Thought Police are alive and well in Denver

Colo. boy, 6, suspended for reciting 'Sexy' lyric

 

The Associated Press

AURORA, Colo. - A 6-year-old boy was suspended from his suburban Denver school for three days after school officials said he told a girl "I'm sexy and I know it," a line from a popular song.

D'Avonte Meadows, a first-grader at Sable Elementary School in Aurora, is accused of sexual harassment and disrupting other students, according to a letter the school district sent to his mother after he was sent home Wednesday.

School officials issued a statement saying they couldn't discuss the case, but they pointed out a school board policy that defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexual advance. There is no age limit.

The Aurora Police Department said it was not involved in the case because laws only cover children ages 10 and older.

D'Avonte's mother, Stephanie Meadows, said her son doesn't know the meaning of sexual harassment and it's the second time he has gotten in trouble for quoting "Sexy and I Know It." The song by the duo LMFAO was at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart for two weeks in January.

"I'm just, I'm floored," Stephanie Meadows told KMGH-TV ( http://bit.ly/KaXY7f). "They're going to look at him like he's a pervert. And it's like, that's not fair to him."

The Associated Press could not locate the Meadows family for comment.

Aurora Public Schools issued a statement Thursday saying it is trying to provide an equal learning environment for all students.

"We have policies and protocol in place to prevent any disruption to the learning environment. Due to privacy laws, we are unable to discuss appropriate disciplinary consequences about a specific student," wrote spokeswoman Paula Hans.

Denver attorney Craig Silverman said elementary school students have the same rights to free speech as adults as long as they understand and follow the rules. He said school policies should allow for exceptions.

"Sometimes when you go to a zero-tolerance policy, you end up with a zero-sense policy," he said.

D'Avonte's suspension comes as the Colorado Legislature considers a measure that would eliminate zero-tolerance discipline policies related to violence and weapons that were enacted after the Columbine High School shootings.

It's a response to cases in which students have been punished for bringing fake guns or butter knives to school and doesn't address sexual harassment policies. However, Sen. Linda Newell, the bill's sponsor, said the measure would also direct school districts to consider alternative forms of discipline, such as remediation decided by a student's peers, in all kinds of discipline cases.

The bill has passed the state Senate and is awaiting action by the full House.

Lawmakers who worked on the measure say zero-tolerance policies have disrupted too many students' education for minor offenses.

As examples, lawmakers have cited Colorado students who were referred to police for trying to break up a fight or having a replica gun on school grounds.

They also point to cases such as at least two in Florida in which girls, 10 and 11 years old at the time, were arrested for allegedly bringing a plastic butter knife and a small kitchen knife to school.

You just can't make this kind of stuff up........ Sexual Harassment at age 6?
Give me a break!

More Stupidity Keeps on Coming....

Minn. air passenger: Water filtration pipes in bag

By AMY FORLITI
Associated Press

Published: Friday, April 27, 2012 at 10:14 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, April 27, 2012 at 10:14 a.m.

MINNEAPOLIS - A checked bag containing PVC pipes and several wires prompted authorities to briefly clear out a Minneapolis airport terminal Friday, and its owner told police it was the second time in three years his device had forced an airport evacuation, an official said.

The evacuation came after screeners at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's Humphrey terminal spotted the items in a bag about 5:30 a.m. Humphrey, which handles less than 10 percent of the airport's passenger volume, was cleared of several hundred people and inbound auto traffic was stopped.
A bomb squad was called to search the bag. Airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said the capped pipes contained a granular material, but nothing in it was explosive and the wires turned out to be unrelated to the device.
The man was questioned by police before being released about 8:45 a.m., Hogan said. No criminal charges were planned.
"We don't have any reason not to believe it was a water filtration device," he said.
But Hogan said the Transportation Security Administration could consider civil charges because of the disruption. Hogan said the man told police he had "a similar incident" in carrying the device through an airport in Long Beach, Calif., in April 2009.
In that incident, a few hundred people were evacuated briefly after screeners discovered what appeared to be a pipe bomb in a bag. It was later determined to be an unlabeled water filter.
TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon said the agency couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation.
The terminal that was evacuated, named for former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, is the smaller of the two terminals at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, serving AirTran, Icelandair, Southwest and Spirit airlines.
More than 90 percent of the airport's traffic passes through the nearby Lindbergh terminal.

"Considering civil charges because of the disruption" Are you kidding me, it was the TSA that caused all the problem.....again.......

Florida Man Charged With Felony for Allegedly Stealing $1 Cup of Soda From McDonald's

(Collier County Sheriff Dept.)

A Florida man was arrested and held on $6,500 bond after police in Collier County said he left a McDonald's without paying for a cup of soda valued at $1.

Mark Abaire, 52, had apparently asked staff at the Naples restaurant for a courtesy cup of water, but instead he allegedly filled the cup with soda from the soda fountain and sat outside of the restaurant, according to a story in the Naples Daily News which cited the police report of the Thursday incident.

Abaire allegedly refused to pay for the soda when he was asked to do so, refused to leave the restaurant and cursed at the manager, the Naples Daily News also reported.

Abaire, whose aliases include "Red" and  "Clown," has a long list of prior arrests, according to records from the Collier County Sheriff's Department.

He was charged with petty theft, trespassing and disorderly intoxication after the Thursday arrest, and sent to Collier County jail. Petty theft is usually a misdemeanor, but because Abaire has previous convictions for theft, the charge was upgraded to a felony. The trespassing and disorderly intoxication charges are misdemeanors.

Abaire could face five years in prison if he is convicted of the felony.

Records indicate Abaire will return to court on May 14.

Based on the cost of incarceration, wouldn't it make more sense give the guy a buck and send him back out on the street?  The amount of money and time it is costing the township, time the police and courts could be doing something else........what a crock!

 

Another Darwin theory example.........

Bay Area driver electrocuted after stopping to move downed power line

ASSOCIATED PRESS

.

SAN MATEO — The Pacific Gas and Electric Company says a man was electrocuted in San Mateo when he tried to move a downed power line.

The power line went down around 6:30 p.m. Friday. PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi said the unidentified man came across it while he was driving, got out of his vehicle and tried to move it off the street.

That's when he was electrocuted. He was taken to Stanford Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Guidi told the San Jose Mercury News (http://bit.ly/I0oHGR) that crews are investigating what caused the line to fall. It knocked out power to more than 3,000 residences.

All but 73 of the customers had their power back by 9:30 p.m.

I kind of remember that in grammar school a representative of our local utility Pacific Gas and Electricity came by and told us to never pick up a downed wire, for any reason. He also told us about flying Kites, (remember those) He then gave our little RedyKilowatt buttons to all the kids......

Perhaps this guy was sick that day.......................

One by One........

Strip Searches: The Supreme Court's Disturbing Decision

ADAM COHEN | Time.com

It might seem that in the United States, being pulled over for driving without a seat belt should not end with the government ordering you to take off your clothes and "lift your genitals." But there is no guarantee that this is the case -- not since the Supreme Court ruled this week that the Constitution does not prohibit the government from strip searching people charged with even minor offenses. The court's 5-4 ruling turns a deeply humiliating procedure -- one most Americans would very much like to avoid -- into a routine law enforcement tactic.

This case arose when a man named Albert Florence was pulled over by New Jersey state troopers while he was driving to his parents' house with his wife and young son. The trooper arrested him for failing to pay a fine -- even though, it turned out, he actually had paid the fine. Florence was thrown into the Essex County Correctional Facility, which has a strip search policy for all new arrestees

Florence -- who had not even violated the law -- was subjected to one of the more degrading interactions a citizen can have with his government. He was made to disrobe, lift his genitals for the guards to show that he was not hiding anything, and cough in a squatting position. Florence said he was strip searched twice.

After he was released, Florence sued, arguing that strip searches of people arrested for minor offenses violate the Fourth Amendment. There is a lot of support for the view that strip searches are an extreme measure that should only be used when the government has reason to believe the specific person they want to search is concealing weapons, drugs, or other contraband. The American Correctional Association -- the oldest and largest correctional association in the world -- has a standard saying that strip searches should only be used when there is individualized suspicion. Law enforcement groups -- including the U.S. Marshals Service and the Immigration and Custom Services -- adhere to this standard.

Many courts have said just what Florence argued -- that the Constitution prohibits strip searches of people arrested on minor offenses unless there is individualized suspicion. That includes at least seven U.S. Courts of Appeals -- the powerful federal courts that are just one rung below the Supreme Court. Ten states -- including Florida and Michigan -- actually make suspicionless strip searches illegal.

But the Supreme Court, by a 5-4, has now given its blessing to strip searches of people who are charged with minor crimes -- even if the government has no specific reason to believe they are concealing anything.

See there is a direction all of this stuff is going...........

Thought police are standing by.............

'Annoying, Offending' Language Online Would Be Crime Under Arizona Bill

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  'Annoying, Offending' Language Online Would Be Crime Under Arizona Bill (ABC New …

Distasteful comments and online insults are a mainstay of many social networks and online comment boards, but a new bill passed in Arizona could send people who "annoy or offend" to jail for up to six months.

House Bill 2549, which had bipartisan support, passed in the state's legislature and is awaiting one final vote on a minor "technical change" before the bill is sent to Gov. Jan Brewer.

The bill's sweeping language would severely inhibit First Amendment rights, David Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition in New York City, told ABCNews.com.

"Even in talk radio, saying 'I know this will offend my listeners' is a common practice. It's a tradition, speech that challenges the status quo," he said.

Horowitz said everything from Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a "slut" on his radio show to Sen. Al Franken's book, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" could be viewed as criminal acts if the bill becomes a law.

The bill states it would be a class one misdemeanor for anyone to "terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend" through electronic and digital devices. It does not provide definitions of the terms and what would be considered annoying or offensive.

In a letter to the governor, Horowitz urged a veto "to allow legislators to craft a narrower bill that addresses their concerns without infringing on the right of free speech."

It was a matter of time folks...................25 years after 1984

And they wonder why US taxes are so high?

Murtha Airport, brought to you by American taxpayers

By Jonathan Karl, Richard Coolidge & Sherisse Pham

The Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., is a prime example of taxpayer spending that refuses to die. Representative John Murtha steered some 150 million of taxpayer dollars to this eponymous airport over the last decade and despite the fact he died more than a year ago, the money keeps on coming.

Three years ago, we first visited the tiny airport, and found a monument to pork barrel spending: An airport with a $7 million air traffic control tower, $14 million hanger, and $18 million runway big enough to land any airplane in North America. For most of the day, the only thing this airport doesn't have is airplanes.

We flew there on one of three flights that arrive there daily, all of them from Washington D.C. About half the cost of every ticket, $100, is paid by American taxpayers, a subsidy Congress voted to renew just this past February.

The place had a shiny new luggage carousel, a state of the art tower, and some very bored air traffic controllers -- but very few passengers. The place is a tribute to the power of its namesake; everything from the reinforced runway to the radar facility to the new terminal, are all thanks to Democratic Congressman John Murtha, who died more than a year.

But the taxpayer subsidies that made his airport possible continue to flow. Since our visit, the Murtha airport has received from the federal government $559,476 in stimulus funds to rehab a back-up runway, $82,551 for air guidance signs, $226,638 to improve the taxiway, $19,412 wildlife hazard assessments, $95,950 and $62,325 to install weather reporting.

Which goes to show the power of a mighty Congressman can last long after he's gone.

Check out this video and see how the empty place has to be staffed....too!

When will it stop? Never....but that's just my opinion.