April 24, 2015

Fox News is always on the cutting edge of what's important in our system of education. Today's Trouble With Schools segment featured a Republican student who supports
Gov. Greg Abbott. The far-right hardliner will speak at the University of North Texas graduation next month even though some students promise to boycott their own commencement ceremony if he gives the keynote address. Initially, the school promised Michael J. Fox as speaker but then abruptly switched gears and chose Abbott, who is far from popular among typical college students.

Fox News blames the culture of Liberalism which sadly affects colleges where too much of that dangerous thinking goes on. To combat students who have the audacity to think for themselves, Brian Kilmeade chose a student named Hailey Carlson, who laments the fact that the school is filled with liberal thinkers who aren't as homophobic and xenophobic as she and her beloved Governor Abbott are. Students from diverse backgrounds take exception to Abbott's obsessive spending "to secure the border," which is Teabag-speak for we're afraid of brown people. Hailey Carlson wants to make sure people know that there are right-wing students out there like herself, who welcome Abbott's brand of hateful politics.

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Credit: Fox News Screen Capture

More than 2,000 students have signed an online petition asking UNT officials to choose a different speaker for their May ceremony. “While Governor Abbott’s story is inspirational, his views on inequality cannot be overshadowed by this,” the petition states. “Our Mean Green Pride comes from being heard and respected. Which is why we ask University President Neal Smatresk to find a new keynote speaker for graduation.”

“He’s a new governor, he’s supportive of higher education,” said Smatresk, who became UNT’s president last year. “Why wouldn’t we want to celebrate the success of our institution in its 125th year with him

There are plenty of reasons why nobody in their right mind would want this horrible man as the deliverer of a commencement address. The homophobic, xenophobic, science-denying, and death penalty-obsessed Abbott offends people across the spectrum, immigrants and LGBT Americans alike. In an article preceding the 2014 elections, Salon listed Greg Abbott as the candidate that will make you miss Rick Perry!

Abbott has sued the Environmental Protection Agency 17 times over air quality standards and greenhouse gas emissions. (He believes carbon dioxide can't be a pollutant because it is emitted by humans, and after experiencing freezing temperatures in Midland, he once tweeted, "Whatever happened to global warming?" It was January.)

He challenged the Department of Health and Human Services four times: over funding that was attached to abortion reimbursements, for mandating that all employers provide access to contraception, over the Affordable Care Act, and for the taxation scheme in the 2003 Medicare expansion.

The most ironic part of the interview is when Brian Kilmeade said that the students should at least be respectful of the office of the Governor.

"You can be Conservative, you can be Liberal, but he's your GOVERNOR!"

Yet, Kilmeade fails to understand that this Governor has disrespected President Obama, who holds a higher office, more times than we can count.

During his tenure as Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott has developed a bit of a routine: "I go into the office," he told a GOP audience in San Angelo in Februrary (2013), "I sue Barack Obama (not President Obama), and then I go home." It's a line he uses in virtually every speech he gives and it has the benefit of being basically true. Abbott has sued the Obama administration 27 times in five years.

This was before he was even Governor! Lest anyone forget, Abbott was the man who unleashed Ted Cruz on this country, the man who led his party to a costly $24 billion government shutdown. He is a man who can't use the term President to address our nation's leader, yet we owe this man respect?

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