A fourth grade class in New Hampshire spent months putting together a bill to name the Red Tail Hawk the official state raptor. They worked in class and in their own time, worked their way through all the political red tape, got a sponsor, managed to get the bill through a House of Representatives committee, and then watched excitedly from the House gallery as the bill was debated on the House floor. Then, they were crushed as their bill was laughed at and made fun of, and were confused by the strange Planned Parenthood joke made by Rep. Warren Groen (R-Rochester).
Rep. Groen rose to speak out against the bill, and proceeded to spout a disgusting “joke,” all while the fourth grade students were watching.
“It grasps them with its talons and then uses its razor-sharp beak to rip its victims to shreds, to basically tear it apart limb by limb, and I guess the shame about making this a state bird is it would serve as a much better mascot for Planned Parenthood.”
The principal of Lincoln H. Akerman School in Hampton Falls, Mark Deblois, said he got numerous calls from parents saying their kids were asking questions about Planned Parenthood. He said the parents wanted to to know why it was brought up in a discussion about hawks. Thankfully, Deblois says the reference went over the students’ heads.
“None of the kids got those (abortion) references. Fortunately they didn’t, because it’s such a disgusting reference. But certainly that led to questions about what did that mean.”
That’s not to say that the kids weren’t hurt by the experience. Deblois says that the students were most upset by the fact that it seemed that none of the representatives took their bill seriously.
“Obviously, they were disappointed that their bill didn’t pass, but it was just the manner in which they say the bill was debated, when they saw people stand up and say these just appalling things…That (the abortion reference) was probably less than the gentlemen who stood up and made jokes. That was almost more upsetting to them because they understood those references. ‘Why didn’t they take us seriously? Why were people laughing?'”
For Groen’s part, he says he was just practicing good governmental transparency.
“The gallery is open to the public, and there are children in the gallery every day. I don’t know if we should limit free speech or limit the attendance in the gallery. It seems either one would be bad for transparency in government.”
Right, because making sickening, disgusting jokes about Planned Parenthood was a critical part of debating this bill. It sort of makes me wonder that else they are saying, when no one is watching to report it to the public. Somehow I don’t think this was an isolated incident.
