Papal Retreat

I think that This Article, criticizing the pope for 'backing down', has a valid point in that the pope did miss what could have been a great opportunity to reach out to the Muslims and say something like, "yes, yours is a religion against violence, but look at what people are doing in her name. We must work together to end this and restore Islam's good name." After all, the Muslims were a great intellectual, philosophical people who preserved the works of the Greeks after the fall of Rome while the Europeans wallowed in barbarism and plague during the middle ages. But I think that's it's pretty plainly fact that horrible acts of violence are committed in the name of Islam these days, and the religion doesn't nearly have the esteem nor the respectability that the good part of it's history would deserve.

That being said, though, I don't think the pope was wrong to 'back down,' because I don't really think he *did* back down. He simply didn't say what people said he said, and that's as far as he took it. He missed the opportunity, yes, but not out of cowardice or humiliation, I think.

The sort of thing that finds me at night.

For those of you keeping score at home, I still have a crush on Jean. You know, the blond girl I've 'known' in one sense or another since 6th grade. I don't think I've ever really known her, which makes me sad. I don't think she's ever been 'right' for me.

But then, since when have I had crushes on girls who were right for me?

From the "Still Not Obvious Enough" Department

What. The. Fuck.

A bill approved by the U.S. House yesterday would require school districts around the country to establish policies making it easier for teachers and school officials to conduct wide scale searches of students. These searches could take the form of pat-downs, bag searches, or strip searches depending on how administrators interpret the law.

The Student Teacher Safety Act of 2006 (HR 5295) would require any school receiving federal funding--essentially every public school--to adopt policies allowing teachers and school officials to conduct random, warrantless searches of every student, at any time, on the flimsiest of pretexts. Saying they suspect that one student might have drugs could give officials the authority to search every student in the building.

I can not express how much this enrages me. And you know what's worse? They'd probably say some shit like "it's to protect the kids!" Protect the kids from what? Certainly not lecherous or bullying school staff. Certainly not from an invasion of privacy, or an attack on their human dignity. Certainly not from constant fear. "If you've done nothing wrong then you've nothing to fear" is always a load of crap, and especially when you're talking about arbitrarily-enforced searches for arbitrary or non-existant reasons. There're a lot of articles out there that compare public schools to prison, and this is getting disturbingly close.

There are no words.

And you know? People wonder why I'm so against schooling.
(Vector: amereternal)