New Rant!

[FLLawdog]

I just heard on the news that School Bus driver in Brevard was forced...yes, forced...by the school board to remove a flag from his bus. It was one of the small, like what, 6"X8" on the little wooden dowel ones and was above the driver's window. The representative of the school board the reporter talked to gave the following reasons why the action was taken.

1. It was a potential hazard to the driver, as it could become a distraction. A distraction? WTF!!! How in the HELL can something that small, mounted out of the way be an F'ing distraction!!!

2. It is a safety hazard. In the event of a crash, the flag could become dislodged and become a projectile, possibly striking a child. Double WTF!!! A projectile? Safety hazard? Excuse me, but a school bus is a 2 and half ton piece of equipment with pieces and parts far outweighing and more hazardous than a flag. OMG!!! Keeping with that logic, they'd better remove the lug nuts, too! Oh, and what bout those menacing mirrors! And that dangerous strobe light!

You know, if the reasons were halfway believeable, I might fall for it, but my God, the BOE realllllllly seems to be stretching this one. No wonder our kids are so f'd up with this kind of logic "leading" them!

[Mitzi]

Well, it sounds as though you are as frustrated as I am. In this day of, "I have my rights", common sense seems to take a back seat.
Here in our county, they tried to pass a uniform law for the children in school. A friend of mine was fighting it tooth and toenail. I, personally, was for it. I knew what it was like to not have clothes like the other kids. My family was very poor and I had like 3 outfits to mys name when I was a senior in high school. It was humiliating. Uniforms would have made my life easier as I was taunted about my clothes as it was. I remember a day my sister went to school in a "pretty" outfit she had found in the mound of clothes thrown on the floor where we were expected to find something to wear. My sister was in tears when the kids teased her because she didn't realize was wearing a maternity dress. So, uniforms would have really helped us alot.
When I explained this to my friend, she said, "I don't care. I don't like being told what to do." And that seems to be the biggest problem in the Unites States now. Everything is made so hard. Someone is ALWAYS going to object, just to object.
How interesting that the flag was forced to be taken down. The kids have worse projectiles in a school bus with no safety belts. There is no one but the beleagured bus driver to control all this kids. Yet, someone objects to a flag.
It's all totally ridiculous. But, you will always find people like that. They exert their rights to the extreme. The school board adopted a uniform law here but no one goes by it. It does seem sometimes like some people have more rights them others.

[ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: Mitzi ]

[Arctic Cop]

Mitzi are you in J-ville?

[LBomb]

Initially after the 9-11 attacks, a memo came down from one our top brass in the dept. It stated that no American flags were to be flown from Police vehicles nor worn upon a Police uniform. They relented a few days later after they realized the fall-out that was coming and allowed small flags to be placed in the vehicles and small Flag pins worn on the uniform. Eventually they issued us the pin to be worn.
In fairness, I understand the reasoning...they didn't want anyone taping flagstaffs to the antennae and have them snap. And as with everything else in our Dept, sooner or later some bonehead cop who sqeaked by his/her Background check, would have sewn a flag on their back or wore a flag as a head wrap. (A blatant violation of the US Flag Code, by the way.)
Regardless, the initial order regarding flags was a slap in the faces of every cop in the dept. Especially when we were mourning our brothers/sisters in NYC.
Here endeths my rant!

[RachelR]

What? You haven't heard the scary statistics of people maimed by flying dowel rods from flags? I'm shocked...