Social/Cultural: March 2008 Archives
yeah, yeah, I know it's a vette. I also concede that I'd take it if someone gave it to me.
But yellow sports cars are still chick cars.
Yeah, I know I blogged about this on Wednesday, but somehow I ended up clicking through to Greta's blog and some of her comments got me thinking about the issue again.
Miss Pathologically Positive deviates from her usual course and writes:
Well, maybe y'all expect schools in Mandeville to raise your children, but the trend has swung back the other way, particularly in New Orleans. The pedophile priest scandals of the 1990s pretty much scared parents into not abdicating their parental responsibilities. I expect my son's teachers to teach him, not raise him.
She is correct, though, that there will always be pedophiles, but lumping the two teachers who were banging the sixteen year olds with the janitor who was playing with little boys clouds an already complicated issue. Greta makes it worse when she talks about college coaches:
What is more of a concern to me is the predatory nature of the behavior of the teachers, as well as the coaches Greta mentions. A case where we're talking about a one-on-one teaching situation that goes horizontal, it's all about intent. In the case of the Destrehan High band director, the story in Da Paper makes the guy out to be a predator, and predators have no business in schools. It's not about the sex, it's about the control.
Is the guy wired to be a predator? Now that's a tough one. If there's one thing I strongly believe, it's that we don't give Education majors much guidance as to what they're going to find when they're on their own in a high school classroom. My firstborn is currently a sophomore in Nuclear Engineering at Ga Tech. He's taking a very interesting ethics class that's raising a number of good issues for these kids. Prospective teachers need their ethics sharpened and challenged in the same way. Make it clear to teachers that they're not to treat students in their classes like low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. Whether they're 16 or 22, it's wrong to exploit the relationship. When the temptation is put before a teacher, s/he needs to be able to think back to the warnings about how they'll never work in education again if they get caught.
Of course, Greta manages to remove the nuance from the entire issue as she closes:
For openers, as I mentioned earlier, it's not likely that either of the high school teachers will do time if they cop a plea. The janitor is a different story. Certainly none of them will ever work in a school again, if the system's background checking works properly. Greta's characterization of what they deserve should they do prison time is a concern, however. It's time we all acknowledge that this conservative view of incarceration simply does more harm to our society than good.
Miss Pathologically Positive deviates from her usual course and writes:
Are parents too trusting, too busy to care or has this always gone on and now we are just doing something about it? I think the latter. This has been going on forever and now we are taking action against those who prey on minors and children. Many may disagree with me on this one, and that is fine, you are entitled to your opinion. Yes, we expect schools to raise our children these days, but I personally do not believe that is the entirety of the problem. I think there have always and will always be people in positions of power that take advantage of children or those under them, whether children or not. There will also always be pedophiles and that scares the hell out of me.
Well, maybe y'all expect schools in Mandeville to raise your children, but the trend has swung back the other way, particularly in New Orleans. The pedophile priest scandals of the 1990s pretty much scared parents into not abdicating their parental responsibilities. I expect my son's teachers to teach him, not raise him.
She is correct, though, that there will always be pedophiles, but lumping the two teachers who were banging the sixteen year olds with the janitor who was playing with little boys clouds an already complicated issue. Greta makes it worse when she talks about college coaches:
When I was an athletic trainer for college students, I recall several cases of coaches having relations with players. The coach suddenly "left" their position and everything was brushed under the table (not going tabloidish on you here & will not give specifics). Even though these were 18-22 year olds, it still happened and it was WRONG!!!It's difficult for me to consider the teachers having sex with sixteen year old girls as pedophiles, and certainly the coaches who are having sex with adults are not pedos. The age of consent is 17 in Louisiana, so doing a 16-year old is considerably different than the adult male trolling the mall for 12-year olds. What is so hard to determine here is the level of consent involved. While there are some who will argue that no minor can consent to sex with an adult, 16-year old girls are considered consenting adults in the UK and many other countries in Europe. The two high school teachers are going to get probation if they plead out.
What is more of a concern to me is the predatory nature of the behavior of the teachers, as well as the coaches Greta mentions. A case where we're talking about a one-on-one teaching situation that goes horizontal, it's all about intent. In the case of the Destrehan High band director, the story in Da Paper makes the guy out to be a predator, and predators have no business in schools. It's not about the sex, it's about the control.
Is the guy wired to be a predator? Now that's a tough one. If there's one thing I strongly believe, it's that we don't give Education majors much guidance as to what they're going to find when they're on their own in a high school classroom. My firstborn is currently a sophomore in Nuclear Engineering at Ga Tech. He's taking a very interesting ethics class that's raising a number of good issues for these kids. Prospective teachers need their ethics sharpened and challenged in the same way. Make it clear to teachers that they're not to treat students in their classes like low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking. Whether they're 16 or 22, it's wrong to exploit the relationship. When the temptation is put before a teacher, s/he needs to be able to think back to the warnings about how they'll never work in education again if they get caught.
Of course, Greta manages to remove the nuance from the entire issue as she closes:
As for what should happen to these 3 sick individuals - I hope they get sent to the general prison population with a sign that says "I molested underage children." Unfortunately, that won't happen and we can all only hope that our justice system keeps them off the streets forever!
For openers, as I mentioned earlier, it's not likely that either of the high school teachers will do time if they cop a plea. The janitor is a different story. Certainly none of them will ever work in a school again, if the system's background checking works properly. Greta's characterization of what they deserve should they do prison time is a concern, however. It's time we all acknowledge that this conservative view of incarceration simply does more harm to our society than good.
NOLANotes tells a neat tale of how they respect the Lenten traditions at Liuzza's on Bienville that reminded me of a gathering on a Friday in Lent in the 1990s. We were invited to a dedication of new facilities at the Port of St. Bernard down at the Kaiser Slip off of St. Bernard Highway. There were a lot of political types there, including then-Senator John Breaux. There was a lot of food and drink (it was a happy hour reception), but one of the things they ordered a lot of was cubed filet mignon served in hollowed-out loaves of round italian bread. Of course, most of the guests were refusing the steak hors d'oeuvres when the servers offered them. It got to the point where Msgr. Harry Thompson, S.J., who was at the time President of Jesuit High School, took the mic and offered the following prayer:
"Oh Father God,
Grant our wish.
Bless this meat,
And make it fish."
At which point, the filet mignon vanished in short order. :-)
"Oh Father God,
Grant our wish.
Bless this meat,
And make it fish."
At which point, the filet mignon vanished in short order. :-)
here's a suggestion
:
A 1937 first edition of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit has been sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for £60,000 - twice what it was expected to reach.It would look good next to my 1st Edition Silmarillion.
and these two geeks are obsessing with "Super Smash Brothers Brawl"
ugh
We salute you, M. Ponticelli:
France's last surviving veteran of World War One, Lazare Ponticelli, has died at the age of 110. President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death on Wednesday, paying tribute to the last "poilu", as French WWI veterans were known.One of the things I admire about our National World War II Museum is the way they've used oral history to capture the memories of these guys. It's like NPR and their "Story Corps" project, easy to get people talking, and you can always write up whatever you want to for wider distribution later.
OK, so some asshat Kaintock wants to ban anonymous speech on the Internet:
That's the difference between a dumbass Kaintock politician and a seemingly-dumbass Louisiana one. This guy freely admits that his bill has no hope of becoming law. Louisiana wingnuts are willing to stand up and pass the most outrageous "Creation Science" legislation they could come up with. The Louisiana legislature never met a restrictive abortion bill they didn't like. Did they say they had no faith in those bills? Of course not, because it's not about the bill, it's about the court challenge. It costs a lot of money to defend the stupidity of the legislature all the way to the Supremes. That means the state puts a lot of money into the pockets of the law firm hired to follow the challenge (the AG's office being too understaffed for this stupidity). If you don't take your stupid legislation seriously, you can't kick the case to your friends in the legal community.
This is also why Louisiana's legislature has limited sessions, because we'd be well and truly screwed if they pulled these stunts year-round.
Kentuckians couldn't post anonymous comments to Web sites anymore under House Bill 775, filed Tuesday by Rep. Tim Couch, R-Hyden.Let's put aside the fat that, if this were to pass the KY legislature and withstand the court challenges, Haywood Jablowme and Mike Hunt would be the most prolific Kaintock commenters on the web. Let's also put aside the fact that high school kids (this guy's primary targets) can be mean and vicious. This sort of legislation is just stupid, and even the author concedes it:
Couch's bill would require anyone who contributes to a Web site to register their real name, address and e-mail address with that Web site. Their full name then would be used whenever they posted a comment.
Couch on Wednesday readily acknowledged that his bill raises First Amendment issues regarding free speech, so he won't be pushing it. But he wanted to call attention to the phenomenon of unkind and often untrue comments about people being posted online by Kentuckians hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.
That's the difference between a dumbass Kaintock politician and a seemingly-dumbass Louisiana one. This guy freely admits that his bill has no hope of becoming law. Louisiana wingnuts are willing to stand up and pass the most outrageous "Creation Science" legislation they could come up with. The Louisiana legislature never met a restrictive abortion bill they didn't like. Did they say they had no faith in those bills? Of course not, because it's not about the bill, it's about the court challenge. It costs a lot of money to defend the stupidity of the legislature all the way to the Supremes. That means the state puts a lot of money into the pockets of the law firm hired to follow the challenge (the AG's office being too understaffed for this stupidity). If you don't take your stupid legislation seriously, you can't kick the case to your friends in the legal community.
This is also why Louisiana's legislature has limited sessions, because we'd be well and truly screwed if they pulled these stunts year-round.
