A Georgia restaurant owner has come under heat after selling T-shirts depicting a picture of Curious George eating a banana with “Obama in ‘08″ written underneath. The proprietor, Mike Norman, claimed ignorance to the racist connotations, claiming his motive was simply that Obama and the cartoon character “look so much alike.” Curious George publisher Houghton Mifflin has denounced the characterization, and a dozen Cobb County, GA residents protested outside Norman’s restaurant.

Southeast regional director for the Anti-Defamation League Bill Nigut had this to say of Norman: “He can pretend he doesn’t understand what the message of that T-shirt is, but he knows full well that’s an offensive and demeaning stereotype used to insult African-Americans.”

“Look so much alike”? Yeah buddy, nice try. Either you’re openly racist, or a complete and utter dumbshit. But I guess if you’re the former, you also qualify as the latter…

A Georgia elementary school teacher was in for a surprise last Friday when 8-9 of her students, both boys and girls, planned to bind and stab her after being angered over the scolding of a fellow student for standing on a chair. The extent of the students’ planning and premeditated preparation is astonishing:

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a glass paperweight, bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her with a broken steak knife.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said. One child’s job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, and another was supposed to clean up after the attack. Associated Press

It’s not clear how many of the students really knew of the intent to harm the teacher as some said they simply thought it was a joke. Nevertheless two students were arrested on juvenile charges, and a third arrest is expected. In the end the no one was harmed, but things could have been worse. Even if the students hadn’t intended to kill their teacher, who can really say how it all would’ve turned out. One thing’s for sure though, stories like this aren’t really going help fulfill any shortage of teachers in the US. Molding young minds seems to be more dangerous than ever.

-Handcuffs and Knife the children planned to use.