An over-reactive jerk

Reason #12384 to Home School:

A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense – doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned.

Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, she said.

“I love my friends Abby and Faith,” the girl wrote, adding the phrases “Lex was here. 2/1/10″ and a smiley face.

But instead of simply cleaning off the doodles after class, Alexa landed in some adult-sized trouble for using her lime-green magic marker.

She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours.

In addition to her arrest, Alexa (who had a stellar attendance record) has been suspended, she and her mom went to family court on Tuesday, where Alexa was assigned eight hours of community service, a book report and an essay on what she learned from the experience.

Says Alexa: “I definitely learned not to ever draw on a desk. They told me even with a pencil this could still happen.”

City Education Department spokesman David Cantor acknowledged Alexa’s arrest was a mistake: “We’re looking at the facts. Based on what we’ve seen so far, this shouldn’t have happened.”

The Police acknowledge that it shouldn’t have happened: “Even when we’re asked to make an arrest, common sense should prevail, and discretion used in deciding whether an arrest or handcuffs are really necessary.”

Alexa is the latest in a string of city students who have been cuffed for minor infractions. In 2007, 13-year-old Chelsea Fraser was placed under arrest for writing “okay” on her desk at Intermediate School 201. And in 2008, 5-year-old Dennis Rivera was cuffed and sent to a psych ward after throwing a fit in his kindergarten.

A class action lawsuit was filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union last month against the city for using “excessive force” in middle school and high schools. A 12-year-old sixth-grader, identified in the lawsuit as M.M., was arrested in March 2009 for doodling on her desk at the Hunts Point School.

Even under “zero tolerance” standards this is lunacy.

NY Daily News, FOX News

Just watch, and enjoy

It’s almost majestic.

Totally made of awesome, isn’t it?

Found it in my drafts folder today

This is a few days old now — it’s from January 26 and 27 — but still worth publishing IMHO.  Found it over on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism site:

Fact Check: Reich Claims Non-Existent Fox News Led Conservative Charge in 1994

Former Obama economic advisor, Clinton Secretary of Labor, and Berkely Prof. Robert Reich claimed yesterday in his column at Salon.com that Fox News played a role in the conservative resurgence of 1994:

In December 1994, Bill Clinton proposed a so-called middle-class bill of rights including more tax credits for families with children, expanded retirement accounts, and tax-deductible college tuition. Clinton had lost his battle for healthcare reform. Even worse, by that time the Dems had lost the House and Senate. Washington was riding a huge anti-incumbent wave. Right-wing populists were the ascendancy, with Newt Gingrich and Fox News leading the charge. Bill Clinton thought it desperately important to assure Americans he was on their side.

But Prof. Reich overlooked one minor detail: Fox News Channel’s first broadcast wasn’t until October 7, 1996.

The plan for FNC wasn’t even outlined until January of 1996, so what could explain such a patently false claim?  Is the professor suggesting that even in 1994, Fox News’ imminence did in fact play a role in the political upheaval of that year?  Or is this a moment where Fox Derangement Syndrome enters the realm of full-blown paranoia?

Either way, where was Salon on this one to save Reich from himself?  And would Prof. Reich tolerate fact-checking this poor from his college students?

This man is a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley.  And we wonder why California turns out so many nutjob LLLs?

Incidentally, as noted on Big Journalism –

Update 1/27 4:47pm PST: Salon corrected the mistake.  Reich’s article was cross-posted at Huffington Post (yet to be corrected) and at RobertReich.org, where the professor took out the error and replaced it with a dig at Fox News.

I’ll update that to note that Huffington Post corrected it as well — they removed “and Fox News” after the mention of Newt Gingrich.

Big Journalism

So to speak

Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow.  Six more weeks of winter.

No early spring for you.  Sorry, global warming folks.

Let’s have a quiz, shall we?

Dessert Test

Pick your dessert, then look to see what psychiatrists think about you. No cheating! If all the desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose?

Sorry, you can only pick one!

Angel food
Brownies
Lemon Meringue
Vanilla Cake/Chocolate Icing
Strawberry Short Cake
Chocolate Cake/Chocolate Icing
Ice Cream
Carrot Cake

You can’t change your mind, so think carefully about your choice …

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Missy and I were discussing the presidential line of succession

We were trying to figure out how far down the line you had to go before you got someone worthwhile.  All I can say is “ick” …

Robert Gates might not be too bad.   Really, though, the entire line looks rather bleak and dismal doesn’t it?

Someone needs to slap all four of these morons

There’s a lesson in this:

Alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu’s 10th floor office, O’Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.

When Flanagan and Basel entered the office, they told the staffer they were there to fix phone problems. At that time, the staffer, referred to only as Witness 1 in the affadavit, observed O’Keefe positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation. O’Keefe later admitted to agents that he recorded the event.

After being asked, the staffer gave Basel access to the main phone at the reception desk. The staffer told investigators that Basel manipulated the handset. He also tried to call the main office phone using his cell phone, and said the main line wasn’t working. Flanagan did the same.

They then told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located. The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and both went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men’s credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.

Of course the four are innocent until proven guilty, but it sure looks bad and I certainly can’t think of a legitimate reason for the activities as outlined, so let’s take their guilt on assumption. I predict that the media, who largely did their best to ignore the ACORN scandal, is going to be all over this like the proverbial flies on feces. Plus it adds more fuel to the ACORN fire and probably expands the “entrapment” bandwagon some of the ACORN staffers are trying to board:

ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said the arrest calls O’Keefe’s credibility into question, and used the opportunity to point out that he “edited (ACORN videos) to make things look as bad as possible.”

So, what’s the lesson? Don’t break the law and become what you’re targeting.

NOLA.com

Sent along by Knight Owl & Loretta

I had already seen this and figured to blog it when I got a chance — looks like we’re all using the same brain pan!

When you see this photo, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind?

Okay, the first thing besides “what a couple of idiots!”

Two of Russia’s champion ice skaters have caused outrage after dressing as Aborigines for a competition.

The couple, who are favored to win gold at next month’s winter Olympics, wear skin-toned suits with red loin cloths, white body paint and eucalyptus leaves.

But experts in Australia say Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin’s movements and body decorations bear no resemblance to that of the Aborigines’ 60,000 year old culture.

“They have got the whole thing wrong,” said Stephen Page, artistic director of the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company.

Page said the two and half minute routine’s didgeridoo music sounded more like it came from India or Africa.

He added that the body paint looked like “a 3-year-old child had drawn it on”.

Indigenous leader Bev Manton, of the New South Wales Land Council, said Aboriginal people were rightly sensitive about the appropriation of their cultural heritage.

She told the Sydney Morning Herald: “I am offended by the performance and so are our other counselors.”

Okay, if the look is wrong, the music is wrong and the dance is wrong … how the hell can you accuse them of appropriation of the Aboriginal cultural heritage? The couple themselves say that it “wasn’t our purpose that it be especially Australian, just a dance from many thousands of years ago.”

Why not save your righteous indignation and moral outrage for something legitimate for a change? Everyone’s got their knickers in such a knot these days you can’t hardly blink without pissing someone off.

Incidentally, Knight Owl found that line about the 3-year old so offensive, he sent along a sample of actual Aboriginal art to demonstrate the incredible sophistication of true Aboriginal art. You’ll find it under the fold.

FOX News

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