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2009/11/06 13:38:41
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Teacher Claims Fingerprinting Is ‘Mark of the Beast’
* By David Kravets
* November 5, 2009
A 22-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the Texas Bible Belt could lose her job for refusing, on religious grounds, to give fingerprints under a state law requiring them.
The evangelical Christian, Pam McLaurin, is fighting a looming suspension, claiming that fingerprinting amounts to the “Mark of the Beast,” and hence is a violation of her First Amendment right to practice her religion. Her case is similar to a lawsuit by a group of Michigan farmers, some of them Amish, challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are also the devil’s mark.
The latest case is the first in which a teacher is refusing fingerprinting on religious grounds, the woman’s lawyer said. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to decide whether the First Amendment is implicated in fingerprinting, especially at a time when states, local governments and civic organizations are increasingly making them mandatory for anyone wanting to drive a car or coach a youth basketball team.
McLaurin’s lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency cites various passages of Revelation, the final book of The Bible:
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand and on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.… Then a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice — if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.… He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
Her attorney, Scott Skelton, said his client believes that the computerized fingerprinting, in which her fingerprints will be stored in a database, is the mark addressed in Revelation. The teacher does not believe that it is merely coincidence that Revelation says only those with the ‘mark on his forehead or on his hand’ will be able to buy or sell, since only those teachers who comply with fingerprinting requirements will keep their jobs, he said.
“This law prohibits the free exercise of her religion,” Skelton said in a telephone interview.
The Big Sandy Independent School District, where the woman teaches, is located about 100 miles northeast of Houston. Wayne Haglund, the school district’s lawyer, described McLaurin is a “valued member of the faculty and one of the best teachers we have.”
“The school district’s position is fully supportive of Mrs. McLaurin,” Haglund continued in a telephone interview. “We’re caught in the crossfire. We believe her religious beliefs are sincerely held.”
Haglund said the Texas Education Agency informed him it would deactivate her teacher certification if she does not comply. She has until Nov. 7, Skelton said.
Texas lawmakers approved the fingerprinting measure in 2007 in a bid, Skelton said, “to catch somebody with a criminal background or a history of preying on children.”
“She’s willing to undergo a background check,” Skelton said, “just not fingerprinting.”
Dude I'm a libertarian. I'd object because government has no place in finger painting. If its worthy, it should be done by private companies not THE MAN
Seriously though, fire her sorry ass. If she don't like it can kiss my butt as SWMBO would say. This is America, she's free to find employment elsewhere. but she'll sue instead-loser. Now for a musical interlude.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2009/11/06 13:59:09
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Don't worry. I'm sure she's never heard of a passport and would be hard pressed to name the states that border Texas let alone the name of a foreign country.
PROSECUTOR: By now, there have been 34 casualties.
Elena Ceausescu says: Look, and that they are calling genocide.
2009/11/06 14:15:37
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Wait I thought it was fingerpainting. Fingerprinting? As in needed for a background check? She should be terminated immediately. I didn't see anything in the Bible about Jesus saying thou shalt not take a fingerprint check lest thee be a perv.
OT or maybe not OT. If you work in many churches you have to also get a background check up to and including such fingerprinting.
Further OT. In Texas you have to give up thumbprints to get a driver's license. She's full of it.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2009/11/06 14:17:40
Subject: Re:Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
When I was working in a kindergarden (as ye would say) I had to have a background check, but no finger printing. Why would they need the prints? To check with the database? I suppose it's easier when the population is so much bigger and therefore there are more unsolved crimes. Do they have a database of unmatched prints from crimes or something? Seems wacky complex!
But yeah, she should probably find a job that doesn't legally require her to be finger printed.
When that first statrted there was a big stink about the fingerprinting with the teacher's unions. The state collectively told them to feth themselves so they shut up.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2009/11/06 14:55:38
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Considering? Considering she's a nutjob and no right minded Christian would agree with her position. If only a bunch of Amish and your solicitor believe you, you need to take a rain check.
George Spiggott wrote:Considering? Considering she's a nutjob and no right minded Christian would agree with her position. If only a bunch of Amish and your solicitor believe you, you need to take a rain check.
Solicitors tend to 'believe' clients who pay their bills.
Does it mean that I have little faith in my home state when I saw the headline and was thinking "please don't be Texas" And sure enough it was Texas. Sigh...
I play...
2009/11/06 16:05:32
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Fallen668 wrote:Does it mean that I have little faith in my home state when I saw the headline and was thinking "please don't be Texas" And sure enough it was Texas. Sigh...
It's always Texas.
If it's universal stupidity, that goes to Arizona.
2009/11/06 16:12:59
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Don't worry. I'm sure she's never heard of a passport and would be hard pressed to name the states that border Texas let alone the name of a foreign country.
Border? What is a border? Is that some fancy terminology for the edge-of-the-world?
Though guards may sleep and ships may lay at anchor, our foes know full well that big guns never tire.
"Mark of the Beast"? That's supposed to be a mark on your right hand, not a mark of your right hand.
Right to Privacy, maybe, but not Freedom of Religion.
Anuvver fing - when they do sumfing, they try to make it look like somfink else to confuse everybody. When one of them wants to lord it over the uvvers, 'e says "I'm very speshul so'z you gotta worship me", or "I know summink wot you lot don't know, so yer better lissen good". Da funny fing is, arf of 'em believe it and da over arf don't, so 'e 'as to hit 'em all anyway or run fer it.
2009/11/06 16:40:47
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
Excactly. Not if you like having all your parts still attached.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2009/11/07 01:22:36
Subject: Re:Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
warpcrafter wrote:Now we all have a mark on our right hand and forehead, it's called a facepalm. Sigh...
Nice... straight up zinger. No ice.
What a silly lady though... can she actually expect to make anything besides news? I think I would laugh even harder if she managed to get away with this...
2009/11/07 01:53:29
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
2009/11/09 20:02:04
Subject: Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
The woman is obviously crazy, but why do they need to fingerprint school teachers?
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
2009/11/10 05:18:50
Subject: Re:Teach claims fingerprinting is "the mark of the beast"
sebster wrote:The woman is obviously crazy, but why do they need to fingerprint school teachers?
Because people can fake or steal identities, but you can't fake fingerprints.
It's purely a background check thing, just more extensive than many jobs are willing to take because teachers handle children.
You know you're really doing something when you can make strangers hate you over the Internet. - Mauleed
Just remember folks. Panic. Panic all the time. It's the only way to survive, other than just being mindful, of course-but geez, that's so friggin' boring. - Aegis Grimm
Hallowed is the All Pie The Before Times: A Place That Celebrates The World That Was
-to many points to bother to count.
