Miss Piggy's Grocery Store Checkout Headlines

[Xantavia]

Dryden, a social studies teacher, told some of his students April 18 that they had a 5th Amendment right to not incriminate themselves by answering questions on the survey, which had each student's name printed on it

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...ews/705259921/

Basically, it seems that a private company was having a local school give its students a questionnaire about their drug and alcohol use. Teacher told kids they don't have to answer since it is not an anonymous form, and school board said he was in the wrong. All I've seen in local news and papers is that people are on the side of the teacher and think this kind of survey is a crock of shit.

[Cliron]

Shit angers me to high heaven. I can't get over the power ye're schooling system has over its students.

For work I was looking into hair drug testing services for a pilot we're beginning with opioids. I couldn't believe how the sites were marketing themselves to schools. My bf's mother is the head of the PTA in Alaska and said that screening kids for drugs was common practice.

It does not tell students whether participation is mandatory or optional.

Ethics 101, not to mention that for a topic like this, assumed consent from the parents shouldn't fly (since children can only give assent).

If a school in Ireland (and I assume the UK) tried screening students, it would be an absolute shit show.

[jmc]

Sounds to me like he was justified, since whenever anyone calls 911 and they send an officer, the officer is obligated to speak to the person who called, not just someone who lives there. I dunno if that's how the law is phrased, though. It should be.

This.... even more so with domestic violence incidents. Officer was absolutely right in that scenario

[Ksandra]

GE makes a cheerios ad with a bi-racial family. Youtubers are youtubers:

Cheerios -- a consumer brand perhaps least-likely to be embroiled in a racially tinged controversy -- has found itself in just that.

Social media blow-back has been fierce, nasty and unusually racist after the top-selling, General Mills cereal brand last week began airing -- and then posted online -- a commercial featuring a sweet, mixed-race girl.

In the ad, she is seeking nutritional advice from her white mother and black father. The spot ends with her pouring a bunch of Cheerios on the chest of her sleeping father -- believing it will make his heart healthier.

Watch:

Even in an era when the nation's African-American president is in his second term in office and with minorities soon to become a majority population, much of the social media response to the mixed-race ad has been poisonous, leaving some wondering what kind of reality such Internet response actually reflects.

The YouTube comments section for the ad, which had been viewed more than 1.7 million times as of mid-day Monday, was disabled late last week. "We are a family brand and not all of the comments were family-friendly," says Camille Gibson, vice president of marketing for Cheerios, in an emailed comment.

Perhaps the real issue it that it's no longer just edgy brands trying to portray the real American consumer, says Ken Smikle, president of Target Market News, a firm that monitors African-American marketing. "We think of Cheerios as a great American icon," he says. "There are going to be people who feel that their image of what's American is now being challenged by these iconic brands."

Call it new reality vs. old prejudices.

"A progressive-looking commercial collides with the ugliness of the Internet," says Barbara Lippert, media and pop culture columnist at MediaPost.com.

General Mills is standing by the spot and has no plans to stop airing it or to take it down from its YouTube channel. "There are many kinds of families, and Cheerios celebrates them all," says Gibson. Despite some serious, negative response online, "it's been a very positive response overall," she says.

Marketing experts are applauding General Mills -- which first introduced the brand in 1941 as "Cheerioats, " and in 1945, changed the name to Cheerios.

"They can't bow to this incredible ugliness and underbelly of hatred," says Lippert. "If the father had not been black, it would have been just another spot."

General Mills, meanwhile, is not bending. Asked how this might affect casting for future Cheerios commercials, Gibson replied, "I don't think it does."

http://www.freep.com/article/2013060...ial-commercial

[archibaldcrane]

Love how they call Obama African American instead of correctly and on topic acknowledge that he is, in fact, of mixed race.

[Ksandra]

Love how they call Obama African American instead of correctly and on topic acknowledge that he is, in fact, of mixed race.

To be fair, when I saw it on the news they pointed out Obama is mixed, just that was the first article I found that actually had the full video in it.

[Kerberoz]

Shitty journalism. "Racism exists, particularly on the internet" is not news and does not deserve a headline.

[Brill Weave]

Shitty journalism. "Racism exists, particularly on the internet" is not news and does not deserve a headline.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Wtf are you talking about? There's no racism on the internet. Look at this guy sheesh.

[Tyrath]

Wasn't sure whether to post in gun violence thread or here.

School Says Deaf Boy’s Name Sign Looks Too Much Like A Gun

You can’t make this stuff up. The good news: 3-year-old Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, knows how to sign his name. The bad news: His school says his hand sign looks too much like a gun and has asked him to change it.

The school, in Grand Island, Nebraska, is forcing Hunter to change the way he signs his name, because they say his gestures violate their weapons policy. Lunacy reigns supreme, America.

Hunter’s personalized name sign is a registered sign with Signing Exact English – a modified form of American Sign Language – and involves extended index fingers that the district says resembles a gun. “We are working with the parents to come to the best solution we can for the child,” said Jack Sheard, Grand Island Public Schools spokesperson. Really, Jack? I have a suggestion: Take your heads out of your butts and allow him to use the registered sign for his name. Problem solved.

As reported by 1011now.com, Grand Island’s “Weapons in Schools” Board Policy 8470 forbids “any instrument…that looks like a weapon.” But a three year-old’s hands? Here’s Hunter’s dad, Brian:

“He’s deaf, and his name sign, they say, is a violation of their weapons policy. It’s a symbol. It’s an actual sign, a registered sign, through S.E.E.”

Hunter’s parents say that by Monday, lawyers from the National Association of the Deaf are likely to weigh in for Hunter’s right to sign his own name.

Despite whatever rules and regulations may exist, some Grand Islanders said they don’t think it’s right to make a three year-old change the way he says his name.

“It’s his name. It’s not like he’s going to bring a gun to school when he’s three years old,” commented Dana Schwieger.

“I find it very difficult to believe that the sign language that shows his name resembles a gun in any way would even enter a child’s mind,” said Fredda Bartenbach.

First, an 8-year-old boy in Baltimore is suspended from school for allegedly chewing his Pop-Tart into the shape of a handgun. Then, a 6-year-old Massachusetts boy is forced to apologize for “traumatizing” his schoolmates on the bus by brandishing a tiny – the size of a quarter – Lego-figure gun. And now, a 3-year-old deaf child may be forced to change the only sign he knows for his name.

All because of what? Overreaction? Politically correctness? Mass hysteria among school administrators or just downright stupidity? Whatever the reason, does it really matter? The bottom line is this: This nonsense is out of control. Period. Get a grip, people.

I wonder if the sign for “get a grip” looks like an “assault” rifle?

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/06/5640...ch-like-a-gun/

[Ksandra]

I don't know what makes me more mad: them wanting to change the kid's symbol or the comments below the article about this being socialism, and trying to use it as a defense that we don't need gun control.


Also, while again I feel the school is being dumb, the article is terribly written. They keep talking about how the kid is only three. Last I checked, your name stays with you when you are 3, 4, 5, and so on.

[Brill Weave]

[Tajin]

Holy shit Nebraska and Indiana

[ringthree]

GE makes a cheerios ad with a bi-racial family. Youtubers are youtubers:



http://www.freep.com/article/2013060...ial-commercial

This isn't "I don't want to live on this planet anymore." This is "Dear God, Make everyone Die. Amen."

[Brill Weave]

This isn't "I don't want to live on this planet anymore." This is "Dear God, Make everyone Die. Amen."

Either way problem solved.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Wasn't sure whether to post in gun violence thread or here.



http://www.ijreview.com/2013/06/5640...ch-like-a-gun/

old as dirt. i dunno why this article thinks its new.

[MaachaQ]

I really had to shake my head at this one...

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...inds-hes-woman

Man, 66, goes to doctor and finds he's a woman
Tuesday, 04 June, 2013, 10:47am

A patient at the Kwong Wah and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals discovered he was also a woman when he came for treatment for a swelling abdomen. Photo: Nora Tam

A 66-year-old apparently male patient made a stunning discovery when he sought treatment for swelling in his abdomen. The swelling was a cyst on his ovary and he was in fact a woman.

The condition was caused by a very rare combination of two genetic disorders. One, Turner syndrome, causes women to lack some female features, including the ability to get pregnant.

Sufferers usually look like women, but in this case the patient also had congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which boosted the male hormones and made the patient look like a man.

The case was reported by doctors from Kwong Wah Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, who treated the patient. It was published in the Hong Kong Medical Journal yesterday.

"The patient, by definition, is a woman who cannot get pregnant. But she also has CAH, which gave her the appearance of a man," Chinese University paediatrics professor Ellis Hon Kam-lun said. "It's an interesting and very rare case of having the two combinations. It probably won't be seen again in the near future."

The 66-year-old Vietnam-born Chinese man is an orphan. He has a beard, small penis and no testes. Just 1.37 metres tall, he has decided to continue perceiving himself as a male and may receive male hormone treatment, the report said.

When pressed, he disclosed a long history of urinary leakage and arrest of growth after puberty at the age of 10.

Only six cases of a patient with both conditions have been reported in medical literature. This patient was diagnosed later in life than any of the others.

Turner's syndrome has an estimated prevalence of one in 2,500 to 3,000 females.

Normal females have a pair of X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y.

Turner syndrome patients have only one X. They usually had the appearance of girls and the condition was identified when they reached puberty and did not menstruate, Hon said.

Private gynaecologist Dr Kun Ka-yan said Turner syndrome was rarer now as most sufferers were identified in prenatal tests. Women would usually choose an abortion as the disease can bring other health problems, including mental disability.

[Sepukku]

as if his manhood wasn't being checked epicly enough, the article needed to say "he has a small penis". LOL

[Brill Weave]

as if his manhood wasn't being checked epicly enough, the article needed to say "he has a small penis". LOL

Seriously. Talk about kicking a brother when he's down.

[notorious bum]

What about his... vagina?

[Tyrath]

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/O...g-raped-315509

Outrage as (Israeli) judge says: Some girls enjoy rape

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided to withdraw his support for Judge Nissim Yeshaya to head the Likud's internal court after he said that "some girls like to be raped" at a rape hearing.

"A man who says such things is unfit to serve as the head of the Likud's court," said Netanyahu, who will now have to find a replacement candidate in the June 27 race.

The district court judge's comment was made during an appeal of a court ruling on the rape six years ago of a 13-year-old girl by four Palestinian youths from the Shuafat refugee camp, Army Radio reported.

On Monday, the girl appealed the Defense Ministry's decision not to acknowledge the rape as a terrorist attack at the Tel Aviv District Court.

"In the heat of the discussion, he [Yeshaya] suddenly said out loud 'some girls like to be raped,'" attorney Roni Sdovnik told Army Radio.

His comment was met with stunned silence in the courtroom, Sdovnik said. "He didn't even understand what he was saying, he didn't understand why everyone were silent."

The court said in a statement that the judge's comments "were not intended to hurt or disrespect rape victims. The judge apologizes for his comment."

Yeshaya will be called for an inquiry on the incident in the coming days, the statement went on to say.

"It's inconceivable that judges in the justice system, that is supposed to protect the victims, run it in a backwards, shameless and irresponsible manner," Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On said.

Gal-On called for a "thorough clean up of the justice system" from judges with such worldviews.

"I am bothered by the court's response. The point is not whether or not [the judge] intended to hurt anyone but the fact this is his view," Yesh Atid MK Aliza Lavie said.

MK Orly Levy-Abecassis (Yisrael Beytenu) castigated Yeshaya, saying the contempt shown in his comment "disgraces the court."

Yeshaya defended himself, saying that his words were taken out of context.

"This is twisted and was taken out of context," he told Channel 2. "This was not a rape trial. I am retired and this was a non-formal hearing in the social security's appeals committee," he added.

"There was an argument because she [the lawyer] says the girl she represents was raped a few years ago and claims this is a terrorist act. I presented this as an example. I said, 'if there's a rape victim that was not hurt and enjoyed the rape, then so and so,' and she [the lawyer] twisted it," he explained.

Because it would sound so much better in context.