Taunton, Massachusetts: where the inmates run the asylum

Via JayG we find that Taunton, Massachusetts is back in the news:

A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross.

Got that? This kid - who has never been in trouble - was not only sent home from school for drawing a picture about Jesus, but required to undergo counseling before he could return. For drawing a picture about the son of G-d. For practicing his religion.

Why did he draw a picture of Jesus, you ask?

He made the drawing in class after his teacher asked the children to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas, the father said.

THE SODDING TEACHER ASKED HIM TO.

It makes you wonder: what's a problem to the Good Burghers of Taunton, and what's not a problem to the same said Burghers? Well, we see from this that a ten year old completing school assignments is a Clear and Present Danger. So what's not a Clear and Present Danger?

Remember this?

Tekmage has great post about Massachusett's idiot Attorney General, Martha Coakley. For those who haven't heard, here's the Cliff Notes version:

1. Pervert molests 4 year old in [Taunton, MA] public bathroom.
2. Kid's (ex-Marine) dad catches him, and goes all Semper Fi on perv's ass.
3. Police show up, take one look at situation, and arrest the dad.
   

When Atty Gen Coakley was asked WTF was up with this, her reply was "We don't encourage self help." Well now.

This is from the very early days of this blog, and needs updating. Martha Coakley is indeed an idiot Attorney General, but she is now an idiot US Senate candidate.

What does this have to do with Taunton? Well, the local Po-Po let the molester go:

Although Rodriguez faces a felony charge, police decided not to arrest the suspect at the scene due to his advanced aged and lack of a criminal record.

Guess who was an illegal immigrant, and who - surprise! - skipped the country before his court date?

"But Borepatch", I hear you ask, "what does this have to do with the ten year old hardened Thought Criminal?" This:

At first blush, it seems that the $64,000 question is "Why would the authorities not want the public's help?" Suppose that the Mass.Gov really wanted to reduce child abuse. They'd give the dad a medal, and haul Mr. Feely off to durance vile. Then everyone would retire to the local saloon: Whiskey for my men and beer for my horses.

That's sure not happening. So the real $64,000 question is "Why not?" The answer is ugly.

It's not ugly because the idiot police let the molester go free, although that's pretty ugly. While the molester is a threat to the community, he is not a threat to the authorities.

What is a threat to the authorities? Mr. Marine Dad, who wasn't a good victim, who didn't go running to the Nanny State for help, who handled things.

How's the Mass.Gov supposed to justify more spending on public safety when the public is, well, keeping itself safe. Can't have that. Listen to Ms. Coakley again:

We don't encourage self help.

You'll know that you understand her completely when a shiver runs down your spine.

I hate to point to one of my own posts and tell you to RTWT, but if you want to understand how they think down Taunton way, go RTWT.

Ask yourself, what is threatening to a liberal, Democratic political machine? Alternative power centers. Whether they are individual (Marine Corps Dad) or collective (a Church), both provide a counterpoint to the political establishment's cozy exercise of power. Can't have that.

And the voters of the Commonwealth keep returning these shysters to office. As I said before:

You couldn't assemble enough brain cells to feed a zombie if you collected every Democratic voter in Massachusetts.

So what's to do? One idea is for freedom-loving people to take a leaf from the Activist Left, and use the court system as a club to beat the establishment over the head. I left a comment over at Jay's that I'll reproduce here, because it lays out the strategy:

The issue is the maze of rules that the education bureaucracy has set up - I expect that the teacher had little/no leeway.

The solution is to sue those responsible for enforcing the rules - the School Board. Sue them individually and collectively, along with the school district and town. Sue the Mayor and Selectmen individually and collectively.

Make it "up close and personal", and you'll get less "our hands are tied" next time. Even if you don't win.

The Activist Left took this path because their agenda was unpopular with the voters, and would never win at the ballot box. The Freedom Bloc (for lack of a better term) would use this because the game is rigged, and the People's Voice is not able to be heard at the ballot box.

A ten year old is a threat to the Taunton authorities, so they took action against him. We need to show the Taunton authorities that there are more serious threats to their authority, threats delivered in Summons form.

UPDATE 15 December 2009 15:55: Good think he wasn't twirling braids. Something might have got out of hand.