A Ray Of Light In the Office Of National Drug Control Policy
New guidelines issued by the Office of National Drug Control Policy for schools are strongly recommending against suspending or expelling student caught using drugs. (from the Washington Post)

Issued Thursday by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the guide says the aim of drug testing "is not to trap and punish students who use drugs. It is, in fact, counterproductive simply to punish them without trying to alter their behavior."
John P. Walters, who directs the office, said such testing should be done to get help for students, not to punish them.
"The goal is to say we believe we can do a better job of making kids healthy," he said.
It strongly cautions against suspending or expelling students without treating them, noting that expulsion can create "drug-using dropouts," an even bigger problem.

Considering this goes against the policies of a large number of 'zero-tolerance' school districts across the nation, this is a refreshingly clearheaded look at drug use coming from the federal government. Three cheers for the Bush administration!

Eugene Breaks It Down
In another in a long line of beautifully written posts, Eugene breaks down the anti-Iraq-war argument to its root form. It has the ring of truth to me.

I Like Lileks
Everyone seems to be linking to James Lileks' latest screed. And with good reason. All of Lileks' screeds are worth reading, but this one deserves extra attention. In particular, my favorite passage reads:

"Wealth also appears to reduce our capacity to act. Our reliance upon technology supplants our reliance upon ourselves and other people."

"You have to say this for the chap: once he gets the old Fatuity Extruder up and running, it produces a bumper crop. Yes, my reliance on my car supplants my need for a coolie to run me to work. My reliance upon my computer supplants my need to amble down to the foolscap store for paper, ink and quail feathers, during which I would have many Meaningful Interactions with my fellow man. My reliance on modern medicine means that I do not have to summon the entire village to form an anti-hex circle around my cardboard box to keep the devils out. My reliance upon the grocery store, with its angry chuffing refrigeration units and Gaia-soiling trucks idling at the loading dock means I do not have to rely on the bonny prince to permit me to farm my meager plot and keep enough to feed my scrawny shite-footed children. My reliance on electrical power means I do not have to trundle to the bog and gather peat."

Follow the link, read the whole thing, and when you're done with this one, read the others too. They're all worth the time.

K K K Brownies in the Wal Mart
Or should I call them whities? In any case, some sneaky little elf-like folks in their pointy little white hoodies have been hiding their supremacist literature in Wal Mart products. Those mischevious little white supremacist brownies!

Too Dumb To Live
God looks after fools and small children, right?
Why bother with the fools?

Ain't Nobody's Business But Your Own
I've never been one to change my opinion just because everyone else thinks differently, nor have I been one to keep an opinion soley because 'everyone else thinks so'. It is, however, nice when people agree with me. This piece by Walter Williams, titled "Whose Business Is It?" does exactly that. I particularly liked this McNugget of truth:

Should the fact that if I become injured by not wearing a seatbelt or sick from eating and smoking too much, and become a burden on taxpayers, determine whether I'm free to not wear a seatbelt or puff cigarettes and gorge myself? Is there a problem with freedom? I say no, it's a problem of socialism. There is absolutely no moral case for government's taking another American's earnings, through taxes, to care for me for any reason whatsoever. Doing so is simply a slightly less offensive form of slavery. Keep in mind that the essence of slavery is the forceful use of one person to serve the purposes or benefit of another.

Yep, that's right. Only in a socialist society does this sort of problem arise. The Supreme Court has long held that it is perfectly okay for Congress to regulate that which it funds. Well if Congress (through their ridiculous taxes) decides to fund our health, guess what? They get to regulate our life. And it sounds like there are people out there who want Congress to do exactly that.

This is why I said it was a bad idea...
Shortly after the Sept 11th attacks, when folks were debating compensation (and the level of compensation) for victims and relatives of victims of the attacks, I argued against it. I can't prove that, since I wasn't blogging back then, but one of the main points I made was:

We never did this for anyone else, why should we do it now? And if we do it now, does this mean that from now on, any victims of a major disaster have hit the jackpot? Do we really want to claim fiscal responsibility for someone else's terrorist attack? Doing so will only lead to like requests being made in the future, and it will only make past victims mad.

Well I was right. Nyah nyah nyah.

I'm sure any victim of the Murrah building bombing is just as worthy of financial compensation as any of the victims of the September 11th attacks. I just don't think that either really deserve government compensation, any more than someone who gets cancer, or gets in a car accident, or gets mugged. The government doesn't owe you a happy life, free from pain or terror. The government owes it to us to stomp our enemies, and keep them from doing this again.

Sloppy Reporting: More Dangerous To Your Health Than Soda
The Nanny's are at it again in the land of the loonies. Los Angeles is currently contemplating banning the sale of soft drinks at middle and high schools, in addition to the ban they already passed on the sale of soft drinks in elementary schools, which will take effect in 2004.

This is old news, in the sense that people have been demonizing soft drinks for a while now, and the movement to ban the sale of soda to children has been gaining steam. See the Center for Consumer Freedom's section on Soda: Hop On Pop.

So why bother posting on it? Because sloppy reporters only further this sort of Nanny mindset, by not bothering to report the facts, and not bothering to back up their more outlandish claims by producing any facts. Read the CCF's comments on the Soda wars, and then read the below paragraph from this article in the Washington Post:

"Childhood obesity is causing increasing concern among health professionals, and soft drinks share the blame. Fourteen percent of children ages 6 through 19 are classified as obese or overweight, almost three times as many as in the 1960s."

This statement is made without qualification, without pointing to any studies that back it up, and without prefacing it as any sort of opinion. In other words, this reporter Erica Werner, from the AP, is stating fantasy as fact. I could be kind and suggest that she's just too intellectually lazy to bother researching the CSPI press releases she uncritically regurgitates, but lazy reporting sucks, and so I don't think she deserves kindness.

Jackbooted Thugs revisited...
Okay, yeah, I know it was the BATF that got called a bunch of jack-booted thugs, and they rightfully deserved it. The FBI should have it tattooed on their foreheads though, as this piece in TalkLeft about the wrongful conviction of Salvati makes clear.

We no longer can trust our government or law enforcement agencies to protect us. We can no longer depend on the presumption of innocence. Nor does actual innocence protect you from the ravages of the law.

Joseph Salvati, Steven Hatfill, Wen Ho Lee, Richard Jewell, David Koresh, Randy Weaver, and every other person who has been targeted by our justice (with a small J) department for the wrong reasons, especially to protect beaureaucratic posteriers, my heart goes out to you.

If everyone gets what they deserve in Hell, Hoover and the rest of the FBI will be spending all eternity trying to tread water in a 12 foot deep sea of shit. With sharks in it. And swarms of mosquitoes and big black flies. And its hot. Good luck boys.

Swift Poetic Justice
Charles Johnson was kind enough to post this lovely piece by Claire Berlinski. It's worth reading by anyone...fans of Swift or not.

You mean I can't trust the government?
Instapundit links to an excellent article in TechCentralStation that makes the rather obvious point that, while obesity levels may be rising, a lot of the blame can be laid at the feet of the government and their food pyramid. They have, after all, been telling us to eat lots of starchy high-carb foods for years... despite evidence that that's an excellent way to make you fat.

Garbagemen in defense of Good Taste
California will never cease to amaze me. My sister used to try to talk me into moving out there with her, (thankfully she's switched coasts, and now wants me to move to Florida) but I always declined. There must be something in the water. Or maybe living on a huge fault line does something to your psyche. But when garbage men have to explain to the state that putting a sticker saying "don't throw your baby away" is in poor taste, you know the state has truly lost its sanity.

Letting women know that there is a way for them to surrender their unwanted children with no legal consequences may be a decent and noble goal; hopefully it will reduce the number of infanticides. However, there are much better ways to get the word out than to paste such tacky stickers all over the city's dumpsters. If we're going to do that, maybe as a public service announcement we could also force all girls under the age of 18 to wear signs saying "please don't knock me up and leave me to face the consequences on my own, or rape me, or otherwise abuse me." We'd be getting closer to the source of the problem, after all.

Win some, you lose some...
The students at UNC Chapel Hill who objected to being assigned a study of islam have lost their suit. The summer reading class will be allowed to stand.

Well, you win some, you lose some... and I'd be more upset, but the above article states something that previously wasn't pointed out in any of the news accounts I've seen before: this isn't actually a graded assignment. You can ignore it completely if you wish, it won't hurt you. Therefore, even if the college is saying its required, since it doesn't hurt you to ignore it, and there's already an alternative assignment for you, I no longer care. Students' religious freedom seems to be adequately protected in this instance.

I just hope there are a couple of folks in those study discussions who will actually speak straight, and start a good debate.

Kick Ass!
Judo Club Members Beat Up Carjacker

Crazy women with knives...
I pulled this article titled Apology For Death of Schizophrenic off of the Washington Post this morning, and it just really ticks me off. A certified lunatic is allowed by her family to wander the streets, unmedicated. She steals a shopping cart, and the police are called in, because she's threatening the grocery store employees with an eight inch knife. The police attempt non-lethal force, so the crazy bitch moves to throw the knife at one of the cops. So they shoot her. Gee wiz, sorry she's dead, but its your own damn fault.

If someone is crazy, and wielding a knife, they're more dangerous than someone who is sane, and wielding a knife. You can't reason too well with a nutjob, after all. If you know one of your relatives in your care is crazy, and refuses to take medication, then watch her, goddamn it. Allowing a dangerous crazy woman to roam the streets unsupervised is gross negligence on your part, and shows a distinct lack of concern for both the safety of said crazy woman, and innocent bystanders.

So this family has filed a 25 million dollar lawsuit against the police department for this woman's death, even though the shooting was ruled justified, and the officers will not face any charges. I say the police department should counter-sue for gross negligence, elder-abuse, abuse of the insane, and keeping a public safety hazard. I have zero sympathy with this womans family whatsoever, having had to deal with a paranoid psychotic in my own. You take care of your own.

What a Nice Man

To Hell with Dieting.... How do I GAIN weight?
Whenever I get stressed out, I lose my appetite. This isn't good, because I typically register as 'underweight' by government standards to begin with. When I'm happy and healthy, I generally weigh in around 115 (which is thin for 5'4" but not obscenely so). This past week has been such hell though, that I've dropped 10 pounds and now clock in at a measly 105. I feel like the incredible shrinking woman. I want to eat, but when I'm upset, I can't. I have to try and cram calories into myself however I can manage, just so I won't pass out from lack of food. I switched from water to coke classic this morning, just for those extra 250 calories.

So thank goodness CSPI hasn't succeeded in their boneheaded campaign yet to tax high fat/high sugar foods. Without these foods, when I'm stressed out, I'd end up in the hospital. Without access to high-fat, no carb food like meat, there would be more diabetics on insulin, since they'd have trouble affording an atkins based diet.

Let people make their own food decisions. The lefty health-food diet isn't necesarily the best one for everyone. If I ate nothing but the crap they promoted, I'd be in the hospital for anorexia.

... regarding public schools, and the concept that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it...
Never try to teach a pig to sing.
It wastes your time, and it annoys the pig.
(loosely quoted) Heinlein

"Sometimes, when friends and family tell you something, it doesn't really register, so it helps to hear it from a complete stranger. You're fat." - Oliver Platt, "Lake Placid"

Don't forget they're the demographic with the highest amount of disposable income in our nation...
Okay... so maybe Isntapundit is a mite bit vicious in this post regarding our beloved senior citizens voting bloc, but I love it.

Good to know you're listening guys...
Back in July, I got myself all worked up over a nasty little measure in the Corporate Accountability and Fraud Act that would have made the attempt of any federal crime, a federal crime, punishable by the same sentence as actually committing the offense.

I was concerned enough about it, that I wrote both my congressmen and my representative. A day later the measure was yanked.

Yesterday, I opened my mailbox, and lo and behold, Warner and Wolfe had actually deigned to reply to me! I got a lovely form letter back from each of them, assurring me that they share my concerns over corporate fraud, and that they're doing everything in their power to get the Corporate Accountability and Fraud act passed, to protect everyday americans like me.

Gee its reassurring to know that:
1. Wolfe and Warner share the same form letters for responses to their constituents.
2. Neither they or their staff actually read letters from their constituents. It's apparent to me that whoever sent out the response scanned for keywords and found Corporate Accountability in my note, so mailed back the appropriate form letter.
3. Our government will waste the time and money necessary to mail a four page form letter back to me to assure me that they're listening to my concerns, when the letter screams that they most definitely are not. I'd rather they cut costs by just sending out post cards saying "Got your letter. Won't do anything about it. Thanks for writing."

Dr. Death Has Entered the Building
Today's Washington Times commentary page, carried a piece by Michelle Malkin titled "The life and death of Patrick Chavis"

A stunningly sad example of why affirmative action programs aren't in the national best interest.

With Friends Like These...
... why does the U.S. need Afghanistan as an enemy when we have Saudi Arabia as our 'ally'?

Setting aside the lack of moral clarity involved in supporting a brutally repressive religious dictatorship that treats women as worse than possessions, the Saudis are not our friends. Osama bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia. 15 of the 9-11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is currently keeping U.S. citizens who are legally adults in their country against their will, because they are women and have to have a male's permission to leave. Saudi Arabia funds homicide bombers and the families of deceased homicide bombers (and if you think that the only people who have to worry bout that are the jews, think again.) Saudi Arabia publishes loonies like David Duke. They have no civil or religious rights to speak of. Saudi Arabia is ruled by a relgion that preaches that christians and jews are worse than pigs or dogs and that the only way they can achieve paradise is for muslims to kill or convert all non-muslims. Religion of (Rest In) Peace is about the best you can say for it.

Even the Police 'Get It'. Why doesn't Congress?
What a headline. In today's Washington Post, found the following article off the AP News Feed Nevada Police Back Legalizing Pot Turns out the Nevada conference of Police and Sheriffs (the largest organization for police in the state) voted 9-0 to support Nevada's ballot initiative to legalize possession of marijuana. This initiative is unique in that there isn't any attempt to hang a justification like 'medical use' on it. People just understand that marijuana really isn't a harmful drug compared to heroin, cocaine, pcp, and alcohol.

Wrestling as Opera
Since I am just sitting around, twiddling my thumbs... allow me to explain why I love the WWE.

World Wrestling Entertainment is widely derided as violent, mindless drivel, that is obviously faked. People associate wrestling fans with white-trash trailer park denizens. But I was raised in an upper-middle class home, did very well in school, and now have a very well-paid job. I eat sushi, rent foreign films, and every Monday and Thursday night, I plop my ass down in front of the TV and I turn on Raw or Smackdown!

Wrestling is modern American opera. Try watching an espisode with that analogy in mind, and you'll see exactly what I mean. Melodramatic plot-lines involving betrayal of friendships and loyalties. Glitter and sequined costumes. Fireworks! Instead of singing (although they do that sometimes, as well) they dance. You can't really call wrestling fighting since there's a predetermined outcome, only the most gullible will argue otherwise, and the moves themselves are choreographed and rehearsed. But what moves! These wrestlers performs stunts that would make a gymnast jealous. Watch Rey Mysterio fly through the air during a match, and you'll see what I mean.

Yes, its escapist entertainment, and its pretty juvenile. But its so much fun to watch!

Welcome to the Department of Redundancy Department of Redundancy
It's 9pm at night and I'm at work. I don't have any real objection to working extra hours (although I can always find something better to do) but I'm a software tester, and I'm not testing software right now, I'm watching them install it.

This bugs me. I just spent nearly two months busting my ass and losing weekends to make sure that this stupid code is perfect. Then, we performed dry runs of the installation - TWICE - to make sure that the database and server folks can do their job correctly. I'm fine with watching those. But what's the point of doing all that testing in the first place if, here I am, on a Wednesday night, sitting around on my hands waiting for the chance to tell my database administrator "yep, that script you wrote two months ago, that I thoroughly tested out, and that we've installed twice already, well, yep, its worked for the zillionth time. Can I go home now?"

Lies, damned Lies and Statistics, and Journalists!
*sigh* The school voucher issue has always been one I pay attention to, namely because, in the absence of freedom from government interference in my child's education, I want an escape route at the least.

The Supremes declared school vouchers that allow children to attend religious as well as non-sectarian private schools was constitutional. Go them! Unfortunately, there a lot of folks, namely democrats and their journalists that still don't get it. And they report the news in such a way as to try and make sure no one else gets it, either.

Take Exhibit A: This AP News article I pulled from the Washington Post this morning titled "AP Poll Tracks Support For Vouchers." The opening paragraph is disengenious enough to really tick me off:

Americans tend to favor the idea of school vouchers that help send low income children to private or parochial schools, says an Associated Press poll, at least until they hear that could decrease the money available for public schools.

Then support dwindles rapidly.

Well... the AP newsfeed was kind enough to also publish an article explaining how they arrived at their poll results. The actual question people responded to was:

Would you support or oppose that [school vouchers for lower income kids] if it meant there would be less money for the public schools?

Little bit different spin there, folks. The poll asked about IF, the article cites it as if the issue was WHEN. The fact is, since money is allotted to public schools based on the number of children attending, and the amount of school vouchers is roughly half of what each school receives in funding per child, public schools DO NOT RECEIVE LESS MONEY IF A STUDENT TAKES A VOUCHER. In point of fact, when a student takes a voucher, the school is essentially getting an extra two thousand dollars, without having to take on an extra student.

The reason public schools are so opposed to vouchers is that they have a quite justifiable fear that parents would herd their children out of those crappy public schools in droves if they could. And the teachers are right, parents would. And oh no! That would mean that public school teachers might actually have to teach and get results in order to stem the tide of students escaping their greedy brainwashing clutches.

I Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!
Rand Simberg links to this gruesome story of a lion attacking a pair of lovers in the woods.

The first thing that popped into my head when reading it? "Was her name Thisbe?"

I know that's not exactly how the story goes, but its still pretty messed up. Two young lovers meet in the woods, a lion attacks, man runs away, comes back to find his girlfriend dead. So that doesn't follow Pyramus and Thisbe exactly... but its still pretty freaky.

Life imitates Shakespeare.

... you mean they AREN'T our friends??
Eugene Volokh comments on the Washington Post article that says the Saudis are not our friends.

Well. What a shock. Right? Ha!

In any case, I only take exception to the following comment: I don't insist, by the way, that all foreign countries adopt U.S. rules regarding free speech -- and given that Saudi Arabia is surely no haven for free inquiry, not that much freedom would be lost if the Saudi government added yet another category to the speech that they suppress. But there are limits, both moral and, much more importantly, practical to the Saudi government's power here, and to our power to make demands on the Saudis. And "stop[ping] all anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli statements in the country" is well beyond those limits.

Well that may be the case, but the newsmedia in Saudi Arabia is owned and controlled by the Saudi government. And right now, its full of blood-libels against jews and anti-US hatred. They publish David Duke as a guest columnist. Let me repeat myself: the Saudis control their media. The Saudis actively publish anti-semitic and anti-american propoganda. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable for our country to ask their country to pay more than lipservice to the idea that they're our friends. If they want to come across as our friends, they'd do a better job of it if they didn't publish articles (not even opinion pieces) claiming that jews drink palestinian baby blood and the jews control the US government and we're all just apes and pigs under infidel control.

not to mention the fact that 15 of the hijackers were saudis....

Who says we're the weaker sex?
A judge up in Philly overturned a previous judge's temporary injunction to prevent a woman from having an abortion that was brought at her boyfriend's request.

I'm fine with the decision wether or not to have a baby resting soley with the mother. Everyone is always screaming 'my body my choice.' Fine. Your body, your choice. I'm not arguing it. However, don't you think its just a little bit unfair that if your boyfriend knocks you up, you get to decide how he's going to live for the next 18 years of his life? If its a hassle for you, no problem, you can just get an abortion. You can get an abortion even if your boyfriend very badly wants to keep the baby and is offering to take full custody of the child.

But if your boyfriend doesn't want to be a daddy yet? Tough luck. Men have all the responsibilities of parenthood, but none of the rights. Its grossly unfair.

If women want the sole responsibility for wether or not they carry a child to term, then they should have sole responsibility for the child, period. Don't come after the father after the fact and insist that he pony up the dough to support your sentimental mistake. You wanted it, you keep it. Keep on telling yourself its your choice, but remember that you have to live with it.

yes. Yes! YES!!
Today, the Washington Times published an editorial I've been wishing to see ever since I first got my drivers license. It's titled: Move Over, Slowpoke and truer words were ne'er spoken.

... especially if you live in the DC area. I don't know what it is about the drivers around here, but there are positively hordes of self-appointed speeding regulators who will not only drive 55 in the ultra-fast lane, but will actually pull into said lane when they see me come zooming down the road in excess of the speed limit. Why they care if I speed escapes me. That they do it, though, is the sole reason I don't keep my gun in my car. The sheer rudeness, lack of grace, coordination or logical direction of Virginia and Maryland drivers would end up landing me behind bars were I to keep a gun in my car.

Really, though, I'm not even asking you to move over. I can deal with passing you. Just maintain a steady speed if you're going to be an ass like that, and don't stomp on the gas when you realize traffic is passing you by. Is that too much to ask?

"What if I don't believe in the GDP?"