Double Jeopardy?

Legal situations are always touchy. Especially as an outside person looking in. Especially when I am the outside person. Now, this article could just be shoddy journalism (lord knows there's a ton of that on CNN.com), but my mind chooses to give the author the benefit of the doubt (something I know I shouldn't do) and take what's there at face value.

Read this.

Note especially where, when, and for what he was convicted.

Feel free to correct me, if you want. I don't really care. But, to me...it seems this man's had some basic Constitutional rights violated, here. Namely, Double Jeopardy as seen in the following:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The way this particular article reads, it looks like the civilian court and the military court found this guy guilty of the same crimes. I can understand why they'd want to try him twice--he raped and killed a civilian and raped and killed/attempted to kill a couple of Army personnel. According to the article. That's three people. If you re-read the first part of that article, the civilian court convicted him on two counts of murder and five counts of rape (which is impressive for having three known victims). Then the following year, a court martial also found him guilty of two murders, one attempted murder, and three rapes. That equates to the two military personnel and the civilian.

Now, don't get me wrong. Y'all should know by now how I feel about murderers and rapists and the death penalty. But, I'm also a very big supporter of the US Constitution. It's there for a reason. It's there so the government can't tell us to just bend over and take it--even though they try. The government can get away with a lot. Know why? Because they rely on the fact that Americans, as a whole, are uninformed. With the way trends are for the education of the youth of America, I'd say the government is trying to make it so that very few are even literate in this country. That way, when the citizens willingly give up their rights because they don't know any better, the power-hungry Federal Government will just pat them on the heads and send them on their merry little way.

I, for one, don't plan on allowing that to happen. What am I going to do about it? I'll write my congressmen. I'll petition Mr. Obama. I'll even run for office, if I have to. Ooooh...yesh, I said it. I'll run for OFFICE, if I have to. I'll make sure my Libertarian view of government gets broadcasted the world over. So, if you don't like the fact your rights are slowly being stripped from you, do something about it.

READ the Constitution.

KNOW your rights.

WRITE your congressman.

Don't settle for the standard answers. Make them accountable for their decisions. Let them know they can't just make arbitrary decisions that affect your life. Let them know that they can't just overwrite the Constitution. And I'm not talking about minority groups here. I'm talking about US CITIZENS. I'm talking about reading the articles of the Constitution of our country and the Amendments. Know them. Understand them. That way when someone says to you, "Hey, don't you think Schwartzenegger should run for President?" You can say (with confidence, knowledge, and accuracy), "Yes, but sadly, he can't. He doesn't meet the qualifications. Neither does RA, but give her a few years and she'll be a-okay!"

Vote RA/Cthulu in 2012! You'll be glad you did.

Smarter Than...?

So, in Georgia--the State, not the country--Kathy Cox went on a game show called "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader" and won the $1million grand prize. That's a wonderful accomplishment, considering the educational development of most of the people on our country. She answered the ten questions correctly to get to the million dollar question--"Who was the longest reigning British monarch?" I know the answer to that question. But, I would have made a political statement and said Queen Elizabeth II (that's the current monarch, for those unaware of the fact there's a world outside of the US). Why? Because I'm sure she's just trying to outlive Charles so that someone less dense than he can take over the throne--like one of his sons.

Anyway.

This story isn't something to really rant about...unless you've read the original article by this point and noticed that I've left out something about the woman--her job. I'll wait while you all rush to find out what it is. I have all day.

Oh, fine, she's the Superintendent of the school district. So, theoretically, she should be smarter than a fifth grader. But, let's not jump to conclusions on that. Anyway, she used this prize money for the school district, which is a wonderful idea. Why does this irritate me?

BECAUSE PEOPLE COMPLAINED ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yes! "She has better things to do with her time."

Obviously, you don't. If you're complaining about the superintendent winning a family-centric game show about education, then using the money for the school district, you clearly have no life. Or intelligence. Or sanity. Does Cthulhu talk to you in your sleep or something?!

Now, another thing that really got me was the author of this article felt the need to tell everyone she's a Republican. Why? Is it really necessary? Even if it's an elected position, is it really necessary? Would she have been ridiculed less if she was a Democrat? What if she were Libertarian? Is it that, as a Republican, she is allying herself with the Big Oil companies and the money she won from the contest is actually going to support Big Oil rather than, say, Education?

It all comes down to oil, doesn't it.

The War on Terror's over. The terrorists won. They've scared Americans stupid. How do I know this? Because we're complaining about everything. The superintendent wins $1million for the school district and she "has better things to do with her time." Our President is still searching Iran for the weapons of mass destruction. Bin Laden is probably well preserved in some holy temple somewhere and someone's probably communing with his spirit so that they know what his wishes for Al Quaida were...and we're doing what? Oh, right, establishing a US-Friendly government...in IRAQ.

Whatever.

If you're complaining about someone else doing something good for their district, you're either jealous...or stupid. Most likely both.

Causing Solutions

Oh, yeah. This can't stay silent. Nothing like finding a gem of a news story first thing in the morning, happily delivered to your e-mail by none other than your SO. CNN wants us to freak out because more than 200,000 kids were spanked during the school year last year!

*GASP!*

Two hundred thousand kids! ZOMG! The world is going to implode!

Whatever.

Not enough, in my opinion. You know why? Because kids are still killing kids. Because they still think they can rule the classroom--I can say this, having taught for a single year. We got to administer "standards." I will not's written a set number of times.

...and would you believe I got phone calls from parents saying I had no right?!

Okay, America, listen in and listen good... A child does not dictate his own punishment. I don't care if you're black, white, red, purple, yellow, green with pink polk-a-dots, if you're going to disobey in a classroom you are going to get an appropriate punishment. Flinging rubberbands--you mean shooting rubberbands?!--across the room is not appropriate behavior and if you actually hit someone with those...you're done. A teacher is not a babysitter. A school is not a daycare. You wanna know why people on Yahoo Answers have retarded questions like "How is babby formed? How girl get pragnet?" Because teachers can't do what they're trained to do and teach students.

Oh! And on top of not being able to maintain classroom control because there's a lack of a true discipline system, lest we forget, we are no longer teaching students information--we're teaching them the standardized tests so we don't lose funding.

"How is babby formed?"

The ACLU, of course, couldn't let this go--there's a higher percentage of African-Americans who are sent for paddlings and more of the African-Americans that get spanked are girls.

Well.

Statistically speaking... If you're at a school comprised mostly of black children, you're going to have a higher percentage of black children going to the principal's office. On top of that, if you have a higher percentage of black girls in the school district.... you get where this is going.

I'll admit it! I was spanked in school when I was little. I consider myself a fairly well-adjusted 30 year old. I didn't whine and complain to my mom that Mrs. Fritz or Mrs. Hughes spanked me. In fact, I sorta hid that fact from her. Because, as a lot of you may remember (well, if you're not growing up now in the "Save the Child's Psyche" generation), if you got spanked at school, you got spanked at home.

Parents need to stop sniveling and DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM!

You don't like that your child got spanked at school? Maybe, and this is just a thought, you should, perhaps, talk to your child and find out why he was spanked at school. As a teacher, I can attest to the fact that we don't just assign arbitrary punishment for no reason--despite what your child says. Calling us while we're teaching to discuss your child's behavior problem is inappropriate. We do not call you at work to discuss our marital problems. You go through the proper channels and schedule a meeting with the teacher. It's not hard.

Yes, your "little angel" is not perfect. I know it's a shock and I know it's hard to believe. But, ya know what? They're just like you were as a kid.

...only with guns.

"Spanking isn't a deterrent," I hear you cry.

Of course it's not. Nothing is if it's not consistent or supported at home. Children see parents arguing and yelling at the teachers and watch as the teachers are disempowered by the Administrators and suddenly, they know what they can get away with. Nothing is more infuriating for a teacher than to discipline a child for something they are doing wrong only to be told that you can't discipline that child.

Here's a big UP YOURS! If you think you can do a better job educating and disciplining your child, then do it. Quit your day job. Take a pay cut. Pour your heart and soul into that child--they'll be better off for it.

...and maybe they won't force James Hetfield to put up a fence....