Yarrr!

I don't know if you all have heard about this or not, but there was a student teacher who was about to get her certificate when a picture of her was found on myspace with an alcoholic beverage, and she was therefore denied the cert. Or at least that's the most common version of the story. What I hadn't realized, but just discovered while reading a roundup of the story, was that this was an anti-pirate move by those who would keep the pastafarians down. It seems her pic was captioned 'drunken pirate'.

Isn't 'drunken pirate' an oxymoron?

I think rather you mean 'redundant'? Although perhaps you are indicating that a pirate's tolerance is so high they are never truly drunk...?

When I first read this story, I thought it a pity that the accused did not merely cite her Pastafarian religious beliefs as the reason for the display. Surely then the posting would qualify as merely spreading the good word, rather than be considered promoting underage drinking.
Joking aside, I find it very disturbing that a picture of someone taking part in a legal activity, which appears to me to be merely someone drinking a beverage while wearing a pirate hat, would be considered unprofessional behavior. Considering that the school mascots are a marauder (complete with new pirate duds, as of 2004, per the Millersville Review) and his sidekick parrot, this could merely be a display of school spirit, with a clever tag for the picture that capitalizes on the legends of drunk pirates.

Ahh, technology. This is happening all over. The University is going to rely on the old 'she didn't pass her student teaching so we couldn't give her the degree' thing, but in reality, teachers are getting scrutinized more and more. We have one out here where the principal of an elementary school gave a teacher a bad evaluation because she is unmarried and pregnant. This is a great teacher (I have worked in her classroom) but this is now on her perm. record. She is having to protest and everything... guess the religious right still has some clout.