tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post2440084552089267946..comments2024-03-18T22:27:20.948-04:00Comments on Murder is Everywhere: Zero IntelligenceOvidia Yuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749549092493567689noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-89580882329102116112012-03-14T01:05:37.031-04:002012-03-14T01:05:37.031-04:00Good post. Zero tolerance is abominable. These p...Good post. Zero tolerance is abominable. These poor children who are expelled, with no right to explain themselves, are probably too young to even understand the rules overall, and are caught in something they wouldn't intend to do at all. They're being kids. It sickens me to think of them being expelled. They all need to have an education.<br />And the "three strikes" laws between your examples and others I've seen; it's abominable. There is awful prison overcrowding in California and jails should be for serious, violent crimes, not for taking a video as a holiday gift as the third strike (I've seen this!).<br />Also, people being arrested while driving as they owe a debt and were turned in to police by collection agencies! So they are considered criminals and arrested. Zero tolerance here.<br />And the TSA! I saw two elderly women on the news; they'd been strip-searched at airports by these agents. In their 80's!<br />And people with pacemakers and defibulllators who can't get scanned (and others) who are then misunderstood and mistreated. Like no one thinks that a large X-ray scanner could harm someone with one of these devices. <br />And if someone is concerned or disagrees with the scan for a health reason, the TSA mistreats them.<br />Someone I know had to take off her hoop earrings at an airport and her 2-1/2 year old's sneakers were searched. Really!<br />It does smack of autocracy and moving in an anti-civil liberties direction. Not good.kathy d.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-23232711398651003172012-03-11T19:19:44.356-04:002012-03-11T19:19:44.356-04:00LOL:))LOL:))Jeffrey Sigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00718317707555064653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-85329940475353022892012-03-11T18:12:57.900-04:002012-03-11T18:12:57.900-04:00Hi, all, and thanks for the comments.
Liz, I'...Hi, all, and thanks for the comments.<br /><br />Liz, I'm not entirely sure I know what your response means, but one of the reasons I object to zero tolerance is that is makes little gods out of sometimes-very-limited people, and I'm uncomfortable with godlike powers being given to the relatively unlimited. As the Caesars didn't learn, although Lord Acton did, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.<br /><br />Great TSA story, Stan -- at least your guy had the courtesy to open the regulation book. Most wouldn't have. One of the problems with zero tolerance is that those who act like fools in enforcing it are always defended as having (in the worst phrase of modern times) "behaved appropriately." Because it's zero tolerance, doncha see? Not 1 percent or 10 percent or reasonable explanation tolerance. Zero.<br /><br />Michael, I get the random checks once in a while, too, and at the risk of getting all sorts of people mad, I think they're way too random. They should be targeting people who meet a secret terrorist likelihood profile. I took a flight from NY to LA a few years back with a 72-year-old female television producer, a relatively famous, multiple Emmy winner whose clothing probably cost more than the airplane. Five Middle Eastern males had -- I swear to God -- prayed in the direction of Mecca in the departure lounge about ten minutes before boarding. Of all of us, TSA searched and scanned the producer. Okay, some will say, it's illegal to profile, but you know what? That's insane.<br /><br />Joe, couldn't agree more. I understand the emotional issue behind three strikes, but it's waayyy too Jean Valjean for me. We need judgment and discrimination (the good kind) in the way we administer justice. And educate our children.<br /><br />Lil, spot on. And I hold conservatives and liberals equally responsible for this, in different ways. We're turning into a country of sheep because it's safe to be a sheep. Until a wolf comes along. <br /><br />Jeffrey, amazing story. But we've all known for years how to make a bomb out of cigarette filters. You take three cigarette filters and three sticks of dynamite. Scotch-tape the filters to the dynamite. Light fuse.Timothy Hallinanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00551263887774445511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-48745736859642932842012-03-11T17:31:24.047-04:002012-03-11T17:31:24.047-04:00My wife is a radio reporter. One of the pieces of ...My wife is a radio reporter. One of the pieces of equipment she travels with is a foot-long microphone covered with a foam windscreen.<br /><br />I've spent decades dropping her off and picking her up at airports, but it wasn't until a couple of years ago that we traveled together on an occasion when she was bringing her gear along to cover a story.<br /><br />As we were in the line approaching the screening point, she told me there was a better than fifty-fity chance she'd get pulled out of line after her equipment bag went through the X-ray. A TSA guard would then open and inspect the bag, see there were no weapons, and we'd be free to go.<br /><br />However, she warned me, "Remember, it is a UNI-DIRECTIONAL mike. Do not utter the words 'Shotgun mike,' or we may miss our flight."<br /><br />I believe that (as regards the TSA and so, so much more about our politics and rhetoric and priorities), in future centuries, historians may well refer to the social/political developments our current era as The Stupiding Of America.<br /><br />--LennyLenny Kleinfeldhttp://www.lennykleinfeld.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-10760886015433591152012-03-11T14:11:30.793-04:002012-03-11T14:11:30.793-04:00Years ago, when I was counsel to a citizens' g...Years ago, when I was counsel to a citizens' group responsible for overseeing (somewhat) the NYC correction system, I came across more zero tolerance practices than I care to remember. It was what I like to call the "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest" mentality--absolute power by insulated minds breeds outright craziness over teeny tiny issues.<br /><br />One GP rated example had to do with smoking regulations. Inmates were allowed to smoke, but not filter tip cigarettes. When I asked why that was, the first answer I received was, "It's obvious." <br /><br />Having the power to push (admittedly fun), I received more answers--ranging from "the filters can be used to make explosives" (Hmmm, has TSA somehow missed that?) to "the inmates use the filters to jam the cell locks." And those were the best of the bunch of explanations. <br /><br />I honestly can't remember what ultimately came of that one, for there being so many other battles to fight I wouldn't be surprised if the "filter tip affair" fell between the cracks...in the manner that allows most inane bureaucratic practices to go on and on and on.Jeffrey Sigerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00718317707555064653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-92187078834421507112012-03-11T14:05:39.768-04:002012-03-11T14:05:39.768-04:00The country of rugged individualism no longer tole...The country of rugged individualism no longer tolerates individuals and thinking for oneself. And there are those who would have raised a terrible fuss if the schools hadn't acted as they did. Zero intelligence indeed.lil Glucksternhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09288522126331817172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-35874082360551464012012-03-11T09:13:49.808-04:002012-03-11T09:13:49.808-04:00Another example is, "Three strikes, you'r...Another example is, "Three strikes, you're out." Some poor starving fellow trying to turn his life around gets caught stealing food. Tt is his third strike. He goes to prison for a long time.<br /><br />Some things require human judgment. "Zero tolerance" and "three strikes, you're out" are those kinds of things.Joe Baronehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10275991273751678636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-66155189765850422122012-03-11T08:08:50.559-04:002012-03-11T08:08:50.559-04:00You are spot on as usual, Tim. Another interestin...You are spot on as usual, Tim. Another interesting one is the "random" search and explosives check I usually receive. I have no particular difficulty with it as a security measure other than the pretense. I know enough about statistics to know that it's far from random. It correlates very well with being a foreigner. Welcome to the United States!Michael Sears (of Michael Stanley)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09886295534214542834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-30634401429841695342012-03-11T04:43:17.526-04:002012-03-11T04:43:17.526-04:00The TSA are my favourite people. Another example ...The TSA are my favourite people. Another example along the lines of your toy soldier: a young woman was accosted by the TSA for having a six-shooter embossed on her leather handbag - presumably because it could be used to shoot the embossed people on others'handbags.<br /><br />I travelled around the States last year with Michael and an antique wooden Bushman hunting bow securely taped in a long cardboard box. The TSA at Minneapolis, Boston, Minneapolis again, and Los Angeles all allowed me to bring it on board. At Phoenix a power-hungry TSA officer said I could not bring it on board. Of course, my protestations as to the previous experiences met with a curt rebuke. I asked to see the relevant documentation for the refusal. Eventually the supervisor opened a large tome and pointed to the phrase "bows and arrows". I pointed out that I didn't have any arrows, and that the document should have read "bows, and arrows" for him to deny me boarding with the bow. I fear my grammar lesson did not go down well as I lost the argument. Fortunately the Delta personnel in both Phoenix and Minneapolis were wonderful, hand-carrying the box into the hold, and rescuing it from the hold in Minneapolis, before it was sent through the carousel crusher.<br /><br />The only zero tolerance I support is of the idiots of those who support zero tolerance!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1990338437877873686.post-37073826792115873632012-03-11T03:54:18.628-04:002012-03-11T03:54:18.628-04:00Your answer, were you God?Your answer, were you God?Liznoreply@blogger.com