Why Johnny can't write cursively in freakin' Indiana

     According to HuffPostAOL News,

Indiana school officials have announced that students will no longer be required to learn cursive writing, effective this fall. ¶ In a memo to schools in April, state officials said schools can still teach cursive as independent school protocol, but students will be expected to be proficient in using the keyboard, The Tribune-Star reports. [See TribStar]

     Evidently, for Indiana school officials, teaching cursive AND keyboard is out of the question.
     HuffPostAOL News has an informal poll with predictable results:

Should schools still teach cursive?
[Results: 65% yes,  35% no]

     Evidently, some parents are now afraid that their kids won’t be able to sign their names.
     Maybe that can be handled in a weekend seminar.

South County Politician—and Saddleback Poli Sci instructor—wants citizens to be able to carry their (unloaded) guns almost everywhere

[UPDATE: as it turns out, Reeve teaches Political Science part time at Saddleback College. Sheesh.]

Councilman wants to allow unloaded guns in parks (OC Reg)

Reeve: without bullets

     The same city councilman who voted against renewing San Juan Capistrano's contract with the Orange County Sheriff's Department for police services because he dislikes Sheriff Sandra Hutchens' strict stance on gun permits wants the city to scratch its rule banning firearms in city parks.
     Councilman Derek Reeve said Tuesday night at a council meeting that the city's gun rules are stricter than state law and he wants that changed. Reeve wants people to be allowed to openly carry unloaded guns in city parks. Currently, one is allowed to carry unloaded weapons in state parks. Reeve said his suggestion would align city and state rules.
     State law also allows people to openly carry unloaded guns in public places, as long as they're not near a prohibited area such as a school or government building. In order to carry a loaded, concealed weapon in California, one needs a permit from the local county sheriff.
. . .
     Reeve plans to submit his proposal for a council vote at a meeting July 19. To turn his proposal into law, Reeve needs two other council members to agree with him to form a majority vote.
. . .

It's Orange County World

     Every March, the city waives certain gun rules and allows a group of people dressed as Old West sheriff's deputies the ability to brandish guns in public places and carry guns filled with blanks into parks on what is known as Hoos'gow Day, which is part of the annual Fiesta de las Golondrinas, or Swallows Festival.
. . .
     Second Amendment advocates criticized Hutchens after she tightened the Sheriff's Department's policy on concealed-weapons permits. Her predecessor, Mike Carona, was found to have granted permits to political donors.
. . .
     "I need to study [Reeve’s proposal] a little more, but initially I have concerns about it," Mayor Sam Allevato said. "People carrying firearms in public seems to be unnecessary in our town."
. . .
     Councilwoman Laura Freese, who has long been working to attract more business to the city, said allowing guns in parks is "not something that would help encourage businesses to come to San Juan Capistrano."….

Gun Crazy (1950)

Reeve's "mission":

     I found a “Reeve for City Council” website that identifies Mr. Reeve’s “mission”:

I pledge to represent San Juan Capistrano according to these principles:

1. America Is Good.
2. God is the Center of Life.
3. Your family is sacred and the ultimate authority, not the government.
4. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
5. We have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
6. You work hard for what you have and you will share it with who you want to. Government cannot force you to be charitable.
7. It is not un-American to disagree with authority or to share your personal opinion.
8. The government works for you. You do not answer to them, they answer to you.
9. Semper Fidelis

     I observe that Mr. Reeve is illiterate. I'll leave it at that.

Red meat for So. County morons

The morning read

• The Dark Art of ‘Breaking Bad’ (New York Times)
A great show that you may have missed. Set in beautiful New Mexico. Things get dark there. But it’s in a moral universe.
• American crows: the ultimate angry birds? (The Guardian)
Crows remember faces. They know who’s naughty and nice. And they tell their friends. “The Birds” lives, almost.

The Bauer Family Blog

Mom

     For those of you who are interested, a few weeks ago, I started the Bauer Family Blog, which will slowly fill out with posts about all things Bauer (and, in fact, all things Sternke—that's my mother's mother's maiden name; it's the unknown quarter of my heritage). I do understand that this blog/site would be of little or no interest to most DtB readers. But some of you seem to be interested.
     Check it out!

Fuentes sighting; more of that goofy G.O.P. secession fever

Uh-oh. Our next President, pardner

     Today, OC Weekly’s Matt Coker (Register Tongue Bath) notes that,

     After [Texas Gov. Rick Perry] met in Newport Beach's Pacific Club [yesterday] with big GOP donors and the likes of Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, Flash Report publisher Jon Fleischman, OC GOP Chairman Emeritus Tom Fuentes, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Board of Equalization member Michelle Steele, former state Republican Party chairman Shawn Steel, former Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), Claremont Institute President Brian Kennedy and—most tellingly—Reg opinion shaper Brian Calle, Santa Ana's daily gave Perry the print version of a tongue bath.

     Yeah, a tongue bath. See here.

Why not call it "West Texas"?

     You’ll recall that Gov. Perry, a noisy heckler of federal government, has indicated the possibility of Texas’ seceding from the union, as it did once before (you remember that Civil War thing; sucession back then didn't work out so well).
     So he’s yet another red-meat tossing asshole. I do wish these Texans would stop talkin’ about secession and just do it. But they’re all hat and no cattle.

     Speaking of Republicans and secession, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone is fed up with the dysfunction of California government (who ain't?), and so he’s pursuing the creation of a new state: South California: see.
     Says Stone,

"We have a state Legislature that has gone wild. They just don't care. Their goal was to get a balanced budget so they could continue to get a paycheck," Stone said by telephone late Thursday. "There is only one solution: A serious secession from the liberal arm of the state of California. I know the state of California can do better."

     Something tells me that Mr. Stone is looking for attention.
     If he gets his way (yeah, right), the OC will be part of the new state. And surely the state capitol will be somewhere in the O.C. Newport Beach?
     I'm startin' work on the new state flag.

The flag of the great state of SoCal