Actually, it's JUST LIKE they are the hug Nazi's. If mother approves, the school can put down their stop watch. Interesting that she can so quickly compare herself to Nazis. Why was she thinking of them anyway? Hmmm.

Gee, it's a known fact that infant human beings cease to thrive, become unresponsive and unexpressive, lose weight, experience developmental delays, and ultimately death, because of lack of TOUCH. If we punish our children for expressing affection, for giving nurturing touch, for hugging, it will continue the damage of our touch deprived culture. More fear, alienation, disconnection. Let 'em hug each other, for all our sakes. What if the choice is a hug, or a gun in the back pack? Love or violence? Or are school administrators in Bend afraid that a hug will lead to sex? This is not foreplay. or Oh my gosh, premarital sex. Maybe we ought to support sexuality education in the schools, for the adults in charge as well. A hug, is well, a wrap around arm holding expression of fondness for another human being. Let it be. Kuudos to the mama for huffing and still hugging.

they were reported by the Junior Anti-Sex League...no eye-contact is to be made in the hallways.

Back when I was a lass in high school, circa 1970, the school passed a New Rule prohibiting walking arm-in-arm among students. Now, there is casual "arm & arm" and then there is clutching & clinging arm-in-arm. Just as there are hugs and then there are ... well, embraces. Some of these PDAs were little disguised but very passionate young love.

I remember this acutely, because my boyfriend and I were in part responsible for the New Rule.

So my girlfriend and I took to walking languorously past the admin building daily, arm-in-very-close-arm. And we thereby "proved," to our enormous amusement, that -- in those days -- the schools had unwittingly adopted a pro-gay policy.

But as to "acceptable" public, schoolground displays of affection, and over-the-top or into-the-woods displays of private passion, good luck finding a black/white rule.

My wife brought up an interesting point. Would school administrators have acted as they did if they found kids holding hands during bible study in the lunchroom or hugging a classmate who had said, "Jesus loves you?"

Probably not. So it would seem that hand holding and hugging aren't the real issues here.

Don't you libruls understand hugging is almost as Satanic as dancing? Can't you see how the two nether groin region areas get in the same approximate real estate zone? They're practically sodomizing each other!

You godleess communists!

AFS, We must have gone to the same college. They wouldn't allow coed swimming for the reasons you sight above!

Three words: Get a room. School's for learning, not lovin' your boyfriend in the hallway. Sorry, mom.

Sid, Pat... keep it up. Keep on revealing just how repressed Republicans are and keep revealing your intentions to make everyone just as screwed up as you Republicans are. You'll make sure we sweep the GOP out of the Oregon State House in the next election.

In the new fundi world view only farm animal sex is accepted teenage behavior. Hands off fellow humans.

some guy: "In the new fundi world view only farm animal sex is accepted teenage behavior. Hands off fellow humans."

LOL!

My line was always clothes on, hands off the parts. Poor taste is not justifiable for detention. They should be given an explanation that it makes others uncomfortable so if it's more then a hug, it should be private. But to make all hugs off limits! That's over the top.

That's the "divide and conquer" mentality of the Reich. If we never get to share a hug once in a while, we will remain separate. This enables exploitation. If we hug, we might organize, and next thing you know, 40 hour work weeks, child labor laws, chaos in the streets, dog and cats living together and the destruction of anything if value in the world, here comes the rapture!

God save us from those who insist we never our children hug. Teenages ought to expereince a good hug once in a while too. They can get famliar with their sexuiality and perhaps then, at an early age, we can help them understand it from the experience rather then some text book. If we don't they'll probably end up having sex with mules in Georgia.

I was called into the principal's office for the same offense in 1967 [8th grade]. Besides being embarrassed, I was highly ticked off at the goofiness of this. I suggested that there was no reason to worry, as I could not yet get an erection yet. I evidently told the lie well, as the principal looked as embarrassed as I felt and sent me back to class.

Doretta... in a week in which a conservative leader has twice gone on the Alan Combes show to talk about all the non-human things he has had sexual relations with as a teenager... as well as state over and over actually believes all other teenagers do the same behaviors as he... you Republicans really need to just step away from your keyboards and take a cigaratte break for a few days. Pounding your desktops in outrage over teenage human hugging while simulaneously promoting teenagers having sex with anything non-human that can't run away...

well... us progressives would have paid big money for this type of entertainment, and you Republicans are providing it all for free.

Kent Jones did a lovely riff on this story on the May 17 Rachel Maddow Show; it's at about the 31-minute mark if you don't want to listen to it all.

And Doretta's a Republican, huh? Never would have guessed it.

afs singlehandedly puts the lie to the administrator's contention that nothing but righties stands in the way of low-volume, good discussion and absence of dittoheadedness on BlueOregon.

Ha, ha, ha. It's Wednesday morning here in Sydney and as I poured my coffee I just caught a bit of a story on NewsRadio about a school banning hugging -- which, although I missed the details, I assumed was the latest goofiness from America. So I was very amused when I pulled up BlueOregon for my regular review of what's on in the Beaver State to find it was there! Ha. I think the last Oregon story I remember them covering was the Goldschmidt fiasco.

Guess I was wrong on doretta. Unfortunately, not every American that agrees with making the USA look like a sexually repressed laughing stock in the eyes of the world is a Republican. Almost all of them, but not all of them.

dispossessed: First of all, as far as "dittoheads" and "dittoheadedness," dittoheads is a term that Rush Limbaugh fans adopted for themselves. Only Rush Limbaugh fans can be dittoheads by definition. Therefore, "dittoheads" or "dittoheadedness" will only be found among the right wingers trolling Blue Oregon, not any progressives posting here, also by definition.

As Elizabeth pointed out above, this hug banning foolishness makes Oregon look as bad in the eyes of the world as the whole Goldschmidt mess. Again, Oregon is a punchline, and dispossessd, you guys are defending making Oregon a laughing stock to the world. Hope you're proud of the results your hard work has generated.

Afs -- That wasn't really my point - grouping hugging school kids and an ex-governor turning out to have been a pedophile and rapist as events leaving a negative impression of Oregon in the minds of some Australians. I rather doubt most people who heard either story thought much about the Oregon connection. Just that this story is classic goofy America and that story was tragic but probably not limited to America.

Elizabeth: I'm not so much concerned about the details of how Australians process the stories after they have heard them as I'm bothered by the simple existence of these stories in Australian media in which Oregon looks bad. I know a lot of people don't remember all the details of these stories, but some do. I don't want to be introduced to an Australian somewhere in the world, and when I mention I'm from Oregon, have them respond, "Oh yeah, you blokes are the hug banners."

I like knowing that the goofy Americans people are laughing at are from other states. I don't like my state being the goofy American punchline.

afs:

Would that only the Australians were laughing at Portland. I have relatives in New York, Kentucky, and California, and they all think we ran the FBI out of town on rail. Every time I talk to him, my uncle in Kentucky still asks if we've had any Red, White, and Blue "puke protests" our in "Pukeland" lately.

Maybe Scappoose wouldn't be so bad?

bb: You want to start your own topics on threads, start your own blog. You are not going to succeed in your efforts to distract and change subjects on this thread.

Now back to our scheduled hug banning discussion.

But wait! We need to underscore some things here. First, Dittoheads! Isn't that really the perfect decription of the KoolAid drinkers? I mean, don't find any of your own words to describe the situation, don;t think about it. Just put down "ditto" and you're a Party member.

Then, the Kentucky thing. We should change our behavior because someone in Kentucky is making fun of us? Kentucky? Excuse me, my laughter is preventing me from hitting the keys akuratly. Ha, ha, ha!

PS - Do they ever hug humans is Kentucky?

There! Now we can get back on topic!