Brian Doherty | February 14, 2006
Have the teachers unions "absolutely positively lost their Goddamned minds," as Ryan Sager asserts? Well, at least one of their members seems to have. From a Washington Times account:
A former Washington Teachers Union official who was convicted of stealing union dues is seeking leniency because she thinks she's being stalked by a small person with a spear, federal court records show.
In "a new plea for leniency, [Gwendolyn M. Hemphill] now asserts that she suffers from a serious mental disease, including psychotic episodes in which she is confronted by 'a small, dark-skinned person with a thin Roman nose, small lips and a spear, who is dressed like a native African,' " prosecutors say in a pre-sentencing memo filed this week in U.S. District Court.
[Link via Ivan Osorio.]
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Exactly what point are you trying to make here? That crazy people are funny? That teachers' unions deserve contempt? What are you trying to say?
This is an item about a claim made on behalf of one teachers
union official, not "teachers unions."
And it's about a false claim of insanity, rather than evidence of
real insanity. So the headline is doubly wrong. It isn't only the
Democrats who can do better.
Isn't she describing a movie from the seventies with Sally
Field?
I think it was Karen Black and it was called Trilogy of
Terror.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073820/
Oh, for dog's sake. It was amusing. That's all. I suggest
removing the stick.
The point seems to be that not only are officials of teachers
unions metaphorically crazy, but some may also be literally crazy
as well.
If she wasn't a former official of a teacher's union would this
story have generated a post from Mr. Doherty? I would vote
no.
As a side note, wasn't this a plot to one of the stories in
Trilogy of
Terror
I have no particular comment on the content of this story, but I do want to point out that "Teachers Union Madness" is a bit like saying "Crazy Insanity", "High Tallness". Just my opinion.
Note: Gwen Hemphill is black.
Barbara Bullock, her old boss and co-conspirator (and the primary
witness against her), already tried this
trick to no avail.
That crazy people are funny?
People faking crazy in court are funny. Teachers' unions are
funny.
She hallucinates racist caricatures.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/18/AR2005081801769.html
Her hallucinations also sound kinda like the Oompa-Loompas in the book version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The version I read, anyway. Different times, you understand.
This reminds me of
the lyrics to an old song:
For weeks after that I was haunted
Though no one could see him but me
Right by my side was the little blue man
Wherever I happened to be.
"I wuv you! I wuv you!" said the little blue man
"I wuv you! I wuv you to bits."
"I wuv you!" He loved me said the little blue man
And scared me right out of my wits.
You don't hear this song too much anymore. Maybe it's considered
offensive to blue people.
And maybe Hemphill's last name tells us why she's seeing
things.
Think that's crazy...
The American Federation of Teachers is holding a day of protests
against John Stossel
So mark your calendars: March
8th is Anti-Stossel Day!
Caucasian features, black skin, and african dress sounds rather
like the human form of Nyarlathotep:
http://www.netherreal.de/library/lex_entry/n1.htm#Nyarlathotep
...so maybe bryan423 was right about the racist part.
Is it just me, or does that little imp from the Trilogy of
Terror look just like the Diablo 2, act 3, tribal butchers? I
always hated those little fuckers.
An anti-stossel rally is a great place to bring a sniper rifle. Oh
wait, just kidding.
Teacher Union madness
Was killing my country
Solitary sadness comes over me
Almost missed that one, Brian.
I would have gone with:
Hey! Teacher, leave those funds alone.
a small, dark-skinned person with a thin Roman nose, small
lips and a spear, who is dressed like a native African
From that description, I suspect that she is being stalked by a
native Australian (or Indonesian) adolescent tribesman. And the
stalker is probably just hungry.
psychotic episodes in which she is confronted by 'a small,
dark-skinned person with a thin Roman nose, small lips and a spear,
who is dressed like a native African
She probably just needs some more diversity and tolerance classes,
to help her realize her little dark-skinned psychotic vision has
just as many rights as anyone else, and no doubt a proud heritage,
to boot.
So wait... she's being stalked by the kindergarteners from
Recess?
Fantastic reference.
Man, that post is genius. There are crazy teachers! Of course, there aren't any crazy corporate execs, Republicans, or military people, though. Nice catch (not).
Man, anon, that was so incisive and pithy. You really put Brian
in his place. Uh, not.
Happy trolling, dude!
"Trilogy of Terror"--wow, I hadn't thought about that movie in a
zillion years. That might well be the worst movie ever made.
As far as Gwendolyn Hemphill goes, since she's not even smart or
creative enough to develop a convincing "crazy personality"--no
wonder she rose high in the teachers' union.
Blah! The sooner the education system in the United States implodes, the better.
Foget the teachers unions. What about the Union of the Snake? I hear it's on the rise.
So, uh, do libertarians really want to start using the insane actions of individuals to smear the groups to which those individuals belong, and the causes those groups espouse?
"So, uh, do libertarians really want to start using the insane
actions of individuals to smear the groups to which those
individuals belong, and the causes those groups espouse?" -
joe
Is it fair to use those insane actions to smear the group if it
only uses people who are guilty of graft and using mental illness
as a dodge?
Then again, it's not like it's an unheard-of partisan method. How
many times have people in this very forum bemoaned the stupidity,
incompetence, venality etc etc ad nauseum of one group while trying
desperately to wish away the same things in the group they're
partisan to?
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