-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- the usual two sided mouth political free speech in re: NYTimes letter to the editor, 26 Oct 97 sometimes I wonder if free speech isn't already muffled; the rest of the time I know it is. anytime a politician can get a headline, they will stamp on someone's rights. common sense has been exerminated more effectively than NYC's vermin. I dont like my kids being exposed to that "kind" of material, but I would sure rather it was done in an educational environment (unless it is some faggot teacher then advocating homosexual practice). children will find that "knowledge" one way or the other. You can not condemn "evil" without observing "evil" and making a _personal_ value judgement which should not be reflected in calling for laws for or against. If the adults would stop acting like 6 year olds, and the politicians as 4 year old bullies, our children might get an education. OB Crypto: maybe the teacher should be distributing this material on PGP with individual student keys; the teacher can sort out the Christian Coalition and Orthodox Jews early on and just forget to include their key --end of problem. So there is a valid use for PGP in the schools --of course, the old PGP, not their GAKed sellout. To the Editor: Gov. George E. Pataki's comments regarding Charles Self, the New York City schoolteacher who distributed a sexually explicit poem to his students, were transparently political (news article, Oct. 23). First, the Governor disassociated himself from ruling on the matter ("the appropriate sanction is not something for Albany to decide"), and then jabbed the system that must rule on it ("I think a letter in a file is not good enough"). It would have been better to remain silent. Second-best would have been to remind us of reality: most teachers are competent most of the time. They occasionally make errors in judgment. Mr. Self, reputedly a teacher who motivates his students, made a mistake -- apparently the first in 17 years to be placed on the record. In such matters we ought to set aside the broad political brush and work to rebuild the trusting relationship that teachers so richly deserve to enjoy. The Governor would do well to remember that politicians are currently held in even lower esteem than teachers. GILBERT CASS New Haven, Oct. 24, 1997 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: latin1 Comment: No safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be iQBVAwUBNFTB07R8UA6T6u61AQHhRQH/SAdMr/RJ6Ix6of7FPxIohxn/oOY2KOsN a09/LtVErCffpMJc0tH4ZYF5aUrBH24CyNVCeIpDQjAYEg+5TH6LLQ== =PM10 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----