Thursday, May 5, 2011

Change is here...but it's not what you expected...

Yesterday, the day after Usama Bin Laden was killed the results of the midterms were never clearer as a teacher in Texas demonstrated. The Headline read:

TX Teacher Suspended After Telling Muslim Student 'I Bet You're Grieving'


The male teacher decided to deride a Muslim student through insults and traumatizing her to espouse his political views. The result, a traumatized and hurt student...and his suspension pending an investigation. Hopefully, he will be fired and will never teach in school again. However, it does not end here as we have seen around the country.

The sad thing is that there are states like Arizona, Oklahoma, Arkansas and others in the sunbelt that have been taken over by Republican extremists who are ok with this type of behavior. They want to change historical accounts in textbooks, profile everyone who is of color or dress differently than the rest and while I hear people from those regions express the desire to change the dynamic in their states--its unfortunate they do not have the power to make any changes immediately. They are against a power system by these extremists who are now trying to pass laws to suppress the vote. In Missouri for example, a redistricting law eliminating democratic seats was vetoed by the Governor but overturned by a Republican veto proof legislature.

Other politicians are expressing a desire to change the voting age to 21 because they believe younger voters tend to vote democratic and believe these younger voters don't know what they are doing--but they know what they are doing in a military uniform at that same age and are eligible for the draft.

Folks the mid terms had consequences...liberals stayed home, progressives did not show and young people ignored them...now voters are suffering in the south and midwest. Wisconsin taught us that extreme thinking conservatives have taken over the GOP...and guys like this teacher in Texas are now emboldened to say what they want and vilify anyone they want--even our children.