The Objection to President Speech is Completely Absurd! Get a Grip on Yourselves Already

I don't know if it's just my PMS'g hormones this week, but man .. the attitudes of so many Americans is just really, well pissing me off is the only way that I can put it.

I can not believe that people seriously were objecting to the President of the United States, the highest office held in the most powerful country in the world, to speaking to their children about staying in school and working to achieve better in their lives. Especially coming from a man of his background (under privileged) and his wife's background.

Yeah.. I know the "objection" was to the "assignments" proposed by the administration and the Board of Ed , particularly the "How Can I Help Obama" question. But , since when is teaching your children to GET INVOLVED with politics and the issues in this country a BAD thing. I heard one person on the news object to their child becoming a "community organizer". When did being a community organizer , or one who works within the community in a positive and productive manner, or volunteer in the community become such a dirty word? I mean really?

For crying out loud people, I wish my generation, myself included, would have been more involved, paid more attention, knew more about the issues and voiced opinions about them. Then perhaps this country wouldn't have been bought and paid for right under our nose to the highest bidder while we were all too busy.. well NOT paying attention!

That's it you neo-cons.. teach your children to just sit back and do nothing but whine. Apparently it's all the right knows how to do these days. Everything that President does they twist, turn and make into some sick conspiracy theory. It's really quite sickening. You don't have to agree with everything he does or says. You don't have to agree on all of his policies, but why demonize him? What is the point? What does it achieve? Really, all it does is make you all look like a bunch of lunatics.

What the hell happened to actually RESPECTING the office of the President?

Bush sure as hell wasn't my President (well at least the first time around and half way through the second time I realized I'd made a huge error in judgement when I cast my vote for him!). But you know what, he was still my President and irregardless I had respect for that.

Now Obama is our President. Let the man get something done! The only ones sinking this country further down the rabbit hole are those that want to demonize everything the President does!

Any school, any parent that objected and didn't let their kids listen to his speech missed an amazing opportunity. Even if they do not agree with the Presidents politics (of which wasn't even in the darned thing anyway) they missed a great opportunity to open the lines of communication with their children to talk about the issues and to teach their children about U.S Politics . Wow, imagine that. Parents sitting around having a conversation with their own children and talking to them about their personal political views on any and all issues facing this country today. Imagine the children sitting and writing a letter, for themselves, on ways they could "help" the President.. perhaps by making suggestions on such issues (and that includes ALL points.. like objecting to his health plan). The younger children probably would have said something cute about "helping" the President with his dog or something (because obviously a younger child will not grasp the concepts) and teenagers could have taken the opportunity to figure out how they feel about certain issues. The letters suggested weren't even ever going to be sent to the President anyway. It was just an exercise.

Even if his speech was completely lined with political rhetoric and wasn't bi-partisan, it still would have been an excellent opportunity for parents on the other side of the issues to discuss the issues. But you know what, there is no need to even address the 'what if'. It was not anything even remotely resembling anything of the sort.

Here is a link to the SUGGESTED lesson plan for Prek-6
Here is the link to the SUGGESTED lesson plan for 7 - 12

I particularly think the last 2 questions at the end are THE most important.

• What do you believe are the challenges of your generation?
• How can you be a part of addressing those challenges?

But then again, this is the same group of people who seem to think that not discussing sex with their children means that their children will not be having sex.. (insert smack head emotion con here).

And, then again, perhaps they are doing us a favor (those neo-cons that didn't allow their kids to hear the president thereby opening up discussions at home about the "issues") because , after all, the only thing they would have done is poison their children's minds about their crazy rhetoric and lies ; ie: the government wants to kill granny. Yeah.. that's all we need. The younger generation buying into that crap.

Who the Hell am I , Why this Blog and What Is It All About!!

A "Liberal". That is what I've been labeled by..well right wing "conservatives" here on the net. But what exactly is a "liberal"? Well, if being a liberal means that I am the complete opposite of a conservative Republican... then I am PROUD to be a labeled LIBERAL. (FYI. .found this funny image through google.. )

To first define what a liberal is I used google.. of course. I google EVERYTHING don't you know? Here is what I found;

• broad: showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; "a broad political stance"; "generous and broad sympathies"; "a liberal newspaper"; "tolerant ...
• having political or social views favoring reform and progress
• tolerant of change; not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or tradition
• a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties
• big: given or giving freely; "was a big tipper"; "the bounteous goodness of God"; "bountiful compliments"; "a freehanded host"; "a handsome allowance"; "Saturday's child is loving and giving"; "a liberal backer of the arts"; "a munificent gift"; "her fond and openhanded grandfather"
• a person who favors an economic theory of laissez-faire and self-regulating markets
• free: not literal; "a loose interpretation of what she had been told"; "a free translation of the poem"

Yeah.. that sounds about right.. Most every one of those sounds like me with exception of the second to last one. Self regulating my ass!! The Corporate pigs and greedy mo fo's who run them are NOT very good at self regulating which has been completely obvious the last 8 years. But, we'll save that for another day.

I found this definition for conservative;

• Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

Yeah.. that sounds about right..and sounds just the opposite of me.

I find conservatism a complete oxymoron? Actually there "values" are a complete conflict and , well are quite hypocritical. But I'll delve into that in another post at another time. Don't want to give it all away in the first blog, now do we?

So, who am I and what am I about? Well, I'm a 35 year old mother and , well , yes wife (as the title implies). I'm a self employed Gen X generation, the child of a baby boomers. I was born and raised in NY, which may have predisposed me to being a "liberal", although there are a few conservatives I know also born and raised in NY. One of which happens to be someone that was really close friend once upon a time. We grew apart, although at the time I didn't realize just how apart we would grow. Let's just say she is on the other side of the spectrum. I'm not really that surprised though. She is good people and so is her family, even though they are conservative (that is a joke folks)

There was a time when I could give two monkey's butts about politics. Yeah, I was one of those who only voted in one election THE Election, who never really watched the news nor cared to. I was more concerned with the nightlife section of the local newspaper to figure out which club/bar/scene to hit that weekend.

Of my other half, he really has no opinions that I know of. He thinks the stupid, religion is stupid because all it does is cause wars (he has a point). For the record, I believe in God but not religion. I'm a "spiritualist" or a gnostic..which is one that is always seeking the truth. That too, is probably a trait of a "liberal". Thank god he doesn't have too many opinions and if he does he usually agrees with mine (and most definitely on the most important one to me, health care). What a nightmare if I married him and he turned out to be a right wing republican and I just didn't see it. Don't laugh, it can happen. Met a nice woman this week who had that happen to her. Had no idea her now ex husband was so conservative on her political views. She is liberal like me (accept she didn't want Hillary as President, but that is okay.. I forgave her..LOL). She now has one child that is liberal like herself and another that is conservative like his father. Boy, get Thanksgiving and family dinners must be interesting in that family.

But back to what I was previously discussing. My lack of any political knowledge or care. I have a confession to make that will make my fellow labeled "liberals" shutter. Are you ready for this.. I was stupid enough to have voted for Bush in the second election ( I voted Gore in the first). Yup.. you read it right. Why, you might ask. Pretty stupid reason in hindsight but I felt changing presidents mid war (Iraq) was a bad idea. Turns out that war was a bad idea and the premise a lie. I decided I will never make that mistake again and so I have become more involved, shall we say, in the process. I was also tired of living with consequences of others votes but knew I couldn't complain unless I used mine (and not just every 4 years) and made the smart choice for the smart and right reasons. After having been an independent I finally registered with a party. I'm sure you can guess which one (Democrats.. the third one really just messes up elections and swings it in the wrong direction, IMO). I always identified more with that parties ideologies anyway. And, I lost any respect I had for the Republican party over the last 4 years of Bush's presidency.

Please enjoy the blog, leave your comments but try to keep it clean. Now.. in the liberal spirit I will not be close minded in listening to "your side" after all, we are an open minded bunch. I will lose it , however, when your "side"or argument against something is a lie you heard from the likes of Rush Limbaugh and many of the other idiot right wing nutso's out there. Come at me with REAL facts and information even if that means you'd have to find it and read it for yourself. Don't just regurgitate someone else's opinion you heard on a radio show, tv show or what have you. That reminds me, I'm seriously thinking about de-friending a FB person (not a former close friend, but a former classmate) who keeps posting clips and news bits about all these conspiracy theories.. like the infamous Obama Birth Certificate thing for one, and many others. I've seen stuff that equates Obama to a Nazi for crying out loud. I think some, not all , conservatives are like conspiracy theory nuts who walk around the house with foil on their heads for fear the government is reading your mind with their special satelite. LOL. (Hey.. kudos to the person who can tell me what movie the foil on the head reference I just made is from ;) )

But in all seriousness..I don't think all conservative people are mean, greedy or selfish.. I really don't. There are a few that I do. One particular jerk from AZ really gets my goose on a political forum I participate in when I have some time. He's such an arrogant (insert expletive here) . There are some that swing right that I do admire and respect, so do not take offense. My tirade is not meant to offend, but just to vent my frustrations of the GENERAL and not the specific individuals of that "group". So, if you are one and we are friends..we'll just be sure never to discuss politics and you'll be sure never to read my blog and we'll get a long just fine. I promise. I'm sure there are a few people I'm friendly with whom I've never spoken politics with that , if I ever did, I would find they were more "conservative" and that's just fine. We're all entitled to our opinions right?

But I won't only go into politics.. I promise. I'll talk about the news, the weather and my adventures with my 3 year old... raising him, disciplining him.. the sleepless nights of being up during hacking post nasal drip coughs (like last night..I'm sooo tired) and other things that end up really frustrating me. It's like great therapy. Hopefully you'll find it amusing.