In the words of a friend, New Hampshire has now become the "WTF or Die" state. 4th grade teacher James Cutting can testify to that.
After his 4th grade class managed to get the New Hampshire state legislature to move a bill naming the red-tailed hawk as the official state raptor, it went to the floor of the House for debate and a vote. Mr. Cutting's 4th grade class was in the gallery to see their bill hopefully be passed and sent to the Senate.
Instead, they got a full dose of how mean and nasty our politics have become.
In the spirit of learning by doing, students drafted a bill to learn the process of how a bill becomes law. They proposed House Bill 373, an act establishing the Red Tail Hawk as the New Hampshire State Raptor. Even though it passed through the Environment and Agriculture committee with a majority vote, some representatives were far from receptive.
Rep. Warren Groen, a Republican from Rochester said, "It grasps them with its talons then uses its razor sharp beak to basically tear it apart limb by limb, and I guess the shame about making this a state bird is it would serve as a much better mascot for Planned Parenthood."
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That comment, considered offensive by many, was made while the fourth graders sat, watched and listened. The tough lesson didn't end there.
Rep. John Burt, a Republican from Goffstown said, "Bottom line, if we keep bringing more of these bills, and bills, and bills forward that really I think we shouldn't have in front of us, we'll be picking a state hot dog next."
In a 133-to-160 vote lawmakers killed the bill and perhaps the civic enthusiasm of some 9-and-10-year-olds.
What is the matter with these jerks? What harm would have come from passing the bill that kids put together and actually followed through with the legislature? As Mr. Cutting notes in the audio interview embedded below, it wasn't even that the bill was defeated. It was the sarcastic mean way they did it.
I will bet that the lawmaker who made the crack about Planned Parenthood spouts bull on a daily basis about "family values." Yeah, he's so full of family values he verbally whips people with those values, even when they're 9 and 10 years old.
These nasty bastards need to take a class in Humanity 101. For the children.
