This story (see prior screed) should have died a painful, quick death at conception, but no... the story drags on. This means that Rep. Leiber's colleagues haven't yet laughed her off of the floor of the state house.

Our story so far:

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, wants to outlaw spanking children up to 3 years old. If she succeeds, California would become the first state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from smacking their kids.

I know more about parenting than actual parents!

... " I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child 3 years old or younger,'' Lieber said. " Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a six-month-old or a newborn?''

... The bill, which is still being drafted, will be written broadly, she added, prohibiting "any striking of a child, any corporal punishment, smacking, hitting, punching, any of that.''

I would only counsel Wrymouth readers to support this bill if Rep. Lieber actually puts the clause "any of that" in the bill. Now THAT would be a law worth lobbying for!

Lieber said it would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail or a fine up to $1,000, although a legal expert advising her on the proposal said first-time offenders likely only would have to attend parenting classes. ...

Lieber conceived the idea while chatting with a family friend and legal expert in children's issues worldwide. The friend, Thomas Nazario, said that while banning spanking might seem like a radical step for the United States, more than 10 European countries already do so. Sweden was the first, in 1979.

***

Flash forward to today.  KFI AM Los Angeles' John and Ken managed to book Mr. Thomas Nazario to defend the proposed law.

The conversation went as well as could be expected on talk radio (more civil than, say, O'Reilly or Hannity, though not so much as Dennis Prager, who remains the champion of civility in discussion), but the telling line came toward the end of the hour, and I wanted to commit it to memory.

Here. In public.

Recall the law proposed protects children up to age 3 from spanking of any sort.

John: "Well, what about kids from 4 to 10 years old? Don't you think that they deserve protection from spanking as well?"

Nazario: "Frankly, yes; I do. But I don't think California is ready for a law like that."

How can we say this in other words?

"We want to create a state-governmental, justice department oversight of parenting in the area of discipline (as we already have in education and reproductive rights), but we can't just do that wholesale, so we'll try for an incremental, foot-in-the-door approach."

And, assuming the parents who actually beat their children aren't going to be swayed by legal arguments — largely because they suffer from insanity of a deep sort — that means only the well-meaning parents will suffer.

Hooray for bureaucracy! There seems to be virtually nothing — no thought, word or deed — that can't be improved by adding layers and layers of government to it.

Go tell the Liberal boards, Cogit. This woman needs to be "corrected," so that maybe she can conceive of some sort of meaningful way to spend her days as a representative.

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UPDATE! Thought this was crazy? Wait until you see the latest California legislative lunacy blogged here!