The Pravda Columbian and John Laird: more lies to support an agenda.

.
For quite some time, now, we've been... well, "entertained" might be the word... if one finds train wrecks "entertaining"; by the hate speech spewed out in John Laird's columns on a regular basis.

It's bad enough that an unabashed ultra-leftist is given free-reign over a newspaper column without any effort made by that newspaper to provide balance. But when he spews lies in his efforts to superimpose his morality while simultaneously belittling those wise enough to disagree with his garbage, that does this community a disservice.

The Pravda Columbian is facing serious financial challenges... challenges that, hopefully, will bury it. And part of the reason for those challenges is the public idiocy of Mr. Laird.

In his most recent spew, Mr. Laird regailed us with the following lie:

"Meddling with adults — Those who are obsessed with controlling others' private lives are always on the prowl in the Legislature. This year they're pushing two bills that would outlaw sex between teachers and students under the age of 20 (according to House Bill 1385) or 21 (according to Senate Bill 5232). Sounds like a good idea, but this well-meaning effort is a waste of time for two reasons.

First, sex with a minor (under 18) already is against the law. Second, state and local school district policies strictly forbid improper relations between a teacher and any student of any age. It's a sure-fire way for a teacher to, well, get fired. These are all the laws, rules and protections that are needed."

Unfortunately for our community, Laird has once again failed to check his facts before trowing out his journalistic swill.

The fact of the matter is that the age of consent in THIS state is SIXTEEN... thus, he was flat-out wrong when he babbled "First, sex with a minor (under 18) already is against the law."

The LAW says this:

9A.44.076 <<>>9A.44.083

RCW 9A.44.079 Rape of a child in the third degree.

(1) A person is guilty of rape of a child in the third degree when the person has sexual intercourse with another who is at least fourteen years old but less than sixteen years old and not married to the perpetrator and the perpetrator is at least forty-eight months older than the victim.

(2) Rape of a child in the third degree is a class C felony.

[1988 c 145 § 4.]

Notes:

Effective date -- Savings -- Application -- 1988 c 145: See notes following RCW 9A.44.010.

So, once again, this moron with a keyboard lies to support an agenda. But given the Pravda Columbian's lies in support of the bridge replacement, perhaps "lying" is just a an extension of the company policy.

Clearly, when it comes to "myths," no one knows more about them than Laird.


John Laird Feb. 15: E-mail, the Morality Police, and myths

Sunday, February 15 1:00 a.m.

BY JOHN LAIRD,
COLUMBIAN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

John Laird

Notes, quotes and anecdotes while wondering when we'll start seeing the "Honk if you were an Obama Cabinet nominee" bumper stickers:

Three toxic words — Inquiring minds want to know how many jobs and even marriages have been lost because of three little words: "Reply to all."

Maybe it's happened to you. A few years ago, several dozen editorial page editors around the country received an innocuous e-mail from one of our colleagues. A few minutes later, he received a reply from a friend, who also noted that a job applicant whom both were considering was not worth hiring. Mistakenly, the sender had hit "reply to all." The whole group of us — including the job applicant's boss at the time, who didn't know the guy was job hunting — looked on, horrified. Alas, a follow-up, "Please disregard the last e-mail, incorrectly sent to the wrong people" could not undo the damage.

More: