The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns

Here are some more wacky news finds, care of Jim.

At commencement this year at Gallatin High School in Nashville, Tenn., the principal had the valedictorian arrested for trying to make a speech that was reserved for the senior class president.[WTVF-TV (Nashville), 5-24-06]

The b*st*rd! How dare he try to steal someone else's thunder. Oh, the shame, the horror of it all. Won't somebody please think of the children?

The Buffalo (N.Y.) News reported skyrocketing absentee rates at local high schools this spring because of a new district policy that the lowest possible semester grade would be 50, even for those missing every class (meaning that a grade as low as 80 for one semester could be averaged with a no-show 50 to reach the minimum-passing grade of 65). [Buffalo News, 6-9-06]

I would have insisted my parents move to Buffalo if they did this while I was in high school. Woo hoo, skipping school and still passing - what could be better?

Duh. Talk about making a mockery of the education system.

More than 70 children got separated from their parents during the Taste of Chicago festival on June 30, but one 6-year-old boy was still unclaimed as of July 7, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, citing a police spokesperson. The boy was eventually turned over to the state Department of Children and Family Services, which found that his family had a spotty record of supporting him even before the festival. [Chicago Sun-Times, 7-8-06]

Hmmm... now where did I put that child of mine?

Hey, we're missing Johnny, where's Johnny? Oh well, he'll show up somewhere.

So, why is it again that we can't enforce a child-bearing application form to parents?

A former police official and current aggressive, respected Wellington, New Zealand, litigator, Rob Moodie, 67, said in July that he is tired of the old-boy network of male lawyers and judges, and that henceforth he will show his disdain by dressing in women's clothes in court. The worse the "corruption" he senses, the frillier will be his outfits, said the married father of three, who also said he happens to like women's clothes, but that it took the pervasive male courthouse culture to bring that into the open. Moodie said already he has enjoyed giving "a flash of lace at the urinal" but said he would keep his trademark moustache. [The Dominion Post (Wellington), 7-25-06]

Some people will use any excuse to go cross-dressing.

I don't know if I'd want him representing me, however. Don't know about you, but he doesn't seem like someone I'd take seriously.

Thanks Jim.