More Nanny-State Nightmares: NC Lunch Inspector Declares 4 Year-Old’s Bag Lunch Substandard; Gives Her Chicken Nuggets
At a North Carolina preschool, the lunch inspector (warning bell ringing loudly) inspected the contents of a 4 year-old’s home-packed lunch and declared it did not meet the USDA’s guidelines for a “healthy” lunch. They supplied her with a school-manufactured “healthy” lunch from which the child ate three chicken nuggets. Oh, and they also supplied [...]
Zero-Tolerance Idiocy: Atlanta Teen Punished for Accidentally Bringing 1 1/2″ Knife to School and VOLUNTARILY Reporting It
Earlier this morning, I wrote about how I was a little stumped when it comes to posting things. My father-in-law passed away last week, and the last week has been something of a blur. I figured it would take a couple of days to get back into some kind of groove. I was wrong. All [...]
Zero-Tolerance Idiocy Alert: Gastonia, NC School System
Every time I see one of these examples of zero-tolerance idiocy, I think “gosh, this can’t be that widespread, can it?” Then a few days goes by, and I am proven wrong. It is widespread, and it springs up in (seemingly) the most unlikely places, geography-wise, like Gastonia, NC. Then, I realize most of these [...]
Minnesota Tree Trimmer Prevented from Helping Tornado Victims, AND Fined.
This is the kind of story that just makes you crazy. It’s akin to the zero-tolerance idiocy that you hear about almost every week in our public schools. Well-intentioned (that’s giving them the benefit of doubt), but misguided individuals engage in a patently silly course of action, while keeping their common sense safely tucked away [...]
Zero-Tolerance Idiocy: California School Expels Students for Wearing White T-Shirts
This can’t really be a true ZTI post, because I don’t think the school had a policy against wearing white t-shirts. I think this one was made up on the fly by school principal Ken Lawrence-Emanue, which is -in its own way- even more idiotic. You see, whenever a bunch of white kids get together [...]
Zero Tolerance Idiocy: It Just Keeps Getting Better
Here’s the latest report (unfortunately, it’s another one from Virginia) on just how stupid zero-tolerance policies have become. It’s difficult to understand how school administrators let a rigidly fixed set of rules overtake the application of common sense. Yet, it happens again and again. No, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke. A six-year-old [...]
Zero Tolerance Idiocy: Students Suspended For Oregano Possession
The zero tolerance idiots strike again. These kids were suspended, and face expulsion, for having an “imitation controlled substance.” So, if you have a bag of some inert substance that looks like it might be something that’s prohibited, you get suspended for that, too? What if your actions as a school administrator make you look [...]
Zero Tolerance Patrol: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
In Arvada, Colorado, an 11 year-old boy name “Tim” is being treated for ADD. As part of his therapy, his counselor told him to draw pictures when he gets upset, instead of disrupting the classroom. He followed his counselor’s advice, and got arrested. The school, in this case, actually deserves a little credit, in that [...]
More Zero Tolerance: “Teaching our Young People How to Be Obedient Subjects in a Totalitarian Society”
I’ve posted a couple of stories about the rampant dunce-cappery being committed by school officials enforcing zero tolerance policies. The stories range from the silly to the completely insane. John Whitehead has a piece at the Huffington Post (aside: wonder if he writes for free?) that details even more zero tolerance stupidity, and explains why [...]
More Adventures in Zero Tolerance: People in Authority are Often Idiots
Common sense be damned! We have rules, after all, and every square-peg incident must be driven into a round-hole rule. This time, the dunce-cappery is in Philadelphia: A 7-year-old child allegedly shot a Nerf-style toy gun in hisHammonton, N.J., school Jan. 18. No one was hurt, but the pint-size softshooter now faces misdemeanor criminal charges. Hammonton Police [...]
Zero Tolerance Patrol: Stupid in Virginia
Sigh. Just when you think you’ve already heard the dumbest case ever involving idiotic zero-tolerance policies -BAM!- here comes a topper. Andrew Mikell II, a 14 year-old freshman at Spotsylvania High School, was bored, and looking for something to do. So, during lunch one day, he whips out a tube made from a pen (see [...]
Wow. It’s Tough to Fight Stupid
Just when you think you’ve seen all of the stupid stories about zero-tolerance policies at schools, up pops this gem from Sanford, North Carolina. Ashley Smithwick, a senior at Southern Lee High School, grabbed the wrong lunch bag on the way out the door, and accidentally brought a paring knife with her to school (yes, [...]
Baby Taken by Social Services Because of…Poppy Seed Bagel
Here is, unfortunately, another story about how governments trample on the rights of citizens under the guise of “protecting.” Elizabeth Mort and her partner Alex Rodriguez (no, not that A Rod) were anxiously expecting their first child. On the day before she delivered, Elizabeth made the egregious error of ingesting a poppy seed bagel. Why, [...]
