It’s good to catch up with your neighbors. Let’s check in on how our heartland friends have been coming to terms with The Gay. For the latest in that news we go to Terre Haute, Indiana, who, if I’m not mistaken, were just about to get a public library.

A tip of the cap to WTWO for their coverage of citizens sounding off on a big controversy [video]. It seems that local gay students will be going to their high school prom. My oh my. What say you, archetypal Christian scold?

“We don’t agree with it and it’s offensive to us,” said Diana Medley.

Of course, Mrs. Bitch oozes of maternal paternalism, and also a certain MILF-y quality that can penetrate even the best in nineties-era video technology. Can you really blame Diana, rrowr, for that bad attitude? After all look what she’s been doing for a living, acting as the euthanasia coordinator for the…

Diana Medley is a special education teacher in town. She doesn’t believe anyone is born gay.

“I believe that it was life circumstances and they chose to be that way; God created everyone equal,” said Medley.

. . the life hector for The Pick It Up Yourself Center for creative living. The Down Syndromes need strong motivation. But hold on there, you lib-snoots. You should know that Diana is more than only a bigot. She can speak, yuck, to these people too:

“Homosexual students come to me with their problems, and I don’t agree with them, but I care about them. It’s the same thing with my special needs kids, I think God puts everyone in our lives for a reason,” said Medley.

See? There’s a reason why every one of you are living, in her life. And if you just give her a minute, and some mental spectacles, she’ll tell you what it is. Hmm let’s see purpose vs. category, appearance, table manners and hygiene . .

So the same goes for gays? Do you think they have a purpose in life?

“No I honestly don’t. Sorry, but I don’t. I don’t understand it. A gay person isn’t going to come up and make some change unless it’s to realize that it was a choice and they’re choosing God,” said Medley.

OK the gays have no Earthly purpose. Nor does Diana like them, clearly. Probably because they keep gaying no matter how often Diana corrects them. As well they never stop falling down — wait, those are the other jerks. Well anyway you gather the gist. Terre Haute has some way to go before The Gay becomes The Boring (sorry folks).

But before we’re done, just in case any you thought I’d ignore the charm of the other yokels, let it not be said that WTWO isn’t capable of some big city journalism:

Several local pastors support the separate prom movement.

“Christians have always been prepared for a fight. Jesus gave us armor for the front, not the back; we’re not running anymore,” said Bill Phegley with Carlisle Church.

That’s a lovely effort at main-streaming the media or elevating the narrative. But that is certainly not a quote of Pastor Bill’s. This is what he said:

“Christians is always been prepared for a fight. But Jesus Christ give us armor for the front, not the back. We don’t runnin’ no more.”

Homophobes, poorly educated? Bizarre.

This Mark Berndt case is so vile, so disgusting, it turns your stomach. It troubles me in so many ways, it’s difficult to be analytical about it. Miramonte Elementary is only about 12 miles from where I live, a couple miles east of the infamous Florence and Normandie intersection dubbed the ‘flashpoint’ of the 1992 riots. In Los Angeles’ terms, it’s a stone’s throw away. In neighborhood terms, it’s in another world. I haven’t even begun to wonder if poverty plays any role in this. Anyway, I can’t wonder while I’m sitting here holding my head.

Los Angeles teacher charged with lewd acts
Scott Gold, Richard Winton and Paloma Esquivel | Los Angeles Times

In the fall of 2010, a drugstore photo technician was running a batch of 35-millimeter film when a disturbing image tumbled out of the machine — a child, blindfolded with a white cloth and gagged with clear packing tape. From that first photograph, detectives spent the next year following a trail that led them to a South Los Angeles elementary school.

They say they found acts of staggering depravity.

There were more photos, it turned out — 400 more, traced to an apartment in nearby Torrance, then to a bustling schoolhouse in South Los Angeles. There, officials alleged Tuesday, a veteran third-grade teacher sought sexual gratification by spoon-feeding his semen to his students.

The question today is: If they had photos of his “staggering depravity” in, say, October of 2010, why was he fired in March 2011? Why was he arrested only this week? There’s an extraordinary time lapse between his acts being discovered and his being put in jail.

I can understand that some evidence may be difficult to gather. The victims were often blindfolded, meaning they couldn’t even act as witnesses to some of what was going on. They maybe never knew they were being photographed. That no one reported him earlier and that he was a veteran of 30 years of teaching tell us he knew his victims and the school system well enough. He exploited both for his own ends, with horrific results.

But why wouldn’t these facts cause authorities greater alarm? Given the potential nightmare being visited upon the victims and the Miramonte school system (whose working class reputation is probably now forever shrouded in horror), why did it take months to identify him? Why would it take so long to remove him and then fire him?

The authorities’ likely assertions of the need to gather evidence should be scrupulously vetted. Perhaps the most shocking ‘report’ (we don’t yet know if this is true) is how they ‘proved’ he was feeding his semen to children.

Others depicted girls with what appears to be a spoon up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest a clear-white liquid. Children were fed Berndt’s semen from a spoon or on cookies, Marquez said.

Kids reported being fed something distasteful. A blue plastic spoon and container found in the trash in his classroom tested positive for his semen, authorities said.

Police recommended the children in the photos be tested for sexually transmitted diseases. There also may be more victims given the length of time that Berndt taught at the school, Marquez said.

If the above is correct, even though the photographs had been discovered, Berndt was allowed to continue doing as he pleased. They merely kept him under some surveillance. But for some reason they wondered about the spoon he threw in the trash . . ? So they tested it and found his semen. The authorities are going to have to explain how they couldn’t have prevented that particular child from being victimized.

And after that, it only took how long to arrest him? 10 months? Wow.

So horrifying:

Teacher accused of taking elementary student ‘bondage’ photos
By Alan Duke, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) — A Los Angeles elementary school teacher allegedly took bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths, investigators said Tuesday . .

“They thought they were being blindfolded and gagged as a game,” [Sgt. Dan Scott] said. “And they were rewarded with cookies or spoons full of sugar (but) they did not realize the spoon contained semen.”

The man’s name is Mark Berndt:

While the investigation began more than a year ago, the arrest came soon after lab testing matched Berndt’s DNA with semen found on a spoon recovered from his classroom, Scott said. Investigators persuaded the suspect to voluntarily give them a DNA sample just two months ago, he said.

There are going to be so many questions as to why it took so long to find, fire and then arrest this guy. Cases like this make you ashamed to be an adult.

. . Harwell Middle School opened just this year on the rural property northeast of Edinburg, which is about 50 miles northwest of Brownsville. Homes line the road approaching the school, but open fields stretch out behind it and to the north.

So what’ll it be: hunting or children? You can’t have both in the same place, Texas. Someone should have mentioned this earlier . .

EDINBURG, Texas — Three deer hunters suspected of possibly firing the shots that wounded two South Texas middle school students were taken in for questioning . .

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino told The Associated Press that authorities have theorized that the students were hit by “errant or stray bullets” fired from hunting pastures near the middle school, which was hosting outdoor tryouts for the basketball team . .

Even if accidental, investigators will want to know how close the shooters were to the school when they opened fire. Trevino said two hunting pastures are within 600 yards of the school.

A 30.06 will take down deer at 600 yards. Y’all didn’t think this would be a problem?

One was in critical condition Monday night with a gunshot wound in in the back and a bullet embedded in an organ, while the other was in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the armpit, Trevino said.

A society’s priorities are sacred. The school’s gotta go.

Fewer things piss me off like Big People picking on the vulnerable. This pisses me off:

One:

After continuous complaints from [Cheyanne], her parents decided that before they took action, they needed proof … and hid a tape recorder in their daughter’s clothing. What they picked up has sparked shock and outrage — the educators were calling the child lazy and dumb.

“Don’t you want to do something about that belly,” the recording obtained by WBNS reveals former teaching aide Kelly Chaffins saying to the student.

“Yes,” the girl responded.

“Well, evidently you don’t because you don’t do anything at home,” Chaffins said. “You sit at home and watch TV.”

Two:

“Don’t call me special,” [Julio] told the teacher.

“What? Oh my god, f-ing. What does the sign on the front of the school say? Special education,” the teacher yelled back.

[Julio] defended himself by saying that when he got out of the school, the teacher couldn’t call him special anymore. In response, the teacher made a threat.

“…I will kick your ass from here to kingdom-come until I’m 80 years old.”

Teacher: Christy Wilt. Aide: Kelly Chaffins. Mr. Macho: unnamed. But we’ll know who you are soon enough, pal. There’s not enough world for a coward like you to hide in.

“USA! USA! USA!”


75 Percent of Oklahoma High School Students Can’t Name the First President of the U.S.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Only one in four Oklahoma public high school students can name the first President of the United States, according to a survey released today.

Dutcher said this is not just a problem in Oklahoma. He said Arizona had similar results, which left him concerned for the entire country.