NH Lawmaker Trashes Adorable Bill Submitted by 10-Year-Olds, Compares It to Abortion

[tecelote]

According to CBS Boston, it all began when a group of fourth graders from New Hampshire’s Lincoln Akerman School decided to take a bill to their state legislature, proposing that the red-tailed hawk be named the official “state raptor”. They were in attendance at the State House in Concord when their bill was debated on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Sadly, the bill was defeated, 160-133, because most of the lawmakers thought it was a waste of time when they had a $10 billion budget to debate. “If we keep bringing more of these bills and bills and bills that really I feel we shouldn’t have in front of us, we’ll be picking a state hot dog next,” State Rep. John Burt (R) said.

Fellow GOP representative Warren Groen also rejected the bill, because he doesn’t like the red-tailed hawk. And why doesn’t he like the red-tailed hawk?

“(The red-tailed hawk) mostly likes field mice and small rodents. It grasps them with its talons and then uses its razor sharp beak to rip its victims to shreds and then basically tear it apart, limb from limb. And I guess the shame about making this the state bird is it would make a much better mascot for Planned Parenthood,” Groen said.

Full Article:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/nh-lawmaker-trashes-adorable-bill-submitted-by-10-year-olds-compares-it-to-abortion/

[jtuck004]

1. I've always thought it the height of human arrogance to see the next generation as our

salvation, by a bunch of people who are too lazy or inept to fix their own problems.

They seem to be under the impression that broken adults can breed and rear unbroken children. Yet there is little evidence of that in the history of this or any other country on any significant scale.

And this is one of the ways we teach that hate which drives us downward. This little incident will likely have as much impact as school or parents have on hundreds of not thousands of lives (minds) who will look to these driveling fools as an authority, and it will become part of them.

It is how people work, and I am still waiting to see some significant challenge to that in real life. Probably won't live that long.

[genxlib]

2. Mission Accomplished

If the goal was to teach these kids about Government then they got quite a lesson about what their Government is really like.

[Fred Sanders]

4. No. Only what Teabagger government is like....vicious, vacuous and doomed to failure!

What broad, sweeping generalization are you referring to...this is a Teabagger dominated Alice in Wonderland, Through the Lookinglass tiny slice of government...that is the whole point.

Strange how some folks seem not to get that....interesting, indeed.

Government was never intended to be run by religious extremist fools and corrupt idiots, remember?

[genxlib]

23. Don't get mad at me

No need to preach at me.

I didn't say it was the Government they "should" have or "could" have.

But it is the government they "do" have.

The people in that State need to understand who is representing them and they learned a lesson the hard way. Sucks for the kids but the voting public needs to get a clue and sometimes they don't notice until it affects their own kid.

[ejbr]

3. A gofundme

Page should be created for opponents of these dolts to run commercials just before next election to show their constituents what they think of their children.

[msanthrope]

5. Jeebus.....this is how I learned about government.....

https://m.

[genxlib]

24. Loved those

My daughter (now 13) is a second generation school house rock devotee. We got the whole set on DVD and she watched them like crazy.

She has been making over 100% in Civics because she gets extra credit for knowing the things like the preamble to the Constitution (so what if she has to sing it).

I think I am as proud of that as i am of her math skills.

[Laurian]

6. What a bunch of assholes.

They could have had a short but positive debate as a lesson for the children, then passed the bill. Instead, they were nasty and mean. Isn't this the party that always says, "What about the children?"

I hope the parents and families of the children took note.

[turbinetree]

7. Resubmit

the petition and have these children bring it back into the debate.
I guess when 10 year olds want a civic lesson and do something in this arena to make the state better, you then have two republican individuals showing there lack of leadership to represent the ten year olds and then to top it all off these compassionate individuals all 160 of them voted against the measure says a lot about these two men's character and the other 160, they have there right wing agenda and to hell with everyone else

[Jon82]

14. Here, here

It is wonderful the schools were teaching the children about government through proposing a bill. Much better than the way I learned. It is sad that pettiness and selfishness was part of the lesson.

[Snotcicles]

8. Instead of "you lie" I would have yelled "you asshole" if I had been present.

And yes I know not good in front of children.

[CanonRay]

9. I'm not sure if the 10 year olds were in the gallery or on the legislature floor.

Do you really have to be a jerk 100% of the time???

[jberryhill]

29. Yes - they wore shirts and handed out flyers

CUTTING: I think that they were a bit discouraged to hear anybody speak against their bill. Most of the comments I don't think that they really - I think that they had a sense of the tone of it and they were tuned in to the reaction of other people, whether it was their families that were with them. There was some laughter on the House floor, and one child asked, why did people laugh at us? But I think that, in particular, the Planned Parenthood comment was not something that they really understood.

BLOCK: Well, the bill to make the red-tailed hawk the New Hampshire state raptor - it was defeated. Was this a teachable moment for you? I mean, did it provide a lesson in something about civics and the way government works?

CUTTING: It did from the standpoint that just because there's a chance that something might fail doesn't mean that there's not a reason to give it your best effort. You know, that was really, I think, the message that came from this, to be proud of, you know, trying and following something through to the very end and ensuring that you've done everything you could. The children all wore shirts to the House vote that said, live free and fly. It had a picture of the red-tailed hawk on the shirt. They were there ahead of time to hand out flyers to the representatives as they entered, encouraging them to vote for their bill. So they really reached out in every way that they could.

[Jerry442]

10. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Who did this benefit? Even a momentary cheap thrill?

[CTyankee]

11. Haysus, that pisses me off!

[Dont call me Shirley]

12. Oh but they most certainly worship the national eagle.

And magically that is somehow not a carnivorous raptor?!

Who are the carnivores? 160 gop lawmakers who voted against creativity and civility!

[Jon82]

15. Of course

Of course, it is common knowledge that our national bird uses tranquilizers on its prey before it eats it in order to avoid causing any unnecessary harm.

[Dont call me Shirley]

17. So the gop is tranquilizing 10 year olds?! Wha?

[Jon82]

19. joke about how the prposed state raptor captures and eats its prey

Not meant to be to be referred to as actions carried out by GOP lawmakers.

[Dont call me Shirley]

21. We could propose a vegan bird alternative to the 4th graders to take back to the gop-vipers

Although...

Hawks eat rattlesnakes, no wonder the gop find them offensive.

http://www.ask.com/pets-animals/kinds-snakes-hawks-eat-24400cf982c88dd1

[jberryhill]

26. It was "State Raptor"

Don't know how many Vegan raptors there are.

[Dont call me Shirley]

28. Doh! You are correct.

[Jon82]

30. There are no vegan raptors?

Be careful, the GOP are already comparing this bird of prey to abortion. Soon, they will call for the bird to be outlawed and hunted down as a dual campaign to rid the world of the murderous birds and to boost the need for more fire arms.

[jberryhill]

31. I imagine there is a bird for every niche

Perhaps we can find a bird to flip for the republicans.

[mountain grammy]

13. Groen, for his part, is of the position that the world is a cruel place and that children should

learn that now instead of later... wow. did this guy's childhood so fucked up that he hates children? Hope he hasn't reproduced.

And the rest of them who ridiculed the kids.. well, New Hampshire, vote these jerks out, Groen too.

[Badass Liberal]

16. Is it wrong to agree with the statement of the first state rep mentioned?

The second one is batshit, but the first one, John Burt, has a point. A tiny point.

[Laurian]

18. Yes. I'm sure they waste more time than it would

have taken for a short debate and passage of this bill. In my state the legislature spends a whole lot of session time on glad handing and "honoring" their special friends.

[Badass Liberal]

20. You're probably right.

In theory, he has a point. But... yeah, I'm guessing he probably is a hypocrite. The odds increase significantly because he's a Republican.

[jberryhill]

27. Education of elementary school children is a valid use of time

These sorts of things are what inspire children to consider future leadership. There is no time more valuable than that spent educating children.

[cloudywing]

22. Why not nominate a state bryozoan?

I mean such stuff is important.

[Persondem]

25. Of course because a bil about a raptor is a slippery slope to abortion [face palm]

Does this guy have a Facebook page? Would be fitting if pictures of red tailed hawks starting appearing on his wall. Also, this is another example of hard GOPpers caring more for imaginary zygotes than children right in front of them.