Friday, October 05, 2007

How to raise political zealots in one easy step

Since me and hermit Eric Rudolph were the last two people in the country not to have cable TV, it's been hard keeping abreast of trends. Luckily, the intarwebz are here to save the day. I've been watching the Daily Show with John Stewart at Comedy Central dot com and the recent video "One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State" with John Oliver (originally aired Wed. Oct. 3) is good stuff.

Apparently there are book publishers out there who peddle politically indoctrinating books for children. Now, the way we raise our children is usually our own business, but I think these books border on child abuse:

REAL titles from the publishers:
  • Help Mom! There are Liberals Under My Bed! - with such classic children's story characters as a Ted Kennedy-esque liberal hitting a lemonade stand for sales and income taxes (by holding out "his meaty hand"). As John Oliver so astutely observes: "Finally! A response to the universal healthcare manifesto, Everyone Poops." The publisher touts jokes in the book like "Teddy's Carwash," because then parents can explain that Ted Kennedy was suspected in a murder decades before they were born and they can all chuckle to the partisan humor in familial harmony.
  • Help Mom! The 9th Circuit Nabbed the Nativity!
  • The Sky is Not Falling: Why It's OK to Chill About Global Warming

And they found a liberal publisher too! Of: Why Mommy Is a Democrat.

Not to be left out, the Daily Show mocked up some childrens' books of their own: Help Mom! The Liberals Gutted the Patriot Act and Now There's a Suitcase Bomb Under My Bed! and Heather Had Two Mommies; Now Heather is a Prostitute.