SACRAMENTO, CA -- Over the last few weeks, a number of events, which can only be called outrages, have taken place in California. All have involved government acting at its worst.

Outrage #1: Eliminating the competition. In a monstrous attempt to restrict consumer choice, the Democratic majority in the legislature recently rammed through a bill, AB 84, that will outlaw future construction of large warehouse stores with grocery departments such as Costco. The bill was backed by a powerful coalition of labor unions and supermarkets. Since most large supermarket chains are unionized, the supermarkets fear that the lower prices offered by cost-efficient, non-union warehouse stores will drive them out of business. Thus, they and their union allies decided to get government to wipe out their non-union competitors.

The bill even outraged the liberal Sacramento Bee, which condemned the legislation saying, "It sends the message to businesses across the state that if they can’t prevail in the marketplace, the legislature stocks the means to wipe out the competition with a single blow of public policy."

Outrage #2: Destroying children’s futures. Columbus Elementary School in Berkeley spends about $8,000 per pupil, which is far above the state and national averages. These added dollars pay for more teacher training, equipment, books, student mental-health counseling, social workers, after-school tutoring, science labs, and day-care facilities. Yet, despite all these "wish-list" extras, the school’s test scores have plummeted.

Why are students performing like Yugos when the school has a Cadillac budget? The main culprit is the school’s commitment to "discovery learning," which asks students to figure out things for themselves without guidance from teachers as to whether they are getting things right.

Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Lee Colvin witnessed "discovery learning" in action at Columbus. According to Colvin, when students failed to realize, after a science experiment, that the color white absorbs less heat than the color yellow, a Columbus teacher did not correct the mistake or have students repeat the experiment. Instead she tried to start a vague discussion about the results. When her attempts failed, she told the students to write about what they had seen. Some produced partial sentences and a few filled a page. One girl wandered around the room until the teacher sat her down, wrote out several sentences, and left blanks for her to fill in.

Such teaching methodology defies common sense and can only be described as a crime against children and taxpayers alike.

Outrage #3: Man overboard. Lon Hatamiya, new chief of the state Trade and Commerce agency, has committed one of the most heavy-handed acts of the still-young Davis administration. When Jon Kaji, head of the state’s Tokyo trade office and a still-serving Wilson appointee, recently came back to California on vacation, he was terminated without notice. More outrageously, he was given no return airfare to Tokyo to retrieve his personnel effects, and no reimbursement for moving costs or for terminating his apartment lease. According to Kaji, Hatamiya refuses to answer any queries about the reason for and the manner of the dismissal.

Bully tactics, waste, and junk speak. Isn’t government in California great?

--Lance T. Izumi