From Our "Bradlee Dean is a Dick" Department

I wish for every parent moments when you are more than just proud of your children. One of these came for me when I got a call from my son from inside Roane County High School saying he and his brother had walked out of the Bradlee Dean "concert" in the gym during school hours because of its overt racist and homophobic message. They were with about twenty other students who rose up in protest and went to one of their teacher's rooms. The principal was eventually reassigned as parents swarmed the school board meeting afterwards. It's my personal opinion that he was moved, not because the school board actually understood the issue of using school attendance to force a radical religious message onto other people's children, but because this was not the principal's first foray into such things as when he was told not to continue public address system prayers at football games.

Bradlee Dean's message is indefensible and full of hate justified by the worst possible interpretation of a snippet in the old testament. When on his radio show he recently praised Muslims for executing homosexuals, Rachel Maddow accused him of calling for the killing of homosexuals. Since reading his statements one sees that as the only possible interpretation of Dean's statements, Maddow was totally justified in her opinion. Bradlee Dean responded with a defamation lawsuit for hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination ... If America won't enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that."

Ignoring the grammatical errors and logical nonsense, I read that as praise for executing homosexuals and derision for America not doing the same. These people seize on valid criticism of their hateful message in order to play the victim and gain the publicity the need in order to feed on their fearful listeners. One has to ask how many of these homophobic right wing hatemongers are in fact homosexual, unable to face their own reality?

When my kids called from school I couldn't have been more proud, not just for their courage but they also told me that they could handle things without me. Of the 22 kids who walked out in protest there are a couple who have since come out. Twenty times that number of gay kids stayed in the room listening to a message that  could only lead them to self loathing. What a mean thing to force other people's children to endure.

The TPM Story

By the way...Bradlee doesn't look like that hair band picture any more. Think pudgy tattooed has been and you'll be more accurate.

A Sane Republican?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here's the complete must read article.

Coal news

Local Roane County citizens were up in arms when they thought our county fathers were going to allow TVA to dump coal ash into the Midtown landfill. I wonder how they'll feel when they find out that their new Teahadist Congressman Scott DesJarlias is in favor of allowing coal to be classified the same a kitchen garbage and, yes, going into the Midtown landfill?

The Midtown landfill is currently inoperable. It is supposed to have a composite liner that the county paid for but somehow never got installed.

It is well documented that coal kills at both ends of its cycle. Being a coal miner is even more dangerous than being a farmer, both of which are three times more dangerous than being a cop just to put things in perspective. The Attorney General of North Carolina proved in court that TVA coal fired generating plants were responsible for killing about 150 North Carolinians every single year and sickening 3000 or so. I keep wondering why, now that the US Supreme Court has declared corporations to be persons, we can't try one for murder? I pick Massey Coal to start with.

In the most amazing good news of the day:


New York mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg announced a game-changing gift to the Sierra Club -- a $50 million commitment over four years to the Beyond Coal Campaign .

This is a huge deal! The problem is that we all breathe the same air, rich, poor, middle class, or richer than rich like Bloomberg.

Thank You, sir!

The Sunday Reader: ALEC Pushes For the End to "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"

The American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, is working overtime and with huge cash infusions to become America's shadow government. The recent rash of anti teacher, public school, union, environment, regulation, tax, etc. legislation all hails from ALEC's legion of hired legal hit men run by Shook, Hardy, and Bacon, the law firm representing big tobacco and big coal and big TVA in their respective lawsuits from the American citizens harmed in the course of doing business. After the last election cycle and before the start of the legislative sessions, ALEC held an indoctrination for Tea Party candidates in Washington to introduce its agenda.  In Tennessee we had this rubbed full in our faces as our representatives and senators were allowed to expense off the week long junket to taxpayers. It takes a lot of damned gall to use a teacher's tax money to pay for your entertainment and brainwashing and then work to eliminate her job.

The curtain is being drawn back on ALEC and the man behind the curtain is particularly ugly. Now, the threat that ALEC poses to the American people has so frightened ALEC staffers that some of them have funneled insider documents to the media detailing the plans for destruction of the American way...You know, that tired old "Truth and Justice" thing.

A quick overview can be found here. Then bookmark the site, ALEC Exposed, to keep score on the shadow revolution being waged against the citizens of America. Here's The Nation Article.

Keep foremost in your mind that all the hot button issues, guns, gays, god, abortion, communists in the basement, and those evil old unions who actually speak up for working people, are nothing but false canards aimed at distracting the very people who will be forever enslaved if ALEC's mission to destroy the power of the middle class is successful.

We have a fight to fight, people!

Are you ready?

Steve