Sunday, April 19, 2015

The State Uses it Power to Remove Child from a Medical Marijuana Activist

There certainly isn't a shortage of things to worry about when it comes to our out-of-control government, and it is becoming abundantly clear that we can add CPS to the list.  In the past many of the complaints have been about them not doing enough to protect children when it is clear that children are living in unsafe environments.  The answer that came from the agency was almost always the lack of funds and staff to handle the case loads.  It seems that has been taken care of. 

In Kansas, there is a medical marijuana activist by the name Shonda Banda.  She has Crohn's Disease.  It is a very painful digestive problem that causes severe cramping, among other things to its victims.  She uses cannabis oil to help with her pain.  In Kansas marijuana is illegal in all circumstances.  She is working to change that.  

One day the school her son attends gave a class on drug use.  Since his mother is an activist, one can imagine that this little boy understands the ins and outs of the issue.  During this discussion her son made statements when he believed the information that was being told to the class was incorrect.  This raised the hackles of the counselors.  They called the CPS, who then called the cops.  

They show up at the school, take the little boy out of his class to question him.  They did not call either parent to get permission to talk to an 11 year-old-boy.  
After her son spoke out about medical marijuana, police detained him and launched a raid on Shona Banda’s home. “Well, they had that drug education class at school that was just conducted by the counselors… They pulled my son out of school at about 1:40 in the afternoon and interrogated him. Police showed up at my house at 3… I let them know that they weren’t allowed in my home without a warrant… I didn’t believe you could get a warrant off of something a child says in school.” Banda continued, “We waited from 3 o’clock until 6 o’clock. They got a warrant at 6 o’clock at night and executed a warrant into my home. My husband and I are separated, and neither parent was contacted by authorities before [our son] was taken and questioned.”
They found a small amount of cannabis oil in her home.  With the amount being as small as it is, obviously it is for personal use.  She isn't a drug dealer.  She uses a substance that helps her deal with chronic pain.  For this, she has lost her child.  

She has been charged with no crime, yet she still must go into court to prove that she should still have custody of her child.  You can feel that pot, even for medicinal use, should remain illegal, and realize how wrong this is.  

There is no proof that this child was being given an illegal substance.  The boy simply understands the issues surrounding the use of medicinal pot.  That isn't a crime.  That isn't child abuse.  

The State of Kansas has done nothing to "protect" this child, they have done quite the opposite.  This child has been harmed by the very agency that is supposed to help him in cases of abuse and neglect.  When we have a government that is so large that it can walk into a classroom of a child, question him without parental permission, then use those statements of a child to get a warrant to get into the home of the parent, we have a government that is too powerful.  

This child has been harmed more by the state than anything his mother has done.  That is something that shouldn't be allowed to stand.  

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Hey Millenials, How You Dress for an Interview Does Indeed Matter

Elizabeth Bentivgna, a senior at Oberlin, seems to be completely unaware of the fact that how you dress for a job interview does indeed matter.  She is in the process of interviewing for summer internships before returning to school for her final semester in the fall.  

She was given a lesson in this after finding out that a company would not be hiring her.  Her recruiter was honest with her about why a company wouldn't be giving her the internship.  
"She told me that OnShift would love to hire me based on my technical skills and personality, but that they were not going to. These are the reasons she cited: 1) I 'looked more like I was about to go clubbing than to an interview.' 2) I 'had a huge run in my tights' 3) I was late."
So little miss princess decided to vent her frustrations on her facebook page.  

Using all those F-bombs will also help land her next interview won't it?  What she forgets to mention in this little rant is that she was late to the interview.  I don't know, but I think that showing up on time, or even early, is interviewing 101.  

She claims that is a mostly male office and that they wear jeans and T-shirts.  Now I wouldn't be surprised if that were true.  But, that doesn't mean that those men showed up in the interviews dressed that way.  You wear the jeans and T-shirts once you have the job, not the day you interview for it.  It is unprofessional.  

I have had jobs that the dress code was so lax that the only real line seemed to be no bathing suits in the office.  I knew that was the policy before I started working there, as it more or less a norm in the field I was working in at the time.  I still wore a suit to the interview.  

In all seriousness, if I noticed a run in stockings before heading into the interview, I would either find a store and get a new pair, or just take them off all together.  I wouldn't walk into a interview with a huge run.  That falls into the attention to detail category.  I have this feeling that being a software programming company, that is something that is looked at as a necessity, not a quirk.  

I have interviewed people over my working lifetime.  I have seen the pettiest little things make the difference between hiring and not hiring.  If a man walked into an interview with stains all over his tie or pants or a wrinkled mess, yes it would be noticed.  If another candidate who had equal qualifications but presented himself more professionally he would likely be the person who ends up with the job.  I once interviewed a woman who had on such strong perfume that it literally lingered in the conference room after she left.  My eyes were watering during the interview due to my allergies.  That left a lasting impression with me when it came to making the evaluations of all the candidates.  We ended up hiring another equally qualified candidate that wouldn't stink up the office.  

In an interview setting you have a very brief window to make an impression.  How you are dressed is part of that impression.  That doesn't matter if you are male or female.  Yes men have it easier in the dressing department, but that doesn't mean that it isn't noticed at all.  

Do yourself a favor, go to the suit department at Macy's or Ann Taylor and buy yourself a nice blazer and matching skirt or even a suit.  Keep it in the back of your closet and when it comes time to do an interview, make sure it is pressed and cleaned.  Don't show up dressed like this again until you are on your second day of the job.  Try to remember a little saying, dress for the job you want, not the one that you have.  Another words, be professional when making a first impression, especially when you have a very thin resume that accompanies being a college student.  

Hat/tip Daily Dot

Suspended Teacher Speaks at Public Hearing on her Students Get-well Letters to Convicted Cop Killer

Marilyn Zuniga, a third-grade teacher, has been suspended with pay for sending Mumia Abul-Jamal get well letters written by her students.  The board is deciding on what, if any, further action will be taken.  

During the meeting that was being held, Ms. Zuniga made a public statement.  In this statement she said:
"Growing up in a predominantly white suburb, attending a majority white school district, my teachers and peers marginalized me as a first generation immigrant, Peruvian-American. The cultural gap between my educators and me caused me to feel disconnected from my school work and learning altogether. It wasn't until my experience in the classroom my senior year of high school that I realized I could be the teacher I never had."
 Ok, fair enough.  I hope that every teacher in the country has a passion to help all students learn and to think for themselves.  That is what a teacher should be doing.  The problem is that she is going beyond that mission.  She is putting her viewpoints into the classroom and to the heads of very innocent 8-year-olds.  

Now the problem with the supporters of Mumia is that they never answer the question about why he has never told who the murderer of Officer Faulkner is.  There is no dispute that he was there and witnesses it.  There is no dispute that he had a gun.  There is no dispute that his brother assaulted Officer Faulkner.  There is no dispute that the police arrived on the scene within minutes of the shooting.  There is no dispute that Mumia was shot by the police officer.  He was a very short distance away with a gun shot wound and a weapon when the police arrived.  

Most people want to say he was arrested due to his political beliefs.  The problem is that he was arrested within minutes of the police arriving on the scene.  They didn't have time to find out about his political beliefs and writings.  Writing that includes talk about "killing pigs".  For those that may be unclear what that means, it is police officers.  

Anyone that has read my writing over the years knows that I am against the death penalty.  I have no problem with him be taken off death row.  But I certainly don't think he is some innocent lamb that is being led to slaughter.  

She is entitled to her beliefs, but she isn't entitled to bring those beliefs into the classroom.  No teacher is.  What really kills me is the people who were at this meeting supporting her.  


"It is teaching children at a tender age one of the most valuable lessons that they need to absorb in order to mature into adults who sympathize with the plight of their fellow human beings,"
It goes on:
"The lesson that was taught through this project is that in order for society to be peaceful and just, we must care about or reach out to those members of society who are most vulnerable, including children, the frail, elderly, the sick and disabled, the poor and, yes, even prisoners."
What about the family of the dead officer?  Don't they deserve someone to reach out to them as well?  What about the compassion for the young woman who had to go the hospital in very early hours of the morning to see her husband with a gunshot wound to his face?  A wound that was done at very close range and literally blew most of his head off.  Where is the compassion for a woman who didn't have her happily ever after simply because her husband was doing his job?  A car was driving down the wrong way on a one-way street so he pulled it over.  He didn't pull that car over because the driver was black.  He pulled it over because is was posing a safety hazard and violated the law.  She has lived her life without the man she loved enough to marry and pledge the rest of her life to.  
"We are here tonight because Marylin Zuniga is our hero," Larry Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, said to the board members. "We ask that you restore her to her job and let her continue to teach the compassion that our children need to learn."
Sorry to tell you Mr. Hamm, that isn't her job.  Teaching compassion is the job of the parent.  Her job is to teach children how to think for themselves, not what to think.  Did she go over the evidence of the case?  Did she tell these students that this man has had two trials and numerous hearings and the best the defense can come up with is that it was a racist police force that sent an innocent man to jail because he was black and a political activist?  If not, that isn't compassion, that is indoctrination.  There are two sides to this story.  Now, don't get me wrong, I think this way beyond what a third-grader should be taught in a classroom.  But the point is still the same.  

Yes Ms. Zuniga should lose her job.  She wasn't doing her job.  She was making political points in a classroom.  That is a job of an activist, not an educator.  She should lose her job the same way the teacher who went an anti-Obama rant should lose hers.  You are not there to push your point of view.  You are there to help them develop their own point of view.  

If you have any doubts that she is an activist her tweet that caused this uproar says it all:
Just dropped off these letters to comrade Johanna Fernandez. My 3rd graders wrote to Mumia to lift up his spirits as he is ill. #freemumia
Comrade?  Oh yeah, she doesn't have an agenda.   

The part I think I like best about this whole thing is this:
"In April, I mentioned to my students that Mumia was very ill and they told me they would like to write 'get well' letters to Mumia,"
That's right, lets throw the eight-year-olds under the bus.  

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Cops, Shootings, and The Usual Knee Jerk Reactions

One of my big pet peeves is willful blindness.  I can't stand it.  I mean I really can't stand it.  I especially hate it when it comes to politics.  I will vote for a democrat if I believe they are best person for the job.  Now, that doesn't happen often, but in theory it can happen. In fact, I have voted for democrats in my life.  One was a protest vote for governor many years ago.  The republican candidate made this comment about the death penalty that I just couldn't stomach and I refused to vote for him, since I don't like not voting, I cast my ballot for his opponent.   

I don't like it any better when it comes to issues that while in practicality aren't political, but where one stands on that issue usually will fall within political lines.  Cops being a good example.  Generally speaking, the far left will almost always cry racism when a white cop has some sort of altercation with a person of color.  The right will, in many instances, say the thug got what he deserved.  Normally speaking it is far more nuanced than that.  

A shooting between a white officer and black man happened last weekend, the dead man was unarmed and running away at the time of the shooting.  The police officer told his story.  Once that story was told a person who happened to be walking to work that morning saw the incident and used his phone to record it.  Once this man heard the police officer's story he knew that his video told a very different story, so he turned it over to the family of Walker Scott, the man who was shot and killed.  

The video shows Scott running away from Officer Michael Slager.  The officer raises his firearm and shoots eight shots.  Mr Scott was struck multiple times in the back side of his body.  On the video the officer can be heard saying into his radio
"Shots fired and the subject is down. He took my Taser."
The problem is that video doesn't back that up.  The police officer clearly went back to where he was standing, picked up an object, walked back to the body and dropped something on the ground near a dying man. All the while giving no medical attention to man whatsoever.  

A man has lost his life.  He was shot in the back multiple times by a officer who took an oath to serve and to protect.  That is his job.  That is what he is paid to do.  The fact that people are saying this man somehow got what he deserved is simply stunning to me.  
What is the NEED to run? The action of running caused him to be shot. If he didn't run the officer would not have shot him. He didn't like it that he was going to be arrested due to a warrant....so he ran
The punishment for that should be death?  No judge, no trial, no jury, just a verdict by a police officer, who in seconds, lies about what happened.  That is something we want happening in this country?  

I support law enforcement.  The reason I support law enforcement is that I believe in the rule of law.  With that belief comes the understanding that sometimes the people we need to protected from are bad cops.  They are out there.  That cannot be denied.  

As conservatives we should want all bad cops to be weeded out and fired.   Yes police officers do a dangerous job.  Yes they have the right to go home at the end of every day.  But so do we.  We shouldn't be shot in the streets by over zealous cops.  

I fully understand that more information may come out.  We have yet to hear the defense of the officer.  But conservatives can't stand it when liberals and the media make assumptions that a police officer is racist simply based on the fact the person they are dealing with has a different hue on the color bar.  Why then are so many jumping to the conclusion that officer was somehow justified in this shooting when the evidence, at this point, doesn't back that up?  

Mr. Scott was an unarmed man, running away from the officer.  He posed no threat.  Yes running away from the cop wasn't smart.  But again, the punishment for that isn't death.  That is something for a court to decide what the punishment should be, likely jail time.  Yes Mr. Scott apparently owed back child support.  Again, not punishable by being shot in the back and left face down in the dirt to die like a rabid animal.  

If you want to justify this you aren't looking at facts.  You are making a knee jerk reaction to protect someone based on the badge he wears.  Just ask Serpico how many that wear a badge that aren't doing it out some calling to protect you from evil criminals.  Bad cops exist.  Protecting them makes you look as willfully blind as the people who keep up the false narrative of "hands up, don't shoot" in the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.  

One of the principles of conservatism that I find most appealing is the equal protection under the law.  No one should above said law.  I don't care what uniform he puts on.  A cop doesn't get a pass simply because he is a cop.  He has the same rights as everyone else does.  Mr. Scott had rights as well.  Or, at least he should have.  

A social media friend of mine made a comment:
 Conservatism is only as good as that which it seeks to conserve.
Another example of what set me off today:
Sad part part is....this guy was arrested 9 times for refusing to support his children....he was willing to die, than to support his kids....and YOU people support that.....that is pathetic...
Yeah, I don't that thinking is worth conserving.  A knee jerk reaction to protect someone who wears a badge is no better than blaming an officer for protecting themselves against a criminal who means them harm.  

Friday, April 3, 2015

The Race Pimps Who Let Anthony Stokes Down

Anthony Stokes was killed in a car crash.  He was driving a stolen car and was being chased by police.  This normally wouldn't make national news, but Anthony Stokes had health problems that put him in the national spotlight two years ago.  

As a 15-year-old he was diagnosed with severe heart problems that could not be taken care of with medicine.  His only chance of survival was heart transplant.  Initially the hospital said he didn't qualify for the transplant by the protocol in place.  He was listed as "non-complaint".  

Race groups ran to his defense once his mother talked to the media.  Stokes, according to his mother, was turned down do behavioral issues.  He had some problems in school as well as problems with the law.  While his records as juvenile are sealed, the family admitted he had some issues with violence.  This of course turned into a race thing.  From Think Progress

Regardless of Anthony’s specific past, his story fits into a larger pattern of racially-motivated skepticism about young black men. The routine criminalization of black youth — thanks in large part to the so-called “school-to-prison pipeline,” which funnels a disproportionate number of black teens into the justice system for minor infractions — ensures that teens like Anthony are often seen as threats. And once society labels those kids as criminal, suspect, or “non-compliant,” their lives are typically considered to have less value.

Now the hospital never publicly commented on their decision, as they cannot due to HIPPA.  So we only have the word of the mother of what that meant.  She herself said that the worry was that he wouldn't do the proper follow-ups and take his meds in a timely fashion.  Which if you know anyone that has had an organ transplant are vital to long-term survival.  

The real tragedy of this story, besides the loss of a young man, is that people who ran to defense were no where to found once he was given the heart transplant.  Where were the race baiters who cried for the injustice once the camera's went away?  The SPLC were all to willing to stand in front of the camera to use that young man for a political talking point.  But after the heart transplant was completed he lost his usefulness.  

If they are standing up and talking about how #blacklivesmatter why weren't they giving the support that teenager so obviously needed?  Where were his parents to help keep him on track?  I realize that every child that goes wrong isn't a direct relation to parenting skills. While growing up I knew a girl whose older siblings both became doctors and she was hell on wheels.  Some children, regardless of the circumstances of their upbringing, turn out differently than what people would expect.  But in many cases the children that do go wrong at a young age are doing so because they don't have proper role models and a family unit that is functional.  

The young man was given a second chance at life with his heart transplant.  But he wasn't given a second chance to live that life in a way that honored the donor.  He was a political tool and talking point about how this country doesn't care about young black men.  While the SPLC did indeed give him a name of therapist to help him with the transition after his surgery, they did no follow-up to make sure he was actually attending.  

This is one of the reasons that I can't take these race pimps seriously. When the camera is on, they are right there to soak in their time in the media glare.  But when the media hype dies down and the real work that needs to be done is beckoning, they are nowhere to be found.  

I am certainly not excusing the young man, he made the choices that resulted in his death, but he isn't the only one that deserves the blame.  If the race baiters want to say that black lives matter, then they need to be in the trenches and reach out to the at risk kids that are so selfishly using to increase their own coffers.  

When the black community finally has enough of the people who are using them for their own ends, maybe they will see some progress.  But until then, stop telling me that I don't think black lives matter, when you can't do something as simple as making a follow-up phone call to see if the kid ever bothered to show up for the therapist.  Stop telling me that the mother, who had no problem going in front of the camera for guilt shaming the hospital into changing protocol for surgery couldn't do anything when the red flags were appearing everywhere, including another arrest in January of this year.  That is the time that she should have gone back in front of the media and shamed all the race baiters who said they wanted her son to have a chance at a better life but simply walked away when the real work had to be done.  

Getting the transplant was the easy part.  That isn't what was going to give him a second chance at life.  The second chance was seeing the error of his ways and living a life away from crime.  That was going to take real work and dedication outside of the spotlight.  That was the time to show that black lives matter.  It is a shame that no one bothered to show up.  


Related Posts with Thumbnails
 
Google Analytics Alternative