In a startling shift toward sanity, a Virginia school board has decided that maybe suspending 2nd-graders for a couple of week over their use of pencils as "weapons" isn't all that great an idea; the kids in question were observed by a vigilant vegetator as they pointed pencils at each other and said "bang". Following her decisive action in the wake of this violent activity, the board's changing their policy.
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You might think that the Freedom From Religion Foundation would have something to say on this front,
but it appears that they're too busy fighting Christians to bother:
The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is pressuring public schools in this country to make special accommodations for Muslim students and to deny comparable accommodations for students of other faiths.
While CAIR sends its own representatives into public schools to indoctrinate students with its Islamist spin, it uses the legal system to bully teachers who dare to bring up examples of terrorists committing violence in the name of Islam. For example, CAIR’s Washington state branch accused a well-respected Washington public school teacher of being “racist.” CAIR complained that the teacher, while instructing her students about the dangers of bullying last October, used the terrorist groups Taliban and Hamas as examples of organizations that employ violence to “bully people.” CAIR called for a federal investigation and demanded information “regarding curriculum, approved texts and materials, internal correspondence, and past complaints against the district.”
Nothing wrong with any of that because Muslim.
Evidently, the concept of equality before the law has been jettisoned.
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A brief article in Salon, of all places, notes the ongoing legal skirmishes in Florida by a bunch of self-important jerks who consider themselves atheists. The Freedom From Religion Foundation and a related organization calling itself the Central Florida Freethought Community had a hissy-fit when a Collier County judge ruled that it was perfectly acceptable for schools to allow a table with Bibles on it, free for the taking. Naturally, the Salon writer thinks that's a stupid move. Some 1700 copies of said Bibles were taken by passing students, and although neither the Salon writer nor the two atheist organizations have any idea as to why some of them may have been taken from the tables. Some kids may have taken one to burn, or otherwise deface, for all they know - but in any event, the mere presence of the tomes was Very Bad.
So they sought permission to distribute some books and flyers of their own. Most were permitted by the schools, though some were not, due to "incendiary content". Things with titles like "An X-Rated Book" and "Why I'm Not A Muslim" were apparently excluded. As might be expected, the groups are suing because not all of the materials were permitted for distribution. That's just being obnoxious.
Of course, they're all worked up as well because there's a Bible sitting right next to a Mayor's desk in a town in Florida:
Atheists are outraged that a Bible sits right next to the mayor’s desk, inside a Pinellas Park City Council chamber, and they’re demanding its removal.
City officials, however, say that’s a no-go. The Bible’s been there for more than 30 years, and laws don’t prohibit its presence, The Blaze reported. The book
was an Oct. 19, 1975, gift to council members from the Kiwanis club, and it’s been a traditional fixture ever since.
Freedom From Religion Foundation officials say they don’t care. They sent a letter to city officials, saying the Bible needs to go because it violates the principle of separation of church and state.
That's their problem, in a nutshell: there is no such "principle". In fact, the language is pretty clear: government is prohibited from establishing a religion; nothing more. And the mere presence of a Bible near the Mayor's desk is clearly not an "establishment". It's almost as though there's some sort of contest going on to see who can be the most pathetic jerks in the country.
If there is, then the atheists are on track to win it.
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Portland Vintage Trolley car 512, a replica of a 1904 Brill streetcar, built in 1992 by Gomaco. It is passing Portland City Hall, on the MAX light rail tracks on 5th Avenue at Jefferson Street, which is also on the Portland Transit Mall.
Golly, the United Streetcar company over in Clackamas, Oregon, has hit a milestone! Their second streetcar entered service in Porkland today, clearing the way for their first streetcar to be removed from service for six months or so in order to make repairs and fix other flaws.
Years late, over budget - Portland contracted for six of the things, then agreed to accept only five for the same amount of money. Tucson, who made the mistake of contracting with United Streetcar, is so ticked off over the continued delays that they're acting to penalize the company.
The incompetence, both at the company itself and among life-long politicians like Rick Gustafson is simply astonishing.
And what do we get from it? A 19th-century streetcar that serves primarily as a tourist attraction.
Meanwhile, north of the river, The Columbian continues to beat the advocacy drum for light rail, claiming today that property values climb and crime declines when light rail arrives. O'Rlly? For some reason, advocates continually refer to light rail as "spurring development" while conveniently omitting the tens of millions in taxpayer subsidies and property-tax abatements routinely funneled to developers if they will build along a light rail line.
Beaverton Round, despite the millions, went bankrupt twice, and still isn't completed. Condo owners there found that water intrusion occurred within a year of their ill-fated purchases, and remediation is still underway. The City of Beaverton, unwilling to admit defeat, has decided to move their offices into the Round in order to give at least the appearance of some degree of success.
Yeah, that's some real "spurring" going on over there.
And along the "Yellow line", which politicians are desperate to extend into Vancouver, Washington, taxpayer-subsidized development has resulted in a number of apartment buildings (with retail on the ground floor, naturally), along with what they call "gentrification" - which involves the flight of families away from the area. This is what "planners" and their politicians refer to as "progress":
And Seifert, the longtime North Portland resident, is wistful about the transformations he has witnessed in recent years. As single-family houses on his block have been replaced by multi-unit condominiums, the makeup of the neighborhood has changed.
"There aren't any kids anymore," Siefert said. "Just a bunch of 20- and 30-somethings, and a few 50-somethings."
What do you suppose will happen when the hipsters suddenly realize that their apartment-and-condo-bunker worlds aren't exactly kid-friendly?
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At least two of the four major on-air networks in the USA are considering pulling the plug and possibly becoming cable-only. That's worked out really well for MSNBC....
Anyway, they're Hoppering mad because the Dish technology allows users to skip ads, which cuts into sales. They may have some leverage over the satellite provider, though, because Dish contracts with them for programming.
They have no such leverage over their biggest headache, however: Aereo uses antennas to first capture and then stream over-the-air content to its subscribers, and the company has won every legal battle that Big Net have thrown at it.
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The Associated Press has an article out that describes the grinding poverty afflicting hispanic "immigrants", with a focus on the San Joaquin Valley:
Fresno's north side — home to bankers, doctors and teachers — is dotted with gated communities and McMansions with manicured lawns. It boasts newly paved streets, bike lanes, generous sidewalks, a popular mall and parks.
Melendez's neighborhood in southeast Fresno is a world away. Children on bikes crisscross cracked streets, their gutters strewn with trash.
Evidently, the bankers and teachers head over to southeast Fresno to dump their trash into the gutters, because, you know - middle-class and wealthy folks are like that. Always dumping on the poor; especially "immigrants" like the protagonist in this story, a 36 year-old mother of seven named Christina Melendez who, with two sisters, trekked across the border from Mexico when she was 13.
They settled in the Valley, where the illegal aliens picked grapes and other produce. Melendez went to school for a while, but chose to drop out and get married; the happy couple soon separated. She produced her first American citizen at the age of 15, and rapidly pumped out half a dozen more. They get food stamps, but reportedly little else in government assistance.
To make ends meet, she sometimes peddles barbecued beef, tamales and beauty products door to door and rents a room to a friend.
"That's what I have, and that's what I make do with," she said, "because the process of doing something else is difficult."
And, of course, she works in the fields from time to time. The process of doing something else is difficult. It's difficult, so there's no reason to do it.
These are the people that Obama and other Leftists claim are "living in the shadows", and although the AP story portrays her plight with great sympathy, it remains that the illegal alien had access to public education here yet chose to drop out - and chose to have bambino after bambino. All of whom we pay for, in food stamps and other public assistance, and with public education. Her two eldest sons, in fact, have their high school diplomas; the oldest, now 21, might have chosen to attend vocational training at a community college - and for a brief period, he did just that, but then chose to drop out, get married and have a little bambino of his very own.
That child is now 3, and Daddy is unemployed. And the trash continues to accumulate in the gutters of southeast Fresno.
Damn those rich teachers.
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The pair of lesbians who stirred up a hissy-fit because a bakery in Gresham wouldn't bake them a "wedding" cake (homosexual marriage isn't recognized in Oregon, anyway) never really had a leg to stand on - because as it happens, they were trying to violate the Constitutional rights of the baker.
The Oregon Constitution is also quite clear relative to the limits of government. Specifically in ARTICLE 1, BILL OF RIGHTS:
Section 3. Freedom of religious opinion. No law shall in any case whatever control the free exercise, and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.
In other words, no matter how desperately they may want to force the baker to "accept and embrace" their homosexual "marriage", the Constitution precludes them from doing so. It's no wonder that so many on the Left want to redefine federal and state Constitutions as "living documents" that can be changed as they see fit.
Tolerance™, to them, means "approve of what I do, even if it conflicts with your values and beliefs".
Maybe next time, these folks should try a Muslim bakery.
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A couple of McDonald's franchises in Dearborn, Michigan made the grievous error of attempting to accommodate the local Muslims by offering halal chicken and nuggets. They started it in 2005, but it's over now:
On September 2, 2011, Ahmed Ahmed, a Dearborn Heights resident, purchased a McChicken® sandwich from the Ford Road McDonald’s and discovered that the sandwich was not halal.
That's what he claimed, anyhow - though nobody could prove anything one way or the other. Still, he went ahead and sued, filing a class-action lawsuit which was recently settled to the tune of $700,000. Surprisingly, a month after settling, the franchises removed all halal products from their menus. Who could have seen that coming?
They say that they're merely simplifying their menus. Makes a lot of sense.
All non-Muslim eateries should follow suit and simplify their menus as well. The risk of frivolous, multi-million dollar lawsuits for trying to accommodate sharia law isn’t worth it and supporting sharia law is simply bad policy.
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A Chorus of Disapproval
That's what a recently exposed directive from DOJ to staff says, and disapproval, you know, is Bad. It might hurt somebody's feelings.
Among the directives in the brochure is an order for workers to vocally affirm homosexuality.
They were also told to post “DOJ Pride” stickers in their office to indicate “that it is a safe place.”
What if it might violate your religious beliefs to "vocally affirm"? Well, that's too bad, because you can be fired for "intolerance".
It seems odd to some of us, but there is apparently a population of individuals who view absolutely everything through a lens of sexual activity. Themselves among the most intolerant people on the planet, they nonetheless demand not merely tolerance from others, but affirmation that their sexual proclivities are as important to you as they are to them. Their sexual activities are all-consuming characteristics of their identities.
One gay DOJ employee is quoted in the directive; “Silence seems like disapproval. There’s still an atmosphere of LGBT issues not being appropriate for the workplace (particularly for transgender people), or that people who bring it up are trying to rock the boat.”
Umm...maybe it's because "LGBT issues" are not appropriate for the workplace. It may be difficult for the little self-centered darlings to wrap what passes for their minds around, but the fact remains that normal people aren't obsessed with sex. Really, when's the last time you participated in a "Hetero Pride!" parade?
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Bike Share at the University of California Irvine
Under the stalwart guidance of former Porkland mayor Sammy Adams, plans for implementing a "bike share" program have been chugging along. New York City's already got one; its Grand Opening is today. And it's off to a great start:
The bike-share program rode into trouble last night before it was even launched — when someone stole one of the bikes as it was being delivered to a Manhattan rack, police said.
Golly, who'd ever have thunk it? They claim that the bikes cost $825 a pop. Sure brings back the memories: back in the late 1970's, they tried out the concept in Portland. Each bike was painted bright yellow, so they'd be easy to spot. Within a matter of months, every last one of them was stolen. Good times, good times.
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