Posted on March 7th, 2007 by Stephanie
A lot of schools test students for drugs these days. So do some parents, as drug tests are quite easily available. But it may not be that good an idea.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has found, however, that testing has not been shown to have an impact on drug use. They also feel it may generate a feeling of mistrust.
There are two basic problems. The first is that it is easy to get a false positive from eating poppy seeds or from taking certain cold medications. The second is that many drug users know how to defeat the basic tests. There are instructions freely available online. Read more…
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Filed under: Controversial, Education
Posted on March 6th, 2007 by Stephanie
Here in California, Republican State Sen. Bob Dutton and Democrat Sen. Darrel Steinberg have been promoting a bill to give every child born in California, starting in 2008, a $500 savings account. This would have, of course, included the children of illegal immigrants.
The amount of controversy about this bill caused Dutton to cease supporting the bill. Much of the outcry had to do with the children of illegals getting money. To me, it makes sense to give the money to all citizens, regardless of the citizenship of the parents.
That said, I don’t think children of illegals should be citizens automatically. That may have once made sense, but these days it does not. And if you look at other countries, we are highly unusual in making birth in this country an easy way to become a citizen. Read more…
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Filed under: Controversial, Politics
Posted on March 3rd, 2007 by Stephanie
The comment just wasn’t that funny, honey. I don’t care how much the audience laughed when you joked that you’d call John Edwards a faggot if it weren’t for the fact that you’d have to go into rehab for using that word. The “joke” is frankly offensive and childish.
Garbage like that is a symptom of the problem with mainstream politics today, and Ann Coulter is one of the most lowest practitioners of it. She loves saying that people are gay.
What, is she in the fourth grade or something? Read more…
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Filed under: Controversial, Politics
Posted on March 2nd, 2007 by Stephanie
Ohio is considering issuing green license plates to habitual, child-oriented sexual offenders. It’s an interesting concept, and really gets into whether or not habitual offenders ought to be labeled in some way. The Scarlet Letter
immediately came to my mind upon reading this. Except the crime is far more horrendous.
Ohio already has a similar law in place for repeat drunken drivers to have a yellow tag on their license plate, so this is at least consistent for the state. Read more…
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Filed under: Controversial, Politics
Posted on March 1st, 2007 by Stephanie
“Rabbit season!” “Duck season!” That old cartoon argument immediately comes to mind when I see people arguing about which candidate is best, who should run, etc. So much of what is said in politics boils down to arguments that really aren’t much better than the one between Bugs and Daffy. Lots of noise, little care for facts.
Politics is often a dirty business. These days pretty much any politician is getting money from someone. Even companies claiming to offer nonpartisan information are often really geared toward making one side or the other look better. There is little care for reality.
Election season means hearing both sides even more so than usual calling each other liars. That’s easy for them to do, as there are plenty of lies from each so far as I can tell. The cries of “traitor” are more annoying, since I do not believe either Republicans or Democrats really have any intention of making things easier for terrorists. They simply have different ideas as to what the solution is. Read more…
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Filed under: Controversial, Musings, Politics
Posted on March 1st, 2007 by Stephanie
I just read about one of those tragedies that should have been very, very preventable if only this country worked harder on providing coverage for the poor. A young man in Maryland died due to a brain infection that was the result of a tooth abscess.
Health coverage in the United States for the poor is not very good at all. Medicaid helps some, but it can be hard to get care, especially dental care. Many dentists are simply reluctant to deal with the low payments they get for caring for Medicaid patients and the amount of paperwork involved. It’s frankly horrible. Read more…
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Filed under: Health and Fitness, Politics
