See? I Told You So.

Just what I predicted. No subtle hints at anything political to warp young minds. Nothing condescending about republicans. It was a great speech and very well done.

Patriotism is Dead

I'm not very political in my daily life. I don't read political editorials, or watch every political speech that is offered. Does that make me a bad citizen? I don't think so. I think it simply implies that I think our government is doing the best they can and that I have more important things to spend my time on. That's why they get paid the big bucks. They can decide things for me and I am okay with that. It's why I live here. I can play in the backyard, go to a movie, or go out to dinner while the leaders of our country make big decisions on how the country is run.

Given that, I am appalled at the repsonse to the proposed speech by President Obama on Tuesday. This man is our country's leader. The main man. The big honcho. He's not some deranged lunatic trying to abduct and rape our kids. He's not pushing drugs on them in some shady alley. He's not going to bombard them with bad language. He simply wants to stand up before the school children of the U.S. and tell them to stay in school. He won't talk in adult terminology. He's a dad of school-aged kids himself. He know how to communicate his ideas to the younger generation. In fact, he's young enough to almost be considered the younger generation himself!

I am not expecting him to make a major political stand here. He's just going to show kids of today that if you stay in school and study, you can become whatever you want (just look at him - he did quite well in that regard). While children are easily taught, I highly doubt that he's going to explain the recession or bailout reasonings to them. At most, I might expect ot hear him say that since families don't have as much money now, it would very patriotic of the kids to not ask their parents for every last item in the store!

The ability for the president to address the citizens of the nation (and yes, our children are citizens, although not old enough to vote) should fall under the First Amendment. If the leader of our country doesn't have the right to speak his mind, no one should. Yes, his comments should be censored - he shouldn't be able to say anything. Bad language or immoral concepts should not be allowed in his presentation. But what he says shouldn't be censored any more than any TV show that we allow our kids to watch. If our kids watch the Super Bowl with us and see unintended flesh on the musical performers, or watch several of the shows that, as of late, have failed at beeping out the F-word, we shouldn't have any issues with them watching a speech by the president.

Jeff mentioned that our schools show all sorts of things to our kids. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech. The Gettysburg address. While these are historic events and often contain elements that mean nothing in today's society, we still obviously get something out of them, otherwise they wouldn't be discussed in school. Our new president is trying to leave his mark on the school kids - by the time he goes up for reelection, some of them will be old enough to vote.

Supposedly several presidents addressed students when I was in school. I don't remember any of their speeches. I think that most kids don't pay that much attention. I feel that this tizzy that the country is in over the impending speech is wasted effort.

That's my say. I'll likely post again when the speech has been given with an "I told you so" response. :)

I've Been a Bad Blogger

Okay? I admit it. I'm not holding up my end of the blogging deal. I write the blog, you read the blog. That's the deal. Since I haven't written in a while, you haven't been able to read. I'm sorry.

We went to Nauvoo, IL for a vacation in June. I've been trying to blog about it but I have so many pictures and so little inclination to work on it that I've just put it off. I will try to get to it (soon, or possibly at all). If I don't, just know that we went, had a blast, and saw lots of really cool things that you won't. Sorry. But hopefully I'll get to it.