some thoughts on the president. and jelly beans.

when i was eight years old, ronald reagan was running for president against jimmy carter. and the one and only thing i knew about the canidates was the type of snack food both men prefered to have on their desks. reagan? jelly beans. carter? peanuts. or, at least that's what i'd heard. but i remember rooting vigorously for reagan, because of his jelly bean platform, and i was very happy when he won.

i don't even remember my teacher's name in 1980, but i can recall quite vividly that she made a big deal about what an exciting time it was. to be inaugurating a brand new president. that stuck with me.

back then, if the president chose to make a speech to our school... to be honest, unless he was actually going to be there in person, i would have been much more thrilled with the thought of getting out of class for a little while. any break in the monotony was a welcomed part of the day. but, i can say this, too. i am certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that, if any one of us kids at leda shishoff elementary school was goofing around during said speech, a teacher would swoop down upon us in three seconds flat and say something to the effect of, "excuse me! but that is the president of the united states of america! you need to close your mouth, and show him some respect!" that, too, would have stuck with me.

i'm bringing all this up because i'm deeply saddened by what might stick with the kids tomorrow who will not be shown a speech by our president. to the schools that will not be screening for their students president obama's speech because of a fear of what he might say, or a fear of how many parents may be angered by what this man is trying to teach their children, i would love to ask what in the world they could be thinking...

this notion i've heard from the right that his speech contains hints of socialism, and that he is trying to corrupt the young minds of this nation, absolutely baffles me. i find it to be completely inappropriate and more than a little bit dangerous.

last night i received an email from a relative of mine. we constantly go back and forth on a lot of issues. it seems i'm getting a touch liberal in my old age, and... well, he's from georgia. this thing he forwarded to me was called "a special message from... league of american voters" & was titled, "obama's five big lies on healthcare." included within it was this passage...


'There Will Be No "Death Panels." More lies. Sure, they don't call them "death panels" in the legislation, but that's what their job will be. These committee members will set guidelines with which faceless bureaucrats will make decisions about you and your healthcare. They will decide who lives and who dies. They decide who gets critical procedures and expensive medicines.'


this is remarkable to me. we have actual congressmen going around, scaring the ever-loving shit out of people, saying that our president wants to "pull the plug on grandma" and no one is standing up and saying what should have been said weeks ago, "ENOUGH!!!" where are they??? we need them to stand up and shout it! "enough!"

shoot, forget "they" or "them" --we only needed one man with a brain to stand up to mccarthy's nonsense, right? so, when we need him today, where is he?

it's time. when the absurd becomes something that we're told to think and debate about in a serious manner, it's time to say, "enough!" when the ridiculous is being used to manipulate the poor and the elderly, it's time to ask, "have you no sense of decency?"

and, tomorrow, when schoolchildren are being told that they're not going to hear the words of barack obama, because they're not sure if what he has to tell them will be suitable for their young, impressionable ears, it's time to say, "excuse me! but that is the president of the united states of america! you need to close your mouth and show him some respect!"


the five things i fell in love with today...

1) habitat for humanity..
2) even though my rutgers team got throttled today, my madden-ized pittsburgh steelers won the super bowl!!! w'hooooooooooooo!!!
3) espn's wendy nix. she's always been beautiful, but-- holy cow, something about her in those glasses... hubba hubba!
4) oof, i have to wake up early tomorrow and go back to work. but!!! i get to see my homies again, too. so, good times.
5) jelly beans.


song of the day...
"a horse with no name" by america

movie of the day...
"state of the union" fantastic film, with spencer tracy! check it out!