DAILY NEWS, APRIL 13th, 2010

DAILY NEWS - APRIL 13th, 2010

DATELINE: ALABAMA – Erica DeRamus was all set to attend her senior prom. She had the hair done, the shoes, the dress. But when she arrived at the prom, she was told her dress did not comply with the school dress code. DeRamus was aware of the code, and believed that her dress complied, that it wasn’t too short, that it wasn’t that revealing. Now, what from the pictures available, I would probably agree with her, but I am not privy to the school dress code. That is not really my issue. Here is my fucking issue: the young woman – and yes, she is a young woman – was given the option of being paddled by the principal OR taking a three-day suspension. Of the 300+ students at the prom, 18 were given the same option for the same infraction. 17 of them accepted the corporal punishment as opposed to having the suspension on their file. Now, I realize that I might be a tad old-fashioned, but I cannot help to think that apart from it being just fucking WRONG to allow this sort of corrective action at a school under ANY circumstance, that for a man in a position of authority to apply such correction to young women is incredibly disturbing and, well, just plain fucking sick. I am sorry, but a paddling of this nature crosses the boundary between inappropriate sexual harassment and sexual abuse because it is simply NOT something that a school principal does to young women unless he is wanting to get his fucking jolly off. For starters, the policy needs to be replaced. Then, if I was a parent with a child in that school, I would be demanding a fuckin review of just who the hell this man is ‘paddling’, what the infractions were, and just why the hell he chooses this specific penalty for his female students. Sorry, the whole thing smacks of him being nothing more than a sick fucking bastard who has no business around children of any age.

DATELINE: CONNECTICUT – Speaking of sick fucking bastards… in Connecticut, the State legislature called for the removal of the statute of limitations regarding the sexual assault of a child. I am at a loss to understand why there would be any statute of limitations on a crime of this nature, but I congratulate the people of Connecticut for making the long-overdue change. Apparently, however, the Catholic Church does not feel the same way about the change, and in fact has lobbied intensely for their parishioners to voice their disapproval. Is this because they feel the change targets them? How the hell can they in good conscience dare to oppose a law that is intended strictly for the protection of the most vulnerable in our society, the children? Here is what pisses me off about THIS – I have not heard ANYONE ever say that pedophilia is limited ONLY to the Catholic Church, and I fully accept that the issues of pedophilia have no logic or proven connection to the taking of a vow of celibacy. I DO have a HUGE fucking issue with the Church claiming that this is how society perceives them. No, the issue is NOT that they are Catholic, but rather that what they did was wrong, that they illegally and systematically hid the facts that crimes had been committed, that they continued on with their ‘holier than thou’ attitude towards their parishioners, that FAR TOO MANY within the church either committed the crimes or covered up the crimes to the total detriment of the victims, and then had the unmitigated gall to hide behind the fucking robe and plead that THEY are being persecuted. Unless and until the church acknowledges ALL that they have done, that they have hidden, that they have allowed to happen because of their fear of fucking scandal, unless and until they offer total validation to the hundreds, nay, thousands of victims, and unless and until they offer guaranteed assurances that NO other case will be allowed to be swept under the carpet, they will have this issue dogging them for one hell of a long time. Bishops in Connecticut, your complaints, your desperate need to interfere YET AGAIN in these laws, are something you should be incredibly fucking ashamed of.

DATELINE: ON A USED CAR LOT NEAR YOU -- Documents collected for upcoming Toyota investigations and legal suits show that the company has known since 2004 about the problems with their accelerators in several models. In some incidences shown, the company was aware that, if tested or pushed, they knew some aspects of the vehicles would not pass Canadian safety standards, but still they worked hard to hide the facts and sell the damned cars. It would seem that they did this with absolutely no regard to anything but their reputation and their bottom line, and to hell with the lives that might be destroyed because of their inaction. It is hoped that, among other things, the all-important Chi factor comes back to bite Mr. Toyoda in the ass; it flows in both directions, and has a way of knowing who is deserving. Law-ignoring, money-grubbing, corporate bigwigs who make victims of their every customer are NOT deserving of that awesome chi flow.

DATELINE: MONTREAL – After five weeks in a government-offered language class for immigrants to Canada, a 25-year-old immigrant from India was expelled… because she wore a niqab to school. Take a minute. Think about the irony of this. A class, offered by the Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities is denied to a woman who was fully qualified to be in the class, and had been for over a month, because she chose to exercise her cultural beliefs. She was given an option… remove the veil or be expelled. This is the second time a woman has been expelled from the school for wearing a niqab. The truly distressing aspect of this, as well as the proposed legislation before the Quebec provincial government that would refuse any woman in a niqab ALL access to government services, is that there are actually people out there who support this, while still embracing their passion for democracy and our always supreme tolerance of others. It’s enough to make me puke. If a woman chooses to embrace her religion, that is her fucking business, and the government has no business butting in. When you are prepared to ban the nun’s habit, then feel free to start on other religions as well, but until you aim the legislation at ALL religions and cultures, of course under the bullshit guise of freeing them of oppression, then this whole thing is nothing more than sexist religion persecution, and is completely shameful.

DATELINE: CUBA – For the first time since 1968, Cubans will be able to get a haircut in a non-government barber chair. In a huge move towards the always-dreaded capitalism, all barbers and hair dressers in shops with three seats or less, will be privatized, allowing for private ownership, the payment of taxes, and no more government monthly wage. Can corner hot-dog stands be far away for the streets of Havana?