All of a sudden, the boy arrested and kicked out of school for bringing a homemade clock to school is generating wild comments from columnists on both sides of the political aisle. “Racism!” yell some. “He deserved it!” yell others.
I’m among those who are appalled that this youngster was treated so harshly. And even though I was actually one of the reporters who covered the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado, I still think reactionary politicians are trying to create a national police state starting with our schools. Heck, when I was growing up we didn’t even get an annual school visit from Officer Friendly. Today, there are cops at every school doorway and inspections of every lunch box before kids can get to class. What gives? Is our society really so violent that we have be such knee-jerk fear-mongers?
It got me thinking: How quickly is school violence growing in our country? I thought readers of this blog might be interested if I could show a graph of how rapidly school violence is escalating. That’s what Wiki is for, isn’t it?
Well, I guess I was surprised. I actually found a pretty thorough list of school shootings dating all the way back to the 1700s! Keep in mind that there are currently 100,000 public schools in this country. Look at the number of school shootings and ask yourself, “Is it possible that this country is massively overreacting to the raging torrent of over-hyped headlines?
HOAs raise my blood pressure. But this story really hit hard. A 14 year old budding genius named Ahmed took an invention of his to school. It was a digital clock he made as an experiment. But something caused school officials to think he’d made a bomb and they called police. Ahmed was handcuffed and led away in front of schoolmates while the bomb squad dissected his science experiment.
I’m no science genius, but in 8th grade some 50 years ago I built a robot which I took to school. It was a three or four foot long ‘monster’ that I covered with a red bedspread and maneuvered down the school hallways. It looked for all the world like a huge stupid-looking lady bug. It even had eye holes and when fellow students looked down the eye holes the ‘bug’ spit ping pong balls at them. For that stunt I should have been arrested. But instead I got a science fair award.
Ahmed? Unlike me, this kid is going places in science. The school officials who had him arrested should have to spend a little jail time themselves. Shame on any system that rewards sloth and damages those who really try to make something of themselves.
Imagine living in the Vista Lago HOA in Orlando, Florida. What a nightmare. Two property managers claiming to be the legitimate ones, have hired and fired each other and filed liens against dozens of homeowners for unpaid dues. Many of those homeowners have been paying double and triple the dues and fines just for fear of losing their homes to whichever manager ends up winning the power struggle.
It’s hard to imagine the kind of unnecessary stress these homeowners are suffering.
Suppose you’re an older couple planning on the peaceful retirement life in a maintenance-free neighborhood. You take your entire nest egg and pay off the mortgage. Your new townhome, condo or single family residence is now yours….forever.
Oopsie! You learn that a developer wants to tear the whole thing down and build something new. You don’t want to move from your retirement home, but the developer gets a ‘majority’ of the residents to take his low ball offer to clear out. Not you. You want him to pay you fair market value. But because a ‘majority’ of your neighbors have moved out, what’s your fair market value now? It’s a heck-of-a-low lower than the others were paid. In fact, your quarter million dollar retirement home is worth ten cents on the dollar. Now the developer can get you tossed out by the courts and pay you nothing.
With your permission, I’d like to take you on a video tour of what has to be the most gorgeous Homeowners Association in the world. The views are spectacular, tourists come from around the world to see it. The people get along with each other, no arguments, no liens, no lawsuits, no angry homeowners carrying guns into board meetings and mowing down board members. No lawyers, it’s Heaven on Earth.
Oh, a few things I should mention: the air and water are pretty polluted, in fact, one of the most polluted on Earth. The people are dirt poor, medical care is almost non-existent, but there’s virtually no auto traffic. Ah, and I should mention that the government is Communist China. Communism, where the whole American HOA movement is heading. Communism puts the commune in community. Still, enjoy the video.
