Guest-blogger: When Schoolteachers Attack!

I have a former squeeze who teaches middle-school in an impoverished community in an impoverished southwestern state in our freshly-impoverished country. She’s a great little communicator she is, but has always eschewed blogs, blogging and bloggers in general – and me in particular – as being beneath her. So there’s very little danger she’s going to notice that she’s become my first-ever guest-blogger.

(I know reproducing her rant here without her permission is somewhat ethically iffy, but as I said, there’s very little chance of me being busted and her perspective is one that I feel deserves to be heard. Save your angry upbraids for the mainstream media who, for the time being anyway, are still held accountable to standards we bloggers are not.)

The funny thing is, this is the same gal who used to fob off politics as also beneath her, insignificant arcana that happened on the TV and in the newspapers but didn’t have any impact on her little life so could I please stop boring her with this shit?

Ah hah, but then she became a schoolteacher!

I now turn the Forum over to the Middle-school teacher from the great southwest. I have edited her comments only to protect her anonymity, otherwise they are reproduced verbatim. My few remarks are [bracketed].

Her email arrived with this subject line:

I know I shouldn't vent on you...

But damnit, I just get so angry after coming home from a meeting trying to "save our school" (with no turnout) to watch Rush Limbaugh get even more media attention as some high school graduate who is fat, narrow-minded, ignorant, and full of anger spewing his continual shit and transparent hypocrisy. Really, he's got 4 million in the bank, no college education, not one class in history, economics, political science, etc. and yet he has a huge following of brainwashed idiots who need direction because they don't know how to think for themselves and need an outlet for the unhappiness in their lives (and by the way, why doesn't ANYBODY take a look at his social and marriage life - or Ann Coulter's for that matter - the beautiful, angry woman [Ann Coulter is a woman??] with a hateful mouth, a rich spoiled background, a string of broken engagements and dead eyes?). To me, they both symbolize everything that is going wrong in this country - not because of what they say or feel, but for the fact that PEOPLE LISTEN TO THEM AND BUY THOSE BOOKS! Like porn, violent video games, Brittany Spears...all kinds of shit like that (out of some kind of "hole" within ourselves?), we "reward bad behavior" by endorsing them with our precious resources - our time, our attention, our money - not to mention Wall Street, CEOs of failing banks and highly paid scammers. No wonder they support capitalism to its ugliest degree. It's working for them...and that's OUR fault.

Apparently they've either got us by the balls because we NEED them...so we insist on playing by the rules to treat them "fairly" when they never did play fairly at all - interesting game - makes our government - and ourselves - look like WIMPS. They represent the base of our animalistic natures...and they profit from it. We have only ourselves to blame...if there IS any "us" (or U.S.) anymore...I vote we insist on those CEOs getting OUT and paying back all those so-called "bonuses" they gave to themselves NOW - THIS year - when the country they screwed over really needs it. Hey, how about REQUIRING them to INVEST it in the stock market? Perhaps they would be more receptive to that as opposed to giving it back to the government or people they screwed over directly. They MAY stand to gain...and they have to swallow the bitter pill of turning this stock market around and investing in this country AND our president. I'm starting to wonder if our president (and this country) is being DELIBERATELY sabotaged. There are rich people in this country who could be putting their money where their mouth is in terms of investing (boosting) the stock market in a way that most people can NOT afford to do (uh...the bottom 90% of our population that are losing jobs, losing homes, totally stressing if they both are lucky enough to have both right now...). We're still trying to play "diplomatic" as the good guys (us) go down the drain. There's DEFINITELY a movie to be made in all this - somewhere down the line when history is clearer in perspective (or is it? Look at how suddenly the "New Deal" was a Bad Deal! - I certainly personally "get" how history can be re-written). I hope somebody like Ron Howard or Stephen King or some other big name takes it on and does it justice. I'm sure they are ALL taking notes. Nothing like a primary source. I want someone honest who will NOT rewrite or embellish history. There's PLENTY of meat here to make a Big Seller without having to "build it up" (though perhaps the profits should go to the national deficit?:-)

Sorry - and no offense to you for never having gone to college), but it just completely IRKS me that someone like Rush can be a "speaker" to the people and RECEIVE an award for defending the "constitution" as he quotes the Declaration of Independence and quotes it WRONG. Even my smartest 6th graders caught that! They HAVE to listen to the part about life, liberty (NOT FREEDOM) and the pursuit of happiness every day...and (if they choose) stand up and pledge allegiance to our country, one nation under "God" (which IS the issue with some folks)...just like "God" should be taken off our pennies, etc. I just think people need to get a life, but the moment they start insisting kids attend prayer to "god" in school, telling us to teach science from a religious point of view, and insisting we teach the Ten Commandments in public school, I am right there on the front line protesting. What I'd REALLY like to protest is that [my state] is one of the few states where citizens have the right to direct their tax dollars into private religious - and I STRESS RELIGIOUS - schools. This is a very quiet and unusual change that has taken place...and has yet to be constitutionally challenged...a case that SHOULD go right up to the Supreme Court. It's a constitutional violation in a very RED state which has a terrible reputation for educational funding. So many things in this state go unnoticed. I don't speak out because I am legally informed that I truly can NOT speak out against my institution or I could lose my job. I will eventually get into a position where I don't need my job as much as I need to speak out. I work in different ways right now. Someday it may not even matter. I seek bigger things anyway.

I think at this point we should just ask ANY of the political critics how much they make. It's unfair, I grant you, but I think at this point backgrounds are important. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Bruce Springsteen and even Obama himself among so many others who make millions, are appreciative of what they have, and will be affected the most in terms of tax increases SEE the necessity, the justice, the FUTURE of this country, not just themselves. Some people make fortunes and hoard it, some give back...and not for the tax breaks, but for a higher purpose...and whether that is from a sense of humanity or whether they are smart enough to realize that ULTIMATELY you can NOT turn your back on humanity and EVER hope to survive, I really don't care. It's a higher level of thinking than I see when I look into the eyes of that senator from Ohio (looks like the fucking leader of the "gang") or hear that beautiful Ann spewing ugliness, or even back when I first heard Palin speak in her sarcastic, snotty tone. I'm so sick of selfish, narrow-minded greedy or downright BRAINWASHED people who are swearing by McCain (senator of a failure state) - or following some other ugly version of humanity.

What can I say? I KNEW this was the year to get cable TV and a big LCD screen [2009 is the year to finally make the upgrade to cable??]. It's WAY overdue, but I'm politically involved, bringing attention to these issues in a NON-PARTISAN way (as best I really can because I respect CRITICAL thinking in a government institution - separation of church and state and all that), but I DO make it a point to illustrate inequities to my students. I wish I could take them on a field trip to the middle school that [my son] attended up here (in Republican land) which looks like a RESORT. We have mice, mold, broken...all kinds of things...and this is the LARGEST school district in [town], second largest in the state and one of the largest in the whole country. We will be hit hard, even with the stimulus packet. I DO make it a point to tell them that I just saw a school district asking kids to bring - among other things - their own TOILET PAPER to school because the school doesn't have the money. They were shocked. Perhaps that will make them think twice about taking colored pencils out of the room, leaving pencils on the floor and wasting paper (all pet peeves of mine over the years). I am sick of "takers" and it starts VERY early, particularly in the Hispanic community. I welcome them here, but they need to change their mindset (not US changing ours to constantly accommodate them) in order to become contributing citizens to this country. Screw hand-outs. On THAT I am very Republican. In everything else, I remain...shit...I guess Democratic. It's become very hard to be an "independent" and I would LOVE for that to change as well...

This is NOT socialism. This is actually as simple as a song "The Trees" by Rush...and SOMEBODY should be playing that right about now...especially the ENDING. Listen to it, even though you haven't heard it for awhile. It says it all.

[Not sure what she means here. “The Trees” is an anti-union screed as I read it… Judge for yourself.]

By the way, since I'm being pessimistic...may as well go all the way. You think you've seen wars over OIL? Wait until the water wars hit. People can LIVE without oil. Water is an ancient method of warfare, even when it wasn't scarce. It is FAST becoming even scarcer in many parts of the world where population is growing. Things get very, very ugly when basic survival is at stake.

Okay...I'm venting. Don't expect a response, persay, I just miss intelligent discourse on events as they happen. [Darling, this is why you should have your own blog!] You will be pleased to hear that my son is taking AP history and gives me a run for my money every time in terms of political debates (not to mention his grandfather - a history and political buff). He has found an outlet for anger (I'm afraid - NOT the reason to get too involved) but he is also HIGHLY analytical and passionate...and thank God he's more likely to end up in the Peace Corps than the military. His father remains apathetic (loosely Republican and now not seeming to care either way) about everything from politics to [our son] going to college. It's all on me...and believe me, my son is going to college. For all my troubles, mistakes and struggles, I gave my son those two things I didn't have that I value most - two caring involved parents and a better education than I ever had.