B R B

I have an emergency project that just came up, and I expect it to take up most of my time and writing energy. Therefore, I may be dormant for a few days, but I'll be back, I promise.

Now, go put in the Bob Seger CD and rock out!

Student Indoctrination

The nannyists now want to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and big box retailers. The Denver Post and Colorado Television Channel 2 are reporting the story of a new attempt at the state capitol. Those who are familiar with the enviro-fanaticism know this is nothing new from the greens. The bill would tax each bag used (six cents per bag) and split the revenue between the vendor and an “education” program to raise environmental awareness. The end goal is to eliminate the use of the bags within three years.

What is disturbing about this story is who came up with the current bill: Kent Denver High School students. Wait… scratch that. The idea was programmed into the heads of the students from a teacher. What has been lost in the text stories linked above is a quick statement from one of the students (at the press conference) that this bill was part of a class project.

Such political action is inappropriate within the school structure. Although Kent is an independent school, students in K-12 programs face laws of compulsory education meaning that they must attend and complete school. Even assuming for argument that Kent is within its powers to hold such programs (as an opt-in school), the use of class time for political action is still inappropriate for a teacher has power over the students.

This law is another example of political action in the class room For example, remember the letters mandated by teachers telling President Bush to ban torture? Some students are sending letters to the anointed one now to end the Iraq war. All are the results of a teacher indoctrinating the class.

The classroom is a place to learn math, science, history, philosophy, and the other tools needed to be an intelligent citizen able to participate in our republic. The classroom is not a church in which the teacher preaches her political philosophies in coercion for the students to adopt the same.

The bill will most likely fail. The grocery stores are too big and employ too many people for state to add a tax and eventual elimination of the bags. The law would add a high cost to the average grocery store order (six cents per bag adds up quickly) and start to annoy customers. Of course, as a state law, the clientele of the stores would have little recourse. The bill does carve out an exception for small retailers, but small retailers rarely adequately service customers for everyday items.

If the grocery stores choose to charge for the bags, that is fine. I will not buy from their stores. That is the free market. When the government chooses to charge for the bags, that is a tax and a restraint on freedom for the sake of a very small but loud interest group. When teachers make my children to be political operatives, that is indoctrination.

Department of Interior Decorating

The Senate confirmed Ken Salazar as the new Secretary of the Interior.

I am still perplexed as to why Salazar, an up-and-comer in the Senate chose to work in the administration at such a sub-par job. Whenever Republicans control the administration, DoI is not well respected-- mostly due to the negative press garnered by lawsuits filed by environmental groups demanding the protection of some rodent. Conversely, when Democrats control the DoI, the courts sometimes feel bound to reign in the extremist environmentalist policies which hurt the property and liberty rights of businesses as well as average people. Basically, no matter who heads up the DoI, someone is angry with him.

All of that said, perhaps I won't have to look at that silly hat he wears anymore.

"Ken Salazar promised a more ethical, scientific Department of the Interior."

This is code for more active work on Global Warming. The Anointed One has already stated his belief in and desire to combat Global Warming (as, incidentally, did John McCain), despite the fact that there is no consensus on the issue, whether it is man-made, or how to combat it.

Therefore, expect more restrictions on the use of our supposed "public lands"-- heavy restrictions on motor vehicle use in the parks, limitations on hunting and fishing, more aggressive bans on logging, and heavy restrictions on oil and gas development.

(Because, really, this guy and these guys need more of our money).

Oath Flub

Apparently, two Harvard Law Review editors cannot perform a simple task-- like reciting a one sentence oath.

What is truly odd is that I was making jokes about this very possibility yesterday. Last night, my Facebook status read: “Tyler will not watch the inauguration: he has already memorized the oath of office that he will take in 20 years. 9:44pm.” Then, this morning, I joked with a fellow student that it would be funny if, after all this work, Obama messed up the oath. What then we asked? Would he not be president if he said something like “I do solemnly afflirmered…”?

Of course, after seeing the Oath That Will Live in Infamy (and YouTube), I quickly updated my Facebook status to: “Tyler re: my last status: Apparently, Obama missed the note to memorize the oath. Not even in office and I already out shine him! 1:11pm.”

Already the Obamaites are blaming Roberts for missing the wording because he did not use notes. In reality, both were at fault, but this “historic” oath was the first of such importance for both men. In reality, the flub does not really matter. In reality, this moment will end up on gag reels and have little consequence.

I suppose that the highly paranoid elements of the government will or have arranged for the President to retake the oath to make sure everything is constitutional.

Perhaps the Anointed One is really just a man after all.

Hopey Changeyness

To the last day of liberty!

We will now have hope and change and other platitudes. But with this hopey changyness, we may also see an end to many freedoms. Of course, chief on the list of the Chicago democrat is the end of guns in America. I seriously doubt that there will be another assault weapons ban. Instead, the BATFE will be free to "regulate" guns until only the elite (i.e. well-connected) few can own them legally. This gives the same effects as a ban, without a Congressional vote or a signature from the annotated one. Political plausible denaiablity.

But look too to other things. We will see a return of censorship in the form of the "fairness doctrine" that would practically ban talk radio as we know it. So too with "required service"-- if not in the military, then in another form (peace corps, city year, etc.). Finally, look for a radical change in our economic structure: he will likely introduce regulations that make everyday investment difficult (in the name of "stability") that will result in a net increase in the costs of investment as the costs of regulations get passed along.

Listen to what the chosen has said and will say in the first few weeks. Already, he has spoken of his comming "rule" and the taking of power. These are dangerous words. Combined with the personality cult that has arisen around him, these words could come true. As you have likely seen, Obama is on a "historic" whistle-stop tour on the way to inauguration day. He has been doing eveything Lincoln likely could have done. Obama has not even taken office and he is already setting up his "legacy" as a great president. Well, we as Americans need to remind him that it is actions and results that determine who good a president is. It is only then, after the presidency, that it can properly be judged.

When a victorious general came back from conquest to the city of Rome, the citizens would hold a great parade called a triumph. The general would ride a chariot and a man would hold a wreath-crown of gold olive leaves over his head. The man would never put the crown on the general's head, for Rome had no kings. The man would also whisper continually, "Remember, you are only a man. Remember, you are only a man."

When those traditions became lost, and the crown finally hit the victorious general's head, it was the beginning of the empire-- and the end of liberty.

Let us chant to Obama, "Remember, you are only a man."