A TEA Party Rally and a Correction to a Previous Statement

I must correct something I said in my most recent post regarding Obama's proposed speech to our school-age children. In that post, I stated this: "Never in the history of our country has the President of the United States specifically addressed our school children through our public school system. Never. Ever. Has it happened. Until now." That was wrong. George H.W. Bush addressed school age children back in 1991 and Ronald Reagan did it in 1988. But here's the difference: neither HW Bush nor Reagan had the Department of Education compile a list of "activities" to accompany those speeches. Activities that included such gems as "how can I help the president?". I don't think that's the best civics lesson to be giving our children. I believe that the president is a public servant (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that). I think he's supposed to serve and help us, not the other way around. I further believe that our children should be taught to support our country - not the person who holds the office of president of our country. The fact that Obama and the Department of Education outlined and distributed these "activities" lists makes his speech an actual lesson plan and I firmly, vehemently and most vocally object to our federal government dictating lesson plans to our children, particularly in this manner. I will say again, I misspoke in my last post (oh who am I kidding? I was downright WRONG!) and I am embarrassed to have to admit that. I detest inaccuracy in "reporting" - any reporting. I hope not to do that again. However, I stand by my protest of this speech. I think it's inappropriate. Period. And truth be told, I think the speech Reagan gave was inappropriate, too. It contained political opinions and views that had no business being touted in a public school classroom. I'm less offended by HW Bush's speech because it was an actual challenge and/or plea to children to stay in school. That's not to say I'm not at all offended by the speech. I am. Again, I don't think politicians have any business in the "teaching" arena. That's more the role of parents and the role of our local and state education offices.

Now that I've stated my mea culpa, let me move on. (Please! I so hate having to admit to a mistake! lol). I attended a TEA Party Rally in Dallas yesterday. Here are a few images from the rally:

The rally itself was fairly interesting. I've never gone to one before. I think there was some unnecessary far-right rhetoric spouted off here and there, but for the most part, I agreed with what was being said. I am against big government, period. I don't think the government should be so involved in our lives - certainly not to the extent most democrats seem to want it to be. I don't believe in bailouts, handouts, free money, affirmative action and/or press 1 for English. I do believe in personal responsibility, earning your way through life, paying your dues, teaching your children core values, communities helping citizens through local organizations...you know, the things that people do for themselves and each other without government programs dictating and paying the way. I don't agree with everything that was said at the rally...I think the treatment of gays by the right is appalling and downright stupid. But then again, I'm of the school of thought that you're born gay and not that you choose to be gay. I'm also not real big on the death penalty, although I have a big hole in my logic with that one because I do indeed think pedophiles and child murderers should be put down like rabid dogs. At any rate, my personal laundry list of beliefs aside, I'm glad I attended the rally and I'm glad I let myself be counted among the growing list of people across America who are fighting against this massive growth of our federal government. It's something I feel strongly about. How about you? How do you feel? And why?