tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post3606728984701058184..comments2024-01-08T04:16:25.601-08:00Comments on Ché (What You Call Your) Pasa: In Which I Blame It On Carlos Vierra (Santa Fe Style)Ché Pasahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-69540409079583576582012-05-16T06:41:04.824-07:002012-05-16T06:41:04.824-07:00teri,
I checked with the ether and found your sec...teri,<br /><br />I checked with the ether and found your second comment and released it. I believe the term of art is that Blogger was Bloggered. Again. <br /><br />As for the story, well... <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/local%20news/Court-rules-on-prom-pat-downs" rel="nofollow">This item</a> in the Santa Fe New Mexican may help to set a context for the whole prom/TSA/court ruling affair. <br /><br />I liked the comment from the ACLU rep (who refused to speak on the specific issue, no doubt because he knew nothing about it) that "students do indeed have rights."<br /><br />Isn't that something? They do? Who knew?<br /><br />A great many years ago, my niece went to the same high school I did (though 20 years or so after I did) and she was in a show which I attended at her invitation. I was shocked at what I saw had happened to the campus, specifically with regard to matters of all-important "security." This was a relatively new suburban high school -- it was brand new, not even finished, when I went there -- in a nice neighborhood (it was still nice when my niece and her family lived there, but it has gone downhill since.) <br /><br />What had been an open campus had become a closed campus with armed security guards and security cameras everywhere. The lockers had been removed. High chain-link fences, topped with barbed wire -- may have been razor wire -- enclosed the campus and formed a barricade between the front drop off and the admin and between the admin section and class room buildings. There were all kinds of "no go" areas on campus. The only access to the auditorium was through a single gate monitored by armed guards who were checking everyone for contraband; I don't recall being patted down, but I don't doubt it happened.<br /><br />My niece was eventually expelled for being a nuisance (she defended people who were caught up in some of the zero tolerance rigamarole, admin didn't like it, so they booted her ass to an "alternative" school.) But I was horrified at what had happened to the whole notion of Public Education. The place felt like and was run like a prison, it's that simple. Our whole society is becoming that way. And unfortunately, many kids who go through the pre-prison of too many public schools take it for granted or even want it.<br /><br />There was a community meeting at this same high school about ten years later, and I went to make some observations. Things had changed again. The fences had been taken down, if there were cameras, I didn't see them. There were no armed guards visible, but I was told that there was still a "security patrol." They just kept out of sight. It seemed that for all intents and purposes, the campus had opened up again. <br /><br />Maybe somebody told them: students have rights, too.Ché Pasahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01926630891287949373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-3705086940578170772012-05-16T04:33:47.513-07:002012-05-16T04:33:47.513-07:00Hmm, I left a second comment to give the link to o...Hmm, I left a second comment to give the link to one of the original stories (which I failed to do in the above) and it has disappeared into the ether. Oh, well. Here is a link:<br /><br />http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/No-TSA-Agents-At-Prom-Despite-Court-Ruling/-/9153762/6125936/-/15guvxy/-/index.htmlteri49noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-58480364196285562802012-05-16T01:41:19.848-07:002012-05-16T01:41:19.848-07:00Oh, I forgot the link. Talk about the cuckoo'...Oh, I forgot the link. Talk about the cuckoo's nest!<br /><br />http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/No-TSA-Agents-At-Prom-Despite-Court-Ruling/-/9153762/6125936/-/15guvxy/-/index.html<br /><br />I looked up a bit more on this in the meantime. TSA states it was not at the prom because they aren't allowed to conduct searches at such events as per the limits on their mandates (that will be corrected forthwith, no doubt). From what I can gather, pat-downs and searches of the teens' purses and bags are considered routine at such events - even by the kids - although I cannot determine why. 9/11, I suppose. The pat-downs are normally (and isn't that a sad use of the word 'normally'?) done by police or private security officers. <br /><br />The kids are finding more and more clever ways to hide booze and pills, but I gather not a one has tried to smuggle in a WMD. Here is what they are learning: <br />1. to be afraid of each other and of some unnamed monster lurking amongst them.<br />2. how to hide drugs in better places.<br />3. drugs, alcohol, and weapons such as nail clippers must be very valuable, since the "grown-ups" go to such great lengths to find them.<br />4. it is vital for the common good that they be groped and/or x-rayed on a daily basis; there is no longer a concept such as the right to privacy existing in their heads. They are either not taught the bill of rights, or have learned to accept that it is meaningless. Many (most) of the kids interviewed in the stories about the pat-downs do not have any objections to the pat-downs and purse searches per se - and even take pains to point out that only female guards pat down the female students, which somehow makes the issue moot to them.<br /><br />Guess this generation will have no problem with the Supreme Court ruling regarding body cavity searches. Children will indeed learn whatever you teach them.<br /><br />-Teriteri49noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2304235862479840318.post-27063403455703132082012-05-15T12:57:55.452-07:002012-05-15T12:57:55.452-07:00Dearest Che,
I have lost a source of Santa Fe news...Dearest Che,<br />I have lost a source of Santa Fe news with the kid now being back here in Md....what is the back story on this? I gather, but this is a guess, that all teens have to be patted down when entering an after-school event and that a couple of girls were "incorrectly" patted down by rank amateurs, so the answer is to have official TSA agents pat them down????<br /><br />Am I reading this correctly?<br /><br />WTF?<br /><br />Yours in the cuckoo's nest,<br />Teriteri49noreply@blogger.com