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Does the punishment fit the crime??

Copy and paste the following link into a browser. Read the article and the comment on it.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/234216,pensioner-ordered-to-knit-pullovers-as-penalty-for-slashing-tyres.html

I don't want to sound like a jerk about this, but I think this woman should go to jail. She slashed the tires on over 50 cars and because of her age and because she has no money, she doesn't have to go to jail for it or even pay a fine?? I guess, my biggest issue with this is that a law is being enforced differently for different people. You see a lot of this, particularly in circumstances where underage kids commit murder and then don't want to be charged as an adult because the punishment would be greater. Am I wrong in thinking that laws should be enforced the same across the board?? Afterall, if I had slashed all of those tires, I'd be sitting in a jail cell somewhere and trying to come up with thousands of dollars to pay back on all the property I ruined.

Should this child be suspended??

Read this article and comment on the blog:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/23/fifth-grader-suspended-for-wearing-anti-obama-shirt/all-comments/#comments

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This is a tough one guys. I believe in the first amendment and the power that it gives us to free speech. However, as a teacher, I am also against things and behaviors that disrupt the learning environment. For instance cell phones, toys, clothing that reveals too much skin. Given that the boy wearing this shirt was a fifth grader, and thus surrounded by other fifth graders, I don't think it was disruptive to the learning environment. I want to say this carefully: basically fifth graders aren't old enough to be offended by name calling in politics, so therefore I don't see where the disruption occurs. What I think probably happened, is that there were teachers who did not agree with the boys shirt and they decided that they did not want to see it; I'm speculating. Case and point: do you think the student would have been asked to take off the shirt if it had said "The Jonas Brothers Support Terrorists?" Probably not, and it stands to reason that more students at this age would be disrupted by an attack on the Jonas Brothers than on Barack Obama right?? Your thoughts??

Should these people go to jail??

8th graders: please use this link, read the article, and then comment:

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10424201

I read the article and, to me, it looks like a clear case of racism. Does something like hanging an African American doll to a cross and then saying that "It's not racist, because it was not hanging by the neck" even make sense?? Absolutely not!! Furthermore, as the gentleman stated in the article, it is absolute stupidity. What really upsets me is about this article, was that after the offensive display was taken down because the police told them to do so, it was put back up later. Even though I feel this could be a hate crime, I'm not sure the law sees it this way. It's too bad that people can't be ticketed for stupidity, otherwise the people who put up this demeaning display would be paying money out of their ears. Your thoughts???