It's been a bad couple of weeks. Husband's job is on shaky ground, as apparently are so many others' jobs--unemployment has climbed to 10.3 percent nationally, higher for men and single moms. But that's a subject for another time. Right now, I want to discuss What I've Learned During My Week in the Rental Car.
Yes, I had to rent a car this week courtesy of the young adult man who ran into my real car with his '85 Chrysler New Yorker. This rental car's stereo system would not permit tuning in 91.5 KIOS, which is Omaha's public radio station that offers some good news and information programming in the morning. So I was thinking about the conversation I recently had with my brother who lives in Omaha and, remembering what he said, became a bit nostalgic for Gary Saddlemeyer and thought, Ah well--why not? Turn on and tune in to good ol' KFAB 1110--the superstation of my childhood! Maybe I'd get to hear one of those amazingly hilarious traffic reports I'd heard tell about.
KFAB is now a FOX news affiliate. I don't know when this happened. The morning program is a locally-produced call-in talk show of the politically right persuasion. Whatever. I got to hear the substitute host interview a gentleman from Iowa who heads a pro-gun rights organization there. This Iowan was relating an incident in which a student was expelled somewhere in Iowa for bringing some empty plastic shotgun shell "blanks" for show-and-tell. Whatever happened to personal responsibility--to the chance to explain yourself? he asked. This is why we need more charter schools, he offered. On the day I heard this program, the Supreme Court was getting ready to hear arguments for and against sentencing juveniles to life without parole. It would have been interesting to hear his thoughts on whether or not 13-year-old rapists should be locked up forever and ever. But I had to go to class.
And then--and then, as I drove away from campus to pick up the little ones, the radio still tuned to 1110 on the AM dial, what did I find myself listening to but. . . Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck's radio program. Now, I had seen Glenn Beck on TV back when he had a program on the Headline News channel. And I had seen a video of him someone shared from You Tube in which he hollered a lot about the treatment he received during his hemorrhoid surgery. But I really had no idea about the 9/12ers. I hadn't heard about the seeds, either; or the special emergency food. Vacuumed-packed meals for. . . for what? My best buddy told me that her elderly uncle has done this for years--stockpiled food. I understand the whole Cold War thing about stocking up on canned goods (don't forget to include a can opener!); but from Glenn Beck's show, I have now learned that it is a good idea to stock up on astronaut meals produced (?) and sold by one of his show's sponsors. I didn't learn exactly why this is a good idea, but I think--I suspect--it has something to do with a "revolution." I would really like to know: Why a revolution? and, Whose revolution? I am guessing it has something to do with the "direction" this country is headed and anger about that. And who is directing this country? I am guessing Glenn Beck would say it's our President, Barack Hussein Obama.
So it's all about the President. Here is what I would like to say to Glenn Beck: This is my country, too. And it's millions of others' country as well--millions of people who exercised their right to vote in 2008. And Barack Hussein Obama won. The bigger the front, the bigger the back. Also, Mr. Beck, here's a civics lesson for you: There are three branches of government in our constitutional system. They "check and balance" each other--remember that from fifth grade?
I would also like to request, sir, that you get over it. Calm down. Don't tread on our great republic--or on me--just because a brown guy got elected President (naturally brown, not orange like that Boehner guy who leads the Republican Party in the House of Representatives). Leave the man alone. You can disagree with him; and, please, by all means do! But the stuff you say is hateful, non-factual, and racist. AH, there's the rub. . . Right? Admit it. Your ilk is unhappy that the Executive is occupied by a man who's half Black. Your prodigious incitement of your audience towards committing unspeakable acts is quite transparent and breathtaking in its recklessness.
If you want to collect nonhybrid seeds, fine. But how about sowing a little less hysteria and fear and a little more truth? And about this "socialism" you speak of? In case you hadn't heard: The Cold War is over. I haven't done much international travel (less than Sarah Palin, even); but I've been to France, a "socialist" democracy. It's a pleasant place. And the people there seem to be living pretty happy, fulfilling lives. Maybe their focused, kind countenances have something to do with their knowing that they won't get bankrupt if they get really sick or need emergency medical care.
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