Today In The USA

It seems that old folks just can’t catch a break.

Since the economy crashed there was not much, well actually any, increase in consumer prices during the current year and as a result those on Social Security will not get any COLA in 2010.

Now before anyone goes screeching “old folks don’t need soda pop, anyhow”, the COLA to which I am referring is the “Cost Of Living Allowance”, which those on Social Security have received every year since back in the 1970’s.

Supposedly the cost of living has actually decreased during 2009 and that makes some sense when one considers all the foreclosures and folks living on the streets and under bridges as a result of the recession or depression if you are one of those living on the street/under the bridge.

At least the politicians are not talking about taking back the COLA that old folks received last year and some are even talking about tossing the old folks a bone in the form of a $250 check courtesy of Uncle Sam, aka the taxpayers.

Now I don’t see anything wrong with charity.

After all, the bankers, Wall Street fat cats and others managed to suck hundreds of billions of dollars from the collective tit of taxpayers, so why not let the old folks have a nipple to suck on too?

But come on…

I mean the fat cats received at least a trillion dollars from the tax payers and then came back for more.

The proposal to give a lousy $250 to the 57 million Social Security recipients, those receiving veterans or disability benefits, railroad retirees, and retired public employees who don’t receive Social Security reportedly amounts to a total of $13 billion tax payer dollars.

Oh well, it won’t be the first time old folks and the disabled have had to survive on the crumbs from the table of the fat cats…

(Vicki Rae Smith)

Every school day administrators, teachers and support personnel are called upon to break up fights between students.

When is the last time you read or heard of a school administrator alleged to have set up a hallway brawl between two students?

That is exactly what the cops and district attorney allege Vicki Rae Smith, 50, the former principal of Houston Elementary School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, did on April 2, 2009.

It is alleged that Smith encouraged a 10-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy to duke it out in the hallway and stopped the brawl only when two visitors to the school spotted the alleged fight. It is further alleged that Smith went as far as to remove one boy from class in order that he could participate in the fight.

Smith has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor. She was booked into the Tulsa Jail on Tuesday and was released on a $1,000 bond about an hour later.

Smith was initially reassigned as a “principal on special assignment” in the school district’s Special Education Department and susequently suspended with pay following her arrest.

Smith has been a principal for the last 12 years, and has been employed by the school system since August 1981.

Smith’s attorneys have entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf and stated the allegations are false and that Smith intends to do everything that she can to defend herself.

Read about it at Principal arrested over brawl and a followup report at TPS explains timeline behind principal’s investigation

And then there is Curtis Jamar Pickard, 17, a student at Greenbrier High School in Evan, Georgia who has been busted for allegedly using a camera equipped cell phone to upskirt a 33-year-old female teacher.

Pickard’s budding upskirting career came to a crashing halt on Tuesday when numerous students told the school safety officer that Pickard had used his cell phone to upskirt the teacher on Monday. It was further alleged that Pickard showed the clandestine pictures to others.

On Tuesday, young Mr. Picard was cuffed and stuffed into the Columbia County Detention Center on a charge of unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance and was subsequently released on $2,600 bond.

Reportedly when the officer checked Pickard’s cell phone it was found to contain pictures of what the teacher subsequently identified as her legs, undies and stuff.

The school safety officer then called in the cops and as they say, the rest is history…

Read it at Greenbrier High student arrested after lewd teacher photos found or at GGreenbrier High School Student Arrested For Taking Upskirt Pictures Of Teacher and wonder if this little incident will cause them to kick Curtis off the honor roll.