Online story: "The school board in Republic, Mo., voted 4-0 to eliminate Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" and Sarah Ockler's "Twenty Boy Summer" from the high school curriculum and library, respectively, after a local man led an effort to deem the novels inappropriate. * Of the members of the school board who voted on the issue last Monday, according to UPI, only one -- Melissa Duvall -- had actually read either of the books in question." -- Personally, I'd rather a school board rally against the TV and movie industries about the shows that graphically demonstrate teen sexual acceptance of sex being a normal part of the teen dating scene, and for glamorizing teen/unmarrieds-in-general pregnancies than going after any book. Reading anything, whether wholesome or not, does exercise young minds and creativity. In fact, having realistic books available may, no, probably will increase the students reading comprehension scores.
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Remember HELL-thScare? That was the Senate bill orchestrated by Harry Reid and his super-majority DUMB&DUMBERats which Pelosi's House DUMB&DUMBERats passed without amendment/compromise because enough of Pelosi's D&D's were faltering (with subsequent conformation in Nov 2010) because of re-election concerns? Well, we don't need another Harry Reid unread DEBT-Scare bill getting to potUS O'Blather, and it looks like there may be some shaky knees among D&D Senators up for re-election in 2012. Pour on the heat!
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There's an online story about making robots human.. in looks and in thoughts/actions. "In five or ten years robots will routinely be functioning in human environments," says Reid Simmons, a professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon." -- Where's this bozo been.. we already have such robots..they're called DUMB&DUMBERat voters.
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L-E headline: "Muscogee County Superior Court clerk’s office to build alcove by entrance" -- That's great timing...NOT! The Courthouse, which has practically shunned the public by closing down the garage and all but one of its five or so original entrances is building an interior traffic control station at the Superior Clerk's office... Why? With external access down to one entrance and foot traffic becoming a 'trickle', it's doubtful that there'll ever be more than 1 person at a time trying to access the Clerk's office.
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L-E headline/story: "Authorities relax security measures at Columbus federal courthouse * Measures went into place after bin Laden’s death * John S______ of Columbus, who visits the post office twice a week, said he found the additional security to be superfluous. * “It seems like it wasn’t beneficial,” S______, 73, said Friday after leaving the post office. “I didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. It’s much better now since they changed that.” -- Once again common sense and public input prove less government intrusion is best.
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The "Kits 4 kids" program was right on target this year. It included a magician. Guess showing how education has become something you pull out of a hat.
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Recent revelations inside the MCSD have made me come to one conclusion.. the federal government needs to cease and desist involvement in public schools. As it is, by the time $1.00 comes back to the local system, $4.00 has been spent in government circles just to get us our tax dollars back, but that $1.00 comes with more strings than violinist's bow. Programs of dubious need or effectiveness prevail, and local decisions (and dollars) are wrapped up in a spider's web of restrictions and hoops to jump through. Jimmy Carter, you started this!
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L-E's "Quotable “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei Italian scientist (1564-1642) " -- Another insirational adage that you'll never see on the wall of a DUMB&DUMBERat or atheist.
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L-E headline/story: "House probes counterfeit military electronics * WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from both parties are challenging the Department of Homeland Security over policies that they say impede efforts to stop imports of counterfeit electronics used in military devices. * The electronic chips, which act like the brain for many electronic devices, are one of the most counterfeited parts in the Pentagon’s supply chain, according to a Commerce Department report last year." -- Doh! If it's about national security, why are we importing anything involving our security from another country? How easy for it is a foreign company to 'trojan horse' some program/virus into something made in its home country that could initiate some critical command at the most inopportune time in our system?
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L-E headline: "SCHOOLS MISSING OUT ON PROFIT FROM UNLICENSED MERCHANDISE * Spencer principal urges fans to purchase gear from school" -- What is it that makes educators think they know how to run a retail business? I'll guarantee that there's not one public school that is equipped to handle payroll, sales, inventory management, merchandising promotion, inventory control or bottom line profitability! Now, if it's part of the pie that the principal wants, the MCSD can copyright school names, and demand a sales % for using such like the NCAA does, but the only thing that will happen locally is that retailers will stop taking a chance of stocking local school marked inventory because either the increase will take away margins, boost the prices out of being competitive, or the additional cost of calculating and reporting such commissions will take the fun out of selling such merchandise.
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