Today was bound to be a real bitch considering the activities of the Right lately, i.e. Teabaggery and associated activities.
But the censorship of the President addressing schoolchildren and exhorting them to stay in school, not give up, and to better themselves and their country by doing so is the final straw.
In particular because this now hits as close to home as health care, but the villains aren't faceless insurance companies, distant representatives and untouchable fascist demagogues on Fox News and radio, but local administrators and elected officials (the school board) who either out of cowardice or venality censored the speech in our schools.
Sometimes a person in position of authority has to take a stand and make the right decision even though it may be unpopular with a segment or even the majority of the population. The right decision here was to air the speech for students and let them hear the message of perseverance and the importance of education.
But here in Monroe County, the best you could get was a passing of the buck, an outright lie, and cowardly censorship which catered to the extremists in the community (although admittedly there are plenty of these extremists and they are plenty loud).
This is a shameful day for America, but it should also serve us all as a wake up call; we can't sit by idly and let the hate-filled, psychotic right dictate school policy.
The school board positions are usually run as apolitical positions but that is nonsense; Sarah Palin got her start on the school board, after all. It actually serves as a stepping stone for people on all sides of the aisle.
We must, as private citizens, in the next election cycle, take the election of school board officials more seriously, get more information out, and prevent the nut-jobs from taking over the schools.
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