The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘A History of Psychiatric Problems’

Posted on | April 29, 2013 | 41 Comments

The California math teacher was arrested last summer:

The charges against 36-year-old Amber Lee Failla include unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation with minors and contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sexual offense, according to Kern County Superior Court records. . . .
California City police said their investigation into Failla began when school officials heard about “alleged sexual misconduct” involving a teacher. Three male students, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old, reported to police Failla had sexual encounters with them and “sexted” them nude photos, the department reported.
The students told investigators Failla would text them at different times to meet in her classroom when there was no class in session and engage in sex acts with, according to police.

Female teachers having sex with male students seems increasingly commonplace: The Mary Kay Letourneau Syndrome, we might call it. And as my friend Pete Da Tech Guy would say, it’s a good thing they aren’t Catholic priests, or this might be a real scandal.

The average high-school teacher salary in California is $66,197, so that “oral copulation with minors” is apparently a skill that taxpayers are willing to compensate quite well, at least when such services are provided by credentialed professionals.

And you’ll be glad to know that the California court system understands that Amber Lee Failla is the real victim here:

A high school teacher charged with eight felonies in connection with engaging in sex acts with students pleaded no contest Friday to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse.
Amber Lee Failla faces a maximum of 16 months in prison at her May 7 sentencing, but prosecutor Marcus Cuper said the judge indicated Failla will be sentenced to a year in jail. . . .
Defense attorney Timothy Lemucchi said he also believes the plea deal is fair, especially in light of his client’s background.
“She has a history of psychiatric problems,” Lemucchi said.
Failla is bipolar, and Lemucchi said she was given a drug that has a side effect of making a person “hyperactively sexual.” Lemucchi said Failla was the recipient of poor medical treatment in that she wasn’t given a second drug to counteract those effects. . . .
“She’s pretty emotionally distraught,” Lemucchi said. “Fortunately her husband is her biggest supporter and is staying with her.”

In other words: She’s crazy and, in California, the rights of crazy people take precedence over every other consideration. The entire state “has a history of psychiatric problems” — I mean, they elected Jerry Brown governor, OK? — and if Amber Lee Failla’s particular brand of craziness involved “oral copulation with minors,” well, who are we to judge?

Isn’t this just an alternative lifestyle? And, hey, “her husband is her biggest supporter,” so if he doesn’t mind his wife providing blowjobs to teenage boys, why should we object?

Isn’t this covered by those “penumbras formed by emanations“? Couldn’t Justice Kennedy explain it as an “emerging awareness“?

Why are some people so judgmental?

I’m guessing a male teacher would have gotten a much stiffer sentence. And why was someone with a ‘history of psychiatric problems’ hired as a teacher?

More judgmentalism:

Who thought it was a good idea to put a ‘sexually hyperactive’ person around children?

The mentally ill are a protected category, and the teachers union that donated millions to elect Gov. Jerry Brown would never tolerate any teacher being forced out of her job merely because she had “a history of psychiatric problems.”

Amber Lee Failla is a victim. And she probably voted for Obama.

 

Category: California, Crime, Education, Labor Unions, Scandal, Sex

Comments

41 Responses to “‘A History of Psychiatric Problems’”

  1. ConMom
    April 29th, 2013 @ 10:42 am

    […] The Other McCain wants to know why we’re being so judgemental. Tongue meet cheek […]

  2. BILLYDEVO
    April 29th, 2013 @ 10:53 am

    Wear a shirt with a gun on it and they want to expel the kid.I just read a story of a 10yr old kid who got in trouble for bringing a swiss army knife to a school CAMPING trip .You have to pretty much kill somebody to get fired as a teacher and even if you do kill you will more then likely get paid till the day you go to jail.But hell its all about the kids right

  3. Mike G.
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:26 am

    The entire state “has a history of psychiatric problems” — I mean, they elected Jerry Brown governor, OK?

    Hell, they elected him Governor twice. Obviously they didn’t learn from the first time, eh?

  4. Becca Lower
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:36 am

    The part about her husband being her biggest supporter made me think of Anthony Weiner and his current attempt at political rehabilitation. The New York Times magazine article might as well have said: His wife stands by him, so why can’t all of the rest of you?

  5. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:50 am

    Stiffer sentence?

    Is the The Mary Kay Letourneau Syndrome a result of greater reporting (of a condition that was under reported) or was it cause and effect? Did widespread reporting of Letourneau resulted in more Letourneau-like female teachers engaging with male students?

    This would be similar to the argument that school shootings reporting leading to more school shootings.

  6. richard mcenroe
    April 29th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm

    The generation that voted the dimbulb out last time is outnumbered by the pot-snots, the pervs, and the indocumentados. Give LA 10 years and it will be Detroit with better weather.

  7. richard mcenroe
    April 29th, 2013 @ 12:05 pm

    Because he’s his wife’s beard?

  8. melanerpes
    April 29th, 2013 @ 12:20 pm

    Actually, three times. Served two terms in antiquity, 1975 to 1983.

  9. Hoss
    April 29th, 2013 @ 12:36 pm

    It’s important that these be credentialed professionals, lest we go back to the dark ages of the 1950s when fellatio took place in grimy back alleys.

  10. Hoss
    April 29th, 2013 @ 12:50 pm

    It’s important that these be credentialed professionals, lest we go back to the dark ages of the 1950s when fellatio took place in grimy back alleys.

  11. Bob Belvedere
    April 29th, 2013 @ 1:47 pm

    Give LA 10 years and it will be Detroit with better weather.

    Well, that’s something.

  12. Bob Belvedere
    April 29th, 2013 @ 1:49 pm

    And he’s her cover – think about it: a Jewish Husband is the perfect cover for a spy for the Muslim Brotherhood.

    [She plays for the other team, while she plays for the other team, IYKWIMAITYD.]

  13. Adjoran
    April 29th, 2013 @ 2:16 pm

    There was one guy in NY state who was convicted and serving time for sex with a student on school grounds who was still drawing his paycheck because the union grievance process was still in appeals.

  14. Adjoran
    April 29th, 2013 @ 2:19 pm

    This just in from the California Teachers Association: “This shows that our teachers will go to great lengths to make math interesting.”

  15. M. Thompson
    April 29th, 2013 @ 2:47 pm

    It’s a side effect of the infantilitazation of our society. There’s no pressure to grow up, so twenty-somethings still think of themselves as kids.

    Also, being crazy is a problem. Who had the good idea not to tell her employer she was nutters?

  16. Esau's Message
    April 29th, 2013 @ 2:49 pm

    Now it can take place under the bright blue buzzing fluorescent lights of the classroom.

  17. Buffalobob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 2:53 pm

    Another union teacher doing what union teachers do best.

  18. Teacher with ‘A History of Psychiatric Problems’ no Problem | Grumpy Opinions
    April 29th, 2013 @ 7:01 pm

    […] ‘A History of Psychiatric Problems’ : The Other McCain. […]

  19. Adobe_Walls
    April 29th, 2013 @ 8:09 pm

    Robert Stacy McCain

    “Ah, yes — the “emerging awareness” principle, forever enshrined in our hearts, right next to the “penumbras, formed by emanations,” as the defining quality of what America is all about. For these intellectual abstractions, patriots marched bleeding through the snow at Trenton.”
    I nominate that for the quote of the decade and predict you’ll get many, many miles out of it.

  20. WarEagle82
    April 29th, 2013 @ 9:07 pm

    Oh, come on! Who thinks this woman will ever do a day in prison? With all the budget cuts and early releases, she will probably walk out of court and be back on the streets raping kids in no time at all, just like so many other California felons…

  21. Nate Lenz
    April 29th, 2013 @ 9:39 pm

    Wonder how much the district’s going to spend on her Teacher of the Year award.

  22. ChandlersGhost
    April 29th, 2013 @ 9:49 pm

    The best part (for her) is that she’ll probably get to keep her pension. Viva la California!

  23. Monday Evening Overtime Links | Blackmailers Don't Shoot
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:01 pm

    […] The Other McCain: Another hard working, underpaid public employee caught having sex with her students. […]

  24. K-Bob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:53 pm

    I was just reading an article about Meth heads experiencing hyperactive sexual drives. Could it be she was taking the prescription version of Meth? Because that photo looks like those Faces of Meth photos.

  25. K-Bob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:54 pm

    Still and all, I’d rather see pics of her on the tweeter thingy than him.

  26. K-Bob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:55 pm

    Don’t forget his time as Attorney General or something. I’m too lazy to look it up.

  27. K-Bob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:56 pm

    I believe that would make it Beirut.

  28. K-Bob
    April 29th, 2013 @ 11:56 pm

    He’ll still get his pension, I’ll bet.

  29. WarEagle82
    April 30th, 2013 @ 4:14 am

    It looks like we may have to declare schools to be teacher-free zones to protect the children. Or we could make schools children-free zones.

    Remember when school was about the three “R’s” and not “XXX?”

  30. smokedaddy
    April 30th, 2013 @ 4:18 am

    OK Stacy, I’m one of your biggest fans, but I’m actually sympathetic (to a degree) with Ms Failla’s plight. As a Californian with a teaching credential and experience in Mental Health Clinics to boot, this is right down my ally. Anyone who has worked in a Mental Health practice or clinic is well aware that BiPolars are, in fact, hypersexual during their manic stage and in fact often intentionally fall off their meds for just this very reason. I’m not a licensed psychiatrist, but I’d imagine Ms Failla was taking meds to bring up her depressive state to within striking distance of her manic state. The admixture of meds for mental health patients can be quite the challenge and it strikes me as plausible there was a medical screw up. That said, yes, she has an obligation to be self aware enough to avoid, ah, certain situations and to seek help. But on the LeTorneau scale of statutory rape, with Mary Kay a 9, I’d rate Mrs Failla’s offense a 3 at worst.

  31. The ConMom
    April 30th, 2013 @ 2:20 pm

    I am such a hater. How dare I question the hiring of a sexually hyperactive bi-polar young woman who keeps going off her meds to teach our children?

  32. notquiteunBuckley
    April 30th, 2013 @ 11:54 pm

    Name one being without “psychiatric” problems.

  33. trangbang68
    May 1st, 2013 @ 12:06 am

    If she has psychiatric problems, why in the cowboy hell is she teaching? Hire the handicapped, they’re fun to watch…except when they’re not.

  34. trangbang68
    May 1st, 2013 @ 12:07 am

    nice cop out . If she wasn’t competent she should have taken a leave of absence.

  35. trangbang68
    May 1st, 2013 @ 12:10 am

    Somebody ought to slap the crap out of her husband. What a disgusting little weasel. Weiner’s wife is Hillary’s girlfriend.

  36. notquiteunBuckley
    May 1st, 2013 @ 12:16 am

    Just to let you all know, I deem when it suits me.

    Others do too, maybe, from what I’ve been told and had sourced time and time again … but alas no bylines worthy of record can I check now.

  37. notquiteunBuckley
    May 1st, 2013 @ 12:24 am

    Speculation, rampant, doesn’t happen.

    That is why these cops, seeing a triple homicide, with weed spread (high grade Medicine or ditch weeds/hemp?) and $5000 cash assumed a drug deal with someone known to the victims.

    That is all, until the bombs connecting the deaths, of all three men in the triple-homicide, figure us here.

    I gave links before you want ’em now you find ’em.

  38. notquiteunBuckley
    May 1st, 2013 @ 1:01 am

    You fellas being goodguys and all might not get it.

    So I will spell it out.

    When known drug dealers kill, they leave money and weed at the knife scene, or knifes scene as it were, to spread a message.

    AND THAT IS ALL GENTLEMAN. GOOD DAY SIR.

  39. notquiteunBuckley
    May 1st, 2013 @ 1:07 am

    Were I to win the lottery, I would entertain Ann Barnhardt with a Tony Starkesque world tour before I was shot down.

  40. richard mcenroe
    May 1st, 2013 @ 2:57 pm

    More like Tijuana, Calexico or Juarez. Beirut is safer, especially for women.

  41. richard mcenroe
    May 1st, 2013 @ 2:58 pm

    That’s CA’s future governor you’re talking about there.