Hey, Mom....still wish you were back in Maine?

Ordinarily I'd just e-mail this to my mom, but since she gets so much spam on her AOL account that sometimes my message get lost in the clutter, I figured I'd put it here where she's sure to find it. And also because I'm chronicling the Brownshirting of America by the teabaggers.

From the Portland (ME) Press-Herald:

PORTLAND - One School Committee member, saying she's "appalled" by the behavior of some of the Republicans who used a room at King Middle School last weekend, wants to protect the city's public schools from future harm.

Sarah Thompson said she plans to raise the issue when the committee meets on May 19. She has asked Superintendent Jim Morse to contact City Manager Joe Gray so the committee will have a clear understanding of policies and legalities related to the rental and public use of school buildings.

"We allowed them to use the space and I'm appalled that they would go through a teacher's things, let alone remove something from a classroom," Thompson said Wednesday. "We want the public to use school spaces, but they need to respect that it's a school and understand that they should leave it the way they find it."

The Republican State Convention was held at the Portland Exposition Building, which is on Park Avenue, near the middle school. Party members from Knox County caucused in a classroom used by eighth-grade social studies teacher Paul Clifford.

When Clifford returned to school on Monday, he found that a favorite poster about the U.S. labor movement had been taken and replaced with a bumper sticker that read, "Working People Vote Republican."

Later, Clifford learned that his classroom had been searched. Republicans who had attended the convention called Principal Mike McCarthy to complain about "anti-American" things they saw there, including a closed box containing copies of the U.S. Constitution that were published by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Maine Republican Party leaders have issued a written apology to King students and teachers.

"King Middle School was kind enough to allow the (party) to use their facilities and we are deeply concerned about the lack of respect shown to the faculty," wrote Executive Director Christie-Lee McNally.

McNally said the party doesn't condone the destruction of property or encourage the lack of tolerance that a few convention-goers demonstrated.

"Over 900 other people attended these caucuses without incident and I hope that the actions of few do not tarnish the image of many," she said.

Except that it's not just a few. Check out a copy of Maine's Republican Party Platform here. It's full of the Usual Teabagger Bugaboos:

Prohibit any public funding of advocacy groups such as ACORN, no matter what it or its affiliates rename themselves; New York Communities for Change, New England United for Justice, etc.; conduct thorough investigations of their activities and voter fraud and prosecute violations.

Someone needs to tell these people that such investigations have already taken place and that NO VIOLATIONS WERE FOUND. Of course why let truth stand in the way of wishing really really really really hard for something to be true until it is?

More:

Reassert the principle that "freedom of religion" does not mean "freedom from religion".

Reassert? Where was this asserted, outside of people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, the teabaggers, and a few nuts who insist that Benjamin Franklin was EXACTLY THE SAME as, oh, say, Ted Haggard.

Oh, wait....

OK, more (you're going to just LOVE the Palinian syntax of this one):

Discard political correctness, make public the declaration of war (Jihad) made against the U.S. on 23rd Feb 1998, and fight the war against the United States by radical Islam to win.

Wait...they want to fight the war AGAINST the United States? Book 'em, Danno!

More:

Cut spending, balance the budget, and institute a plan for paying down debt. Proclaim that generational debt shifting is immoral and will not be tolerated!

Because clicking your heels together three times and saying "There's No Place Like Home" will make it magically happen!

Promote energy independence aggressively by removing the obstacles created by government to allow private development of our resources: natural gas, oil, coal, and nuclear power.

Because solar and wind power are for pussies.

ZOG! George Soros! Jews! AAAUGH!!!

Repeal and prohibit any participation in efforts to create a one world government.

As with most doctrinaire ideologies, there are small kernels in this Teabagger Manifesto that make sense. But their hatred of Barack Obama and their utter lack of understanding of the Constitution and of the history of this country make the overall platform a ridiculous joke.

It's not unlike what defeated Democratic Congressman Alan Mollohan recounted on NPR the other day, about a woman who said she wasn't going to vote for him because she wanted someone who "loves the Constitution." His reply was "Well, I love the Constitution." Her response to that was, "Well, I want someone who loves the Constitution more."

These people have no idea what's even IN the Constitution, other than the right to carry a gun into a bar and get all likkered up and shoot anyone they think is gay. They worship a nitwit dilettante ex-governor of Alaska who flits from one six-figure paycheck to another as some kind of Goddess of Fiscal Responsibility, they equate the Constitution with the Baby Jesus....and they're gaining power.