too pretty for prosecution

A few months ago, Debra Lafave's attorney stated that she was "too pretty for prison" despite the fact that she had admitted to molesting a young teen age student in two separate political jurisdictions. While the attorney's statement outraged local citizens, it was apparently okay for local prosecutors who were anxious to make a plea deal for Ms. Lafave on terms that must have made here lawyer a very happy man indeed. Facing over 30 years in prison, the deal required no jail time whatsoever.

The prosecutor and judge in Hillsboro county apparently had no problems with the prosecution give-away and the Marion county prosecutor was apparently also on board the "too pretty for prison" bandwagon; the only potential problem was the Marion county judge who would need to approve the deal.

However, Marion county Judge Hale Stancil was not impressed with the prosecution give-away. Saying the give-away deal "shocks the conscience of this court," Stancil rejected it. So, one might conclude that the Marion county portion of the case would now go to trial with Lafave potentially subject to punishment appropriate to her offenses? But no! -- States Attorney Brad King decided that he would prefer to let Ms. Lafave walk than endure the possibility of facing prison. In King's eyes, Lafave is not only too pretty for prison but too pretty for prosecution.

Of course, the media are still serving as stooges for the defense time, now parroting the strange claim that letting Ms. Lafave walk away with essentially no punishment will benefit the victim of her crimes. Here is a story that discusses this. http://sptimes.com/2006/03/21/Hillsborough/To_the_end__a_mother_.shtml Of course, protecting witnesses from intimidation and adverse publicity is one of the responsibilities of the prosecution team. In this case, however, it appears that the prosecutors were more concerned about Ms. Lafave than they were about the victim of her crimes.

Geography or liberal politics

The Colorado geography teacher who spent a good portion of his class comparing George W. Bush to Hitler has apparently returned to work after an unpublicized settlement with the school district.

For some strange reason, this was characterized as a "freedom of speech" issue but that makes no sense. Surely the school management has the authority (actually responsibility) to specify the curriculum in enough detail to make sure that geography itself is covered. And, while geography can cover a wider range of issues that simple knowledge of capitals and location of mountains, the fact is that the National Geographic Society conducts periodic surveys that show that American students are well behind in basic geographic knowledge.

As far as I can tell, no one was attempting to restrict what Mr. Bennish could say outside of his classroom which, if it had happened, would be a free speech issue. In fact, the school district rules apparently are quite liberal in that they only required that both sides of controversial issues be presented. In the instant case, perhaps Mr. Bennish could have augmented his comparison of Bush to Hitler with a discussion about the symptoms of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS), one of which is making senseless comparisons of Bush to Hitler.

Perhaps other liberal-minded teachers who cannot keep their case of BDS under control with medication or by other means will be a bit more cautious realizing that a motivated student can easily record a Bush-bashing lecture as in this case.

Geography or liberal politics

The Colorado geography teacher who spent a good portion of his class comparing George W. Bush to Hitler has apparently returned to work after an unpublicized settlement with the school district.

For some strange reason, this was characterized as a "freedom of speech" issue but that makes no sense. Surely the school management has the authority (actually responsibility) to specify the curriculum in enough detail to make sure that geography itself is covered. And, while geography can cover a wider range of issues that simple knowledge of capitals and location of mountains, the fact is that the National Geographic Society conducts periodic surveys that show that American students are well behind in basic geographic knowledge.

As far as I can tell, no one was attempting to restrict what Mr. Bennish could say outside of his classroom which, if it had happened, would be a free speech issue. In fact, the school district rules apparently are quite liberal in that they only required that both sides of controversial issues be presented. In the instant case, perhaps Mr. Bennish could have augmented his comparison of Bush to Hitler with a discussion about the symptoms of Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS), one of which is making senseless comparisons of Bush to Hitler.

Perhaps other liberal-minded teachers who cannot keep their case of BDS under control with medication or by other means will be a bit more cautious realizing that a motivated student can easily record a Bush-bashing lecture as in this case.