We're officially one month until St. Patrick's Day, the northeast is looking at some 50-degree days and Pitchers and Catchers have reported - so there's plenty of reason to celebrate. However, a true cynic never rests, and in this day and age, there's no shortage of people, places and priests to be skeptical of, so the List must go on...
#10. Drama Queen Athletes. Yes, Albert Pujols and Carmelo Anthony, I'm looking directly at you. In the Post-Decision world of sport, nobody has any tolerance for your "Where Are You Going?" Charades. I don't care if either of you stay or go, I just don't want hear about it every day.
#9. Colin Powell. Never liked this guy. Not one bit. Always thought he was safe face for conservatives to point to so they could prove they weren't racists. And for some reason unbeknown to me, liberals gave this guy pass after pass. But the Iraq Disaster Whitewash continues, as now Powell suddenly is concerned about the lies that got us into war. Spare me, general. You're the one who took a couple of oaths about defending us from all enemies foreign AND DOMESTIC. Fail.
#8. Michele Bachmann. She's becoming quite the regular on The List. Bachmann hates taxes. Until the First Lady suggests deducting equipment that mothers use to breastfeed their children. Then all of a sudden it's Big Bad Socialist Government telling you how to feed your children. Once again, Twitty's missing the point. I'm convinced that if Sasha Obama said she likes My Little Pony, you'd have 50,000 crusty old white people on the National Mall demanding The Government stops telling their grand-kids what toys to play with.
#7. Donald Trump. Attention Whore. Now he's considering a run for President? There's only about 500 easy punchlines for this but I'll pass. Just go away.
#6. Haley Barbour. Last week's #1 slot on the T-List was Mississippi for their consideration of a license plate honoring the founder of the KKK. This week, Governor Barbour, the ultimate Good Ol' Boy refuses to condemn the action. This should do wonders for Boss Hog's Presidential Nomination aspirations though.
#5. Barbara Streisand. I always get in trouble when I speak candidly about my opinions on Babs' career and perceived relevance, so I'm going to tread carefully here. Let's just say I was surprised that I was watching the Grammys way past my bed time until she performed. I was down for the count within 2 minutes.
#4. Watson The Jeopardy! Computer. Maybe I just missed an Apollo Moment in the history of technology, but I have no desire to watch an X-Box linked to Wikipedia compete on a game show.
#3. Texas. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Read. Like many places (more on that in a bit), Texas faces a perceived budget gap and will exact it's revenge on the backs of educators. Proponents of laying off teachers point to Texas' population growth being the fastest in the state, thanks in no small part to the fact that they're on top of the standings in REPEAT Teen Pregnancies. In the ultimate irony, they also lead the nation in tax payers dollars spent teaching Abstinence-Only education. So if you want to put these nuggets together, you get: Texas tells teens not to fuck, Teens fuck, Teens have kids, kids go to school, school drowns in red ink. Must be the English Teacher's fault.
#2. Justin Beiber. 15 minutes. Up. I normally love Canadians but this dweeb's on the verge of ruining it for everyone.
#1. The Anti-Education Brigade. In Wisconsin, the Governor's attempting to take away the right for teachers to collectively bargain. The latest in a string of states to punish their children in an effort to not pass any debt onto their children. Yup. I don't get the logic either. It all started with New Jersey's very own Jabba The Cut, Chris Christie, and it's snowballed across the nation. Nobody has said education spending in principle has always been perfect or efficient. But the solutions doled out by Republican after Republican has been to go after the teacher making $40,000 per year and ignore inflated administration salaries and redundancy, inefficient facilities, and useless unfunded mandates.
To a conservative, there is no industry or institution that can't be top-heavy enough for their liking. Not the schools. Not the Pentagon. Certainly not the banks. It's only a matter of time before the darling "Privatization" rhetoric heats up. Ronald Reagan would be proud. (And that's never a good thing)
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