Road Rage

A few days a week, I drive three children (two of them mine) to school in Harrisburg. Of course, I drive carefully, refrain from swearing at idiot drivers, and generally attempt to model calm and responsible driver conduct. Some days it is particularly hard, today was among the hardest. Not because of some bizarre and life-threatening action by a truck driver or because (as is all too common) someone is following me too closely at high speed. This was something in front of me, that forced me to draw back even further than usual in the hope that the kids would not see such obscenity.

An SUV in front of me had a sticker on the back saying:

No Husseins in the White House.

Barely-disguised code in the current climate for "No Ni&&@#$ in the White House." So thank you, McCain-Palin campaign, for empowering racist hicks everywhere to be out and proud about their feebleminded, fearful hate. John Murtha acknowledged today that endemic racism in western PA will reduce the size of Obama's victory here. Sadly, it is not restricted to the west - we have our very own bigots here in the Capital Area.

How can we bring up decent, open-minded children with that kind of example around them? Hope and work for an Obama victory, of course. Model civility. And, like Wendy in South Park, confront and fight cancers wherever we encounter them.