Who in Their Right Mind?

A couple of days ago, I was made aware of this recent comment by National Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean:

“They can’t become more diverse,” [National Democratic Party Chairman Howard] Dean said. “Who in their right mind, if they were African American or Hispanic or Asian American, if they were gay or lesbian, would join the Republican Party?”

As an American, who also happens to be a registered Hispanic Republican voter in his right mind, I have to tell you I find Chairman Dean's attack on my personal decisions as nothing short of offensive. My guess is that I'm not alone. In fact, I don't need to guess. I know I'm not alone. You see, 23% of registered Hispanic voters identify themselves as Republicans.

According to a Pew Hispanic Center population report, there are over 18 million eligible Hispanic voters in the United States (pdf). In other words, Chairman Dean has called over 4 million eligible Hispanics crazy for being Republican. A tried and proven Democratic strategy under Chairman Dean's leadership - insult those who think different from you.

Lest you think this is nothing more than Republican spin on my part, please take a look at what one liberal blogger has to say about the Clinton's and their approach to minorities:

So, America's first Hispanic governor, Bill Richardson, decided to support Obama and look what the Clintons have done … they've made him into Judas.

Wonder if the bells are going off in America's Hispanic community? If so, do the people understand what the bells are warning against? The bells should be warning the Hispanic community of this simple fact:

The Clintons will ALWAYS love and honor the Hispanic community … as long as the Hispanic community does, says, and votes EXACTLY as the Clintons say they should.

As one Democrat put it, The Clintons are ALWAYS there when they need you.

Go ahead and read that passage again. Only this time substitute "Democrats" for every instance of "Clintons" and the truth becomes painfully clear. The Democrats love to play the race card.

They use it in their primaries against one another, and then after the primaries they try to use it against Republicans. It is a divide and conquer approach to politics based on planting seeds of racial prejudice and distrust nurtured by personal attacks and insults.

The Republican approach is based on appeal to values and principles, not prejudice and hate. That, Chairman Dean, is why I am a red, white and blue Hispanic Republican through and through.

Interesting Weekend

I'm just getting back from Chicago. I went out to attend the Samsphere Conference put on by the Sam Adams Alliance. The purpose was very simple:

Samsphere is a new media forum, hosted by the Sam Adams Alliance, where bloggers and e-activists from across the country can gather together to network and share ideas. Samsphere will be specifically geared toward bloggers and e-activists who focus on local and state-level politics, and who are dedicated to the principles of individual freedom and limited government.

I'm not usually one to attend these things, but the Alliance was footing the bill, so I figured what the heck - it's just my time. It was time well spent. The entire session was very informative and engaging and the company was great:

Erick Erickson * RedState * National
Allen Fuller * Flat Creek Management * National
John Fund * Wall Street Journal * National
Brad Jones * Face the State * National
Jenn Sierra * Fort Hard Knox * National
Erik Telford * Americans for Prosperity * National
E.M. Zanotti * American Princess * National
Bill Smith * ARRA News Service * Arkansas
Ben DeGrow * Mount Virtus * Colorado
Mark Johnson * ILGOPnet * Illinois
Doug Welch * Stix * Illinois
Bob Weeks * Wichita Liberty * Kansas
Earl Glynn * Kansas Meadowlark * Kansas
Jeff Blanco * Louisiana Conservative * Louisiana
Lance Dutson * Maine Web Report * Maine
Jack McHugh * Mackinac Center * Michigan
Chet Zarko * Outside Lansing * Michigan
Jim Hoft * Gateway Pundit * Missouri
Craig Sprout * Montana Politics * Montana
Chuck Muth * Muth’s Truths * Nevada
Skip Murphy * Granite Grok * New Hampshire
Mario Burgos * Mario Burgos * New Mexico
Maggie Thurber * Thurber’s Thoughts * Ohio
Chris Arps * Oklahoma Political News Service * Oklahoma
Trent Siebert * Tennessee Policy Institute * Tennessee
Leslie Carbone * Leslie Carbone * Virginia
Don Ward * Sound Politics * Washington
Fred Dooley * Real Debate Wisconsin * Wisconsin
Tristen Cramer * Haemet * Wyoming
Chad Everson * Grizzly Groundswell * Minnesota
Steve Sibson * Sibby Online * South Dakota

Sam Adams Alliance Staff
Nic Hall * Nicky Cheese * Illinois (currently in Texas)
Bob Costello * cozcommunio * Illinois
John Tsarpalas * Tsarchats * Illinois
Ken Marrero * Blue Collar Muse * Tennessee
Eric Odom * Eric Odom * Illinois
Mike Van Winkle * A Chicago Blog * Illinois
Micheal Tams * American Federalist * Illinois
Jodi Bridges * Thirty Something * illinois
Lennie Jarratt * Open Source Activism * Illinois
Drew Veeneman * Trenches of Democracy * Illinois

Three Letter Words

The next time you hear about the government proposing the creation of a new "authority" to deal with, well, with anything, you should call your legislator and tell them to just say, "NO." Government's tax and then the spend. It's what they do. Government created Authorities assess fees and then they increase fees. It's what they do.

TAX = FEE

You don't believe me? Well, here is a case in point of how a government created Authority creates a fee that ultimately becomes a tax on you and me (subscription):

Homes and businesses in Mesa del Sol apparently will be the first to get hit by a new Water Utility Authority fee for buying water rights.

Only new buildings constructed outside the water authority's service area will be affected by the rules, which have been incorporated into the water rate ordinance.

The rules will add about $1,250 to the cost of a standard- size home. The fee rises for larger homes, commercial and industrial size projects to as much as $66,000, depending on meter size, said Frank Roth, water authority Senior Policy Manager.

The one-time fee for buildings, called the "water supply charge," will be placed into an account the water authority can only use to buy new water rights or direct toward finding new sources of water.

Lynne Andersen, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties president, said the fees will most likely be passed on to home buyers and business owners.

Here comes the bad part. When elected government officials raise taxes, we at least have an opportunity to vote them out of office the next election cycle. The same is not true for government created Authorities. These folks are appointed, not elected, so the taxpayer has no recourse whatsoever.

It basically boils down to "Taxation without Representation." The last time that got out of control there was a revolution in this country.

Butterflies Snails Grasshoppers and Cactus

When I read stuff like this, I can't help but think this is not about protecting a species as much as it is an anti-development tactic:

Western environmentalists are suing the federal government, claiming promises by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to whittle down a backlog of plants and animals being considered for endangered species protection amount to "smoke and mirrors" and hundreds of species need protection now.

WildEarth Guardians alleges Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, has failed to act on petitions seeking protection for 681 species across a dozen western and midwestern states.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., contends many of the species - ranging from butterflies and snails to grasshoppers and cactus - could face extinction if action isn't taken.

"In a world that's bombarded by climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and human over-population, clearly few of our rare species are going to be secure in the long term," Nicole Rosmarino, director of WildEarth Guardians' wildlife program, said Monday. "That's the basis for the petition."

I'm glad Ms. Rosamarino just lumped "climate change, pollution, habitat destruction and human over-population" all together. Those are all buzzwords which in the grand scheme of things mean absolutely nothing, but give certain people a reason for being.

[Side Note: Ok, on that last link I'm reaching a bit, but I thought the site was pretty funny (hat tip: NewMexiKen) and although the blogger hasn't done a post on these buzzwords, I'm sure it is not too far off in the future.]

Sometimes, you just got to shake your head and wonder if these people have ever looked back over the history of the world. It seems to me that huge numbers of species have come and gone (think dinosaurs) without the earth coming to an end. I'm sure the world as we know it will not come to an end if we have one less species of butterflies, snails, grasshoppers or cactus on the planet.

But, hey that's just one man's opinion.

A False Sense of Accomplishment

Over the last few years, funding for education has increased exponentially. More than once I've complained that despite this significant investment, we've yet to see any positive results. Now, it seems that the picture is actually even bleaker than we've been led to believe (subscription):

Since the No Child Left Behind Act came along in 2001, New Mexico has been sending the federal government graduation rates based on the percent of seniors who earn a diploma by the end of the year.

By ignoring the thousands of students who drop out between grades nine and 11, the state has managed to post respectable graduation rates— a percentage in the mid-80s.

New Mexico had the U.S. Education Department's full consent, but the federal government was keeping its own books, based on the number of freshmen who graduate in four years. Those calculations were coming up with graduation rates for the state in the mid-60s.

New Mexico was doing nothing unusual but, according to a March 20 article in The New York Times, it has had one of the widest gaps between state and federal figures. Only Mississippi's was wider.

Garcia expects that to change. Starting this summer, the state will start reporting graduation rates based on entering freshmen.

By using seniors, Garcia said, the state was giving itself "a false sense of accomplishment."

My guess is that the state has known all along just what it's level of accomplishment has been. It's the taxpayers they have been trying to dupe.

Memories Caught on Tape

Bill Richardson Endorsement of Obama

It probably looks like I've been avoiding writing something about Bill Richardson endorsing Barack Obama. I haven't. In fact, I already wrote about it back in January:

Yet, is Richardson calling it quits? Not yet. Mind you, he's got a job to do here with the pending legislative session, but he's just not willing to throw in the towel. Why? Well, he likes the national limelight too much. New Mexicans know (or at least they should be now) that Bill Richardson is in the game for Bill Richardson. And, based on the reports of Richardson throwing his Iowa votes to Obama, the Clintons now know it too.

Richardson is a deal maker of the first order. So, what kind of deal do you think he struck with Obama? You don't think he would shun the Clintons without some sort of backup plan, do you?

It looks like Governor Richardson (or should I say Secretary of State Richardson) just stuck to the plan.

Global Warming Myth Follow Up

Yesterday, I pointed out that single working moms can't buy milk for their four year olds because of questionable science and government intervention, which has foisted ethanol as an alternative to fossil fuels. Even if you were to choose to ignore that New Mexico's economy would collapse tomorrow if it weren't for fossil fuels. You've got to recognize that ranching communities, including those in New Mexico, are suffering because of the high cost of feed as a result of such misguided efforts as federal subsidies for ethanol production. So, we've got rising milk prices. We've got rising beef prices. Oh, and did I mention that we have less jobs:

“Rural communities need both livestock and ethanol production,” says Lawrence, who was also a key BQS presenter. But livestock production is worth more jobs.

According to studies at Iowa State University, using a 50-million-gal. ethanol plant as an example, 18.5 million bu. of corn are required. The plant accounts for 35 workers directly, as well as 98 created and induced jobs, or 133 jobs all together. Funnel that same amount of corn through a feedlot, and you're talking 140 jobs before considering the employment created further downstream in packing and processing.

“Ethanol production is a low-labor business; livestock production is a high-labor business,” Lawrence says.

All of these changes are occurring because the government has embraced the idea that the world is warming. Now, for the global warming irony:

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

Read that last sentence again, "Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans." This coming from a report on National Public Radio - not exactly a beacon of conservatism.

Burying the Culprit in the Last Line

The Law of Unintended Consequences is at play again. This time, it is making it hard for a working mother to buy milk for children (subscription):

Maybe instead of "thank you," the folks who have just checked out your groceries should say "sorry."

Not that it's their fault your food bill is wiping out your movie money and vacation fund. Checkers are also spending 37 percent more on eggs and 29 percent more on milk than they did a year ago. Industry watchers are saying 80 percent of grocery prices are likely to rise and stay high for years.

Moms are reporting they're cutting their children's milk consumption.

Elaine Martinez had just finished her shopping at Lowe's Super Save at Lomas and 12th. She considers herself lucky that her 4-year-old, Christopher, likes healthful foods, but he can't have as much as he used to.

"It's awful to tell him he can't have milk; he has to have water," she said. "It's not something as a mother I want to say to my child."

Now if you didn't read this whole article until the end, you might think this would be an article about economic recession. You know, something that Democrats might try to blame on the Republicans, but it's not.

But corn is also a factor. It used to be food for humans and cattle. Now a lot of it is used for corn-derived ethanol to replace gasoline. Fields previously devoted to wheat, soy beans and corn for human consumption are producing corn for ethanol.

That's right, producing food for human consumption has taken a backseat to dealing with the mythical global warming crisis. This is a result of the environmental hysteria created by people like Al Gore, which has in turn led to the nonsensical production of ethanol.

The next time you hear a candidate running on their environmental record and telling you how important it is that we use alternative sources of fuel for our vehicles, I hope you picture a 4-year old boy like Christopher who has to drink water instead of milk.

The Beginning of an Unsettling Trend

Year after year, Mayor Martin Chavez has been spending with reckless abandonment. Last year, it became clear that his fiscal irresponsibility was finally catching up with him. This year the projected budget shortfall for Albuquerque is more than double what was predicted last year (subscription):

A recent budget forecast estimated the city would face a $50 million shortfall next year if no budget adjustments were made. And that was before the mayor announced 5 percent raises for firefighters and double-digit raises and other financial incentives for police to boost recruitment— expected to cost around $10 million altogether.

But Chávez says not to worry: The city can pay for it all by holding the line on other expenses.

"At the very first sign of (an economic) slowdown, we stopped filling positions," Chávez said.

The $50 million projected deficit is based on many assumptions, such as incremental increases in most expenses. Instead, city programs will see a "lack of growth," Chávez said.

Am I the only one who finds it hard to believe they've got it under control when deficits continue to increase?

Bailouts Are Wrong

I understand what the Federal Reserve is trying to do, but bailouts are just plain wrong:

The extraordinary measures were made necessary, in the view of the policymakers, by the most dire threat facing world financial markets in years. Bear Stearns, in particular, was confronting a run on the bank as investors were too fearful of the future to make even overnight loans to the nations' fifth-largest investment firm. If it had been allowed to fail, senior officials believed, it would have created a cascading crisis of confidence that could well have brought down several other leading firms and dragged world markets with them.

Policymakers weighed that risk against the risk that their actions would create "moral hazard," or greater willingness of companies to take inappropriate chances. The officials stressed that their efforts were meant not to save shareholders of Bear Stearns or any other company but to keep markets from collapsing.

I don't pretend to be a financial analyst, but the Dow was way below 10,000 just five short years ago, and we can expect it is going to continue to fall from it's current position. We can also expect to see more major banks, mortgage companies, homebuilders and investment firms to collapse. The Federal Reserve Bank is not going to be able to bail the all out, and they should not have bailed out Bear Stearns.

This is not the first time we have had a financial industries correction based on over speculation in land development, and it surely will not be the last - especially if the federal government continues its commitment to bailouts.

Democratic Tax Policy

Tax policy is often difficult for folks to understand. Considering the actual number of pages involved, that's probably no big surprise:

The complexity of the Tax Code has done nothing but grow since the Federal income tax was first introduced in this body in 1913.

When it was first created, the Tax Code was 400 pages. This year, it is 67,506 pages, nearly a 17,000 percent increase, pretty typical of government math.

Now, because we're inching ever closer to Tax Filing Day, and because we're in a presidential election year, I think it is important to simplify the basic Democratic approach to one aspect of tax policy - tax refunds:

If you don't understand the Democrats' version of tax refunds, maybe this will help explain it:

50,000 people went to a baseball game, but the game was rained out. A refund was then due.

The team was about to mail refunds when a group of Congressional Democrats stopped them and suggested that they send out the ticket refunds based on the Democrat National Committee's interpretation of fairness.

Originally the refunds were to be paid based on the price each person had paid for the tickets. Unfortunately that meant most of the refund money would be going to the ticket holders that had purchased the most expensive tickets. This, according to the DNC, is considered totally unfair. A decision was then made to pay out the refunds in this manner:

• People in the $10 seats will get back $15. After all, they have less money to spend on tickets to begin with. Call it an "Earned Income Ticket Credit." Persons "earn" it by having few skills, poor work habits and low ambition, thus keeping them at entry-level wages.
  
  
• People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because it "seems fair."
  
  
• People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund. After all, if they can afford a $50 ticket, they must not be paying enough taxes.
  
  
• People in the $75 luxury box seats will each have to pay an additional $25 because it's the "right thing to do."
  
  
• People walking past the stadium that couldn't afford to buy a ticket for the game each will get a $10 refund, even though they didn't pay anything for the tickets. They need the most help.
  

Now do you understand?

A hat tip to Maggie Thurber, who appears to have taken it from the March 2008 issue of the Charleston County GOP newsletter.

Judicial System is in Shambles

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg continues to make decisions that just leave you scratching your head and wondering, "What can she possibly be thinking?" First, her office prosecutes a war hero to discourage other law abiding citizens from protecting their families and property from drug crazed career criminals. Now, Kari Brandenburg decides to look the other way while criminal judicial misconduct undermines the very structure of our legal system:

Metropolitan Court Judge J. Wayne Griego was accused of fixing tickets for years, and now he admits he did it.

His attorney filed paperwork today agreeing his client committed willful misconduct in office.

Griego basically said here he agrees with the Judicial Standards Commission which had investigated his conduct and recommended the New Mexico Supreme Court punish him.

Now Griego is asking the Supreme Court to follow the commission recommendations and just suspend him for interfering in the judicial process. The justices could, if they choose, remove him from the bench entirely.

Griego fixed for his family, friends and even his Realtor. They cover everything from speeding to parking, from resisting an officer to bench warrants.

We're not talking about a one-time bad decision, which would be reason enough to remove him from the bench. We're talking about a judge who admits he has been "fixing tickets for years."

The citizens are outraged.

Protesters rallied outside Metropolitan Court in downtown Albuquerque today demanding a criminal investigation in the case of the ticket-fixing judge.

But, our county's chief prosecutor, Kari Brandenburg, just doesn't seem too concerned:

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said at this point she is not pursuing the Griego case.

Ms. Brandenburg, at what point would you be interested in pursuing this case? There is something seriously wrong with a District Attorney that prosecutes heroes yet turns a blind eye when it comes criminal justices. This is just another reason to consider an alternative to District Attorney Brandenburg come November.

Glad I Live in the County

The next time someone from Albuquerque tries to push City/County unification on us, we would be wise to remember the financial burdens the City of Albuquerque likes to push on its citizenry in the form of regulations:

Homeowners will get a little more time before City Hall starts enforcing its new "green" building code.

But city executives aren't backing away from plans to require more energy-efficient furnaces, air conditioners and other equipment.

Albuquerque's Planning Department agreed this week to postpone enforcement of the new building code until July 1— three months later than scheduled. City officials say they're willing to consider technical amendments before then.

But minor changes may not be enough to satisfy critics who say the new code will boost the cost of replacing a heater or air conditioner by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of dollars.

As the owner of a 30 year old home with two thirty year old furnaces, I'd hate to be forced to spend thousands upon thousands to replace them both. Mind you, I live in a home with passive solar heating, and I also use a a very efficient wood burning stove for most of the winter. Plus, I keep the house very cool all winter. So, my furnaces hardly go on.

Is all of this because I'm worried about global warming or being green? No, it's because propane is expensive, and I'm pretty frugal in this arena. In other words, economics drives my decision, not regulation. Hmm... I'm sure there is a lesson there somewhere.

Homeschooling Receives Potentially Devastating Blow

We send our kids to public school. However, we have several friends who have chosen to homeschool their children with fantastic results, and most are not credentialed teachers. So, this recent decision by the California Second District Court of Appeals is very disturbing:

"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

The ruling was applauded by a director for the state's largest teachers union.

I'm sorry, but this is just wrong. Report after report has our schools failing to educate our children. Schools whose classrooms are run by credentialed teacher. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not an attack on our teachers. In fact, I believe that one of the biggest problems with our education system today is the lack of parental involvement, not the teachers in the classroom. Which is what makes this decision so absurd, homeschooling a child is the ultimate level of parental involvement in a child's education.

Incidentally, in the 1990's, I worked for five years in California public schools as a teacher. First as an emergency credentialed substitute, and ultimately as a long term substitute. I took over the math classes in early October one year for the department chair who had died. I taught those classes until the end of the school year.

I was offered a teaching contract at least once a month during every month that I taught. I never took one because it would've resulted in a significant pay cut and required me to go back and get a teaching credential. This despite the fact that I was finishing a Master's degree.

I bring this up because I do have a unique understanding of what makes a good teacher, and the credential is not what separates the good from the mediocre and the bad. I sincerely hope this is overturned in the California Supreme Court. I also think it should go out as a wake-up call to parents in every state of our nation.

The Vote-Buying Scandal that Never Was

I've never been much on writing about rumors and innuendo. This blog is a political opinion blog. After something hits the news or a piece of legislation is published, I put in my two cents. There have been a few comments left asking why I haven't posted on the vote-buying scandal that was circulating. The simple reason is: there was no scandal.

Heath Haussamen put a great post up about the investigative reporting he did which found little credence to the claims, and Eye on Albuquerque has a great follow up to that post. All I have to add is this...

I've attended numerous county conventions in the first and second congressional district this cycle including my own in Bernalillo County. There was record turnout at every county convention. This had nothing to do with anyone being paid, and everything to do with the fact that there are eight solid Republican candidates running and a lot of interest from the Republican base in ensuring that the right man or woman is our nominee to take on the Democrats in November. [Note: I'm not addressing the CD3 only because I hadn't attended any of their conventions, but I'm sure the same is true up there.]

In my ward in Bernalillo County, there were 38 active Republicans who showed up to vote at the county convention. The most I had ever seen before was 12, but the norm was usually closer to five. I knew almost everyone who showed up at the ward meeting. They are all active Republicans in one way or another.

Open Border Alert

Uh oh, it looks like New Mexico's border is about to be reopened for rampant crossing:

The original plan was to have the National Guard watch the border until 6,000 new agents could be properly trained.

Border patrol officials said that won’t happen until December, but state officials said that’s not stopping the feds from pulling the plug early.

State officials said the feds are not saying what’s behind the early withdrawal of guard troops from across the country.

The state said the withdrawal leaves the New Mexico border vulnerable.

"We'll create a window where the smugglers and the cartels and the border criminals may try and take advantage of," said Tim Manning of New Mexico Homeland Security.

Homeland security said heavy patrols and new fencing in Arizona and Texas means there will be a funneling effect of immigrants and smugglers into New Mexico.

Not good, not good at all.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

The things we remember...

When I was in sixth grade at Charles W. Lewis Middle School in New Jersey, my English teacher gave the class an assignment for all of us to write a letter to the editor of the Courier Post. My letter was about the poor quality of the food served in the school cafeteria.

Unfortunately, my letter never made it to the newspaper.

It did, however, earn me a trip to the principal's office. The principal, like the teacher before him, tried to reason with me to reconsider sending such a negative letter to the press and asked that I write a more appropriate letter for publication. I didn't agree to write another letter, but I did finally agree not to submit my original letter based on the the principal's promise to work to remedy the food situation in the cafeteria.

The situation did not improve and before long we middle schoolers rebelled and refused to buy the school lunch. I don't remember how, but after a few days, the press got word of the situation, and we actually had TV crews show up to cover the story. I've always regretted allowing myself to be talked out of sending that letter.

Ok, why this trip down memory lane? Well...

It seems the students at Readington Middle School (RMS) in Hunterdon County aren’t happy with the short amount of time they get for lunch every day. So in the finest American tradition - think “Boston Tea Party” - some of them came up with a novel way to protest the perceived injustice.

“Some 29 seventh- and eighth-graders at the school banded together during last Thursday’s 30-minute lunch period and paid for their $2 lunches with pennies,” reports the New Jersey Star-Ledger this morning. “That amounted to 5,800 individual, or 32 pounds, of pennies.”

Over 5,000 pennies weighing in at 32 pounds? God bless those kids! Just when you think the American revolutionary spirit of resistance is dead and gone, along they come to renew our hopes. Now for the rest of the story…

In a response worthy of King George himself, school administrators - that would be PUBLIC school administrators - “called using the coins a sign of disrespect to cafeteria personnel and fellow students, and punished the ‘Readington 29’ with two days of detention.”

Thanks to Chuck Muth for the trip down memory lane. It's bizarre that almost thirty years later NJ public school administrators are still trying to squash students' freedom of speech. Not to mention the fact that the school food situation is still not much better:

Getting to the Illegal Immigration Bottom Line

Based on what is going on in Arizona, it looks like making inroads in turning back the tide of illegal immigration is not as difficult as everyone would like us to believe (Hat tip: The Westerner):

Parents are pulling students out of school. Construction workers are abandoning their jobs. Families are hastily moving out of apartments.

Two months after Arizona enacted a law punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, the law is already achieving one of its goals: Scores of immigrants are fleeing to other states or back to their Latin American homelands.

Gaby Espinoza, who has been unemployed since November, is among those affected. She gave up looking for a job because of the law and may have to return to Mexico.

Espinoza's husband works here legally, but the law means that employers must ask her for papers, and she faces the daily fear of being deported.

"There's no work over there in Mexico," said Espinoza, who has three U.S.-born children. "People there live so poorly. Here, my kids have health insurance and Medicare. Over there, there's nothing."

If Ms. Espinoza has been unemployed since November, then apparently there is no work over here either. Interesting to note that the draw for Ms. Espinoza is not the promise of a better life if you work hard, but the ability to take advantage of government entitlement programs like Medicare.

Now, anyone want to talk about why we have a health care crisis?