Soccer Mom: Unplugged

An 8 year old was suspended from second grade for sexually harrassing a female classmate.  Seems during a game of tag, jr. may have grabbed the little gal by her hind end and that act combined with the fact that he had sent her a few love notes in class got him sent home for a day.

Priceless quotes from the Morning Journal report:

''It's not a disciplinary action,'' Schnurr said yesterday, adding the allegation will not be placed in the student's permanent record. ''We don't want to put something in the permanent record of a youngster who may not understand what they did wrong.

(oooh the dreaded permanent record!  This kid could give his mother forty whacks and his father forty-one and it'd still be expunged at 18 - what the heck is a permanent record, anyway?!?)

''Apparently, they had to treat it as sexual harassment,'' Barth said, adding the girl has been friends with her son for a long time. ''And then he was given a day off of school because of passing notes that say ÔI love you.'''

Johnson said the incident was harmless and referring to it as sexual harassment is what was ''inappropriate.'''

''Little kids are going to do stupid things like that,'' he said of his son passing love letters.

(Passing love letters is "stupid".  How about "passing love letters is a normal part of development" and though eight might seem kind of young, if you've watched an episode of Jimmy Neutron, you know, that even cartoons are dealing in themes that are too mature for their average viewership. 

Another thought: If I were the second grade teacher, I'd be glad they were writing!  I'd say,  "Hey!  you want to write?  Give me 20 sentences about why Suzie Q is such a hottie and make sure you use this week's spelling words!")

The school system Dean speaks:

''It's our job to teach students at a young age that inappropriate behavior is unacceptable,'' Schnurr said. ''The student did something wrong, admitted he did something wrong and received the proper discipline.''

He added it is unfortunate that this discipline is not emphasized at the student's home.

(Huh?  The kid didn't steal a car and drive to Vegas.  He passed a love note and then may have grabbed the girl's butt during a game of tag.  To excoriate the parents as if jr. wasn't getting home training is ridiculous.  What parent sits down with their 8 year old to explain 'sexual harrassment'?  For grabbing Juliet's bottom, Romeo deserves a talking to and some form of punishment simply to deter future lapses, but punishment for writing love notes is absurd.  On Feb 14th the teacher probably passed out heart shaped red construction paper and taught them to write I love you and now it's a crime?)

The overreacting parents are now considering litigation against the overreacting school system that is assuming something inappropriate happened in the gym simply because a few weeks prior Jr. wrote "I love you" on a sheet of wide rule and passed it to the pig-tailed blonde in the front row.  Sounds like everyone is overreacting.  

Advice to the parents:  Don't sue.  Take the high road and teach your kids that stupid people often make it into positions of power but that isn't reason to pursue the contemporary fix-all approach of taking people to court.  Keep your kids in this school.  Go to every PTA. Stay involved.  Report every infraction - if the school board doesn't listen, the media will.

Advice to the principal and school board:  Crack open a book on human development and then sit down with one of my favorite nursery ryhmes to rethink the stupid position you've taken.  Here's a copy.  It's on me.

Georgie Porgie pudding pie

kissed the girls and made them cry.

When the boys came out to play

Georgie Porgie ran away.

Many of you may have heard of the "Tunnel of Oppression" exhibit that has become so popular on college campuses (or is that campi) over the past 10 years or so.  But as Michael Medved revisits the issue of academia's most PC thrill ride, i thought I'd join in with my two cents.

The desire of most freedom loving Americans to liberate the nation of bias and bigotry has become hopeleesly confused with the notion that we should be required to tolerate the intolerable and forced to embrace any and all behaviors as if they were all equal and equally acceptable.

Yet another example of the push to completely remove moral judgement from society can be seen in the emergence of the "Tunnel of Oppression".  At first glance, the tunnel, an interactive experience designed to create an emotional atmosphere in which student participants can feel the pain and frustration of discrimination, seems like a reasonably forward-thinking idea.  It's goals are not intellectually based nor are they aimed at promoting discourse but they are designed to stir the feelings of attendents so that they profoundly feel the cause of the girl who suffers from having to endure an illegal backroom abortion or the pain of a young man who is harrassed for choosing a gay lifestyle.

In addition to promoting a distinctly liberal morality by victimizing abortion participants and homosexuals, the tunnel goes even further in pushing it's agenda.  Driven by a desire to create hate-crimes legislation, the program relies on stirring the feelings of 18-24 years old youths.  It is precisely the emotion focused individual who carries out "hate-crimes".  Wouldn't it be infinitely better to take aim at the minds of these college kids and change the paradigm within which they THINK.  Change is a choice that is made consciously when reason compels us to move in a different direction.  To push the emotional buttons of tunnel viewers only serves to shift the strong emotions from one target to another.  Now, instead of hate for the discriminated, they are filled with rage against any perceived bias - real or otherwise.

It appears that the emotion driven activity is designed to compel acceptance of everything.  You can erase insitutional discrimination without denying moral judgement.  You can love the sinner and hate the sin.  However, it appears as though The Tunnel would remove those distinctions and completely eradicate morality from the mindset. 

Heaven help us if we are not bound by our own inhibitions and if we find nothing objectionable except objection.

A scene from one "tunnel"

Bringing top light the oppression of the

animals we eat.

Everyone who logged onto Drudge today saw Newt Gingrich with a full plate of food in each hand and the caption "You're Fat".  Apparently, that is what the Dems are offering to America in lieu of actual policy suggestions. 

"You're fat."  That's what the heads of the DNC came up with while they were brainstorming (a term which in this case must mean sharing the one brain they have between them) for possible '08 slogans.  That's the message they want to get out?  They're rocking to vote with "You're fat"?  Not even "You're phat" (aimed at younger voters, of course) but "you're fat"?!?

Aside from the obvious explanations for the photo (like maybe he was being a gentleman and getting food for another person or maybe he was just famished or maybe who the he** cares what he's having for lunch?)  this beauty of a campaign is going to land the dems in some serious hot water.  Can't you just picture the debates?

And Senator Clinton, how do you propose we handle global warming?

"All I can say, Jim, is my opponent needs to shed a few pounds."

But what more can we expect from the party of name-callers, fiction writing revisionists who are so afraid to lose power that they will create scandal and conspiracy over a fake turkey feed-the-troops photo-op and a handful of misfired shotgun pellets?

Okay, maybe the "freakin'" was a bit much.  I usually try really hard to keep it clean. LOL.

Just surfing around and discovered that the sponsor of website JustHillary.com is none other than New York Post's political editor.  Objectivity is out the window.  Kudos for at least announcing his bias.  Wow.  The site maintains that it is dedicated to news and info about the Queen Democratic bee and that it is critical as well as lauditory but I'm thinking that unless she gave birth to you, paid your taxes or pulled you from the flaming wreckage of a downed 747,  you have no reason to dedicate your online existence to her.  Can you say WEIRD?

Add another one to the Gimme-a-break file.