School Internet Filter Illegally Blocks LGBT Websites, Says ACLU

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Students and teachers in Gwinnett County, Ga., schools hoping to find educational material about sexual orientation and identity are discovering that those websites are blocked by the school district’s Internet filter.  The filter, administered by a private company, includes a category named “LGBT” intended to block access to sites that include information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia says the filter violates the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act, federal legislation that provides equal access to school resources for all extracurricular clubs.  According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the ACLU sent a letter to the Gwinnett school superintendent demanding the LGBT filter be removed or risk litigation. “The administration at Brookwood High School has always been really supportive," said Nowmee Shehab, a senior and the president of the high school’s Gay Straight Alliance. "But a few weeks ago the web filter system at our school was changed, and suddenly websites that I’d been using all year to plan activities for our gay-straight alliance club started being blocked.”

A Gwinnett school system spokesperson told the AJC that students and faculty may request access to some blocked sites.  

 

Florida 12-Year-Old Faces Life Without Parole in Murder Case

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The continuing debate about sentencing juveniles to life without parole has real-world implications for a 12-year-old boy in Jacksonville, Fla., accused of killing his two-year-old half-brother. The Florida attorney general, Angela Corey (pictured at left) charged Christian Fernandez as an adult in the first-degree murder case. Corey quoted in the Florida Times-Union, said eight years was not enough time to rehabilitate Fernandez. But his adult status leaves Fernandez open to the possibility of a life sentence. The Times-Union story describes how Corey’s staff spent two months examining the 12-year-old before deciding how to charge him.  The story also takes a long look at the history of juvenile life without parole sentences.

A joint. JJIE file photo. Ryan Schill / JJIE.org

20/20 Finds the Source of Fake Pot and it’s Not Local

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Packages of synthetic marijuana are one place you won’t find a “Made in China” sticker.  But in a report airing tonight, ABC’s 20/20 discovered that the pouches of dried leaves and herbs—sold as incense—probably should. The “incense” gets its punch from a variety of synthetic cannabinoids sprayed onto the dried plant matter and ABC’s investigation traced the source of the chemical back to suppliers in China. A few weeks ago we reported on the dangers of smoking products such as “K4” and “Spice Gold.”  In most states they are completely legal and sold in convenience stores and smoking shops.  Because they are marked “Not for human consumption,” the FDA does not regulate them and no ID is required to purchase them.  You don’t have to be 18 years old to buy a pack of fake pot. For the full story, go read our report, “The Straight Dope on Fake Dope.”

 

On College Campuses, Hookahs Are Being Smoked Out

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If you are concerned about your health, step away from the hookah.  The belief that the ornate water pipes are far safer than cigarettes may be going up in smoke.  Researchers found that the water in the hookah only filters 5 percent of the nicotine contained in the smoke. Hookahs are gaining in popularity on college campuses across the country and the American Lung Association is making anti-hookah legislation a top priority. “Teens and young adults are initiating tobacco use through these hookahs with the mistaken perception that the products are somehow safer or less harmful than cigarettes,” Paul G. Billings, a vice president of the American Lung Association, told the New York Times. “Clearly that’s not the case.”

The danger lies in how hookahs are smoked.  Hookah sessions usually last about an hour as hoses attached to the pipe are passed around.  In a typical session a smoker could inhale the equivalent of 100 cigarettes while also exposing themselves to tuberculosis and herpes through the communal hoses. Cities are beginning to take notice, passing ordinances to limit the amount of new hookah bars opening and college campuses are rewriting anti-smoking rules to outlaw hookahs.

In Tennessee, If You Can’t Say Gay, Try George Takei

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Legislation banning the discussion of homosexuality in Tennessee classrooms has just passed that state’s Senate.  Referred to by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Senate Bill 49 would affect prepared materials and instruction in kindergarten through eighth grade. Popular “Star Trek” alum and noted gay activist George Takei wants LGBT youth to know he has a workaround if the bill becomes law.  In a video posted on Youtube, Takei suggests replacing the word “gay” with his own name: “Takei.”

“The so-called ‘don't say gay’ law is premised on the misguided belief that, by not talking about gay people, they can simply make us disappear,” Takei said. The video offers several suggestions for where use of the term “Takei” would be appropriate, including, “I am a supporter of ‘Takei marriage’.”

Is Ronald McDonald a “Deep Fried Joe Camel” or Just Plain Creepy?

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Watchdog group Corporate Accountability International may have missed an opportunity in their campaign to remove Ronald McDonald as the face of the ever-expanding, omnipresent fast-food chain.  CAI is claiming, as written in  Salon.com, that “Ronald's the equivalent of a drug pusher for MSG-addicted kids.”

Peddling the fast food equivalent of smack to children would be bad enough, but let’s be honest, there’s a better reason: according to the research, Ronald is actually sort of repellant to kids.  A study done by the marketing company Ace Metric received a “remarkable” amount of responses that found Ronald to be “creepy,” according to a VP with the company. Rather obviously, McDonald’s disagrees. “For everyone who feels that way, there are more who feel the opposite,” McD’s chief creative officer Marlena Peleo-Lazar said.  “He is a force for good.”

That may be, but research by the University of Sheffield in England found that “clowns are universally disliked by children.”

“Some find them quite frightening and unknowable,” the study said, failing to use as source material the Seinfeld episode featuring Crazy Joe Davola dressed as Canio the clown in the opera Pagliacci (said clown's dialog with Kramer in an alley, particularly dark) or that exceeding scary scene in Poltergeist when the clown attacks the little boy, only to have his own stuffings pulled out, or the cult movie classic "Killer Klowns From Outer Space." So CAI may be correct that the floppy-shoed clown should be retired, just not for the reasons the firm says. Of course, Ronald McDonald isn't the only clown in town.

“Slow: Children at Play” Signs Probably Don’t Work

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We’ve all driven past them dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times but signs reading “Slow: Children at Play” probably aren’t slowing us down, according to a story on Slate.com. The reasons are simple: they are either redundant (because drivers are more likely to see actual children at play rather than a sign telling them about the children) or drivers ignore them completely (because they never see any children at play on the street). What matters, studies show, is traffic speed, not signs.  Children are safer on streets with a lower speed limit.  As the speed limit increases so does the danger for children. But traffic engineers face a difficult task convincing parents that their children are no safer with the signs than without.  Parents, understandably, will take whatever steps they can to keep their children safe.  But Slate suggests that the problem is systemic.  Our streets are designed for traffic, not for people or neighborhoods or children at play. “It's roads, not signs, that tell people how to drive,” according to the story.

Are Your Kids Safe from Questionable Smartphone Apps?

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In recent months, both Apple and Google faced criticism over the questionable content of certain apps in their online app stores, leading parents to wonder what exactly their children have access to when using popular smartphones. In March, Apple yanked a controversial “gay cure” app for the iPhone after an online petition calling for the app’s removal received 146,000 signatures in 24 hours. According to Exodus International, the religious group that created the application, Exodus is the largest Christian referral and information network dealing with homosexual issues, defining its mission as promoting "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ." The group’s “freedom from homosexuality” app leads the user back to a website that focuses on abstaining from gay lifestyles, something Exodus International views as fundamental to upholding the values of Christianity. In late April, Google found itself in the middle of a similar controversy when a game for its Android operating system for phones simulating dog fighting appeared in its on-line shop, Android Market.

JJIE.org Reporter Chandra Thomas Named 2011 Soros Justice Fellow

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Chandra Thomas, JJIE.org’s award-winning state capital reporter, has been named a 2011 Soros Justice Fellow by the Open Society Foundations.  She joins 17 other advocates, journalists, lawyers, grassroots organizers and filmmakers working on a wide array of criminal justice reform issues. As part of the prestigious fellowship, Thomas will spend 12 months producing a series of print and multimedia pieces examining the ways that some Georgia schools divert at-risk children into the state’s 200-plus alternative schools, priming them for the criminal justice system. The fellowship is sponsored by the Open Society Foundations, an organization whose mission is to curb mass incarceration, reduce harsh punishment and ensure a fair and equitable system of justice in the United States.  George Soros, the founder of the Open Society Foundations, has contributed more than $1 billion in the United States to fund the fellowships.  

 

Australian Import “Planking” Surges in Popularity: But Why?

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It may be time to pull the phrase “kids these days!” out of the mothballs.  A new trend out of Australia, known as “planking,” encourages lying stiff as a board, face down, in increasingly outlandish places while a friend snaps a photo. Cars, railings, even the Taj Mahal, are all fair game for planking, with the only rule being “the crazier the better.”  Like George Mallory before them, plankers do it because it’s there, or more accurately, because they can. Facebook is inundated with photos of planking and pages dedicated to the new “sport” are receiving tens of thousands of “likes” on the popular social networking site.  Even Australian television news anchors are planking on their shows. But as planking grows in popularity plankers are trying to outdo each other with increasingly dangerous stunts.  Videos of planking on railroad tracks or on moving cars are showing up on YouTube.  The first planking fatality occurred in Australia when 20-year-old Acton Beale fell 7 stories after attempting to plank on a 2-inch wide balcony railing.  Australian authorities are hoping the tragedy will discourage others from participating in “extreme planking.”

Planking may be this generation’s pole sitting, a fad that should fade quickly with time as all fads do.  In the mean time, plank with care.