I don't think there's a heterosexual male out there who hasn't fantasized about his smokin' hot English/Science/History teacher. But I have felt that there's a sort of professional responsibility that a teacher has to not cross the line and blur the relationship. It's a question of boundaries in my view. One poster brings up the issue of maturity, and I get it. The teacher is presumably the mature adult, the student, however fetching, is not mature enough to get the consequences about driving fast on the highway, let alone relationships like this one. We had a situation like this in our state. A pretty Social Studies teacher got up close and way too personal with a student who was of consenting age. She was not charged with a crime, but she did lose her teaching license. So her career is over. No one knows what the final consequences to the young man will be.

I'm not in any way qualified to judge this in moral terms, but the reality seems rather tragic.

I think that a boundary was crossed that should not have been because of developmental as well as professional issues. Kids are always testing the boundaries. It's what they do. As adults, we need to teach kids what the boundaries are and why we observe them. It's a sign of respect and maturity which clearly these teachers did not possess. It should be noted that these women were married. Being unhappily married is one thing, but taking up with teenagers? What's up with that?

Just a little like Stand Up for angry white men.

Of course, to protect themselves, they wore hoods and rode under cover of darkness.

What will their symbol be, pray tell?

Some phallic image on a robe perhaps?

A wife beater T-shirt maybe?

Nah! That would be original. We can't have that.

Hey, can well dressed Metro-Sexuals join?

We like girls. We just think we should take a bath and dress well.

Wear something other than overalls and work boots.

Drive something cooler than a tractor.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Of all the things Bush could have done to shoot himself in the foot, this is the one I never expected. I always thought this group of thugs would do something to expose themselves, but this was out of left field. It's such an obvious abuse of power, such an obvious violation of the law and the Constitution, I'm surprised it never occured to me. By that I mean it never quite occured to me that they would be arrogant enough to do something so completely reckless and so plainly stupid. These really aren't bright people, are they? I suspect they never counted on anyone ever finding out and broadcasting it for all the world to hear. Not to pat the "paper of record" on the head too much, but this is quite possibly one of the most historic news stories you'll read about all year. How much better for the nation this would have been if this had been reported last year. We surely would have a new president now instead of 3 more years of this monstrous administration flouting the law and the Constitution it swore to uphold.

Just "trust" President Bush.

Just "trust" that he's doing the right thing for the American people.

Just "trust" as he wrecks everything from our freedom to our environment to...you get the idea.

Once Bush said about his tax cuts, "I trust the American people."

Well, Mr. President, you can "trust" that the American people whom you've shamelessly lied to and led into war without reason and whom you've spied on without warrant will somehow find a way to end this injustice you've imposed on us.

Trust us. We're the people of the United States of America.

We're a pretty smart, innovative bunch.

A whole lot smarter than you give us credit for.

Trust us.

I don't actually believe in marriage anyway. At least not for myself. I believe that expressions of commitment are private matters between the two making the commitments. Should same sex couples be allowed to express the same commitments as straight couples? That's an almost insane question. If you believe in equal treatment and equal rights under the law the answer's a no-brainer. What shouldn't surprise anyone is that relationships end for all kinds of reasons. Same sex or opposite sex. Now, unfortunately like the rest of society, there are going to be equally messy and acrimonious same sex divorces. It's a bit of arrogance to believe that same sex relationships are somehow more "enlightened". The new wrinkle now is that it's going to be as costly and painful to divorce for gay couples as it is for anyone else. We now have equality here. For good or ill.