What ARE we teaching?

 Uncategorized  42 Responses »
Jun 132006
 

An e-mail went out yesterday to the EFF-Austin list about Tamara Hoover, who’s apparently under paid administrative leave and being considered for termination by the AISD school board for artistic nudes of her on a flickr site. A search reveals over 600 pictures of her, only about 10% of which involve nudity, and from what I can see, it’s usually just an exposed breast, clearly nothing in the school board’s definition that would warrant termination. The Statesman has a story this morning as does Austinist. Ms. Hoover (I seriously thought that was a joke when I saw the URL. Simpsons, anyone?) has a MySpace page where she’s posting some of her side of the story, she’s holding back some since she’s exploring legal proceedings.

The comments on the Statesman and her blog seem overwhelmingly supportive of her. I have to agree with some comments that the discipline should be reserved for the other teacher and student who brought up the page in class. It sounds like the other teacher had it out for her and showed poor judgement by following up on the student’s initial comment. If the board does fire her, it’s another reason in the growing list that are causing me to seek alternatives for my own children. Let’s hope they come to their senses and keep her.

Update (2006.06.13 21:36 CDT): The Statesman has printed a statement from AISD General Counsel, which pretty much just says that they think she should be fired and they’re not going to comment until they make a decision…which will be to fire her.

Update 2: (2006.06.14 14:07 CDT): Fleshbot has also picked up the story (don’t click on that one if you’re easily offended as they cover the pr0n industry among other things).

 Posted by on June 13, 2006 at 11:39 am

Mary and Ann

 Entertainment, Politics  No Responses »
Jun 132006
 

I’d probably only heard of Ann Coulter in passing until I read Al Franken’s Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. I still don’t really care what she has to say. She’s one of those people that says completely outrageous things to get attention and, of course, make money. I’m not linking any of her crap because I don’t want to give her traffic. You can google her yourself if, by chance, you haven’t heard of her by now. Anyway, I bring her up for two reasons:

  1. She’s apparently going to be on Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight Wednesday to plug her most recent book. George Carlin is also going to be on plugging Cars. He’s the voice of Filmore. There’s no guarantee that they’ll face off, but it’s worth watching in case they do. As Kevin Seconds notes, Carlin should be able to put her in her place. Speaking of Carlin, Pharyngula linked a skit of his from MadTV yesterday that I’d never seen.
  2. Somebody else linked a YouTube posting of the “Letters from Henry” segment from the third episode of The Henry Rollins Show on IFC. There’s no reason to resort to YouTube though. IFC allows access to segments from all of the shows on the site in addition to web-only extras. If you’re not watching this show, you should be. It’s been pretty solid so far. I’ve yet to miss an episode.

Mary Cheney is still trying vain to plug her new book, but it appears that no one gives a shit. I’m not surprised. There’s a wide swath of members of her own party who’ll avoid the book because she’s a lesbian. The lesbian and gay community will avoid the book because she’s seen as a traitor. And, honestly, in the end, who really cares what the vice president’s daughter has to say? Shuffle her off to current and former presidental offspring camp with Amy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, and Ron Reagan Jr. Can anybody even name the offspring of previous vice presidents? I can picture Gore’s kids and remember that one of them was hit by a car, but can’t come up with names.

Anyway, speaking of possible sparks, Cheney will be on Fresh Air with Terry Gross today. I doubt we’ll get anything on the scale of the Gene Simmons or Bill O’Reilly interview, but ya never know.

[tags]henryrollins, anncoulter, marycheney, georgecarlin, tonightshow, freshair, ifc, npr, kevinseconds[/tags]

 Posted by on June 13, 2006 at 10:21 am