How about a big Fuck Yeah for the Navy! Decisive action by professionals results in an utterly predictable and desirable outcome. Now everyone is afraid that the pirates are going to follow through on their threat to kill hostages from countries who kill the pirates. So if I understand this correctly, the pirates seem to think that they have the right to rob and steal with impunity, and that people shouldn’t be allowed to defend themselves. For some reason that reminds me of the thief who broke into someone’s house, the homeowner shot the thief, and the thief’s family then sued the homeowner! What in the fuck is this world coming to?

I know that nobody wants the US to be the world’s policeman, even with Saint Obama at the helm, but still. In his book, The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, George Friedman talks about how the US has become the dominant power that it is because it is able to exert control over the sea lanes. We are the only power with the ability to really affect things on practically any open body of water in the world, so maybe we have to step up. If a piracy event occurs or known pirates are spotted, send in the Predators, or a flight of FA-18s to destroy them. If we get enough of them, eventually the numbers won’t pencil out and the piracy threat will go away.

And when The Dude is proven correct in that prediction, it is time for the US of A to reach down, find a pair of balls, and apply the same principle to our system of justice. None of these trials that drag on for three years, none of the bullshit temporary insanity defenses, ease up on the suppression of evidence issues, and APPLY THE DEATH PENALTY SWIFTLY AND SURELY!!! For murder, someone is indicted. Take a month to seat a jury. Go thru the trial. If the accused is convicted, they get an automatic appeal, that commences in 6 months (to give the defense attorneys a chance to work on their case). If the conviction is upheld, the guilty party is marched out of the courtroom and into the gas chamber (or electric chair, or injection table, or whatever), and executed. No chance to spend 30 years on death row, filing lawsuits at taxpayer expense, getting into a criminal gang, or whatever.

Now, I’m sure that with both scenarios, there will be innocent lives lost. But that isn’t the fault of the US government. In the case of the pirates, they shouldn’t have done what they did. In the case of a wrongly convicted murderer, it is an unfortunate mistake but if you are truly innocent, between the first and second trials, it shouldn’t be that difficult to prove it. If you can’t, then you probably deserve what you’re getting. In any respect, if these actions are taken quickly, decisively, and often enough, people will get the message and the deterrent effect will finally take hold.

Rant over.

So…Dubya is gone and Obama is in.  Quite the historic event.  First of all, congrats for running what will ultimately become a case study in successful elections, first of all at the primary level and then at the big dance itself.  Second, boy did it look cold there in DC.  I almost shivered while sitting in my So Cal office in shorts and a golf shirt.  Third, I managed to avoid the drama of web servers crashing under the streaming strain by watching the live NBC broadcast on my LG Voyager via Verizon Wireless’ VCast Mobile TV service.  No interruptions and clear as a bell picture and sound.  Effin’ brilliant service, imho, and I highly recommend both the phone and the service.

Now, on to fixing the country.  As you readers may have figured, The Dude tends to have a more conservative leaning, politically.  A little less so on social issues, but definitely on fiscal issues.  It is painfully obvious that we are in the middle of quite the financial crisis.  Normally, any good fiscal conservative worth his or her salt would simply advocate lowering taxes and letting businesses conduct business, with the idea that the revenue generated by a successful business (sales taxes, payroll taxes, employees buying other stuff and continuing the cycle, etc.) will make things happen and stabilize the economy.  The problem that we face currently is unfortunately a little beyond that simple a focus.  The big problem as I see it is that the financial powers that be are simply too afraid to conduct business.  Look at all the money that’s been poured into the credit and financial markets, as well as the auto industry.  Not a whole lot of results, much less actual business generated.  And the only way I see to create a trend of stability is for “Government” to take the lead on things.

Nobody can deny that the infrastructure in this country needs some serious work.  Water delivery, roads, power/energy, air traffic control, schools, they all need massive amounts of updating.  And coincidentally, all of these things tend to be owned by one governmental agency or another.  So logically the way to kick start things and hire unemployed (or soon to be unemployed) people is for “Government” to start authorizing all of these public works type projects.  Two things, though, are needed to keep fiscal conservatives from having coronaries and actually generate efficient results.

First, government should not hire the employees.  Governments are extremely inefficient.  I know, I’ve both worked for municipal agencies and been a consultant to them for the past 14 years.  Let consultants and contractors hire the workers.  They can do the work more efficiently and at a lower price than the government agencies can.

Second, DO NOT RAISE TAXES TO PAY FOR IT!!  Let’s face a little reality.  We are facing a staggeringly huge national debt.  Even as Obama’s transition team proposed in the previous several weeks, the stimulus package is going to cost a ton.  So we should simply admit to ourselves that the increase in debt will be massive but necessary.  And with that why not again minimize the impact of government inefficiency and cut out a lot of government processing.  Deficit spend!  Seriously.  To balance (so to speak) the books, have the Fed or the Treasury “loan” the money to the various government agencies that need it.  Then let the trickle-down effect go to work.  Say the City of San Diego decides to overhaul its water delivery system (it sure needs it!).  It will be a massive job, requiring a ton of manpower.  Actual workers digging out the pipes, people fabricating the pipes, people designing the water system, people redesigning the road system to accommodate the new water utilities, and so on.  The workers themselves and the construction companies will likely need to purchase tools, equipment, and trucks, thus providing work for people in those industries.  The engineers designing the water and road systems would need to buy new computer systems and maybe lease additional office space, thus providing some stimulation in those areas.  Maybe workers will come in from other areas (it would likely require enough people) and need housing.  They’ll all need food and such at the jobsites, uniforms, communication devices, and who knows what else.  In addition to the direct financial impacts, think about the workers.  Knowing that they’ve got some financial stability, I bet they’ll be more interested in going out for a nice dinner or buying that HD flatscreen plasma.  With all that work, they’ll likely want to take a small vacation here and there, maybe visit SeaWorld or LegoLand.  Maybe they’ll feel confident enough to replace the 6 or 7 year old family car with something new.  Who knows?  But if Obama decides to raise taxes, particularly on the businesses who would do all of this hiring, they may feel that they can’t afford to hire as many people as they otherwise would’ve and wind up being able to pay their employees less due to increased competition for fewer jobs.  And if these workers are earning less than they otherwise might have, maybe they won’t feel secure enough yet to start spending.  If taxes are raised, maybe businesses will decide to hold off on purchasing a new fleet of trucks, because the increased taxes won’t quite make that purchase pencil out, or maybe they’ll hold off on moving to a larger facility.  If the taxes are not increased, it is most likely that more of the economy would be stimulated for the same dollar amount, and ultimately generate more revenue not only for themselves, but for the government agencies to use to pay back the “stimulus loans.”

So President Obama, congratulations and good luck.  You have a helluva task ahead of you, and it certainly won’t be easy.  Expectations are probably unreasonably high, and it’s not likely that any signs of success would be seen in the immediate future.  But success can be had.  You are a very inspirational person, and given the dark mood of the country leading up to your inauguration, that sense of inspiration is a great spark.  If you do it correctly, you can use that spark to really stoke the forging fires of our collective souls.  We’ll be watching.  Don’t f**k it up.

Greetings, peeps!  Sorry it’s been a while since The Dude has posted, but things have been a mite busy.  On the sad side, my beyond wonderful Dobie, Ginger, succumbed to cancer.  On the happier (and much more time consuming) side, we have very recently acquired a 7 month old Dobie puppy!  She’s adorable, sweet, and just a big happy ball of puppy energy!  Crazy stuff, and the carpet may never be the same again.  Anyway…

Just read an article on Yahoo news and felt the urge to rant.  I’m talking about this article.  So your job is being one of the Customs officials who is responsible for keeping illegal immigrants from getting into the country through the Port of Boston.  So who would be an ideal person to hire to clean your house and such?  Maybe an illegal immigrant?  Are you kidding me?!?  That’s pretty much right up there with Eliot Spitzer, former Governor and former Attorney General for the State of New York (not just responsible for but proud of his record in dealing with sex crimes like prostitution) getting busted in a $1000+ per session prostitution ring!  Talk about not having a firm grasp on the required duties in your job description!  In my humble opinion, anyone who gets busted doing something illegal that their job requires that they prevent, counsel against, prosecute, etc., they should automatically get slapped with a $100,000 fine and a minimum 10 year, no parole prison sentence (unless the baseline sentence for the crime is greater than that, i.e. murder).  Maybe if we can punish enough of these people, others will be scared into not committing the crime.  One can hope…

Safe haven laws are by and large a good thing.  Someone who gets pregnant and decides that they can’t deal with the baby can carry it to term and drop it off at a safe haven (usually a hospital or fire station) with no questions asked.  Prevents abortions and keeps newborns from being dumped into trash bins.  Nebraska, on the other hand, has a unique take on the matter.  Their safe haven law apparently allows a caregiver to drop off MINORS at safe haven locations with no questions asked!  MINORS!  This story talks about a 15 year old who is dumped at a hospital in Omaha.  What is more disturbing is that this particular child IS THE 21ST CHILD dropped off under the law!!!  Are you fucking kidding me?!!?!!?  Who goes 15 years into the life of a child, only to give up and effectively put the kid up for adoption.  Naturally, I’m sure that the older kids who are dropped off can likely be classified as “difficult” or some other such description.  But way to shirk your duties.  Not to mention that at that age, there’s no way that the kid doesn’t know what’s going on.  If the kid is something of a screw up to begin with, there is no way that this could possibly help their mental state.  At least Nebraska legislators seem to be leaning towards revising the law, so that it will only apply to newborns, but how fucking stupid do you have to be to overlook something like this in a situation where there are many examples available to study?

I first heard the story on KFI radio out of Los Angeles, and it’s popped up on several different blogs and websites.  Howard Stern wanted to see how much truth there was to the premise that black people were supporting Obama, not because he’s black, but because of the issues.  So Howard Stern sent a crew to Harlem to conduct several “man on the street” interviews.  The great part was that they presented several positions of McCain as though they were Obama’s positions, and the interviewees did a wonderful job of exposing their ignorance and true positions.

I would’ve embedded the video, but my company blocks Youtube, so follow the link here, to watch the video.  However it turns out, I do not like either candidate and I am sooo looking forward to the election being over.

So, according to the LA Times (and several other media outlets), the US Border Patrol has installed heavy-duty razor wire along the San Diego border area. Groups supporting illegal immigration, such as Border Angels and The American Friends Service Committee are complaining that the razor wire is dangerous and that it will only cause undue injuries to those attempting to cross the border.

Let me set the stage for this. The United States is a sovereign nation. What that means is that it has clearly defined borders, and it establishes the laws, rules, and regulations that govern those within those borders. One such activity that a sovereign nation is allowed to govern, is who is allowed to enter its borders and who is not. All such nations do this. Every nation on the planet has borders, controlled entry points, and areas where access is restricted or even prohibited by fences or barriers. On the other hand, nations also establish processes and procedures that allow people who want to enter the country in a legal fashion, thus according them with all appropriate legal rights and protections.

Now, we all know that there is a problem with illegal immigration in the United States, particularly dealing with Mexican nationals and those from other nations who have already entered Mexico. Despite pretty clear laws on the matter and very obvious walls, fences, and entry checkpoints, thousands of people enter the United States from Mexico illegally every day. Now, I live in the San Diego area. I grew up here, and I’ve traveled to Mexico several times (legally, mind you) for a variety of reasons. I’ve seen the border fences. They’re kind of big. So big that you can see them on Google Maps’ satellite view. The intent of the fences is kind of obvious, but beyond that you would have to simply be the dumbest, most ignorant person ever to not realize or be aware of the fact that the United States does not want people to enter the country by climbing the wall. They want everyone to go through the obvious entry check points and provide the appropriate authorized documents as verification that they are allowed to come in. So if some morons want to attempt to climb a 17 foot tall fence that is topped by 3 additional feet of razor wire, the risk and responsibility is all on them.

But Dude! It’s dangerous! Well don’t climb the damn fence! But Dude! Why do you want to keep these people out who are simply trying to make a better life for themselves? We have long-established legal methods and processes that anyone can go through to gain legal authorization to come into this country. Why should these people be rewarded for basically cutting in line and ignoring the rules? But Dude, it’s not fair! How is it not fair? Is it that we are denying them the opportunity to better themselves here in the United States? Tell them to apply for a fucking visa like anybody else would. Or convince the Mexican government (along with the Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, Honduran, and other such governments) to clean up their collective acts (get a handle on corruption, establish some rules, enforce them, and figure out how to make their respective economies function effectively) together, and provide their own damn “better opportunities” for their own damn people!  Rant over.

I am tired of the United States being the caregiver and protector of the world, only to be shit on by those very people who benefit from our prosperity and abilities. We have rules. Follow them and you

Long time between rants…work and other crap have been waaay too time consuming. So here we go.

Two things about this. First, there was an editorial (dual editorials, actually) in the Sunday 4/13 San Diego Union regarding anchor babies and should children of illegal immigrants be granted automatic citizenship. NO!!!!!! They most certainly should not!! I can hear the whining already. “But Dude, who’s going to take care of them?” Their fucking breeding, law-breaking parents, that’s who. Hell, we’re already going to eat the health care costs of the birth and whatever other trauma results, so the birth of the offspring will be properly addressed. What should happen at that point is the father should be arrested (assuming he’s actually present), and then deported. As soon as the mother and infant are able to be discharged (and in this day of “managed” care, that shouldn’t be too long), they too are deported. The problem there, is that the illegals, oh excuse me, undocumented aliens, are most likely from or at least familiar with the border crossing area closest to wherever they were picked up, and will likely cross again. I say make it more difficult! If they’re picked up in San Diego, send them to Columbus, NM so they can cross into Puerto Palomas, Mexico. If they’re picked up in El Paso, send them to Nogales, AZ. If a US citizen is deported from some other country, that country does not, and is not under any obligation to transport the citizen to whichever US Customs point is most convenient…they are taken to wherever the deporting country chooses. “But Dude, what about the families?” So you send the mother and child to wherever the father was taken. Tell the father that his wife and kid will be brought to that same location, and his best chance at being reunited with his family is to wait IN MEXICO!! “So Dude, you’re just anti-immigrant, aren’t you.” Nope. I’m just anti-illegal immigrant. Regarding the so-called anchor babies, I say the laws should be clarified (not changed, because as the laws currently read, citizenship is not spelled out as a birthright for EVERY single baby born on US soil. If a child is born on US soil to parents WHO ARE IN THE COUNTRY LEGALLY, whether work visa, student visa, or even a valid passport, the parents will have the right to request US citizenship for their child. But if you’re in the country illegally, you shouldn’t be entitled to anything more than emergency health care and basic legal protections. But social services? Welfare? Education? Oh hell no!

Which brings me to my second point. A democrat California state legislator, Gil Cedillo (note the Hispanic surname) has proposed legislation that would make illegal immigrant students in California eligible for financial aid for college. WTF?!? They’re ILLEGAL!!!!! ILLEGAL!!!! This is wrong and fucked up on so many levels. First, it will increase competition for financial aid (in a time of increasing costs) for students who are here legally. Second, it will further legitimize criminal behavior (and yes, entering the country illegally is most certainly criminal behavior). Third, and this is a what the fuck were they thinking point unto itself, illegal immigrant students residing in California are eligible for State Resident tuition fees. I’m not sure how that got pulled off, but I’m sure that the legislation establishing in-state vs. out-of-state tuition rates stipulates (something to the effect of) “…a student must establish a legal residence within the State of California for a period of (most likely) a year before becoming eligible for in-state resident reduced tuition rates at State colleges and universities.” And if it doesn’t have the stipulation of “legal residence” in it, then it damn well should. And now there’s these high school graduates, who happen to be illegal immigrants, bitching that they should be able to get in-state tuition rates, because they’ve lived here so long. NO!!!!! FUCK YOU!!!! Unless there was an amnesty granted somewhere that I missed, you still have not established a legal residence in this country, much less this state. What I want to know is how in the hell did these kids go through Kindergarten to the 12th grade without them or their parents being deported! That is a crime, IMO, and one that should be prosecuted fully. Any of these nitwits who register for school, apply for financial aid, whatever, and they can’t provide documentation that shows that they’re here legally, they should be arrested, transported to a border crossing point outside of California, and sent on their way. I would think, since they’d be in presumably unfamiliar territory, that they’d try to work their way back to where they were taken from via Mexico, where they could travel more easily. If you pick them up in San Diego and march them across the border into Tijuana, they’ll likely be back across within a few hours. Put them in unfamiliar territory and maybe it will act as a deterrent. “But Dude, you must just hate Mexicans, don’t you.” Nope. Not at all. I know many people of Hispanic descent, I’ve drank tequila with them, I’ve been invited to their Quinceneras, I’ve slept with plenty of their daughters (18 and over, of course). I don’t hate Mexicans at all. I hate illegal immigrants, and I especially hate whiney illegal immigrants who think that just because they managed to sneak around the law that somebody owes them something, and I really fucking hate politicians that look at all these illegal immigrants as potential beneficiaries of social services which would a) increase the perceived need for government-run social services which would solidify the politicians’ perception of their importance to approve, implement, and manage said services, and b) by making all of these illegal immigrants dependent on these government-run social services, they would then show their gratitude by becoming loyal voters who would consistently vote for the politicians who threw all of this money at them.

Rant over.

New rant! Parking fuckwads! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m referring to the practice of being a douchebag and taking up two (or more) parking spaces in an attempt to prevent other douchebags from door-dinging your car (itself another choice topic for a future rant). I’ll admit, most of us have done it, especially if the car is brand new, super nice, freshly detailed, or freshly repaired from previous escapades of douchebagness or asshatness. In my own defense, the few times I’ve done it, it has only been when the second space that I would extend into is already partially occupied by a douche-parker already. I do attempt to not be a hypocritical asshat when possible.

So, the parking lot at my office is very tight. The drive aisles are very narrow, and the stalls all seem to be of the “compact” variety. There are a few that seem to be of a normal width and depth, but most of them are narrow and shallow. There are also a few spaces where there are single or double stalls set aside and surrounded by landscaping. Speaking as a former city planner, my guess is that the developer of my office complex had to fit parking spaces in wherever possible to meet the parking standards for the size of the building. As you might expect, given the tightness of the normal stalls, these stalls are very popular, and are frankly where I usually park.

So I return from a meeting this morning and head back to the premium parking spots, where I had been parked before I went out to this meeting. I round the corner and see this.

A Scion xB?!? Far from a car really needing that kind of protection. What’s worse is when I was parked in the left spot earlier in the day, my Grand Cherokee was parked next to a Ford Explorer. And there was plenty of room between our two vehicles. In other words, this asshat who took up two prime parking spots could’ve parked in just one spot and been safe from any vehicle smaller than an H1 Hummer! It was all I could do to not key the ever living shit out of one of the uglier vehicles ever to grace the streets of So Cal.

Ok. I am an American. I happen to be a very proud, very patriotic American. I also happen to be an automotive enthusiast. I dig cars, trucks, the whole deal. Big-ass luxury sedans. Pimped-out dually turbo-diesel trucks. Rock-crawling Jeeps. Canyon-carving sports cars. I’m a car nut. Being the patriotic type, I really want to like American-made vehicles. I want to support my country and buy products that are made here (or at least made and sold by a company headquartered here). My very first car was an old late 70′s Jeep Cherokee that looked extremely similar to this one.

Mine wasn’t quite so rusty, but same two-tone paint, same rims, and everything. From that I went to a Ford Escort EXP, which I totaled during my freshman year in college. After that, it’s been all Japanese. Honda Accord. Mazda 626 Turbo. Honda Civic. Acura Integra. Nissan Pathfinder. Most of those I acquired as used vehicles, and in all cases I ran the mileage way up in a relatively short amount of time, so all of them had maintenance issues of one sort or another. A clutch here, a timing belt there, tires, brakes, etc., but rarely anything out of the ordinary. And then I got an American car, a Jeep by coincidence.

The Pathfinder was sitting at around 155k miles after only 5 years, and I was looking at roughly $2500 worth of just maintenance to do on it. Shocks. Brakes. Tires. New Windshield. Something with the fuel injectors (I forget exactly what). So the question was do I sink $2500 into a vehicle with 155k miles or do I spend $2500 on a new vehicle. Duh. Because of the work I did, I needed a vehicle that had ground clearance and was tough enough to slog through construction sites. I was looking at the usual suspects: Honda Pilot (too expensive), Toyota 4Runner (ditto), GMC Envoy (ugly, clunky and I hated the seats), Ford Explorer (didn’t like the way it drove and rode), and the Nissan Pathfinder (which was a completely new vehicle than the one I was getting rid of). I loved my old Pathie, and fully expected to get a new one. They were very pricey, and with the Nissan VQ engine they require premium gas. When 87 octane is at $3/gal., I certainly didn’t want to have to go higher than that for premium. And then I test drove the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It rode so much smoother and quieter than the Pathfinder did, and for the amount of miles I drove, those were two huge considerations. And then there was the deal. Because of the mileage and the fact that the loan on the Pathfinder wasn’t paid off at that point, I was pretty upside-down on a trade-in. Being an American company, Jeep had a shitload of cash on the hood, which allowed me to bury the trade-in and wind up with a payment that was almost $100/month lower than the new Pathie would’ve been. So I signed the deal. No hemi, but I did get the smaller V8 (horrible mileage, btw), leather, sunroof, and one of the best factory stereos I have ever listened to (276 watt Boston Acoustics).

First thing I noticed, there’s something in one of the rear quarter panels that rattles when I come to a stop and accelerate. It’s minor and if I’ve got the stereo playing at a decent volume I can’t hear it. Then the “auto up” feature on the driver’s side window stopped functioning. It would go up and down, just not with the one-touch feature. And then the plastic panel on the side of the seat where the power seat controls were broke. Again, the controls worked, but they kind of hung loosely off the side of the seat. After getting both of those fixed under warranty, the dash electronics started acting goofy. All the warning lights would flash on and off, regardless of speed, road condition, or whatever. The tach and speedometer would drop to zero, the fuel gauge would drop to empty, and the fan/air conditioning would turn off and on. After 3 visits to the dealer, they determined that the computer needed to be “reflashed” which I guess is the automotive equivalent of ctrl-alt-del. And then I noticed a weird tapping noise, like valve clatter. Another visit to the dealer and it was determined that the mount for the exhaust manifold had broken, and it was causing some sort of exhaust system “feedback” which affected the exhaust valves, hence the tapping. All of that within 31,000 miles!

And just yesterday I witnessed this in my office parking lot. This vehicle is a 2008 Chrysler Pacifica crossover utility vehicle. It is not one of my favorite vehicles. Frankly, I think it’s kind of ugly. But whatever. Chrysler tries to position itself as a premium luxury brand, but they do it with product like this?

In case you can’t tell what I’m referring to, look closely at the exhaust pipe tips, and how they’re positioned relative to the black trim valance that surrounds them. My 1993 Honda Civic coupe had one exhaust pipe and a black trim valance like this Chrysler. But my Honda economy car from almost 15 years ago had it’s exhaust tip line up perfectly in the center of the valance cutout. This brand new American luxury vehicle has both of its exhaust tips offset in the individual cutouts. I can guarantee you that Chrysler’s designers did not intend for this to be the case. But a lack of attention to detail on the part of Chrysler’s assembly line led to the sale of a flawed vehicle.

This is sad. I really want to like American products, but there’s such a lack of attention to detail that is really disappointing. The niggling little problems with my Jeep. These imperfectly mounted exhaust pipes (or bumper valance panel) on this Pacifica. A couple of years ago, my GF and I went to Miami for a vacation. Like so many sunbelt vacationers (we live in So Cal, so I know what I’m talking about), we had a Chrysler Sebring Convertible as a rental. The car was about a year old and had something like 14k miles on the clock. And 3 separate occasions in South Beach it stalled on me. Fortunately it started right back up, but even with the tunes thumping you can’t look cool in a stalled car. My brother in law also had to replace the rear differential on his 2002 Dodge Ram.

It’s interesting to note that all of these issues happened while Mercedes Benz owned Chrysler. Now that Chrysler is a privately-held American company again, the new ownership has negotiated contracts with the United Auto Workers, and cut both jobs and poorly-performing product lines (interestingly including the aforementioned Pacifica). Let’s hope that the new management team gets the workers and designers thinking quality. My current Jeep has really soured me on American vehicles, but I am willing to give them another shot. Probably a Ford Edge, because I can usually find deals and they get way better mileage than my Jeep does. If that doesn’t work, I’ll probably go buy a Hyundai out of protest!

Umm.  Wow.  A middle school in Maine has just started carrying not just condoms, but the Pill, the Patch, and the full range of birth control devices.  Middle school.  Go ahead and let that sink in.  In case you’re too old (or stupid) to remember, middle school typically is made up of 6th thru 8th grades.  In other words, children typically 11 to 14.  In Maine, the age of sexual consent is 16.  So as I see it, this school district in Maine is all but encouraging minor children to break the law and have sex!  Well, I guess because there’s very little to do in Maine, the girls need to be taught how to be little whores, and the guys will hopefully learn the proper way to be a pimp.  Hell, you just told every pedophile in the world to head to Portland, ME, because they know the kids are already sexually active AND PROTECTED!  They can fuck to their hearts’ content!  How do these people get elected?  And people wonder why society seems to be on a downward spiral!