use Perl

• this is bizarre (Score:2)

  by hfb (74)

  How do you expect kids to be shocked and morally outraged when they have to go through metal detectors at school and wonder if one of their classmates is going to be the next one to shoot/bomb/maim them?

  It's difficult to be shocked and amazed in a world long since gone mad.
  • I know what you mean (Score:1)

    by Wodin (1395)

    My little sister is currently a junior in high school, and every time I talk to her I'm more shocked by what she considers "routine" This school year alone they've had three bomb threats, three pulled fire alarms, one case of arson, and one kid expelled for bringing a knife to school.

    She doesn't even consider any of this unusual anymore.

    I guess what is even scarier is that she tells me that the measures the school is having to take to keep things "under control" are increasingly not doing anything of t
    • Re:I know what you mean (Score:1)

      by chaoticset (2105)

      The primary job of the modern educational system is not to do something so lofty as 'educate' people. The primary job of the modern educational system is to prepare 90% of students to do what 90% of them will probably end up doing: Some damn menial thing, day in, day out, for the rest of their lives.

      Most of the people running the modern educational system are now a product of it.

      When presented with novel problems -- such as students smart enough and perfectly willing to build and bring a bomb to schoo

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• Still Laughing (Score:1)

  by chaoticset (2105)

  The program -- sponsored by the American Bar Association -- will also enlist the help of lawyers and judges, who Kennedy hopes will visit high schools to talk about core democratic values in light of the terrorist attacks.

  Lawyers. Morals.

  Write your own joke in here.

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• Checks and balances (Score:1)

  by gizmo_mathboy (782)

  I am very shocked and dismayed that a Supreme Court Justice would do this. First, it's doing this in cooperation with the First Lady. That smacks of entanglement with the Executive Branch (not directly but enough to cause me concern). Second, I know I hold Justices in high regard and don't want them to soil them selves in such mundane, materials. Finally, do I want my Justice to say things like "requires a legal response" regarding an attack of some sort?
  
  While I disagree with chaoticset about this particu
  • Re:Checks and balances (Score:1)

    by pudge (1)

    There is absolutely no problem with checks and balances, let alone separation of powers, with this. There's nothing having to do with law, legislation, or official activity. It is privately funded. To throw around legal terms like "checks and balances" and implying a problem with separation of powers is entirely inappropriate. Justices do this sort of thing quite often, speaking to kids and students about the law and ethics and the whole thing. It's only worthy of note, really, because of the specific
    • Re:Checks and balances (Score:1)

      by gizmo_mathboy (782)

      I think it is the appearance. Working with the First Lady makes it appear that the Executive gives approval to this. While it's not like the Vice President and a Justice were doing this program I still think that the First Lady shouldn't have been a partner.
      
      I do agree that programs like this are done by judges, but how many are done by Justices of the Supreme Court? How many are done by a Justice and someone associated with another branch of government?
      • Re:Checks and balances (Score:1)

        by pudge (1)

        You seem to misunderstand. Who cares if it IS the Vice President and a Justice? There is no principle -- legal, traditional, ethical, or othewise -- involved.
        
        I do agree that programs like this are done by judges, but how many are done by Justices of the Supreme Court?
        
        Many.
        
        How many are done by a Justice and someone associated with another branch of government?
        
        Many. No one cares about what branch of government someone is affiliated with when in private, non-official activities, especially when de