Well not in as many words, but that is the essence of todays show, whether the blustering Mr Schram wants to believe it or not.

According to Schram, he got an email from the mother (Pseudonym Lisa) of a student (Pseudonym Billy) at Maplewood Heights Elementary School.  This mom was aghast at the horrific punishment her child had to endure at school.

Though the child's actual crime was undisclosed, it surely must have been something horrible to have generated such punishment.

For this unknown crime (I shudder to think that there is a cover up to conceal the facts here) the child was PUBLICLY HUMILIATED!!!

The child - and I forgot to add, the implication was that there were more than one involved - the child was forced during recess to...I don't know if I should say this out loud...I must, the truth demands to be told...the poor victim (for after all, liberals believe we are ALL victims) was made to stand - YES I said STAND -  against a wall during recess.

My hands are shaking as I write this, such is my outrage.

His time to bond and explore diversity with his peer unit, his chance to exercise and maintain his proper cardio vascular fitness was ROBBED from him, for some trivial punishment, where a stern talking to and perhaps the admonition to be more enlightened and progressive would have been much more efficient.

But I have saved the worst for last.

Dear reader...the child, the poor abused child had to wear a sign around his neck one that showed how many minutes of his recess time he was denied.

It was public shame and humiliation ladies and gentlemen.  It was cruel, and promoted...wait...

Surely the sign had some other humiliation on it?  A stark description of his crime perhaps...(reviews tape...)uh...no...

Um...

So Ken, let me see if I hear you correctly.   According to the pod cast, the sign is for the teachers to know long the student is on the wall for.  The student broke something, and received a 2 day recess suspension.

I offer up front that because of the mail in vote delays, many of these races are not actually certified, so there is a possibility that some results may shift.

I am not betting on it, but it is possible.

I posted my thoughts on Elections in general yesterday, and I still remain somewhat disgruntled.  I was reminded that moving to an adjacent county would offer me my ballot again, and I admit it is tempting, but I do like the area I live in, so no.  And that county also practices Instant Run Off Voting, which I also oppose, and of the two, mail in ballots is the lesser evil.

This election there were sever contentious matters on our local ballot which bear further reflection, because frankly the results were a bit of a surprise.

One of the bigger surprises was Dan Satterberg who appears to be winning the King County Prosecutor.  Dan was the 'protégé' of late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, and has been serving as interim prosecutor pending this election.  The reason this is a shock?

He is a Republican, and a Republican getting elected in notoriously liberal King County is quite a surprise...well anywhere except the prosecutors office I suppose, in which a Republican has held for the last 60 years.  It is interesting in a county that openly disdains conservatives, a conservative is acceptable for the Prosecutor.

I don't know if it is significant, but it is interesting.

Considering the fiasco our 2004 Governors election was, it is no shock that one of the measures in King County concerned elections.  Initiative 25 would place a charter amendment on the November 2008 general election ballot that would make the position of county director of elections an elected nonpartisan office.  

The back story here is that of the 39 counties in Washington State, only King County has an appointed elections director, and as Sound Politics has chronicled, former director Dean Logan has a slew of complaints and accusations about his ineptitude, and alleged suborning of fraud. For an eye opener, go to http://soundpolitics.com and search for Dean Logan.  Regardless, this is a good thing and with any luck, soon King County will have an elected representative who is accountable to the people for his actions, not just to the County Executive.

That is only half right, since I agree with Ken's Schrammies about half the time, even as I agree with Ken about half the time he opens his pie hole on the radio or on TV.

But this time, Ken gets complete Schramnesty from me:

The Schrammie: Rolling the political dice

Some "Schrammies" just can't wait until Wednesday.

For instance...

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out the point and purpose of the state Democratic Party walking to the edge of the political precipice to do nothing but take a pointless stand.

So, would Dwight Pelz, the Big Kahuna of the state D's, put the donkey back in the barn and come on down?

Seems Dwight and company - that would be the party's central committee - recently decided to throw some political weight behind Ehren Watada - that would be the Army lieutenant up on charges for refusing to serve in Iraq.

A resolution commending Watada was passed with a healthy show of hands.

Watada was praised for his moral leadership and - are you ready for this? - for his commitment to duty.

Dwight, Dwight, Dwight: Why would you think that even remotely makes any sense?

Oh wait.

There I go trying to find the sense in a resolution that means nothing and will do nothing, well, nothing more than divide the folks who are opposed to the war but can't abide Watada's actions.

So...for rolling the political dice and crapping out and for sticking your nose where it really doesn't belong, take a bow, Dwight, because this "Schrammie" - who wouldn't burn his draft card even if he had one - this "Schrammie" is for you.

See my earlier post on this event.  Ken was a little slow.  I best him by 11 days.  Good thing he reads my blog.

I listen to talk radio every day on my way to work in my car, and usually via the Internet at work.

One of the dangers of this is you occasionally hear a story that frustrates the hell out of you and you cannot call in to comment on it.  This is one such case.  I can't think of a story that has infuriated me more due to the completely idiotic overreactions and the number of people jumping to conclusions..

I am going to post the story first:

http://www.komotv.com/news/7202241.html

Restrictions on the use of security videotape have been tightened at a suburban Tacoma high school after images of two girls kissing were shown to the parents of one of the girls, officials say.

Keith Nelson, dean of students at Gig Harbor High School, said he saw the students kissing and holding hands in the school's busy commons, checked a surveillance camera and showed the parents the tape because they had asked him a few weeks earlier to alert them to any conduct by their daughter that was out of the ordinary.

OK, stopping for a moment, I have to immediate point out that there are several issues at work here, and people are mixing them into a single complaint, which clouds the issue.  I see the essential questions as:

• Are surveillance cameras in school a violation of privacy?
• Do parents have the right to about their children's activities at school, and should the administrator have agreed to watch the child?
• Is two girls holding hands and kissing considered "out of the ordinary behavior"? Is this a gay issue?
• Should the video tape have been shown to the parents?
• Did the parents overreact to the video?
• Is Ken Schram an idiot?

OK the last one will make sense in a minute.  You see, Ken is one of those who blasted off into orbit over this regardless of the facts.  Here is his commentary on it (with my responses, as always):

The news has been hopping all over this, both locally and nationally, and the outrage has been huge.  It is no surprise they reversed their decision and are reinstalling the trees.  More on that in a moment.

The back story:  A few months ago a Sea-Tac Employee asked for permission to add a Menorah to a Christmas tree display.  He was initially granted permission, but after a second look it was denied.  The Port of Seattle determined that adding a religious icon to the Christmas display, which was primarily intended to be secular would violate the law, as Sea-Tac is technically a government facility.  The Employee consulted his Rabbi who engaged in a discussion with the Port of Seattle official.

Finally after getting nowhere, the Rabbi consulted an attorney who presented the POS the threat of a lawsuit, if they did not comply.

So rather then engage a legal debate, the POS pulled the trees, arguing that none was better then a lawsuit.

For more, look here:

Airport puts away holiday trees rather than risk being "exclusive"

As odd as it might seem, Sea-Tac Airport officials were hoping to avoid controversy when they had maintenance crews working Friday's graveyard shift dismantle nine holiday trees festooned with red ribbons and bows.

The airport managers ordered the plastic trees removed and boxed up after a rabbi asked to have an 8-foot-tall menorah displayed next to the largest tree in the international arrival hall.

Port of Seattle staff felt adding the menorah would have required adding symbols for other religions and cultures in the Northwest, said Terri-Ann Betancourt, the airport's spokeswoman. The holidays are the busiest season at the airport, she said, and staff didn't have time to play cultural anthropologists.

"We decided to take the trees down because we didn't want to be exclusive," she said. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year."

The problem was they angered all the people who like Christmas, including atheists, Jews and Christians alike.

I admit it, I just do not get this guy.

Ken, for those not local to Seattle, is an opinion commentator at KOMO TV 4 and KOMO radio 1000am.  He has a comment piece that is posted on their website, and broadcast on their news as well.

Ken is generally a liberal, of the stripe that sometimes drives me nuts with his complete lack of reason.  Occasionally he takes a moderate stance though, so you never know if he is going to make you say Hoorah or Huh?

Take today's column titled "Neo-Conservatives Smiling Again." In it he says:

It's kinda, sorta nice to see neo-conservatives smiling again.  I mean, it's been tough on them, what with the Bush administration such a floundering embarrassment.

No bias there...

Affectionately known as "Baghdad Jim" in neo-con circles, McDermott recently lost an appeals court ruling on a phone call he leaked to news organizations back in 1996.

That'd be the call the helped knock the political pins out from under the once powerful Speaker of the House, who once was one by the name of Newt Gingrich.

Anyway, McDermott could end up paying about $700,000 in fines for letting the American people in on Newt's plot to put one over on the House Ethics Committee.

Um, Ken you forgot to mention the part about his actions being illegal.  So Ken is apparently an "ends justify" kinda guy?  I imagine tomorrows piece will justify Cynthia McKinney's assualt as "she was in a hurry".

His stance on Gun Control is straight out of the Daily Kos:

A lunatic in Seattle slaughters six people at a house party.

A guy in the Midwest shoots and kills a teenager for walking across his lawn.  A minister's wife down South blows the back of her husband's head off while he's sleeping.   And yet gun fanatics are outraged that people like me think that too many guns, in the hands of too many people, has created a national crisis.

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