Repealing the 20th Century

Remember when the Republicans unveiled their so-cool-it-hurts Speak Out America website last year? Remember the hilarious free-for-all that resulted on their open suggestion forum?

Remember the hundreds of "new ideas" that went something like, "The USA don't need socialist measures such as 8-hour work days, weekends off, paid vacations, banning child labor, or the minimum wage if we want to stay competitive against giants like India and China."

Remember I commented that some Republican candidates would actively support these "constructive" proposals?

Well, it kind of makes me sick to say I was right. Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) wants to eliminate child labor laws in the state of Missouri. The bill would, among other things, eliminate the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen.

What the hell is this supposed to accomplish? The party that doesn't want corporation to pay taxes also wants to permit corporations to enslave children?

And just in case you need more evidence that Republicans want to "take our country back... to the 19th century," the Kentucky Senate recently approved legislation to allow the Christian Bible to be taught in public schools. Of course, they claim they want to teach it as literature, but we all know that's bullshit. It will be impossible to hire an unbiased teacher for such a controversial course.

The Republicans are seriously pandering to the nuttiest fringe of their party. Moderates have little to no interest in radically regressive legislation that turns us into a third-world country. And yet, somehow, I don't think we've reached peak insanity yet.

Torture Is Not Treatment

I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
— W.H. Auden.

So let me get this straight. A sadist invents a powerful electric shock device to strap on the backs of children, then he opens a school where he's allowed to use the device on autistic, mentally retarded, and emotionally troubled kids, thus creating an environment of constant pain and anxiety.

And no, I'm not talking about some kind of Victorian era insane asylum. I'm not talking about Soviet era brainwashing. I'm talking about public funded education in the USA right now at the Judge Rotenberg Center.

And the torture doesn't end at painful shocks for minor acts of noncooperation. A recent report submitted to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture also revealed the use of restraint boards, isolation, and food deprivation in efforts to control the behaviors of the school's vulnerable students.

The UN Convention against Torture requires each government party to the convention "to ensure that all acts of torture are offenses under its criminal law." Unfortunately, we've been ignoring that quaint little treaty for far too long.

Unhappy Meals

"It's a great country, but it's a strange culture. ... This has got to be the only country in the world that could ever come up with a disease like bulimia; gotta be the only country in the world where some people have no food at all, and other people eat a nourishing meal and puke it up intentionally. This is a country where tobacco kills four hundred thousand people a year, so they ban artificial sweeteners! Because a rat died! You know what I mean? This is a place where gun store owners are given a list of stolen credit cards, but not a list of criminals and maniacs! And now, they're thinking about banning toy guns - and they're gonna keep the fucking real ones!" — George Carlin.

I wonder what Carlin would think about this: in Santa Clara County, California, my home-sweet-home, officials recently voted to ban toys and other promotions that restaurants offer with high-calorie children's meals.

So we ban the toys and keep the high-calorie meals? I've watched my nephew eat a Happy Meal, and the toy actually distracts him from eating the crap! Keep the toys!

Anyway, it's not the toys that bring the kids to the fast-food restaurants -- it's the parents. Of course, I don't think parents are irresponsible for getting their kid the occasional treat or quick, hassle-free meal. But we all know it shouldn't be a regular indulgence. It will make you fat.

Maybe a little truth in advertising is needed. Or better yet, no advertising directed at children at all. Apparently, it's psychological warfare with the psychologists on the side of the advertisers. Some psychologists actually lend a hand to marketers by revealing such tidbits as why 3- to 7-year-olds gravitate toward toys that transform themselves into something else and why 8- to 12-year-olds love to collect things.

Maybe parents do need an ally in this battle, but this new law treats one tiny symptom. Kids will still see the advertisements, scream for the toys, and their parents will drive outside the county to get them. Or they'll finally learn to say "no."

Nature or Nurture

I found this image at Something Awful. The photos were taken from a 1980's Farsi Alphabet book for children. The owner of the book received it at age 2 or 3 while visiting Iran toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War. You may remember that was when the US was on Saddam's side.

Anyway, though I've never seen a children's book quite like this, I'm not going to pretend to be shocked. I've seen the Palestinian kid's show with the impostor Mickey Mouse promoting jihad. I've seen the sing-along DVDs glorifying suicide bombing. I'm also aware that the CIA was behind the violent images in Afghani textbooks when the US wanted to indoctrinate Afghan children with their duty to fight the Soviets:

In 1986, under President Ronald Reagan, the U.S. put a rush order on its proxy war in Afghanistan. The CIA gave Mujahideen an overwhelming arsenal of guns and missiles. But a lesser-known fact is that the U.S. also gave the Mujahideen hundreds of millions of dollars in non-lethal aid; $43 million just for the school textbooks. The U.S. Agency for International Development, AID, coordinated its work with the CIA, which ran the weapons program.
...
"The U.S. government told the AID to let the Afghan war chiefs decide the school curriculum and the content of the textbooks," says CBC'S Carol Off. "What discussions did you have with the Mujahideen leaders? Was it any effort to say maybe this isn't the best for an eight-year-old's mind?"

"No, because we were told that that was not for negotiations and that the content was to be that which they decided," says Goutier.

So children learn to count with bullets, to color in pictures of guns, and to sing about suicide missions. Adults brainwash them to fight their dirty wars. We do it to American children too (for profit even!) with toys like GI Joe.

What better way to keep the continuum of violence except to nurture it?