Yesterday, I had a conversation where I said almost exactly (though probably not as eloquently) what LaShawn has to say here.

We live in a litigious society, and had the teacher done anything physical to restrain her, the parents would have sued the school. That must change. Schools should be allowed to administer a certain level of restraint when children become a physical threat to others without civil liability. I’m old enough to remember when principals paddled students. You had to be really bad to get sent to the principal’s office at the elementary school I attended, but if you were, you got paddled and sent home.

Those days are gone, thank goodness. The only people who should administer corporal punishment are the child’s parents. And believe me, my mother (and father a few times) administered plenty!

You can’t touch children that way anymore. But what do you do when they act out the way this child did? The teacher couldn’t let her run wild, knocking things over. She had to restrain her. This is what should have happened, in my opinion. Someone should have continued restraining the girl while her mother was called. NO COPS! If the mother couldn’t be reached or didn’t want to come, call the next number on the list. Good grief, call social services before you call the POLICE to arrest a child, for crying out loud!

Click through and read the rest.

I will say, though, that given the litigious nature of society, what are the police and the schools to do? If a kid is going nuts, and the “bear hug hold” isn’t permitted, cuffs seem like a good safe way to restrain the out of control child. The problem is not the handcuffs.

Hah!

(Via Fark).

This is pretty cool. It’s one of those “why didn’t I think of that?”

Check it out:

High gas prices don’t seem to faze Wayne Keith.

That’s because his faded red pickup runs almost totally on wood.

Hinderaker rips into the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday with an impressive bit of research.

Their article from 4/24 is entitled “”Nuking the filibuster/GOP arguments fail smell test.”

And yet, in 1993 the same paper argued:

Down the drain goes President Clinton’s economic stimulus package, washed away in the putrid flood of verbiage known as a filibuster.

Call it a power game. Call it politics as usual. Call it reprehensible.

And in 1994:

More than a score of distinguished Minnesotans are lending their names today to a national crusade against a worsening threat to American democracy. The threat doesn’t spring from economic ills, social decay or foreign menace. It’s something that’s long been in the U.S. Senate’s rule book–the ability of a 41-percent minority to block action with a filibuster.
…
[W]hen such a group comes together with like-minded leaders from around the country, they should not be content merely to sound an alarm and seek some pledges. They should crusade for changes in Senate procedures that would prevent an obstructionist minority from delaying action indefinitely.

Check out Powerline for the full images of the articles in question.

And while we’re on the subject of filibusters, BlackJack over at the Hole Card and Rob at Say Anything, link to Jeff Goldstein:

While I’m not quite sure Republicans should be going straight to the “nuclear” (or, if you prefer, “Constitutional”) option in order to circumvent the threat of Democratic judicial filibusters—personally, I would rather they force Senate Democrats to, you know, actually filibuster, complete with cots and toothbrushes and Teddy Kennedy taking his gin and juice nightcap right there on the Senate floor—I do find it remarkable that anyone who’s been paying any attention at all to this process would take seriously Reid’s hyperbolic characterization of the blocked nominees.
Which is why instead of stupidly aligning himself with James Dobson, et al, in an ill-advised and hamfisted attempt to fight back rhetorically against the lies and character assassinations coming from Democrats like Reid, Senate majority leader Bill Frist should be engaging in an all-out media offensive, touting the qualifications of Bush’s nominees while simultaneousluy letting the American people know just precisely what the Democrats are willing to assert is “radical” these days. He should daily be asserting that the ABA has found these candidates qualified and highly qualified, and that the Democrats have approved only 67% of Bush’s appellate court nominees—a number that is unacceptable given that 10 additional nominees have the votes necessary for confirmation should a vote ever take place.

Great idea on making a filibuster really a filibuster.

And there’s an interesting post over at Right Wing News arguing the filibuster is not an equally valuable tool to Republicans and Democrats. (Via Vote For Judges)

Winds of Change has an extensive roundup of war update links. Check it out.

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