Another Scandal-Scarred Czar Is Born
Meet Kevin Jennings, the man now in charge of safety for America’s government-run schools. He begins his reign as “safe schools czar” like many Obama appointees — with an awkward declaration about previous transgressions related to his new employment.
From ABC’s Political Punch Blog, we read:
Jennings today issued a statement saying, “Twenty-one years later I can see how I should have handled the situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training and guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers.”
The “situation,” or “this kind of thing” as he calls it, refers to Jennings’ days as a private school teacher in the spring of 1988 when a 15-year-old student confessed to him that he had engaged in homosexual acts with an adult stranger he had met at a city bus station. Jennings “listened, sympathized, and offered advice” to the youth, but that was it.
Let’s put this in context. In the late 1980s AIDS diagnoses were skyrocketing, with roughly 40,000 cases reported in the U.S. in 1988 alone and 25,000 deaths. In his 1994 book One Teacher in Ten, Jennings acknowledged telling this teen that his own “best friend” had just died of AIDS. Jennings also said the teen had indicated he had not worn a condom.
There’s no doubt that Jennings understood the risk of infection. But he let the kid walk.
Now Kevin Jennings, our “safe schools czar,” wants us to believe that a lack of training “back then” prevented him from acting to protect the health and safety of the youth who had been been the victim of statutory rape.
In the spring of 1988, when Jennings chatted with the boy he calls “Brewster,” USA Today reported that new studies showed almost everyone infected with the AIDS virus would get the usually-fatal disease (March 14, 1988, Section 4D). The papers carried frequent headlines about the illness. But apparently Jennings wants us to believe that a lack of teacher training curriculum caused his criminal negligence regarding the safety of this child.
Yes, the word is “criminal.” Massachusetts law made teachers mandatory reporters of any sex act between an adult and a child under 18. Jennings didn’t report it.
Yep – and there’s more…including the EEOC nominee who opined in favor of polygamy.
“Teachers back then had little training and guidance about this kind of thing.”
Admitting an error is a learning experience. Doctors make mistakes and lives are lost (or not), but the experience adds to the knowledge of the doctor. The next time a situation arises, they know what to do. Why are ex-drug addicts employed as counselors for potential or current drug users? Why are hackers employed to prevent computer crime?
This guy is not the same guy of 21 years ago.
Heard of born-again Christians? Do they make better Christians?
Barrack Hussein Obama
He steals our tax dollah’s
MMM, MMM, MMM
Barrack Hussein Obama
He bows to the mad mullah’s
MMM, MMM, MMM
Barrack Hussein Obama
He messes with our doctah’s
MMM, MMM, MMM
——————-
My kids sing this every morning on the way to the bus stop.
Why do we need a federal “Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools” run by an unelected uber-leftist? My kids’ school is paid for and run by our town. If there are problems, I go to the Principal, Superintendent, or the Mayor – not some D.C. bureaucrat.
I still believe that the Federal Department of Education should be abolished. It serves no useful purpose and is a colossal waste of my money. Kevin Jennings is a symptom, not the disease.
“I would hate to think that a great nation will stand idly by as man with a record of…”
You mean the nation that thought it was cool when the President conned a woman the same age as his own daughter into giving him oral sex in the oval office many times..?
You mean the same nation that elected Barrack Hussein Obama; in spite of the fact that he is a self-professed Islamic Muslim converted into Black Liberation Theology – both orders of which hate America, white people and Jews with a passion..?
You mean the same nation that didn’t mind that Obama chose to marry a woman that shares his views; but with more intensity and public exhibitions of outrageous racism every chance she gets..?
You mean the same nation that didn’t mind that Obama thinks it’s just fine to let a newborn baby die on a cold hospital gurney because that’s what the baby’s mother decided that she wants..?
You mean the same nation that cheers Obama on with his healthcare reform plans that will have every last man, woman and child facing a government “Death Panel” that decides when their last day on Earth will be – the same man that has sacrificed 43 American soldier’s lives in Afghanistan since his Commanding General explained that he desperately needs more troops…??
Why would this same nation all of a sudden now get upset because he appointed someone Director of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools that didn’t give a damn that some punk kid got queered off by an adult male that may or may not have been infected with aids..?
Answer: The nation that elected Obama doesn’t, won’t and never will. In short, by so doing they gave up the right for all of us to call our nation “great” anymore.
Could have been worse. Roman Polanski might have gotten the position had he still been hanging around Hollywood. And then there’s Woody…….
NO teachers “have a basic level of preparedness” nor have they for 40 years.
And the United States IS “suffering from … a dearth of qualified applicants” because everyone available is the result of those 40 years of absolutely rotten teaching with NO civics, NO history and no HARD sciences nor mathematics.
That’s not a rant. Those are facts I can defend.
It seems the qualification for Obama’s appointees are violation of the very thing they should enforce.
- Tim Geithner: qualified to head the Treasury because he knew how to tax-cheat.
- Van Jones: qualified to be the Green Job Czar who oversaw $80B because he knew how to redistribute the wealth.
- Ron Bloom: qualified to be the Manufacturing Czar because he knew how to destroy manufacturing jobs as a union head.
- Kevin Jennings: qualified to be the Safe School Czar because he knew how to use drugs and cover up for child molestation.
6. carla:
“Could have been worse.”
Yeah, it could have been Foley.
7. pelaut:
“”That’s not a rant. Those are facts I can defend.”
Please, indulge us.
the trolls are signing the obama song …mmmmmmmm…
it doesn’t matter what he does the trolls try to justify it.
this president is a dangerous narcissist. and judging by the people he associates with (and his own language) he is a racist too.
why people lower their standards and accept what is happening to the USA is unbelieveable.
good luck with that.
He’s yet another example of what I call a Harpy hatching from President Obama’s spoiled eggs. He’s one among many in this administration. This is what moral relativism get’s you combined with greed, avarice, hubris, & corruption for the sake of power itself. Obama’s administration is coming apart at the seams while he pretends otherwise. Rainbows & unicorns…
It sounds to me like desperation on the part of the GOP when the only “scandal” that they can manufacture is more than 2 decades old – clearly the man has learned a lot in the interim. I think it’s absurd to go after such ancient lapses – particularly when the subject admits openly to the mistakes.
It’s just another distraction by the right, a reminder that they themselves have nothing to offer.
Peace.
DS
He’s merely providing more “teachable moments” for America. What’s the problem?
Unbelievable. This was 1988, not 1958. This wasn’t something no one was talking about.
I was a teenager and camp counselor in 1988. Every staff member was instructed that if we suspected a camper had been abused, sexually or otherwise, we were required to report our suspicion.
Jennings should have known what to do. The kid knew what to do. Children in the 1980s were told: If you are abused, talk to an adult so they can help you. Did it never occur to Jennings that he might be that adult? Even without training, did he never think to ask for advice to find out what to do? Did Jennings have absolutely no capacity for self-initiative and thought?
Someone on tv last night was wondering why the administration’s vetting process is so wanting.
The scary thing is, I don’t think the vetting process is the problem. I assume everyone in the process has access to a computer and can do a basic search. In Jennings’ case, finding out that he had written a book and reading it is also not beyond such basic competency that even I could do it.
I think they do vett these people like Van Jones and find them acceptable. And that’s downright horrifying.
#3. Most excellent, sir.
]
MMM, MMM, MMM
[I hope you don't mind the plagiarism
HOmeschooling just looks more and more appealing every day. Fortunately, here in Texas, we still can. For how long, who knows?
Worse, Jennings has bragged about this subject for several years as if it is a badge of honor. I think he is taken off-guard by the spotlight on him & does not know what to say because he has no defense; his negligence made him just as bad as the child molester.
As stated previously, this was 1988 when all of this kind of stuff was out in the open on television & in the popular culture itself. It was not hidden. Hr should have been fired for neglecting to tell the authorities about the boy’s situation. However, he should also be fired for wearing this experience as a badge of honor as one of President Obama’s unconstitutional czars, the Shadow Government.
Jenning’s feigned ignorance makes him either incompetent, corrupt or both.
NOWAND THEN:Why should we be surprised that Obama appointed this man who aided and abetted pederastery when he got his own start on his knees in front of a slumlord?
Let’s see…
Polankski is a rapist.
And Jennings is guilty of criminal negligence.
Care to remind us of what laws Foley broke?
Are you homophobic, now and then?
Wow, when is rains it pours… Seriously, what is it with the left and pedo?
Why do we need a “Safe Schools Czar” at all?
A Czar Is Born: Making Our Schools Safe for Man-Boy Love.
Kevin Jennings is a homosexual. Are we even allowed to consider that as a factor in his behavior?
Strikes me as a bit of a Costanza moment.
“Was that wrong? Should I have not done that?”
No mention of Jennings’ homosexuality allowed on this so-called conservative site.
20. rvastar:
“Care to remind us of what laws Foley broke?”
Happy to . . . federal law criminalizes “enticement,” which it defines as inducing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/BrianRoss/story?id=2509586&page=1
You decide.
Kevin Jennings is the founder of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network).
At a 1997 GLSEN conference, Jennings had this to say:
Who was Harry Hay? Deceased member of the American Communist Party and lifelong advocate of NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association).
Wow. Just wow. These people really do believe that they’ve completed “the long march through the institutions” that Gramsci called for…and that they are now invulnerable.
Their arrogant disregard for even the simplest moral value or constraint is Promethean.
I’m setting the over/under at 2 weeks that we see the resignation of another “targeted” appointee who doesn’t want to “distract from the important work of this administration”.
Any takers?
While the appointment of this Jennings at the “safe schools czar” is unthinkable given his background, it is also perfect given the ultra-left agenda of President BOb and the white house. First you need to ask yourself “why the heck do we need a safe schools czar?” Then you need to wonder why BOb would appoint the man that founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in Boston [Wiki]?
The answer becomes apparent when you consider bullying and discrimination are safety issues in schools today. It is the left’s assertion that this is caused by hate on the basis of ethnicity, gender, disability or sexual orientation. Appointing Jennings as the safe schools czar puts an expert in “Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education” into a position to spread the homosexual agenda across the nation under the guise of safety of the children. No longer will the homosexual lobby need to work to pick off one school district at a time. Under the safe schools czar, this can all be implemented at once so that children from kindergarten to 12 can be indoctrinated on the gay lifestyle in every school district.
I for one want the government to stay away from my children. It is my responsibility to teach my children about sexual orientation at the appropriate time. My six year old does not need to know about this information.
24. ricpic:
“Kevin Jennings is a homosexual. Are we even allowed to consider that as a factor in his behavior?”
Funny thing, Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, David Dreier, Karl Rove’s dad, Dick Cheney’s daughter, Newt’s sister, Larry Craig, and Patrick Henry asked the same thing.
Care to provide us with links to the article that can tell us what sentence Foley received?
Oh wait…he didn’t receive a sentence.
Ok, care to provide us with links to the article that can update us all on how the prosecution is coming along?
Oh wait…
31. rvastar:
“Oh wait…he didn’t receive a sentence.”
Yeah, I agree,it’s a travesty. Neither did Denis Hastert. Another travesty. Then again,what difference does it make when a conservative gets a sentence, eh Scooter?
N&T:
Libby paid a $250,400 fine, still has to serve his 400 hours of community service and just this past summer finished a 2-year period of “supervised release”, which probably meant limited travel and having to check in with someone who was a dozen pay grades or so below him when he was Cheney’s chief of staff.
He has been disbarred by both Pennsylvania and the District of Colombia, and remains a convicted felon. Felony convictions are nasty things for people in polite society and are a serious limitation on things like the ability to vote or own a firearm.
To infer that Libby “got off light” is pretty silly. I recall another senior government official who perjured himself and paid no fine, was disbarred but is not a felon. That government official got to serve out the rest of his term.
I’ll bet you do.
But buck up, lil’ camper! At least you can take solace in this fact: once we’re done with Mr. NAMBLA, he won’t suffer anything worse than Foley did.
He’ll just lose his job.
And Obambi will probably only slip another 5% in the polls.
33. Darren:
How much time did he serve? None. How much of that fine did he pay? None. There are real victims out there. Why would you waste your sympathy on that liar?
I agree that Jennings committed a crime, and add that this is an impeachable offense which the Republicans in Congress will ignore because they are a bunch of sorry losers.
On the other hand, last night I nominated President Obama for a 2010 Ignobel Prize in political science based on Jennings’ appointment.
My sentiments exactly. Well, not exactly, I’d say what is it with the Left and kids in general? From rampant abortion (and Obama’s support in Illinois for infanticide) to Andrew Sullivan’s various assualts on the Palin children to Letterman “humour” about raping 14 yr olds to support for Polanski and Jennings (and via Jennings, for NAMBLA), along with the destruction of skills-based education and the whole issue of generational theft, it’s a whiskey-tango-foxtrot moment in history. I think it simply boils down to the infantile “It’s all about me” crowd trying to compete for resources and affection with the people adult life really should be all about, our children. But then I’m just an old fart
32. Now and Then:Still afraid to picture, much less visualize your messiah’s political genesis? Going from trick turner for the slumlord to bootlicker of world wide criminals… Like I said, it’s inspiring to 400 lb shut ins like yourself. But don’t cry, and definitely don’t have a relapse and start cutting yourself again…
OT, but here’s some wonderful news: Chicago will NOT host the Olympics.
Gee, what happened there? I thought the entire world luvs Obama. I thought Bambi would go there and charm the socks of the Euros, because he’s just an amazing “Light Worker.”
Really – the President of the United States drops everything to go to Denmark and lobby for Sweet Home Chicago and in reply, he gets a middle finger salute.
Because nobody respects the creampuff. Not the Iranians, the Russians, the Olympic Committee, the French. Nobody except for the beta male trolls who infest this blog. Everyone knows he’s a wuss.
Really, October just started and it looks like it’s going to be as awful for the Left as August and September were.
Kiddy-diddlers in and out of the adminstration exposed, no Olympics for Chicago, unemployment numbers near the double digits, man, that hope and change thing just ain’t working out the way they thought it would.
Rosemary’s Baby is one of my absolute all time favorite movies. That does not excuse what Roman Polanski did. Some of my best friends, lifelong friends are gay. That does not excuse what Kevin Jenkins did.
Donna V @39; check out Drudge’s headline: “The Ego Has Landed”, lol…
BTW, maybe the IOC wanted a city where they thought it would be safe to bring the little ones?
I bow to no rival in my lack of admiration for this administration, but I’m having a hard time getting too worked up over this — yes, what he did violated Mass. law at the time, but that seems like more of a problem with the law than an indication that this guy is a bescandaled clown like so many other of Obama’s appointees, at least with respect to this instance.
This kid came to Jennings in confidence and needed some guidance. That a teenager has the same judgment as our President speaks more to our President’s abilities than the teenager. But the notion that Jennings was supposed to turn around and put the kid through the bureaucratic grinder after seeking some advice about a heavy (and embarassing) situation is a bit much.
There is so much real material with which to demonstrate our President’s lack of capability, competence and judgment(how about them Olympics? Can we fight the war now?). Let’s not devalue the currency with this.
The age of consent in Massachusetts is (and was then) 16. Could you cite your reference for the exact statute requires teachers to report completely legal activities of young people?
Kids need to develop moral judgment. The school environment should be swept clean of spiritual black holes like Kevin Jennings, because perversion is easier to learn than the constructive attitudes without which civilization would never have arisen in the first place.
If we are ever to maintain the civilization we are lucky to have inherited, we need to defend it, because it’s as fragile and precious as a child’s potential for morality.
We need to teach our values, not glorify their systematic subversion. We already have enemies abroad, we don’t need enemies from within.
In this administration, amorality is a feature, not a bug. Clearly, something like a “Chicago vetting criterion” prevails in the white house: If your sleaze coefficient registers high enough on the Al Capone scale, you’re in!
We need to keep the pressure, and force the resignation of these sleazeballs, one at a time. Our president needs to wake up: The society he wants to fundamentally transform is not made of clay. Once he has been forced to throw all the Valerie Jarret hand-picked warts under the bus, the president will still have the option to co-opt America.
Send Valerie Jarret to Stockholm (It’s not so far from Copenhagen) so she can receive her Nobel Prize as a reward for the generous distribution of ethical waivers. After all, Al Gore did receive one for his generous distribution of science waivers!
This really happened… Thanks Big Government. Email this link to everyone you know and make backups in case it gets pulled. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfUEPeO2_pc&feature=player_embedded
Maybe they should form some sort of group or NGO to get to the bottom of their dilemna. And if these politicos need help getting things up and running, where better to look for expert advice than from some prominent Democrats?
Need help with tax matters? Just give tax cheat Tim Geithner a call over at the IRS. Tell them to just ask for “The Boss”.
Need a little seed money to hit the ground running? They can contact former Ways and Means Committee member William “Freezer” Jefferson through his attorney.
Want to set up a charitable fund in the group’s name? Schedule a meeting with Joe “Taxes Are Patriotic, But Charity’s For Suckers!” Biden.
Mulling over health insurance options? Look no further than the Lion of the Senate, Teddy “Free Health Care? Yes! Free A Drowning Date? Ummm…” Kennedy. Oh, wait…
Yet another rotten apple hiding in Obama’s basket. Funny how I’m not surprised anymore.
46. rvastar:
Your examples are as irrelevant as your thinking.
48. Now and Then:Your thinking is as irrelevant as your examples. Still don’t want to talk about your messiah’s previous incarnation as ho for the slumlord?
Of course liberals see nothing wrong with this story. Why would they? It involves all of their favorite topics all rolled into one. Homosexual sex. Sex between a minor and an adult. A liberal teacher telling a minor student to wear a condom. No authorities alerted about the minor being molested/raped by an adult. No parents notified about their child being in any danger.
Liberals love this stuff. This is their idea of HopeNChange. I don’t think we should hold our breath while we wait for Obama to come out against him. Ain’t gonna happen.
43 Fred . . . They’re terrified of you.
The same old, same old BS from the right. Can’t you guys get jobs or something and be productive for a change? Until you numbnuts face up to what was happening the past several years up until just this past January, your dirt digging and smearing using 21 yr material is no more than twisted, malicious hypocrisy.
50. AThinkingPerson:
See if you can muster enough courage to answer a simple question . . . Is homosexual sex immoral? (Careful, there are homophobes watching.)
53. Now and Then:See if you can muster enough courage to answer a simple question…is it moral to turn tricks for a slumlord? Be careful! there are 400 lb shut ins watching.
NOW AND THEN
But worst of all, it could have been Barney Frank
Lefty: What is “the answer you should give when your tu coque arguments are thrown in your face”, Alex?
Trebek: That is correct. Time for Final Jeopardy.
Why is President Obama being allowed to get away with appointing “czars,” not scrutinized by Congress as political appointees in Federal departments, in this case, the Department of Education, are?
Jennings glowing praise of the late Harry Hay – communist and NAMBLA advocate – took place in 1997.
Is that recent enough for you, Lefty?
And when Jennings resigns, I wonder if he’ll cite “twisted, malicious hypocrisy” as the reason?
Man…it sure is gettin’ crowded under The Bubble Boy’s bus
43 Fred . . . They’re still terrified of you.
Come on, somebody set Fred straight.
How about you, rvastar? Layer of Bill? Athinkingperson who offered this, “A liberal teacher telling a minor student to wear a condom. No authorities alerted about the minor being molested/raped by an adult.”
No takers, eh? Surprise surprise.
Re Now and Then’s question to me: “See if you can muster enough courage to answer a simple question . . . Is homosexual sex immoral? (Careful, there are homophobes watching.)”
Why, my favorite septic tank swimmer, I CAN muster up enough courage to answer your question. Homosexual sex is WRONG between a MINOR and a STRANGER met at a city bus station. Two consenting adults can stick it in a meat grinder for all I care.
What part of MINOR + STRANGER + sex is okay with you? Does having it be 2 males no matter that one is a minor make it okay in your world? Would it stir up ANY anger if it were a minor female and a stranger? I’m guessing the only way you would see anything wrong with the situation would be if animals were involved. Then again, maybe I’m giving you too much credit there.
Keep swimming, Now and Then, keep swimming.
JW (#57), the Obama czar issue–40 czars thus far–may become more of an issue when Obama becomes an albatross for the Congressional Democrats; therefore, they might allow the Senate to hold hearings on these czars when Obama’s losses & scandals are just too much. Furthermore, if Republicans regain control in one of the houses or both, we will see such hearings materialize while Obama himself shuts down.
59. Now and Then:It seems like (43) the query was to the author…I agree, it seems like a good idea to have a link to the relevant statute. That said: You can’t seem to answer any of my questions pointed at you, namely, is it morally wrong to get in bed with a slumlord and service him at the expense of your constituents for purposes related exclusively to personal gain?
Well, dazed and confused, to borrow your own phraseology: it’s irrelevant.
Jennings won’t be going down (pardon the pun) because of the school incident. He’ll be going down for praising the commie who shilled for NAMBLA.
Tick, tock, tick, tock…
Re #43 Fred: The student was 15 at the time.
“The “situation,” or “this kind of thing” as he calls it, refers to Jennings’ days as a private school teacher in the spring of 1988 when a 15-year-old student confessed to him that he had engaged in homosexual acts with an adult stranger he had met at a city bus station. Jennings “listened, sympathized, and offered advice” to the youth, but that was it.”
the first thing the story should’ve done was get the facts straight. first off the boy wasnt 15 he was 16 and guess what the age of consent in MA is. jennings didnt do anything wrong.
Audio: Kevin Jennings telling the story
Here’s the relevant passage which appears about halfway through the clip: “He got very quiet, and he finally looked at me and said, ‘Well I met someone in the bus station bathroom and I went home with him.’ High school sophomore, 15 years old.”
Click the link.
To rvastar: Try again, dufus. You guys are despicable.
Don’t you know that it is “progressive” to bring change to the traditional taboo of adults hitting on kids for sex? Some adults are sexually oriented to children. They can’t help it. They are born that way. It is genetic, see. It is none of your business. Only extremist Christian haters persecute our NAMBLA brothern! Only stupid people are against man/boy love. Everybody does it. Boys like it.
There is a reason people who know what the left is doing in “comprehensive sex education” went for sealing their lips with abstience only sex education. They are perverts.
I was a schoolteacher from 1984-1989, four of those years at a Catholic school with about 360 students, grades 9-12.
We had extensive training about AIDS and about child abuse reporting requirements. We were in a state that mandated schoolteachers report cases of abuse, and I did make a report: a student who seemed to be bruised up extensively. One of our teachers also got raped, and the school administrators worked very carefully with the faculty to educate them about rape and how to work with that teacher when she returned to school.
So for this nitwit to contend that nobody knew much about AIDS or reporting sexual abuse, I can only laugh in his face. It is either a lie or he must have been teaching on Mars.
If our homely little Catholic HS could provide training, then this guy’s private school employer also could have provided training.
Sex with young boys is not an oddity within homosexual circles. It is commonly accepted. There is even a term for it – Chickenhawks. The boys are the chicken.
So we’re supposed to believe that “teachers back then” were too daft to understand age of consent laws, sufficient to know that if a child engaged in a sexual act with an adult it was RAPE?
Further, that teachers “back then” did not understand that it was their duty to inform parents and police if they found out that one of their students had been a victim of a crime?
AIDS aside, the child was a victim of rape, and Jennings did nothing when he was told of it. Using the lame excuse of “back then” doesn’t cut it. We know what rape was “back then.” It was invented long before 1980.
Does he understand NOW that the child was raped and that ANY child who engages in sexual activity, of any sexual persuasion, has been raped, or may be guilty of statutory rape?
All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness.
Yes, we should make sure that they aren’t morons like Jennings who don’t understand what rape is, and that they have a legal obligation to report it, and NO authority to counsel or give advice to students themselves.
Geesh.
Media Matters claims to have a letter from the student claiming he was of legal age. 16, instead of 15 when the conversation with jennings took place.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910020029
It’s kind of ironic that people incessantly grumble about the nanny state and its rules and laws and then come down on this guy because he did not completely follow one of them.
Does anyone see a conflict between ideas of liberty and the ever-increasing rules that
teachers, students etc are supposed to follow?
I see that this guy is perceived as the enemy and you want to gore him, but maybe someone can help me with how you distinguish between needless or over protective laws of te nanny state and laws that you feel MUST be followed (at least by the opposition.)
Is it a conservative principle that people do not have liberty until age 16, 18, 21, ever? From other forums, I have determined that righties are fearful of their own kids being seduced by the liberal world (ie Glenn Beck’s daughter) and that the kiddies must be protected. Got it. Liberty is NOT a concept which applies to you fill in the blank. My grandfather is alleged to have said, “as long as you are living under my roof, you’ll follow my rules.” Got it.
A THINKING PERSON (sort of)
Oh, he was fifteen. Almost sixteen. Just a stone’s throw from eighteen. Practically middle-aged. So teach acted appropriately, in your opinion, eh?
As usual, pajama media gets it wrong. The student was 16 or 17. Only those on the ultra far-right are attempting to make this kid a 15 year old. Why? To fool their little sheep of course. Looks like they caught quite a few of you ultra far-right wing radical extremists in this thread. But, I digress. Massachusetts age of consent in 1988 was 16. No laws were broken.
It’s really too bad that libel and slander are only civil matters. Oh well, I guess you have to find more lies and utter distortions to fill the site and bring in the sheep.
In the New Order of the Ages, man boy love is OK. All you Christians, and Jews with morality are not welcome.
How dare any of you folks want morality taught to your children. The State will teach you a lesson.
Sarc/off.
Warren Throckmorton put up a good blog on this back in June: Link. The blog in turn links to a short paper he wrote in 2005:Remembering Brewster in which raised a lot of questions that for four years remained swept under the carpet. He follows up with a post a few days ago: LINK; one of the really striking aspects of the whole story is how much Jennings spins it as the need arises. Take the versions together; Jennings’ sense of reality – and the way he is content to twist the story of an unhappy young man to suit his own needs – is pretty disturbing.
# 29 Nick:
Best insight here. That vague notion of “school safety” is not what most of us and the kid’s parents understand: gun-free, gang-free, violence-free, drug-free schools. It’s a code word for indoctrination into accepting homosexuality as “normal,” on the assumption, as you pointed out, that all “violence”/bullying stems from the sexism/homophobia/violent nature inherent in the American “dominant/hegemonic” white (male) culture.
Jennings wrote the foreword to a book titled “Queering Elementary Education”–folks, it’s first graders we are talking about here, not high-schoolers or college students–about making little kids aware of and, as a final goal, open to homosexuality.
The book got a rave review fron none other than Bill Ayers:
http://twitpic.com/jigit
(Please read Ayers’ endorsement with a keen eye to its idiocy and semi-literacy. The guy is a tenured prof.)
It’s not about “safety” in schools. It’s all about the homosexual/pedophile/NAMBLA agenda.
#78 Cristina,
Agreed. However, it is more than that. It is justification of a reprobate mind, and you can be your own god.
Reprobate=wicked.
This is why drunks, drug abusers, and Homos should not be in positions of leadership. They have reprobate minds.
To the gentleman who thinks unrepentant criminals and true Christians are similar:
A hacker working for a company to help stop hacking has zero to do with salvation. That person performing that function is not related in the slightest to his state of sin or his desire to do God’s will.
A person who hears the word, believes repents and is baptized has met the parameters God set forth in the New Testament to have all sins washed away and be raised to walk in newness of life.
Read the book instead of reading religion hating blogs and whatever else has you so misinformed and unable yo avoid such leaps in logic.
#74 mingus: See my comments #50, #60 & # 64 for further reference.
I am an attorney, but not in Massachusetts. A very quick search of ALM GL ch. 119, § 51A-51F shows that mandatory reporting of child abuse in Massachusetts goes back to a law first passed in 1973. This law was amended almost annually between 1973 and 1988.
For Jennings to say that he didn’t understand his legal duty as a teacher to report abuse in 1988 — 15 years after the high-profile law went into effect — is simply not credible.
# 29 Nick:
A P.S. Besides the utter futility of this “school safety czar” post, one must wonder why the Administration did not choose someone who has experience in what really plagues public schools in terms of safety in the inner cities, that is classroom violence and mayhem, gang violence, an out-and-out culture of violence, not of academic achievement, especially in the inner cities, like in Washington, DC, or Chicago?
In my backyard, Washington, DC, it’s not bullying girls and weaker boys that is the real problem. It’s the black/brown boys killing each other with guns and knives. And so it is in Chicago.
I think this is a classic case of: “I’m sorry I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar” (or rather, encouraging others to steal cookies from children). NOT – “I’m sorry I bragged about stealling the cookie”, and espcially NOT “I’m sorry I stole the cookie”.
He certainly doesn’t see anything wrong with Polanski’s behavior.
You guys really manufacture the outrage don’t you?! Are you seriously saying that a guy should be fired _21 YEARS LATER_ because he didn’t tell a 15 year old kids business to other folks? That would have been a real breach of trust anyway… regardless of his decision – it’s not as if the did something really awful. I mean.. it’s crazy that you are acting like he’s some awful dude when folks do much worse stuff than this all the time and get away with it… It’s just really amazing that you’re acting like this is a big deal. Wow!
http://www.bloggybayou.com/2009/10/obama-appointee-lauded-nambla-figure.html
More than just the underage boy and older man according to the Washington Examiner
Cheers
ER White
I think you folks should have read the Massachusetts state statutes a bit further before quoting:
Chapter 272, Section 4 sets another age of consent at 18 when the “victim” is “of chaste life” and the perpetrator induces them.
“Whoever induces any person under 18 years of age of chaste life to have unlawful sexual intercourse shall be punished.”
So it isn’t quite a cut-and-dried as you made out.
Tocqueville said it first, the people get the government that they deserve. That has never been more true than now. Obama made it clear to anyone who would listen what his intentions were.
We are going to fundamentally change this country. Is there a better place to begin than with our children?
Does anyone know if “Brewster” is still alive, or did he succumb to Aids? All this talk about the specifics of age, the law, “it happened 21 yrs ago” is all BS! What about responsibility? Common sense? And now we find out the this czar is a nambla member and he will be in charge of school safety? Where is the common sense in that? It is insanity.
Where is Congress on this? Approved or not, someone should be raising holy hell about this.
As for #2 Vino – as a Christian, all I can say to you is “Go to hell.” This Christian doesn’t turn the other cheek. You put a snake like Jennings on my door step, I will get my shot gun and take care of it right quick!
“Scandal-Scarred” seems to be a badge of honor to some, as though “Scandal” were a concept disassociated with actual behavior, rather than the revelation of something genuinely scandalous. We have come to a point at which unrepentant leftists are automatically granted “lovable rogue” status by the media and most of the public. Polanski, Letterman, Clinton, and now another in the seemingly endless line of highly questionable Obama appointees are defended not so much for positive attributes (if any) but primarily because they oppose traditional values.
vivo said/asked:
“This guy is not the same guy of 21 years ago.
Heard of born-again Christians? Do they make better Christians?”
Where is your proof that he is not the “same guy”? He sure LOOKS like the same guy to me, maybe worse!
Born again Christians have made a commitment to TURN from their former ways, and start a different path. Jennings is STILL advocating the homo lifestyle and now wants the school children to “accept” it as normal!
Christians AND GOD, forgive when there is a CHANGE from evil, not when it continues!
“So egregious is this appointment, it’s hard to imagine a worse pick. It’s almost as if the White House is intentionally pushing the limits until we no longer feel outrage.”
I have had a similar thought. It is almost as if he is appointing the worst possible people in each and EVERY category! A tax cheat for the Treasury Department, etc.
The guy was 16. The rest is irrelevant. He says so himself . . .
In a statement obtained by CNN, the former student, who wanted to be called Brewster, wrote: “Since I was of legal consent at the time, the 15-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings 21 years ago is of nobody’s concern but his and mine. However, since the Republican noise machine is so concerned about my ‘well-being’ and that of America’s students, they’ll be relieved to know that I was not ‘inducted’ into homosexuality, assaulted, raped, or sold into sexual slavery.”
But, but, but . . . you, you, you, . . . I, I, I . . . Waa, waa, waa.
Honestly, you should be focused on teaching Sarah Palin how to read.
GAME. SET. MATCH . . . candyasses!
89 whyaminotcluedin . . . “Succumb” to AIDS? Like you ever cared in the least about AIDS. Reagan never mentioned the word. He let clowns like Pat Buchanan call it “Nature’s revenge against gay men.” And yet now, when you smell an opportunity to make political hay out of it, you embrace the tragedy. Where were you 30 years ago? I’ll tell you . . . sitting in a bar somewhere talking about “If one of them ever appears on my doorstep, I will get my shot gun and take care of it right quick!”
Your bigotry lives on the surface, not in pale pastels but in bold colors.
Simple question. Do you still want to murder Jennings? If you saw him on your doorstep, would you open the door and shoot him in the chest with a shotgun?
As proved, (once again), by ‘now and then’ above, the wing-nuts on the left are NOT above lying to “spin” an issue.
The boy was 15 Fifteen NOT 16, as if that really matters anyway!
CHECKMATE!
#94 Then and Who Knows When – It wouldn’t be “murder” assbite. He gets anywhere near my kids and I perform a later term abortion.
BTW, ‘now and then’ is ALSO as wrong as Brewster, (IF he actually said), “Since I was of legal consent at the time, the 15-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings 21 years ago is of nobody’s concern but his and mine.”
Man, it sounds like you both are terribly ignorant of the law. This is not much different than Planned Parenthood ignoring the age of of a woman who is 13 or 14 when she admits her “rapist” is over the age of 18, or the ACORN workers ignoring the sex slaves they were about to help exploit that were 13 or 14.
Do you think this is nobody’s business but their’s too?
SHEESH! Game, set, match–huh? It sounds like you are better suited at playing tiddly winks!
“…It’s almost as if the White House is intentionally pushing the limits until we no longer feel outrage.”
This is called incrementalism, and it’s a primary tool of the socialist/communist movement. You know… two steps forward, one step back. It’s been working for years, no reason to think the strategy would be changed now.
97. RAM:
Legal consent . . . look it up. Until you do, FO.
To all the moralizers . . . Who’s gonna take back what they said? Who’s gonna admit they were terribly wrong? Who’s gonna say Jennings didn’t deserve this? Who’s gonna stand up, be a man, and admit they were swept up in the cesspool of conservative media, pushed to a premature conclusion that is wholly without merit? Who’s gonna do the Christian thing and apologize to Jennings?
Who around here actually has a pair? (We can scratch RAM and whyamInotsurprised off the list.)
Don’t all step up at once.
Try what again? You just corroborated everything I said: Jennings singing the praises of a commie NAMBLA advocate.
Maybe you should “try” reading comprehension again…dOOfus
Why don’t you show us how it’s done, dazed and confused?
Admit that you support Jennings, a guy who sang the praises of a commie NAMBLA supporter.
now and then, (more like bow and bend-over), is NOT a lawyer, he just PLAYS one on the Internet, (when he is not seeking underage boys to seduce). Keep thinking you know the law dirtbag. Hopefully it will land your perverted @$$ in prison. Maybe you can get the cell next to Jennings?
Good job, fellas. Exactly what I was expecting. Not a pair between ya. You’ll have to go with high card in the hole.
Hey, y’all, let me show you how easy it is to get a conservative wriggle between a lie, a spin and a dodge.
Hey, RAM, how old was the Webster in question at the time of the incident?
(Of course, he’s on record, but his record doesn’t square with the facts as stated by, you guessed it, the actual people involved. He’s committed to Glen Beck in all things, so he’ll trade any vestige of self esteem to hold onto his lies and ignorance, no matter what. Let’s watch . . .
The fact is that the child in question was actually of legal age as now known by actual credible legal news organizations other than Fox Noise.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910020026
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/02/jennings.student/
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910020029
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910020020
It’s not as if facts have ever interfered in the fringe right wing’s delusions so please continue to say he was underage as on Fox: first 15, then 14, by the time next week is over, they’ll say he was a fetus.
#100 Now and Then – I asked a simple question “What happened to Brewster?” and you went non-linear on me Dude! Ascribing all sorts of motives and actions to what was going on how many decades ago.
Regarding Jennings, I’m not taking anything back that I said nor admitting I was wrong about anything. Anyone who lacks judgement and common sense, whether illegal or not, is still an idiot. Add Nambla to the mix and he is a sick idiot. Maybe it says a lot about you that you come so unglued about what is said about your boy Jennings or how he is being treated?! I didn’t know you cared so much!
He deserves everything he is gonna get because he sure does not belong on the gov’t payroll in charge of school safety. Even if he is reforned, which I doubt, there have to be many more capable, qualified, people without untoward backgrounds tainting their histories.
So take your snide Christian comments and choke on them.
Whether the youth was 16 or 15 is irrelevant to the story, since Jennings, even years later, believed that he had been 15, and said so. What ‘Brewster’ thinks of the encounter today is also irrelevant…the health and safety of a minor was Jennings’ responsibility and he neglected it.
Today, Jennings offers no apology, claims that it took more than two decades for him to figure out what he should have done back then, and blames others for failing to prepare him to deal with a potentially-diseased student who, as far as he knew, had been a victim of statutory rape.
The Obama administration seems more committed to advancing a particular social agenda, than it is to placing qualified individuals in positions of vast influence. It’s hard to imagine that this episode (among others) in Jennings’ background was unknown to the administration, since Jennings wrote and spoke about it publicly. He has used it as a parable to advance his personal mission…a mission the accomplishment of which is now within his grasp thanks to his new job.
The administration is either tone deaf, or it pursues an agenda more nefarious than anything suggested in this column.
Luckily, dazed and confused, it’s very simple for you to demonstrate your moral superiority and sterling adherence to truth above all…simply admit that you support Jennings, a guy who sang the praises of a commie NAMBLA supporter.
Come on, dazed…show us those principles in action
110. Scott Ott:
“Whether the youth was 16 or 15 is irrelevant to the story”
Oh, it’s relevant:
Scott Ott:
” . . . once committed criminally negligent behavior
36. Tom Holsinger:
“I agree that Jennings committed a crime”
71. Connie du Toit:
“a victim of a crime”
20. rvastar:
“And Jennings is guilty of criminal negligence”
Wrong. No crime.
Now, how many conservative news outlets who reported as fact that Brewster was 15 are going back to report that he was 16? None.
You deal in truth or you don’t. You live by the law or you don’t.
91. RAM:
“Where is your proof that he is not the “same guy”? He sure LOOKS like the same guy to me, maybe worse!”
‘Jennings today issued a statement saying, “Twenty-one years later I can see how I should have handled the situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training and guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers.”’
“Jennings is STILL advocating the homo lifestyle . . .”
Gays are born, not made. Did you have a choice being heterosexual (if u are)? Will (did) your children have a choice of gender?
MSNBC just called him a czar. Are they adopting Beck’s lingo now that GE profits down?
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