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So My Mom Was All, "Why Don’t You Come Home Any More?" And I Was All, MOTHERRRR…

… it is because Ohio is so hugely, cartoonishly fucked up

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – An Ohio state employee whose job is to prevent discrimination repeatedly sent racist and sexist [and homophobic!] e-mails from his government account, an investigation found, but kept his job. 
The same man was reprimanded a year ago for sending an e-mail joking about giving jobs to women with large breasts. 
Jokes about men kissing and a woman’s genitalia, as well as a racial joke and a caricature of President-elect Barack Obama, were in the latest e-mails sent by the Transportation Department worker, according to an agency report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Robert Habern, 55, is the department’s equal employment opportunity contracts coordinator. 
God bless Robert Habern: providing a punchline for the “our nation can finally fulfill its great promise, but also it turns out people suck” zeitgeist of 2008 so that we don’t have to. 2008: The Year Everything Changed Forever, Except for Everything that Didn’t. 
Now, ladies and gentlemen, for an unparalleled example of the widely renowned – and rightfully feared – Midwestern Nice!
Department officials defended keeping Habern in his position despite the repeated violations, calling October’s unpaid suspension [which was ten days long!] “pretty harsh.” 
“We followed the appropriate disciplinary process,” said spokesman Scott Varner. “He’s been well aware that another infraction could lead to his dismissal.” 
Oh, yeah, you can’t be too harsh on Bob Habern. He’s just kind of a joker, y’know, sometimes he maybe takes it too far, but he means well by it. He’s a nice guy, plays golf with Sherry’s husband. You know Sherry. She just had another kid, can you believe it, real pretty little girl. I think they named her Kayla? Anyway, I don’t see why you can’t make an honest joke about the gays or the blacks, you know, they’re real sensitive, always thinking that somebody’s out to get ’em. Anyway, we’re gonna give Bob another chance, he’ll come through. I know him, he’s a real good guy.