Safety in Stupidity?
I recently read about a school board which forced a local high school band to cancel its hard-earned (and already paid-for!) trip to New York for a music festival and competition due to "safety considerations." No matter that these kids have undoubtedly a much greater chance of getting run over while walking to school than ever being victims of a terrorist attack.

Indeed, I fear moron school board members and parents in our society far more than not having enough duct tape on hand. Really. The bottom line is that these school board idiots should be forced to take (or, as the case may be, retake) elementary classes in both Logic and Statistics.Truly Loco Parentis:
One of my buddies has been threatened with the removal of her state college scholarship because one of her RA's found three beers in her dorm efrigerator. I realize that this insanity is based upon our asinine federal minimum-drinking-age law, but wouldn't you think that colleges have better things to enforce?

Despite token wrist-slaps on fraternities, the vast majority of actually dangerous behavior (alcohol poisoning, date raping) continues at their parties unpunished, though certainly not unnoticed. Why are these bastions of, ahem, unacademic exclusivity allowed to flourish on most campuses while college administrators ban orderly and friendly wine-and-cheese-with-faculty dorm parties?

On a broader level, why does our federal government continue to support policies, such as a minimum drinking age, that are laughably flouted and illogical to begin with?

Young men and women typically get a rush from doing what Authority tells them they can't or shouldn't do. This leads to a cat and mouse game in college whereby the majority of alcohol use -- and resultant abuse -- is pushed outside the control and interest of college administrators. Friends are reluctant to take alcohol-poisoned friends to the hospital for fear of school disciplinary or legal sanctions. Underage and barely-of-age girls flock to "forbidden" and "cool" frat parties, often with a low alcohol tolerance combined with low self-esteem leading to quite regrettable consequences.

Things are different in Europe, where minimum drinking age laws are more reasonably drawn and/or loosely enforced. Young kids drink beer and wine with their families, and by the time they get to college, alcohol consumption is no big deal. Sure, there are still huge drunkfests on occasion, but when they happen, they're at least out in the open... rather than behind more-dangerous closed doors.

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I doubt things will ever change in America, however, until people in positions of power have the wisdom and fortitude to question both "safety" and "moral" policies... leading by example rather than by fear.

If only we had a Spock rather than a Shrub for President. Hearing, "Duct tape purchasing and alcohol prohibitions are illogical" might not be the most reassuring, but it'd sure help whip our country back into shape

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