It wasn't swamp gas hanging in the wind ... it was the politicians:
a legislative proposal that would cease requiring New Jersey schools to teach about Veterans Day and Memorial Day can be summed up in two words. "That's wrong," Mr. Stia, 83, said from his Hamilton home, where he flies an American flag at half-staff to honor fallen soldiers. "We're just giving our flag away and our patriotism away."
... state Sen. John Adler, a sponsor of the bill, cited a 2004 report by a state commission that recommended giving schools more flexibility to decide holiday observations. He questioned whether schools even bother to recognize the holidays.
Other holidays about which schools no longer would be required to teach include Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Arbor Day and Commodore Barry Day, which commemorates Revolutionary War hero John Barry.
"There's nothing in the legislation that can undermine the amount of pride and honor a community feels toward their veterans."
Aside from trying to hide the "inconvenient truth" that they exist ;->
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Monday, January 15, 2007 at 05:12 PM
'spose they'll allow the schools even *more* "flexibility", and let them ignore mlk day? you know, so's they can concentrate on more important things?
Posted by: larry | Monday, January 15, 2007 at 05:53 PM
Arbor Day ?
Posted by: john Ryan | Monday, January 15, 2007 at 05:57 PM
Why not just hoist the hammer and sickle on those flag poles in front of the schools and be done with it?
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Monday, January 15, 2007 at 11:54 PM
John: Arbor Day (last Friday of April, this year on April 27th) is now celebrated in the public mind as the PC-environmentally correct "Earth Day", on April 22th.
On the flip side of this, Libertarians will like this because it de-regulates state oversight into a matter that should be determined better by local schoolboards.
This could be seen as a move against statism, although the application of it leaves something to be desired... when Nov. 11th (formerly Armistice Day, commemoratig the end of WW1) and May 28th come rolling around, it would be nice for our children to know exactly why we get "those two days off when people fly flags and march in parades".
Or it could just be all about the Football. I'm halfway surprised these days when I see Thanksgiving Day decorations anywhere - usually the Xmas deco goes up after Halloween in malls across the USA.
Can't have any holidays to put us in a patriotic or God-seeking mind... can't risk offending the Muzzies.
Posted by: seekeronos | Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 09:09 AM