That's Just Stupid!

[Marye]

In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Stalin’s home, they've just taken down a statue of Stalin. Here in America, we've just put one up.

I'll leave it to someone smarter than I to pen an appropriate comment.

Isn't this freedom though?

[Giant Communist Robot]

I read that link about Stalin's bust. Here's an interesting quote:

Stalin is credited by historians with helping to start World War II

[dai bread]

Some academic wants to get published. Anything, anywhere, so long as it's published. I'd want a lot more than a bold assertion before I gave that article any credit whatever.

Presumably it's connected with the Russo-German peace treaty that was broken emphatically in 1941. The theory is that it enabled Hitler to concentrate on Western Europe and North Africa, but that's only academic musing.

Fighting on two fronts is always a bad idea, but Hitler did it anyway. The only nation that's ever done it successfully is the U.S., in WW2, with considerable help.

[Haggis@wk]

The only nation that's ever done it successfully is the U.S., in WW2, with considerable help.

I'd modify that to include the British Empire although Australia was a reluctant partner in the "two fronts" war, justifiably, I believe. As a national goal, the ability to fight on two fronts was America's policy until at least the 90's. I'm not sure it's still a viable concept today.

[DavidS]

take it you haven't been to Iran recently...

I was there TDY in 1974 for a week. The food was great and the women were gorgeous. It looked like parts of Miami. One of the local beers, Behnoush, was....alright, although I preferred Efes which was locally available. From a U.S. military standpoint Iran was a cushy assignment. Low cost of living and access to some of the best handmade rugs in the Middle East as well as other trinkets and products.

Yup, that was then.
A lot of people around here have similar recollections, and are wondering whether Turkey and Egypt are going where Iran now is.

[Haggis@wk]

Yup. Turkey was a nice place then as well but I don't think I'd want to go back, even for the Turkish Delight, which I love. It's sad to see how Islamic fundamentalism has changed not only the countries government, but frightens the people into behavior they might not adopt otherwise.

[Haggis@wk]

Via KDVR:

ARVADA, Colo. — Arvada Police are defending the way they handled the arrest of an 11-year-old boy. The Arvada boy was arrested and hauled away in handcuffs from his home for drawing stick figures in school – something his therapist told him to do.

His parents say they understand what he did was inappropriate, but are outraged by the way Arvada Police handled the case. The parents did not want their real names used. They say “Tim” is being treated for Attention Deficit Disorder and his therapist told him to draw pictures when he got upset, rather than disrupt the class. So that’s what he did. Last October, he drew stick figures of himself with a gun, pointed at four other stick figures with the words “teacher must die.”

The boy drew the pictures to let out angry emotions. Tim, his parents, and his therapist say it was not a threat and that Tim would never hurt anyone. He felt calmer and was throwing the picture away when the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal’s office.
The school was aware that the boy was in treatment, determined he was not a threat, notified his parents and sent him back to class. His mother, “Jane” was shocked when Arvada Police showed up at their home later that night.

She says she told her son to cooperate and tell the truth, but was horrified when they told her they were arresting him and then handcuffed him and hauled him away in a patrol car. His mother says she begged police to let her drive her son to the police department and to let her stay with him through the booking process but they refused. They put him in a cell, took his mug shot and fingerprinted him. He says he thought he was going to jail and would never be able to go home again…

Madness.

[DavidS]

Truth is stranger than fiction...

[Haggis@wk]

Making our country safe from chocolate eggs

[piqaboo]

THe kid arrest thing is appalling. What in hell happened to common sense?

The kinderegg thing is strange.
It is normal to let someone eat banned food on the spot, if they leave enough to sample.
I liked the comment about the choking hazard in plums, cherries etc.

[DavidS]

A fun thing done with granchildren is assembling the "surprise" inside the kinder egg. Good thing they haven't banned them here (yet); they have warnings on the packaging against letting under-threes play with the toys because of the choking hazard.

[jamiebk]

I traded some guy all my Kinder eggs for some 100 watt incandescent light bulbs. It was a good trade.

[dai bread]

You guys need 230v electricity. My fluorescents work fine.

[Haggis@wk]

Secret Service interrogate 13 y.o. without parents knowledge

A Tacoma seventh grader faced federal interrogation at school for what he posted on his Facebook page. His mom said it all happened without her knowledge or permission.

Timi Robertson said she had just finished lunch with a friend Friday when she got a phone call from her son's school.

"I answered it, and it's the school security guard who's giving me a heads up that the Secret Service is here with the Tacoma Police Department and they have Vito and they're talking to him," Robertson said.

Please, can you even begin to imagine the headlines if this had happened when Bush was president?

[jamiebk]

I am more concerned that "someone" is monitoring facebook posts that are supposed to be between "friends"

[piqaboo]

I'm also rather concerned that the school principal allowed this without a parent present.
They wont let a kid have an aspirin, or leave the school without signed approval. Why on earth wouldnt they hold things up til mama was on the scene?

[Giant Communist Robot]

Why on earth wouldnt they hold things up til mama was on the scene?

There is a phenomenon where bureaucracies tend to make people of at least ordinary intelligence act stupid.

[dai bread]

The trouble is that for years, executives (in both public and private sectors) have been hiring people who do not challenge them. The result has been a steady decrease in executive ability which is now becoming quite evident.

[DavidS]

The trouble is that for years, executives (in both public and private sectors) have been hiring people who do not challenge them. The result has been a steady decrease in executive ability which is now becoming quite evident.

The Peter Principle - QED.

[Haggis@wk]

I had to check a couple of times because I was sure this story had to be taking place in either Manhattan or San Francisco. But no…it’s in Toronto. Kathy Witterick and David Stocker are the proud parents of a new, healthy baby. Nothing unusual so far, right? They’ve sent out notifications to all the people you’d expect announcing the blessed event. There’s one piece of information conspicuously missing from the note, though.

But the email sent recently by Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada to announce the birth of their baby, Storm, was missing one important piece of information. “We’ve decided not to share Storm’s sex for now–a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime (a more progressive place? …),” it said.
There’s nothing ambiguous about the baby’s genitals. But as Stocker puts it: “If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.” So only the parents, their two other children (both boys), a close friend, and the two midwives who helped deliver the now 4-month-old baby know its gender. Even the grandparents have been left in the dark.
Stocker and Witterick say the decision gives Storm the freedom to choose who he or she wants to be. “What we noticed is that parents make so many choices for their children. It’s obnoxious,” adds Stocker, a teacher at an alternative school