Parents Protest School Mandate That Students Wear Radio ID Tags

Associated Press ^ | -02-09-05 1927EST | Lisa Leff

[BenLurkin]

"This is Sutter, California. Bad things can happen here,"

And they just have.

[buffyt]

I agree. This is scary stuff!

[general_re]

No effin way. My kids aren't cattle, and so no ear tags for them, thanks.

[BenLurkin]

"This is not Mayberry."

Not "Mayberry RFD" . . . it is the new and Orwellian "Mayberry RFID".

[Siouxz]

InCom has paid the school several thousand dollars for agreeing to the experiment, and has promised a royalty from each sale if the system takes off, said the company's co-founder, Michael Dobson

Cha-ching! Follow the money.

[ElectionTracker]

"Some said they welcomed the IDs as a security measure."

Well then make it optional. Parents who fell they need the extra security can have the badges and parents who don't like it can choose to not have their kids do it.

[The Real J Fate]

The ID is not being implanted on their foreheads or right hand so...what's the problem? :)

[elli1]

InCom has paid the school several thousand dollars for agreeing to the experiment, and has promised a royalty from each sale if the system takes off...

[FReepaholic]

...The ID is not being implanted on their foreheads or right hand so...what's the problem?...

At not until another company pays the school to experiment with implanted chips.

[monkeywrench]

"...ordered everyone on campus to wear the badges, he said only the 7th and 8th grade classrooms are being monitored thus far."

Soften them up for when they're adults, and don't mind being,

"scanner technology that companies use to track livestock"

Tracked like a beast.

[microgood]

Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges - and that he doesn't understand what all their angst is about.

What an idiot. They should just fire him and throw away this crap.

[hellinahandcart]

What's more, he says that it is within his power to set rules that promote a positive school environment: If he thinks ID badges will improve things, he says, then badges there will be.

Oh look! It's a petty tyrant!

[Old Sarge]

The badges... rely on the same radio frequency and scanner technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory.

Isn't that what ALL of us are, to the Socialists? Property of The State? Human chattel?

[A.J.Armitage]

"You know what it comes down to? I believe junior high students want to be stylish. This is not stylish," he said.

Human dignity is just a style preference now. Nice.

[BenLurkin]

It speaks volumes that this character claims to not understand.

MY take on it is that he is either an utter dolt -- or he is a dangerous dissembler.

[BenLurkin]

Well said.

[microgood]

MY take on it is that he is either an utter dolt -- or he is a dangerous dissembler.

Actually, the latter possibility did not even occur to me until now.

[atomicpossum]

Graham, who also serves as the superintendent of the single-school district, told the parents that their children could be disciplined for boycotting the badges

Time to discipline the bureaucrat.

[Bald Eagle777]

I just saw this on Fox tonight and noted this development with some concern and related this to other patterns of late and in past years. This movement seems to want to pick up steam, almost surreptitiously. Now some wants to start tagging kids with RFIDs? What's next? The VERICHIP? Where does this lead? What are the implications for true personal, individual freedom of movement and right to all form of private property? Is all private property, personal belongings, places of gathering and assembly now subject to surveillance? Are we now all considered guilty, or at least suspect, before being proven innocent?

I agree wholeheartedly with the GWOT / GATE, but bagging and tagging U.S. Citizens goes too far. Looks like some care not a whit about personal freedom, privacy and being free from tracking (which relates to freedom). I see where this is headed and this is a path not well suited for our beloved Republic, but rather more appropriate for the Soviet Union, North Korea and a litany of totalitarian regimes that represent the very DREGS of human history. Our country must be as tough as nails in these dangerous times, yet we can easily achieve this without considering the Citizens mere chattel, with no more rights than a mere cardboard box in a warehouse. Is this what it will mean to be a “Citizen” in the twenty-first Century and beyond?

Should this pattern prosper in the U.S.A.? No way, not on our watch at least. A presumptuous, overreaching big brother should soon be reminded that he has a bigger Father ... It is almost time for a, shall we say, "Friendly reminder" of the core principles for which we stand now, and have stood for historically, and shall hopefully stand for well into the distant future….