A middle-school science teacher is accused of preaching Christianity during class and branding some of his students with crosses.
An independent investigation conducted on behalf of the school district concluded that John Freshwater used an “electrostatic device” to burn the religious symbols onto the arms of multiple students last December.
“Freshwater told investigators the marks were X’s, not crosses. But all of the students interviewed in the investigation reported being branded with crosses,” the paper says. “The investigation report includes a photo of one student’s arm with a long vertical line and a short horizontal line running through it.”
The Dispatch says parents had complained for years that Freshwater taught intelligent design and discredited evolution in his Mount Vernon, Ohio, classroom. Now they’re suing the school district in federal court…
In the name of God…
#24–Mustard==you complain about Christian bashing when it is this particular nutbag that is being bashed. Bashed quite rightly for teaching creationism and for burning his students. What is your exact complaint? You want this blog to not report on nutbags if they are christians, as in christians get a free pass, or what is your point?
>>You want this blog to not report on nutbags
>>if they are christians, as in christians get
>>a free pass, or what is your point?
Oh, for Christ’s sake, Bobbolina. Nobody enjoys a good story about nutty Christians running on meth and man-ass, etc., than I do.
But this is really becoming tiresome. Nobody gives a fuck what Jonh C. Dvorak thinks about religion and religiosity. This is a fucking tech blog. OK, so it’s fun to have some stories about Jesus riding dinosaurs or appearing on a piece of toast once in a while.
But come on. It’s almost an evolution of Dvorak’s law (probability of Christian bashing in a thread approaches one, etc.) that the probability at any given time of a story with no other reason than to bash Christians approaches one. Could that be Dvorak’s Law^2?
Can we have some stories about the future of the tech industry? Vista? JavaScript? Metering of internet usage? OS X? Linux? Quad-core chips? Fortran? Outsourcing IT to Mumbai and Chennai? ANYTHING tech-related? ANYTHING AT ALL?
Give me a squirt of each, hold the Catshit. Do you have any relish or sauerkraut?
#33 – Mr. Hotdog
O HOTDOG! O glorious, gelatinous mass!
Let heaven and earth resound with thy praise!
Marbled compote of nose, lips, and ass,
Fried, baked, or raw, served with mayonnaise.
Jonathan Black cannot squelch thy appeal,
Though cubical carcass decay and congeal.
Disturbing haiku by this foul man abounds;
Still, sputtering DOG is the sweetest of sounds.
Eat it today, or wait till next year–
It’s prepared with calcium propionate.
The process of spoilage this serves to abate,
Though effects on the diner remain most unclear.
John Cho, and Booda, and Fishel agree:
HOTDOG’s appeal, the Eternal Mystery.
#32–Mustard, Yes, I see your point. Looking at the Right Side Bar just now, I find:
1 entry on tech
8 entries on social issues
1 on religion.
So, if I viewed DU as a tech blog, I would be kidding myself? Still–why not give a quick peruse for the tech and find a site more to your liking?
I visit Kurzweil, Physics Org, and New Scientist. Then I come here to relax. You ought to enjoy your day as much as possible?
>>Then I come here to relax.
You sure seem to get all het up for a guy who’s relaxing.
In any case, the postings about “religion” are seldom anything other than troll-bait.
And it’s getting tiresome.
Mr. C. Dvorak’s expertise is in matters technical, not silly stories about latter-day Jim Jones kooks.
> Mr. C. Dvorak’s expertise is in matters technical
And how exactly do you know this?
#37 – HMeyers
>>And how exactly do you know this?
http://tinyurl.com/5tvs96
I’m not seeing anything related to the evils of Christianity in that list.
Guys and Gals, if you think this is a tech blog, wake up and smell the calamari. To my mind it’s a social debate forum and that’s what makes it interesting.
The tech world isn’t producing great stories since MS lost it’s mojo, Apple is on cruise mode, and Oracle or SAP have pretty much bought up everything else. Oh yeah, there’s Google, Yahoo, and Amazon – but they’ve become main street.
Sharpen your wits, improve your rhetoric, and enjoy it.
“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” Oscar Wilde
You may be right, Cubie. All these Christian-bashing posts (interspersed with a few token Muslim-bashing and Hindu-bashing posts) ARE getting a little stale, though.
I like 667, neighbor of the beast.
Mustard, it’s all fun until someone puts an eye out. Oh, and don’t forget Florida, it really gets a bad rap.
If you really want to see some bashing just say “Gosh, I love my Macintosh computer. And, gee whiz, aren’t you glad Steve Jobs is making your life better?”
I think that Christians are really awesome, but if a Christian does something wrong then they are no longer a christian, but everything that anyone else does is because they are Pagans or do not believe the same things as me. Blah, blah, blah, I am polite and sound nice enough, but whenever religion comes up I complain to high heaven and my logic changes by the second.
Mister Mustard’s posts always include a hateful spew toward someone. Low self esteem or is it Dvorak himself trying to inject controversy?
#30, QB,
I’ve been busy re-installing a new HD in my computer. This was one of those installs that didn’t go easy. I’m copying from the old drive in small amounts so I don’t over stress it.
*
Certain people have this tendency to blame Mustard for all things religious. These same idiots think they are clever for the subtle, and even more usual, not so subtle, ripostes. There is nothing intelligent to add to the discussion so they dump on Mustard. Yup, that meets the “troll” definition.
This specific guy is an extremist, Mustard’s point that Comrade Joe is not representative of all non-believers is equal and worthy. Extremists do not represent most people.
In my opinion, the guy should be fired and sued by the parents. Middle School students are just not old enough to consent to an assault.
Did anybody take ‘Mr. Miracle Whip’ yet?
Catshit, sorry about the slow transfer. I hope you’re installing a 1 terabyte monster or maybe a local SAN so you can enjoy it.
I absolutely agree that criminals like this teacher (and that’s really what he is) should be lumped in all violent extremists. They are especially loathsome when they hide behind religious or ideological protection. I still think there is more to this than meets the eye.
As for the arguing and less than brilliant insults. We should be arguing over something far more important than religion. For example, was it a good idea for Lee Adama to form a truce with the Cylons before going to Earth? That show continues to blow me away.
fulanoche. You win!
Or maybe Mr Wonder Bread…
@Mustard #38
Dvorak has always been a social commentator, dispelling conventional wisdom, brain washing, “group think” and deceptive marketing.
He’s never been particular tech oriented except that is the field in which he is employed. He’s covered camera batteries and so forth and never once have I seen him publish a “how-to” … at least not once in a very, very long time.
Hence, a general interest blog.
For you to try define his field of expertise in such a narrow way seems rather ignorant, IMHO.
#49 – HMeyers
Then why is he known as The Prodigious Prognosticator of All Things Tech?
In any case, it isn’t Mr. C. Dvorak who posts this endless litany of Christian-bashing topics; it’s the nutty [Eds.]. And it get wearisome. OK, we all know there are a lot of nuts out there gratifying their twisted desires “in the name of Christ”. Most of the stories are either not that entertaining, or they leave out the key details (like this one). Just another tired HAW HAW HAW LOOK AT THE DOPEY SHEEPLE rant.
Sheesh.
#49 – HMeyers
>>For you to try define his field of expertise in
>>such a narrow way
btw, are you defining it so broadly as to claim that his “field of expertise” is Christianity?
>btw, are you defining it so broadly as to claim >that his “field of expertise” is Christianity?
Expertise in what?
You know Christianity is make-believe like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny right?
Or do you believe an angry God really turned people into salt in Sodom and Gomorrah and that Moses lived to 900 years old and parted the Red Sea or that Jesus created a modern Long John Silver’s and made 1 fish into hundreds to feed everyone.
I doubt Dvorak hosts un-approved ads on this site and a big prominent “Was there really a Jesus?” ad for a book appeared here for over a year so Dvorak’s thoughts on this subject are crystal clear.
Not that the ad matters. Who are you to define someone else’s field of expertise? That’s very presumptuous. Most skeptics like Dvorak have an origin of why they began to question.
>>You know Christianity is make-believe like
>>Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny right?
Heh heh. Heh heh heh. You’re mighty sure of yourself there, Laddie.
btw, I doubt Mr. C. Dvorak personally reviews all of the Google Ads that appear on the site. I’ve seen some pretty wacky shit in those ads.
>>so Dvorak’s thoughts on this subject
>>are crystal clear.
Hoo boy. If you really believe this, you sound like a great candidate for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
#52, HMeyers,
I doubt JC would refuse very many ads. The ad is to raise money to pay for the site and all the associated costs.
Allowing the ad to run also does not mean he agrees with the ad’s content anymore than a newspaper or TV station has to agree with their ads.
Usually, it is only when an ad is truly offensive are they censored.
Heh heh. Heh heh heh. You’re mighty sure of yourself there, Laddie.
You’re in the wrong forum, Mr. Yellow. Here is the place you oughta be:
http://www.rr-bb.com/forumdisplay.php?f=60
Sorry I’m late for this picnic.
#55, Mr Mayo,
You’re in the wrong forum, Mr. Yellow. Here is the place you oughta be:
You are a waste of an egg. And not necessarily the egg in the mayo. Next time try bringing something to discuss to the table.