No one should be surprised that right-wingers are pressuring writing teams to craft new Texas public school social studies curriculum standards that are slanted to the political right. We reported in June that State Board of Education members had seeded the writing teams with far-right extremists who rail against immigration and think new President Obama is a racist who has “hatred and contempt for white people, traditional families, small business owners, evangelical Christians, conservatives, and everyone else that liberals call the ‘racist, heterosexist, nativist, Christianist, capitalist, homophobic power structure’ in America.”
So don’t be surprised if the rhetoric gets even more extreme. Take, for example, a recent e-newsletter from the author of the above quote accusing President Obama of racism. In the newsletter, the Peter Morrison Report, Mr. Morrison suggests darkly that health insurance reform will lead to euthanasia for the elderly:
In 1973 there was a Charlton Heston movie called Soylent Green, which depicted a nightmarish future for Americans, especially the elderly. In the film, America is massively overpopulated and resources are scarce. Food riots are common, and old people are seen as nothing but useless eaters, a burden on society which must be removed. In response, the government opens up euthanasia clinics to solve the problem. Such a bleak future is hard to envision, but some of the rhetoric we’re hearing with regard to Obamacare protesters is truly frightening.
Mr. Morrison also returns to his theme about the president’s alleged racism:
Because of the huge demographic changes in America, elderly people, who benefit the most from health care spending, are mostly white, while younger ones are much more racially diverse. Obama evidently sees it as his role to redistribute wealth from older people to younger ones, who are much more likely to be black or Hispanic. When coupled with decades of unchecked immigration, both legal and illegal, it won’t be long before the Democrats will be able to simply buy enough votes in every election to stay in power, and they’ll have no concern for what “old racist white people” want or need.
And he closes with this beauty:
If we fail, all Americans may be headed for a nightmare in our old age, where we’re herded into underfunded, government-run nursing homes, staffed by poorly trained immigrants who regard us as burdens on “their” society. We simply must stop Obamacare. Then we have to elect men and women who will bring an immediate halt to the mass immigration that is destroying our American identity at its very foundation. This is a battle we simply can’t afford to lose.
This person, folks, is helping write curriculum standards for our children’s social studies classrooms. And who nominated Mr. Morrison to serve on a writing team? State board member David Bradley, R-BeaumontBuna.
Fru-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-it Ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh man, not the fruitcake again? Why can’t obnoxious ideologues like Mr. Morrison be called something equally repellent, like…anything “raspberry”. blechhh.
I lurves me some fruitcake…mmmm, lightly toasted for dunking. Well, I guess that’d be another point for calling him that. but noooooo, don’t do it!
I like fruitcake too, but you have to remember. It is made up of a variety of fruits and lots of nuts. For added flavor, some of them have been drown in rum or brandy, which would suggest that their thinking is not very straight. I think you get my point.
How old is Rev. Morrison? If he’s just a mite older than I am, he might work in the Texas Mesquite Soylent Green barbeque recipe I’ve been saving all these years. But I bet he’s too stringy…..and bitter.
WARNING: The following post is off-topic but overall illustrates the benefits of teaching sound science.
Golf course groundskeeper finds mammoth tooth
SARANAC, Mich. (AP) — A golf course groundskeeper recently stumbled onto something unexpected on the greens: A tooth from a 10,000-year-old mammoth. Groundskeeper Patrick Walker found the 10-pound tooth Tuesday when he was on the greens about 30 miles east of Grand Rapids at Morrison Lake Country Club.
The recent high school graduate told The Grand Rapids Press he knew the tooth exposed by recent rains was from an extinct elephant because he paid attention in his science classes.
Research assistant Scott Beld from the University of Michigan’s Museum of Paleontology visited the course and confirmed that Walker’s find was a mammoth tooth.
He also visited the site the tooth was found and discovered bones and a portion of a tusk – fossils that will remain in place pending further study.
—
Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://www.mlive.com/grpress
Notice these people are unable to cite one sentence to support their rhetoric. There are about five different health reform plans floating around Congress, and some of them contradict each other. We don’t know which one(s) these folks are complaining about, and they refuse to tell us. They probably don’t even know! And since they themselves don’t know, they just make stuff up. For instance, in which plan and where in that plan is there a reference to euthanasia clinics?
Oh, I already know I’m headed for an underfunded, government-run, poorly-staffed nursing home – IF I’m unlucky enough to live that long – whether any reform takes place or not.
These folks are smokin’ some really serious bad crack since they want NO MONEY SPENT in order to AVOID underfunded, government-run, poorly-staffed nursing homes.
Don’t they EVER get that? Are their heads up their arses?
Dear Mr. Moronson,
You forgot to mention the science fiction film “Logan’s Run” about a society which killed the old folks. You also forgot to mention the Twilight Zone episode “Obsolete Man” in which obsolete people were killed.
Fiction seems to be your speciality, Mr. Moronson.
If you’re so smart then how come we don’t have anti-gravity belts like I saw in the Jetsons?
What a niave liar.
The bottom line is that people like Peter Marshall simply don’t want healthcare made available to the 50 million people that don’t have it. Although many are white and middle class, most of these are minorities and poor. That is his big problem.
It is really nave on his part that he takes his company provided insurance for granted. These nutjobs on the Right don’t realize that currently on average American businesses spend an average of $10,000 per employee on health insurance. It is a huge burden on business and most employers are planning to either drop or signifianctly scale back health coverage over the next 5-10 years as the cost goes up.
Most people don’t realize that employer provided health insurance is going away as the cost doubles over the next 5 years or so.
It is extremely niave for the Right to ignore that their acccess to healthcare is about to be severely limited also if the system is not drastically overhauled.
Just to make something clear, Peter Marshall is one of the “expert” reviewers. Peter Morrison is on a curriculum writing team.
First they deride rational management of health care resources as “rationing” or “pulling the plug on Granny” then they say Medicare and Medicaid are out of control and must be cut back. Classic double speak! This isn’t just at the fruitcake level but at the highest levels of the Republican Party. Both Senators Grassley and McCain have failed to thoroughly condemn the “Death Panel” nonsense and have mealy-mouthed that it could happen even though they may not have called them Death Panels. What a pathetic way to make sure your insurance company contributors continue to make maximum profits while denying benefits (recission).
Besides the health care lies, there are the social studies lies…
Interesting article from “The Nation” on the lies that the far right tells about the influence of religion on the foundations of this nation:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/04/opinion/main671823.shtml
LRA, thanks for the link to that outstanding essay.
I see now why my SBOE rep, David Bradley, wanted Morrison on the panel – they are intellectual equals.
Nothing here that cannot be fixed by voters paying some attention to who is actually on the ballot. Bradley, Lowe, McLeroy et al are all on the SBOE because of straight ticket Republican voting. It is inconceivable that these know-nothings represent mainstream Republican voters, even Texas Republican voters.
Do I recall correctly that to be considered an “expert” by the SBOE all that is required is a nomination and a second?
Two votes.
I nominate Homer Simpson.
Second!
Actually, fictional cartoon character Homer Simpson who undoubtedly understands the fictional world would be a better candidate than Morrison who is non-fictional living in an imaginary fictional world.
Bill,
You’re correct. From Dr. McLeroy:
“If two (board) members think they’re qualified, they’re qualified.”
TFN, I apologize that my comment was posted twice. I don’t know how that happened. Must have been a glitch. And I don’t know how the comment about it being “a great post etc” got added to the end of the repeat post. Sorry!
Hey, I’m proud to see that both the CCAR (Reform Jewish) and an Orthodox Jewish organization are praising Pres. Obama for his efforts to reform health coverage. Thank you for posting that news, TFN.
As a former nurse at a nursing home, I hate to break the news to Mr. Morrison, but nursing homes are already” government run” (think Medicaid/Medicare- which most patients receive); underfunded- the payout per day for these patients was recently reduced; and immigrant staffed- As a Caucasian, I was significantly in the minority.
Mr. Morrison’s nursing home “nightmare” is already upon us – at least in the state of Texas.
The ironic thing is that Medicare, Medicaid, and VA benefits got the highest ratings as far as policyholder satisfaction goes. How can that be? They are “government-run” which, of course, means they are incompetent, evil, communist, marxist, socialist, nazi, etc. etc.
Who got the lowest rating? Private insurance companies. Anyone surprised?
Note: My comment above about a repeat posting is in reference to a comment which was re-posted accidentally. The repeat post has been deleted so that problem has been fixed.
I actually had an insight when I was reading the suggested high school American history TEKS. Texas is founded on progressive and Southern Democrat principles; our (historically) greatest politicians happen to be liberals, and they are revered by elderly Texans. People like LBJ, Sam Rayburn, and Ann Richards made this state what it is today. How can we mobilize ‘the greatest generation’ into taking on these conservative crackpots? Why should students learn about the Eagle Forum which is nothing but blip on our history’s radar and has nothing to do with Texas, when most Texans over the age of 70 believe LBJ invented electricity because he brought it to rural Texas?