On Monday, the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of an Ohio science teacher who was fired for teaching creationism instead of evolution, Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced.
John Freshwater taught eighth-grade science at Mount Vernon Middle School until 2011, when the Board of Education removed him after it was revealed that he decorated his science classroom with Bible verses, attacked the theory of evolution, and gave extra credit for attending creationist films.
In 2008, he allegedly used a high-voltage Tesla coil to burn a cross into a student’s arm.
Freshwater sued the school district shortly after his firing, claiming that it had violated his First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was dismissed, but Freshwater appealed all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, which upheld the firing.
In its decision, the majority wrote that “we recognize that this case is driven by a far more powerful debate over the teaching of creationism and intelligent design alongside evolution, [but] here, we need not decide whether Freshwater acted with a permissible or impermissible intent because we hold that he was insubordinate, and his termination can be justified on that basis alone.”
The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case means that the lower court’s decision will stand.
Damn the Supreme Court is on a roll this week.
First refusing to accept petitions challenging the constitutionality of same sex marriage, and now supporting the decision to fire this "teacher" for teaching superstitious nonsense to his students.
Is it possible that the Supreme Court suddenly got reasonable, or are they lulling us into a false sense of security before making terrible decisions on abortion and Obamacare?
I don't trust them, they look shifty.
Before I read the last line, I was going to put exactly that in the comments section...EXCEPT FOR THE TWO ON THE LEFT ON THE FRONT ROW. They need to be gone, but I will not put cross hairs on a map.
ReplyDeleteI had the same reaction as you when I read your headline, but in reading the article, it was the Ohio Supreme Court that denied the appeal. Still a good thing, though!
ReplyDeleteYes, the Oho Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower Ohio court, but the SCOTUS denied the teacher's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. This denial allows the OSC ruling to stand. So, the teacher lost his challenge and remains fired.
DeleteThanks Wendy. Brain must not have been in full gear the first read. ,:)
DeleteWell, brains do have cramps. Check out my first spelling of Ohio. :)
DeleteI think the wrong wing of the SCOTUS are trying to lull the rest of us into complacency and hit us with something worse than Citizens United, if only to appease their corporate overlords.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone. The same sex ruling feels SO much like a shiny object.
DeleteTwo things: at least four of them are holding their breath waiting for a landslide republican sweep in 2016, when they can do the rest of their work to help usher in a theocratic state. Second, but of equal important, IMO, they see the whole gay movement as a white male movement. If it were mostly a minority and/or female movement, it would have been squelched by them (and other courts) long ago. Third, the GOP consists of many white males who are sexually conflicted and living double lives: people in the gay movement are in a position to name names and out them – with evidence – (remember Ted Haggard???) –, and for almost all of the politicians/lobbyists/right wing media machine involved, the outcome would mean a sudden and dramatic loss of income.
DeleteThe NCSE said it was SCOTUS that declined to hear his appeal. Ohio Supreme COurt ruled against him 4-3 in Nov 2013. (http://sciencestandards.blogspot.com/2014/10/hopefully-this-will-end-freshwater-saga.html)
ReplyDeleteO/T - OMG!!
ReplyDeleteThe View just showed the stairwell scene from Game Change - OMG - catch it everyone!
JJ
Wow. Haven't seen this program yet. But doesn't it kind of seem like they are simultaneously sticking it to Wallace AND Palin? Without Wallace on the show, there's no point in bringing up Palin all the time. Just sayin'...
DeleteO/T I was wondering how long it would take for them to blame Obama. Can't wait to see how $arah slams him.
ReplyDeleteDinesh D'Souza Compares Ebola To Obama's Father
“Dinesh D'Souza must not be enjoying his time away from home in his new community prison or something, because his latest is so bizarre it's possible he was on drugs when he came up with it.
In a Facebook post, D'Souza asked, "Which is a more dangerous infection: #Ebola, or the dreams from his father?".....
Um, ok. What does a killer virus have to do with Obama and his father anyway?
According to D'Souza, Obama is punishing America in retaliation for slights against his father's family in the colonial era.....”
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/10/dinesh-dsouza-compares-ebola-obamas-father
Limbaugh: Obama Letting Ebola Into U.S. Because He Thinks We 'Deserve' It For Slavery
“Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested on Monday that President Barack Obama thought that people in the U.S. "deserve" to contract Ebola as payback for slavery...
...Limbaugh said that the author asserted that Liberia, where many are suffering from Ebola, would have never been founded if freed slaves had not colonized it.
And that was why the Obama administration had not banned travel from west African countries, Limbaugh argued.”.....
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/10/limbaugh-obama-letting-ebola-us-because-he
This is soooo convoluted as to be ridiculous, laughable, illogical, beyond the pale, off the charts - which is why Limpbaugh's fans will eat it up.
Delete1) who is most likey to get ebola ?- those living in proximity (read other poor and people of color and recent immigrants) thus, poor people of color, and those who are uninsured and delay going to a hospital - again, disproportionately people of color and the poor of all hues.
ANd beg to differ there, free slaves colonized it - they were pushed from behind by rich Americans, and in turn pushed out and ruled the indigenous population.
O/T Sarah Paulson (who portrayed Nicole on Game Change) is on the View right now. They hammered home the lunacy and stupidity of Sarah Palin....again. They even showed a clip from Game Change.
ReplyDeleteo/t
ReplyDeleteThis can happen in Alaska and all over! It's time for a good tsunami (political)
Texas Is Rapidly Turning Blue And Republicans Are About To Panic
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/10/07/texas-is-rapidly-turning-blue-and-republicans-are-about-to-panic/
Hearts are going to break and the insalubrious of SCOTUS will drop like flies.
Freshwater? More like Toiletwater.
ReplyDeleteAmerican TV
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/concha-piers-morgan-wants-back-on-american-tv-heres-who-could-take-him/
CNN's Piers Morgan Signs Off With Final Blast At U.S. Gun Laws (Video)
http://deadline.com/2014/10/piers-morgan-sean-hannity-gun-control-debate-847112/
Failed American TV wannabe celebrity crap
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-sarah-palin-internet-channel-20140730-story.html
“Piers: Kid of busy right now.”
http://www.publiusforum.com/images/sarahpalindeadbear.jpg
SARAH SECOND AMENDMENT PALIN
http://cdn3.us4palin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/sarah-palin-channel-track-palin.jpg
Selling Sarah El Cheapo
http://media.patriotpost.us/img/ref/palin-guns.jpg
http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/palin20map.jpg
Mortiferous family
http://v013o.popscreen.com/ZjhqeDZfeXVGZ3cx_o_sarah-palins-alaska--skeet-shooting.jpg
Living the Wasilla Lifestyle
https://scontent-a-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t31.0-8/p960x960/1102724_554759717914448_1966426554_o.jpg
http://www.truth-out.org/sitefiles/062011giroux_story.jpg
WARNING.
http://www.bestgore.com/tag/kill-team/
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/01/10/article-1345682-0CB1D5F3000005DC-754_634x417.jpg
Here, Sarah Palin showcases the T shirt worn by her eldest son, Track, which has the Second Amendment written on the back in red, white, and blue.
http://us4palin.com/wacko-birds-sarah-palin/
Teachers don't have first amendment rights in the classroom. You can't proselytize your religion or your politics. In the classroom, you need to keep your opinion to yourself and present unbiased, neutral FACTS and allow your students to draw their own conclusions and develop their own opinions. That is what teaching is.
ReplyDeleteNot only was this guy unprofessional, but he also failed to fulfill what he was contracted to do; teach science. The burning of the kid's arm just compounds the problem.
Insubordination? That's all they could get him on?
What I'd like to know is, who hired this nutjob in the first place. In my state, he'd never get past the credentialing and student teaching requirements so he'd never become a teacher.
Unless this was a private school. They can hire anyone. But you're also an "at will" employee and can be fired for any reason.
Where are teh child abuse charges?
DeleteWow, the stupid never ends. They speak and echoes of AIDS being sent by God as punishment for gays (early on when little was known of how the virus behaves and spreads).
ReplyDelete