There have been a few things in the news that irked me today.

Three small-town eighth-graders were suspended for not standing at the start of the school day Thursday for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The school district has a rule that even if you don’t say the pledge, you still have to stand. Three students didn’t, and according to one parent never had, and they have now found themselves suspended. I am, of course, opposed to the punishment, not because I am anti-pledge, but I am against mechanical, blind, rote patriotism and forced allegiance. I am not alone in thinking this school is whacked in the head for punishing these students either. There are “numerous U.S. Supreme Court rulings dating to the 1940s say that ’students who refuse to participate in the pledge cannot be punished for refusing to participate.’” Sitting would be refusing to participate. I call foul on the punishment.

When the Russians start parading their nuclear weapons and other war toys down their city streets, it would do everyone some good to take notice. They can say it isn’t saber rattling all they want, but some of us are old enough to remember when it was a rather regular occurrence. It was saber rattling then, and it’s saber rattling now.

No, I do not want our airport to be leased out to Australia. Could we possibly, just possibly, maintain control of some of our own infrastructure? It’s bad enough our toll roads are under the control of companies in Spain (and elsewhere). Our airport doesn’t need to be in anyone else’s hands. Their reason for even considering it is that taxpayers aren’t seeing any benefit from the money the airport makes, due to a federal law requiring that money be put back into the airport. Rather than leasing the thing out to some other country, why don’t we try to change the law that is causing the problem in the first place? Oh, yeah … that’s a lot more difficult than just selling out to the highest bidder.

A New York woman who took her family to visit the Maritime Aquarium has filed a $100 claim against the city, saying her child’s shoes, along with the entire outing, were ruined when her 1-year-old stepped in dog feces early last month outside the Maritime Garage.

Shit happens. Yes, occasionally, a human steps in some shit, but I have never known any shit to not wash off of shoes, hands, clothing, or whatever else it gets on. I question why she felt it necessary to throw away her child’s $42 shoes, but then I also question what toddler needs $42 shoes in the first place and why her 1-year-old was wandering around far enough away from her to even have the opportunity to step in shit. Additionally, why would her baby not having shoes on ruin the whole trip. Kids (and adults) do amazingly well without shoes. They aren’t a requirement for walking, sitting, or living. Something tells me this mom has more money than sense.

Time was, when a girl had a crush on a boy, she sent him a note in class. Today, as at least one local school district has learned, she might use her cell phone to take a naked picture of herself and send the photo to him. The Pioneer Central School District over the past two months has discovered three cases of teenage girls — ages 13 to 16 — electronically sending nude photos to male classmates.

And how did the school authorities discover the nude photos? They “came to light when school officials confiscated students’ cell phones for other disciplinary reasons.” They took the phone because the students were using them during class or at school, which is apparently forbidden, but that does not explain what gave the school the right to then poke through the things on the cell phone. Kids with cell phones need to read the manual and learn how to use the security features. It is entirely possible to keep anyone but yourself from nosing around in your cell phone. Just don’t give them the password. They’ll be expelled or suspended anyway, thanks to our lovely zero-tolerance policies, but they might as well keep their private data private. And as far as kids sending nude pics to each other, I have to ask why adults today continue to think that today’s kids invented teen sexuality and believe that kids haven’t always been sexual creatures?

And now for a bit of trivia! Did you know the male platypus has venomous spikes on their hind feet? I certainly didn’t, but now I know, and so do you.