A teacher's first amendment right: Protected but not to be abused.

The Pickering v. The Board of Education case showed that a teacher can not be fired for expressing their first amendment right, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pickering. Marvin L. Pickering was fired for an article he wrote in a local newspaper criticizing the BOE for using money on athletics rather then education. The court's ruling got Pickering reinstated and sent a message that people of public employment will not have their rights compromised. Inevitably as a result some jerk has to take things to far.

Enter Norman Alderman, a teacher from West Virgina. A teacher since 1980 he was ejected from a 2002 meeting. Now the reason for this is missing from this article, but one can guess that there at least was one. Norman then returned to the meeting with a video camera to catch each and ever injustice. The police were then called and he was arrested. Norman then sued and won. He also remained at the school.

Time out. Can anyone understand that? Why do you continue to work at a school that screwed you? Isn't it uncomfortable standing at the water cooler taking about that time they had you arrested? I just find it odd.

Anyway, in 2006 the board decide that Norman will be transferred from a technology facilitator to a classroom teacher. Norman, not happy with this, did the normal thing. He requested a hearing on the matter and complained on the Internet. It was at the hearing that things went south. Norman was given twenty minutes to state his case. He spent those twenty minutes calling his bosses thieves and cockroaches among other things, never once mentioning the transfer. He was fired.

Since it worked the first time, Norman sued. This time the courts did not rule in his favor. The reason: unlike Pickering who was fired for comments he made that regarded tax payer's money and thus was important to the community, Norman was just being an ass. He's comments were not public concerning, thus not protected by the first amendment.

To that I say heer heer! I must agree with the ruling. The way I think of it is this. Think of a job. Any job. Office work, teacher, cashier, construction, anything. Okay now imagine that a co-work of yours just called your boss a cockroach. Not just that, but he called the boss a cockroach for twenty strait minutes. Do you think you are going to see him at work tomorrow? No. Calling your boss names is a bad idea! Why would he think that doing that would help the situation? What was he hoping to accomplish?

So then, after telling the boss off, he gets fired. Then he decides to take those people to court to get your job back. The big question, why do you still want to work there?! You got want it seemed like you wanted. You are not going to be a classroom teacher now. Chalk it up as a win.

Okay I might be looking at this a little to simply. The man lost his job and thus his income so he needs money, even if that means going back to those cockroaches, but think about it like this. Lets throw the name calling out completely. He was given a job, and he refused to do it. In every situation, you get fired for that, and he did. What argument could be made? His only really option was to use the Constitution as a weapon, witch makes me sick. People like Pickering had to fight tooth and nail for rights he deserved. Norman on the other hand was trying to exploit those right to get ahead. I have no remorse for him and I think he got exactly what he had coming to him: A pink slip.

Dieing is easy, comedy is hard.

So according to Punchline Magazine, Eddie Murphy will be playing the late great Richard Pryor in an upcoming movie. Personally I think Chris Rock would be a better choice, but I think Eddie is a good choice. After reading this I come across this article from Chucklemonkey.com about the anniversary of the passing of Bill Hicks at the age of 32. This got me to thinking, why do comics die young?

I took some time to think about those who have passed before their prime. Andy Kaufman, Chris Farly, John Belushi, Mitch Hedburg, Richard Jeni, Lenny Bruce, Phil Hartman, Freddie Prinze, John Candy, Sam Kinsison and they are just the ones I could come up with. Why is this? Why do these guys die?

It seems that drugs are one of the main reason. It seems that drugs are all around comedy. One of Mitch Hedburgs jokes is,"I love the UPS guy, he is a drug dealer and he doesn't even know it." He died of a drug over dose. Many comedians talk about using drugs in their act. Stephen Lynch talks about using cocaine. Many many talk about smoking pot and even more talk about getting drunk, while drinking on stage. This begs the question, do drugs make you a better writer?

I have a friend that use to be a musician. When I asked why he stopped writing music he said, "I stopped being creative, when I stopped smoking." When he says smoking he means thumb pointer cigarettes, not pointer middle cigarettes, if you catch my drift. It seems that drugs like marijuana and cocaine are the steroids of comedy. It really is a scary thought that if these comedians did not do these drugs they might still be around, but they might also not be funny. So I can't really blame these guys. Comedy is the dream. There is nothing on this earth like making a room full of people burst out with laughter. And with no board of health monitoring the use of comedy enhancement drugs, I can see why they use. That is what makes it so scary.

I can't help but look at myself. I have never done an illegal drug. Never smoked a cigarette. I drink but after two I am pretty much a goner. I think I am funny now, but would I be funnier if I spent some time under the influence? I mean that is a main source of material for many comedians that I do not have access to. If everyone is the comic world is doing it why shouldn't I level the playing field.

Of course I would never do any drugs, but you can see the temptation. You could see why a new comic would fall into this trap. It seems that this pattern will continue for as long as drugs can be made available. So forever and always me and other clean comics will be at a disadvantage. Disagree? Think that drugs are not funny. Well answer me this, how funny was this post? Okay now how funny do you think this post would have been if it started with the line, "Okay, I just took mushrooms."?