RUSH: Here’s Sandra in Ellisville, Mississippi. Hey, Sandra, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Mega dittos, Rush. Much to my shock this morning at 11:15, I’m just gonna make this short and sweet, I get a call from my sixth grader in elementary school saying that I had to bring him another shirt or go home. And I didn’t understand what the problem was. He was wearing his brother, who’s in the Marine Corps fighting in Afghanistan, a United States Marine Corps shirt that had the logo of the bulldog that said “If you’re not the lead dog,” on the front. On the back it says, “the view never changes,” and it’s the rest of the bulldog, and he was flagged to the office by the principal for being inappropriate and offensive.
RUSH: Wait just a second now. What kind of shirt?
CALLER: It’s a United States Marine Corps —
RUSH: No, was it T-shirt, a button-down shirt?
CALLER: No, it’s a T-shirt that my son got in boot camp.
RUSH: Okay, does the school not permit shirts?
CALLER: Oh, no, they allow T-shirts.
RUSH: They do allow T-shirts.
CALLER: Rebel flags and all. Yeah.
RUSH: Okay. We couldn’t wear T-shirts other than gym. I just didn’t know. So in Mississippi they’re making your son change shirts ’cause it’s pro-Marine Corps?
CALLER: I can’t figure that one out. I thought maybe I’d come to you in all your wisdom, maybe you could tell me because my mind is like Krakatoa right about now.
RUSH: Well, I can understand a very activist liberal isolated teacher being offended by military displays, honor, things that are pro-military and so forth, ’cause they might think, “This is pro-killing. This is pro-war. I’m not gonna have it in my class.” But that’s even a stretch in Mississippi. Without being there, I’m at a loss. Has your son said any more?
CALLER: I immediately took him home and my third grader under the premise of stupidity, because I walked in the office and he was sitting there with the shirt inside out. I immediately made him stand up and turn it the correct way, since his brother is fighting for this country.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: In the Marine Corps.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: There’s nothing offensive. It just says, “USMC,” the bulldog, and it says, “If you’re not the lead dog…” His brother gave it to him and said, “Don’t ever forget: Never be a follower, always be a leader.” The little girl sitting next to him said, “I don’t think it’s offensive,” and the principal… I immediately demanded to speak to the principal. The principal would not confront me and I immediately took my children out. How can our men and women fighting overseas, for any branch of the military, be considered offensive and inappropriate?
RUSH: Well, to a liberal, it is. Look, you know that. You know that there are liberals, in classrooms and everywhere else, who despise the US military.
CALLER: This is a school that I wanted them to attend because — and, hey, I probably shouldn’t say this — they still hand out Bibles. They still have once-a-month Bible classes, and right in front in the main hallway, it has the flag that says, “In God we trust.” So I was proud to come back to the Deep South where my conservative Heritage and roots are. You know, and they still believe in what used to be a great country. And then to have this happen today? Ugh! Lord.
RUSH: I’m at a loss. There’s a part of me that totally understands this. No, not that “accepts” it, don’t misunderstand. I totally understand. The horror stories I’ve heard from parents about things their teachers do in classrooms, I hear that. But I can’t imagine this is school-wide. I can see an isolated teacher trying to make this happen, but school-wide? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a student being judged unfit for wearing something military. Maybe camouflage. Well, no, I can’t even think of that. I don’t know. Maybe somebody will have an answer to this.
What are you gonna do about it?
CALLER: Well, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m seriously considering, A, going back to homeschooling; or, B, a private school. But the last words I told them in that front office, those liberal Nazi pansies, was, “What’s next, they can’t wear the American flag on Cinco De Mayo?” And I left. I left.
RUSH: (laughing) What did they say?
CALLER: They couldn’t say anything because all they were seeing was my tail end.
RUSH: (laughing) Well, did you feel any satisfaction walking out of there?
CALLER: Like you have no idea, with both my boys under my arms. There’s no way. I hope (garbled) and hear that I stood up for him and his fellow Marines and all the other branches out there fighting that I will not — I will NOT — tolerate it. You can call me Sugar, Babe, Darlin’, Hon’, and smack me on the bottom if you want, okay? I want the country back, and this was an absolute slap in my face. And I told them exactly what I thought in the office, and I took my kids home.
RUSH: God bless you.
CALLER: And God bless you!
RUSH: You did what you thought was right, what you had to do. I don’t blame you for being livid. I wish I had an answer for you. This is what’s frustrating. I wish… (interruption) Well, that’s true. You know, folks, I did. Snerdley is very wise to remind me. I did mention things like this in the first hour to explain these overwhelming election returns. It’s not just the budget and the spending and all that big issue stuff.
It’s so many little things just ticking people off. Like this, and telling people they can’t have a standard light bulb anymore, and when they go to TSA and get groped or felt up under the guise of being searched. People are fed up. They’re fed up with being told what they can’t eat, and what they can and can’t do in their own yards and in their own homes. It’s just not America anymore.
Now your kid can’t wear a T-shirt given to him by a member of the US military that espouses a positive character trait, leadership? It’s little stuff like this that’s causing this about to boil over here. It’s the death of a country by a thousand cuts, not one giant swath like the budget is or the entitlement programs and all that. But this stuff — which happens to you in your house, where you live every day — you come up against the sheer force of government like this, or authority.
It’s rubbing people the wrong way.
Look, I’m glad you called from Ellisville, Mississippi, Sandra.