Student Arrested for "Farting in Class"

A 13 year old Spectrum High School (in Martin County) student was arrested for "Disrupting a School Function." According to various news accounts, the student started by intentionally and repeatedly farting in class and going around and disconnecting the computers other students were using.

If you look at the comments to this story at www.tcpalm.com, you see that the majority of the posters get stuck on the farting part and completely miss the part about disconnecting the computers. Also, many think that the child should not have been arrested for these acts for one reason or another, but usually either because "he's just a kid" or "it's an alternative school so they should expect bad behavior."

Spectrum High School is a last-ditch effort by the Martin County School District to educate those students who are so misbehaved they have been kicked out of every other school they've been to. When I was in school, there was no "alternative" school such as this. If you screwed up too much, you were expelled and it was your parents responsibility to get the child an education. Martin County, however, started this alternative school in the early 90's and the program has worked amazingly well. However, when kids are sent to this school, they are told that bad behavior will not be tolerated. The next step for them is expulsion and, possibly, arrest. The school has a strict zero-tolerance rule. Most of the kids here know there's nothing left for them after this because, if they get expelled, the only other option is private school, which their parents can't afford.

The child was arrested for "Disrupting a School Function." This was mainly the result of turning off the other student's computers, not because of the farting. The farting was only a small part of the overall picture. Naturally, the mainstream media zeroed in on that part of the story because that's the sensational part. They completely glossed over the actual disruption to the other students. Irresponsible reporting at it's very best.

The student will very likely be expelled after this incident, and rightfully so. The parents created this monster, let them fix it. But, they'll probably sue the school system and the Sheriff's Office. They'll probably get some good money out of it, too, thanks to our screwed up tort system, but that's another blog entry.

Bailout of the Auto Makers

The big three automakers showed up in Washington last week in three different private jets with their hats in their hands asking the American people to bail them out of the financial mess they created for themselves over the last decade or so. Congress, in an unusual display of common sense thinking, sent all three packing with the directive not to come back until you have a plan.

All three American automakers chose to shift the majority of their production to SUV's and large trucks because that's where the money was. They failed to follow the rule that any good investment manager will tell you to live by: Diversify! Don't put all of your economic eggs in the same basket. In doing so, they set themselves up for this failure.

It would be easy to just let them fail in hopes that they'd learn a thing or two. The problem is that the failure of the automakers wouldn't just hurt the automakers and their employees, but it would have a far reaching ripple effect across the US and the world. Ford is in less bad shape than GM and Chrysler. However, because none of the three have a balanced line up of cars available and won't for at least another year, and they're burning up money just operating, all three will need to file for Chapter 11 protections in order to simply operate until the new lines of cars come out. The unions will need to come up with some significant concessions including huge cuts in retirement benefits. (If retired airline pilots and live on half their retirement, so can retired auto workers.) Lastly, the automakers need to make a reliable line of quality high-mileage cars.

All of this can be done without a single dollar of taxpayer money. The automakers are going to be hurting for a few years and, unfortunately, their suppliers and everyone in that food chain will be hurting for a few years. But, they'll be better better managed and be in a better position to be profitable in the future.

Blog Beginnings

The time has come for me to put my thoughts and opinions down and share them with others. I'm sure that some will read what I have to say and agree. Others will not. I encourage comments as long as they are polite. If you're just going to call me names or use baseless arguments, then please don't bother responding. If you want to have a meaningful and intelligent conversation, I'm ready to debate.

Let the fun begin!