Dumb and dumber at it again (Feds micromanaging schools)

This may be one of the biggest money wasting items I've seen since the stimulus package. Only the nanny state thinks of this stuff.

From Todd Starnes at Fox News

A Florida school district is considering a plan to install surveillance cameras on cafeteria trash cans to monitor what kids are throwing away – after they discovered that students were tossing out their federally-mandated fruit and vegetables. The Lake County School Board said more than $75,000 worth of vegetables have been thrown in the garbage. The veggies and fresh fruit are party of the Obama administration’s policy to force schools to provide healthy produce in lunch rooms.

“It’s fairly specific recipe of what they would like us to serve,” Lake County School Board member Tod Howard told Fox News. “Unfortunately, much of it has to do with fresh fruit and vegetables and it seems to be going into the trash. And that’s not okay.” So Howard suggested the district attach security cameras to the trash cans to monitor exactly what is being thrown away. “It will also give us documentation so that we can go back to the federal government and say here’s what we are finding,” he said. “We do know there’s an issue.”

School districts across the nation are furious with the Obama administration’s orders. Some students have staged strikes while others have launched petition drives urging the federal government to change their policy. But Lake County is believed to be the first to actually videotape kids tossing their veggies – and that has some parents upset.

Dumb - Cameras used for surveillance to make sure kids are eating the vegetables. How much do they cost? How is this going to be enforced? Is it possible to enforce? Etc. In Howard's defense, he SAYS that it's for evidence to tell the feds that the policy doesn't work.

Howard called those concerns “conspiracy theories” and said they were not going to force kids to eat their vegetables.

“I don’t want anybody to be on camera at all,” he told Fox News. “This would be aimed directly into the trash can. By no means would any of our students be in the picture.” He said the cameras were meant to give the school district evidence they need to push back against the federal guidelines.

Surveillance cameras aren't needed for that. Take a picture of the trash bin and send it to the dipsticks at the federal government. While I'll take Howard at his word here, the feds may just tell them to do exactly what Howard said he doesn't want to happen in the era of Obamacare. That leads to dumber.

Dumber - The Feds. What the Hell are they doing involved in what should be local decisions in the first place?  We have school boards. They work for our local communities. We hire and fire them as voters, and also vote with our feet. While local school boards have their issues, they are a hell of a lot more qualified than some federal bureaucrat in DC. I thought "No child left behind" from Bush and Kennedy was bad and this is even worse. Whether the kids eat or do not eat their vegetables are not the feds business. It's mom's business, not the Peter Principle in Chief's business.

Outside of the eyes of the parents, whether kids eat their vegetables or not will be their decision. The nannies don't want to hear that, but that's just the way it was, is, and will be unless you have armed guards patrolling the lunchrooms enforcing that policy under criminal penalties. That's quite possible in the future as lines between public schools and prisons are blurring some in the post Columbine era of "zero tolerance." .

The federal government is neither smart enough, nor trustworthy enough to be involved in local school matters. 

Washington F's over the automakers, but not the banks

I know that the auto industry has never been cool in Washington. There has been few friends among recent presidential candidates and they were long shots like Duncan Hunter and Pat Buchanan. Gore, Kerry, and their Toyota Prius/Pious crowd hates us. Bush wasn't a great friend either. Neither was McCain or Obama. All of them back NAFTA and GATT.

Flash back to last October. We had this massive crash in the financial markets that could be seen eventually a mile away. Thanks to Fannie Mae, Freddic Mac, subprime mortages, and bad decisions, it was bound to happen. After that, there was this rush from Washington and its leaders - Bush, Obama, McCain, Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Reid, McConnell, and Boehner, to bail out the financial industry. Trillion dollars. This was in addition to the current national debt, and any budget. This bailout did nothing for reform.

Now the auto industry is in trouble and asks for a loan (not a bailout). They however get a double flank from the government. This isn't based on party as much as geography and ideology. Part of this the union leadership bringing it on themselves with their hyperpartisanship alienating some people that would otherwise support them. Part if it is the eco-wing of the democrats and their Priuses with their jihad against American auto industry. This was shown in spades when San Francisco resident and speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi got enough people to oust John Dingell off the commerce committee over the issue of the auto industry. His replacement was the totalitarian Henry Waxman from Hollywood. Part of this is Southern senators like Richard Shelby in Alabama (Thanks for making the rebuilding of the Michigan GOP that much harder you prick) beholden to foreign car plants in his state.

Now we got this micromanagement from Mr. Obama.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is sending a blunt message to Detroit automakers: To survive — and win more government help — they must remake themselves top to bottom. Driving home the point, the White House ousted the General Motors chairman as it rejected GM and Chrysler's restructuring plans.
..
New directors will now make up the majority of GM's board. Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, became the new CEO. Board member Kent Kresa, the former chairman and CEO of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., was named interim chairman of the GM board.

"The board has recognized for some time that the company's restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience," Kresa said in a written statement.

The Obama administration move comes amid public outrage over bonuses paid to business leaders and American International Group executives — set against a severely ailing economy.

What has Obama ever run to tell GM to do anything? This jerk's taskforce has only two people that even drove an American car.

This guy said it right.

Machine repairman Don Thompson, a nearly four-decade Chrysler veteran, said the automakers are being punished because of populist anger over the financial bailout.

"They're using us for the mistakes they've made in Washington," Thompson said.

You have this AIG bailout and those bonuses which are oh-so-outrageous now, were known when the reps voted on the bailout. As for the rest of the financial industry and the bailouts, the first one did not work. So what do we have here in Obama's proposed budget - another bailout of another trillion dollars!

It's okay if your the financial industry, but woe to those who build American cars. I'll close this out with this statement. Out of a job yet, keep buying foreign.