The latest proposal, from South Milwaukee Rep. MarkHonadel, a Republican, is to electronically finger-scan the kids as they enterthe day care facility. The assumption is that providers can’t be trusted tosign kids in and out honestly.
Take a step back and think about it. Even using thehighest numbers of alleged fraud, only a tiny fraction of providers facesaccusations of wrongdoing. Yet all kids would be finger-scanned because none ofthe state-licensed providers are deemed trustworthy. Then there are the privacyissues and concerns about finger-scanning only children from low-incomefamilies.
Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the ACLU ofWisconsin, decried the proposal, saying in a statement, “The children in theWisconsin Shares program, many infants under age one, are not inventory.”
Instead ofenacting reactionary measures to appeal to a newspaper’s dwindling subscriberbase, the state should boost its efforts to help the Wisconsin Shares providersbecome better day care operators: improved business training, more frequentinspections and high standards for care.
Hero of theWeek
Habitat forHumanity Volunteers
Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity recently built its400th home in the city. Aiding those who would not qualify for traditionalhome-loan services, the group helps families willing and able to put in 500hours of sweat equity on their homes and those of their neighbors. Thousands oflocal volunteers have helped to design and build these homes sponsored by areabusinesses and parishes. Most of the houses have been located in the Washington Park,Amani and Harambee neighborhoods of Milwaukee.%uFFFD
Jerk of theWeek
State Sen.Glenn Grothman
While the Obama administration is attempting tooverturn the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexual servicemenand servicewomena plan endorsed by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff, who said that “allowing gays and lesbians to serve openlywould be the right thing to do”state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend)bemoaned a new law that would prohibit Wisconsin schools from promoting “bias against pupils of any race, gender,sexual orientation, or ethnic or cultural background or against sexually activepupils or pupils with disabilities.” He prefers a “don’t ask, don’t tell”policy for gay students and their educators.
In aninterview with a reporter from The CapTimes, Grothman fondly recalled the good old days at his Mequon high school in the 1970s, when“homosexuality was not on anybody’s radar. And that’s a good thing.” (He didadmit that there were “a few guys who would make fun of a few effeminate boys”back then, but that doesn’t count, apparently.) As for today’s more enlightenedsex educators, Grothman claims that some of them “would like it if more kidsbecame homosexuals.”
