I was assaulted as a Tennessee elementary school student by a principal at least three times. To this day, it is a primary source of my rage in regards to the mindset and philosophy of Republicans.
The actions of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney only exacerbated that rage.
I cannot possibly put in words my low regard of the neo-fascist animals who show their pig faces at these town hall events. I absolutely abhor these people and everything they represent. To call them un-American is the ultimate of understatements but considering America as a whole hasn't been something to be proud of (the genocide of native americans, the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis for oil, the mass incarceration of mostly American minorities via the "drug war," etc. etc. etc.), that label works for me.
So when I see these thugs daring to show their faces in public after their latest outrage, their Iraq war lies and subsequent massacre, I shake with rage.
THESE VERY SAME VILE HUMAN BEINGS CONTINUE TO ASSAULT HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN CHILDREN A YEAR, and disabled children at that!!!!
More than 200,000 schoolchildren are paddled, spanked or subjected to other physical punishment each year, and disabled students get a disproportionate share of the treatment, according to a new study.
[snip]
"Corporal punishment is just not an effective method of punishment, especially for disabled children, who may not even understand why they’re being hit," said Alice Farmer, who wrote the report.
The report, based on federal Department of Education data, said that of the 223,190 public school students nationwide who were paddled during the 2006-7 school year, at least 41,972, or about 19 percent, were students with disabilities, who make up 14 percent of all students.
As recently as the 1970s, only two states had laws banning corporal punishment, but 28 others have since passed similar legislation. Corporal punishment is still permitted in some form in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The South.
I live in the South. I have always lived in the South. In North Carolina. Dogfighting is entertainment. Beating disabled children who don't understand why they are being hit is condoned. Mass murdering accomplices (those who voted en masse for GWB in 2004) roam free without incident.
At some point, I will leave, even with NC becoming blue, because I realize that the dysfunction and hate that pervades the South will always be here, at least for my lifetime, and I don't want to associate myself or my child with those people or even with people who tolerate them.
I curse the South.