Schoolhouse Rock Videos:
I guess I should have realized that all of the classic "Schoolhouse Rock" videos were posted on YouTube, but for some reason it never occurred to me. Anyway, you can see them all here. It's probably been 20 years since I've last seen Conjunction Junction and How A Bill Becomes A Law, but I remember pretty much every second of them.
UPDATE: On rewatching "How a Bill Becomes a Law," it occurs to me that this bill probably shouldn't have passed. At the 0:57 mark, we see that the bill requires school buses to stop at railroad crossings. But shouldn't this be a question for the states? Why is Congress enacting a comprehensive national solution to regulating school buses? Whatever happened to federalism? Oh well, I guess that's the 1970s for you.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Commenter DR engages in the politics of personal destruction with this comment:
UPDATE: On rewatching "How a Bill Becomes a Law," it occurs to me that this bill probably shouldn't have passed. At the 0:57 mark, we see that the bill requires school buses to stop at railroad crossings. But shouldn't this be a question for the states? Why is Congress enacting a comprehensive national solution to regulating school buses? Whatever happened to federalism? Oh well, I guess that's the 1970s for you.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Commenter DR engages in the politics of personal destruction with this comment:
Orin Kerr says he cares about our children — he says he'll protect them from danger. So what did he do when Congress tried to pass a law that would have made it illegal for school buses to park on railroad tracks? He opposed it. Said it was "not Congress's problem." Kids in jeopardy? Not Congress's problem? This November, let's make sure Orin Kerr doesn't become America's problem.Kerr Campaign Headquarters is readying the following response ad:
Orin Kerr. Wrong on buses. Wrong for America.
DR is distorting Orin Kerr's record on children. What does DR know about children? While DR read about childhood in a book, only Orin Kerr has been a child. He spent 18 years as an American child. He rode the bus, and he saw the trains. He didn't just read about it, he lived it.
Commmenter DR. Inexperienced. Totally unqualified.
ditto. great waste of 15 minutes. from looking at other videos, i see that lots of admirers spent time to create their own schoolhouse rock segments. flattering for the creators or people with too much time on their hands?
For the federalism problem:
Congress simply needs to invoke the Commerce Clause (the bus was probably made out of state-- or at least with out of state parts) or, in the alternative, Congress can use the trick of Spending w/ Strings Attached Power (we'll give you money for school buses, but only if you agree to pass the Bus-Railroad Violence Prevention Act).
My point is about public policy, not constitutional law. The bill would plainly be within the Commerce Clause power, but that does not mean Congress should pass it.
Orin Kerr. Wrong on buses. Wrong for America.
Thanks dr.
As for DR's post. I thought it was great, too.
Best comment ever. I tried to respond in the main post, but your comment was really hard to beat.
Lizzie Borden was a child. Now Orin Kerr admits he too was a child.
What is Orin Kerr hiding? Can America really afford to find out?
Orin Kerr. If you vote for him, he might kill you with an axe.
(now back to my regularly scheduled smearing.)
The race between dr and Orin Kerr turned nasty today as dr accused Kerr of not being child friendly. The Kerr campaign immediately released an ad saying that dr's charge was bogus and Kerr too was child friendly. Kerr, responding to dr's charge said, "I was a child once, and I also really liked the other kids." Kerr then announced that he was suspending his campaign to immediately return to Washington to help solve the Jungle-Gym crisis and suggested that the pending debate be delayed. dr said that he was available to go down to Washington if he was needed to resolve the crisis, but, he said, the debate should go forward. "Hey, you have to be able to multitask on the Jungle-Gym -- you gotta use two arms, you know -- so why can't we still have the debate?"
Check for the cases on crossing warning devices and on length of wait laws. The federal courts almost always say it is a federal issue.
. . . and now, THANKS to you, Prof. Kerr, I've got two lines from the Simpsons' parody ("Amendment-to- Be") circling through my head AGAIN:
". . . there's a lot of flag-burners who've got too much freedom;
I want to make it legal for policemen to beat'em....."
Unlike his opponent, who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from the big freight lobby and tapped a former railroad engineer to help select his running mate, Orin Kerr refuses to be railroaded when it comes to our children's education.
It's time for a candidate who won't throw our children under the bus when powerful interests come rolling into town.
That candidate is Orin Kerr. He'll keep our children on track for a better education.
SHR: "We the People, in order to form..."
The Preamble: "We the People of the United States, in order to form..."
*- or was there a plot afoot . . .
My name is Timmy O'Toole, and I was run over by a train that did not stop for my schoolbus. I have nightmares everynight, lost both arms and my lower jaw, and am afraid of motorized vehicles. I just learned that Mr. Kerr doesn't care that trains hit schoolbusses and hurt kids like me.
Mr. Kerr, why do you hate me?
Orin Kerr, hates children, receives money from the crutch, cane, and walker lobbies!
Orin Kerr is opposed to common sense American children's safety. I did some checking, and found out that two years ago he taught four people who were not born in America. That same year, Obama went to his church where the preacher called on God to Damn America.
Then I found the missing key. Kerr gets money from the University. The University has a bus where people pay money to ride. Kerr's money washes though the bus system itself. Every one of his positions is paid for by his bus masters.
Kerr is a secret America hater who wants our children to die!!11!! Kerr's 'research' is bought and paid for by busses11!!
OR is for the people. dr is for the entrenched politicians and lobbyists in Washington.
The choice is yours...parents deciding how their children should be educated or Washington "elites" deciding for you.
It's a "no-brainer". Tell dr and his Washington cronies "NO WAY, NO HOW!"
"I am John McCain and I have approved this message."
Orin lied...school kids died!
DR '08
Otto Mann '12
It raises issues of charater, doesn't it?
I tip my cowboy hat to you.
They used those words to subject us to the cruelty of being forced to read Robert Bork’s entire bibliography and by cutting off our internet access in class.
Professor Kerr stabbed us in the back that day.
He is unfit for command.
Paid for by Law School Veterans For Truth
Coming to a PhD dissertation near you.
Although watching it again, and knowing history better, its, um, interesting.
they mention that the british were going after the arsenal at concord and lexington. (2nd A. anyone?)
They really work hard to spin the fact that, let's face it, we got our asses kicked through most of the revolution (because it wasn't about winning individual battles) and their portrayal of guerilla tactics was interesting.
And it touches on how young some of those troops were... interesting.
And i always loved that lyric "Grab your powder, grab your son, its time to report to General Washington." And all said, it has a nice unapologetically patriotic tone that i wish i would see more of. Cool.
Bart: "What the hell is this?"
Lisa: "It's one of those campy '70's throwbacks that appeals to Generation X-ers."
Young girl innocently sitting in a school bus picking flowers from a daisy. She counts down from 9 as the petals innocently drop to the floor of the bus.
Man's voice counting down from three to zero as scene switches to bus approaching railroad tracks. Girl turns her head in direction of train. Camera zooms in on little girls eye.
Train hits bus causing giant mushroom cloud.
The End
Also, Orin is flat-out lying in calling DR "totally unqualified." DR was president of the Harvard Law Review! Was Orin ever president of the Harvard Law Review? No!
If that weren't bad enough, Orin claims he was a child, but he's conveniently forgotten to produce the original "documents" that supposedly prove this. What is he trying to hide?
Was this one of his friends at Hanoi U. College of Law?
The PACs supporting each side did tend to remember this vital component of our election laws.
No, it should be a question for PTA moms.
I went to undergraduate school with Kerr. DR, I know Orin Kerr. And you, sir...
Also, for the record I'd like to point out that what Prof. Kerr was drinking was definitely NOT milk, adulterated or otherwise. As for whether he was a child, childish, or childlike, that depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
Nevertheless, in true American fashion, I would be happy to campaign for whichever side lobbies me, while making accidental "gaffes" that serve as excellent entrees for the other party.
Think it's not true? Then ask Prof. Kerr about "Riders on the Storm." :)
I certainly hope you were drinking milk at the time.
Orin Kerr TRUSTS these evil rustic mutant sodomite Nazi cretins to protect the LIVES of your children. Do YOU?
Call Prof. Kerr, and remind him that "Without red, our kids are DEAD!"
(Paid for by the American Association of Manufacturers and Marketers of Blinking Red Lights--Governmental Affairs Committee.)
Dr.'s second comment made milk come out of my nose.
I certainly hope you were drinking milk at the time."
WHEREAS this was yet another brilliantly funny interjection by dr;
And WHEREAS I really needed this after dealing with a borderline-suicidal undergrad today;
And WHEREAS we already have one colored family in the neighborhood;*
I officially proclaim that today will henceforth be known as DR- DAY.
* "WHEREAS"-phrasing always reminds me of Archie Bunker's petition to keep a Puerto Rican couple out of Astoria, QN.
Gen Xers: Looking back at the video on the origins of the Revolution, were any of you as shocked as I was at how obvious femmy (and presumably gay) George III was in the Schoolhouse Rock version of history?
(But when the Colonies complained The king said: "I don't care!"
--Because he was clearly too busy thinking about all the window treatments for Windsor Castle he could afford after collecting those colonial tax revenues.)
BTW, Public_Defender, you say:
Not if you don't brake for them.
Nick
"Hoosier, if your motion passes, I am totally putting that on my resume."
Make sure to wipe the milk off first.
Seconded!