Peter Rabbit, Now A Thief

Today is Easter Sunday folks. Not only is this day for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it also reflects many traditions that have been in place for hundreds of years. One, being the Easter Bunny.

Please bear with me as my southern voice becomes a tad trifled as I explain to you why I feel like a Rhode Island public school system and a state legislator clearly have far to much time on their hands, with one calling Peter Rabbit a bad influence on children. Yes, you read the words right.

A Rhode Island public school has decided the Easter bunny is too Christian and renamed him Peter Rabbit, and a state legislator is so hopping mad he has introduced an "Easter Bunny Act" to save the bunny's good name.

Excuse me Sir? Too Christian? Imagine all the issues within each state and those needing to be solved and all the issues within every school system and those needing to be solved. Instead, what we have are two state paid employees who have gone beyond their understanding of what their actual job specifications really are. Obviously, they need to reevaluate their positions and apply themselves to what they were hired to do in the first place.

State Rep. Richard Singleton may have been trying to be nobel by proposing a bill nicknamed "Easter Bunny Act", but when he opened his mouth in this article with a joke about Peter Rabbit, he pulled up all the carrots and cabbages in the veggie patch.

Just for the record, Peter Rabbit was like all other underage rabbits. He went on a journey to learn and grow within himself, just as every child will do. To learn and be taught right from wrong. Thus, why children and adults relate, adore and love him. First, it was to take prayer out of school, now the Easter Bunny? My suggestions would be to find the child once again within yourselves. Yes, it is there, hidden deep within. Take time to read the book and understand the values of the lessons learned there and leave the Easter bunny alone.

It seems that Rhode Island State Rep. Richard Singleton told "Good Morning America Weekend Edition."

"Like many Rhode Islanders I'm quite frustrated … by people trying to change traditions that we've held in this country for 150 years, like the Easter bunny."

The Easter bunny was scheduled to make an appearance at a craft fair on Saturday at Tiverton Middle School in Tiverton, R.I. But the district's schools Superintendent William Rearick told event organizers to change the bunny's name to Peter Rabbit in "an attempt to be conscious of other people's backgrounds and traditions."

Singleton struck back this week by proposing a bill, nicknamed the "Easter Bunny Act," to stop all local municipalities from changing the name of popular religious and secular symbols like the Easter bunny.

"The underlying theme here is serious," he said. "I don't think a superintendent of schools should have the authority to change something we've held so deeply for 150 years."

Singleton, however, said the perceived religious symbolism versus its actual religious significance is why it shouldn't be banned.

"The Easter bunny is not a religious symbol," he said. "Why it's being banned doesn't make sense."

Singleton said the bill is meant to protect all traditional and religious symbols for example, if someone wanted to change "the name of the menorah to the candelabra."

The politician isn't positive that Peter Rabbit would have been the right replacement anyway.

"By the way, Peter Rabbit stole cabbages and that's not a good role model for our kids," he joked.

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/school-renames-easter-bunny-peter-rabbit/20070407201309990002?ncid=NWS00010000000001