Wednesday, October 22, 2008
The stupidist "ethics" prosecution in the history of the universe
Fellow Princetonian Alison Leigh Cowan has uncovered the "zero tolerance" outrage of the month.
A Brooklyn high school librarian donated a copy of his daughter's new book -- a well-reviewed graphic novelization of "Macbeth" -- to the school library and placed it on the library's "new books" table with a little sign that said "Best Book Ever Written." A totally understandable "proud father" move if there ever was one.
So naturally he was hauled before New York City's Conflicts of Interest Board, fined $500, and forced to sign a confession. The librarian sadly un-donated his daughter's book and expunged it from the library's catalog.
There are two stories here, one comic and the other tragic. The comedy is in the idea that New York City's "Conflicts of Interest Board" could not find anything more egregious to investigate than this father who is proud of his daughter. It is not as if he sold her books to parents. He put an obviously humorous sign under what is by all indications a meritorious new book that he had given to a public school library. No parent ever took Girl Scout cookie orders in a New York City office?
The tragedy, of course, is that the petty little turds who rendered this decision have humiliated this man who is working for the children in New York's public schools. What possible lesson should come from this other than that New York government is a crushing bureaucratic combine?
A link to the offending version "Macbeth" in question is below. According to a reviewer on Amazon, it is "far superior to Cliff Notes or the old Classic Comics" as a primer on the play. Get it for your kids and poke New York City's ethics inquisition in the eye!
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Oct 22, 08:43:00 AM:
There was a short story I read years ago about a time when all law enforcement is taken over by robots. This works for about a day or so. The a robot arrests a police woman for who used a paper clip to make an emergency repair on her bra. She gets arrested for "illegal appropriation of state property". Before long everyone is in jail. Perhaps there is a reason science fiction gets so little respect from the liberal elite.
By 
Dave Daniels, at
Wed Oct 22, 09:19:00 AM:
Just to make it clear, apparently the daughter wrote the book, not just owned it.
By , at
Wed Oct 22, 11:42:00 AM:
Glad to see that New York City's Conflicts of Interest Board is done with all the higher-level office. After all, you'd hate to have the city run by the 90%+ owner of a private business that he continues to actively manage. But that couldn't happen, because this Board has apparently exhaustively reviewed all of that stuff and found nothing wrong.
By , at
Wed Oct 22, 04:01:00 PM:
There is something to be said for administrators who simply lose files and papers from time to time. Or forget to follow up on cases.
The is much more to be said about people who file some of these complaints.
For myself I would have just let them fire me and pull my license. And if they arrested me for not paying a fine that would be OK too.
But I don't have this criminals pragmatic outlook, he felt it best to plea bargain and saved $500. Sobeit.
By , at
Thu Oct 23, 10:29:00 AM:
The CONFLICTS OF STUPIDIDLY BOARD DEAMS SOMETHING OFFENSIVE TO SOME WHINNY SNIVELING LITTLE WUSSIETARD AND YOU GET FINED frankly they should disband the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST BOARD and save a bundle
By GreenmanTim, at
Thu Oct 23, 10:32:00 AM:
Wonder if there is a first amendment case to be had, here? I suggest the librarian find a copy of the NYC Conflict of Interest's Board charter and put it on the table with a little sign that reads; "A must read for small-minded bureaucrats" and take 'em to court if they try and suppress it.
