Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion

The crack squad of savvy motivated individuals we call our government are at it again. This time they are targeting children, scaring the living dickens out of them in hopes to send a message of preparation to their parents.

A recent article in the Washington Post told of a new program that affects the Washington (D.C.) school district. The program teaches and trains the students on how to be prepared in the event of another terrorist attack - one that may even include biological or chemical weapons.

This tactic is nothing new to our country. The Cold War sparked a large prevention plan that was enacted in elementary and middle schools across the country.

Aside from a handful of the non-traditional students on this campus, chances are not many of you have even heard of Bert the Turtle or the catchy tune and dance.

In the 1950s, with America in the heart of the cold war, Americans were terrified of a Soviet nuclear air raid on American soil. So, in response to the fear, the government created Bert the Turtle and his disaster plan.

"You know what to do kids," he would say in the instructional video. "When you see the flash, just duck and cover," instructing kids to duck under their desks for protection when the saw the flash of a nuclear bomb. Now obviously ducking under a desk isn't going to save you from the nuclear fallout. Unfortunately, you're not going to come out of a nuclear explosion in good shape if it struck your town. Either you'll have to deal with the explosion itself or deal with the fallout and radiation.

Now our government, in what they hope to be a nation-wide program, is bringing similar protection measures into elementary schools. Instead of a Soviet nuclear threat, they are teaching children to be prepared for the next terrorist attack. It's not a question of if they'll attack again, but a question of when.

Commander Ready and his team are teaching children to prepare emergency kits and disaster plans and to pester parents to do the same. Officials said if you can hook the kids you can rope in the parents too.

The programs teach the kids how to "shelter in place" by using duct tape and sheets of plastic around windows and doors. It teaches the kids how to prepare and prevent the flu - including the highly publicized bird flu creating unnecessary fear in Americans due to the media exposure and public relation ploys by pharmaceutical companies and the government officials who have a hand in those companies, but that's another topic altogether. It also prepares them for biological and chemical attacks and dirty bombs.

Continued...

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