Crazy Left-Wing Rant Part Deux

I used French there just to irritate the right wingers because I know you guys have a bone to pick with France. HA!

Anyhoo, most of you who responded to my rant yesterday about the Obama school children speech were pretty much members of the invisible choir I was preaching to. However, G-Man’s Mama is a proud right-winger and decided to chirp up. Which, I really appreciate because my little world consists mostly of hippies and Canadians and I really did want that point of view. Her comment was as follows –

"At the risk of being stoned I will admit to being one of those "right-wing nutjobs" you all are cussing. Here is the problem. Obama is a way left democrat. I would not want my children exposed to his ideals without knowing what the speech for about before hand. If the speech or a transcript were released before hand I would have let my children participate. The problem was not the speech that was planned it was the assignment after by the white house that asked "How would you help President Obama?" Um...last I checked he was our president as in for the people (or those that voted for him anyway). If it was Sarah Palin addressing the children of this nation all of the democrats would be figuring out "how to band together, bring on the crazy and then spread the madness like wildfire." Just sayin'."

Thanks, G-Man's Mama. While I still don’t really understand that position, it was delivered articulately and at least flirted with logic. It was certainly a significantly better way of communicating a point of view than the crazy screaming people I’ve been watching on the news at those town hall meetings where somehow people have become convinced that Obama wants to kill them. Regardless of what side of the fence you sit on, politicians don’t ever take the position that they want to kill people. It’s really hard to get re-elected with that platform.

It’s also interesting the ‘right’ (sorry, G-Man’s Mama, since you are the only one who spoke up for that side you are representing them ALL now) see Obama as a ‘far left-wing’ democrat. I would consider myself a far left-wing democrat, and Obama seems pretty moderate to me. I think health care should be completely free to everyone and you can just go right ahead and raise my taxes to make that happen. Obama is proposing a shared-cost/income based approach to health care.

I think America should immediately pull every last troupe out of Iraq, throw themselves on the mercy of the UN and beg the industrialized world for help cleaning up that horrible mess that should have never begun in the first place. Obama is going with a more cautious approach and still has soldiers over there trying to….well, do something I guess.

If Sarah Palin was to give a speech to school children I would absolutely let my kids hear it. First of all, I think it’s good for kids to hear all sides of the issues since they are the ones who are ultimately going to lead the country one day and the sooner they can learn about issues/points of view (although Obama’s speech was just about the importance of education, not a point of view), the sooner they can start deciding for themselves what is good for the country and themselves and what isn’t. Second of all, it would give me, as their parent, a perfect opportunity to talk to them about what someone like Sarah Palin has to say and how they feel about it (and how I feel about it). And, I would of course need the chance to clear up the fact that Africa is indeed a continent (sorry, couldn’t resist).

And lastly….the ‘right’ starting flipping out IMMEDIATELY. They had no details, they asked no questions about what Obama was planning to say (although that information was available), gave no thought as to how it might open up communications and discussion with their children, and lept to all kinds of conclusions that because it's Obama it just simply MUST be evil and involve some kind of satan worship.

Just the fact that a democrat (horrors!) was going to talk to their children was enough to make them completely lose their shit.

THAT smacks of partisanship way more than your President speaking to kids about why staying is school is a good idea to me. No? And, while I have you, G-Man’s Mama, wasn’t the whole mantra of the ‘right’ for the last eight years of George W rule that unless every American blindly supports the President he/she is a trader? Why doesn’t that theory apply anymore? ESPECIALLY to one little speech that has nothing whatsoever to do with politics?

I like the lively, respectful debate. I’d love to hear from some more right-wingers. And, for the record, when I say, ‘right-wing bat-shit crazy nut-jobs’ I’m referring to the screaming town hall people whose heads are about to explode. Reasoned, respectful right-wingers are just fine.

Although horribly misguided.

Okay, I’ll stop now.

Yo - Yanks! You are KILLING me up here.

I’m not American, so could you guys please explain this one to me?

Your President, the guy you overwhelmingly elected to the top office of the country (I’ll just take a minute here to say, on behalf of the entire planet, THANK YOU), spoke directly to all the students in your country at the beginning of the school year. His speech to the youth included the following quotes –

"Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide."

"You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it. This isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country."

“What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future."

“You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. If you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country."

Before and after this speech, I have read much in the media about how parents were OUTRAGED that the President would have the nerve to speak to their children. One of my ‘facebook’ friends (I went to high school with her and have never seen her since. She moved to America ) had this her status,

“Who does he think he is? Would HE let anyone speak directly to his kids without knowing what they are going to SAY?”

Uhh…..alright. Who does he think he is? Seriously?? What was she worried he was going to do? Start telling the kids some new fart jokes?

And here are some reactions from the right -

“That's Obama-centric. It's not focused on education but on the worship of Barack Obama," Michael Leahy, spokesman for the conservative grassroots Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, told AFP. "This is indoctrination, pure and simple, into the cult of Barack Obama, and we are opposed to that," he said.

And this -

Jim Greer, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, raged that "Pied Piper Obama" was going "into the American classroom" to spread socialist ideology.

First of all…. Nationwide TEA PARTY Coalition?? Whose running that group, five year-old girls dressed in fairy princess dresses? Lena Chairs a tea party in her room with Mr. Floppy and Yellow Turtle every night, and even she would have the good sense to realize boycotting children from hearing your PRESIDENT speak is really fucking stupid.

(for the record I know that name is probably a reference to the Boston Tea Party brouhaha of seventeen hundred and whatever. Still stupid though)

Not to mention the fact that nothing included in Obama's speech had anything remotely to do with socialism, cults or even politics.

Your democratically elected leader decided he would speak to your children about the importance of education, working for a future, the betterment of the country and being contributing members of a democratic society.

What a bastard.

Please, I’m begging you – can someone explain to me why some Americans think that the President speaking directly to school children about the importance of education and their role in the country makes him an evil, commie-loving narcissist who is just DYING to kill your grandma?

Anyone? Seriously - I'm all ears.

God Bless America

There is a real upside to this whole blogging thing that I hadn’t at all considered, and that is how I would end up meeting so many different kinds of people. And by different kinds I mean Americans!

Americans have always been so abstract to me. We get pretty much all of your media so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with your popular culture, or even your actual culture (I watch documentaries too!), but I'm not sure I've ever been, you know, friends with a real live American. The only Americans I know are the ones whose parents ran like hell in the early seventies to avoid getting dragged into that stupid war. But those people were about two years old when they moved here so I don't count them as Americans. And you know what I’ve learned so far? I think I like you guys!

To be honest I still can't comprehend WHAT YOU WERE THINKING politically during the last eight years, but you have since redeemed yourself with the last election. I know not everybody was responsible for the whole 'Bush destroying the world' thing, but I gotta tell ya…it has been hard to watch from up here. But, that’s all behind us now and you elected Obama! I think I can safely speak for the rest of the planet when I say NICE GOING. If you would have actually elected Mr. Burns and Snow Princess Barbie there I would have had to figure out a way to take up residence on the moon.

Aside from our political differences (although, we’re not doing much better up here. I’m sure most of you have never heard of Stephen Harper, but trust me when I say he deserves top seat on the sucks-ass list) we are pretty much the same. I have noticed a few subtle differences that amuse me though.

Like the fact that you treat the letter 'u' like the nerdy kid on the playground that everyone excludes until you suddenly need one more player to make the teams even. 'Neighbour' 'Colour' 'Labour'....'u' only gets to hang out in these words when they're in Canada. When they go for a weekend road trip to the States? Poor 'u' doesn't get to go. What's up with that? U is a cool letter! You need it to spell some really awesome worlds like 'ukulele' and 'vulva' and 'fuck'.

Or that you don't have Clamato juice! Clamato is the greatest beverage EVER. Do you know what it is? It's part tomato juice, part clam juice and random spices. Yes, I know it sounds repulsive but trust me - it's splendid. If you ever happen upon some Clamato, preferably Motts Clamato, make yourself a Caesar. A Caesar is just like a Bloody Mary, but you know, good. Here is what you need to do - take your glass and rim it with celery salt. Regular salt works too, but it's better if you have celery salt. Then you put in some ice, 1.5 ounces of vodka (or however much you like - go wild!) 3 or 4 drops of tabasco sauce, a splash of worcestershire sauce, dash of salt & pepper, and then fill the glass with Clamato juice. Add a celery stick to garnish and serve. The next time you're in Canada order one. You won't be sorry.

Americans also have a million realty shows and I would totally win them all but I'm not allowed to enter any of them because I'm Canadian. Me and the letter 'u' can just sit up here and lump it I guess.

Or the fact that literally hundreds of thousands of people go to football games at all levels. Pro right down to high school - you all take your football VERY seriously. And I think it’s brilliant everyone gets drunk in the parking lot prior to the game. I love that because it seems so very neighbourly (the u is triumphant!), and frankly, something Canadians would do. I’m not sure why we don’t. We get drunk everywhere else, but so far we haven’t been able to nail down the finer points of the tailgate party. I think I’m going to try and get that tradition going here. Does anyone know the history and origins of the tailgate party? I would love to hear to hear how that one got started. The one thing we do have in abundance up here is drunk people.