I read the news today, oh boy:

School speech backlash builds

School districts from Maryland to Texas are fielding angry complaints from parents opposed to President Barack Obama’s back-to-school address Tuesday – forcing districts to find ways to shield students from the speech as conservative opposition to Obama spills into the nation’s classrooms.

The White House says Obama’s address is a sort of pep talk for the nation’s schoolchildren. But conservative commentators have criticized Obama for trying to “indoctrinate” students to his liberal beliefs, and some parents call it an improper mix of politics and education.

“The gist is, ‘I want to see what the president has to say before you expose it to my child.’ Another said, ‘This is Marxist propaganda.’ They are very hostile,” said Patricia O’Neill, a Democrat who is vice president of the Montgomery County School Board, in a district that borders Washington, D.C. “I think it’s disturbing that people don’t want to hear the president, but we live in a diverse society.”

Readers from other countries often get upset when I tell them that the American right is louder and crazier than any right-wing movement in the developed world. “But we have wingnuts too!” they’ll insist as they’ll link to something crazy a Tory backbencher said eight years ago.

But sorry, no. You do not have to deal with the level of stupid bullshit that we put up with on a daily basis. I never saw conservatives in other countries organizing angry protests when Tony Blair or Jean Chrétien talked to schoolchildren. You may have your right-wing crazies but they aren’t as loud or as powerful as the right-wing crazies in this country. Full stop.

UPDATE: Now that I think about it, Obama should just go all the way next week and ask the schoolchildren to help spy on their parents and to enlist in his secret army to “fight the white devils.” But he won’t. And that’s a real missed opportunity.

UPDATE II: Oh, and because I’m this blog’s resident Red Sox fanatic, I suppose I should comment on Curt Schilling’s flirtation with running for Ted Kennedy’s senate seat. Look, as much as Schilling is beloved in this state for bringing the Sawx two championships, he’ll never ever survive under the campaign limelight. He says too much stupid bullshit and has too little of a filter to succeed in a campaign.

Now if Tom Brady were to run as a Republican, on the other hand… well, let’s just say even I might consider voting for the GOP for the first time in my life.

Tintin adds: And, of course, these are the same fuckwits who want to put prayer back in the schools. Indoctrination (even if that were what Obama was up to) is okay as long as it’s indoctrination that they like.