That insane tea-baggin’ Maine GOP convention did something else of interest. Some of the Republican caucuses were held in a local school, including the 8th grade classroom of teacher Paul Clifford. He returned to the classroom after the weekend to discover that the Republicans had indulged themselves in remodeling the classroom.
For seven years, Clifford has had “a collage-type poster depicting the history of the U.S. labor movement” on his classroom door. He uses it “to teach his students how to incorporate collages into their annual project on Norman Rockwell’s historic ‘Four Freedoms’ illustrations.” When Clifford returned to his classroom on Monday, after the GOP caucuses, the poster was gone; in its place was a sticker reading, “Working People Vote Republican.”
Republicans opened a “closed cardboard box they found near Clifford’s desk” and later objected to the fact that it contained copies of the U.S. Constitution donated to the school by the American Civil Liberties Union.
After the caucuses, “rank-and-file Republicans who were upset by what they said they had seen in Clifford’s classroom” began calling the school, objecting to student art they had seen and a sticker on a filing cabinet reading “People for the American Way — Fight the Right.”
Labor is so un-American, Norman Rockwell was an America-hating commie pinko, and kids shouldn’t be exposed to the Constitution, especially if the ACLU likes it.
It’s getting so you can’t tell the patriots from the vandals. And Republicans are clearly the party against intellectualism, education, and diversity.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. These people have the mentality of frustrated adolescents.
Am I correct in thinking that people like this are screaming for America to return to the good ol’ values. Only it’s their version of the good old values and not the actual?
I mean, these are people who scream that the administration is taking a royal crap all over the constitution whilst they themselves ignore it when it suits them
The headline should have read “Rethuglicans vandalize classrooms — literally.”
To whom did the Rethuglican vandals “later object to the fact that (the classroom) contained copies of the U.S. Constitution”? Sounds like a letter-writing campaign might be in order.
Oh, that darn ACLU, sharing the constitution.
Perhaps they don’t want the students to have the constitution because they will find out that this is actually NOT a Christian nation?
And Republicans are clearly the party against intellectualism, education, and diversity.
Yes.
Apparently, the Republicans are also the party against private property. Oh wait, doesn’t that make them…. Communists?
what sort of entitled asshole thinks they can just rip off a poster and replace it?
(this is a rhetorical question, obviously)
Sue their asses.
And then sue the rest of them.
These people are so completely vile. No surprise there, though.
And they wonder why we call them Rethuglicans.
The Teabaggers never have liked the Constitution, except of course the 2nd Amendment.
The young punk kids in my neighborhood are always complaining about old republican vandals “tagging” their educational material. Its just plain rude!
“Working People Vote Republican.”
If dey know what’s good for ’em, right Louie?
The Orwellian term “thoughtcrime” keeps running through my mind. Clearly posters about labour (I’m English) history are thoughtcrime. Anything connected with the ACLU, even your much too sacred Constitution, is thoughtcrime. Teaching children to think must be thoughtcrime.
It’s funny how people come to resemble the things they clam to hate.
Gee, I’ve got a little pocket edition of the U.S. Constiution and the Bill of Rights from the CATO Institute. I wonder if they’d object to a box full of those?
How brownshirt of them. /godwin violation
Okay, yes, yes, I know, but seriously, these people are very much of the inherited tradition of all the other right-wing mobs that have existed, acting out in terrorism and tantrums at those beneath them. Or more aptly, like the overgrown school-house bullies that they are.
I’m reminded of the Daily Show episode where they had a panel of two correspondents and one of them was doing the teatard “water the tree of liberty” rants about insinuating violence and then denying that they are insinuating violence and Wyatt Cynac playing the blue stater who was like “I guess, just bring em on already. I’m sick of this shit.”
All this passive-aggressive bullshit and razing the ground to try and ride out a few more terms of white supremacy in the few states they have left, it’s like, fuck, your death throes are so goddamned annoying.
Ah vell, why we fight, right?
Maybe thinking is thoughtcrime too?
They vandalized Norman Rockwell? Norman Fucking Rockwell? Norman “Trite, Good Ol’ Days, Small Town, White, Middle-Class Values, Patriotism” Rockwell? That Norman Rockwell?
I have trouble imagining an artist (other than Thomas Kincade) closer to the wingnut vision of the Perfect America than Norman Rockwell. These people are insane, at every possible level.
I enjoy it when right-wingers use Jefferson’s “tree of liberty…” quote. I often reply by asking them what make’s them so sure they aren’t the “tyrants” Tom has referring to.
The Thugs Oppose Education, Differing Points of View, Equality, and so on…
Any sympathy I might have had for this supposedly major political party—or their supporters (no matter how nuanced)—in the USA has now vanished. They are incapable of anything constructive, useful, or rational, even when in power.
Put quite simply: If you are a Thug (formerly known as a Republican), you are an idiot.
And even that only because it’s so unclear what it actually says. (In any other country it would have been amended 100 years ago for this very reason alone.)
Wow! Your next elections over there are going to be fascinating – frightening, but fascinating.
That’s ghastly and unbelievable. It’s ghastly and unbelievable on two levels: first that they would actually make these ridiculous changes because they thought it was “too leftist” and secondly that they would have the gall to modify a teacher’s personal classroom and school in which they were guests. That’s so… vile.
I’m dumbfounded.
yeeeaaahhh… I might have to base my decision on whether I want to take an intensive or an extensive course in college on whether the wingnuts do well in it…
.
From the tone of your barb, I can assume you believe that it was financially irresponsible of me to have entered into negotiations to purchase an original Thomas Kinkade from the store in the mall?
it = election, not college. :-p
Teabaggers – you just can’t take them anywhere.
One might hope that all this publicity over their childish actions in a place where they were invited guests might shame and embarrass them and their party.
Me, I think they probably will wear it as a badge of honor.
What does that mean?
An original Thomas Kinkade? Don’t you know he doesn’t paint the wretched things himself, he has a sweatshop of minimum-wage Asians churning them out.
Cowards.
An original Thomas Kinkade? Don’t you know he doesn’t paint the wretched things himself, he has a sweatshop of minimum-wage Asians churning them out.
Please turn up the sensitivity on your Sarcastic Humour Detector.
[retch] I was stupid enough to google that name. I need to wash out my eyeballs & my brain now.
I feel a lot less proud of Maine now.
doing all the required courses in the minimal possible time, vs. taking my time and taking all the classes I want to take, even those not required for graduation.
Posted by: Teshi Author Profile Page | May 14, 2010 7:40 PM
That’s ghastly and unbelievable. It’s ghastly and unbelievable on two levels: first that they would actually make these ridiculous changes because they thought it was “too leftist” and secondly that they would have the gall to modify a teacher’s personal classroom and school in which they were guests. That’s so… vile.
I’m dumbfounded.
Umm…excuse me, but aren’t those “publicly” funded classrooms, with taxpayer dollars and all that is in that classroom is public property?
What gives the teacher the right to promote socialist ideas on taxpayer dollars within the supposed free market society? That sticker they saw on the filing cabinet could be as offensive as a “Che” sticker in some people’s minds. If this were in a college classroom, it could be tolerated, but these are pretty impressionable minds, give them an education, not an indoctrination.
I’m bewildered by the way an entire major political party has gone completely batshit insane in a short space of years. I guess all the sane people have simply left the Republican Party by now.
If you’d like me to set you up, my crazy old uncle still owns a little shop at a mall, where he sells the very same sort of overpriced
gifts itemscrap.I can only cling to a vain hope that in a hundred years, an original Kinkade and $10.50 will get you a cup of coffee.
Socialist ideas? Free market society? You supposed wrong, friend. By the way, what gives anyone the right to steal?
I’m a little uncomfortable with a public school teacher having a sticker that says “People for the American Way — Fight the Right.” They shouldn’t be politicizing things that way.
(I’m not going to join the chorus of people expressing disgust with this vandalism above since PZ and commentators have done it more adequately than I can).
One thing to note from the linked article is that it seems to have made students annoyed at the Republican party rather than anything else. So this seems to have backfired. On the tiny other brightside, the official Republican leadership has apparently come out against this theft and vandalism.
I just skip the stupidity and ask them how that worked out for South America. Jefferson may not have had a critical sampling in how his methods would work, but we do, and there’s no excuse for ignoring it.
Fuck. I’m moving to maine later this year. I hope portland isn’t all bad or it’s going to be a rough few years in law school. OI.
Multiple uncounted retches… I also was also stupid (but had this nagging feeling I’d run across the name before), only to discover the guy is about the same age as me, lived in about the same area as me, went to university/college in about same area as me, and his picture/portrait looks vaguely familiar. I have this nasty feeling I’ve run into the guy before (albeit I’m not certain). Fortunately, I don’t recall ever seeing any of the so-called “artworks” this blatantly obviously untalented hack has produced.† (To be fair, my paintings are much worse. But I don’t claim to be a painter/artist.)
† I obviously intensely dislike pastels and pastel-like “paintings” (nothing more than wastes of laid/wove paper).
“I’m a little uncomfortable with a public school teacher having a sticker that says “People for the American Way — Fight the Right.” They shouldn’t be politicizing things that way.”
If that was the only sticker, I’d agree with you. But it doesn’t mention context, I’ve seen many history teachers who have a display of many different campaign buttons, stickers, and slogans. If that’s the case, it’s perfectly fine.
@#35
“Umm…excuse me, but aren’t those “publicly” funded classrooms, with taxpayer dollars and all that is in that classroom is public property?
What gives the teacher the right to promote socialist ideas on taxpayer dollars within the supposed free market society? That sticker they saw on the filing cabinet could be as offensive as a “Che” sticker in some people’s minds. If this were in a college classroom, it could be tolerated, but these are pretty impressionable minds, give them an education, not an indoctrination.”
All that is in the classroom is not bought by tax-payer funds and therefore public property – if that were so, then most classrooms would be bleak.
And as I understand it, the collage was the product of student creativity. Please correct me if I am wrong.
“Posted by: Mr T Author Profile Page | May 14, 2010 8:30 PM Socialist ideas? Free market society? You supposed wrong, friend. By the way, what gives anyone the right to steal?”
Stealing is never right, I am disgusted with this behavior as well. But, if there were to be Jewish, or Muslim or Maoist or take whatever other stickers and/or other paraphernalia which were the personal effects of the teacher in the classroom, would you be so gracious as to not let your feathers be ruffled as well? Even if they were donated by another source?
Maybe if the constitution were to be hung on the wall in every classroom there wouldn’t be this kind of overreaction. But, then again, the teachers union would most likely be against that and then the ACLU would be fighting to have them all removed from the walls!
There are of course two problems here. One is that a couple of individuals behave criminally, the other that the responsible organisers back them up by doing nothing about it. Sounds a lot like RCC pedophilia, no?
I’ve been politically active (no longer) for a number of years (in Sweden) and all parties have scumbags. What’s really interesting is the response from the mother party. I’m really surprised they didn’t do a “we’ll investigate this internally” but instead openly admitted they like to buttfuck education.
*blinkblink*
Is there some kind of “rush to the bottom” competition among the Repubs of various states, that I’m not aware of?
Pretty quick to judge aren’t you? We’re pretty sure you could go into any classroom and apply a political spin to some of the found objects therein.
In fact, the rethugs bitching about a copy of the Constitution… the frickin’ constitution… just because the copies came from the ACLU proves our point rather nicely.
you better be a poe, because otherwise this is the single dumbest thing I’ve read this month. Can one be any more clueless?
Excepting propaganda for the Thugs, Rape Children Cult, or fascists, no, my feathers would not be ruffled. Why would they be ruffled for any of those three exceptions? The Thugs and fascists think it is wrong for my feathers to be ruffled, and the RCC thinks it wrong to point out what they do.
Why the hell would the source matter?
How much of an imbecile are you? One of the things the Thugs (formerly known as Republicans) destroyed were copies of the constitution. And why the hell would the teacher’s union, or the ACLU, be against displaying/teaching the constitution. Cite an example were that has happened.
Are you fucking serious??? Go ahead and walk into a publicly funded library and try taking a bunch of books without checking them out. Go into a publicly funded museum and try to make off with an exhibit and see how well that goes. Taxpayer dollars funding something doesn’t mean that anyone can walk in off the street and take stuff for their own use. And as has been mentioned, the majority of stuff in public school classrooms are bought by each teacher, from their own personal money. And as I’m sure you’re aware, the proper way to protest something you don’t think should be included in a school classroom is to bring it to the attention of authorities, not to fucking steal it from the room.
DM @ #21:
Yeah but in 1910 I doubt it would have been amended the way you might like. At least it would have, hopefully, been less ambiguous.
-DU-
Damnit, @50 was posted before I finished editing it. I said One of the things the Thugs (formerly known as Republicans) destroyed were copies of the constitution but was trying to correct that to be One of the things the Thugs (formerly known as Republicans) objected to was copies of the constitution.
Apologies for the confusion!
Once upon a time there was such a thing as a reasonable, moderate Republican. But anyone who is in the party now is complicit with the kind of lunacy on display with the old nutters in the Tea Party movement.
I really do wonder if our Republic can survive when half the country has abandoned even the pretense of rational dialogue.
Yes. These kids weren’t being indoctrinated, and as you’ve admitted, this behavior is disgusting, so don’t become an apologist for it.
Let me ask you this: have you never seen a piece of Jewish, Muslim or Maoist propaganda? Did seeing them change your mind? (Curious exmaples you’ve chosen, by the way.) If your mind is so easily susceptible to “stickers and/or other paraphernalia” that an awareness of their existence is automatically considered indoctrination or propaganda, then you are a sad case indeed. You should probably steer clear of religion or conservatism. That’s all they’re really good for: replacing actual thinking about complex issues with mindless slogans. They just don’t seem to work quite as efficiently if you know other mindless slogans….
Depends on the context in which that paraphernalia was presented. If a teacher is actively proselytizing an extreme political or religious position, than yes, that would be a point of concern.
Many years ago, as a teacher, we were giving a lecture on leadership skills. We asked the class to offer names of people, living or dead, who they thought employed good leadership skills.
Near the end, for shock value, we added Hitler’s name to the list, explaining along the way, that leadership skills can be used by anyone, for any purpose, good or evil.
Imagine the world of shit we would have been in if some anti-intellectual prick-tard had been strolling by the classroom while we were extolling the virtues of Hitler’s public speaking skills.
Context is everything.
Excuse the captain obvious, but stealing is illegal. These wackos should be arrested. Of course, if I was on the jury, I could be persuaded to accept an insanity plea…
On a related note, did they give the poster back yet?
Typical childish thuglican behavior. Despicable.
As for Thomas Kinkade…google can sometimes be your friend. I found a Thomas Kinkade-ish Chthulu painting!
http://sciencenotes.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/chthulu-thomas-kinkade-lighthouse.jpg
Better than brain bleach. :D
No. No one ever said “Thomas Kinkade.” He is my Nemesis©. Everyone who knows me knows I long to put an end to his reign of sentimentaly horror. There are few people I want as dead as him.
Pawz @ #58
Nice. In fact, it’s thematically closer to the Kinkade style than you might think.
From Wikipedia:
I figure they probably burned it, along with their bridges, a big pile of books, and in particular the ACLU Pinko-Commie Edition™ of the Constitution. Just for good measure, they then commenced the ritualistic circle-jerk around a picture of Joe McCarthy while singing the Star Spangled Banner.
blockquute fail at #60. Everything below “From Wikipedia” is… well, from Wikipedia.
Josh:
Duly noted, but how do you feel about Bob Ross? ;)
Isn’t stealing and vandalism a crime? Oh wait, they’re republics, the law doesn’t apply to them.
I have several Kinkade paintings:
Here’s one of my favorites.
This one is from Kinkade’s expressionist period.
And a landscape.
Hey, people! Back off! This is the party of law and order y’all’re talkin’ ’bout here. You know? The one that upholds that glorious foundational document of our legal system, The Ten Commandments.
There ain’t no way any of those fine upstandin’ citizens did nuttin’ worng. Anybody who says otherwise is clearly a commie pinko librul.
Say, can anybody spare some clean barf bags? I just used my last one….
Cheers,
b&
—
EAC Memographer
BAAWA Knight of Blasphemy
“All but God can prove this sentence true.”
I saw this article a couple of days ago and all I can say is I’m not terribly surprised. We all know that the rupub boogey-men are labor and thought. *sigh*
Thank you, asshole republicans, for making me so jaded.
Glacierman, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your epithet implies you’ve been frozen in a glacier for the past 1000 years and only recently reanimated.
Politics doesn’t stop at the entrance to a school. Teachers are free to exercise their first amendment rights (oh, that’s right, you don’t like the Constitution, do you?).
And for your information, most of us fighting the right are not necessarily opposed to markets. I just want a party in power that acknowledges physical reality–and the rethuglicans believe reality is a leftist plot.
So Mr. Mattir, a staunch, anti-gun ACLU member and public interest attorney, carries a copy of the Constitution printed by the NRA in his briefcase. Before that, I believe he had one from the Heritage Foundation. Should I be concerned that my spouse is really a Thug?
Amazingly enough, he refers to it fairly often in meetings and even casual conversations.
I had to read that twice. What evidence do you have that the NEA or AFT would oppose posting the Constitution in classrooms or that the ACLU would back them in such opposition? I’m betting it’s none.
@MrT
No one – ever – can approach the essential evil that is Kinkade. God, how I loath him.
Mattir,
My pocket Constitution and Declaration of Independence was provided by the Boy Scouts. Maybe I should be worried I’m a closeted Xian, homophobic man ;P
@ Pygmy Loris –
I’m a Boy Scout leader. Maybe I’m a closeted, Xian homophobic man. (Wait – a brief inspection reveals that at least the “man” part is not true.) I prefer to think of myself as an undercover change agent, subtly influencing the minds of tomorrow with the memes of liberalism and common sense and complaining about Boy Scout’s dopey policies every chance I get.
So, while we’re (not quite) on the topic, I was thinking back to how it’s become clear that the most obvious way to declare one’s (self-hating, repressed) homosexuality is to vociferously advocate against “the gay agenda.”
I think it’s time that the sane members of society push this one step further. The best way to prove that you’re not a homosexual in denial is to staunchly advocate for equal rights.
Yes, that’s right. If you’re in the closet but don’t want anybody to drag you out, kicking and screaming and moaning (oh, my!), the days of being the bashing-est gay basher are over. Today, the best way to “prove” your “heterosuxality” is to be even more in favor of human rights than the LGBT community itself.
Anybody think it’ll fly?
Cheers,
b&
—
EAC Memographer
BAAWA Knight of Blasphemy
“All but God can prove this sentence true.”
Mattir,
I sincerely hope you can change them from your perch. Even if it’s just one troop, every open mind is a good thing.
Good Lord Cthuhlu, I’m slow. I just posted a comment about this in the last post mentioning the awful bunch of vindictive idiots that are the Republicans in my home state. I think I’ll go sit over in the corner with the dunce cap on now.
Good Lord Cthulhu, I’m slow. I just posted a comment about this in the last post mentioning the awful bunch of vindictive idiots that are the Republicans in my home state. I think I’ll go sit over in the corner with the dunce cap on now.
Unfortunately this isn’t uncommon or limited to Republicans. My school used to host Project Learn an adult education problem.
When they used my room I
1. Got a nasty note about not having an overhead. Hello this is the 21st century I use a projector and I’m left handed.
2. They took down my white sheet that I projected onto because the screen was to small and I didn’t use the chalk board because I’m allergic to chalk.
3. Nasty note complaining about no chalk.
I got an overhead from the library and parked it in the corner of my room. Left polite note asking them to return my room to original condition.
The next week’s nasty note
1. Ordered me to leave MY laptop. My Laptop as in I paid for it and the projector.
2. Sheet on floor stepped on
3 posters taken down and piled on computer. Posters all had magnetic strips.
4. ALL my student’s pencils were gone from the containers on the tables.
Next week – Strongly worded note about leaving the room in the condition they found it and that Magnets damage computers. Took up supplies and put them in cupboard – no lock so taped shut. Pencils gone – crayons broken (I teach elementary) sheet down and projector moved.
My principal assured me it would be taken care off
Next week – crayons broken, pencils gone and sheet down. Then my students who logged on the student computers said. “Ms. Herbert I promise we didn’t do it.” Every single monitor was a rainbow. The kids were pointing to the bottom of the table. The legs ans supports of the table were covered in magnets from a free time kit and our science kits. I stormed into my principal’s office and demanded she come see the vandalism in my room.
That teacher was dismissed and her class moved to another room with another teacher. Principal refused to host them the next year.
kherbert,
What obnoxious shits. That’s absolutely horrible.
Seems a pretty cut and dry to me: Those Teahadists have committed several crimes: vandalism, theft, breaking into things that belonged either to the school and/or the teacher. These are not trivial offenses and they should face charges.
Wait, wait, wait. Who said that the ACLU might want to take down posters of the Constitution from the walls if they were put up?
Do you not have any f*cking clue as to what the ACLU IS? They fight FOR the Constitution. They fight FOR freedom of speech, and everything else the Constitution allows us.
They are the ones… WHO DONATED COPIES OF THE CONSTITUTION TO THE TEACHER/SCHOOL.
Wow, what a dipshit.
Do you know how much I’m stealing that?
That is absolutely sublime.
“What gives the teacher the right to promote socialist ideas on taxpayer dollars within the supposed free market society?”
First of all, as someone has already pointed out, the money for classroom decorations (or propaganda) usually comes out of the pocket of the teacher.
Secondly, my second point of concern is the theft. If people have problems with a classroom, the correct and respectful way to address the problem is to approach to school officially through the principal, not to rearrange a classroom at will.
I most humbly apologize for apparently, unwittingly, hijacking the thread and causing aesthetic distress to several commenters by mentioning the name of…that…”artist”.
I promise to be more careful in future.
Eamon Knight,
I could admit that I once bought a puzzle featuring that person’s “art,” but that just wouldn’t be cool.
From the original article at
http://www.pressherald.com/news/call-it-class-struggle-how-politics-went-too-far_2010-05-12.html
Don’t forget: Big Brother is watching! He’s going to open all your mail and all those closed cardboard boxes you get from the ACLU, not to mention listen in on your phone conversations. Isn’t that heartwarming how Bush and Cheney are out of office and yet the GOP proudly continues their traditions.
Absolute scum. But I understand why they’re worried about the constitution being in classrooms. They don’t want kids to read it; they just want kids to accept that it says whatever Palin or Beck says it does.
@glacierman #45
I guess I’m the 20th person to note that the ACLU would be the first organization to SUPPORT putting the Constitution up on the wall of every classroom. It is often hard to detect sarcasm on the internet, so let me just say that you were either being sarcastic or unimaginably retarded when you posted that.
You know what? The fucking teabag wastes don’t even believe that government should exist.
They are on the fucking record as stating that they believe that these sorts of disputes are best left to the marketplace of ideas.
My idea is to punch them in their tiny, pin-like heads.
Wonder if it’ll catch on (if it does, it’s just the action of the market, they can’t complain).
How long did it take the morons to:
a) blame the teacher for being unamerican;
b) mention some real or (more likely) imagined crime/affront a Dem/liberal committed in the past; or
c) claim a liberal did it to make them look bad?
I’m going with 5 milliseconds.
Don’t see why everyone is so excited. At least they aren’t parking truck bombs in front of federal buildings and blowing them up. Ooopppss, I guess they already did that in Oklahoma.
At least they aren’t forming armed bands and planning on killing cops. Ooopppss, I guess they did that in Michigan.
Well, at least they haven’t hijacked any planes and flown them into skyscrapers or government buildings. Yet.
Let me get this straight. They objected to the students expressing opinions different from their own!
Well to quote Jon Stewart “Go FUCK yourself!!
@94: It loses its punch without a choir singing it.
@ raven “Well, at least they haven’t hijacked any planes and flown them into skyscrapers or government buildings. Yet.”
But isn’t that what the IRS plane dude did? So actually… they’ve done everything on that list.
Jemand:
I think the anti-IRS suicide terrorist actually owned the airplane, so I don’t think you can say he highjacked it.
——–
Regarding teaching socialism in public schools: um, aren’t public schools (along with police, emergency response, roads, parks, etc) perfect examples of limited socialism within a market economy? The wonderful mix of socialism and capitalism that America has had for, oh, a century or more?
Hey, hey, don’t go knocking on Bob “Happy Trees” Ross. Dude was obviously so high while painting that you can’t help but enjoy watching him. Besides, he could turn out a motel-quality canvas in under an hour. Much Awesome.
I forgot about that guy. Technically he didn’t hijack his own plane. OTOH, to the people in the buildings, it isn’t going to matter whether the plane was owned, rented, or hijacked.
Maybe the Tea Baggers can decide at their next meeting whether it is better to own, lease, or steal planes for suicide missions.
Raven:
I think the preferred payment method for a teahaddist would depend upon the actual ownership. If the airplane is owned by a corporation or a wealthy individual, it must be purchased or leased. If it belongs to a liberal, go ahead and steal it.
Walton quoth:
I was about to ask in a shocked voice if you had forgotten the terrifying Era of Mad Maggie and Her Goons of Doom. Then I remembered that you are but a egg and too young to have survived the experience.
It’s what political parties do when burdened by a strong leader or perhaps a collection of strong memes. Religions, being nothing more than long lasting political parties wrapped in mumbo-jumbo, suffer from the problem as well, often to even more horrific effect.
Glacierman @ #35:
So do you feel the same way about my youngest child’s music teacher, who somehow manages to make sure that at least half of the songs they cover in class are Christian on some level?
I’ll bet you think that’s “an education, not an indoctrination.”
I thought it was common knowledge that the constitution is only upper-middle-class white folk.
Once the party of Nixon, always the party of Nixon, I guess.
What the fuck are Teabaggers doing using a taxfunded classroom for their meetings?
Margaret Thatcher was not insane. In no way can her time in office, or the Conservative Party at any point in its history, reasonably be compared to the current lunatic direction of the US Republican Party.
(And technically, I was born when Mrs Thatcher was PM – though she left office when I was less than a year old. I do remember John Major quite distinctly, though.)
@#78: I myself would have reacted a more juvenile fashion, so thank you for taking the high road.
You do have to wonder what they were thinking. I mean, yeah, I could possibly grasp the nastygrams about chalk and projectors and whatnot they perceived they were entitled to… but just plain stealing and destroying stuff? Who thinks they’re entitled to that?
Ranson:
Indeed. I just wanted to post that video because it’s funny and a bit surreal. I’m sure good old Bob would’ve taken it with humor.
I very much enjoy this interpretation of the art of He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, via Legion:
Childermass wrote:
No, don’t you see, they did it because they thought the establishment would support them in what they did. It isn’t like they tried to hide it. They thought the Democratic establishment would cover their asses for them. They thought what they did was necessary and justifiable.
OK, I’m fucking scared now. I’m getting out of this goddamn country as soon as I see my chance.
Glacier, are you saying that the determiming factor for whether something should be tolerated is whether or not we agree with it?
Really?
If I am misreading you, please accept my apologies.
If I am not misreading you, please allow me to pass along what I was taught in ninth grade civics class:
One measure of how much we understand and support the right to free speech and free expression is in our ability or willingness to tolerate speech or expression that we do not agree with.
The most appropriate response to speech/expression that we are not in agreement with is not to shut it down. The best we can do is to exercise our own freedom of speech and expression and make our disagreement known.
If we air our disagreement in public, with any luck, the “marketplace of ideas” will help settle the situation. Maybe your position will prevail; maybe not.
We are guaranteed the right to the expression but not the right to be agreed with. But the one disagreeing doesn’t have more rights than their opponent does.
Of course there are limits on allowable speech–incitement to violence, etc., things that most can agree should not be allowed in the interest of public safety and the common good.
So no, the jerks who perpretrated the vandalism are not in the right. Anyone who objected to objects they found had the option to leave a private note for the teacher, air their concern later to the school administration, or to just fucking leave if they didn’t like what they found. But vandalism? NO.
Let me ask you also: Should someone who was “Jewish, or Muslim or Maoist” have the right to deface your property because they don’t agree with you?
Sorry if this came off like a sermon, but I am just passing along what I was taught in junior high school.
What is done is done.
Time for the lessons of history to sink in.
For any venue that lets Teabagging Theothuglicans use their facilities, expect vandalism, theft, and invasion of privacy. Ask for a performance bond to cover the costs ahead of time. It is easier than calling the cops and suing for damages after the fact.
There are two things that are common knowledge that most never seem to get.
1. In an interview with the media, you will be accurately quoted and what you meant will be conveyed to an audience. Probably not.
2. Your email is private. It will never show up somewhere public for anyone to Google for all eternity. Only if no one cares.
We’ll add another one here. Teabaggers act like mentally disturbed 5 year olds when their mommy is gone for a few hours. Be careful when they are around anything portable or breakable.
Perhaps not in a technical, diagnostic sense. But I think in any reasonable, colloquial, sense I am entitled to claim she was bugfuck nuts. She supported Reagan. She came close to destroying the UK economy in her hatred of unions and in particular Arthur Scargill. She lead to the almost complete destruction of the public trust in the police, which has in turn allowed the Orwellian surveillance society you now live under. She … oh hell, I can’t be bothered any more.
Yes, she was clearly an intellectually capable person in several fields. Yes, she was by far the best man in the Tory party – not that that was a very high bar to leap. We might all have been much better off if she had carried on her work in chemistry.
That’s just sad. I have a ton of stuff in my classroom that they’d probably find offensive – a poster of the Declaration of the Rights of Man (typical socialist French stuff, right? Very unAmerican) and a big French flag behind my desk. What can I say, I’m a French teacher.
The history teacher in the room connected to mine has all sorts of shit that would probably be deemed offensive – a bunch of old Soviet propaganda posters, Maoist posters, etc. For a while he had posters made by students with their own political party platforms – some of them were surely seditious.
Usually it’s the classrooms with the most subversive stuff that are the most interesting for students. They get bored and don’t really want to be there anyway. One way to make them show up for you class is to make them think they’re learning something naughty, something the adults wouldn’t want them to know about. So a teacher with posters like that would probably be very effective, in my experience.
Oddly enough, teachers in AZ are required by law to post a copy of the constitution on the wall of the classroom. I have mine. Nobody’s ever looked at it, and I’ve never referred to it since I hung it there. But I just would hate to be sent to jail and have to explain to the murderers and armed robbers that I was doing time for not posting my constitution on the wall.
#113 lovebugsphotography
Then I sincerely hope the other (non-French) teachers are referring to it, and frequently.
It is the most fascinating and plainly worded (no legalese) document of its kind. To think this whole country was built on its simple framework is awe-inspiring. And far too many Americans know what it says but have never taken the 20 minutes to actually read it.
P.S. I attended my first SkeptiCamp today, in Atlanta. Great people; Awesome fun; Kudos to the organizers!
iambilly #97
A mixture of limited socialism and market economics that is common to every successful, developed economy in the world. (Please correct me if I’m wrong.)
The Teahadists can’t even join the dots…
Gordy @115:
Havun’t yew herd? Them dots is a Libbrul Komyewnist Conspeericy!
(My head hurts from typing that….)
You know that certain 20 percent or so of the population that thought, at the end of Dubbya’s presidency, that he had done a good job? Well my parents fall squarely and comfortably in that group. The interesting thing is the only “art” they have hung in the house is Thomas Kinkaid “paintings”. And here I thought I was the only one who considered them cheeeeeeezy!
If true, that’d be pretty creepy. I’m certainly not agreeing with the fackin’ eejit glacierman (who is either a redneck antisemite or a Poe), but EVERY classroom? How much empty space is there on classroom walls over there?
It wasn’t that short. People just have short memories. The party has been headed in this direction at least since the 1940s.
Well, originally it was. They extended the vote to lower-middle-class white men and even, radically, non-property-owning white men early on. Non-white men weren’t included until 1867, and that was unevenly enforced (to put it charitably) up until the 1960s. It didn’t apply to white women until 1919, and then only as far as the right to vote.
Good point, truthspeaker. I hadn’t really though of it that way. But oddly enough you’ve really driven my point home.
Republicans opened a “closed cardboard box they found near Clifford’s desk” and later objected to the fact that it contained copies of the U.S. Constitution
Unsurprising, considering that right-wing nutjobs have always hated the Constitution.
I just noticed how this is such a great quote to mine… (headline: Republicans object to the Constitution!)
(Indeed, the Bush administration did make every appearance of hating the Constitution, and did everything it could get away with to abrogate basic civil liberties and undermine the Bill of Rights. From a civil-liberties perspective, Bush was the most damaging president in fifty years. Sadly, the Obama administration has continued many of the same abuses. The US, like the UK, tends increasingly to have a depressingly authoritarian political consensus, where illiberal and destructive “tough on crime” and “anti-terror” policies are becoming the norm.)