...a "Sign-of-the Times".....Sad, Sad, Sad!!! Opinions? (Townsend: school, property taxes)

[ketch89]

My points are invalid because I'm from California, that's a great argument, Silvertip. How about commenting on the things I said and not where I'm from?

[DontLookPhoto]

I say get rid of government schools. We should only have private schools, taxpayer funded with common sense curriculum and conforming to the constitution.
Ban tenure, no ands,ifs or buts and please don't get me started on unions. We seem to need to guard our schools now. What's next ?

Then there is the news, It just seems to get worse every day.

[DontLookPhoto]

Here ya go.

http://youtu.be/girnJH7tvpM

[Bayarea4]

Originally Posted by Montana Griz

.....and yet in Calif and other similiar locations we allow students (of a Spanish-speaking foreign country) to wear, display and glorify their country's Flag while dis-respecting, trampling and dis-honoring the American Flag.................... Just another example of: Change, Change, Change!!

As a Californian I would like to set the record straight about the flag t-shirt incident. California students are not, and never have been, allowed to disrespect the American flag. What happened was that on Cinco de Mayo, at a high school with a significant Latino student body, five boys reacted by wearing U.S. flag t-shirts and hanging a U.S. flag from a tree while chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!"

Latino students were offended, saying that this was just as disrespectful if they had worn Mexican flag t-shirts on the Fourth of July. Fearing fights among the students, the principal sent four of the five boys home because they refused to change their clothing. The head of the school district disagreed with what the principal had done and said that no pupil of the district would be punished for wearing patriotic clothing.

Later the boys sued, saying that their First Amendment rights of free speech were denied. The California Supreme Court ruled that it was not wrong for students to wear clothing expressing their beliefs, but that if the school had a reason to fear that violence might result, they had the right to ask the students not to wear the clothing.

Here's the full story:
Cinco De Mayo Controversy: Federal Court Backs Live Oak High School Ban On American Flag Shirts

Bottom line: The Logan County school district is entitled to make the decision to forbid NRA t-shirts if they feel that wearing these shirts is disruptive. Considering what happened at Sandy Hook and all the innocent lives that were lost, if I were a teacher or school administrator I would probably not be too happy about students wearing NRA t-shirts in the classroom even though I own a .22 rifle, learned to shoot when I was seven, and am a supporter of recreational shooting.

[flyingcat2k]

Originally Posted by DontLookPhoto

I say get rid of government schools. We should only have private schools, taxpayer funded with common sense curriculum and conforming to the constitution.
Ban tenure, no ands,ifs or buts and please don't get me started on unions. We seem to need to guard our schools now. What's next ?

Then there is the news, It just seems to get worse every day.

I don't understand how any school can be private when it takes government money to fund it. Money is how the government controls many things (highways, welfare, ect.).

The US Constitution states absolutely nothing about public education. I'm assuming that you are talking about the Montana Constitution which has a whole section and adminstrative laws with it.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by ketch89

The teachers at that school were right to suspend the student. The NRA no longer represents gun owners, they represent gun manufacturers. Over 90% of Americans want universal background checks for gun buyers, and 79% of Montanans, yet thanks to the influence of groups like the NRA and politicians that bathe in money from the gun companies, we can't pass it through congress. The NRA represents something that democrats, republicans, and independents all despise: corporate greed, government dysfunction, and money's control of our representatives.

Most everyone hates Nazis, and would consider a student wearing a Nazi t-shirt a distraction. Most everyone hates what the NRA has become in the past 10 years, so I'd say it's a distraction too.

Comparing an NRA 't-shirt' to displaying the Nazi emblem is a far stretch. Whether you find the NRA distasteful or not is irrelevant. The NRA didn't systemically round up a populace and commit genocide, nor did they perpetuate a global war. Because you feel they pander to the gun industry does not make them akin to the Nazi'. Using your logic, I could very well make the argument that the Sierra Club is offensive in that they have, through their efforts and lobbying, essentially derailed an entire economy of rural workers in the logging industry. Do I find a Sierra Club t-shirt offensive? Yup. Should I demand their logo in public domain 'banned' because of it?

Nope.

That's called free speech. And that's what this kid did. If you can't wrap your arms around free speech even though it may be distasteful to you, well you should maybe take another class in civics.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by ketch89

The teachers at that school were right to suspend the student. The NRA no longer represents gun owners, they represent gun manufacturers. Over 90% of Americans want universal background checks for gun buyers, and 79% of Montanans, yet thanks to the influence of groups like the NRA and politicians that bathe in money from the gun companies, we can't pass it through congress. The NRA represents something that democrats, republicans, and independents all despise: corporate greed, government dysfunction, and money's control of our representatives.

Most everyone hates Nazis, and would consider a student wearing a Nazi t-shirt a distraction. Most everyone hates what the NRA has become in the past 10 years, so I'd say it's a distraction too.

The stats that the politicians use that say 90% of the public wants some sort of background check, is a bit old, as it is the result of a survey completed in 1994. The current survey's show a lot different result, but they won't bring those out while trying to gain more gun control. If you would like to debate that, please take it to the politics forum, or the gun forum. Not here.

However, that's not what the topic is about. The topic is about a kid that wore a t-shirt that said NRA on it. We still have the 1st ammendment, last time I looked, and freedom of speech is part of that. If the school had the policy of "NO LOGO's", then the kid needed to be suspended. If the school had the policy of "Only certain logo's, that don't offend us, on odd days, and months with a R"...... then the kid was wrongfully terminated.

I haven't heard of this happening in Montana though, could it be that they let little crap like that roll off their shoulders?

[Threerun]

What's odd is that this happened in Logan County West Virginia, which might as well be as kindred a spirit to any place in Montana. I know Logan County. This is very, very odd for that area. I really feel it is a teacher stepped over the line, and the folks there will have none of that.

[cumminszhere]

The first time I was in Eureka Montana some years ago, I was sipping a brew at a local establishment. I started shooting the breeze with a guy sitting next to me. Earlier I had noticed his shirt said “Earth First” on the front. My first thought was ‘How far north from California do I have to go to get away from this?’. A short time later I saw the back of his shirt that said “We’ll log the other planets later”. We ended up having a nice conversation.

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by cumminszhere

The first time I was in Eureka Montana some years ago, I was sipping a brew at a local establishment. I started shooting the breeze with a guy sitting next to me. Earlier I had noticed his shirt said “Earth First” on the front. My first thought was ‘How far north from California do I have to go to get away from this?’. A short time later I saw the back of his shirt that said “We’ll log the other planets later”. We ended up having a nice conversation.

To most of the folks I know, PETA means People Eating Tasty Animals.
One of my favorites will always be "Vegitarian, old Indian word meaning Poor Hunter"

When I was in school back in the dark ages, there was always someone with a pot leaf design on their shirt, nobody said anything even though that is still a controlled substance.

Montana or anyplace isn't immune to loony toons, just a couple years ago the principal at one of the Helena high schools wanted to institute a sex "education" program that was basically an indocrination into fetishes, homosexuality, and just about any thing under the sun except basic biology.

Just because we live in a place where most people have their feet on the ground, doesn't mean the loony toons won't try to destroy it.

I would love to see our education go to a school voucher program to open up competition and provide parents with options other than the washington sanctioned pablum that substitutes for education these days.

NRA? They do good work stopping those that would destroy the Constitution and take our rights to liberty and self determination.
The NRA had absolutely nothing to do with ANY of the shootings that have happened. Those were individuals that chose to destroy lives on their own.
They are not a perfect organization, but they have the power to save our rights so yeah, I support them, and wouldn't blink an eye at any kid wearing an NRA t-shirt.

If they were wearing an obama shirt, different story...