The word 'obese' is banned from letters to parents of fat children in case it upsets them

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 7:07 PM on 17th December 2008

Ministers banned the word 'obese' on letters to the parents of fat children - because focus groups did not like it, England's chief medical officer said today.

Professor Liam Donaldson revealed that the term was replaced on letters to parents by 'very overweight' over fears it would upset and stigmatise fat children.

Writing on the BBC News website he said obesity had become a taboo word or an 'O word'.

The Department of Health announced in August that for the first time parents would be routinely informed if their child was clinically overweight.

Children are weighed on entering primary school (at age four or five) and in their final year (aged 10 or 11) as part of the National Child Measurement Programme.

Parents can opt out of having their child weighed if they wish, but the vast majority do not.

Letters are then sent out to make parents aware of potential problems with their child's weight so they go and see their doctor about it if needed.

But Professor Donaldson said that in the planning stage, a 'stumbling block' was the wording of the feedback letter.

'At an earlier stage, some child health professionals had argued against the idea of a school-based weighing and measuring scheme because it would stigmatise overweight or obese children and lead them to being bullied.

'When the letter was field-tested with parents in focus group interviews there was a clear message that the term "obese" was unpopular. They felt they were being personally blamed for their child's health, and that their child would be "labelled for life".

'The majority of these parents felt that using the term "very overweight" in combination with the associated health risks was a better approach. Suddenly, we had stepped on eggshells.'

He added: 'Obesity has become the new cancer. A word that is taboo, that intimidates, strikes fear, that promoted softer euphemisms. In effect it has become an "O" word.

At the time, the National Obesity Forum described the Government's decision not to use the word obese as 'prissy and namby pamby'.

Professor Donaldson said it was not just children who appeared not to like being branded obese.

He recounted a meeting in 2006 which was held to discuss action on obesity. He described it as 'downbeat', with people saying very little.

'After the meeting broke up, one person crept back into the room and whispered to me: "We couldn't talk about it properly because someone obese was in the room",' he recalled.

'Today, the word obesity arouses deep feelings and provokes strong opinions. It influences in ways that can't always be predicted.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1096945/The-O-word-The-word-obese-banned-letters-parents-fat-children-case-upsets-them.html

50% - The lowest grade students can receive

Pittsburgh schools may change grading policy

by The Associated Press

Thursday December 11, 2008, 6:58 AM

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Public Schools officials may change a policy that makes 50 percent the lowest grade students can receive -- even if they do zero work.

The policy is meant to help students recover from a bad grade or the odd missed assignment. But the district's teachers complain that some students refuse to hand in assignments because they're content to get the "50 percent" grade for doing nothing.

Proponents of the policy say students who aren't given a chance to recover from low grades lose incentive to improve them. But critics say the policy coddles lazy students and undercuts the district's "Excellence for All" campaign to improve student performance.

Officials expect to tweak the policy, which they say is used in other districts, but not abandon it entirely.

THE WUSSIFICATION OF AMERICA

A school resource officer by the name of Derek Jones in a Massachusetts better be looking for another job. You see, Derek had the idea that government school children need to be trained to defend themselves if they are ever being held by a gunman. Common sense and government schools don't mix very well .. and I'm afraid Derek may learn the hard way.

Naturally, his idea didn't go over too well. His proposal was to teach children fifth grade and up (that's about 10 years old) to fight back against a gunman than came into the classroom. They would learn techniques on how to use their backpacks or textbooks to fight or defend themselves.

Derek says, "Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?" Boy, isn't that the painful truth? Most parents don't want to answer that question. Instead, they are worried about how the children would handle the training emotionally. It may frighten them!

Protecting yourself from an attack? Is this guy nuts? Doesn't he know that the standard practice in any school - right up to and through college - is to sit there and wait for your turn to be attacked?

Needless to say, I don't think government school children in Massachusetts will be getting this training any time soon.

------------------------------------------------

Controversy Erupts Over School Proposal to Teach Kids to Fight Back Against Gunmen

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A proposal to teach children as young as 10 years old to fight back against a classroom gunman is causing quite a stir in a small town in Massachusetts.

The Georgetown Public Schools in Georgetown, Mass., are considering a proposal to teach kids to fend off a gunman with backpacks or textbooks as part of a proposal to revamp their "Code Blue" safety policy.

Those who support the idea say it may seem extreme, but it could save a child's life.

Georgetown Police Chief James E. Mulligan told FOXNews.com the proposed technique was intended to be a "last ditch" thing to be used in cases where a gunman has been able to thwart police and get inside a classroom alone with students.

But others think the last thing you want to teach young kids is how to fight off an intruder with a gun.

"To put that expectation on young, emotional, scared, frightened children is really a slippery slope," says Kenneth Trump, the president of National School Safety and Security Services. "It has a high risk and higher probability of escalating a situation than it would to neutralize the situation."

The controversy began when the district's school resource officer, Derek Jones, proposed the training in a memo after hearing it had been used in schools in Florida.

"[He] was starting the conversation with us to say, well, ‘Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?'" Carol Jacobs, the district superintendent, told FOXNews.com.

"It might include using a book or hiding behind a backpack or something, some kind of shield."

Jacobs said the proposal to teach kids in fifth grade and up how to ward off armed attackers in a worst-case scenario created some concern among administrators.

"We had immediate discomfort with all of this because it’s not the way we’ve thought about it in the past, and also, we worry a little bit more about the liability of all of this," she said.

Jones' memo was intended only for school officials updating the school safety policy in Georgetown, a coastal community north of Boston, but it was leaked to the media before the district's safety committee could even discuss it, leading to concern among parents.

"A lot of kids come from unsafe places at home, and school is their only haven, you know, and for them to come into school and have to think about that stuff I think can be scary," parent Hope Carter told MyFOXBoston.com.

Barbie Linares, who has three children in the district, including a 10-year-old, said she has confidence in how the school administration deals with proposals.

"If it was going to be implemented, I would hope that it would be implemented in, say, fifth grade and above, or middle school and above," she told FOXNews.com. "I do think that it would be better off with the older kids."

Trump said it makes more sense to train school staff to deal with a gunman.

"We’re asking them to make some quite serious judgments that even trained adults are challenged to make," he said. "I think that’s an unrealistic and highly risky expectation and burden to put on kids."

Current policy, Mulligan said, is on par with districts across the country, allowing police to enter a school in lockdown and engage an attacker "to minimize the harm to children and staff in the school."

Officials say the Georgetown community is safe. The only recent activity was an unfounded bomb threat six months ago that lead to a school evacuation.

The safety committee plans to discuss the Code Blue proposals on Thursday.

"The intention here is just to make sure that we are always on the cutting edge of what we need to do to keep our kids safe and obviously to learn from lessons of tragedies in other places," Jacobs said.

Speed Rules apply to cops only.. Crooks be happy!

State police announce sweeping changes
Associated Press
2:06 PM CST, November 22, 2008

BELLEVILLE, Ill. - State Police Director Larry Trent announced Friday troopers must follow a four-tiered response system that limits how fast they can drive.

Under the first level, called a "code one," troopers are limited to following traffic laws. Officers operating under codes two and three can drive faster than the speed limit, but must call a supervisor before exceeding 20 miles over the speed limit.

And only supervisors can issue a "code red," directing troopers to drive as fast as necessary, with no limit, State Police Lt. Scott Compton said. Those cases will later be reviewed by a committee, he said.

The agency said Illinois is only the second state in the nation to restrict trooper speeds.

Troopers also will be required to use a handsfree device with cell phones. And state police policy now specifies that they cannot turn in-car video cameras off while responding to emergency calls.

The changes are a direct result of a car crash on Interstate 64 last November, Trent said. Trooper Matt Mitchell lost control of his cruiser while driving 126 mph, crossing the median and hitting head on a car carrying 18-year-old Jessica Uhl and her 13-year-old sister Kelli.

"I am convinced that emergency response driving, whether it is police, fire, or ambulance, must change," Trent said. "The long-standing culture of response at all costs is no longer acceptable within the Illinois State Police."

Before the public announcement Friday, Trent told the Uhls' mother, Kim Dorsey, of the changes during a meeting with her lawyer, Thomas Q. Keefe.

"If these new policies save lives, then Jessica and Kelli died so that lives could saved," Dorsey said. "Well, that's a great tribute to their lives."

Dorsey has filed a $24 million lawsuit against the state and state police in the Illinois Court of Claims.

A second lawsuit was filed last week against Mitchell by a Fayetteville couple who say they suffered leg injuries in the multiple pileup caused by the trooper's crash with the Uhls' car.

State police have relieved 29-year-old Mitchell of duty and he isn't receiving worker's compensation. He's scheduled to stand trial early next year on two charges of reckless homicide in St. Clair County Circuit Court. He has pleaded not guilty.

NYC Churches Ordered Not To Shelter Homeless

NEW YORK (CBS) ― City officials have ordered 22 New York churches to stop providing beds to homeless people.

With temperatures well below freezing early Saturday, the churches must obey a city rule requiring faith-based shelters to be open at least five days a week -- or not at all.

Arnold Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, a nonprofit that serves as a link with the city, said he had to tell the churches they no longer qualify.

He said hundreds of people now won't have a place to sleep.

The Department of Homeless Services said the city offers other shelters with the capacity to accept all those who have been sleeping in the churches. The city had 8,000 beds waiting.

Last year, four unsheltered homeless people died in the city during cold weather, so three dozen emergency outreach teams were prepped to respond to reports of homeless people outdoors or in the subways.

"We really don't want people sleeping on the streets, on grates, on church steps. We want people sleeping in beds," said Homeless Commissioner Robert Hess.

The homeless can be coaxed indoors but not forced unless their life is in danger.

Pasco Man Jailed After Trying To Save Pets As Home Burns

By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2008

ZEPHRYHILLS - Henry Ben Morgan wanted to save his pets.

Instead, he ended up in handcuffs and at least three dogs and a cat perished in the blaze that destroyed his home.

Just before 11 a.m. today, firefighters were called to 35615 Chester Drive and arrived 12 minutes later, finding the home engulfed in flames.

At some point, Morgan's wife arrived, followed by Morgan a few minutes later, said Pasco Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Mike Ciccarello.

Morgan started running for the house. Sheriff's deputies and firefighters yelled for him to stay back, but he kept going toward a window.

Deputies and firefighters, according to a report, restrained him so he could not jump through the window and into the blaze.

Morgan, 41, was forcibly removed from the scene, the report states, and was arrested on charges of obstructing the extinguishment of a fire, a felony, and resisting arrest without violence, a misdemeanor, respectively.

He was being held at the Land O' Lakes Jail this evening. Bail was set at $5,150.

About 20 firefighters continued fighting the one-alarm fire but couldn't save the animals or the home, Ciccarello said.

"It looks like a total loss," he said.

The family of five, including two teenage girls and a 7-year-old boy, are being helped by the American Red Cross.

The fire began between a garage-turned-bedroom and a utility room in the small ranch home. The cause was a worn extension cord that had been run under a door, Ciccarello said.

No one was injured.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

Boy suspended for using broken pencil sharpener

HILTON HEAD ISLAND -- A 10-year-old boy here has been suspended from school for having something most students carry in their supply boxes: a pencil sharpener.

The problem was his sharpener had broken, but he decided to use it anyway.

A teacher at Hilton Head Island International Baccalaureate Elementary School noticed the boy had what appeared to be a small razor blade during class on Tuesday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff's report.

It was obvious that the blade was the metal insert commonly found in a child's small, plastic pencil sharpener, the deputy noted.

The boy -- a fourth-grader described as a well-behaved and good student -- cried during the meeting with his mom, the deputy and the school's assistant principal.

He had no criminal intent in having the blade at school, the sheriff's report stated, but was suspended for at least two days and could face further disciplinary action.

District spokesman Randy Wall said school administrators are stuck in the precarious position between the district's zero tolerance policy against having weapons at school and common sense.

"We're always going to do something to make sure the child understands the seriousness of having something that could potentially harm another student, but we're going to be reasonable," he said.

-- The (Hilton Head) Island Packet

$13,000 to power 19 light bulbs

Wind turbine plan spins out of control
By Edward Mason and Mike Underwood
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Updated 1d 3h ago

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The Menino administration is turning red over efforts to go green as the bungled installation of a wind turbine on City Hall’s roof is running up a bill for taxpayers - all to create enough electricity to power just 19 lightbulbs.

Making matters worse: City officials may have inadvertently violated bidding laws in the scramble to get the little turbine engine spinning.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s Environment and Energy chief James Hunt said the windmill project is “definitely worth doing.”

“The energy may be small, but to showcase the potential of renewable energy in the city of Boston is far more significant,” he said.

The turbine - set to be turned on next week - was donated in January by Arizona-based Southwest Windpower.

But what was intended to be a cost-neutral proposition has turned into anything but, with City Hall running up a $13,000 tab getting the wind turbine installed.

The city had trouble securing the turbine to the roof, which is made of concrete reinforced with steel, Hunt said. The turbine also had to be on a hinge so city engineers could safely repair and maintain it.

Hunt said a $5,000 grant from a Somerville energy company, Excelerate Energy, will be used to to offset some of the expense, leaving taxpayers with about an $8,000 tab.

“Anytime you’re dealing with installation in City Hall, there are always challenges,” he said.

With 6-foot-long blades, the turbine is a tenth the size of the IBEW Local 103 turbine visible from the Expressway.

The Skystream 3.7, 1.9-kilowatt turbine produces enough power to run 19 100-watt lightbulbs, said Michael French, a Southwest Windpower spokesman.

Hunt said it generates the energy used by two average Boston homes - but added that the device’s true value is measuring the effectiveness of a wind turbine in an urban setting.

Southwest Windpower said the turbine costs between $12,000 and $18,000 to install. State bidding laws require project’s costing more than $10,000 to be put out for a competitive bid, to ensure the city pays a fair price.

Jeff Conley of the Boston Finance Commission, a city watchdog, said he’s a stickler for complying with the bidding laws but that he doesn’t have a problem with the way the city handled the project.

“They made a judgment around the cost,” Conley said. “They made a mistake.”

The turbine is a small piece of the city’s promotion of alternative energy. The city is investigating placing wind turbines at up to six public schools.

Let the kids run around, it is just and exam...

A government school teacher in Oregon taped students to their desks ... oops, I mean taped an imaginary line around students' desks. Same thing, according to the government educated.

Teacher uses masking tape to keep unruly kids in their seats
Police said reports that she taped kids to their seats were unfounded; she just taped out a boundary line

March 22, 2008 6:00 AM

A Phoenix Elementary teacher is on paid administrative leave after she allegedly put masking tape around the periphery of four students' armchair desks last week to keep them in order during state exams.

An investigation by Phoenix police found the teacher committed no crime in her unusual method of discipline.

"The report came in that the students were taped to their desks," said Phoenix police Lt. Derek Bowker. "That was unfounded."

Bowker said the students were being unruly and running around the classroom at the time. The teacher used the tape to show the children their boundaries, he said.

Phoenix-Talent schools officials continue to investigate the matter. They expect the investigation to conclude shortly after spring break.

Officials said they put employees on paid administrative leave when ever they receive a report involving the possible inappropriate treatment of children.

"We always put the interest of children first," said Cally McKenzie, Phoenix-Talent schools human resources director. "It doesn't mean we think the teacher is guilty."

The incident was also reported to the Oregon Department of Human Services Child Welfare division, per district policy.

GOING GREEN ... PAYING TAXES

Here we go again. Seattle is vying to become the greenest city in America by instituting fines on foam and taxes on paper and plastic bags. Politicians are calling it the "green fee." They want to charge you a 20-cent-per-bag fee along with completely outlawing foam food containers. This means that every grocery, convenience and drug store in Seattle would be forced to charge this fee. Eventually restaurants won't even be able to use plastic food containers if they can't be recycled. Restaurants will be forced to find alternative egg cartons, meat trays, plates, "clamshells" and cups. In other words, it is going to be a big headache for business owners.

The big question here is ... how will all this tax revenue be spent? Oh goody! The fees would generate about $10 million a year. It will be spent on ... administering and enforcing the rules that require collection of the fees. Wow, now there's a great use of tax money. It will also be used to promote reusable bags; another great use of your tax money – a government campaign telling you which products you can and cannot use.

Seattle is excited because Ireland imposed fees on plastic bags back in 2002, and plastic bag use has dropped 90% since then. Nothing like government regulations to tell you how to live your life.

Paper or plastic? You may pay 20 cents either way
Some plastic, foam containers would be banned under proposal by mayor, council president

By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER

Seattle could trump even the greenest of American cities with fines on foam and taxes on bags -- both paper and plastic, city politicians say.

Seattle would impose a 20-cent-per-bag "green fee" and outlaw foam food containers next year under a proposal announced Wednesday. Aiming to persuade Seattleites to ditch disposable bags, the city hopes to send a free reusable bag to every Seattle household, Mayor Greg Nickels said.

"No other city has done what we're suggesting here," Nickels said. "These actions will take tons of plastic and foam out of our waste stream. ... The best way to handle a ton of waste is not to create it in the first place."

Eventually, Seattle restaurants also would be forbidden from using plastic food containers that can't be recycled or composted, according to rules being developed by Nickels and City Council President Richard Conlin.

Some major questions about the policies remain -- from political differences over how to spend the taxes to outstanding technical dilemmas.

If adopted by the council, the fee would apply to disposable bags distributed at grocery, convenience and drug stores. The polystyrene foam ban would force restaurants and stores to find alternative egg cartons, meat trays, plates, "clamshells" and cups.

The foam and bag rules would go into effect Jan. 1. The plastic food container restrictions would be implemented July 2010.

"It's a big symbolic step, but it's also a very concerted step in the right direction," Conlin said.

The grocery bag fees would generate about $10 million a year, according to Seattle Public Utilities. The money would be used to administer and enforce the rules, to buy and promote reusable bags, and to expand recycling, environmental education and waste prevention programs.

But Conlin has another idea: He would like some of that money to go to garbage rate reductions. The difference will be resolved politically, after Seattle utility and legal officials draft the legislation and present it to the council. That is expected to happen next month.

Seattle consumers use 360 million disposable bags each year, according to Seattle Public Utilities. About 73 percent of them come from grocery, drug and convenience stores, Nickels said. Most are plastic, and most wind up in landfills.

But paper bags are even worse for the environment, once you factor in the tolls of logging and shipping the bags, officials said. That is why the fee would apply to both, they said.

San Francisco prohibited supermarkets from using plastic bags in December. City leaders there gave out several thousand free reusable bags made of scrap cloth, officials said.

Seattle, too, has been handing out free reusable bags in recent months. The more than 5,000 bags the city bought are made of polypropylene, not recycled materials or the especially environmentally friendly cotton canvas, officials said. But they are recyclable and cost considerably less than some alternatives.

"Our decision was (based on) getting as many into the hands of people as we could," said Alex Fryer, spokesman for the city's Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Seattle officials considered banning disposable bags outright, Conlin said. "The problem with a ban is that all it does is leave people without a choice," he said.

Many agree an across-the-board fee is a better approach. Ireland imposed a fee on plastic bags in 2002. Since then, plastic bag use has dropped 90 percent, Seattle officials said.

"If you're trying to reduce bags, that's the way to go," said Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San Francisco environmental department. San Francisco officials considered a surcharge, but California law prohibits such fees, he said.

A lobbyist for Washington retailers said he would withhold judgment on the plan until he had a chance to run it by members of his group.

"If the consumer says, 'I'm not excited about paying 20 cents per bag when I go shopping,' that is probably going to be an issue for us," said Mark Johnson, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Retail Association. "If they're saying, 'No big deal,' it might not be an issue."

Some grocers already promote the use of reusable bags. For example, Thriftway gives a nickel back to customers who bring their own bags.

"I don't know if consumers know how much plastic and paper bags cost," said Josh Angle, store director of the Magnolia Thriftway. Paper bags cost at least 13 cents each, plastic bags cost about 9 cents.

At the PCC store near Green Lake Wednesday, the idea of answering the question of "paper or plastic?" with "cloth" seemed entirely Seattle to Wendy Asbury. Asbury switched to cloth bags when she moved here eight months ago, she said.

"I'm from the Southwest, where everything is about gluttony and waste," she said. "That's what I loved about moving here; everything is so 'green.' "

But there were opponents, too, and the proposal set off a debate between friends in the PCC parking lot.

Jenn Young said encouraging people to use cloth seemed less onerous than penalizing them with the fee.

"I disagree," responded Naomi Fujinaka. "I've been bringing my cloth bag for 25 years."

Young said: "It might be hard on families. If you have a family of six with four kids, and you go shopping once a week and you have 10 grocery bags, that can get to be a lot of money."

"Then you'll know to bring your bag next time," Fujinaka said. "We really have to change our behavior."

For every 20-cent bag fee collected by Seattle, most stores would be allowed to keep 5 cents to cover administrative costs and taxes. (The fee itself would be subject to the state sales tax.) Small stores -- those collecting less than $1 million in gross revenues each year -- would be allowed to keep the entire 20 cents.

Grocers would be required to explicitly list the fee on receipts.

More than 20 cities have banned polystyrene foam packaging at restaurants and other business, including Portland, Ore. After more than 20 years of foam-free fast food services, Portlanders are accustomed to the eco-friendlier alternatives, said Cynthia Fuhrman of the Portland Office of Sustainable Development.

"I think it's just a given -- people have just accepted it," Fuhrman said.

CITY'S PLAN AT A GLANCE

BAGS

PROPOSED: A 20-cent green fee on disposable shopping bags, both paper and plastic.

WHERE: Grocery, drug and convenience stores.

WHEN: To begin Jan. 1.

EXEMPT: Bags used inside stores to contain bulk items, bags for prepared food, newspaper and dry-cleaner bags.

WHY: Seattleites use 360 million disposable paper and plastic shopping bags every year. Almost 240 million end up in the garbage. That's close to 4 percent of all residential garbage, by volume. This will save 4,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, the same as taking 665 cars off the road.

FOAM

PROPOSED: A ban on the use of expanded polystyrene (sometimes called Styrofoam) containers and cups.

WHERE: All food service businesses, including some of the foam packaging used in grocery stores, such as meat trays and egg cartons.

WHEN: To begin Jan. 1.

PLASTICS

PROPOSED: Switch from one-time-use, disposable plastic and plastic-coated paper food and beverage containers and utensils to fully compostable and recyclable substitutes.

WHERE: All food service businesses.

WHEN: By July 1, 2010.

DOUBLE TAXING THE RICH

According to lawmakers in Illinois, being "rich" means that you (and your spouse) make at least $250,000. And because you are so lucky to be wealthy, the lawmakers want to DOUBLE income taxes on the wealthy. The current tax plan taxes everyone at a rate of 3%, but lawmakers want to increase that to 6% for those evil rich. They say the change would generate $3 billion annually. The money will be split equally between funding for government education, government-sponsored construction and tax relief for those less fortunate.

Translate: One-third of the tax increase for teacher's unions who, of course, vote Democrat. One-third of the tax increase for construction projects that will be handled, of course, by union contractors who support Democrats; and one-third of the money to be "redistributed" to lower income people who, of course, vote Democrat.

Now this tax increase would affect 107,000 people in Illinois, which is about 5% of its population. Democrat Mike Smith is the genius who concocted this plan. He believes that no one else would have reason to campaign against this proposal, other than those 107,000 ... that's because government bureaucrats like Mike Smith believe you to be stupid and unable to understand the implications of this policy. He believes it is the government's role to redistribute the wealth and it is the government's role to decide how that wealth is redistributed.

Oh, the evil rich. Let's just kill the greedy bastards and get it over with.

Double state taxes for the rich?
By John Patterson | Daily Herald Staff

SPRINGFIELD -- A state lawmaker wants voters to decide if people making more than $250,000 a year should have their Illinois income tax doubled, with the billions of new dollars paying for education, roads and tax breaks for everyone else.

If successful in Springfield, the question would be put to voters in November. If voters endorse it, the current 3 percent state income tax rate would double to 6 percent for individuals and joint tax filers making more than a quarter-million dollars.

Colleagues have already dubbed downstate Democrat Rep. Mike Smith's plan the "Robin Hood referendum." State tax data shows 107,000 people in the state made more than $250,000. That's roughly 5 percent of all tax filers.

"Let's take from the rich and give to the poor," said state Rep. Joseph Lyons, a Chicago Democrat.

Supporters hope the other 95 percent -- who'd pay nothing more and could see upward of $300 in state tax breaks -- would swamp polling places to vote for this.

"I'm not sure who would campaign against this other than those 107,000," Smith said.

But some suburban lawmakers were quick to oppose the plan. Not surprisingly, the greatest concentration of top earners is in the Chicago and suburban region. Cook County had 45,146 tax filers reporting income over $250,000 in 2005.

The numbers in the other suburban counties were: DuPage County, 15,054; Lake County, 12,846; McHenry County, 5,449; Kane County, 4,558; and Will County, 2,693.

Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican, said the low, flat income tax is "one of the last good economic tools" in Illinois.

"We should not get sucked into class warfare," said Dillard, who estimated his own income would fall short of the $250,000 threshold.

Dillard was among the Republican lawmakers who, also on Thursday, unveiled their own economic plan that calls for rolling back state taxes on gasoline and businesses.

Illinois now has a flat, 3 percent income tax regardless of how much someone makes. The state constitution requires a flat rate regardless of income, so an amendment would be needed to create an upper-bracket tax.

Under this tax plan, the increase would generate nearly $3 billion annually to be split equally among education funding, state-sponsored construction and tax relief in the form of doubling the personal exemption for those making less than $250,000 annually.

The proposal comes as lawmakers are again considering plans that raise income taxes and expand sales taxes to come up with billions of new dollars for school funding. They're also considering new casinos and other gambling expansion to finance road, bridge and school construction.

But Smith said he believes those plans are hopelessly stalled, and putting the income tax before voters is a better option. A proposed constitutional amendment also would skip Gov. Rod Blagojevich's desk and go straight to voters.

Blagojevich has repeatedly vowed not to raise the state income or sales tax. He did, however, recently agree to a higher Chicago and suburban sales tax to bail out mass transit agencies.

Of the 40 states with an income tax, Illinois is one of seven charging all taxpayers a flat rate. Indiana similarly has a flat, 3.4 percent income tax rate.

Wisconsin has four tax brackets ranging from 4.6 percent to 6.75 percent, Iowa's tax rates cover nine brackets ranging from 0.36 percent to 8.98 percent, and Missouri's 10 income tax brackets range from a low of 1.5 percent to a high of 6 percent.

To make the November ballot, the proposed tax question would need House and Senate approval by May 4. Smith said he hopes for initial approval in the House as soon as next week.

Moonbat Teacher of the Month

A high school student in Wisconsin has filed a federal lawsuit against his art teacher for censoring his drawing because it included a cross and scriptural reference.

MADISON, Wis. — A Tomah High School student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his art teacher censored his drawing because it featured a cross and a biblical reference.

The lawsuit alleges other students were allowed to draw "demonic" images and asks a judge to declare a class policy prohibiting religion in art unconstitutional.

"We hear so much today about tolerance," said David Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal advocacy group representing the student. "But where is the tolerance for religious beliefs? The whole purpose of art is to reflect your own personal experience. To tell a student his religious beliefs can legally be censored sends the wrong message."

Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder said the district hadn't seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.

According to the lawsuit, the student's art teacher asked his class in February to draw landscapes. The student, a senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., added a cross and the words "John 3:16 A sign of love" in his drawing.

His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.

Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.

The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students' rights.

Jackson told the boy, his stepfather and his pastor at a meeting a week later that religious expression could be legally censored in class assignments. Millin stated at the meeting the cross in the drawing also infringed on other students' rights.

The boy received two detentions for tearing up the policy. Jackson referred questions about the lawsuit to Gaarder.

Sometime after that meeting, the boy's metals teacher rejected his idea to build a chain-mail cross, telling him it was religious and could offend someone, the lawsuit claims. The boy decided in March to shelve plans to make a pin with the words "pray" and "praise" on it because he was afraid he'd get a zero for a grade.

The lawsuit also alleges school officials allow other religious items and artwork to be displayed on campus.

A Buddha and Hindu figurines are on display in a social studies classroom, the lawsuit claims, adding the teacher passionately teaches Hindu principles to students.

In addition, a replica of Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Man" is displayed at the school's entrance, a picture of a six-limbed Hindu deity is in the school's hallway and a drawing of a robed sorcerer hangs on a hallway bulletin board.

Drawings of Medusa, the Grim Reaper with a scythe and a being with a horned head and protruding tongue hang in the art room and demonic masks are displayed in the metals room, the lawsuit alleges.

A.P. suffered unequal treatment because of his religion even though student expression is protected by the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday.

"Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate," the lawsuit said. "No compelling state interest exists to justify the censorship of A.P.'s religious expression."

Another way of saying it is students are expected to check their First Amendment rights at the school door. The teacher, Ms. Millin, required all students to sign a class policy that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in their artwork to prevent offending a student.

Yet, the school allows other religious items and artwork to be displayed on campus. For example, a Buddha and Hindu figurines are displayed prominently in the social studies classroom. I suppose Ms. Millin has never heard of the First Amendment and even if she has, her breathingist understanding that she can create her own version is flawed.

I know what the liberals will say: “But Nathan, if the tables were turned, you’d be applauding the Christian teacher for forbidding non-Christian artwork in the class.” First, I don’t know of any Christian teacher trampling the First Amendment rights of their students in such a way. And secondly, this is not new that Christians are the target of such attacks. No one can attack other religions for fear you’ll be struck dead. But since Christians don’t respond with suicide bombs, that justifies such an offense.

Not only are Christians instructed to not kill when offended, we are called to love our enemy and pray for their salvation. In this particular case, it is unfortunate that the family had to file a lawsuit to keep their son from failing out of school. But since Millin violated the student’s First Amendment rights, thus breaking the law, the lawsuit is biblically justified.

And for good measure, let’s review the original intent of the First Amendment. Prohibit a national church denomination, prevent the government from forcing citizens to pay tithes, etc. Ms. Millin’s version is nothing more than pipe dream created by liberal judges that falsely believe the Constitution is a “living, breathing” document.

http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/04/03/moonbat-teacher-of-the-month/

Republicans lead "pork" spending lists: report

Wed Apr 2, 2008 3:52pm EDT
By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress, trying to appear frugal with taxpayer dollars this election year, found on Wednesday that some in their own ranks topped a list of "pork" spenders in a watchdog group's analysis of government waste.

The annual survey by Citizens Against Government Waste claims that 11,610 special-interest projects were stuffed into spending bills approved by the Democratic-led Congress last year at a $17.2 billion cost to taxpayers.

But according to the survey, it was individual Republicans who pushed the most "pork" last year. In addition, the three House of Representative Republicans who sponsored legislation calling for a moratorium on such spending all engaged in the practice, the report said. They are Jack Kingston of Georgia, Zach Wamp of Tennessee and Frank Wolf of Virginia.

For months, House Republican Leader John Boehner has been leading a crusade against such projects, known as "earmarks," which routinely benefit lawmakers' hometown districts.

Boehner, of Ohio, has called for suspending "pork" spending this year and has criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, for not yet agreeing to do so.

On Tuesday, House Republicans tried and failed to advance their earmark moratorium. Last month, the Senate overwhelmingly rejected a similar proposal.

House Republicans have attacked Democratic Rep. John Murtha for delivering a pile of special-interest funds to his western Pennsylvania district.

But according to the report, two House Republicans bested Murtha: Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who recently became a U.S. senator, and Rep. Bill Young of Florida. The two scored $176.3 million and $169.5 million in earmarks respectively, beating Murtha's $159.1 million.

'BRIDGE TO NOWHERE'

In the Senate, the top three spenders were Republicans, who together scored about $1.8 billion in home-state projects. Those senators are Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Richard Shelby of Alabama and Ted Stevens of Alaska, who was roundly criticized a few years back for winning approval of a "bridge to nowhere," and has been reported to be the target of a federal corruption probe.

All the top spenders are members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, which dole out federal dollars.

Opponents of the special-interest projects argue that they do not receive adequate oversight by Congress and often are inserted into legislation at the last minute.

Many lawmakers who back earmarks say they help deliver jobs and public works projects to hometowns. They also point out that the funds represent less than 1 percent of federal spending and that reforming other parts of the budget would be more meaningful.

Suspected earmark abuse has led to some reforms, including making the spending more open to public and congressional scrutiny.

Among the "pork" outlined in the watchdog group's latest report:

--$123,050 secured by Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, for a Mother's Day shrine;

--$3 million by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, for The First Tee, which aims to promote the game of golf among young people. The money was inserted into a military spending bill;

--$188,000 by Maine's Republican senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen to help the Lobster Institute, which the report said is working on a "Lobster Cam" and developing lobster dog biscuits.

As for the three U.S. senators running for president: Republican John McCain had no earmarks last year, while Democrats Hillary Clinton delivered 281 projects to her home state of New York, costing $296.2 million, and Barack Obama had 53 projects totaling $97.4 million.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

THE NECESSITIES OF A GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT

THE NECESSITIES OF A GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRAT

In Bothell, Washington the government school district is considering closing a school in order to save money. But that seems a bit ironic considering the school district is using tax payer money to buy home electronics for its administrators for personal use. Sounds like a great use of tax dollars if you ask me.

The Northshore School District has been buying administrators TVs, digital cameras and iPods. They justify the spending by explaining that it is "part of their pay" and it "helps makes them familiar with technology." What a bunch of horsesqueeze. Are you believing this crap?

Out of 93 eligible administrators, all but 13 of them have taken advantage of this "benefit," costing the taxpayers $119,000.

Bothell schools buy home electronics for administrators
06:13 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By LINDA BRILL / KING 5 News and wire reports

BOTHELL, Wash. - At a time when the school district for the Bothell-Woodinville area is talking about closing a school to save money, it's buying home electronics for the personal use of administrators.

The Northshore School District says buying TVs, digital cameras and iPods for administrators is part of their pay and helps make them familiar with technology.

All but 13 of 93 eligible administrators have taken advantage of the benefit, spending $119,000 under the current contract.

"Even an HDTV is used for work, because it's hooked up to a computer and used like a monitor," said Susan Stoltzfus, Northshore School District spokesperson.

"I don't understand how a digital picture frame is a work-related activity, nor a big screen TV, nor an iPod," said teacher's union president Tim Brittle.

It was a sore issue at a recent school board meeting when Brittle demanded that the practice stop.

"I wouldn't consider it a perk because it is considered part of your salary compensation, it's taxable," said Stoltzfus.

The benefit is given to administrators and approved by administrators, but isn't offered to teachers.

"These purchases do not directly go to helping children," said Brittle.

School Board President Cathy Swanson says the district needs to clarify the program to make sure the purchases are job related.

There are other school districts that offer similar perks for administrators, such as Bellevue, but they require the purchases be educational. The Northshore School District implemented that change on Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

CAPITOL HILL GETS A GREEN MAKEOVER - At Least 45 years to pay off the cost.

Nancy Pelosi has been on this tear since she took office to "Green the Capitol." Now the Congress is forced to eat expensive organic food, the House is purchasing carbon offsets for its greenhouse-gas emissions, and the list of absurdities goes on and on. Her latest project is to install energy efficient lighting around the Capitol exterior. Nancy's spokesman Drew Hammill says that this project is not about the money ... since when are they ever concerned about money? But the new lights bring our "beacon of democracy" in line with other landmarks and will be "a beacon to all reminding us of the need to address the global climate crisis."

Gag. Maybe she should just introduce a resolution telling the sun to stop churning out so much solar radiation right now. Perhaps that would help.

So this is as far as Congress will go to adhere to Nancy's quest to combat global warming. The contract to design the lighting system was directed by Representative Robert Brady, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and chairman of the House Administration Committee. Well guess who happens to win the bid for the design project ... the Lighting Practice of Philadelphia, which also happens to be in Brady's district. Convenient? You might say so, considering that two lower bids were rejected before settling on this company's price of $671,900. That's right. All of that tax payer money just to make the Capitol lighting "eco-friendly."

Now are you ready for the real kicker ... the current annual electric bill for lighting the exterior of the Capitol eight hours every night is $15,000. So even if the new lights miraculously reduced energy consumption to zero, it would take the tax payers more than 45 years just to recoup the money it cost to build the new system, if we compare the cost to the current electric bill.

That, my friends, is the definition of a government project.

Only 1 of 2 students graduate high school in US cities: study

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080401184532.kxjxy7xo&show_article=1
Apr 1 02:46 PM US/Eastern

Three out of 10 US public school students do not graduate from high school, and major city school districts only graduate one out of two students, according to a study released Tuesday.

In a report on graduation rates around the country, the EPE Research Center and the America Promise Alliance also showed that the high school graduation rate -- finishing 12 grades of school -- in big cities falls to as low as just 34.6 percent in Baltimore, Maryland, and barely over 40 percent for the troubled Ohio cities of Columbus and Cleveland.

And it said that black and native American student's have effectively a one-in-two chance of getting a high school diploma.

"Our analysis finds that graduating from high school in America's largest cities amounts, essentially, to a coin toss," the study said.

"Only about one-half (52 percent) of students in the principal school systems of the 50 largest cities complete high school with a diploma."

Based on 2003-2004 data, the report said that across the country the graduation average for public school students is 69.9 percent, with the best success rate in suburbs -- 74.9 percent -- and rural districts -- 73.2 percent.

Asian-Americans score the highest graduation rate, at 80 percent, with whites at 76.2 percent and Hispanics at 57.8 percent.

Women graduate at a much higher rate than men, 73.6 percent to 66.0 percent.

In the country's city schools, the study found that in urban areas generally, just 60.4 percent graduate, and in the principal school districts of the top 50 cities, barely half graduate.

Detroit, Michigan's main school district scored a graduation rate of 24.9 percent.

New York, the country's largest city, has a graduation rate for its main school district of 45.2 percent, and Los Angeles, the second largest, of 45.3 percent.

Only five of the principal school districts topped the national average.

Child abuse in overprotected government schools now includes forehead touching?

Classroom incident probed
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/28/2008 11:30:17 PM PDT

SOUTH PASADENA - District officials are investigating an incident in which a substitute teacher allegedly reprimanded a student inappropriately, authorities said Friday.

Police were called to South Pasadena Middle School on Wednesday following a report that a teacher had assaulted a child, said Cpl. Craig Cooper of the South Pasadena Police Department.

After investigating, police closed the case, determining no abuse had occurred, Cooper said.

The teacher "used the tip of her finger and patted (the student) on the forehead," Cooper said. "She was all, `Come on, you, you can do better than that."'

School officials, who also made a complaint to Los Angeles County child services representatives, are continuing to look into the case, said South Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Brian Bristol.

"There was a substitute teacher that engaged in conduct that we consider to be physically and verbally assaultive," Bristol said, declining to confirm details about the alleged forehead-tapping.

The incident was reported by students to other teachers, who told school administrators.

The substitute teacher, who was set to teach another class, was removed from her classroom, Bristol said.

"She made a poor choice, and we do not tolerate that. Such conduct is unacceptable," Bristol said of the teacher, adding that she will not be allowed to teach in the district again.

Bristol declined to give the names of the teacher or student involved, citing privacy.

Officials have contacted the parents of students who were in the classroom where the incident took place, he said. The district is also consulting with its legal counsel as to how to proceed, he said.

School employees are required under state law to report evidence of child abuse, said Stuart Riskin, a spokesman for the county Department of Children and Family Services.

Details of such complaints and related investigations are confidential, he added.

melissa.pamer@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4475

Hard to find skilled workers in the U.S. - Blame our wonderful government education system.

AT&T CEO says hard to find skilled U.S. workers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/tc_nm/att_workforce_dc

Wed Mar 26, 9:39 PM ET

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.

"We're having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs," AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company's headquarters is located.

So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.

Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.

"If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn't put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down," he said.

Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.

"We're able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we're able to do it in Austin, Texas," he said, referring to the Indian Publish Postcity where many international companies have "outsourced" technical and customer support workers.

"I know you don't like hearing that, but that's the way it is," he said.

Stephenson said neither he nor most Americans liked the situation, and the solution was a stronger U.S. focus on education and keeping jobs. Business needed to help, such as AT&T's repatriation of service positions and education grants, he added.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Editing by Gary Hill)

Mother: School Took Girl's Crutches

When 13-year-old Amber showed up at her government middle school with crutches, it took no time at all for government school employees to find something wrong with the situation. Amber was on crutches after dislocating her kneecap. But her injury may have gotten worse after a school nurse decided to take a power trip.

The government school nurse took away Amber's crutches and made her walk around all day without them and without the use of an elevator to get upstairs. The nurse took away Amber's crutches because of a government school policy "prohibiting them without a doctor's note and that the intent is to prevent other students from being injured." In fact, Amber's mother even called the hospital to fax a doctor's note to the school so that Amber could use her crutches ... but the school fax machine was broken.

Apparently there is no district policy requiring doctor notes for crutches, but the government school health supervisor decided this would be the policy in an email sent to the principals. But even in the email, there is nothing that says that the crutches can be taken away until a note is produced. This is just a government bureaucrat letting her position as a government employee go to her head. It's a power trip.

The family, needless to say, is suing the Hillsborough County School District and will pursue a claim against the school nurse for violating Amber's civil rights.


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/29/me-mother-school-took-girls-crutches/?news-breaking
By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 29, 2008

TAMPA - Patricia Elalem said she couldn't believe her daughter's kneecap dislocated after what at first seemed like a minor injury.

Even more troubling to Elalem is what might have caused the injury to worsen. Elalem says a nurse at Walker Middle School in Odessa took away 13-year-old Amber's crutches last month, forcing the girl to walk in pain.

Patricia Elalem said the nurse told her she had to remove the crutches because of a school policy prohibiting them without a doctor's note and that the intent is to prevent other students from being injured.

"I was floored," Elalem said. "You don't take medically prescribed treatment away from a child."

Elalem has filed a notice of intent to sue the Hillsborough County School District. The notice is required by law for legal action against a government entity and gives the school district 180 days to respond.

Her attorney, Tom Parnell, said he did not know what damages he would seek because Amber is still recovering from surgery to repair her knee. "I'm hoping at her age she's able to recover," he said.

If Amber walking without the crutches has caused long-term damage, Parnell said, he will pursue a claim that the school nurse violated the girl's civil rights.

School district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said the district's office of professional standards is investigating a complaint Elalem filed about the licensed practical nurse, Denise McKee.

"The school and the parent have two different stories," Cobbe said, noting she could not elaborate because of the pending litigation.

There is no district policy requiring a doctor's note for crutches, but the district's supervisor of school health has issued an e-mail to principals stating students must produce a doctor's note to use crutches or a wheelchair, Cobbe said.

"We ask for a doctor's prescription or a doctor's note, but there's nothing that says take away the crutches," Cobbe said.

Amber is an avid athlete who participates in basketball, track and soccer, Parnell said. She had orthopedic surgery March 13 to repair her knee after walking without the crutches and now carries a doctor's note at all times about using the crutches, he said.

The girl initially hurt her knee while kicking a ball Feb. 3, her mother said. The injury seemed minor until the next day, when Amber complained to McKee about the pain. Elalem said when she picked Amber up from school, she spoke to McKee about taking Amber to Tampa General Hospital, where Elalem works as a registered nurse.

Amber was diagnosed with a strained ligament; the teenager's knee was placed in a brace called an immobilizer, and she received crutches, with instructions not to put weight on the knee, Elalem said.

On Feb. 6, when Amber returned to school, McKee phoned Patricia Elalem asking for a doctor's note for the crutches, Elalem said. Elalem said she didn't know the note was required but phoned the hospital to have a doctor fax a note to the school.

The school fax machine wasn't working, so McKee never received the note, Parnell said.

That morning, McKee took away Amber's crutches, Parnell said.

"She didn't give her access to the elevator. So Amber was forced to walk up and down the stairs until about 1:30 p.m., when she couldn't take the pain anymore," he said.

Elalem said her daughter called her, saying, "I can't walk. Come and get me."

On the way home, Amber said, "You know, the nurse took my crutches this morning and made me walk all day," Elalem recalled.

"I got home, took her immobilizer off, and her kneecap was on the side of her leg," Elalem said.

Amber tried physical therapy for a few days but needed knee surgery, her mother said. She had a reaction to the pain medication and was admitted to the hospital for three days. She now is taking medication and watching her diet because she has developed symptoms of an ulcer, her mother said.

"It's been a nightmare. It hasn't stopped," she said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

The ten most unreasonable parking fines of all time

Most drivers vent a little steam when they get a parking ticket - and the number who appeal successfully proves they're often right to be annoyed.

But a new list of the most ridiculous parking tickets ever issued shows that almost nothing will stop the determined parking warden from slapping a ticket on a vehicle.

Indeed, it suggests a host of ways that officious officials can take advantage of drivers when they are at their most vulnerable.


1. The pit-stop ambush

Lorry driver Michael Collins was on his way to collect a skip in London's Belsize Park when the road beneath him collapsed. A burst water main had created a deep hole where the front wheels of his 17-tonne lorry were now stuck.

While he was waiting for roadside assistance, a parking attendant appeared. To the astonishment of nearby residents - and despite Mr Collins' protests, she stood on tiptoe and plastered a parking ticket on his windscreen - while helpfully telling him: "You can appeal".

2. The trunk road swoop

If a tree fell on your car and you escaped death by inches, you might expect some sympathy from your local council. But there was no sign of compassion from Wychavon District Council for Nicky Clegg of Stoulton, Worcs, after when a tree crashed down on her car as she drove her 82-year-old mother and 11-year-old son.

Police dragged the wrecked car - with crushed bonnet, smashed windscreen and broken wing mirrors - to the roadside and told Mrs Clegg she could leave it there and pick it up the following day. When she came back, a parking ticket was stuck on the window.

3. The knock-down surprise

Think that being badly injured is an excuse to park illegally? Think again. When Nadhim Zahawi of South London was thrown from his scooter and left lying in the road with a broken leg, a heartless warden from Lambeth Council slapped a £100 ticket on his bike.

4. The cavalry attack

You leave your horse in the street and what do you expect to find when you get back? A small pile of manure perhaps, but not a parking ticket.

Yet this is exactly what happened to Robert McFarland, a retired blacksmith from Yorkshire, when he left his horse Charlie Boy for a few moments.

Under the vehicle description on the ticket, the over-zealous warden had written "brown horse".

5. The daylight robbery

It was a terrifying ordeal for Fred Holt, 77, when he went to the bank and two masked men burst in brandishing an axe and a machete.

The robbers held the axe to a young cashier's throat while money was handed over, and the customers were forced to lie on the floor. Later, they had to give statements to police.

It seems traffic wardens had not listened when officers told them about the raid and asked them not to issue tickets. Mr Holt found a £30 parking ticket pinned to his windscreen for staying 20 minutes longer than allowed.

6. The donor kebab

"Do something amazing today" runs the slogan of the National Blood Service. In Sutton, a traffic warden did just that - by ticketing a blood donor lorry.

The mobile National Blood Service truck had parked at the same spot in Sutton, Surrey, for four years when the zealous parking attendant issued a ticket while donors gave blood inside.

Sutton council eventually waived the fine, saying the parking attendant had made a simple error of judgment. Or to put it more aptly, a rush of blood to the head.

7. The bus stop gambit

Manchester bus driver Chris O'Mahony pulled up at a bus stop in his No 77 to let passengers on. While he was handing them their tickets, a Manchester City Council parking attendant handed him one.

Passengers looked on in disbelief as the warden joined the queue to prepare the parking ticket, deposited the £40 notice and walked off.

The driver, apparently, had parked in a restricted area. The attendant said he'd been told to issue tickets to buses that park.

Council bosses cancelled the ticket and the warden was sent for retraining - hopefully as something other than a warden.
8. The heart attack attack

David Holmes felt chest pains as he was driving and headed for hospital, where he was forced to park on the roadside and was treated for a heart attack.

A nurse thoughtfully left a note on the windscreen explaining the emergency and saying Mr Holmes's daughter would pick the car up later.

It proved futile. A parking attendant slapped a parking ticket on the car and despite an appeal to the local council the £40 fine was not cancelled.
9. The random posting

Krister Nylander was dismayed to receive a parking ticket in the post for parking in Warwick.

But he knew the ticket had to be wrong - he lives in Sweden and had not visited England since he was 16.

The offending vehicle was his 20-ton snowmobile, which had barely ever left his barn, let alone Sweden.

How did it get the ticket? Absolutely no Idea.

10. Driving home the lesson

A driving instructor was issued with a CCTV parking ticket when his pupil stalled while attempting a three-point turn and could not restart the car.

The offence? Parking more than 50 centimetres from the kerb.

Sweden regulates pet ownership

Things must be pretty slow in Sweden, if they have time to pass government regulations on how pet owners should treat their dogs and cats.


Published: 26 Mar 08 15:47 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/10716/

Sweden’s Board of Agriculture has issued an extensive set of new guidelines regulating how pet owners treat their dogs and cats.

* Court rules in favour of man and his snakes (26 Mar 08)
* Swedish town swept up in world's biggest sled dog race (9 Mar 08)
* Australian growers fighting H&M wool boycott (18 Feb 08)

Among other things, the 15 pages of new guidelines set specifications for how often dogs and cats receive food and exercise, the size and design of their living quarters, as well as the quality of the air Swedish pets breathe.

The rules have been in development since 2005 and are designed to ensure that dogs and cats “have the opportunity to feel good and behave in a natural manner.”

“We had rules for the care and handling of livestock, as well as for small caged animals, but nothing for dogs and cats,” said Cheryl Jones Fur, a zoologist with the Boards division for pets.

She explained that the rules came about to fill a gap in existing regulations, rather than because of any specific spike in cases of animal abuse.

“If anything we were a bit behind in developing the rules,” she said.

The guidelines mandate, for example, that dogs and cats should be checked on at least twice a day and “should have their need for social contact satisfied.”

Pets kept indoors should be within view of a window allowing sunlight, and dogs kept outdoors should have access to both sunny and shaded areas, as well as protection against wind and rain.

Levels of ammonia and carbon dioxide in the air must also be kept below 10 parts per million and 3000 parts per million, respectively.

In addition to regulating individual pet owners, the rules also extend to “doggie daycares” which are required to ensure that dogs which can’t get along with one another can be separated in order to “avoid conflicts.”

Officials hope the new set of rules will make it easier for animal inspection authorities who investigate cases of animal cruelty.

“Previously, inspectors had no regulatory support to which they could refer. It’s hard to convince owners to change their behavior without having something that specifies what is acceptable and what isn’t,” said Jones Fur.

Most often, those convicted of crimes against animals result in fines, though Jones Fur said it’s not unheard of for people to receive prison time as well.

Sweden already has some of the world’s toughest animal welfare laws, and Jones Fur believes the new guidelines will ensure that life as a dog in Sweden is good.

“Most animals have it pretty good here,” she said.

David Landes (david.landes@thelocal.se/+46 8 656 6518)

Distracting Billboard Talks About Road Distractions

The taxpayers of Milwaukee paid for a hideous and distracting billboard in order to remind people about the dangers of distractions while driving.

Keep your eyes on the road? A billboard reminding drivers of the danger of distractions, is itself turning some heads.



Oh, if you are wondering; Milwaukee Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. is a Democrat

Couple barred from living in £1million house for year after protected newts move in after flood

Imagine that your house floods. You move out. When you are ready to return, you are told that you can't ... because great crested newts have decided to move in.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=546432&in_page_id=1770

Since floods ruined their £1million home, John and Margie Histed have been squeezed into a caravan in the grounds.

That was eight months and £250,000 worth of repairs ago.

Yet the couple still can't move back into the house - because the great crested newt apparently got there first.

The slippery squatter was discovered when a blocked drainage ditch near the couple's garden sent water coursing through the property again last week.

Scroll down for more...

Frustrated: Margie and John Histed have been forced to live in a caravan since last year's floods

This time, because carpets have yet to be laid and renovations incomplete, the damage was minimal.

But the Histeds' plans to unblock the defective ditch have been refused - because officials suspect a family of great crested newts has settled in to it.

They have ordered a three-month survey to look for the protected species but this cannot even begin until June.

Work to remove any amphibians found would then take several more months.

This means the Histeds have had to put their renovations on hold, terrified that the ditch could flood again.

"I know it's the law but it's very frustrating and bordering on the ridiculous that the fate of newts takes precedence over humans," said Mrs Histed, a 68-year-old retired doctor.

Scroll down for more...

Rare: The great crested newt is protected by British and European legislation

"Is it reasonable for us to just sit here and watch if the ditch floods our home again just because there may be some newts there?"

The Histeds' six-bedroom farmhouse is close to the M4 at Dauntsey, Wiltshire.

Last July, a drainage ditch which runs through their garden became blocked with debris nearby and burst its banks.

Three feet of water gushed into their home and the couple have spent the last eight months re-wiring the house and replacing the kitchen, boiler and central heating system.

They were just starting the final stages of repairs when they were flooded again last week.

It then emerged that the drainage ditch, which takes run-off away from the motorway, is still blocked.

They wrote to the Highways Agency asking for permission to unblock it but this was refused.

Instead, officials ordered the newt search, saying staff would have to comb the water by hand to look for the three-inch creatures.

However, the survey cannot start immediately because the newts might be breeding and birds in hedges and trees along the ditch might be sitting on eggs.

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Flood damage: The couple's Wiltshire home pictured in July last year

It is estimated that work will not begin for three months and that any operation to remove newts will not start before the autumn.

This leaves the Histeds contemplating a long summer of discontent in their caravan.

Mr Histed, 71, a retired computer consultant, said the couple already had a healthy newt population in a pond on their ten acres of grounds.

"It's not that we're not sympathetic towards wildlife - in fact, we're very keen on it and understand the need to protect certain species," he added.

"But it seems ridiculous that we can't protect our property from more flood damage for many months because newts may be there."

The great crested newt is protected under EU law as well as the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It is illegal to capture or kill it or disturb its habitat.

Last month, work on a £15million bypass for the village of Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, was suspended so £1.7million could be spent to protect one single great crested.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that under EU law, anyone who intended to disturb any watercourse had a duty to check for newts first.

Successful schools will be forced to take pupils expelled for violent and disruptive behaviour

Successful government schools in Great Britain will be forced to take students who have been expelled for violent and disruptive behavior. That's government education for you.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=546228&in_page_id=1770

Popular schools will be forced to take on pupils who have been expelled for violent and disruptive behaviour.

Under a Government plan, all heads who expel a pupil will be expected to admit a child who has been thrown out of a neighbouring school on a "one out, one in," basis.

Sought-after schools which would have given their vacant place to a child on the waiting list would instead have to admit an unruly youngster.

They would also have to accommodate disruptive children at other times in "managed moves".

The plan, which Children's Secretary Ed Balls wants to enshrine in law, would prevent classroom hooligans from becoming concentrated in struggling schools.

But critics warned last night that discipline problems would be imported into schools which have so far managed to keep order.

The move was being seen as a fresh strike at faith schools, days after some were accused of breaking admissions rules by taking "voluntary" payments in return for places.

This plan could force them to accept pupils of a different religion instead of believers on their waiting list.

Many schools already participate in voluntary partnerships, in which they agree common rules and pool resources for dealing with disruptive children.

But Mr Balls said some groups were not operating particularly well and some schools had not signed up.

Michael Grove, the Tory children's spokesman, said: "What head teachers need is the power to exclude troublemakers without having their decision over-ridden."

Balls

School's Secretary Ed Balls said he would change the law 'at the earliest opportunity'

Sir Alan Steer, head of Seven Kings High School in Ilford, was given the task of looking at government reforms aimed at raising discipline standards and recommended some schools — particularly popular faith schools — should now be forced by law to join local "behaviour partnerships".

He said a number of schools including those independent of local authority control were avoiding taking in excluded or so-called 'difficult' pupils and demanded a change to the process.

In a report published today, Sir Alan said: "A school that permanently excludes a child should expect to receive a permanently excluded child on the principle of one out, one in.

"It remains my firm view that all secondary schools — including new and existing academies, foundation schools and pupil referral units, should participate in behaviour partnerships."

Mr Balls told the NASUWT teachers' union conference in Birmingham that he accepted Sir Alan's recommendation and added: "Schools require support — from each other, from the specialist services in their local authority such as educational psychologists and youth workers, and above all from parents."

Sir Alan said schools had a "social responsibility" to work together to deal with the most badly behaved pupils, although mainstream institutions-would not always be the right place for them.

"I don't want a situation where schools were exporting without accepting their responsibility to import, where they could," he added.

Some parents with children on the waiting list for places at popular schools might protest that, if a vacancy were to become available, their offspring should get in ahead of a child whose behaviour was so bad he or she had been expelled.

But Sir Alan said that, as headteacher of a school that was three or four times over-subscribed, he would still take the expelled pupil over the child on the waiting list.

And even the most out of control children could change his or her ways if moved to a different environment, particularly if the "critical mass" of pupils were well-behaved, Sir Alan said.

"It is easier for me actually to take a child with difficulties than it sometimes is for another school because the critical mass is positive. We shouldn't say every child that gets excluded is an irredeemable villain," he said.

Hard evidence of headteachers of successful schools refusing to take in problem pupils is difficult to find but plenty of anecdotal accounts suggest the avoidance tactic is widespread as schools seek to preserve their league table positions and popularity.

The law change could create new discipline problems in schools that have been able to improve behaviour by ejecting the children responsible.

He dries (with a little help from his friend)

He dries (with a little help from his friend)
$1M earmark boon to ex-rep’s home
Dave Wedge By Dave Wedge
Thursday, March 27, 2008
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1083143

U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt(D) has pushed through $1.1 million in federal earmarks for a controversial Cohasset pond clean-up meant to stop flooding in a pricey waterfront neighborhood where his former congressman pal lives, the Herald has learned.

The taxpayer-funded project would convert Treat’s Pond from fresh to salt water but would also alleviate widespread flooding on Atlantic Avenue, where Delahunt’s longtime friend, former U.S. Rep. Amory “Amo” Houghton, 81, lives part time in an a historic estate with his wife, Priscilla.

“There’s terrible flooding down there that not only affects my wife’s house, but many houses down there,” Houghton, a Republican from New York who left the House in 2005, told the Herald. “Somebody’s got to do something.”

The project dates back to 2003 ,when Delahunt and Houghton met informally with members of the Army Corps of Engineers shortly before Congress approved $300,000 for a study of the pond. During two of the meetings, Priscilla Houghton served croissants to the engineers, according to internal ACE e-mails obtained by the Herald.

Since those early meetings, Delahunt has secured $1.1 million in federal earmarks for the $1.7 million project, which is part of an ongoing federal salt marsh restoration effort.

The project calls for a new pipeline into the nearby harbor to allow salt water to circulate into the pond to improve the ecosystem. The new pipe would also reduce flooding in the area.

But opponents say the project is a sham because the pond has been freshwater for as long as anyone can remember. Critics also point out that Selectman Robert Dormitzer, who supports the project, also lives on Atlantic Avenue.

“Treat’s Pond has always been freshwater. It’s been sleight of hand to call it a salt water restoration project,” said opponent Peter Whittemore, who lives in the neighborhood. “It’s a flood control project for two very connected, very well-off politicians.”

The plan has hit a snag because the town needs to come up with $300,000. If that happens, the state could be asked to chip in the other $300,000. Cohasset voters will decide Saturday whether to approve their share.

Houghton, the wealthy former head of Corning Glass company, acknowledged he met with officials while he was in Congress to try to obtain federal money for the pond but denied any personal motivation.

“I really don’t benefit from this. It’s a community issue and Priscilla happens to be a part of this thing,” he said. “I talked to people (in Washington) and said if there was any extra money available, I would help Bill Delahunt out.”

Delahunt spokesman Mark Forest said the congressman handled the project like any other federal aid request and noted that it had to meet strict guidelines, including a requirement for local funding.

“The federal funds are available ,but if the town does not approve the project then nothing goes forward,” Forest said.