Dying by degrees.

Listen up, kids, and I'm going to show you how democracy disappears little by little in increments so small you don't realize it's gone until it's too late.


The D.C. Council is going to be entertaining a bill that's supposedly about "homeland security." It's currently scheduled for Monday, 14 July 2008, 10:00 am, in the Council Chamber, Room 500, and the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary will be holding the hearing on"Freedom of Information Homeland Security Amendment Act of 2007", Bill17-0355.


Very dry, right. Of course, the title is a bit of a giveaway, what with the "Freedom of Information" bit. That would be related to FOIA and various sunshine laws enacted to keep governments from hiding their dirt from the public eye. Well, DC wants to hide that dirt a little more. Ostensibly, the bill would keep "critical infrastructure" safe from FOIA requests. Interestingly enough, public education is included in the "critical infrastructure," which while I'm relieved that DC government finds public education critical, I'm curious as to why information about public education would be covered under homeland security concerns.


Is the mayor afraid the terrorists might learn the lunch menu for next Thursday?


More than likely, this request -- made in the fall of last year -- has something to do with Michelle Rhee's constantly being outfoxed by public watchdogs like Save Our Schools (DC) and Fix Our Schools, two groups that have exposed her sore lack of legal knowledge and lack of desire to be publicly accountable.


So goes the "public" in public education...

This just in: I wrote this post up before I read today's Post about the even more crazy DC Police plan to cordon off neighborhoods and ask for everyone's "papers" for access to the area...does this plan sound a little bit, um, mid-century to anyone else out there?