Eleven Year Old Handcuffed for Drawing "Stick Figures"

Going hand in hand with calling police on a seven year old is this. Is there something in the water the CIA isn't telling us about?

An 11-year-old Arvada boy was arrested and taken away in handcuffs for drawing stick figures in school, something his therapist told him to do.

 


"interfering with staff and students at an educational facility" By throwing away a stick figure drawing he'd made? And then arresting him at his home, leading him out in handcuffs, fingerprinting him and putting him in a jail cell. Where is Dr. Spock now that we really need him?

H/T Before it's news

Seven Year Old Charged With Crime for Toy Gun at School

From the zero tolerance equals zero common sense department:

A 7-year-old child allegedly shot a Nerf-style toy gun in his Hammonton, N.J., school Jan. 18. No one was hurt, but the pint-size softshooter now faces misdemeanor criminal charges.

Hammonton Police began an investigation into the “suspicious activity” at the Hammonton Early Childhood Education Center Jan. 18 after school officials alerted them to the incident.

The "gun" the child brought to school was a $5 toy gun, similar to a Nerf gun, that shoots soft ping pong type balls, according to the school's superintendent.

Hello? Any adults at this school? When a kid brings a toy to school, any toy that he's not supposed to have, you take it away from him and then either give it back at the end of the day or make his parent come in to claim it. You don't call the cops!!!

...Police charged the 7-year-old with possessing an imitation firearm in or on an education institution – a misdemeanor and a minor juvenile offense in New Jersey.

Are you telling me that the police have nothing better to do in New Jersey than to bring seven year olds into the criminal justice system for bringing the wrong toy to school? Sheesh!

More at John Lott

Berkeley Taxpayers To Pay for Sex-change? Financially Strapped SF School District Loans Money to Radio Station

Berkeley Taxpayers To Pay for Sex-change Surgery?

A proposal that would cover the cost of sex-change operations for city employees in Berkeley is set for a City Council vote Tuesday night.

Berkeley health insurance providers Kaiser Permanente and Health Net don't pay for gender-reassignment surgery under the city's current health plans. The City Council proposal would set aside an annual $20,000 fund for the procedure for city employees.

The benefit would allow employees to collect the money before the sex-change operation, which can cost up to $50,000. The money would be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis each year.

To receive a payout from the fund, employees would have to have lived as the opposite sex for at least one year and undergone hormone therapy. They also would have to have worked for the city at least a year.

And here I thought California's economy was in trouble!

In a related story, San Francisco School district loans money to radio station:

SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT noncommercial KALW/SAN FRANCISCO is receiving a loan of up to $200,000 from the school district to keep the station operating through financial difficulties. The SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE reports that the board voted unanimously to provide the station with a line of credit, despite financial woes for the school system itself.

These are your tax dollars at work, friends. Those of you outside of California should be bailing us out any time now, since we represent the acme of fiscal responsibility.

And I mean "Acme" in the full Wile E. Coyote/ Roadrunner sense of the word!

Cross posted at LCR.

On the Denair Flag Controversy

Nothing like "Old Glory" to prime the pump of discussions over what it means to be an American. I've been keeping my powder dry over this latest controversy in Denair, California, over whether or not Cody Alicea could fly the American flag on his bicycle on school grounds.
Just last May, you might recall, California students were sent home for wearing American flag t-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. This seemed to be just more of the same.



First of all, for those of you contemplating home schooling, go with your gut. A lot of indoctrination takes place in lieu of actual learning in government schools. That a 13-year-old boy would be more cognizant of his Constitutional rights than the educational establishment where he is putatively going to be educated is a sad state of affairs.

If the sight of the American flag is going to "cause trouble", then why not deal with the trouble makers? Has appeasement taken such a foothold in our public institutions that we are no longer able to take a stand and say, "This is what we believe. If that offends you, too bad"?

People who are proud of their ethnic heritage should be free to do so, but their freedom does not trump the freedom of others in the process. I sometimes like to call myself a Native American. I was born here. I have that right. My flag is the American flag. It is a part of my ethnic heritage and that of my children.

If the school district wants to ban students from bringing any other flag onto campus, be it Gadsden or Mexican, I don't have a problem with that. But the one they themselves display prominently in front of the school, that was once displayed prominently in every classroom, and allegiance pledged to it on a daily basis, should be exempt from any arbitrary rules as long as this nation stands.

If anyone abuses the flag, then deal with the abuse. Did you notice in the video the care with which he correctly folded his flag? If not, go back and watch it again.

Cody Alicea and others like him, are the hope for the future of our country. The Neville Chamberlain wing of the educational establishment needs to learn that.

BTW, according to a report on KTXL last night, the school district is saying that this was a "misunderstanding". I'll say!

Video via Fleece Me