Today must be a crazy news day. I must have missed the memo this morning in my mailbox that read: “World went crazy over weekend. Expect a rash of idiots and idiotic things in the news. Brace yerself, Effie.” If I had known, I would have prepared myself by doing meditation or clubbing some baby seals or something else catharthic.

Here’s the stupidity in its glory:

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to protest a concrete wall surrounding Adhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad. CNN Story Here

Oh, well, that’s grand. A wall being built by the military in a city. Does anyone have a sense of deja vu here? Hello, Germany? It’s Iraq on line two.

I don’t know about you, but just about every headline I see about this damned “war” in Iraq portrays the soldiers as doing efforts equivalent to stopping a lava flow with sand shovels. I have no doubt that they are working their hearts out and, as we well know, dying for the cause, but the mountain is still erupting, is still going to erupt, and there’s not much that we can do about it at this point. This “wall building” exercise is just another attempt in a long line of bad ideas about this entire historical event.

A lot of people I have talked to have stated that while they’re for pulling out of Iraq, they’re for doing so in a responsible manner so that the system doesn’t completely collapse. You know what, folks? I think I’ve realized that lately it’s not going to matter anymore. Their system is going to collapse, period. No matter if we try to shore it up and leave gently or pull out all at once, they’re screwed. The cave walls are going to collapse the next time someone sneezes and the whole thing is going to go straight to hell. I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about it at this point.

Not that it’s not the United State’s fault. It is, 100%. We screwed up, we had no business being there in the first place, and we have no business being there now, other than the fact that it’s our fingers in the dam at this point. We owe it to the Iraqis to try to give them as many resources as possible to hold things in place the way they are, but on the whole, I don’t think it’s going to last. It’s a nice gesture, but it won’t work. Our attempt to reverse hundreds of years of a way of life isn’t going to happen this time around.

Public opinion is swinging this way slowly, I think; nobody wants to come out and say, “Game over, man, game over,” but that’s what a lot of them are thinking. The Democrats are for pulling out gently but firmly, leaving responsible systems in place. Republicans are, too, in some cases, or in some cases you have nutjobs like Mitt Romney who want to increase the spending and number of troops in Iraq by 100,000! What in blazes anyone like this is thinking about is up for grabs.

You’re seeing less and less of the, “Support Our Troops” magnetic ribbons on the back of vehicles – thank fuck for that! Well, that’s a 2-sided issue. On the first half, nobody should ever, ever have those damned things on your vehicle or anywhere else. There’s nothing stupider than seeing a vehicle go by with about 20 of those on the back end. Expressing your patriotism through $1.99 magnets from the Walmart is not a very strong sign of devotion. Please refrain from looking like an idiot.

On the second half, nobody should be wishy-washy about supporting our troops. Either you support the men and women working for our country or you don’t. The fact that they’re being led by a bunch of whackaloons has Jack M. Squat to do with anything, as they’re just doing their jobs. And please, remember: They signed up for this. If you go into the Army/Navy/Marines/etc. and get sent overseas on some child’s mission to impress his Daddy, you asked for it. I only have so much sympathy for these folks and their families for this reason. I do, however, respect them in the same way I respect morticians — I’m glad they can do it, because I wouldn’t be able to.

Students of Turner County High School started what they hope will become a new tradition: Black and white students attended the prom together for the first time on Saturday. CNN Story Here

You. Must. Be. Joking.

What is this, the 1960s? Are we still seeing drinking fountains with “colored” above them? You HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

I thought this shit was in the history books for good, relegated to a long-past story to tell our kids, much like World War II or the Mayflower or….

I’m just…astounded. And the amount of idiotic commentary in the article has me even more amazed and flabbergasted:

Adkinson’s sister, Mindy Bryan, attended a segregated prom in 2001. “There was not anybody that I can remember that was black,” she said. “The white people have theirs, and the black people have theirs. It’s nothing racial at all.”

What do you mean, NOTHING RACIAL!? Black. White. What part of “race” in “racial” are you missing, you twit?

Nichole Royal asked her friend why she wasn’t coming to the prom.

“I’ve asked, ‘Why can’t you come?’ and they’re like, ‘My mommy and daddy — they don’t agree with being with the colored people,’ which I think is crazy,” she said.

Colored people!? Since when has it been acceptable to use that nomenclature? I think “mommy and daddy” need to come up here and attend my, “Baseball Bat to the Head for Being an Complete Moron” prom. I’m….speechless.

The stupid commentary wasn’t limited to racial stupidities, either:

Valerie McKellar echoed that sentiment as she watched white and black students pose together. “That is so fake. There is nothing real about that,” she said. “That’s just like you’re cooking a half-baked cake, putting the icing on it, and when you cut the cake, the cake ain’t no good. That’s how this prom is,” she said.

Cake? Icing? What in the fuck is this girl talking about? I’m half inclined to think that Val is half-baked herself during this interview. But I apparently can’t expect someone from Ashburn, GA, to have much of an intelligence when we’re still referring to “colored people” in our day-to-day lives.

However, I do have some kudos which are going out to the upperclassmen of the school who voted and won to have the integrated prom. Excellent job, folks. I hope you had an absolutely wonderful time. I just wished it would have happened about, oh, fifty years ago, but I guess I’m asking a bit much, hrm? Do me a favor and those of you with a brain, get yourselves out of Ashburn, GA, as fast as possible and stay out. It’s for your own good. Really. The world will be a better place if your minds aren’t clamped in that vise of ignorance.