07:32 – In the wake of large-scale disasters like the Connecticut school shooting, it’s easy to forget that smaller-scale disasters claim our children every day. The paper this morning reports that an 11-year-old local boy was struck and killed by an SUV at a school bus stop. His parents are surely as devastated as the parents in Connecticut.
In other local news, a former high school band director has been convicted on 65 counts of having sex with a student. He was 25 years old when these incidents occurred, from August 2008 through the end of that school year. She was a high school senior. Nothing in the article leads me to believe that the relationship was anything other than fully consensual. The age of consent in North Carolina is 16, so the relationship would have been completely legal had it not been for the fact that he was a school employee and she a student. Again, I think a “no fucking the students” rule is perfectly appropriate for school teachers, but this should be a matter of contract law, not criminal law. Fire the guy, fine. Make sure he can never work in a school again, fine. But don’t imprison the guy and brand him a sex offender.
On the good news side of the ledger, Herbalife has committed to taking over the old Dell plant in Forsyth County and creating 500 highly-paid manufacturing and technical jobs. Winston-Salem was in competition with other cities, all of which are in right-to-work states.
We’re back in stock on all of our science kits.
But Robert! If everything isn’t criminalized, then how can the State brand us all as criminals? And if we aren’t all criminals, then why would we all live in fear of telling our friends anything and of being grabbed off the street? And if we weren’t all living in fear, then where would the State be?
It was recently quoted here that War is the Health of the State. Possibly true, but Fear is the Lifeblood of the State.
I seem to remember it was less than five years ago that Winston-Salem, or Forsyth County, paid Dell to set up there. If my memory is correct then I wonder how long the contract mandated that Dell stay there, and if they’ve bailed early if they have to return some of the dough.
I get pretty sick of governments at any level entering bidding wars for jobs. Just keep taxes low and keep out of the way.
Regarding teacher-student relationships, what do people here think about the following situations:
Adult professor and young adult student at a college/university when the couple involved are (1) in the same department, (2) the same faculty, (3) the same university? If the prof doesn’t teach the student and is unlikely to have any influence over their grades I think the law and the college/university government should stay out of it. But what if there is a student-teacher relationship, or the prof could influence the student’s grades?
Why is everyone concerned about crazy lunatics with guns killing people? They kill maybe a hundred people a year in the United States. Drunk drivers kill over 200 children each year, and there is much less outrage over this fact. Even worse there is another group of people that kill over 200 children a year and nobody does anything about it. When are we going to wake up deal with the fact that over 200 children are killed every year by their own mothers?
I’m currently using my sister’s PC, which was my younger nephew’s. In my posts here, and in e-mails, etc, there are plaintext words which have been turned into hyperlinks. I remember this problem from years ago, it’s never happened on any of *my* computers, but my sister is notoriously lax when it comes to security. Should I/she be worried? How can I get rid of this stuff?
I like that: “Fear is the lifeblood of the State.” I will steal it accordingly. The quote about war was from the very late Randolph Bourne, a “progressive,” who got at least that much right. He is quoted often by libertarians.
On sex and teaching I feel that basic common sense should be operative, but in these things it rarely is the case. What to do? If it’s consensual they need to remove it and themselves from the work/classroom environment at the very least. Let local social mores and strictures take care of the rest; what flies in San Francisco or Manhattan surely won’t in west Texas or Iowa.
It was more like eight years ago, in 2004 IIRC. They broke ground on the new plant in 2005. Yes, Winston-Salem and Forsyth County paid Dell a $37 million bribe to locate here, in addition to considerable money paid by the state. But all of that was contingent on Dell employing a specified number of people at specified minimum salary levels for specified periods of time. Dell didn’t do that, and the state, county, and city got their money back from Dell.
I agree about bidding wars, as does the Republican Party of North Carolina. There was a big to-do here about local Republican representatives going against what they’d agreed to do and instead supporting paying those bribes. But they were paid anyway and the Republican representatives don’t seem at all abashed.
If the professor has any influence at all over the student or the student’s grades, the professor should be fired. If not, it’s no one’s business other than the two of them.
Maybe nobody read, but
a) Seems to give Dell money free
b) herbalife? well, this is 500 highly-paid manufacturing and technical jobs
since we know a lot about this subsidized trials, welcome to the third world, we are waiting you to discuss with China terms of trade
maybe it goes to spam, but, since I read often here, at least until non US domians are blocked (or use some proxy) it is funny
Regards
One aspect is the desire to criminalize conduct that really should just be a civil matter. The other aspect that I just do not understand is the continuous push for federal intervention. Why the devil would anyone want the feds involved for things that could be handled at the State, county or city level?
As an example, I recently ran across something about federal requirements for the nutritional content of school lunches. I really do hop that someone thinks a bit about what to serve the kids, but surely this should be head of the school cafeteria, or perhaps someone in the school district? Who in their right minds would want some federal bureaucrat to be involved?
Once the Feds get involved in skool lunch programs they’ll have kids eating grits in Manhattan and and clam chowduh in New Mexico. The Fed Leviathan would fuck up a soup sandwich.
Retroville is anticipating some kind of stormy weather later today, tonight and tomorrow morning but it’s anybody’s guess as to what form it will take, snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet, high winds, whatever.
And rumors abound lately that the mega-corporation I slave for is gonna lay off around 300 people. The DOD contractor corporation that shares our building (and bathroom) just dumped 50 poor bastards. Is it just me or do a lotta places seem to dump people just before Christmas?
Exactly, we have forgotten all about Federalism. Let states try different ideas and see which works best. Let Massachusetts and Tennessee try health care reform, and if works, other states can debate the pros and cons of such ideas and act upon it if they want to. Let Connecticut try implementing it’s own version of the 1994 assault weapons ban, and let Texas allow school employees with CCW permits to carry on school property. Lets see which idea works better at preventing mass shootings at schools. (Oops, Connecticut already has it’s own version of the assault weapon ban.)
That’s a trick question. I was going to say, any federal bureaucrat or lobbyist, but I realized they aren’t in their right minds.
Your local politicians must be proud to be subsidizing a snake oil purveyor.
CT already has among the most restrictive firearms laws in the nation, like Maffachufetts, the Vampire State, Rhode Island, etc. What was needed there was at least one or two teachers or staffers carrying whatever, like that Israeli teacher in the previously posted photo. Might well have taken care of young Lanza before he got to that second classroom (first one was locked by teacher and kids herded to bathroom.)
By the way; the nooz accounts sucked rocks repeatedly, in so many ways; on the above situation, with Lanza entering the skool, the initial reports had him visiting his mom, who supposedly taught there, and he was buzzed in by the front desk. Turns out he blasted the glass out of the doors and then walked right in. Right there is where someone with a weapon could have nailed his ass.
But knowing the political mindset here in the Northeast Megalopolis, the Authorities will institute dranonian laws, regulations and ordinances for ordinary law-abiding citizens and continue to ignore the mental health crises of certain classifications of young white males.
Use it with my blessings. (Which raises a few issues, given that you’re a believer and I’m an atheist who believes in no god but myself.)
Fun cat story.
Proof that cats are smarter and generally better than dogs, especially as noted in the comments.
Yep, cats are way smahtuh than dogz; Cats rule and dogz drool. Cats are even smartuh than a lotta humans. The ancient Egyptians were all over this. Also Buddhist monks in Thailand who use them for property and personnel security.
“…you’re a believer and I’m an atheist…”
Yep. Reckon that’s so. But pax vobiscum anyway, pilgrim.
Oh my, as George Takei likes to say on SpaceBook; the wind is picking up dramatically outside my window right now at 22:25. And some careless dolt left lights on in the town hall across the thoroughfare from us. I’d walk down to the shore to check out how it probably looks like ocean surf right now, but I am a lazy old sod who is nice and warm at present and about to visit the Land of Nod. If the weather outside is frightful in the morning, I may have to slide in to work at the plantation late.
That is known as damning with faint praise.
Yep. And there are humans in this country, believe it or not, that side with the Red Chinese gummint on this issue right here:
“Communist Chinese Government Calls For Americans to be Disarmed”
I saw that on Drudge just now and just about keeled over laughing. I can go to sleep now in a real good mood.
Cats may be smart but they are EVIL! Pure EVIL.