"Going Green" to Guilt Our Youth

I was bored the other night, so I was flipping through one of my mothers teaching supply catalogs. It was a catalog from the company "Teacher Created Resources". Everything seemed quite normal and boring until I found something that caught my eye (and not in a good way). It was a mini bulletin board which was headed with the phrase "Think Green". Why couldn't it just say "Recycle" or something similar? And the other heading that came with it was "Here Today, Gone ???" Wow, ominous much? Thats a nice cheery thing to have in a child's classroom. Also included in the kit was a chart which stated how long certain objects take to bio-degrade. It included items like Orange Peels (6 MONTHS), Wooden Baseball Bat (20 YEARS), Disposable Diapers (75-450 YEARS), Plastic Bottle (500 YEARS), and Styrofoam Cups (MAYBE NEVER). I do not see what good it does to teach our youth that the diapers they wore as a baby will not go away until possibly after they die. I also do not see the purpose of telling them that styrofoam cups may be in a landfill forever. Also, it comes with four cards that say Reduce, Reuse, Rethink, and Recycle. (The phrase when I was a kid was "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle", why did they add a new word?) Written on the bottom of the card which says "Rethink", is this phrase: BE PART OF THE SOLUTION, NOT THE PROBLEM! If that isn't propaganda, I don't know what is. Then I went to their site at www.TeacherCreated.com , and found that they have entire curriculum booklets on "Going Green" too. I am appalled. This can only be the government trying to brainwash children so that they might sway their parents (who likely love their children very much) to go along with the whole "Green" attitude and Cap and Trade. Don't get me wrong, I am all for recycling and not harming the earth (I do recycle regularly), but when it gets to a point where a plants or animals needs are put ahead of our own, that is when I draw the line.

H.R. 2499

H.R. 2499 or the "Puerto Rico Democracy Act" is a bill that if passed, will ask PR residents to vote if they wish for their country to become the 51st US State. However, Puerto Rico has voted no to similar bills at least 3 times since the late 60's, so it is not immediately clear why the Administration has put this bill up for vote. If Puerto Rico does become a state, it does more harm than good. It has few benefits for the the Puerto Ricans; they would have to pay taxes, and lose some independence as well. It is also bad for the US; it would add an almost entirely Spanish-speaking State which will raise many language barriers ,and it would give Puerto Rico seats in the House (and they would have more seats than those of 22 current US states). Furthermore, the culture of both countries is very different, and will likely not blend well so rapidly. So I ask "Why does the Administration want Puerto Rico to become the 51st State in the United States of America?"
Here is a link to a full text version of the bill : http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:2:./temp/~c111lQ1Azy::