I Mess With Texas, The Continuing Saga
Or, I've lost count how many times I've messed with Texas.
Mainly because I occasionally begin to think it might be OK down there, and then I remember: I've only ever really been to Austin. So I forget to pay attention.
And then BS like this pops up.
From the NY Times:
"President Obama's plan to deliver a speech to public school students on Tuesday has set
off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president
of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are
asking school officials to excuse the children from listening.The uproar over the speech, in which Mr. Obama intends to urge students
to work hard and stay in school, has been particularly acute in Texas,
where several major school districts, under pressure from parents, have
laid plans to let children opt out of lending the president an ear."
WHY O WHY does it not surprise me that out of all of the loony fringes in the loony parts of the U.S. that TEXAS comes up first.
This is YOUR PRESIDENT. Vote for him or not, like him or not, he is the UNITING FACTOR of what we call the UNITED STATES.
My favorite part:
“The thing that concerned me most about it was it seemed like a
direct channel from the president of the United States into the
classroom, to my child,” said Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland,
Tex., who said he would keep his three children home.“I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement.”
That's right, your GOVERNMENT-FUNDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS shouldn't be turned into a socialist movement. And get your grubby government hands off my Medicare, while you're at it.
I really wanted to restrain myself from noting that had this been the former President Shrub, and it had been 2003 or 04 and he'd decided to give a speech to public schools, and some Democrats had objected the reply would have been: "Why would you do something so anti-patriotic? We are AT WAR. Why do you hate America?"
And then I decided not to restrain. The HYPOCRISY IS PAINFUL.
And my eldest niece has just started to attend these schools.
Lord help us all.
Texas needs a new state nickname like The Lone Brain Cell State.
It’s just awful. I don’t have a tv or listen to radio, but I have a radio in my new car and turned it on for about thirty seconds yesterday, only to be subjected to similar bullshit about how the current attempts to “socialize medicine” were going to screw up healthcare in this country and mean poor people were even further from care. As an Australian who grew up with the type of health care system this country is aiming for, I have nothing but praise for the system, but I’m very afraid these nutcases are going to screw up the system so badly by putting so many roadblocks up, and then when it fails, say “See!!? I told you so!”
I think the worst part is that I get the feeling that the super-conservatives are just fighting to fight, in the hopes of being divisive so they can have a power grab. I understand that reasonable people can have reasonable differences of opinion, but I sense that if Obama showed up tomorrow with a no-cost cure for AIDS and cancer someone on the right wing would find a reason to fight it, and call him names in the process. This isn’t a debate or discussion anymore, this is like arguing with your younger sibling and expecting to come to consensus: “No way!” “Yes, way!”
Unrelated: Australian? What part? I’ll be there in November!
I agree, it feels like fighting “just ‘cos”.
I’m originally from the west, but I’ve lived in every state. Most recently in NSW just above Sydney. Where are you headed?
All over but pretty much just East Coast: I’m on this organized tour that’ll be passing through Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, Ayers Rock primarily. Any suggestions for when/if I get any free time? 😀
I’m super excited, by the way. Wanted to go since I was about 12.
That’s awesome. A tour should take you around all the really great places.
Things I can think of that might be worth it if you have time, and the tour doesn’t cover it:
Sydney – most of the really great things are around the coast. Catch a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly. If you do this, it’s worth getting off and walking the short distance from the harbour across to the ocean. It’s beautiful, and there is lots of art, and some nice walks. You can walk up to the North Head of Sydney Harbour, but it’s a bit of a distance and maybe worth catching a taxi up there. The harbour mouth is surrounded by huge cliffs, and it’s an amazing view. If you have lots of spare money, you can do a plane tour flying around over the harbour and the heads. Ditto for climbing the harbour bridge if your tour doesn’t include it. It’s fantastic, but it costs, and you need to book it weeks in advance.
You will almost certainly visit The Rocks in Sydney. Lots of great tourist places.
About two and a half hours by train west from Sydney you can go to the Blue Mountains for a day trip – if you are into leaving early. Trains are pretty comfortable, by the way, and pretty safe to sleep on if you wanted a nap while getting through the first hour (just going through Sydney suburbs). Very very nice, one of my favorite spots ever. Tons of tourist information for things to see, great hikes – I’d recommend going down the scenic railway or the zig-zag railway.
The Australian bush is going to blow you away. Totally alien to anything here. I miss the smell of it after rain. Ohmy!
Cairns. GOF here on vox lives up there, he’d probably be able to tell you some interesting places off of the beaten track. Eat crocodile, it’s delicious. Don’t go swimming in unprotected beaches or rivers – crocodiles or box jellyfish are not pleasant swimming companions (this is not a problem in other places you will go). I love swimming at Mossman Gorge – if you go there, you should go in, the water is gorgeous, and the fish all hang around – no problem animals in the water there. You’ll definitely go snorkling or scuba diving on the reef. That’s a must! Catching the cable car up to Kuranda and the train back down is great – if you have a choice, go up the cable car, and down the train, the views are better that way I think.
You heading down to Melbourne? Melbourne is a mellow city, very fashion oriented. I don’t think it’s a spectacular tourist destination, but it’s just the most lovely place to chill out.
Feel free to vox message me any time from over there, letting me know you have time free and when, and I can probably tell you what’s within reach that is worth seeing.
This is awesome information! I’m copying it into my files. I think the Blue Mountains are listed as an optional extra, and I’m doing all the op-extras for certain. Thank you!