Hate from the mouths of babes

There's the continuing decline on Wall Street, regional flooding, and the plight of Detroit, but the most disturbing trend this week may be the violent anti-Obama messages we're getting from our school children, including Pacific Northwest kids.

In Pierce County, five students were suspended after they hung a doll representing President-elect Barack Obama in a stairwell in White River High School.

In eastern Idaho, students on a school bus were chanting, "Assassinate Obama."

In Oregon's capital city, Salem, high school students were suspended for using racial slurs to describe Obama as other students celebrated his victory.

As the venerable Randy Stapilus said, the story here is more than the kids; it's the adults who are teaching them this.

Folks, perhaps, like Ken Germana, a Northern Idaho man advertising a "free public hanging" of Obama on a sign.