Friday, October 2, 2009

Meet President Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings


Meet President Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings

[Original post date: 10/02/09 10:00am PST by Deep Sounding]
For a brief moment yesterday, Obama’s “Safe Schools Czar” Kevin Jennings was in the news.  According to this Fox News article, he was admitting that:

[He] "should have handled [the] situation differently" when he didn't report an underage student told him that he was having sex with an older man.

He told the boy, "I hope you knew to use a condom."

"Twenty one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities."
According to Fox News, in his 2007 autobiography, Jennings says that he also apparently had frequent conversations with the  student and received updates on his latest "adventures." The  student was 16 years old, by the way, and had come to Jennings for guidance for emotional problems that he was having. Jennings says that the student rejected his admonitions to wear a condom saying that his life is not work saving…

So not only did Jennings not "consult legal or MEDICAL authorities," (by  “consult legal authorities,” do you suppose he means CALL THE FREAKING POLICE DEPARTMENT, or do you think he means “get legal advice about how I can make sure this doesn’t bite ME in the ass?”) but then, later he spends time with the student while the student describes for Jennings stories of his sexual escapades (child abuse) with an older man.  I certainly hope that Jennings called the police when the student made clear that things were not sitting so well with him when he said “My life isn’t worth saving anyway.” (Did Jennings ever contact authorities? Apparently not.)

Nobody wants to discuss the issue though, since it happened so long ago. I guess that seems to make it ok… well it happened a long time ago… probably the guy is wiser now, and would do things differently.

Did I forget to mention that the issue came up earlier than 2007? It came up in 2004 when Jennings received the 2004 Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in HUMAN RIGHTS from the National Education Association (NEA)

Perhaps the issue was too old back then, and worthy of being ignored then too, as it didn’t seem to stop the NEA from giving him the award. Maybe they figured that Jennings had learned a valuable lesson back in 1988, and would never let that kind of thing happen again. Maybe they figured that he’s done such a great amount of good in the mean time that we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Hmm… these arguments seem popular when defending perpetrators and those who can't be bothered to report them. Granted – Jennings isn’t admitting to any crimes (Well, other than the fact that he didn’t report child sexual abuse, even though he was apparently a mandated reporter… I guess if the statute of limitations runs out, you’re clear of guilt morally as well as by law, so I suppose we should trust his integrity completely now.

The story gets muddled at this point due to heated sexual orientation / identity politics (from both sides), so it’s hard to get a non-biased bead on the facts of the situation. Here’s the most neutral telling I can come up with:

The NEA gave Jennings his award for co-founding and directing the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).  In 2000 GLSEN put on a conference for kids, by some accounts, as young as twelve, and by most accounts as young as fourteen. A state official at that conference had the following to say (apparently in answer to one student’s question about what “fisting” is):
"Fisting (forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina) often gets a bad rap....[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode."

Jennings said this in response:

"From what I've heard, I have concerns as well," Jennings told the Boston Globe in May 2000. "GLSEN  believes that children do have a right to accurate, safer sex education, but this needs to be delivered in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner.

"What troubles me is the people who have the tape know what our mission is, they know that our work is about preventing harassment and they know that session was not the totality of what was offered at a conference with over 50 sessions," he said.

- from Fox News

Well at least he’s honest! What troubles Jennings is that people taped and criticized one of his buddies talking (with young children) about the ”bad rap” that fisting gets.

I can think of a few other intimate uses for a fist. Most of them don’t involve a vagina or a rectum. One of them does involve a jackass though.

Why must we perpetuate this Laissez-faire attitude about the necessity to report suspected child sexual abuse at all levels of government?  It’s well past time for CHANGE, Obama… get off your butt and terminate this loser. Find someone who has a documented track record of attaining the prosecution of people who abuse and bully children.  Yes, you can!


11 comments:

  1. This is a disturbing post.

    Why didn't the doctors who suspected Ayres was molesting boys in San Mateo report Ayres to the authorities?

    Why is everyone afraid of doing the right thing?

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  2. The entire subject of child sexual abuse is so very painfully evil and dark, that people refuse to look at it. They do NOT want to be in the position to deal with it. They do not want to discuss it. They do not want to spend any amount of time working to rectify it.

    They just want it to go away.

    They want it to go away so badly that they don't care if it goes away because the victims of it just shut up about it.

    They want it to go away so badly that they actually go to lengths to attack the victims, accusing them of money grubbing and other unspeakable nonsense.

    They want it to go away so badly that they blindly support people who won't report because it might mess up their career.

    They want it to go away so badly that they blindly support creepy people who want to get children educated and interested in sex early so that they have a crop of young adolescents to choose from, who won't complain because they were taught in school that it's normal.

    As long as they don't have to hear about child sexual abuse, people like Jennings are A-OK with them.

    People need to take a step back. They need to look at reality.

    It is NOT OK that Jennings and people like him did not report abuses that they new about.

    It's all fun and games until this happens to your own kid. Then watch out... because the only reason that they're not ignoring you is that they're too busy shunning you.

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  3. I extremely down on politicians today.

    I wrote to Leland Yee, Jerry Hill etc. about the Ayres situation.

    On 9-11-09 I received a letter from Leland Yee thanking me for writing to him about the budget.

    I never wrote to him about the budget.

    Politicians and David Letterman come clean about indiscretions after they get nominated for something or extorted for money.

    All of the sudden they have regrets, or woulda, coulda changed what they did.

    Bullshit!

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  4. On 9-11-09 I received a letter from Leland Yee thanking me for writing to him about the budget.

    I took a swig of soda just before I read this. My nose hurts, and there's soda on my keyboard.

    Thanks for commenting about how lousy the Sharks did last night though!

    heh heh heh...

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  5. I JUST came across this on a CNN news story. Kind of interesting, and in line with what I'm grumpy about right now...

    Phillips spoke about the taboo nature of incest in her interview with CNN's Larry King.

    "There's very little in this world that is taboo today, but this subject is still, like, shove it under the carpet, sweep it away, protect the abuser, deny the reality. ... You're just on your own," the former child star said.

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  6. And... I have to say... when the her story first broke... My first thought to myself was: "Well... she sure always was the sleazy one on the the show..."

    Somehow this all needs to become un-broken.

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  7. I am glad you are putting dark and disturbing news like this in the blogosphere. And hope something is done. Other than bury heads in sand.

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  8. Dr. Ayres was my psychiatrist and also my boyfriends. Ayres said some pretty weird stuff to me but never touched me. My boyfriend was 17 and went into a deep depression I don't think he's ever come out of really. He's in his 40s and not the kind to speak up. This whole thing has me so flipping mad. I wish I could fly out there and sit in the court house. I still remember his creepy blue eyes staring at me. I was sixteen and he asked me how I liked oral sex...had never tried it...what a question.

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  9. DS, bravo for having the guts to talk about this pervert and not just sit there and say "the president knows best."

    Jennings needs to go. He's another one of those shady characters that the president chooses as an advisor. I guess "safe schools" means no repeat of Columbine, but it's okay to ignore questionable sexual behavior that adults inflict on children. Doesn't the president know anyone who isn't a tax dodger or semi-pervert?

    Hoping third time is a charm with setting a re-trial date.

    As for the Sharks' shaky, slow start, I knew that team defense and goaltending would be a problem. Dan Boyle can't play 60 minutes a night, and he's been a bit less than perfect. And if Nabakov goes down ... it's going to get ugly fast.

    Might be best to just stop talking about the problems the Sharks "might" have in the playoffs and start hoping they make the playoffs in the first place ...

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  10. Hi CaliGirl!

    I've really been digging into Jennings, but also GLSEN. These guys are all much more then semi-perverts - They're full-on institutionalized disgusting.

    I've been looking at things like their reading lists and some of the policy related commentary they make.

    I'm not talking about the sexual identity politics of it all either... They are in full on sexualization of children mode. I'm sure some of the members actually believe that they are promoting equality and fostering tolerance and less bullying, but deep down, what's going on at the core is that they're getting young children interested and normalized to more mature types of sexual behavior. This can only serve to help pedophiles.

    What a shame that this blindness goes all they way up the political chain to the president.

    On a lighter note:

    Boyle IS pretty disappointing. It's nice to see that they figured out what lights a fire under Marleau's butt though... hope he's not a Cheechoo, and the fire stays lit. I was a bit down on Heatley, but maybe he will work out after all... I was glad to see him passing those assists rather than taking a failed shot... smart player.

    I like Nabby, but he always lets that second goal rattle him. Too bad they let Boucher go... he was hungry.

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  11. Anonymous on October 6, 2009 11:01 AM:

    You didn't mention whether you're a guy or girl. Either way, it does appear that 16/17 is really sort of outside the age range that it seems ayres was targeting, although you never can tell...

    Did your boyfriend ever tell you if anything happened in there?

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