> > 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......
>

I spend a lot of time in California and I've noticed that it's easy to get Californians talking about state politics. I think I understand why.

You brought up a subject that drives me a little wild. People really do judge other people by their appearance. My daughter who lives near Atlanta is a beautiful blonde(I have to say that because I'm her father, but it's true.). Her husband is a rather dark-skinned Peruvian. Both are highly intelligent and well educated. They go to buy a car and they are treated like they are stupid. Some people can't believe that a blonde has any sense. They think that Latinos just got off the boat. They think blacks are inferior. And if you have grey hair, like me, they think your mind is gone. It isn't just Atlanta. I've seen it everywhere.

I went into a jewelry store in a mall in Knoxville and couldn't get waited on because I was wearing work clothes. I went home and put on a suit and they fell all over me trying to make a sale. I wasted their time for a while and didn't buy anything. Haven't been back since. I love doing stuff like that.
Howard