Johnny Hostettler's been a bad, bad boy

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hostettler

Your son, Johnny (R-Ind.) has been a bad boy today on the floor of the House. While the other good boys and girls were discussing an amendment to the annual defense appropriations bill that would have required the Air Force Academy to develop a plan for preventing "coercive and abusive religious proselytizing," Johnny halted business for forty-five minutes.

He said "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians."

Preventing "coercive and abusive religious proselytizing" isn't a bad thing, as both the chaplain and the superintendent of the Academy agree that it is a problem. Johnny's statement was a ridiculous exaggeration and has no place on the floor of the House.

His logic represents that of a student many grades lower. "If you work to support religious liberty for those who aren't evangelical Christians, then you must hate Christianity." I've been working on these things with Johnny, and I'm having a hard time getting through to him.

After he said those words, I gave him the option of taking it back, or not speaking for the rest of the day.

After awhile, one of his little friends passed him a note written out for him in large block letters stating that he needed to say "Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the last sentence I spoke." And eventually, Johnny read those words.

It was nice of him to finally withdraw that sentence, but I think this shows a deeper problem. Perhaps we could meet sometime to discuss these issues.

Sincerely,
Johnny's teacher