Chad’s Morning Brief: Corporal Punishment, Could Santorum Be Too Conservative, & More
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of February 20th, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.
1. Corporal Punishment on the South Plains (link)
Interesting article in Sunday's AJ dealing with how schools in and around Lubbock use corporal punishment. According to the paper Frenship and Lubbock-Cooper don't use the form of punishment at all while Lubbock and Roosevelt ISDs hardly use it.
“It’s used very rarely in our district,” said LISD Superintendent Karen Garza. “It remains an option in policy for our principals but should be used only as a last resort.”
This quote is silly to me. Of course it's an option of last resort, but don't act like it's the end of the world. When I was in school corporal punishment was used and to be honest, I think it was celebrated. Students didn't want to get paddled at all, especially by a coach. It scared students into not doing moronic things. When you were in Junior High or High School it was basically the school's nuclear weapon. It was a deterrent, but if needed it would be used. Nowadays it seems like administrators are deathly afraid to use it. Parents seem to freak out about their kids being spanked. Though, it's been my experience that the only parents who have a problem with their kids being spanked at schools are the ones who don't spank at home. Shocking!
Lubbock-Cooper Superintendent Pat Henderson said corporal punishment has not been used in his district since around 1996 or 1997.
Removing it was one of the first major policy changes he recommended to the school board after becoming superintendent, Henderson said.
“As an assistant principal of another area school district, I saw it didn’t work,” he said. “Kids would get in trouble again and come back, and what do you do? Hit them harder?”
Yes, hit them harder! That's what happened in our school.
The problem we have these days are that so many parents are scared to punish their kids. They want to be best friends with their kids instead of being a parent. My parents had no problem signing the permission slip to let the Principal use the paddle if needed. I respect them for that. The other problem facing the schools and corporal punishment are lawsuits. Schools live in fear that a parent will sue because their precious snowflake got paddled. It's sad, but true. Schools would rather let parents deal with their hellions, but we see what good that has done.
I say bring back corporal punishment. Make the students fear administrators and maybe the kids will start to act a little better. Either that or let them wear mohawks, because we all know that will work. Right?
2. Santorum Too Conservative? (link)
Could Rick Santorum be too conservative? Dan Balz with the Washington Post has an interesting look at a question many are asking.
Santorum presents himself as a committed and consistent conservative with blue-collar roots — just the kind of candidate Republicans need to energize the party’s base and reach out to Reagan Democrats in a campaign against President Obama that could be decided in the nation’s industrial heartland.
Obama advisers and other Democrats see a Santorum whose record, writings and statements, particularly on social issues, will be used to portray him as far too conservative for many voters. His record, they say, could make Santorum anathema to suburban swing voters, especially women. That view is shared by some Republicans and independent analysts.
“They [Democrats] would brutalize him on social and cultural issues and present him as so far out of the mainstream as to be radical,” said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College and a leading pollster in Pennsylvania. “The analogy would be Barry Goldwater” — the 1964 GOP nominee who suffered a landslide defeat.
Is Rick Santorum a candidate that could rally the Republican base? I absolutely think so. Could he win against President Obama? I don't know. Of course, that's my answer about all the candidates. A race on social issues worries me. I agree with much of what Santorum says, but he won't have to fight for my vote in November. I still believe it comes down to the independents. I know people in the Republican party hate reaching out to the independents, but sorry that's how you will have to win this year. As for the so called GOP base, if you aren't energized to defeat Obama, you have bigger issues.
3. Want Research Funding? Ban Smoking (link)
If you want to keep your research funding, you might have to ban smoking on campus.
University administrators on campuses around the state are mulling campus-wide tobacco-free policies as a result of new rules established by the Cancer Research Prevention Institute of Texas. In January, the institute’s oversight committee adopted a policy that requires grant recipients to have policies prohibiting tobacco use in buildings and structures where financed research activities are occurring, as well as at the outdoor areas immediately adjacent to those buildings. The grant recipients must also provide smoking cessation services for community members who desire them.
For schools that pride themselves on their research function, like the University of Texas at Austin — which has received about $30 million in grants from the institute and is hoping for $88 million more from new requests — there is a clear financial incentive to institute changes.
“If folks have to go a little bit farther, if they have to think about having a cigarette a little bit more, we are encouraging them to smoke less — which results in positive benefits — or to quit all together,” said Bill Gimson, the executive director of the institute.
All in the name of science right? This is just sad. The two should have nothing to do with each other. It's just another way of strong-arming people into doing things that others believe are the right thing to do.
4. Dumb story of the morning (link)
ESPN Fails.
ESPN says it fired an employee responsible for an offensive headline referring to Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin.
The headline "Chink in the Armor" was used Friday on ESPN's mobile website after Lin had nine turnovers in New York's loss to New Orleans.
In a statement Sunday, ESPN apologizes for that headline and also says it is also aware of two other "offensive and inappropriate" comments on ESPN outlets.
An ESPNEWS anchor who used the phrase has been suspended for 30 days. And ESPN says a similar reference was made Friday on ESPN Radio New York, but the commentator is not an ESPN employee.
Lin is the NBA's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. He has captivated fans by leading the Knicks to seven straight wins before Friday's loss.
ESPN doesn't always hire the brightest people.
Other Top Stories:
Guests Appearing on LFN Today:
Congressman Randy Neugebauer at 7:37am
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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