Loss of Privacy

Armatage Elementary School in Minneapolis has banned touching of any kind after parents complained that some kids were too aggressive.

“Since we cannot have different rules for different children, I have shared with many of the classrooms today [and the rest tomorrow] that touching in any form is no longer acceptable while in school,”

“Unfortunately, we live in a time when actions although honorable can be misconstrued and before you know it, the situation gets out of hand. We want our students to learn how to get along with others as well as learn that there are boundaries that if encroached can feel offensive and even scary.”

No, unfortunately, we live in a time when people pander to anyone who might take something out of context and get all bent out of shape about it.  Play fighting, freeze tag, etc., all help children to learn how to get along with one another socially.  These people need to stop being so politically correct and let children be children.

“The hardest place to supervise is the playground. There’s kids running around everywhere,” Henriksen said in a telephone interview. “They could trip, get hit accidentally with a tetherball or by a jump rope. Things happen.

Oh my God!  We’d better just make them stand still during recess or else an accident might happen.

What this school has now taught children is that touching people and having fun is a bad thing.  Stop treating children like babies.  Let them learn how discretionary decisions are made.  Stop punishing the kids who don’t do anything wrong.  Let them have fun and stop worrying about every damn infinite thing that could possibly happen to a child at school.

Barack Obama is facing large amounts of racism in West Virginia.  It’s not really a surprise to many, but it is a reason people will point to when they say all Americans are stupid.

Check out Metacafe’s short video clip of the ignorant in West Virginia.

When first announced, I said the passport cards for people who make frequent trips to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean were a bad idea.  My opinions appear to have been verified.

Security specialists told The Washington Times that the electronic-passport card can be copied or altered easily by removing the photograph with solvent and replacing it with one from an unauthorized user.

James Hesse, former chief intelligence officer for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Forensic Document Laboratory, which monitors fraudulent government documents, said the card should have been designed with a special optical security strip to make it secure and prevent counterfeiting. The selection of a card with an RFID chip is “an extremely risky decision,” Mr. Hesse said in an interview.

“The optical strip has never been compromised,” he said. “It’s the most secure medium out there to store data.”

I’m sorry Mr. Hesse, this is the American government we’re talking about.  We can’t have anything working properly here.  Our citizens might start expecting competence if we did that.

This guy, Keith, tried to take some photos in LA and ended up harassed by the police for violating the “9/11 law” that no one really seems to know or understand.

Him: Hey! It’s against the 9-11 Law to take pictures down hear man!
Me: You mean the Patriot Act?
Him: No pictures.
Me: Could you explain? What law do you mean?
Him: You are lawyer?
Me: No.
Him: No pictures. You could be a terrorist. Very strict!
Me: How about I take a picture of you?
Him: F**k you…(I couldn’t believe it either)
He then proceeded to huddle in the corner and speak into his radio. Next thing I knew, a booming female voice very loudly announced over the loudspeaker “Attention to the gentleman in the plaid shirt: You are not allowed to take photographs in the Subway. You will be arrested if you continue to take photos and harrass the metro worker.”
I was incensed/surprised/embarrassed/horrified/bewildered. People started staring.
Then the voice continued: “The gentleman in the plaid shirt: You must approach the callbox near the escalators and speak to the sheriff.” I didn’t budge. So she said it again, this time louder…
“Okay” I thought, I’ll play along…I went up to the callbox and pushed the button. A new voice this time, this one male, boomed out and said, “Why are you taking photographs sir?”
Me: “What law am I breaking?”
Voice: “You can’t take pictures sir, we don’t know why you are taking pictures.”
Me: “Well what about the commercials I’ve seen filming down here?”
Voice:” They have permits sir”
Me: “Well maybe I should get a permit, but I really don’t think I need one for taking a cell phone picture…”
Voice (now mockingly): Well maybe you should go and get a permit sir.”
Me: “What law am I breaking, why can’t you tell me? It’s is NOT illegal to take a picture down here.”
Voice: “It is in this station.” Then silence. He hung up.

Similar incidents are happening elsewhere and we should never put up with it.

If you decide that you want to have a few extra beers in your fridge, don’t go to Tesco to buy it with your children. Tesco has now banned parents from buying alcohol, even when they are with their own children.

Parents shopping with their own children are being refused alcohol by over-zealous supermarket staff – for fear they are supplying drink to minors.

Workers have been told not to serve adults accompanied by children in the latest crack-down on underage drinking.

However diligent shop staff are applying the letter of the law and refusing to serve parents who are on weekly shopping trips with their children.

What a stupid policy! You can’t revert to off-license laws because you will still have the same problem. Do you leave your kid in the car or home alone while you go purchase your alcohol? Then you have social services coming to visit you. Off-license or not, you can still purchase alcohol and give it to a kid later, outside the store or at home. Forcing people to purchase it alone isn’t going to change any of these situations.