Education

More and more parents are suing schools for their children's failures.

Doesn't that seem a little absurd?

A British Columbia father has sued his son's Grade 2 Montessori teacher claiming that she "purposely and maliciously worked to damage the self-esteem" of his son over such things as failing to encourage the child's spelling, not sending home a daily homework list and, in one case, displaying an unfinished poem in the school hallway.
- from the article

The paranoia of this country is absolutely astounding. I personally have never sued for my own (or my parents') fuck ups, but maybe I should have. When was it that we stopped parenting our kids and started blaming? Don't get me wrong, I've had some teachers that plain out sucked at teaching. I've had teachers that I absolutely couldn't pay attention to. Who hasn't?

First, it was the news that Mississippi Lawmaker(s?) have proposed a bill that would make it illegal for restaurants to serve obese patrons.

There are so many things wrong with situation, I doubted whether or not I wanted to write about it. Why would anyone discriminate against a group of people (a majority in the US)?
I couldn't wrap my mind around it, not to mention how there is no way it's constitutional. Nevermind, how terribly, horribly, mean that is.

Besides, who would decide what qualifies as obese? What would be the deciding factor? Some people doubt the truthiness or quality of the BMI scale. So, what would you go by? Some hostess in some random restaurant's suggestion or opinion?

Not to mention the douchebag Republican Lawmaker that doesn't even think it will or should pass.

"I do not have any intention of this becoming law," says the Desoto County Republican. "I don't think it has a Chinaman's chance. I'm against intrusive government. I don't think that's what we're here for and what we should be doing."

So why draft such controversial legislation?

"The reason I put the bill in," says Mayhall, "was to call attention to the seriousness of the obesity epidemic in Mississippi."

Oh! So you proposed a bill you don't even agree with or want to pass, because you want to alienate a certain group of people because you disagree with their lifestyle. Ahh, so very Republican of you.

I don't care what your opinion is on the state of the people in your state, lose weight like Mike Huckabee did. Or actually try and think about doing something that might make a difference an encourage people of unhealthy weight to do something about it, instead of estranging those who you're trying to 'help'.

Just because Mississippi has been ranked #1 in amount of obese people in the US for the past 3 years, doesn't justify this kind of unethical behavior. That's simply ridiculous.

Then, a California man is being sued by his city, San Carlos, for canceling his trash pick up, because he was environmentally conscious.

SAN CARLOS (Map, News) - A man who claims to have reduced his waste to nearly nothing out of concern for the environment now faces a lawsuit from San Carlos for canceling his garbage-collection service.

Eddie House, 53, says he was shocked when he was served with a lawsuit Sunday at his Cedar Street home.

The lawsuit, filed by San Carlos Deputy City Attorney Linda Noeske in San Mateo Superior Court on Jan. 22, seeks a permanent injunction forcing House to maintain garbage service. City officials are also seeking to recoup from House the costs of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims House broke the city’s municipal code requiring all residential, commercial and industrial properties to contract with Allied Waste for pickup at least once a week — a standard requirement in most cities, San Carlos Deputy City Manager Brian Moura said.

I shit you not. A guy recycles and composts all his waste, therefore he doesn't need his trash service. And? He gets sued. SUED.

I can see how the city would be concerned about people having plenty of waste, and not throwing it away or wanting to pay the trash guys, but if he has no trash then what in the hell are they expecting for them to pick up?

It makes no sense. Any rational, logical, or reasonable person would applaud his efforts, and let him be. But apparently we're too concerned with the laws themselves to worry about who we're enforcing them on, or why we're enforcing them.

And it's not like the City just got confused, and they didn't know the whole situation (Which, really, who does before they SUE SOMEONE). But they're trying to recoup their expenses from HIM for the lawsuit.

Sometimes, I seriously wonder if we’re too wrapped up in silly laws that seek to govern our every step. It’s almost as if we live in a country that believes it will behave in exactly the same way 200 years from now. Change and the rights of the individual are covered in layers of codes and red tape. This is a perfect example. And was it truly necessary to sue? Couldn’t there have been some other action taken to resolve any issues between the city and the homeowner? Ridiculous.

I get it, we're a nation of laws. But since when do they dictate everything we do? From being overweight to being environmentally conscious.

I've never met them, so I can't say for sure, but I'm pretty sure The Founding Fathers didn't mean for laws to go this far.

Since when is the legislative process not for actually proposing legislation that might better the state and its people, but is instead meant to get your opinions on the news?

Since when do we care more about going by the books like some kind of mindless robots, than analyzing the situation like real, rational people?

I think we need to reevaluate our situation in this country, and maybe start voting for change.

Our government needs to start answering to us, rather than the other way around. Isn't that what a Democracy is supposed to be anyway?

I, for some reason, wasn't able to get the "Report problems at the polls" flash on the right to work. Since I'm at work, I can't really do much about fixing it if it's on my end, however, I figured in case there were others who coulnd't access it, I'd post this link:

Click Here to report problems at the polls.

Also, you can find out where voter concerns have been reported and read about them here.

I'm getting really sick of inconsiderate people. I get about 300+ e-mails a day at work. Some are spam, but most are important issues that I need to either be aware of, or address. Sometimes, people I work with send me e-mail forwards. Firstly, some of these people know my personal e-mail address. I make one of my addresses (I have more than I can count) public so people don't send me stuff I don't need at work. Why don't people follow this? Why aren't they considerate? Not only are they sending me crappy e-mail forwards, but they're sending religious crappy e-mail forwards... to my work address.

Ten Reasons You Will Not Recognize America in Ten Years

Sure, it's a little sensationalist, but it also holds grains of truth. We're on an interesting path. It's funny. The 90's, to me, seemed to be so prosperous. Technology was booming. Nothing was impossible. Make a computer twice as fast within a month? Cake walk. Make microchips? In our sleep.

Regardless, 9/11 was an interesting mix. We had a ton of technology, and we had just been attacked. Naturally, the only thing that made sense was to use our technology to attack those who attacked us. Somehow, we lost that track, and now, we're using the technology on ourselves. We're going to limit the quality of our lives for "protection." The only thing we're getting is "order." By "protection," I mean control, and by "order," I mean more control.

What the hell is wrong with you? By "you," I of course mean "America." New York City wants to ban trans fats in restaurants. What is wrong with this country? Why can't we learn to take care of ourselves? Do we really need someone to come in and decide what's right for us? If I want to eat terribly fatty, yet terribly delicious food, then so be it. If I'm too stupid to realize that eating that kind of food all the time is bad for me, then let me die. The world would be better off if I was that dumb. Fortunately I'm not dumb, and instead you get to read my complaints.

Renaldo over at The World Spelled Backwards has some terrifying news: Despite new laws requiring teachers to be qualified to, uh, teach - most aspiring teachers are graduating from college "woefully unprepared" for a teaching job.

In a country where nearly 2/3 of 18-24 year olds can't point to Iraq on a map - despite the fact that we've been occupying Iraq for 3 years - this is, well, pretty shitty. In case you were wondering why 49% of the population wasn't smart enough to vote against Bush in 2004, this might have something to do with it.