Is this even legal? Apparently so....
This post at Reuters shocked me. The students
banned the Pledge of Allegiance because they "see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government." Now, I understand if you don't want to say the Pledge because you're pissed off at the actions our government has been taking in these past couple years, hell, I'm not too pleased with it. But it's not going to stop me from saying the Pledge because I am an
American and I do feel some loyalty. You can be loyal to your country without liking your government. I mean,
hello people, we just had elections. Voting is in place so that the government is what you make it to be. And if you didn't vote...don't complain because you didn't even make an
effort to change things.
Now, there was another issue that students took with the pledge, another reason why they banned it. It was the phrase, "Under God".
"That ('under God') part is sort of offensive to me," student trustee Jason Bell, who proposed the ban, told Reuters. "I am an atheist and a socialist, and if you know your history, you know that 'under God' was inserted during the McCarthy era and was directly designed to destroy my ideology."
Now this idiot should also know that you don't HAVE TO SAY IT. You can skip saying it. The phrase "under God" doesn't even have to apply to the Christian god. Say "under goddess" or "under [your deity of choice here]". I don't care. I don't care if you don't say it. Just because it's there doesn't require it to be said. This frustrates me because the phrase is symbolic. You are pledging yourself in the presence of a higher power, whatever that power may be. Hell, if you're a satanist, go ahead, pledge under Satan if it means you're loyal to the US. I could care less. But don't go and ban the whole fucking pledge because of that one phrase. If you're so against the whole thing, don't say it! No one will probably even notice!
People and their stupid bloody closemindedness. I think I've ranted enough. Back to work...
Fuming
I want to strangle someone.... badly. The lab coordinator of the teaching labs (of which I am responsible for one) just sent a nasty letter out to me and the other grad student who teaches at the same time as me, shocked at the disrepair the labs had been left in today. Now, I will be the first to admit that the lab was dirty, but I feel this great need to explain why and I'm furious that she just assumed things without asking me nicely first.
On wednesdays, I am supposed to teach lab from 2 till 5 pm. BUT, I have a journal club scheduled at 4 pm. The lab that I teach rarely stays the entire time, so what I do normally is clean up as much as I can, at 4 pm go to Journal Club, and when Journal Club is done, return and finish cleaning (usually by 5 pm) Today, however, I return from journal club, knowing the lab was a mess, only to find it LOCKED. I don't have a key to those labs. I have a key to the bloody fucking building and all the research labs, but not the teaching labs. What can I do? I walk back with the other grad student, we go back to our respective labs, then she comes in and says "Read your email, [Name edited] is pissed" (FYI, I am NOT naming names, no way, no how] So I read it. I take a few calming breaths. And I reply, explaining exactly why it was left that way and telling her that I had intended on cleaning after lab. We have told this woman that we have journal club at 4. We have told the lab tech that we leave at 4 and return around 5-5:15 to finish cleaning if it's not already done. And now I'm getting yelled at for something that I've done before and never had a problem with.
Not to mention that I'm HORRIBLY stressed out with a lab report for Techniques and a take home exam both due tuesday and mounds of correcting that I'm WAAAAY behind on (due to the take home that was due last tuesday for techniques) I really beginning to wonder if I'm cut out for a PhD, especially since I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water in my classes. Nothing is working in the lab right now and I'm being pressured to get this project moving, and I'm TRYING but things just aren't working out.
For some reason I can never get Eric on the phone before 12:30 so we always end up speaking till 1:30-2am in the morning which isn't helping my lack of SLEEP. If he'd just call at midnight.....
I need to get my bike tire fixed, the back tire is flat, so that means that I'm not exercising as much. I also need to get lights for my bike so I can start biking home now that it's dark near when I leave. Weight loss has stalled, the Halloween Party last night didn't help.......
Egads....I just want to curl up in my bed with a good book or a pad of paper. Maybe have a normal job. Not be a student....*sigh*
