I feel so bad for this woman and can completely understand her pain, and more than sympathize with her. The justice system can never really repair the damage these criminals have caused in their victims' lives, as well as their own families.
If there was any time better than now to take a deep dark look at what we are doing with our penal/judicial system, its now.
I realize she's just speaking out of pain, and I respect that (heaven knows that if I were in her shoes, I'd be saying a whole lot worse, and probably be plotting to kill the suspect myself), but I just wanted to point out that many local jails now do charge prisoners a daily fee - about $10 most places - for their food and lodging. Not that that at all helps the horrible situation this family is in - just being servicey.
My sister and I basically grew up in my dad's lab-- we played with the lab animals and did "experiments" with water and petri dishes and beakers. Our pets were lab mice. No joke.
Best way to get kids interested in science (or anything, really): emphasize the gross stuff. Like this bug, that makes a protective covering for itself out of its own poo!!
@MIXED: The only Rhodes scholar I've ever met had an adorable burnout hippy boyfriend who was more interested in camping than studying. She detested Oxford and didn't finish her degree.
@eibhinn: It's got to be bittersweet winning an amazing, prestigious award and getting an incredible opportunity... all tied to a guy who was a bigot, colonialist zealot who thought white Brits should rule the world (and especially diamond-rich South Africa – Rhodes was co-founder of DeBeers).
I am so pumped that our President takes science seriously. It's about damn time. Attending a science fair at the White House would have been the highlight of my school career!
I can't imagine having to reconcile Justice and justice for one you've lost. I don't care how much someone wants to wax poetic about the law/system and how government guarantees human treatment of all its citizens (which it doesn't really anyhow), that will be of little solace to someone in Lockhart-Davis' position.
@Penny: Yes. I once had this conversation with my dad. He said that if someone murdered me, he would want them to get the death penalty. I argued with him that he doesn't support the death penalty, doesn't believe the state should kill etc etc.
He just said: "There's a reason fathers of murdered children aren't allowed in sentencing hearings."
They recruited me; heavily recruited me. And I made the mistake of visiting the school. They harassed me for 3 months with constant calls/ letters--even after I told them I had accepted elsewhere. It took my dad getting on the phone and in his best commanding officer voice, telling them to fuck off before they stopped.
I'm sure some women have a fine experience there-- the women I talked to did not recommend it.
@curiousgeorgiana: A sister of a friend of mine went there and had a really awful time. Last I heard she was spending her sophomore year abroad at a military academy in France just to get away.
@daradoodle: I dealt with my share of sexist attitudes in NROTC. But those individuals were exceptions to the general rule. Not to mention guys would get slammed pretty hard by superior officers if they caught wind of comments etc. or witnessed any harassment.
It seems to be a culture at VMI, and I'm shocked that women survive it. Good for your friend for getting a break!
@curiousgeorgiana: Yeah, I read a bunch about the school for a class (we were focusing on military academies for a couple of weeks), and I have to say, I don't really understand why a woman would choose to go there, knowing what I found out. It seems as though the culture is almost a reaction (a very bitter, nasty one) to being forced to admit women, and its just scary.
@curiousgeorgiana: Many women from my university, Mary Baldwin College, are and were in the military program hosted on our campus, the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership. VWIL is the only all-female cadet corps in the world, but we're a small school (around 900 students, with about 150 in VWIL at any time) and couldn't offer all of the officer training on campus. Upperclassmen would go down to VMI (about half an hour) and be part of their training; my friends who did so said it was horrible and sexist.
"They caused, allowed and permitted condoms to be distributed by school personnel to the students, many of which were opened during the school lunch period and thrown on the floor"
I'm sorry this lady fell and all, but I have a sneaky suspicion that she's just annoyed at students having had some real sex education at school.
@Ailatan: When I read that a teacher had "slipped on a condom", I thought maybe it had gotten a little too real. Hooray for linguistic ambiguity and its many amusements!
@Ailatan: That's what I first thought, and I hope I'm just a damnable cynic, but I honestly thought it was a ruse to ban sex ed and the condom handouts.
@Ailatan: How the F do you not see garbage on the floor? How do you slip on a used condom? It's not like those things need a decoder pen- they're not made invisible. Maybe her arms were full of promise keeper pamphlets.
@Ailatan: I'm afraid of the consequences this could have on the sex education of NYC students. Could the BofE then argue that they can't hand out condoms because they don't want this lawsuit to happen again?
@Ailatan: Agree. A normal person would just be embarrassed she slipped. She wouldn't go to the media to try to disgrace the school for passing out condoms.
I was born and raised in Arlington, within walking distance of the cemetery. I will definitely visit the next time I'm home. NB: If any of you visit the Kennedys, know that as you walk up the hill towards their graves (if you're approaching from the Iwo Jima Memorial it's the first section of the hill you have to climb), you walk right by the grave of Medgar Evers. His gravestone is turned so that the engraving faces away from the path, but it's right next to the path. There are usually some stones or pebbles around it or on top of it, thanks to his Jewish supporters. I left my Barack Obama "HOPE" pin there the last time I visited.
Was in Boston Friday and was one of the last people admitted to see the casket at the JFK library. I'm working up a blog post on it, but it was even more emotional to me than 9/11, and I didn't think that would ever be possible. Next time I'm in Washington, D.C., I plan to visit Arlington.
@Dagneymedea: If you're going to bring her up in some lame attempt to... what, shit on someone's funeral? Anyway, if you're going to bring her up, could you at least learn her name?
11/24/09
If there was any time better than now to take a deep dark look at what we are doing with our penal/judicial system, its now.
11/24/09
11/24/09
Best way to get kids interested in science (or anything, really): emphasize the gross stuff. Like this bug, that makes a protective covering for itself out of its own poo!!
[www.livescience.com]
11/23/09
//congrats to both of them, what an achievement!
11/23/09
Awesome for them. Hooray!!!
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
#tips
11/23/09
#tips
11/23/09
11/23/09
My first thought: "Yay, we're getting there!"
Second thought: "It's 2009, and I'm cheering that most-equal area is down 7.8 percent?"
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
He just said: "There's a reason fathers of murdered children aren't allowed in sentencing hearings."
11/23/09
They recruited me; heavily recruited me. And I made the mistake of visiting the school. They harassed me for 3 months with constant calls/ letters--even after I told them I had accepted elsewhere. It took my dad getting on the phone and in his best commanding officer voice, telling them to fuck off before they stopped.
I'm sure some women have a fine experience there-- the women I talked to did not recommend it.
11/23/09
11/23/09
It seems to be a culture at VMI, and I'm shocked that women survive it. Good for your friend for getting a break!
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
I'm sorry this lady fell and all, but I have a sneaky suspicion that she's just annoyed at students having had some real sex education at school.
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
I blame the system!
11/23/09
Won't someone think of the children??!! [that these children won't be having because they're being given condoms in school]
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/24/09
11/25/09
11/25/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
Never mind kids having unprotected sex, because we have to worry about the real menace: SLIPPAGE.
11/23/09
11/23/09
11/23/09
08/31/09
08/31/09
08/31/09
08/29/09
08/29/09
08/30/09