May, 2010 archive
Turning Adolescent Stupidity into Felonies, Reprise 0
More from the Allentown, Pa., case.
An AP story reports that one of the girls involved in the case is suing the the school district, claiming that the principal of the school “illegally confiscated” her phone, searched it, found nude pictures that she had taken of herself for her personal use, then sent the phone up the administrative ladder, allowing additional school personnel and, ultimately, members of the prosecutor’s office, to see the pictures of her.
She was 17 at the time. She’s 19 now. She is not identified by name in the complaint.
About Time 0
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
Bill Shein reviews the timeline of BP’s wild well. A nugget:
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
Oil is forever:
At the time of the 1969 spill, lobsters, clams, and fish died by the thousands, but most people thought the harm would be temporary, reflecting what was then the conventional wisdom.
Now, as the first tendrils of heavy oil from the leaking BP well begin to suffocate Louisiana marshes, Wild Harbor’s muck shows that damage can persist for decades in fragile marshes.
Disturbing. Disturbed. Reprise. 0
This is getting stranger.
The principal of the public school where fetus dolls were being distributed (I mentioned it yesterday) has been “placed on administrative leave.”
Though the story does not indicate that she was involved in the fetus dolls, she does seem to have a record of proselytizing on the job. Read the whole thing, especially the last paragraph, which illustrates why this type of conduct can be creepy. (Some of the comments are rather outre, as well.)
If I ask a neighbor or friend or even some random stranger to come to church with me, that’s one thing.
When a boss asks subordinates (whether those subordinates are employees, such as teachers, or charges, such as students) to come to a prayer meeting, that’s a whole nother thing.
The invitation becomes inherently intimidating, because the boss has power over subordinates. Principals have power over teachers and students and lunch room ladies (as teachers have power over students).
When the boss is an employee of the state, that is a whole nother thing squared, because the boss is an agent of the government, so the power of the state is implicitly behind the invitation.
The issue is not religion.
The issue is using power to promote religion.
That is not witnessing for the Lord. That is intimidation.
And it’s kind of creepy.
(There is a picture of one of those fetus dolls at the think.)
QOTD 0
Mark Twain, via the Quotemaster:
If you can’t stand solitude, perhaps others find you boring as well.
Stray Question 0
Were I to fill up at a BP station (which, admittedly, is unheard of from now on out unless the alternative is stalling on the side of the road), would I find their gas pumps to be more trustworthy than their executives?
Dustbiter 0
Looks like only one Master of the Universe gets atomized this week:
Of course, the Mr. Bigs are still at it.
Cartoon via Kiko’s House.
HCR, the Law, and Nutcase Constitutional Challenges 0
Charles Fried, who teaches constitutional law at Harvard, considers the precedents as regards attempts to get health care reform declared unconstitutional.
His conclusion: Far-fetched, which is pretty strong language from a lawyer writing about a legal issue:
Kook-kookey-a-chooey.
Taking Care of Their Own 0
The party of privilege:
(snip)
Democratic legislators argued that with the tax, which would increase the tax rate on income above $1 million from 8.97 percent to 10.75 percent, the state could restore property tax rebates to 600,000 senior citizens and disabled residents.
In RepublicanWorld, it’s clearly better to lay off workers, cut services, attack state employees’ pay, and gut their pensions than to ask the privileged to chip in.
Dialectic 0
Anonymous Liberal pinpoints the internal contradiction of Libertarianism:
Follow the link for the full post, including concrete examples from daily life.
Stray Thought 0
With one exception (because he is a friend and exceptionally non-technical), I refuse to post comments at sites that require me to create an account in order to post comments.
I have too damn many accounts to manage already. I refuse to create any more simply so I can shoot my mouth off.
There are ways to deal with spam comments that do not include inconveniencing your readers or giving your site tracking data about me.
If you require me to create a user name and password to help you manage your spam, you show you don’t care about me and I shall return the favor.
Stray Thought 0
What persons keep forgetting is that it was persons my age and older who invented the damned thing.
Light Bloggery 0
Travel weekend. Elder daughter has earned her Masters degree.
I also plan to meet Shaun Mullen on the way back.
Oil on the Water, Fire in the Sky 0
With apologies to Deep Purple, I commend this post by Rude to your attention (warning: language).
Disturbing. Disturbed. 1
It is difficult not to think that there is a screw loose:
The dolls, which were distributed over weeks or months, are not authorized by the division as instructional materials, spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said Thursday.
The employee has been sent home pending investigation.
The Moving Finger Points . . . 0
According to an AP story in the local rag, Rand Paul is blaming the 24-hour news cycle for putting his libertarian foot in his libertarian mouth.
How dare reporters report the news.
Rand Erosion 1
Probably the worst thing that can happen to a politician is to become a laughing stock (see “Sanford, Mark“).
Michael Tomasky in the Guardian on Rand Paul (emphasis added):
Of course, his position may not hurt him especially in Kentucky, I don’t know. But even people who aren’t liberals tend to find such stuff kind of embarrassing and don’t want their state to be seen like that.
Rand is going to be fun.
Yippee Tie One Down! 0
The country slants to the southwest. Everything loose rolls to California.
