Well, It's Not Like They Are Putting Roman Polanski In Charge Of School Safety

Scott Ott tells us about Kevin Jennings, Obama's new Head of Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.  Back in 1988 Mr. Jennings, a much younger 24 year old school teacher who was still old enough to spell "AIDS", "counseled" a young man to think about using condoms when having sex with the wide-stanced man who picked him up at a bus station.  Parental notification?  Don't be silly - Jennings was taking "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" out of the military and putting it back in the schools where it belongs.

And now Mr. Jennings is the new school safety czar, and why not?  He has apologized handsomely, explaining that any of us would have made the same mistake.

Mr. Jennings also explains that he wil be able to connect with today's disaffected youth; from ABC's Jake Tapper:

It has also been noted that the new head of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools wrote, in his 2007 autobiography, "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir,” that in his high school years he “got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned."

Jennings today said: "I have written about the factors that have led me to use drugs as a teen.  This experience qualifies me to help students and teachers who are confronting these issues today.”

What's the headline - President Appoints Fellow Stoner From Hawaii?

Mr. Ott asks this:

Is the United States suffering from such a dearth of qualified applicants for this position that the president couldn’t find someone who lacked a track record of child endangerment? Can you picture this man traveling the country as the president’s emissary for safety in our schools?

I would ask a different question - all over America kids are passing through metal detectors as they enter school.  When people think about school safety, do they really think first and foremost about the bullying experienced by gay kids?  That is certainly an important topic and Mr. Jennings has made it his life's work, but should it really be at the top of the national agenda?  Would inner-city educators put it at the top of their safety agenda?

Comments

[clarice]

Looks like he rounded up his WH team from juvie hall, doesn't it?

[jimmyk]

"I have written about the factors that have led me to use drugs as a teen. This experience qualifies me to help students and teachers who are confronting these issues today.”

Of course, one might ask why we need a "school safety" czar in the White House.

It's an interesting perspective in that quote, though. Perhaps if we have a safe driving czar (and no doubt we will in this administration) we can find someone who drove drunk as a teenager.

[clarice]

Has he made Letterman the workplace sexual harrassment czar yet?

[clarice]

P.S. Considering that the blackmailer worked at CBS (like Rather and Mapes) I have a question. Does the network only hire crazies?

[bishop]

BTW, you would be surprised that theFacebook
poll, which hatched a thousand lefty talking points, well epic fail ,yet again: in the LUN

[matt]

I despise the position in the first place. It reeks of the whole leftist/entitled stink.

[megapotamus]

Yes, is "Safe Schools" really something the Feds should be doing? What does this mean anyhow? Are we buying metal detectors? Removing asbestos? Arming nerds? Probably all of these, at a vast premium to what the local schools would do it for and even worse, the failure and fraud mandated by the vast gulf between the decision makers and their supposed beneficiaries.

[Captain Hate]

O/T but speaking of stink, I just heard on Rush that McCain's campaign jerkoff, Steve Schmidt, has posted on HuffingPoo (sorry but there are some sites I just won't link) about what a disaster Palin is for the Repuke party and the Mav hisself is out stumping for squishes to remake the party in his image. Can the Arizona Repubs please provide a primary challenger to this backstabber and remove him permanently from political life?

[Janet]

The student knew something was wrong and he told an authority figure - like the schools teach them to. And the authority figure did nothing. The student had a moral compass, Mr. Jennings did not.

and a 2nd point. The LAW required that Mr. Jennings report the minor/adult sex. This is the same LAWLESSNESS that is taking place in the Planned Parenthood offices around our country as video taped by the Mona Lisa Project. PP counseled the minor girl to hide the age of the men involved.

It seems that it is the leftists prerogative to just disregard our laws...minor/adult sex, immigration, tax cheating,...

[MayBee]

I don't know what to think of Kevin Jennings overall, but this:
That was the only way he knew how to meet gay people bothers me as a reason for his failure to give better advice.

Gay, straight, male, or female, I would hope a teacher would have told a student that his life does have value, and that he should not humiliate himself for sex. It is possible to find love other ways. It is possible to go without sex for a few years.

I don't know. Maybe I'm a prude, but picking up random people in dingy places to have public acts of sex seems to me a predilection separate from either homosexuality or heterosexuality. One that should be discouraged in ANY teenager.

[Cecil Turner]

Just in: new highway safety czar is . . . wait for it . . . Jeff Spicoli! His lifelong experience with impaired driving is expected to stand him in good stead, along with his well-known and pithy sayings illustrating gut-level grasp of the major issues, such as:

People on 'ludes should not drive.

Hey, makes about as much sense, doesn't it? Don't worry, he'll never get confirmed . . . heck, he's not even a real person, right?

[Er, what's that? Czar's don't need confirmation?] Never mind.

[hit and run]

Safe School Czar counseled student in relationship with older man to practice *safe* sex.

So what's the problem here, people?

[Gregory Koster]

Hit and Run is on to something. Why shouldn't The Once appoint such zanies and imbeciles to high office? How else is he going to keep himself above the average? Besides there is great hope that Jennings will continue to fail upward: he's copied The Once's "NotmyfaultI'mallrightyouraaaacist" bunk perfectly.

[Gregory Koster]

You're not doing so badly Cecil. No, indeed.

[David Hembry]

There are a number of factual errors here that are being repeated willy nilly.

1) The age of consent in Mass. was 16 and the boy was 16. There is no legal basis to report such events.

2) Bullying of all children (gay, straight, fat, skinny, Jewish, Christian, short, tall, Black, white or whatever) has become a very serious mental health, public safety, and academic problem. Just read the scientific literature on this available at www.pubmed.gov Here is one of the most recent peer-reviewed publications available that summarizes the existing literature:

Arseneault, L., L. Bowes, et al. (2009). "Bullying victimization in youths and mental health problems: 'Much ado about nothing'?" Psychol Med: 1-13.

Bullying victimization is a topic of concern for youths, parents, school staff and mental health practitioners. Children and adolescents who are victimized by bullies show signs of distress and adjustment problems. However, it is not clear whether bullying is the source of these difficulties. This paper reviews empirical evidence to determine whether bullying victimization is a significant risk factor for psychopathology and should be the target of intervention and prevention strategies. Research indicates that being the victim of bullying (1) is not a random event and can be predicted by individual characteristics and family factors; (2) can be stable across ages; (3) is associated with severe symptoms of mental health problems, including self-harm, violent behaviour and psychotic symptoms; (4) has long-lasting effects that can persist until late adolescence; and (5) contributes independently to children's mental health problems. This body of evidence suggests that efforts aimed at reducing bullying victimization in childhood and adolescence should be strongly supported. In addition, research on explanatory mechanisms involved in the development of mental health problems in bullied youths is needed.

Yes, it is terribly sad that the 16-year old sought sex in a restroom, which is the same thing that caused Senator Craig a problem. If we treated heterosexual people the way we treat gay people in this country, all the straight people would be cruising for sex in very bad places.

And, in 1984 (as today) asking if a straight or gay kid having sex used a condom is a really good idea. That is what Mr. Jennings did: ask of the 16-year old who was of the age of consent if he used a condom. That would be a wise concern.

[Ignatz]

David,

1) According to the story the boy was fifteen so yes there was a duty by Mr. Jennings to report. Even Mr. Jennings does not defend his actions. Why do you?
Thank you for correcting the factual errors though.

2) Has someone declared bullying a social good?
The point is perhaps in a nation of 300 million Mr. Obama could have found someone who could make that point without being an enabler of child molesters.
Or an enabler of dangerous and irresponsible behavior as you seem to be.

[David Hembry]

Not defending Jennings per se. He said he would have done things differently today. Who has not said or thought that. Mr. Jennings is not an enabler of child molesters. You will find that age was corrected in later reports as 16.

People are repeating absolute lies. Let's consider the most recent one saying that Mr. Jennings supports NAMBLA.

Mr. Jennings did not endorse the NAMBLA (North American Man-Boy Love Association) and is not a member of that group. That is a complete lie. Mr. Jennings in fact honored Harry Hay, who co-founded the Mattachine Society, the first enduring LGBT rights organization in the United States, in 1950. See Wikipedia.

Now of the logic of these blogs holds, then President Ronald Reagan is a supporter of NAMBLA, because Mr. Reagan's campaign manager was Robert Bauman. Mr. Bauman was also a founding member of several conservative activist groups, including the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) and the American Conservative Union (ACU), where he served both as national chairman. Mr. Bauman went to the House of Representatives where he regularly warned against the dangers of gay people and the homosexual conspiracy. Then, Mr. Bauman was arrested and convicted for soliciting sex from a 16-year old youth (which was not legal consent at the time in DC). So, if Mr. Reagan made Bauman his campaign manager, then Mr. Reagan must have had a secret agenda to promote man-boy love and so must the organizations of Young Americans for Freedom as well as the American Conservative Union. Of course that is not true, and neither is it true that Mr. Obama, the Democratic Party, or any major gay rights organization is promoting that.

Now all of us should be very, very careful about people who make big noises on blogs, in the media and politics about gay people and pedophilia. This study and the actual facts of public record show why:

Adams, H. E., L. W. Wright, Jr., et al. (1996). "Is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal?" J Abnorm Psychol 105(3): 440-5.

The authors investigated the role of homosexual arousal in exclusively heterosexual men who admitted negative affect toward homosexual individuals. Participants consisted of a group of homophobic men (n = 35) and a group of nonhomophobic men (n = 29); they were assigned to groups on the basis of their scores on the Index of Homophobia (W. W. Hudson & W. A. Ricketts, 1980). The men were exposed to sexually explicit erotic stimuli consisting of heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian videotapes, and changes in penile circumference were monitored. They also completed an Aggression Questionnaire (A. H. Buss & M. Perry, 1992). Both groups exhibited increases in penile circumference to the heterosexual and female homosexual videos. Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli. The groups did not differ in aggression. Homophobia is apparently associated with homosexual arousal that the homophobic individual is either unaware of or denies.

Now this finding should be of no scientific surprise, given the public record.

Douglas Sovereign Smith, a former high-ranking Boy Scouts of America official who ran a task force that worked to protect children from sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to a federal child pornography charge. Smith was a national program director and led the Youth Protection Task Force that was supposed to shield youth from sexual abuse. Was this a fox in the Hen House? This Boy Scout big shot was caught with a stash of pornographic photos of young boys, which he swapped with other cyber-smut collectors, said authorities.

Exposed, Mayor of Spokane for gay activities and accused of sexual misconduct with minors. For a quarter century, the man who was Spokane's mayor, James West, had secretly used positions of public trust – as a sheriff's deputy, Boy Scout leader and powerful politician – to develop sexual relationships with boys and young men. He has spent his entire Republican political career actively calling for bans against homosexuals. He was covering up his own his improprieties.

Then there was Mark Foley who was getting significant laws passed about sexual abuse while he was engaging in that very behavior with Capitol Pages.

And of course the above mentioned past Reagan campaign manager, founder of important conservative organizations who cheated on his wife and four children to have sex with boys.

So any time a person rails against the gays and pedophilia, you might want to insist that they have their penile circumference measured looking at dirty pictures of gays and kids. The safest way to keep attention from yourself is to accuse others of your very crime.

So you might want to have a test before accusing me or anyone else of being an enabler of pedophiles.

[Ignatz]

Thanks for the seminar professor, but again your 'facts' are somewhat less factual than you seem to think.

Media Matters apparently has a letter from the kid claiming he was 16 at the time. That is hardly dispositive, considering either source.
More importantly, the Mass statute also has a provision raising the age of consent to 18 in the case of an older person seducing a 'chaste' youngster. Do we know those circumstances don't apply?
Most importantly, Jennings himself, on an audiotape admits he believed the kid to be 15 at the time. So even if he didn't violate the law, which is far from certain, it was not from lack of trying.

Regarding Harry Hay, the guy was literally a communist and a defender of both NAMBLA and pederasty in general. These were not secrets as in the case of the despicable behavior of the other creeps you mention. Jennings praised him knowing full well what this guy stood for in totality.

Nor did I say you were an enabler of pedophiles.
You claimed that homosexuals only cruise for sex in very bad places because mean old heterosexuals aren't nice to them. They are responsible for their conduct and your rationalisations amount to enabling. Period.

Come back when you have acquired some facts, logic or a little reading comprehension.

[Cecil Turner]

Then there was Mark Foley who was getting significant laws passed about sexual abuse while he was engaging in that very behavior with Capitol Pages.

Was there? Seems to me you're running afoul of your own standard here, claiming something that have never even been alleged. The obvious question, "why wasn't he charged under his own legislation?" is answered by wiki:

Legislation that Mark Foley helped enact, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, covers certain Internet communications with children under 18. Federal law makes it a crime to solicit sex with a child below the age of consent. However, federal law does not prohibit an individual from engaging in explicit, sexual communications with a minor per se.[155]

Nobody even claimed he had sexual contact with anyone under 18. But there are cases of actual sexual abuse of pages. The difference is the GOP tends to get these guys out of office, whilst Democrats keep electing them.

So any time a person rails against the gays and pedophilia . . .

We have to appoint them school safety czars? Seriously, dude, this is weak. I had to look into this story to find he was gay. To put it bluntly, that's not the issue. The issue is the total lack of concern about a minor's welfare (and I didn't see any of the "corrections" of the age--nor any good indication that would obviate the legal requirement of reporting such sex even if he were 16--since the solicitation aspects would still be presumably illegal, and involving a minor, so 18 is the cutoff). . . At best, this guy is a dubious choice. His background does not "qualif[y him] to help students and teachers" . . . it raises some serious questions about his judgment. And, incidentally, about the judgment of whoever appointed him.

[clarice]

While this was written fairly early in the Foley "scandal" I think it has stood the test of time rather well--it was, in sum, hokum..ginned up to drive fundamentalists away from the race and let the Dems take it. What I ddn't know at the time is that the married Dem who was the beneficiary of this scamarama was himself engaged in affairs with a couple of his staff members.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/10/foley_and_the_blame_game.html

[syn]

"Yes, it is terribly sad that the 16-year old sought sex in a restroom, which is the same thing that caused Senator Craig a problem. If we treated heterosexual people the way we treat gay people in this country, all the straight people would be cruising for sex in very bad places."

You miss an importantly vital and necessary component to sexual equation as observed by Camile Paglia, that being, "gay activists have forgotten the primary function of the sex organs is for pro-creation"

That aside; no doubt if boys were allowed into girl's bathrooms they want to screw there too and vice verse but this is not the primary function of the public bathroom.

Lastly, darling if we treated heterosexuals the same as gay people then heterosexuals can jack-off openly in the public square or screw openly in the public parks without any risk of arrest.

Imagine America the Castro District if you will.

Gaydom's superiority complex is becoming tiresome and boring; could you get over your orgasm for a change!