Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/23/2011

Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/23/2011A police captain in Tulsa, Oklahoma has filed a federal lawsuit after refusing to attend an “outreach” event at a local mosque when ordered by his superiors. He was reassigned by the police department, and is being investigated for refusing a direct order. His lawsuit is based on the First Amendment, and he says that the police department cannot order him to attend an event that violates his religious beliefs, nor require him to enter a mosque except on a police call as a part of his duties.

In other news, there’s Libya. And Algeria. And Bahrain. And Saudi Arabia. And Jordan. And Egypt. And Morocco. And Libya again.

Col. Ghedaffi continues to cling to power, and remains defiant. The eastern third of Libya is said to be almost entirely in rebel hands. Various estimates place the death toll so far between 1,000 and 10,000 people. The European border agency Frontex is expecting a flood of refugees in the coming weeks, with estimates ranging from 500,000 to 1.5 million. The flow of oil from Libya to Italy has been cut off, but the Italian government says it has other sources of supply.

In related news, protest demonstrations inspired by those in the Middle East have been mounted in three North Korean cities.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, CB2, DF, Erick Stakelbeck, Feli, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, KGS, Kitman, Steen, Takuan Seiyo, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

9 comments:

Zenster said...

Boy, Aged 11, Arrested for Drawing Stick Figure With a Gun and Writing, ‘Teachers Must Die’

The boy, who is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder, faces a misdemeanour charge of interfering with staff and students. [emphasis added]

Attention Deficit Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Sullen Teenager Disorder, Disinhibited Muslim Rapist Disorder … where does all of this "disorder" crap finally end and some regular discipline or imprisonment actually begin?

Yes, yes … I know. If you do not classify it, it cannot be treated. Well, what happens when we are spending so much of our time classifying various and sundry picayune "disorders" to the point where we no longer recognize some ordinary sass and misbehavior for what it really is?

Anonymous said...

Zenster, I wouldn't blame the kid or punish him. According to the article I read in the SF Chronicle, he was being treated for anger issues, and part of his therapy was to draw pictures instead of acting out.

So why punish him? The wrong is completely on the part of the school authorities, his parents and therapist for mainstreaming him, putting him in an environment he couldn't handle, and assigning therapy that got him in trouble when he complied with it. In other words, he was entrapped.

He should have been placed in a special school to begin with, instead of playing this game that violated his rights and that of other children, to a safe learning environment. Both he and the other kids were used as lab animals to test mainstreaming of the emotionally disturbed. This is similar to the story of the girl in New Hampshire who was used to test the mainstreaming of third world immigrants, only in this case, the bad kid was also wronged.

Zenster said...

latté island: He should have been placed in a special school to begin with, instead of playing this game that violated his rights and that of other children, to a safe learning environment.

Which goes directly to my central point. The child in question is ELEVEN YEARS OLD. He is old enough to know − Attention Deficit Disorder and all − that blatting out "Teachers Must Die", cartoon drawing or not, is a major no-no.

If the kid is so totally disconnected from reality that this simple fact did not occur to him, then he's severely RETARDED, PSYCHOPATHIC OR WHAT and not merely suffering from one degree or another of "Attention Deficit Disorder".

In the midst of our endless hairsplitting over which neuron is firing a little off of top dead center, we are neglecting to properly categorize blatantly antisocial behavior for what it is; Namely, a danger to lots of other healthy, sane schoolchildren.

Yes, our usual flock of budding social engineers carry much of the blame in this case but it's also long past tea to put a halt to endless category parsing and finally set about ensuring that some verifiably corrective measures are being taken when these under-disciplined and over-medicated spoiled brats keep acting up.

Drawing pictures is just fine. Depicting violent murder both visually and spelled out as well IS NOT. At the age of eleven I knew this damn well and the vast majority of eleven year-old kids with far more severe psychological conditions know it too.

I'm so fed up with the molly coddling that these whiney-arsed little runts receive that seeing the lot of them enrolled in PhD level basket weaving courses at the laughing academy might not be enough to make me to squeeze out a tear.

Zenster said...

Not Just a Face in the Crowd: The Larger the Gathering, The ‘More Unique the Individual’

The species that had to contend with bigger crowds did so with more unique voices, the researchers found.

I take it that this is scientific evidence which finally explains the vocals of Cyndi Lauper.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Zenster wrote: Drawing pictures is just fine. Depicting violent murder both visually and spelled out as well IS NOT. At the age of eleven I knew this damn well and the vast majority of eleven year-old kids with far more severe psychological conditions know it too.

Are you seriously suggesting he defy his therapist, who is described as "Dr.," his parents & teachers? You know, if he were 18 and in a war zone, and refused to follow bad orders, he would be seen as a hero and have a book written about him. You expect such insight and courage from a troubled kid, who was already labeled (rightly) as someone who behaved inappropriately. But by definition, he has been trained to doubt his own perceptions and impulses, and to do something else by rote. Entrapment and gaslighting, and very few people of any age would do well in this situation. Such people are called masters.

Feli said...

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD’S SNEAK ATTACK ON AMERICA

http://www.thecypresstimes.com/article/News/Opinion_Editorial/THE_MUSLIM_BROTHERHOODS_SNEAK_ATTACK_ON_AMERICA/40914

Zenster said...

latté island: Are you seriously suggesting he defy his therapist, who is described as "Dr.," his parents & teachers?

No, I am "seriously suggesting" that whatever relatively mild symptomology (after all, this kid is not a psychotic, just ADD) this child is experiencing cannot be allowed to relieve him of the obligation that all eleven year-olds have with respect to knowing the difference between right and wrong.

All of which includes knowing that it is flat-out wrong to visually depict and spell out "Teachers Must Die" in a cartoon that was drawn while attending school.

Had the child done all of this in the privacy of his own home, some caveats might apply. To flagrantly exhibit such anti-social behavior directly within the milieu of his intended victims stretches things to the breaking point. Doctors, therapists, parents and teachers notwithstanding.

Eleven years of age is quite sufficient to include some recognition of personal responsibility. Our society is going to Hell in a handbasket precisely because children of ALL AGES are being let off of the hook about taking responsibility for their actions.

goethechosemercy said...

Quote:
Kaffir, an Arabic word meaning “disbeliever” or “rejecter”, is an active participle entailing action as opposed to a descriptive noun. In a religious sense it suggests volition, more so than the passive “atheist” or “non-believer”.
end quote.

The kaffir is an activist.
I'd be honored to receive this appellation.