The Trib seems to be slowly waking up to the fury, resigned though it is, over the Duluth School Board’s clueless, high handedness and the Red Plan. Given the chance to take a whack at the School District they took it just so long as they could also take a whack at a fellow on the other side.
The Trib could not defend the District for sending in bulldozers before negotiating a contract. Fortunately for the editors the violated land owner showed his unrepentant pleasure and flipping the bird at School Board Chair Tim Grover, something a great many folks will no doubt get vicarious pleasure from. What the Editors don’t acknowledge is that Mr. Kuiti has had a year and a half of abuse from the District’s Red Plan enforcers. Far worse for the District than Mr. Kuiti’s finger is the loss of dozens of Piedmont Children because of the Red Plan. Each Kindergartner will cost the district over a hundred grand in lost state aid over the course of their school years. It will add up to millions each year.
I’m not much of a bird flipper myself. This blog lets me get things off my chest without resorting to that. Besides I’ve always felt that reason is a much better way to deal with one’s adversaries although the implementation of the Red Plan has me second guessing that stratagem.
Other than a couple flipped birds below the dash board I can only recall committing a very few few public flips. That last one I recall I flipped on a winding, two-lane Iowa byway back when my kids were little. We were tooling around at the speed limit when a hulking van pulled up behind me at the speed of sound and road my bumper for five tense minutes. I hewed to the limit rather than being intimidated into driving faster with my family aboard. When a straight stretch of road allowed my tormentor to pass I flipped him the bird as he pulled up beside me…and then noticed. “He” was a trio of hulking young men.
Once the van passed it slowed to a crawl to teach me a lesson. Much to my relief they didn’t pull to a stop and harass my family. They taught me a lesson all right. Always flick on someone smaller than you.
