Mark Steyn on how Big Government solves fictitious problems

by The Right Scoop

Steyn had a little fun today explaining the Government of Maine’s instructions on what to do if you break one of the new CFL lightbulbs in your house. Through all of this he’s making the larger point that none of this bureaucratic nonsense is necessary if you use a normal incandescent light bulb, which of course they are trying to ban.

Teacher Still On Staff After Molesting 6th Grade Student

Disgraced Teacher Enjoys Well-Paid Salary

13 Years After Sexually Molesting 6th Grader

by Meredith Jessup

On June 26, 1997, New York teacher Roland Pierre was was arrested on felony sex-abuse charges after allegedly calling one of his PS 138 sixth-grade students into an empty classroom, closed the door and molested her. Pierre was permanently removed from the classroom, but like many tenured teachers accused of wrongdoing, he wasn’t fired. Instead, he joined other disgraced educators in the so-called “rubber room” — the “purgatory of teachers yanked for the classroom for alleged wrongdoing” — where he’d wait out the union-guided appeals process.

But, as the NY Post notes, 13 years later, Pierre is still receiving full pay and fringe benefits from his old teaching job, including health benefits, pension and vacation time. In all, the 75-year-old continues to pull down $97,101 a year for a job he hasn’t done in 13 years.

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Scientist alleges religious discrimination

by Dylan Lovan

LOUISVILLE, KY. -- An astronomer argues that his Christian faith and his peers' belief that he is an evolution skeptic kept him from getting a prestigious job as the director of a new student observatory at the University of Kentucky.

Martin Gaskell quickly rose to the top of a list of applicants being considered by the university's search committee. One member said he was "breathtakingly above the other applicants."

Others openly worried his Christian faith could conflict with his duties as a scientist, calling him "something close to a creationist" and "potentially evangelical."

Even though Gaskell says he is not a creationist, he claims he was passed over for the job at UK's MacAdam Student Observatory three years ago because of his religion and statements that were perceived to be critical of the theory of evolution.

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Families in the U.S. fear for safety of Arab Christian relatives

by Jeff Brumley

Forgive Michael Kassab if he isn't whistling "Jingle Bells" and joking around with friends about who's been naughty or nice this year.

On the contrary, Kassab said he's finding it difficult to get into the spirit at all because his Christian relatives and friends in Iraq are experiencing increased persecution. It's a bleak reality made horrifyingly evident in October when Muslim terrorists stormed a Baghdad church and massacred more than 60 worshipers. One of the many wounded in the attack was Kassab's sister.

"It's very scary and frightening," he said after attending a prayer service at his church, St. Ephrem Syriac Catholic Church in Jacksonville. "How do I celebrate when I know my family is completely in danger?"

That gut-churning question plagues most members of the parish, about half of whom are from Iraq. The rest are from other Middle Eastern nations where Christians are also besieged.

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Walid Shoebat on being taught to hate the Jews

by The Right Scoop

This is a very sobering speech by Walid Shoebat that gives us an inside look at his life growing up in Palestine. He gives detailed accounts of how he and others in his community were taught to hate the Jewish people and how they committed violence against Jewish people; how they even tried to kill an innocent Jewish man while he was trying to call for help to come save the girl he had just mistakenly hit with his vehicle.

The overall theme to his speech is to describe what is really at the core of this conflict between the Palestinians and the Jewish people and he doesn’t pull any punches. It’s the cold hard truth that so many people want to ignore. I would definitely categorize this as a must listen. It runs about 40 minutes and is worth every minute.