2009, you were a pain in the ass and I’m not going to miss you in the least. Good riddance! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out! Buh-bye now.

So. You can go this site and buy a plastic replica of the sad little tree that Charlie Brown bought so he wouldn’t have to get a fake tree. Am I the only one getting dizzy from the irony?

Whoa! Three months since my last post? Where has the time gone?

Well, it’s December. The “DITTO” guy in the picture below is more excited about it than I am.

see more Epic Fails

Map Courtesy of Digital Map Store

Congratulations, Scott County, Virginia schools! You’ve managed to make northeast Tennessee look progressive by comparison. The superintendent of Scott County schools flatly refused to show President Obama’s speech to children during class today. The superintendent claimed that there’s just not enough time in the school year to set aside 20 minutes for an unnecessary activity like, say, a speech from the President of the United States of America encouraging kids to work harder in school.

Since I live in the South, I’ve had to listen to an awful lot of crazy crap in the last few days as people worried that Obama’s speech would turn local kids into secret Muslim socialists or something. In a poll at our local CBS affiliate, those who said they wouldn’t allow their kids to see the speech (53%) outnumbered those who would (44%). Of course, a paltry 467 people took the time to vote in the poll (I was not one of them) so I have no idea how accurately that represents area sentiment. But I know a lot of people around here were pretty uncomfortable about the speech.

After reading the text of the speech online yesterday, I could certainly understand why all those folks were so nervous. I mean, who wants kids to hear things like:

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

or:

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that—if you quit on school—you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Yep, that’s some really controversial material, all right. I feel more like a socialist already.

When is my country going to regain its sanity?