Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Ridicule No Substitute for Reality

Monday night on his show, [Stephen] Colbert aired a clip of Bellevue Republican Rep. Frank Lasee saying that Wisconsin should arm teachers in schools. Colbert concurred and took it a step further, arguing that teachers could also deal quality illegal drugs to students from their desks to make sure dealers don't sell on playgrounds. All with a straight face. Best of all, Colbert helped out Lasee by coming up with a winning name for his armed teacher plan: Chalk and Awe.

Ha ha. Armed adults protecting their young charges is a joke. Ha ha.

Or how about this:
The concept is almost as dumb as one coming from a Wisconsin state legislator over the weekend who suggested -- in the wake of the Amish school tragedy, no less -- that public school teachers and administrators be armed.

Belittle the idea. Tell people it's "dumb."

Stephen Colbert--now there's a guy who looks like he'd know what to do when the shooting starts. And I'll bet the anonymous York Dispatch editorialist would be equally competent. They offer nothing other than sanctimonious prejudice and smug, emotion-based opinion. They disregard the established fact that everywhere it's been tried, it's worked.

Thing is, with most Americans, the strategy of opinion shaping via emotionally-charged sound bites is effective. And elections are won by majorities.

Tammy Ducks Truth for All She's Worth

After a series of school shootings nationwide, Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth called Tuesday for "sensible" gun laws while accusing her Republican opponent, state Sen. Peter Roskam, of being a "rubber stamp" for the National Rifle Association...

"I have seen the effect of those weapons in military combat, and I can tell you there's no place for them in our communities or on our streets," Duckworth said, citing her experience in Iraq as a member of the Illinois Army National Guard.

Actually, Tammy, you never saw "those weapons" included in the expired federal ban, because it only pertained to select semiautomatic firearms. You've taken a page right out of the VPC playbook--intentionally confusing a public ignorant of the difference--one of the most effective PR lies the antis have dreamed up, but a lie nonetheless.

But everybody's supposed to roll over because Duckworth is a war hero. Today's "This Day in History" post should provide all the historical example we need that those who serve their country valiantly on the battlefield don't necessarily serve the cause of liberty with equal valor.

The Heirs of Liberty

Each morning, the 16,000 students in the Spring Independent School District in suburban Houston swipe their ID tags as they climb onto the school bus. A radio frequency tag tracks them, as it does when they arrive at school and as they leave the building.

Nearly 1,000 cameras watch them all day. Every visitor — parents, volunteers, the guy who fills the Coke machine — must surrender his or her driver's license to a secretary who checks it against a national database of sex offenders. This fall, nearly one in three schools literally trap visitors inside a "secure vestibule," a bulletproof glass room, until they're checked out.
From the people who bring us "gun free schools" come conditioning camps designed to produce inmates, not sovereigns.

And remember: Our enemies hate us because we’re free.

This Day in History: October 11

On this day in 1776, a British fleet under Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats under the command of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, in what is now Clinton County, New York.