The Devolution of America, Vol. II

Anyone who thinks the Bush Administration does a poor job of reaching out to the nation’s youth is a fool. Need proof? A recent study found that a third of high school students feel that The First Amendment goes “too far,” while “[o]nly half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.”

It’s clear that the philosophies of the administration are being heard and eagerly accepted by youngsters all over the country. If this keeps up, teens will be champing at the bit to be drafted just in time for the war in Syria.

And just in case you think this is anything but a case of young people being totally fucking retarded, keep in mind that while only 51% are for protecting the press from government approval, 58% are in favor of protecting student newspapers from the scrutiny of the school administration. God forbid the lid doesn’t get blown off that dress-code scandal. The teachers of that 7% really ought to be fired and have their ears boxed, and their parents should have to drink a bucket of my pee.

Of course, it’s not like the press lives up to the responsibility instilled by those rights, so maybe these kids are just more realistic than I.

World’s Largest Practical Joke Backfires

Remember when California got together and punk’d the world by electing the guy from Jingle All the Way governor? Turns out it’s not working out as well as they’d all hoped.

Maybe the voters should’ve listened to the commentary track from the Conan The Barbarian DVD* before casting their ballots.

*Seriously, listen to that mp3. It’ll be the best 20 seconds of your day or your money back.

[Audio clip via Jeremy Wheeler]

The Birds II

[Pope photo via Rob]

[Yuschenko photo via the funniest/meanest Low Culture post of the month]

mp3s of the Day

Here are two songs from my top-100 list.

Neutral Milk Hotel – King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1:

This is a live recording from the Elephant 6 website.

Doug Martsch – Heart (Things Never Shared):

The solo record from Built to Spill’s frontman is fantastic from start to finish, but this is far-and-away the best track.

The Devolution of America

You’ve probably seen Thomas E. Woods’ The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History on the shelves of your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. I have. The evocation of Bill Maher’s old show and the aesthetically light cover gave me the impression that the book was perhaps an irreverent and entertaining collection of little-known facts and myths about US history.

In fact, flipping through it, it was quickly clear to me that Woods’ book is a piece of far-right propaganda, more akin to the work of Michael Savage than The Bathroom Reader. Worse yet, as Eric L. Muller points out on The American Constitution Society’s blog, Woods is a whacked-out white-supremacist and Southern-secessionist. Yet, this book is a New York Times best-seller and the current #7 history book on Amazon (right behind Barack Obama’s autobiography).

Muller’s post about Woods is rich with information, but for a quick and chilling glimpse of who Woods is, one need look no further than the homepage for The League of the South, an organization founded by Woods.

These ideas have always been around. The thing that makes this all so unsettling is the fact that Woods and his book are mainstream. Condemnation of abolitionism is mainstream. Sweet.

[ACS link via Atrios]