So Maybe Those Tin-Foil ‘Black Helicopter Mind Reading’ Hat Wearers Were Right All Along? How Will Representative Mike Lair Respond?
Folks in Missouri remember how Representative Mike Lair made fun of those taxpayers concerned about not only Common Core Standards, but also the curriculum and data gathered aligned to the standards. He is the representative who inserted $8.00 in the budget for tin foil to ridicule taxpayers who protested against the standards. He is also the representative National Review wrote about as Is This Guy America’s Most Arrogant State Lawmaker?
On the summary sheet handed out to lawmakers, the money is slated for “tin foil hats” and was tied to an amendment removing language barring the state from accepting federal grants to implement Common Core standards for public schools.
“If you can’t deal with folks with logic, you use humor,” he said. “This is to stop all the problems from the black helicopters and drones. This is high density foil.”
Take your tin foil and stick it where the sun don’t shine, Chairman Lair. There are a lot of objections to Common Core, coming from a lot more corners than the conspiracy theorists. If you don’t like Glenn Beck, there’s plenty of Republican state lawmakers. If they’re too righty for you, there’s skepticism and complaints from the NEA, liberal education-reform groups, teacher complaints about the lesson plans, parents of every political stripe . . . Even if you’re a big fan of Common Core, you have to recognize that arrogant dismissal and mockery like Lair’s actions do nothing to reassure skeptical parents and teachers.
You can read here and here about him making fun of these taxpayers and even the Huffington Post (2/14) picked up the story:
In addition to billions of suggested dollars for schools and scholarships, a newly proposed budget by the Missouri House Appropriations Committee on Education allots $8 for tin foil hats. Rep. Mike Lair (R-Chillicothe) proposed the tin foil provision as a dig at Common Core conspiracy theorists, who are paranoid the new education standards will lead to the widespread indoctrination of children. The $8 would be used “[f]or two rolls of high density aluminum to create headgear designed to deflect drone and/or black helicopter mind reading and control technology,” the budget says, as quoted by The Associated Press.
The Common Core State Standards are a set of new education benchmarks that were voluntarily adopted in 45 states, including Missouri. While the measure is designed to make sure students around the country are held to the same benchmarks, some conspiracy theorists have gone so far as to surmise that the Standards will turn children into mindless zombies, or open classrooms up to Nazi So Maybe Those Tin-Foil ‘Black Helicopter Mind Reading’ Hat Wearers Were Right All Along? How Will Representative Mike Lair Respond? » Missouri Education Watchdog:
