Editorial

Pop Tarts: Soon to be protected speech!

David A. Lombardo

Who'd have thought a concoction of niacin, thiamin, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid and about 50 other things I can't pronounce might trigger a free speech revolution? It may well be the case if Florida HB 7029, The Pop Tart Bill, gets traction. 

 Let's face it: the feel-good, nanny-state, whack-job left has for years been slowly painting free-thinking Americans into a vocabulary dungeon. Sometimes it's funny, as in the label on an electric hair dryer that cautions in bold print: "Do not use in the shower!" Anyone dumb enough to consider using an electric hair dryer in the shower probably should be encouraged to do so simply to pour a little bleach in that end of the gene pool. 

 Sometimes it's perplexing. Okay, I get that the high school nickname Pekin Chinks is offense. Having said that, I managed to survive my childhood free of psychological trauma-induced homicidal tendencies over being called a Dago and a Wop by my friends. I simply returned fire-actually that might not be the best metaphor-with exhortations of Kraut and Polack, and it had no effect on our being best friends. 

 What I don't understand is why the Florida State University Seminoles mascot continues to ride horseback onto the football field with impunity, but the University of Illinois Chief Illiniwek had to be killed off. Chief wasn't a cartoon character making fun of anyone; Chief was a revered icon, much like the Seminoles, that was presented in solemn dignity. But the liberal thought police didn't approve, so Chief met Custer in South Dakota, the Florida Seminole tribe gets a fat check from Florida State University, and that's how the thought police work: you scratch my back and we're friends, otherwise you get a tomahawk in your back. 

 And I'm not even going to broach the "N-word"-a word so vile, so malignant, so toxic, that simply saying or writing it can cost one's job and even freedom. Well, unless you live in the ghetto, where the "N-word" is heard with greater frequency than the "F-word" in white teen enclaves. Which brings me to Pop Tarts. 

Early last year, a seven-year-old Baltimore, Md., student was suspended from school for two days for the horrendous act of shaping a Pop Tart into what his teacher thought looked like a gun. The school cited its zero tolerance policy as the justification. Okay, admittedly research has shown if you force feed a rat 15 Pop Tarts, it will explode, but that's the only way a Pop Tart in any shape is going to cause harm.

Other schools, run by typically liberal, anti-second amendment faculty and staff using a zero tolerance policy as a shield, have punished, suspended or expelled students for such things as wearing an NRA T-shirt to school, drawing a stick figure with a gun in its hand, pointing fingers like a gun when playing and talking about shooting a Hello Kitty gun that blows bubbles. 

But the tide may be turning. Florida HB 7029, which passed out of the House Education K-12 Subcommittee by a 13-0 vote, has been dubbed the "Pop-Tart Bill" or the "Right to be Kids" Act. HB 7029 emphasizes the need for common sense when it comes to a zero tolerance policy intended to keep weapons out of schools. The problem is anti-Second Amendment adults use the zero tolerance policy to inculcate an anti-Second Amendment bias in children. In other words, what started out as policies aimed at gun crime have degenerated into a form of thought crime. Florida, by the way, isn't alone. A similar bill is under consideration in Oklahoma. 

In his book, "Bomb Jokes at Airports and 186 Other Things You'd Better Not Say," Alan Korwin gets to the heart of the unassailable assault on free speech. "The biggest threat to free speech does not come from any of the curious or savage restrictions I've cataloged here," he wrote. "It does not come from the now-perpetual flow of laws and proposals to ban words, speakers, symbols, programming, teachers, preachers, wacko-wings or the rest. It does not come from the laws already on the books or the ones to be soon added. The biggest threat to free speech comes from the fear in your heart to openly express whatever you want." 

House passes NRA-backed SHARE Act

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3590, the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act.  The measure, which passed with broad bipartisan support by a vote of 268 to 154, promotes and protects the rights of hunters in a variety of critical ways. "Hunting is part of our unique American heritage and the NRA is committed to preserving it," said NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox.  "Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH) has been a stalwart friend to our nation's hunters, and on behalf of our 5 million NRA members, we thank him for his leadership on this important legislation.  The NRA will continue to work with the Congress to protect the rights of hunters from increasingly hostile and litigious environmental groups seeking to curtail our freedoms." The SHARE Act would give law-abiding gun owners more access to carry firearms on land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, protect lead-based ammunition and promote the construction and maintenance of public target ranges. The NRA worked with lawmakers to defeat a series of anti-hunting amendments supported by anti-hunting groups and environmental extremists designed to undermine hunting and fishing access and opportunities. The measure now heads to the Senate where the NRA will urge senators to take up and pass the SHARE Act.

Congress reauthorizes Farm Bill

The Senate approved the Farm Bill conference report 68-32, a week after the House of Representatives also approved the report. Congress now sends a federal Farm Bill to President Obama's desk for signature, marking the end of more than two years of struggle to get the legislation passed. The Bull Moose Sportsmen's Alliance applauds the leadership from both the House and Senate Agriculture committees for shepherding this critical legislation to passage and standing up for sportsmen across the country with a strong conservation title. This Farm Bill addresses many key priorities of sportsmen. For the first time since 1994, conservation compliance will be coupled with subsidized crop insurance payments. This common sense compliance will ensure that producers receiving money from taxpayers are not using that money to drain wetlands or let soil erode.  "Recoupling conservation compliance to crop insurance payments was among sportsmen's greatest priorities for this Farm Bill," said BMSA director Gaspar Perricone. The bill also establishes a Sodsaver program in six Great Plains states aimed at protecting native prairie habitat.  In Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, farmers that break native ground for row crop production will not be eligible for federally subsidized crop insurance. The conservation community had hoped that the bill would establish a national Sodsaver program but also recognized the imperative of protecting threatened prairie habitat in the Great Plains that are vital for upland birds, big game and most of the continent's waterfowl. "The habitat that will be protected with this Sodsaver provision includes the famed prairie potholes that hatch and grow the vast majority of the migratory waterfowl that sportsmen hunt each fall," noted Perricone. 

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Chicago Alderman presses

businesses to post no guns

In a recent newsletter to her 43rd Ward constituents, Alderman Michele Smith wrote, "I think consumers have a right to know if the businesses they are patronizing permit concealed firearms." She further asked that 43rd Ward businesses prohibit concealed carry. "I encourage all business owners to make your business establishments gun-free.  Our neighborhood and businesses will best prosper when everyone-business owners, customers, and residents alike-feel they can walk the streets and shops of the 43rd Ward safely.  Even though there have been rare gun incidents in our Ward, I strongly believe we will all feel safer if the police are the armed legal personnel in our Ward." Smith urges her constituents to contact Matthew Allee, her Director of Zoning and Urban Development at her Ward Office (773) 348-9500 if they have any questions or concerns on the specifics.