I usually pick on the federal government for doing stupid things, but stupidity can be found in all forms of government, including international. It is hard to believe that intelligent people do such stupid things, but it keeps happening. Here are some examples — besides last summer’s Midway lemon stand debacle. 
According to KSBW-TV, the city of Salinas, Calif., invested more than $500,000 in green vehicles. The electric car venture folded because of a lack of investors. When are governments going to learn that Americans don’t want green vehicles? Green anything means financial red.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the city of Houston shut down a Christian couple’s effort to aid the homeless. They did not have a permit to distribute free food. The food came from stores and volunteers, but wasn’t prepared in a certified kitchen with a certified food manager. One hundred people a day went hungry.  Churches beware.
A Baker County, Fla., judge gave custody of a 3-year-old girl to a dead woman’s ex-husband, who is a registered sex offender. WJXX-TV said that the child’s mother was only 14 when she was first impregnated by the ex-husband but the 3-year-old was not even his. The judge ruled in favor of the 38-year-old man over the child’s grandparents.  I think judges take stupid pills before trial.
The Manteca Bulletin claims that more than 40,000 prisoners are having their sentences reduced in California either due to a decree by the U.S. Supreme Court or as a cost-saving measure by the state legislature. “If established trends hold, 67.5 percent of them will commit crimes serious enough that they will qualify for a return trip to prison within three years,” the Bulletin’s article said.  What are the lawmakers in Sacramento smoking?
According to the New York Post, a Brooklyn judge ordered a teen to live with his homeless dad in a shelter after the boy’s mom, a court worker who earns $90,000, was critical of the legal process. The judge did not return the paper’s call asking for comment.
A Boston Herald story written by reporter O’Ryan Johnson in July reported that “Civil Libertarians are raising the alarm over Massachusetts’ plans to create a Big Brother database that could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — storing that information indefinitely where cops and prosecutors could access the database as they choose.” Surveillance is so pervasive that it’s a misnomer to call our society free.
And if you think local school board member elections are a minor thing, think again. Even when you learn that the Omaha School Board voted to spend $130,000 to buy 8,000 copies of a radical “diversity manual” and then required that every employee of the school system read it?   The Omaha World-Herald reported that “the authors assert that American government and institutions create advantages that ‘channel wealth and power to white people,’ that color-blindness will not end racism and that educators should ‘take action for social justice.’” 
And according to vitalsignsblog.blogspot.com, the school board president, Sandra Jensen, said she didn’t even read the book before ordering its purchase. Unbelievable.
As Forrest Gump once said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

Calderone is a conservative who lives in Midway. He is a professional salesperson and for 30 years has written articles for trade publications in various fields.