Monday, June 1, 2009

Religious Right Rant To President Obama


Today I am going to take a break from the science aspect of this blog and bring in this political piece on the uneducated aspect of the extreme far right that has had too much of a prominent voice within MY Republican Party.

I received this e-mail from a coworker / friend. His viewpoints are more conservative than mine but I appreciate when he does pass this kind of stuff on so that I have a good idea of what kind of crap is being passed around on the “Blowhard” e-mail circuit.

This e-mail starts out below:


This letter you are about to read was written by a 4th grade teacher this past week. She even gave the world her telephone and fax numbers. We are in dire need of more true American citizens who are proud of OUR United States of America. WAKE UP AMERICA . . . please . . . before it is too late!

When I first read this piece, I thought it was written BY a 4th grader. Upon re-reading this letter from the 4th grade teacher, I did so from the viewpoint of the grading aspect of a critical writing paper. This letter to our President, I doubt if it was really sent to him, is more of a rant instead of a well constructed attempt at logical argumentation. The letter goes as such:

April 27, 2009

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Mr. Obama: (Proper etiquette is “Dear Mr. President Obama,”)

I have had it with you and your administration, sir. (Poor opening statement) Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate (you are an inadequate) representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally. (In general, a poorly constructed first paragraph and sentence structure.)

You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States. You are not responsible to the peoples (people is already plural. This is like saying “bestest”) of any other country on earth.

I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. (Now I do not recall at any time during President Obama’s trips of him ever saying, “that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world” quote. I am guessing “we” meaning every citizen of the United States making it a generalized statement negating the argument at this point, “are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world.” Again, I am guessing “their” meaning everyone in the world which again is a generalized statement.) Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples (again people is already plural) of Europe? Are you brain dead? (Note in this paragraph that the writer went from current event trips and speeches of President Obama then to apply examples of 40 to 90 years past. President Obama was not even born yet. History has taught us that the First World War and Second World War were battles fought for territories and economic influence. For instance, the example of the Second World War was fought by those that had territories of influence and economic power like France, England, and United States; and wanted to keep them, and those who did not have the territories and the benefit of the economic power like Germany, Japan, and Italy wanting to take them by force. I guess this person is seeing the United States as the Lone Ranger riding in to defend the down trodden and fight for truth, fairness, and justice. When done, then the citizens of the United States will ride off into the sunset waving their hats and calling out in unison, “Hi Ho Silver…..Away!!! Nice fantasy but not reality based.)
What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about? (The Marshall Plan was a stimulus package to get the world economies working again.)

Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century?

Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States? (Our founding fathers made sure that there was the separation of church and state. Religious freedom is one of the strongest basic rights for the founding of this country. There are Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Mormons, and Atheist, and all make up the citizen population of the United States. All have fought and died for this country.) This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. (This is a very inaccurate statement. Many of our founding fathers were students of “The Age of Enlightenment.” Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Abigail Adams, were readers and followers of Voltaire. Writings that touted the value of scientific facts negating religious fables. An example is a quote from Thomas Jefferson, “I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition “Christianity” one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.”)

Do you not understand this?

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia. How dare you, sir! How dare you! (Was this person as outraged when Barbara and Laura Bush curtsied to the Queen Elizabeth of England? This statement has nothing relating to the arguments this person is trying to present. To quote William Shakespeare, “Much To Do About Nothing.”)

You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey. You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?

I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. (Again, another generalized statement negating any argument this person is trying to present.) You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.

(OK here we go) What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.5 million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer. You haven’t said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't!

Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses.

In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now. (With this statement above, I think the writer is finally getting to the real foundation of their outrage. They have to take a pay cut when others are awarded millions in bonuses or a pay raise. It always comes down to the money and the writer’s Freudian statements showing that they are just truly jealous. This financial crisis came about by the policies from the previous eight years of the George W. Bush administration and not the 150 days President Obama has been in office.)

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens (my fellow citizens and me) as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. (Again another statement that is not based on any supporting facts to back this up.) We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you.

I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities.

I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country. (The closing paragraph is again nothing more than a rant. No concluding sentence. Poor structure in general.)

Sincerely,
Every Real American

P.S. I rarely ask that emails be 'passed around'...

PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL LIST...

it's past time for all Americans to wake up!

Ms. Kathleen Lyday
Fourth Grade Teacher
Grandview Elementary School
11470 Hwy. C
Hillsboro, MO 63050
(636) 944-3291 Phone
(636) 944-3870 Fax

Now in conclusion for myself, I found this letter of logical argumentation lacking in supported facts, non-coherent statements, and so poorly constructed that I doubt that this person has a degree from a credible college or university. The English grade that I give this 4th grade teacher is……D- at best.

5 comments:

  1. I hope for the sake of our young, that this imbecile isn't really a teacher.

    Remarkable lack of insight, understanding of history, and hyperbole in support of her agenda.Nevermind the grammer, and structure.

    Of course, these kind of emails circulate throughout the internet. More often than not they were inventions and circulated simply to get like thinking (like "non-thinking") adherents to shout their amens.

    Your points in response were spot on. Nicely done.

    Hump

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  2. Hello Hump,
    Thank you for the kind words. I am of the same mind set as you that this is a fabricated piece by some illiterate, week minded person. Bottom line.....Make The Stupid People Shut UP!!!

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  3. " I found this letter of logical argumentation lacking in supported facts..."

    Of course. After all, this clutch of folks live in caves where linguistic excellence and logical reasoning is optional. Further, the cave-dwellers are limited to AM radio frequencies and satellite TV catches only FoxNews. Parochialism abounds as does longing for past 'idealism' which, when exposed to the light of day, quickly evaporates.

    Odd Lots is their favorite destination because they feel quite at home there.

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  4. Mr. Engineer, I do not have a college degree.
    I have had many different jobs in my life and in the course, have aquired some pretty arcane skills.
    At one point, I found myself working for a small company in a jack of all trades position. I was the art department and also performed a few executive functions as well.
    I found myself reading resumes of applicants for an executive position as the comapny grew.
    I was appalled at the quality of writing and the misuse of language that college grads with degrees applying for a real position were trying to get by with.
    It's interesting that here in France, the art of formal letter writing is considered so important that if you do not think you have the ability, you can go on line or go to a service which will compose your letter using the proper formulas and language.
    In most cases, an improper letter, sent to a government agency or a paper for publication, will not be taken seriously.

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  5. Hello Microdot,
    You may not have a degree but you are a very educated person with a lot of life lessons to draw upon. You are correct, I have met people with degrees who were dumb as crap on a cracker....but they were not posing as a teacher. The art of composing the formal letter is a lost art here in the states.

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