> Did you hear the one about the kid who brought a
starter pistol to school and got kicked out for
the rest of the year under a zero tolerence
policy? I am not making this up. A starter
pistol is used to signal the beginning of a foot
race. It is not a gun. You can tell it is not a
gun from clear across the room. It looks less
like a gun than a toy cap pistol. Next thing you
know they will be kicking kids out for bringing a
whistle or a horn to school. I've said it before
and I'll say it again: Zero tolerence policies
are just something for gutless school board
members to hide behind. Did you hear the one
about the girl who got kicked out for bringing a
cough drop to school? I'm not making this up
either. They said it violated their drug policy.
> I wonder if the parents of these kids have done
something to upset a school board member?
Something like campaign against them.
> No, really, I'm not making any of this up. I
have watched school boards work. You wouldn't
believe what goes on.
> Howard

You know, it's always nice to run into a guy who
shares the same critical opinions of stupid
policies. By the way, if you haven't already,
vote no on propositions 21 and 22. Back to what I
was saying, zero tolerance is stupid. My schools
have so far been able to make distinctions between
"a cough drop and a brick of cocaine" and such,
which allowed me to bring my inhaler when I had
athsma, or some cough syrup or pills when I was
sick. And my friend even got to stay in school
after he was caught with a knife. The head of
school, forutunately, knew him and knew that he
had no intention of using it. He also was allowed
to stay because he told the outright truth when he
was asked, which is an important message.

About the gun part, in Berkeley a year or two ago,
a kid was shot by an officer because he was
holding a Three Musketeers bar, and the officer
mistook the shiny wrapper for a gun. The kid
happened to be wearing baggy pants and a puff
jacket, and of a minority race, making him a
stereotypical gun-toting gangster in the eyes of
that cop.

Um, in creating a more convoluted post, I would
like to talk about prop 21 quickly, with regard to
the preceeding paragraph. Besides the fact that
the proposition would let minors be tried as
adults, and send them to adult prisons (both of
which bad), the proposition was pushed by Pete
Wilson, which is inherently bad. Part of the
proposition would make it legal for a cop to
arrest me for wearing baggy jeans and having dark
skin, on the grounds that I might be affiliated
with a gang in that attire. But it wouldn't apply
to my best friend, who isn't either black or
latino. Basically what I'm trying to say is that
it disgusts me that such a proposition would even
be pushed as far as being written up, and the fact
that it even became a proposition instead of being
shredded and forgetten about really gets to me.

Finchplucker, going off on tangents again......