Conservatives finally notice that a teacher has been asking his students to recite a rewritten Pledge of Allegiance for the past twenty years. Did you guess they were outraged? Well you were right.

Courtesy of Campus Reform: 

A tenured professor at Metropolitan State University (MSU) in Denver required students pledge their allegiance to a racist, sexist, homophobic America that targets "blacks," and "women who want abortions," in the name of Jesus. 

 Dr. Charles Angeletti, a self-proclaimed atheist and socialist professor of American Civilization at the publicly funded Denver university, required students recite the satirical Pledge of Allegiance during the fall 2014 semester according to a class flier obtained by Campus Reform. 

"I pledge allegiance to and wrap myself in the flag of the United States Against Anything Un-American and to the Republicans for which it stands, two nations, under Jesus, rich against poor, with curtailed liberty and justice for all except blacks, homosexuals, women who want abortions, Communists, welfare queens, treehuggers, feminazis, illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants, and you if you don't watch your step.”

Seems accurate to me. 

When asked why he had the students recite this, the professor responded thusly:

“We’re very racist, we’re very repressive, we’re very Christian oriented, we don’t tolerate other kinds of thinking in this country,” Angeletti told Campus Reform. 

“I could go on and on—and do in my classes for hours about things that we need to do to make this a better country.” 

Angeletti, who has taught at MSU since 1967, has a B+ grade on RateMyProfessor.com, but one former student addressed Dr. Angeletti’s liberal bias.

Dr. Angeletti admits he is “biased” and says that he has distributed the pledge for 20 years because it helps people look differently about what goes on in this country. 

“We are scared to death of anything un-American,” Angeletti said. 

During the interview, Angeletti repeatedly affirmed his love for America, his disdain for “family values people,” and his course, clarifying that he supports diversity of thought and allows his students to “say and do anything.”

Of course this freaked out those on the Right, including Greta Van Susteren who used this to further the Fox News agenda of attacking "liberal" education in America.

It should be noted that this is a UNIVERSITY class that is offered as an elective and is not mandatory for graduation.

Personally I think educators who challenge student's perception of their country, their religion, and even themselves are helping to create a generation of rational thinkers and that can only be good for the country.

John Fogerty has some opinions on the Republicans claiming that his song "Fortunate Son" was inappropriate for a Veteran's Day concert.

So I am sure you all remember that Bruce Springsteen, and a number of talented musicians, played the song "Fortunate One" during the Concert of Valor at the National Mall in Washington D.C. and that Right Wing literally lost their minds over it.

So in a recent Rolling Stone interview John Fogerty, who wrote the song, was asked about that response:  

"'Fortunate Son' is a song I wrote during the Vietnam War over 45 years ago," Fogerty said in a statement. "As an American and a songwriter, I am proud that the song still has resonance. I do believe that its meaning gets misinterpreted and even usurped by various factions wishing to make their own case. What a great country we have that a song like this can be performed in a setting like Concert for Valor. 

"Years ago, an ultraconservative administration tried to paint anyone who questioned its policies as 'un-American,'" he continues. "That same administration shamefully ignored and mistreated the soldiers returning from Vietnam. As a man who was drafted and served his country during those times, I have ultimate respect for the men and women who protect us today and demand that they receive the respect that they deserve." 

What the conservative mouthpieces either failed, or refused to understand, is that the song is VERY supportive of the soldiers themselves. Who the song was criticizing were the politicians who start these wars and then send American sons (And now daughters) to die in countries that THEIR children will only ever visit in times of peace.

Both John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen are American institutions, and I would put their patriotism up against anyone. Especially some conservative jackass sitting on his fat ass, sipping Fox newsroom coffee, and faking outrage in order to rile up the paint chip eaters.

Fogerty goes on to point out that he recently performed "Fortunate One" at "A Salute to the Troops: In Performance at the White House" just last week. A performance by the way that was broadcast on PBS.

And guess which song he played? That's right.

And the outrage from the Right Wing?

Only this.

Right Wing outrage of the day. Bruce Springsteen played an anti-war song during concert to celebrate Veteran's Day.

Courtesy of TPM:  

Pretty much everyone has had something to say about Springsteen's performance Tuesday at the "Concert for Valor," an HBO musical event for veterans held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 

Performing with Zac Brown and Dave Grohl, Springsteen sang "Fortunate Son," Creedence Clearwater Revival's classic Vietnam War-era anthem that examines issues of class and jingoism in America. John Fogerty, the CCR frontman, said that his own experience as a drafted serviceman served as an inspiration for the song. 

"I was the same age as the soldiers serving in Vietnam and from the same lower-middle class as them," Fogerty once said. 

But to some conservative ears, the song hit the wrong note at Tuesday's concert. 

"The song, not to put too fine a point on it, is an anti-war screed, taking shots at 'the red white and blue,'" wrote Ethan Epstein at The Weekly Standard. 

The performance was made even worse, Epstein contended, because "Fortunate Son" is "an anti-draft song, and this concert was largely organized to honor those who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq." 

The Boss has been in the Fox News crosshairs all day, too. On Fox Business Network, Stuart Varney questioned why Springsteen, "an outspoken leftist," would play politics with the troops. 

"So much for HBO's 'Concert for Valor,'" Clayton Morris said at the outset of this morning's "Fox & Friends." 

On Fox's "Outnumbered," co-host Andrea Tantaros professed to be a fan of both Springsteen and Grohl, but wondered why they didn't just go with a different song. 

"It's amazing to me that nobody — think of all the people that are involved in a concert like this — nobody had the brains to stop and say, 'You guys might want to pick a different song,'" Tantaros said.

Gee, I really like the song.

Apparently this is the portion that pissed off the Right Wing so much:

It ain’t me, it ain’t me 
I ain’t no Senator’s son 
It ain’t me, it ain’t me 
I ain’t no fortunate one 

The song is written about how fundamental unfair it is that politicians start wars in which their children are not forced to fight and die.

Personally I would think that it is a sentiment shared not just by veterans of Vietnam but by the soldiers of today.

This song is not anti-veteran, it's anti-war. I feel very confident in saying that the vast majority of veterans are not pro-war, and therefore embrace the sentiment.

And of course the song is also anti-warmonger.

Perhaps it is that last part which irritates the Fox News crowd so much. You know the same ones who helped spread the Bush Administration propaganda and cheered from the sidelines as we sent thousands of young soldiers to their deaths.