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A few days ago I read an article in msnbc.com about a Florida teacher who had been fired from a private Christian school because she conceived her daughter a few weeks before her marriage, to the father of the baby. Apparently the school director told her that “fornication” was grounds for termination (but only, of course, outside of the sacrosanct institution of marriage).

I fumed over this and wondered whether such a clause was spelled out in the employment contract–since in the article the teacher stated that the whole thing came at her out of left field, during a discussion to arrange for maternity leave.

Well, it seems the teacher and her husband thought it worth their while to check on the legalities of the issue, and found a lawyer that confirmed that nope, it’s not legal to fire a qualified teacher for having premarital sex*. Based on this lawyer’s advice, the teacher is suing the school for unlawful termination–and now the school has the gall to ask her to drop the suit and “consider the testimony of the Lord.”

Me, I’m thinking of that little thing about having compassion and charity for your fellow human being–you know, the kind that would make it easier to forgive this sin in order not to fire a pregnant woman, let alone a widow with five children, particularly in this economy.

But then I’m not a self-righteous asshole 😉

* * * * *

*At least not when it’s not in public, with a minor, with a student, in school grounds and the like–you know none of those pesky illegal or criminal possibilities; this was consensual, adult-adult, private sex between two people in love.

(not really)

Is there something in the water? in the air?

A 26 year old Connecticut woman is found dead after giving birth to what appear to be full term triplets–and her mother doesn’t think the woman knew she was pregnant. WTF? Really?

An Oregon couple is found guilty in the negligence death of their son. The couple believes in faith healing, and even though they were present when their granddaughter died a few years ago through failed faith healing, they wouldn’t seek medical help for their son. They plan to appeal, by the way.

Honestly now, what the hell?

Michael Vick gets a tv series in BET.

Excuse me while I go puke.

WTF gorilla

Some of you in the US may have seen this news article, but for those who haven’t, the nutshell: a woman somewhere in Michigan watches over the elementary school children of several (I believe it’s three) of her friends for about an hour before the school bus comes along to pick them up. An unnamed neighbor of this woman complained that she was running an illegal day care in a residential area–even though no money is changing hands. Now this woman is facing certain fines and potential jail time.

(more…)

Can you shed some light on this?

We keep hearing about the push to stop wasteful behaviour, how it’s important to teach our children to reduce the amount of trash they produce, to reuse stuff-for the same or different purposes that it was originally intended, no matter as long as it means less waste-to actively recycle whatever we can from our household discards.

There are places like Earth911, Freecycle and many more.

And yet, (more…)

Jane at Dear Author posted about some sort of harebrained idea by some novelists to expand the reach of copyright law to the sale of used print books.

NINC on the sale of used books:

Used book sales, particularly sales of used books through the Internet, have a significant negative effect on the income of publishers and, therefore, authors, as there is no remuneration to them for any sales of used books.

Ninc recommends that commercial used-book sellers be required to pay to publishers a “Secondary Sale” fee upon the reselling of any book within two years of its original publication date. A percentage of these fees would then transfer to authors in accordance with contractual agreements between authors and publishers, thereby reinforcing the Founders’ intent, as stated in Article I of the Constitution, to protect authors’ exclusive right to benefit from their work.

Oh really?

Many of the comments over there expressed my bewilderment over such a preposterous idea, but then there was this gem by Misi:

Well, one day there will only be e-books and all you’ll get is a license to read, not ownership, just a lot of software is now. You can’t even resell the disc (legally) under those terms. Well, you can sell the discs, but only if you delete the content.

The current copyright law is outdated. Again, used bookstores aren’t the problem. It’s the online places that have changed the situation. The law should be changed to.

I’m almost speechless here.

I mean, my mind is just a jumble of extrapolations. I guess we could say that at some point only the person who actually paid for the book should be able to read it, and that any other person reading the same physical book should pay royalties to the author for the privilege.

I ask again, what the fuck?

For the past year and a half, many of us heard about the rumor that (then) Senator Obama was not a US citizen and, therefore, was not elegible to become President of the US, as per the constitution’s requirement that a candidate be a “natural born citizen” (so, no President Schwarzenegger, sorry).

Proof of his nationality in the form of an original birth certificate from the State of Hawaii was provided. Election day came and history was made.

Applause. Get ready for a new day. Move on.

But wait, not so fast there, buddy! Fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

Apparently there are people out there willing to indulge the fantasies of morons who contend that a birth certificate is not enough proof of citizenship by birth.

Seriously, people, what the fucking hell? Hello? Anyone in there?

Repeat after me: Birth. Certificate. From. The. State. Of. Hawaii.

How more “natural born” can you be than that, I wonder?