Shawnee Mission Fifth Grader Suspended for Toy Gun

Alyssa Cornish, a Shawnee Mission School District Fifth-Grader has been suspended until January. She will have to spend the next two months at home because she admitted to playing with a toy gun that shoots PLASTIC BBs - spring loaded - on a Sunday - on a School Playground - with other kids - it wasn't even her gun - she was the only one to tell the truth about what happened. Her initial suspension was on three days until she wrote a detailed explanation of what happened at the request of the School. Once they had it in writing, they increased the suspension to the rest of the semester (These are the facts as told by the Mother). But what is known, is that the straight A student is suspended until January. The young student will miss her Halloween party, will not have a picture in the yearbook, and cannot even attend Girl Scout meetings because they take place on school grounds. Zero Tolerance - Zero Intelligence.

School Administrators like "Zero Tolerance" policies because no one has to think. God forbid we use judgement, taking each situation or child on a case by case basis. The School District has responded to criticism by pointing out that the rules against weapons on school grounds are "ironclad" and parents and students are reminded of them at the beginning of every school year. I would respond to that by saying that it is unreasonable for a kid playing with other kids on a Sunday to stop and think "Hey, I need to go home now and not play because someone brought a toy gun that shots plastic BBs." They probably didn't think anything of it until some wimpy little boy came home and told his mommy that someone shot him with it. Maybe, just maybe, not everyone sees a toy gun and launches into a paralyzing attack of fear like so many pantywaists running our schools.

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Jon Stewart More Influental Than the President?

AskMen.com recently released its poll of the most influential men of 2010, with the Daily Show's Jon Stewart coming in first place. The surprising aspect of this list was that President Obama failed to crack the top 20, finishing at 21st. The poll rankings was determined from an average of users' scores and scores from the staff at AskMen.com.

Stewart has the advantage of being on TV five times a week, and is allowed to voice his true opinions on any matter he chooses. It is not surprising that Stewart finished first, and that fellow political funny man Stephen Colbert was ranked at 11. Obama's ranking comes as a huge surprise however, as he has been viewed as a polarizing figure in American culture since taking office. Perhaps Obama's influence was felt more by the average American when he was running for office and promising change, compared to now when he is in the full swing of his presidency.

Interestingly, Obama will be a guest on Stewart's Daily Show for the fifth time, and the first since he became president. The taping will occur three days before Stewart hosts a rally in Washington DC to help boost Democrat voter support. If these rankings are any indication, it will be Stewart, not Obama, who will help the Democrats gain some badly-needed momentum.

Clerk in Fatal Gas Station Shooting Charged with Manslaughter

Jackson County Prosecuter Jim Kanatzer charged a clerk, Tuesday, in the shooting death of Frederick C Jones, Jr (pictured at right). Akbar Rana, of Olathe, was charged with Voluntary Manslaughter and Armed Criminal Action. His is not yet in custoday, and there has been some talk that he may have left the country. You might recall the incident on September 3rd at the Shell Station on Bannister Rd in South Kansas City. From the details I can gather, Mr Jones caused a disruption in the store and was involved in an altercation with employees. He was removed from the store and tasered by a clerk, then apparently as he was fleeing the scene, another employee shot Jones in the back. Jones reportedly (it has been confirmed by his family) suffered from mental illness and alcohol abuse. This is surely a sad story.

True, there is not the funding for mental illness that would be ideal. Mr Jones is someone that it sounds like fell through the cracks - we do not put the mentally ill in institutions as we once did, and we are better as a society for it. There are no easy answers, and this clerk (if he is still in the country) will certainly have to answer for his actions.

But, let's put ourselves in the clerk's shoes for just a moment. Just a few nights earlier, the vary same store was robbed at gunpoint - have you ever had a gun shoved in your face? Might make you a little jumpy next time you have an altercation with someone. Now, I'm not justifying what the clerk did if the facts are indeed what we have been hearing, as Alvin Brooks said, it sends a message to the public that you must be careful when you have access to and use guns. I contend there is another message, you also must be careful how you act in another person's place of business and in public in general - you never know how they will react, or perceive your actions. Voluntary Manslaughter seems the reasonable charge given the facts we know.

LeBron James New Ad Attempts To Repair His Image

LeBron James is attempting to win back some fans with his new Nike Commercial. The ad portrays the controversial moments in James' life, from high school to the infamous decision, while also having some fun with a parody of Miami Vice. Throughout the piece, LeBron asks the viewer "what should I do?" while providing a list of possible decisions.

James' Nike ad is much more effective than Tiger Woods' video, in which the disgraced golfer tried to win back fans by using his deceased father. Many are claiming James ripped off Woods in the ad, however James' is more humorous and much longer. Nike writes the commercials, not the athletes, and James was likely doing whatever his PR team instructed him to.

While the ad does a good job of juggling both a sincere LeBron with the joking, fun-loving star we have seen in years, it fails to address why James has become so unpopular. It wasn't so much the decision James made, it was how he did it: using national TV and staging his back-stabbing of Cleveland in a Boys' and Girls' Club building. In the add LeBron asks "should I become a Villian?" and at this point, it might not be a bad idea.

Golfer Wins Tournament With Sudden-Death Hole-In-One

Golf has provided many clutch moments and memorable shots over the years, but none are as big as what Jonathon Byrd recently did at Timberlake. Byrd hit a hole-in-one on the fourth playoff hole of the tournament for the walkoff victory, becomming the first person ever to win a tournament on an ace. Unbelievable.

I can't imagine the feeling of hitting a hole-in-one, but to do so to clinch a tournament is unheard of. The shot earned Byrd over $700,000 for winning the tournament, as well as a two-year exemption to play on the PGA tour. Not a bad upgrade for a guy who was ranked 117th on the money list.

A chip-in or long putt makes for great drama, especially when sealing a tournament. A hole-in-one is so rare though, Byrd's feat will likely never happen again (or at least for a really long time). The odds of making one are slim, and making one in walkoff fashion is incredible. Enjoy your moment in the sun, Jonathon Byrd. Just don't count on it happening again.