Thursday, March 13, 2008

The latest in fascism

It's been a busy week for fascists everywhere. Where to begin? I guess I could start with the State of California declaring that parents do not have a right to meddle in their children's education.

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.
As usual, it gets better.
Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, which represented the Longs' two children in the case, said the ruling did not change the law.

"They just affirmed that the current California law, which has been unchanged since the last time it was ruled on in the 1950s, is that children have to be educated in a public school, an accredited private school, or with an accredited tutor," she said. "If they want to send them to a private Christian school, they can, but they have to actually go to the school and be taught by teachers."

Heimov said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety."
The last line of that quote sends shivers down my spine. Parents can't be trusted to ensure the wellbeing of their children -- only a duly-appointed and sanctioned agent of Das Überwachenden can ensure the safety of the children of Die Staat. The Nazis of the 1930's couldn't have said it any better.

But this is just the first of many fascist highlights from this week.
The family of a middle school student who was given detention for wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of a gun has filed a federal freedom of speech lawsuit against the school district.
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Donald Miller III, 14, went to Penn Manor High School in December wearing a T-shirt he said was intended to honor his uncle, a U.S. Army soldier fighting in Iraq.

The shirt bears the image of a military sidearm and on the front pocket says "Volunteer Homeland Security." On the back, over another image of the weapon, are the words "Special issue Resident Lifetime License — United States Terrorist Hunting Permit — Permit No. 91101 — Gun Owner — No Bag Limit."

Officials at the Millersville school told him to turn his shirt inside out. When Miller refused, he got two days of detention.
But I'm sure if the shirt had said, "Hey Virgins! Thanks for nothing!" nobody would have said boo. Anyway, here's the money shot.
[A]n attorney for the school district said school must create a safe environment for students in the post-Columbine era, and bringing even the image of a gun to school violates the district's policy.
ROFLMAO! The image of a gun causes a threat to the safety of their students! Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up!

This next item hits WAY too close to home for this little Vulture.
Kentucky Representative Tim Couch filed a bill this week to make anonymous posting online illegal.

The bill would require anyone who contributes to a website to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that site.

Their full name would be used anytime a comment is posted.
First they make us to register our guns, now they're going to make us register our.......blog commenters? The Kentucky asshat says his reason for proposing the bill is "to cut down on online bullying". Uh huh. Like the bullying that got a Russian blogger brought up on criminal charges? He said mean things about the police. Is that what you have in mind, Representative Assclown?

I'm just getting warmed up - I'll post more Fascism News later today.

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