Scotty, its time to beam me up

Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack of his truck.

1973: Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack’s rifle, goes to his truck and gets his to show Jack.

2007: School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.

1973: Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.

2007: Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.

1973: Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal. Sits still in class.

2007: Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his father’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping.

1973: Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

2007: Billy’s Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Billy’s sister is told by state psychologist that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some headache medicine to school.

1973: Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking dock.

2007: Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1973: Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.

2007: Pedro’s cause is taken up by state democratic party. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he can’t speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1973: Ants die.

2007: BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary, hugs him to comfort him.

1973: In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2007: Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.

 

Just found another reason.............feel free to post yours too(Hey I don't want to be the only one who thinks we've fallen over the "Crazy" edge

Zero Tolerance Policy Theatens Security of Power Grid
posted in society |

Zero Tolerance Policy:- I feel, stunned, confused, sad and disappointed. Today I became another victim of Zero Tolerance Policies. I was fired from one of the power companies in Michigan today because of a Zero Tolerance Policy. What horrible evil did I do?

For the past year I’ve been contracting to the power company supporting the systems that keep all the power on across the state. I had to pass a background check, get drug tested, plus have a wide range of skills. Only five people in the whole company of 15,000 have the experience to do the job.

The company is really messed up but the people I work with are great. We complain a lot because many of the procedures in place actually have the opposite effect of what is intended. Paper work is insane and there are many things that just can’t get done because of the red tape. Three of the critical systems are constantly failing and we can’t do much to solve the problem because of procedures and policies.

A couple departments are particularly bad, Network Security being one of the worst. When I started working there my accounts and PC were messed up for over a week even though they had 3 weeks notice I was starting work.

The others in my department are actual employees and are very busy on this big conversion project. I’m building a new house and have not been able to sell the one I’m in and really need extra money so I’ve been taking 24 hour on call duty for the last 3 weeks.

Tuesday morning May 29, 2007 at 6 am the pager went off. The system that dispatchers use to send repair crews to fix downed power lines and leaking gas lines was not working. They could not send crews to emergencies like fires.

I jumped out of bed turned on the special laptop and tried to login to the secure network to fix the problem. I tried to login but kept getting an access denied message. As the time ticked by the pager went off again and again.

I called the Help Desk. After identifying myself with the three passwords and telling them this was very important and why I needed to get access immediately I waited.

It seems my account had been disabled over the holiday weekend because I hadn’t changed my password according to the 30-day schedule. So a real threat to the power grid was happening and the person responsible for fixing it is locked out for over an hour.

This wasn’t the first time something like this happened so I asked the help desk person if she could escalate this and do something to prevent it from happening again. Flag my account or something.

She said that she had already escalated it and there wasn’t anything she could do. She could tell I was frustrated and told me it’s not her fault. I said, “I know it’s not your fault.” She said, “You need to talk to the Network Security Department.”

That is when I committed the Zero Tolerance Policy Violation.

I said, “So I need to smack one of those guys in the head at Network Security?”

She snapped at me, “Workplace violence is not appropriate”.

I thought, “What a ridiculous thing to say”. But, I was finally on the network and able to start getting the 6,000 field workers moving to keep the power grid functioning. I hung up and went to work.

The pager went off for 3 hours straight. I was fighting fires until after 9 am when I could finally get into the office.

Around noon, the department head and my supervisor asked to talk to me.

They sat me down in the conference room and explained that my comment on the phone today caused big problems. It went all the way to the top of the company and they even locked down the Security Department and put the whole building on alert.

He said the company has a Zero Tolerance Policy on Violence and he had no choice but to let me go.

He said, “they can’t tell which threats are real and which aren’t so we have to treat all perceived threats the same.

I was stunned. Someone PERCEIVED the figure of speech as a threat? I was in the middle of fixing a real problem that actually threatened lives and they were going to fire me for a figure of speech?

This was crazy. No, warning. No discussion. That was it. With 15 open trouble tickets and users all across the state waiting for a solution. I packed my stuff up and was escorted out of the building.

So now I have no income, mortgage payments, a house under construction and very little savings.

There are now only 4 people to provide 24 hour support to those three critical systems.

I’m just stunned.

And the people in the field doing the real work are still calling my personal cell phone looking for help to get the system working.

 

You make a good point, it does seem we are being conditioned to fear everything, but I really think the gun thing is justifiable; I mean, their only purpose is to kill!

 

The "Gun" thing is really a perception issue I think Mada; for "City" folks there is no reason to be "Packing", but for "Country" folks it use to be a "Tool" just like a Chainsaw, which you don't see city folks packing in the back of there vehicles either. As children country kids are taught to use both with the appreciation of the dangers involved. I too, did not realize this till I moved to the "Backwoods" were "Bambi" and "Bruno" can cause havoc, and that "Cute/Cuddly" cougar cub we petted in the Zoo, Kills in the woods.:eek

 

Was that the guy that caused the huge crane to fall on the nuclear power plant, not long ago?

 

I've lived in the backwoods (way out there) for 20+ years, and I still don't see the need.

Consider the ratio of deaths by firearms to deaths by animals. We'd save FAR more lives doing away with guns.

I'd also like to see how effective having a gun is in protecting against attacks with other guns. I bet they're not worth it in that case, either. I'll do some research.

 

I read this in the paper not long ago,

Scenario: You take pictures of your infant grandchild being bathed naked because they are the apple of your eye.

1973: You share the pictures with family and friends and everyone feels the joy on you and the child's face.

2007: You go to pick up the pictures at the developer and are arrested for suspicion of being a child predator. Due to an attention seeking prosecutor you are now financially tapped, forced into a plea deal, and are a registered child predator. You can no longer see your grandchild without supervision.

 

Right On evilfantasy, the only thing that really puzzles me is when did the "Bus" we were riding turn into the "Crazy Bus", and just who the heck is Driving It

 

Sorry to hear that you have fallen victim to the Crazy People and their Politically Correct world. I really hope that you get work soon
I am very angry at the way you have been treated though, have you no right of appeal? It needs an independent person to listen to both sides of the 'incident' and see that common sense prevails here.
Take care

 

ditto. hopefully something good will come of it...hang in there. much aloha

 

heh... if I recall correctly, BC is retired.

Methinks he's copy and pasted this from somewhere.

 

Its all about rules and laws and rule and law makers,they sit in offices all day justifying thier own existence,if there were no more new laws to make they'd become redundant.rolleyes

 

When we started our business in 1997 we bought a building for our offices and we agreed that even though half of us were smokers (there were only 4 of us) that the office would be a no smoking zone. My colleague and myself were happy to go along with this and used to go outside for a smoke, visitors were always informed that we were a non smoking environment. Non problems.

Fast forward 10 years.................None of us smokes anymore. As of July 1st because of the English legislation of "No Smoking in the Workplace" I now have to put up "NO SMOKING" signs in an office that has never had smoking since it was built and will now be illegal anyway!

Doncha just love government!

 

Sorry for the confusion gang, Mada's right I am RealTired have been for twenty years and the dang doctor won't give me anything for it. Yea that was a article I ran across well "Surfing".........Heh Heh I googled the word "Stupid" and guess what came up "The Government"

 

You've heard this all before, but our rights and freedoms are being steadily eroded by a corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy, and by the complacency and apathy of large tracts of the public.

Laws are becoming senseless and oppressive, but we are letting it happen. Terrorists have succeeded in bringing fear to the masses, I’m sad to say.

 

Just one more reason to use Google for all of your web surfing needs.

 

IMHO - Guns are a tool. How they are used is what determines the outcome. I haven't looked at the stats in a few years, but I believe the percentage of guns used in violent crimes that are illegal (not legitamate registerd weapons) is somewhere over 90%. I am not a gun person or an NRA person, but by the same token, I was brought up on a farm where we would go out back to the lower 40 and plink away at cans on the weekends. I can handle a gun and even hit the target most of the time.

My only issue with guns is that they depersonify the violence they do. If I am going to get violent on someone, I am going to do it up close and personal as it shows that I respect the force I am about to use.

Honestly, I have long held that if you give everyone a gun and give it a couple years, there will be a significant drop in crime across the board as people get it all out of their system, after all, when you know that the person you are about to try to mug has a gun, I am betting that you would be a lot less likely to try to mug them.

Again, this is all my opinion. I would be much more comfortable wandering about with a katana strapped to my waist.


~C

 

I love guns have since a kid I'v own numerous air rifles too many mention but I'm still glad of the gun control we have in this country,I'd rather someone get thier wallet stolen than people be blowing each other away because I'm in the strong belief if people have them they'll use them because in general people are idiots,I'm happier walking around knowing that every idiot and thier mother isnt strapped and if I get mugged I'll lose my wallet and not my life

No point in a discussion I guess calltaker I doubt we'll sway each others opinions

 

Yet any who tries to make changes are also labeled terrorists.

 

It's not the gun itself that's evil or good; it's the person pulling the trigger that is. I, too, have been around guns for most of my life, and can handle one pretty well. Hopefully, I will never have to use one as a means of defending myself, but I do take comfort in knowing that I can if things ever come to that. I also, would personally rather be face-to-face with someone, and handle business that way, before I'd use a gun to blow them away. Though, as a martial artist for 13 years, (forms of kung fu and tae kwon do) I really don't need a weapon at all, not even a katana (though I can use one pretty efficiently) if push comes to shove, and I end up having to finish what someone else started. And yes, that has happened, but it doesn't mean that I want it to. I don't go out looking for trouble, and I try to walk away if someone else does. I know this sounds cliche, but it's true: "You learn martial arts so you don't have to use them." That means that, while you can hurt someone with your fighting skills, you shouldn't go out looking for a reason to do so. And I think that also applies to using guns, coming back around to the original topic. Just because you know how to proficiently use one, that doesn't mean you should find any reasons to do so.
I also agree that if you do give everyone the right to carry a gun. (Though I'd give them the option, not just say, "Here, Judy, here's a gun, and you have to carry it.") Though, as with anything else like that, you'll still have the idiots and irresponsible morons out there who'll mess it all up, but like in your scenario of a mugging, how can you be sure that Mary isn't packing heat, and knows how to plug you full of holes if she feels she needs to? That guessing game could turn out to be a deadly one, for both good and bad, but I'd think that, with the proper police supervision (Hey, a guy can dream, alright?) and responsible ownership, the good could outweigh the bad. This is just my own opinion, and I know I can't please anybody. But, hopefully, discussion can lead to thinking, (And I know how hard that is on some people) and that can in turn, lead to your own opinions, and the cycle can go again. I'm looking forward to what others have to say about this now.

 

If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have them! Shallow view....Yes But it is true.

The name peace keeper wasn't just a phrase.

 

Hey, I've seen that bumper sticker, too!
Seriously, though, it would be true. It'd be just like with illegal drugs now, if truth be told, if guns were totally outlawed. There'd be more people in prison for illegal trafficking, possession, and use of firearms. It's bad enough as it is now, and making possession of them illegal will just lead to more and bigger problems. Again, look at what has happened with illegal drugs. No matter how outlawed they get, people are still going to find ways to get them and use them. Now, I'm not condoning the use of any drugs, unless they're prescribed by their doctor for legitimate ailments, but the problems outlawing them has brought really, in a lot of ways, has nearly made the cons (no pun intended) outweigh the pros. Really, it mostly comes down to the responsibility of the owners of the weapons, and good police work in catching those who do the illegal things with them, who should also be making sure that the existing laws are well enforced.