Perhaps this stuff is happening about 21 years too late. But, about the time we hear that any of our phones could be wiretapped without any legal accountability, we hear about the interrogation of a 16-year-old by the FBI in Elk Grove, over the doodle of “PLO” on his notebook.
When I was in school, so many years ago, kids wrote all kinds of things on their books – be it “Corey Hart” in the middle of a heart, or a tribute to Satan. School officials dealt with stuff as they saw fit and didn’t need to call the FBI on them.
But, the implications of this situation are somewhat worrisome. I can understand if people consider the PLO as a terrorist organization. They are obviously controversial to many, though much is a matter of perspective. However, a kid of Palestinian descent shouldn’t get harrassed by the feds just because he expresses allegiance to the organization that is internationally recognized to represent the Palestinian people. Interesting that no school official sat him down to hear his views, or that no notification was made to his parents.
Just call the FBI on the kid. That’ll set him straight, right? The school administrators at Elk Grove High and Calvine High Schools need to answer some important questions about their roles and motivations in all of this.
The Sac Rag 
Total agreement. I thought the same thing when I first caught a glimpse of this story. My own high school texts were scribbled with my heavy metal ramblings and were far worse than simply writing PLO.
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When a couple of white guys express allegiance to Hitler and white power groups, it’s a hate crime that needs to be punished with jail time. When a “palestinian” does it, we need to “hear his views” and “understand” his “heritige.” Huh. I thought the FBI was being very fair.
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Regardless of what views were expressed, it’s the level of response that I take issue with. Regardless of the contraversial doodle was (White Power, PLO, MilitiaMenRUs, Coreys 4evah) the adminstration should react appropriately: talk with the student, not The Feds. Over a fricking doodle. This isn’t suicide bomber recruiting via Trapper Keeper tagging.
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