Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School officials have supplied yet another example of blind mindless application of policies. They has suspended a student for having a broken pencil sharpener.
The boy — a fourth-grader had no criminal intent and merely brought a broke sharpener to school. Officials in South Carolina treated the exposed razor as a weapon.
For the full story, click here.
rafflaw: “You would think that reasonable administrators would have handled this matter as an educational moment.”
Uh huh. You would’ve thought that the school would be mostly concerned about the kid hurting himself rather than worrying about him mounting a terrorist attack on other 4th-graders with a 0.75″ blade. Of course, this is the rural South, so the kid probably uses a 20″ machete to clean fish.
The White House has been pretending Bush is in charge since the Supremes annointed him as President.
Jill:
Also, I’m not sure it’s correct to say the White House “admitted” it wasn’t bin Laden. That presupposes that it wasn’t bin Laden. It’s my impression that intelligence is fairly solid that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by Al-Qaeda, whose leader is bin Laden, even if others were doing on-the-ground planning.
(Just as the invasion of Iraq was perpetrated by the United States, whose leader is GWB, even if others were doing on-the-ground planning.)
So I think it’s more correct to say that the White House has now begun to *pretend* that it wasn’t bin Laden.
Jill: “I didn’t hear about the wh admitting it wasn’t bin Laden. Can you send a link?”
I’m not CroMM, or even Crom, but I have a link:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/10/seventh-anniversary-white-house/
Alfredo,
You hit the nail on the head. You would think that reasonable administrators would have handled this matter as an educational moment. The school and the child would have been better off.
Must control the fist of death………
Why didn’t the teacher bring the boy up, and tell him that the exposed blade was dangerous and could be seen as a weapon. She could have taken it away from him and pitched it into the trash. The kid would learn a lesson, and could have gone back to his desk.
Assuming a fourth grader of good repute would use a broken pencil sharpener as a weapon says more about the adults than the kid. He was probably making do with what he had. Do adults fear their children this much that they assume the worst?
I think they’re watching too much O’Reilly and TV cop shows.
CroMM,
I didn’t hear about the wh admitting it wasn’t bin Laden. Can you send a link?
Thanks,
Jill
AC,
That is a good example of Bushian logic!
Cro Magnum Man: “Whats even more moronic is the White House is now saying Bin Laden didn’t do it. 😐 Whats up with that?”
A. The Bush Administration is a completely and permanently effective agent of the War on Terror.
B. It is therefore impossible that the Bush Administration has gone for seven years without catching the guy who did it.
B1. The Bush Administration has not caught Osama bin Laden.
B2. The Bush Administration has caught Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
C1. Therefore, Osama bin Laden cannot be the guy who did it.
C2. Therefore, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the guy who did it.
A’. The Bush Administration is a completely and permanently effective agent of the War on Terror. They caught the guy who did it, after all.
It’s all just simple logic. There are many more examples of simple logic.
A. AIDS is a syndrome defined in part by the presence of HIV.
B. Everybody with AIDS has HIV.
C. HIV is the cause of AIDS.
A’. AIDS is a syndrome defined by the presence of HIV. HIV is the cause of AIDS, after all.
A. It’s impossible to switch entirely to renewable energy sources in 10 years.
B. Any plan to switch entirely to renewable energy sources in 10 years would require hundreds of billions of dollars.
C. Nobody has ever spent hundreds of billions of dollars on switching entirely to renewable energy sources in 10 years.
A’. It’s impossible to switch entirely to renewable energy sources in 10 years. Nobody has that kind of money, after all.
Whats even more moronic is the White House is now saying Bin Laden didn’t do it.
😐
Whats up with that?
What is moronic is how people have been hoodwinked into believing this post 9/11 crap that has been spewed for 7 years now. What is moronic is school administrators thinking that they have to suspend a student for an incident like this one.
This is moronic.
Jill,
You are spot on with the comment about the “uptick” in nuclear and biological potential attacks as of late. Of course, that is only a coincidence!
rafflaw,
I think our whole nation has had classic cult techniques used on our population. Once you’ve frightened people, and continue to frighten them, you can get away with all kinds of things. I heard the lie that we went after the people who attacked us on 9/ll when we went into Iraq on NPR (Diane Rehm show commentator). I knew Palin was flogging that lie and I guess the so called “intelligencia” is right there with her. It was disturbing to hear such a blatent lie resurfacing so strongly.
I have noticed that there’s been a hugh uptick in talk of nuclear, biological, etc. terrorist attacks this summer, culminating in the afterglow of the rnc. You can always tell it’s a political calculation whenever fear is raised but ways to combat the supposed threats are never given. In fact, the govt.’s efforts to actually do anything against terrorism are completely inadequate. Instead we see new rules for the FBI to use against our citizens being approved by DOJ.
cheney/bush are all about terrorizing our population and show little interest in taking steps to actually protect this nation.
Jill,
Comparing cults to the Bush-ites is interesting. Their mindless following of policies that in many cases are against their own best interests is quite astonishing. Of course, for the Republican neocons and neocon wannabees, to have “thought stopping” techniques used against them might be useless because they haven’t had a “thought” in years.
rafflaw,
I like your use of “the post bush world” and I’m glad so many people spoke up about how even this small incident was being linked to 9/ll. Cults use “thought stopping” phrases to control their memebers. I think that’s exactly what “post 9/11” functions as in this society. Its purpose is to put the protractor through any type of critical thought.
Bob,esq.,
Well said! That “we are in a post 9/11 world” line gets me fired up every time I see it. Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin all want us to be afraid and stupid. That is how they got(and get) away with stealing for their corporate pals by keeping the masses dumbed down. Enough.
lol . . . I’ll remember this is a tough crowd.
Fed up, you should be adjusting your tie and sweating. You certainly aren’t getting any respect. You are kind of funny though.
If an adult can’t disarm a 4th grader, then they have no business being around children in a supervisory capacity. Show some common sense. There was no credible threat except from the HHI administration’s draconian stupidity.
So until there is a murder perpetrated by a kid with a protractor or terror reigns down in the form of nubby scissors wielded with malice aforethought, I bid you adieu.
Fed up in SC
1, September 12, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Seriously? Can we really afford to do that in a post 9/11, post Columbine, post VT world?
We sure can. We can afford a lot more than that too.
America is supposed to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the BRAVE.
Not the home of the afraid.
At least so says our National Anthem.
So why then do we have to tolerate the constant whining from those of us like you, who are not so brave, as to live in a free and open society?
If you’re so afraid why don’t you and those like you purchase a bunch of those steel “Panic Rooms” like we see on the infomercials. The ones you bury in the ground.
Just dig a hole, drop the steel Panic Room in, climb in and shut the door behind you.
😐
We’ll call you when its safe to come out.
Fed up in SC:
“Can we really afford to do that in a post 9/11, post Columbine, post VT world?
Could we afford to dispose entirely of critical thinking? Guess so; since neither Colin Powell nor Tony Blair ever made their case against Bin Laden as promised. That one ranks much higher than the WMD lies.
Can we afford to do away with reading comprehension? Ever read the 1st chapter of the 911 report CLOSELY?
Accordingly, spare me the American version of the original 9-11; i.e. the holiest day in the Nazi calendar.
http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/99feier.htm