California, which loves to run amok in odd ways, has really outdone itself lately in the “for the children” sweepstakes. On January 1st, “laws went into effect to restrict kids from riding scooters or riding in the front seat of a car. They’ll also be kept out of tanning salons and face costly fines for drag racing in the streets. [T]hey will face fines for playing with toy and BB guns that look too much like the real thing, or e-mailing pirated music and movies to friends.” “Taken collectively, they look like we’ve given up on parents raising children,” said Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento.” Ya think?! But in the same article comes the capper. State Assemblyman Leland Yee argues that parents can’t monitor their kids activities and the state has to step in. Yeah, that ought to help. We all know how hip and with the kid’s latest activities the state bureaucrats are. For those who don’t live in this flakey state, Yee got infamous this year for proposing the state building code incorporate feng shui.