I just read an interesting story about an 8th grader in Illinois who conducted an experiment on politcal tolerance in her school by wearing a pro-McCain shirt one day, and a pro-Obama shirt the next.
Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.
She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching “inclusion,” and she decided to see how included she could be.
So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker:
“McCain Girl.”
“I was just really curious how they’d react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters,” Catherine told us. “I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be.”
Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain’s name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.
“People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn’t be wearing it,” Catherine said.
Then it got worse.
“One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed,” Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.
[...]
One student suggested that she be put up on a cross for her political beliefs.
“He said, ‘You should be crucifixed.’ It was kind of funny because, I was like, don’t you mean ‘crucified?’ ” Catherine said.
Other entries in her notebook involved suggestions by classmates that she be “burned with her shirt on” for “being a filthy-rich Republican.”
Ironic, isn’t it? The Left, who claim to be the party of tolerance, are in fact, so intolerant that they actually cross the line into bigotry. Now. what makes this so interesting is the fact these are kids spewing out such hatred due to a difference in politics. This is not an inborn behavior… this is learned. These kids were taught to hate those who disagree with them… whether it be by their parents or their teachers.
It is a sad thing, for a politcal ideology to be rooted in hate. But that is the Democratic Party of today.
Tags: Catherine Vogt, Extremism, Illinois, Intolerance, John McCain, politics
November 14th, 2008
And now the Rezko trial is brining in Gov. Blagojevich (D-IL);
A Chicago businessman-turned-Hollywood producer who believed he was being shaken down by two of Gov. Blagojevich’s campaign fund-raisers threatened to “take them down” if they didn’t back off, according to a recording played at the Tony Rezko corruption trial today.
And the governor was made aware of the “situation” and agreed the producer shouldn’t get any more state business, star prosecution witness Stuart Levine testified this afternoon.
The secretly recorded, May 2004 conversation was between Levine and longtime Illinois Republican Party power William Cellini.
An agitated-sounding Cellini is heard telling Levine about a conversation he had with Tom Rosenberg, a principal in the firm Capri Capital who also has produced movies including the hit “Million Dollar Baby.”
According to prosecutors, Levine and Cellini had plotted to shake down Rosenberg for a $1.5 million campaign contribution for Blagojevich in exchange for the $220 million investment deal he sought from a state board. Cellini has not been charged with any crime.
Levine, who has pleaded guilty to taking part with Rezko in schemes to get kickbacks from companies seeking state business, testified that the decision to approach Rosenberg for cash came after Rezko and fellow Blagojevich fund-raiser Chris Kelly learned Rosenberg won big-money deals with the state but hadn’t given to Blagojevich’s campaign fund.
It is a very tangled web in Illinois politics - as can be seen by the connection to a GOPer, who seems to have been shaking people down to get donations for a Democrat. As Matt and I have pointed out, Obama is hip-deep in Rezko…pretty much, Obama is as tight with Rezko as he is with Wright, and could no more disown him than he could disown his grandmother.
The center of this corruption is, of course, the relentlessly corrupt Chicago Democratic machine. When Matt and I were writing Caucus of Corruption, it required great care to keep everything straight - so many people connected to so many others, all of whom have shady dealings. From what we were able to learn, nothing gets done in Chicago without corruption having a hand in - bribes, kickbacks, use of government property and employees on political campaigns, sweetheart deals…its all in there, and none of it really gets stopped because Chicago is a one-party city, and Democrats simply will not call their own to account. Please note that this trial is a Federal trial, not a State trial.
Rezko has been one of those twilight figures - the man who facilitates the corruption…and he’s Obama’s good friend; indeed, such a friend that he, Rezko, purchased a piece of property which is perfectly worthless for Rezko, but by making the purchase helped substantially knock down the price Obama paid for his swank home. Back in 2006, Democrats were calling for the heads of any GOPer who was even remotely connected to corrupt GOP operator Jack Abramoff…well, Obama’s connections to Rezko are at least as strong as DeLay’s connections to Abramoff…so, what will you Democrats do, now that you know how corrupt Rezko - and the whole Democratic political system in Chicago - is?
The Obama File
Tags: Gov. Blagojevich, Illinois, Tony Rezko
April 3rd, 2008
