Republicans now), and the left parties outside of electoria politics would be listened to way too much if people know too many facts!

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Yes parents, by all means, keep your children out of school. In fact, keep them out for as long as Obama is President. Let them sit in front of the TV all day watching soap operas and the Disney Channel. Let them gorge themselves on Twinkies and doughnuts. And when they finally come back into the light, as ignorant of the world as the day they were born, they will be .... Republicans.

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Yes, keeping the kids home is futile but so is a one-size-fits-all speech. Talking to kindergarteners about staying in school and setting goals? The same speech for them as for the seniors? Freaking weird. Freaking out-of-touch.

But then this adminsitration hasn't faced the futility of one-size-fits-all instruction and testing. Perhaps our president should dump Arne Duncan and look for ways to help schools become places of meaning and relevance for our students of all ages so they don't need their inspiration fed to them through the TV.

Just for the record from someone who taught in public schools for more than 30 years, I can't remember George Bush or any other president speaking to students in this manner. I must have stayed home that day.

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the reichwingers want their kids to stay home from school so they won't be any more educated than their Jethro Bodine parents with their third grade education. I mean gosh Wally... gee Beev, imagine how embarrasing it would be to have a child who could out-cipher his or her own parents? We can't have that can we?

Okay, back to reality, whatever that may be. During the years I was in public school, many of the past presidents had televised addresses, not only to students, but to the nation in general. We were shown every single broadcast made by the president during class hours, and if a speech was scheduled for the evening, we were frequently given a homework assignment to watch the speech and then write a report on what was being said and why. It was a major, hands on part of learning how government functioned, and political party didn't matter. In fact, it was encouraged of us to study the different political parties and how they differed on various issues. Of course, in that day and time, even though the republican and democratic parties had differeing views on how to solve various problems, both were at least somewhat commited to at least solving the problem rather than merely trying to work toward building the public image of whichever political party they happened to belong. Now, at least in the area I live, the local school district is pre-recording Obama's speech, which it will then show to only those students who have a signed permission slip from their parent(s) giving the school permission to show the speech to their kids. This same school district has allowed the Bible thumping parents of the community to dictate abstinance only sex ed., which has produced an increase in teen pregnancy of around 700% since its introduction over a pregnancy/std prevention AND abstinance sex ed. program.

This is beyond outrageous! The republicans, having had Reagan and G.H.W. Bu$h given the chance to speak, all of a sudden decide that a black, democratic president is indoctrinating kids? That in itself is pathetic, but the fact that so many parents seem to agree is just unbelieveable. I now know beyond all reasonable doubt, this has got to be the most ignorant, willfully stupid population to ever inhabit an earthly land mass in the history of this planet!!!

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The Repubs reject science. The Dems dumb down the curriculum til anyone can get an A. They both cut the budget til there's nothing left but sports. Now we are wondering why our nation is falling behind the rest of the world. We need to teach our kids to think for themselves. Unfortunately, free thought is a threat to illegitimate authority so both parties agree it must be suppressed. Parents must augment the schools to truly educate our kids. Daycare doesn't cut it. Maybe someday we will get it and reclaim our spot at the top. If we do, it will be with no help from our political leaders who care only about their own feelings of power. Let's all teach a kid something every day and we just might win!!

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And respond.

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Many presidents had speeches. Obama is the first one to pull your kids aside in school, away from the parents, to give them specific presidential messages. It's actually an abuse of the platform. I am not against kids learning. Spin that one.

Also he has lied about so much to the mass public, and you trust him with your kids now? Good for you. What about the people who treat him like any politician, and don't want politicians sending specific videos to their kids, and think politics should stay out of school? Do you know some of the suggested assignments the White House sent was to have kids discuss what they could do for OBAMA, not the country, but what they could do to help Obama? He's not on the people's side, and we know he's a big bank big pharma schill, so what could be wrong with that? Then they're supposed to discuss what about OBAMA inspires them the most. You should know it's a problem to subconsciously making kids assume they are inspired by him. OK. Good for you and bad for everyone else. Some here wonder how liberal double-speak turns into fascism. They shouldn't. It's right in front of our faces, down to the people painting those against it as fringe.

It's not just conservatives who don't like this so QUIT painting everyone against Obama's fascist freight train as some redneck or you lose ALL CREDIBILITY.

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More power to the protesters. Most teachers are boring and forbid thinking. I might as well sleep all day and have me a few beef lasagnas.

Here's a better protest I can think of. Throw a pie on your teacher's face if she's boring.

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I find the whole thing a bit scary. Why do those opposing Obama have to be carrying a gun? Why do they talk of defending our country against Obama? These are thinly veiled calls for violence. I live in central PA, and people around here believe this stuff. It's crazy and people have already been killed, but I think much more is coming.

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The only thing worse than the knee-jerk right wing attacks are the knee-jerk media regurgitations of them. I'm tired of Limbaugh and Beck quotes being given equal weight with genuine, academic criticism.

"Obama is giving a talk to school children on Wednesday, focusing on the importance of education and responsibility. Some conservatives argue that Obama is going too far by indoctrinating our nation's youth. In other news..."

I heard this on NPR! Even they think Limbaugh is credible...

You know what's worse than writing Mein Kampf?

Defending it.

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... but comparing Obama to Hitler is extremely insulting to the former. Hitler was a racist who wouldn't personally give Jesse Owens the Gold.
And the U.S. should, on the level of education, be glad that it currently has a president who speaks good English--it hasn't always.

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were home-schooled anyway so they won't be exposed to the fact that some people think the world is a lot older than 6,000 years. At any rate, this right wing hysteria has reached such epic proportions that I am just sppechless over the **** these people are believing these days.

How much more stupid can this country get?

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My politics are far to the left, but I'm with the right-wing crazies on this one. Presidential messages are not part of the curriculum and should not be broadcast in schools. Parents should not be obliged to have their kids listen to politicians the parents despise. (Personally, I despise all politicians.) If the President has something to say (all lies, anyway), he should say it to the adults. If they choose to relay it to their kids (or better yet, deconstruct it), that's up to them.

To me, the whole thing sounds like something out of 1984. I can't believe you guys don't see it. Of course it is only a minor thing at the moment--but if doesn't get knocked down now, it will get worse later.

The article itself, by the way, is idiotic and insulting--raving, ad hominem, and completely illogical. Just like the stuff written by the wingnuts themselves.

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The real reason parents don't want their kids to hear Obama? Because then they'll know their parents are idiots for dissing him

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Dallas morn news interview with parent," yeah, alot of parents in Frisco will keep their kids home. Red Neck Texas. They need to watch HDNET party boats with perverted, drunk teenagers, college age kids. Their parents taught them well. We are raising degenerant kids. For god sake keep em away from Obama. What a joke!!!!

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must not have much faith in their values or ability to parent their children if they think the President can seize control of kids' minds in one prepared video.

This is pure 'Bama hating from the racist wing.

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Wow... I'd not idea they even had their kids _in_ school... or that they'd even gone to school themselves...

I can see why they're upset: not only has their duly-elected President committed the heinous crime of Running for (and Attaining) High Office While Black, but he's also guilty of being considerably smarter than most of them. How dare he advocate the education of your children! Who does he think he is, President or something!?

"Courage, my friends... it's not too late to make a better world..." (Tommy Douglas)

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Who needs an excuse to skip school? Do you know how many day's I racked up with no polical motivation what so ever? And that's not including all the suspentions I recieved.

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I'm 57 now and when John Kennedy was president, he started the President's Council on Fitness. I remember that twice in the first two years it existed, we would go down to the gym at my Elementary School and everybody would do prescribed exercises (so many sit-ups in 30 seconds, etc) and we were charted against national averages for student fitness levels based on your age and body build.

What we took away from it was that the President of the United States CARED about US! We were so jacked to keep ourselves in better physical condition because the President asked us to.

So we come to today and Obama's message of 'study' and 'shared effort' is taken as brainwashing.

I may never vote for another Republican for the rest of my life. This is ridiculous.

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Does all of this remind anyone of "Blazing Saddles", writ large?

"What did you expect? 'Welcome, sonny'? 'Make yourself at home'? 'Marry my daughter'? You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."

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Why does President Obama want to keep our children from ending up like/being as successful as Sarah Palin?

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Watch "The Obama Deception" by Alex Jones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw

Please watch this film. It explains how President Obama is just extending and expanding President Bush's policies. Obama and Bush are just the puppets for Wall Street Elites and Global Banksters. Wake Up Folks!

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"Here's a better protest I can think of. Throw a pie on your teacher's face if she's boring."

Sounds good, as long as teachers are also allowed to throw a pie at students when they're acting like stupid little shits.

This would result in a rapidly expanding need for pies that would bring increased business to bakeries and thus help stimulate the economy.

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want to do?--Talk to children! Weasel words for the impressionable...just like in the primaries and the general election. The sheer silliness of Obama's plan is matched only by what I understand was asserted in his original notification to the school systems...that they would risk federal funding if they didn't show Fearless Leader's little show and promote his 'little red books'. Fork Obama! He is done! If you are a real progressive, you will not be supporting this Demopublican Regime, its wars, it corporatist philosophy and its corruption! Let Fearless Leader address empty seats in empty classrooms in deserted schools!

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If parents are worried about this, they could use this speech to spark a discussion with their kids about what they like or dislike about Obama and the government and why, so that their kids can see how the first amendment and dissent works. This could help parents teach their kids to be more thoughtful citizens and voters when they grow up.

But I don't think this will happen. I think it is very threatening to some people because if you are an authoritarian, you do not want kids (or adults) to question or discuss what their leaders do, but just blindly follow and "respect authority" just "because I said so" or "because God said so" etc.

And when you have taught your kid that, then they are more vulnerable to following bad people (as well as nasty predators) and you have to constantly fearfully police and try to control anyone who is in any leadership role who is interacting with them.

The "because I said so"/"because God said so" type of parent is freaking out right now because for eight years they told their kids to shut up and wave a flag and everything the President does is great because he is the President!

Now it's all backfiring on them because the other team is in and the cognitive dissonance is making their heads explode.

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I remember on 911 when Georgie Boy was reading a book to third graders. When told of the twin towers the idiot continued reading for quite a long time 10 minutes or so.
The Bush Presidency should be known as the disappearing presidency. When the twin towers were hit Bush DISAPPEARED. The Iraq nuclear missiles DISAPPEARED. The CIA tapes of interrigation DISAPPEARED. Bush was nowhere to be found when 'shotgun Dick' disclosed that Valerie Plame was a (covert) CIA agent which was classified information. When our embassy in Serbia burned Bush DISAPPEARED. Bush's Robber Baron presidency has made our money DISAPPEAR. With Voodoo Economics Georgie has made most of our jobs DISAPPEAR. But what would happen if Bush really disappeared? Can you imagine 'Deadeye Dick' with his finger on the nuclear trigger? If that were to happen everyone might just DISAPPEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He did manage to APPEAR just long enough to lobby for and sign into law CORPORATE WELFARE for the international banks. Goodbye Goofball Georgie, have fun in Texass.

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...Or is anyone else aware that these ultra-conservative hate-mongers, who try so hard to keep the majority of the people in the Dark Ages, are preaching exactly the same doctrine as the leaders of modern-day street/prison gangs? You know, the home-grown American terrorists that we call gangsters these days? Now before I go any further, let me make the distinction between reformed "O.G.s" (some of the original founders of the gangs), who actually discourage any youth from making the same mistakes they did, and the current breed of heartless thugs who've taken control over the streets (usually with the blessing of older gang leaders who never changed their ways). For more clarification, check out the History Channel's series: Gangland on YouTube.
To get back to my point, the Right-Wing PR peddlers are following the same program as their fellow tyrants, domestic and foreign, have throughout history: dumb-down the population by flooding the media with mindless drivel, discredit and ultimately silence the opposition, keep the people divided by reinforcing old prejudices (no unity=no resistance), make sure the majority of the people are constantly struggling to survive by driving up the cost of living (especially when the economy is weakest), pass as many new unfair & biased laws as possible to make sure more people than ever lose their rights and provide plenty of legalized slave-labor for private corporations at the same time, and the list goes on.

Naturally, with the election of President Obama and new sense of hope on the horizon, the War-Pigs are in a panic driven frenzy to create as much chaos and fear as they can to prevent progress of any kind. They've already tricked their supporters into believing the new administration wants to take away their constitutional rights. And they've painted themselves as some kind of perverse new grassroots movement, like the far-right element of the GOP switched places with the Black Panther Party! Who knows what's next?

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Okay, no problem with the Libertarians on the no government meddling with my body thing. No problem with their correct assessments of government meddling in the private lives of others.

But they are also consistent in not wanting government to meddle in the affairs of business or to impose limits on what someone can earn. That is not a good idea in a post-industrial society on a planet that is becoming overpopulated.

Do you think someone should be able to own an entire continent all to his greedy self and pollute the waterways, airways, and spam us all with as much advertising as possible so that he can sell more of his useless, shitty product?

There is no unlimited growth for business on a finite planet. Wage slavery should be regulated. Nobody should ever make much more than 10x the amount that the lowest-paid member of society does. When Ayn Rand wrote an essay on the virtues of selfish greed and people still follow that essay as if it's a good idea, she murdered some part of social progress.

I do not support *this* government interfering, but I do support a just one. I do not support *this* population being involved in pure democracy, but I do support an educated one. Too bad we have neither in this country.

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Reichwing 'parents' (and I use that term very loosely) think that a SINGLE talk with children on a single day will actually indoctrinate their children with Leftist thoughts.

Does anyone else see how insane this whole concept is? There is no possible way a single speech could accomplish all that.

Unless... they KNOW that Obama is actually a Messiah after all. Yep, that's the ticket! They KNOW that Obama is the 2nd coming of Christ. How else could a single speech by a president manage to sink in to several million heads at one time.

This Obama administration. They as so clever. Sometimes I laugh with glee at the amount of power and control they have over all 300+ million of us.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

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It amazes me that South Carolina school boards oppose the President's speech to school children, yet according to Fitsnews.org, there is strong evidence that, "Kristin Maguire, an Upstate evangelical and one of South Carolina’s most respected social conservatives, has been one of the governor’s closest education policy advisors for years. She’s also Sanford’s appointment to the S.C. Board of Education, which last year elected her its Chairwoman.
What else is she?
The prolific author of hardcore erotic fiction on the Internet, according to documents provided to the governor’s office earlier this summer and later obtained by FITS." Maguire is also an executive committee woman of the SC Republican party. I leave it to AlterNet's readers to decide as to whom should be allowed to speak to school children. http://www.fitsnews.com/2009/08/31/sex-education/

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THe absurdity of how the Republican Party and right wingers are behaving is striking. This is simply sticking fingers in their ears and singing so as not to hear any potentially heretical (to them) message. The danger to the society should be obvious. The Republican Party has become antirational, antiscience, and insane. The danger for the country is that these people are well armed with weapons, and that they consider anyone who disagrees with them to be amoral. No society can function when the number of such people reaches about one quarter of the population, which is about the percentage of hardcore right wingers in the general population. Unfortunately, this hard core is regionally concentrated in much of the south and in rural areas. It is clear that the 24 hour news cycle, rant dominated radio waves, and corporate dominated media are a huge disservice to the country. The danger is that this makes the country evern more dysfunctional, to the point where the whole country could fly apart in a second civil war. The rhetoric and actions coming from the right wing are very similar to that of the Fire Eaters -- their ideological ancestors during the 1850's. We all know that led to the Civil War. The best solution is for the general public to realize how unhinged the right wingers, at which point they will be largely rejected. But to do so, the whole left must forcefully make the case that the right wing is unhinged, paranoid, and dangerous. It helps that the right wing's rhetoric and actions greatly simplify making that case. The difficulty is that this country is definitely on the decline as a world power as the economy declines; resources are depleted; and financial system is still prone to collapse due to the risks of derivatives. The whole set of crises have converged and recovery is going to take at least 5 to 10 years.

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Those of us who remember the movie "Blazing Saddles" will recall the scene where a lookout notifies the towns people that newly arriving sheriff by calling out, "The sheriff's a ne.. gulp, The sheriff's a nig gasp", he couldn't get the word out.
It's my theory that the "keep the children at home" don't want their children to notice the President's a "neg-gasp, gulp".

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