Nooze of the Day

[elfs]

By now you should be aware of the Boyd County, GA, school board's campaign to eliminate the Gay/Straight Alliance from their schools. In March, a judge sided with the ACLU and ordered the school to treat the GSA club as it would any student organization.

The school board has now reforumlated their policy on school clubs such that there are now two kinds of clubs: those that "advance the curriculum of the schools" and those that do not. The latter may not meet during school hours or have a faculty representative, and may be compelled to pay "rental fees" on the school property they use.

Athletic clubs, cheerleading, and "academically oriented" clubs are all curricular. Only one club currently at Boyd County schools falls into the "non-curricular" category. Guess which one.

The school board has actually had the chutzpah to ask the judge to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that its current policy is "uniform and non-discriminatory."

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technoshaman will find this one of interest: a hunter from Texas flew to Alaska for caribou season and mananged to score. When he got home, he found a nasty shock: the TSA had cut open the strapping tape holding shut two wet-lock boxes full of carefully handled, carefully packaged caribou roasts, steaks and burger and left a preprinted form from the TSA informing him his airline baggage had been "inspected."

Said hunter David Williams: "I don't know if the meat was stacked on the floor during the 'prohibited item search.' Was any of it swabbed by chemicals for explosive detection? Did any bomb-sniffing dogs lick the caribou meat? Did the TSA inspectors wear new, previously unused rubber latex gloves while handling our tenderloins, or had they just finished handling someone's dirty underwear?"

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A school principal at a predominantly black public school in Tennesee had a fit when she saw how some students had dressed for their "graduation" from middle school. She denied several of them the right to participate in the ceremony.

Was it gang clothes? Low-cut jeans or tummy-revealing tunics? No, it was suits and ties for the boys, formal dresses for the girls. The principal felt they were "overdressed" and told one boy he "looked like a pimp." Several parents were "escorted off the premises" by police after the principal felt their protests were becoming loud and unruly. The parents are consulting lawyers.

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So much for free trade. The Commerce Department has redefined the popular term "catfish" to refer to a single species, Ictaluridae, and all other catfish must use a different term. It has also redefined Vietnam as a "non-market economy," meaning "although we have no evidence that there is a policy of subsidization going on that would lead to unfair advantages, we're going to assume that something is going on anyway," and has slapped Vietnamese catfish farmers with huge tariffs.

I'm much more of a Republican than I am a Democrat, but everything I read about the current administration leads me to a simple decision: my vote will be for Anyone But Bush.

Comments

[fallenpegasus]

Regarding the TSA

In a recent issue of "Parachutest" magazine, a jumper was outraged to discover that the TSA had opened her rig, broken open the "it is a felony to break this seal" FAA riggers seal on her reserve, knotted up her cables, wadded up her canopies, and WORST OF ALL, had cut her emergency reserve ripcord in such a way that was not visible to a standard inspection.

[jenk]

I assume she's filed a complaint with the FAA against the TSA?

The TSA isn't inspecting cargo. Why aren't more people using FedEx to get their baggage where they need it to go?

[jenk]

BTW: Not that I would expect the FAA to *do* anything to the TSA. But it would be interesting to see how the FAA rationalizes this affront to its authority.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

That parachute story is frightening, and has echoes of a murder case from nearby, at Hibaldstow. A guy was killed when his parachute was sabotaged, key components being cut where it wouldn't show. So the formation in the competition breaks up, the guy's main chute doesn't open, and the reserve chute comes free of the harness....

There's a whole stack of possible criminal charges, not just to do with breaking the FAA seal, against whoever checked the parachute. You might not be able to make Attempted Murder stick, but do you want somebody like that responsible for any part of airline security.

[jenk]

Ah, but remember: neither the TSA nor the airlines take any responsibility in case of theft or damage to anything in checked baggage.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I'm talking about the lethally incompetent scumbag who cut that cord, not about the liability of the organistation for accidents.

And just imagine how an airline would react to parachutists taking their safety equipment as carry-on luggage. Heck, they could wear a lot of it.

[jenk]

I'm talking about the lethally incompetent scumbag who cut that cord, not about the liability of the organistation for accidents.

Do you know who cut the cord? And how do you prove who cut the cord? Both the TSA's people and the airline's baggage handlers had access; that's why neither takes responsiblity for any damage.

I'm not saying that calling the cops would be a Bad Thing. I'm all for calling the FAA, at least. And I'm with you on the carry-on luggage. I haven't flown since 9/11 BECAUSE of all the security abuses, and I can say that if I do fly in the future I'll probably have nothing but take-on.

FedEx is your friend.

TSA stuff:

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I'm a paralegal and a student. I cannot give you legal advice. Consult a lawyer.

Generally disclaimers such as those made by the TSA here are very hard to make stick in court. US courts do not like to leave someone without a manner of redressing wrongs done to them.

Another problem with disclaimers like this is that they aren't a result of free bargaining. For example, when you go skiing and use the lift there's usually a disclaimer denying responsibility in the event of injury while using the lift. This sort of thing wouldn't hold up in court because the only way to deny this provision was to not use the service at all. Unfair bargaining power.

Also, in situations where there is the threat of bodily harm it is generally accepted that there can be no such waiver.

What this means is that (assuming the judge is not cowed by the current administration) the TSA *is* legally liable for the damages to the parachute and the locker of meat (fair market value of equivalent meat and expenses sounds fair to me) and for any items they damage in their searches.

As an ex-Boeing employee who's group worked closely with the FAA (boy did *they* make upper management jump!) I'd be real interested to hear how they feel about messing with something in their authority.

Re: TSA stuff:

[jenk]

Generally disclaimers such as those made by the TSA here are very hard to make stick in court.

Given all the TSA screw-up stories I've been reading about, I've been waiting for someone to sue. The problem is that many people assume they can't fight the feds.

And yes, I'd be very interested to see how the FAA would react to the TSA violating it's authority...not to mention local law enforcement authorities.

[fallenpegasus]

I'm even less of a Democrat and more of a Republican than you are, and I find myself, to my amazement, leaning towards Dean.

If he can convience me that he can stick to his past behavior of telling the redistributionist factions and the ban-guns factions in his party to get lost and get bent, it's entirely possible he will get my vote.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but Dean's a redistributionist himself, at least in one regard: "I want to get everyone into the healthcare system first and then we can argue about how to reform it." Interview with The Nation (http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20030331&s=corn)

Benjamin Ficus

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

A few elections ago, someone started a campaign to run a ficus plant in each state, for various offices, not just President. Each plant had to be old enough to hold the office in question. The general campaign slogan was "Because a plant can do no harm". Sometimes I wish we did have President Ficus.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

I think you're right about the Anybody But Bush thingy. Although two of these four are local issues, the other two are more than outrageous enough, and everybody who's paying attention knows that the TSA thing at least is the tip of the iceberg.... *sigh*

Oh, PuhlEEEZ!

[siouxiequeue.livejournal.com]

Pleeeeeze don't start saying "anyone but Bush" - in my book, that's just as bad as the one I kept hearing in the last election "it's all the same - they're not that much different" ... that one sounded like an overstatement, this one makes my hair stand up .... we need BETTER than Bush, pleasepleasepleaseplease.....

Re: Oh, PuhlEEEZ!

[omahas.livejournal.com]

That's right. After all, we could end up with someone like Jerry Springer for president! Bleah!

Re: Oh, PuhlEEEZ!

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you're right, but while we're at it, can we find us a candidate who will run against Bush who doesn't want to tax our wallets flat nor essentially prohibit private-payer healthcare? That was what we had last time for opposition....

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

The trouble with "anybody but . . . ." is that we can easily get too divided. We need to find a strong candidate and get hir enough support to actually challenge Bush.

BTW - Elfs, after my readings this afternoon I've decided to put you on my regular reading list. You've got lots of interesting things here.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

I'm a lot less of a Republican than you or fallenpegasus. I tend to be a combination of Libertarian, Green, and Democrat.

And unless you hate the Constitution, would rather live in a police state, and think lying and covering things up is just fine if it's done in the name (and maybe ONLY the name) of "public safety", we have to get Bush out next year.

I want my country back, damn it.