Friday, May 23, 2008

McCain's actions reek of dishonesty

John McCain has released his medical records to a small group of journalists. They'll be given three hours to look at over 400 pages of documents. Then, a separate group will also be given a few meager hours to pour over 1,000 pages of documents.
There are only two reasons to release data like this:
The first and least likely of the two answers is that he has morons for public relations officials. Since he's made it this far, that is highly unlikely.
The second and more likely answer is that there's something in those files that a) has been agreed upon by the journalists not to be disclosed; or b) there's something there, but it would take more than three hours to discover unless someone got really lucky and found the connection.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Mike Rotch and Harry Shaft cause controversy at Lawson High



According to information that I pulled from a Facebook Group protesting the schools decision, students Dave Keyes and Linus Owens of Towson High School, Maryland, have been suspended for the last 4 days of school and barred from the school prom for signing their names on a photo as "Mike Rotch" and "Harry Shaft," which was later transcribed into the yearbook (see the image to the right; Top Row).

While I'm sure that somewhere in the school's code of conduct you can find a rule that would justify punishment, is 4 days and banishment from the senior prom a justifiable punishment for this incident? I've never been to Maryland, but at my high school even a fist fight wouldn't get you 4 days suspension and banishment from the prom unless it was a particularly bad one that had escalated into a multiple person brawl or something.

Are the yearbook staff and the yearbook adviser being punished as well? These are pretty obvious fake names. In a school where the entire enrollment is approximately 1500 (according to Wikipedia) wouldn't the yearbook staff recognize that the caption was wrong, especially since it seems these two students are fairly well known? Did an administrator or faculty member bother to proof the yearbook before it went to print and if so, are they at fault as well?

Do you think the actions warrant the punishment? Should an administrator or faculty member also be held accountable? Voice your opinion in the comments section or call the school at 410-887-3608.