Hot outside, isn't it? How many of you remember your community swimming pools from your childhood years. These were your oasis from the heat; a place together with your friends. I remember a city pool in Taylor, Texas. When Aunt Joyce or my grandparents would drive me over there for the afternoon I was literally beside myself with joy. They would sit there in the hot summer Texas sun while I splashed in the water. Now ... let me tell you, this swimming pool in Taylor wasn't pretty. There was broken and jagged concrete. Fixtures were rusted. It was the best this poor farming community could do .. and it was fine enough.

In case you didn't know it, there are many swimming pools that didn't open for the summer this year. There are at least five pools run by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources that are closed.

Here's what happened: About 18 months ago a 7-year-old girl was held underwater in an outdoor spa by the drain. These spas circulate a lot of water, and the drain can be strong. Unfortunately she died. Hate to say it, but kids die in swimming pools all the time, and have been doing so for generations. This particular little girl, however, was the granddaughter of a former Secretary of State. Uh oh. Time for the Imperial Federal Government to step in.

So now we have a nifty new federal law that requires fancy new drain covers, sump pumps at the bottom of some pools. We have covers on skimmers and mesh outlets in the sides of pools. All of these new fittings have that wonderful little stamp on them which says that they meet all sorts of federal standards. Trouble is, in some cases the renovations were just too expensive, and so the pools remain closed.

Where does this end? Look, life isn't safe. There are dangers everywhere. If you really want to make pools safe, fill them in with dirt. Do you know that in some communities you aren't allowed to so much as have one of those Wal-Mart plastic wading pools in your back yard unless you have a trained lifeguard on duty? Where is this going? Are we eventually going to get to the point that the federal government appoints a safety watchdog to every American household? We could pass a law requiring that each household set aside a place for a government monitor to live, and that person can then spend six days a week watching the family's every move to make sure they don't do anything that could involve even the most remote chance of danger. The watchdog would get one day off, and on that day the family would be forbidden from leaving the home. They wouldn't even be allowed to plug in or remove an electrical appliance.

I grew up plugging stuff in. Did I ever get shocked? You betcha. It taught me to be more careful the next time. Now when you buy an electrical appliance the first thing you do is get some scissors or a knife to cut all of the warning labels off the cord. And then there's those ugly stickers on your visor telling you about the dangers of airbags with children in the car. The wonderful federal government has mandated that these stickers be impossible to remove. Impossible hell. I know how to remove them, and I take them off of every car I drive ... even the rental cars. That ugly sticker hovering above my eyes is just a constant and revolting reminder of the nanny state we're becoming.

You have seen what's happening in our government schools, haven't you? Children aren't allowed to touch each other during recess --- if there even is a recess - because someone could get hurt. At some schools they won't even let the children outside if the grass is wet. That's why the children in Seattle are so sickly looking. In Florida they lock down schools if someone hears a clap of thunder, and they won't let the kids leave until 30 minutes after the last thunder is heard ... even if their parents are waiting for them in a car outside.

Can you see where this is going? We're raising a generation of wimpy, pasty-faced, candy-assed cowards that are afraid of their own shadows. Watch out! Don't get sucked into that swimming pool drain! No, you can't go outside, the grass is wet. Wait! Was that thunder I heard? Get inside? Tommy! Stop touching people. No, you can't play tag. Someone might get touched. Besides, someone has to be "it," and that hurts their self esteem.

I'd love to write a book on this ... but only if they allow me to title the book. Hold your ears now. Cover the eyes of your precious frightened little children. "The Pussification of America." There. Can't you just see that one flying off the shelves? Can't, though; Someone might get offended.

I wonder if the pool in Taylor is open. Sure is hot there.

During a recent audit here in Georgia, the state Board of Education discovered something fishy about some standardized test scores. Specifically, the fifth grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRTs). Administrations and/or teachers at four elementary schools are believed to have tampered with the CRT results.

The audit was conducted by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. It noticed something was strange when some of the answer sheets had up to 40 erasure marks on them; when students on average only changed their answers twice. Not to mention that most of the changed answers always went from a wrong one to a right one.

Here's the deal. Based on previous results, the four schools involved must have been on the verge of being sanctioned under the federal No Child Left Behind law. In other words ... they were going to receive an "F." Once the answers were changed on these tests ... guess what? No "F"! Now suddenly these schools look golden! Whoever changed those scores ... were they helping the kids? Hardly. If the school was sanctioned the parents could then transfer kids to another school. In effect, the altered answers trapped these kids in these poor schools.

So now the state board has to vote on whether or not to toss the scores. The principal at Atherton Elementary, James L. Berry, has already resigned. His assistant principal Doretha Alexander also resigned. Both have been arrested and charged with altering public documents. Isn't that just sweet!

Now state senators have called for a bill that would make it a crime for educators to change answers on standardized tests.

President Obama finally decided to issue a statement over the weekend about the fake election and subsequent repression of protestors in Iran. Here's what the president had to say:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

What do you think? Too little, too late? Iranian authorities have arrested 24 journalists, and at least 17 people have been killed in protest. This is really all that Obama can come up with? I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sticking with France on this one. French President Sarkozy came out with a statement a week ago about the situation. That's right .. Sarkozy didn't munch snails for a week trying to figure out what to do. He knew what was right, and voiced it immediately. He said that he "condemned the violence directed at demonstrators, the arrest of opposition members and political figures, restrictions on public liberties, freedom of expression and communication and the constraints imposed on Iranian and foreign nationals." Now we have France's Foreign Minister condemning "this brutal repression."

Not that Obama's words are going to make a difference ... but at least the world knows where the United States stands ...... sort of.

Here's a little story about unions flexing their muscles. We'll back into this one. Out in California, many companies are looking to set up solar power plants. So a company called Ausra files plans to build. Immediately it is inundated for demands from a union: "before you can build, you have to study the effects this will have on endangered species like the short-nosed kangaroo rat or the ferruginous hawk!" Studies like this could take years, and they are definitely costly.

Then, another company called BrightSource Energy comes along and wants to build a solar power plant. The same union has no complaints. In fact, it wants regulators to approve the project ASAP.

So I'm sure by now you've already figured out what is going on here. The first company, Ausra, rejected demands to only use union workers to build the solar farm. The other company, BrightSource, said that it would use labor-friendly contractors.

It's not like this is anything new. This is business as usual for unions. What is new is the field that unions have planned to use the green movement to achieve their goals of union expansion. Socialist and communists figured this out 20 years ago, don't know why it took the unions so long.

Barack Obama and the Democrats have ensured that wind and solar farms will be popping up all around the country and creating all sorts of new jobs. (So they say.) So the unions want to make sure that these "new jobs" are union jobs. They are going to use this movement to "regain relevance," as it says in the New York Times. So the unions have devised a plan: use these costly environmental studies to threaten any company that doesn't agree to use union workers or labor-friendly contractors. Obama's their pal. Maybe they'll get away with it.

As we well know, California is in some deep horsesqueeze. They need to come up with some serious cash to balance the budget, and luckily Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refuses to increase taxes. So his latest idea to save taxpayer money is to deport illegal immigrates in California jails. Wow! A sane and logical plan from government? The only question is .... why have they waited so long?

The proposal will supposedly save California more than $180 million. It plans to commute the sentences of thousands of illegal immigrants and turn them over to the Feds to be deported.

Something tells me that there will be a lot of panties in a wad over this one. Besides .. how long do you think it will take the illegals to get back across the border once they're sent home ... and they'll be out of jail and ready to commit more crimes! What a state!

Meeting this week, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to propose any new efforts to revive the economy. They know the people are sick of unresponsive stimulus and government intervention.

According to Rasmussen, 34% of Americans now strongly disapprove of Obama's handling of the presidency. Take a look at how it is split down party lines.

Have you heard about the little stunt pulled by the New York Times when it wanted to poll people about Obama's healthcare reform?

Senator Diane Feinstein believes that there are not enough votes in the Senate as of right now to pass Obama's healthcare reform plan.

Speaking of healthcare reform, take a look at the "deal" the Democrats struck with the pharmaceutical industry.

George Will explains why we don't need radical healthcare reform. Remember, folks .. it's not about your health it's all about power for politicians in Washington.

Despite current tensions, Iran spent twice as much on U.S. imports during Obama's first months in office as it did during the same period in 2008.

Michael Barone offers his Three Rules of Obama. This is excellent .. a must read.

President Obama is discovering that the promise of "transparency" is easier said than done.

The FDA has now decided that Cheerios is a drug.

Here's an article we've been expecting (it was written by a college professor, so I wouldn't expect much else): Congressional Budget Office is threat to health care reform. What he means is that the truth is a threat to health reform.

I've talked about this on the air ... Atlanta is tearing down parasite housing projects and giving people vouchers to move into private housing around the city.

After last week's little episode, Barbara Boxer refuses to apologize for her "don't call me ma'am, call me senator" remark to a Brigadier General.

Al Sharpton is still hammering Sheriff Joe Arpaio about his illegal immigration crackdown. Now Sharpton wants to videotape alleged racial profiling by the sheriff's office.

Barack Obama has the environmentalists' thongs in a wad over his failure to protect 60 million acres of federal woodlands.

Government waste: the National Institutes of Health is spending nearly half a million dollars to determine why men don't like to wear condoms.