Breathalyzer tests at high school sporting events

“The school will continue its supervisory approaches into the playoffs and we hope to see both new fans and the die-hards in the stands. The administration will also bring a breathalyzer to the games and privately screen any students suspected of being under the influence (hopefully, we won't have to administer the test),” Richards wrote.

The principal also cited a state high school rule that bans face painting and other behavior at games. "The MIAA does not permit face painting, signs, noise makers, hat throwing, bare midriffs, and other behaviors or items that may distract the players or referees,'' Richards wrote.

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Pseudo-authority figures like teachers and local education administrators have no idea what to do with kids, so they come up with rules to suppress behaviors - like no face-painting, and violating Constitutional rights by bringing Breathalyzer machines to games.

The fact is, face-painting and a few drunk teenagers at a hockey game are not big problems that need to be solved by school administrators. They worry because they hear about and know what kids are doing on their spare time away from school, and most of them know the parents don't really care all that much or aren't aware of the major issues facing their kids. Then there's always teachers and principals who simply feel the need to flex authoritative muscle for the sake of it - passive-aggressive bullies who like to feel important. What can a school administrator do except token gestures like this, which only make the students resent all authority?

The focus needs to be on increasing standards within the institution, coming up with better ways to facilitate education, and not pandering to bratty children and their parents. Anything else is window dressing, and in cases like this, are elements of a child's life in which educators have no business.

Check out this blog

Go here:

http://perkinsincostarica.blogspot.com/

My brother in law is in Costa Rica with WorldTeach and his blog is linked above. Much respect, because he's on a journey many of us - myself included - could never imagine. Building houses in the rain and mud for poor families; teaching great young minds who need the care and attention of a great teacher on a daily basis; breaking social barriers and living without a cell phone or McDonald's close by for a year or more...again, can you imagine yourself in a mountain in Costa Rica teaching villagers? I thought not.

I don't think it's a fair comparison, so view this as more a correlation, but if you look at poor villages in Europe, you see what many of us actually came from. Anyone of southern Italian, Spanish, Czech, French, even German & Polish descent - many of these immigrants were poor and our great grandfathers came over during the Great Depression or some other time of crisis, looking for work. Imagine if your great grandfather had stayed behind and was maybe ten times as poor as he was back in his village in Europe, which had the benefit of thousands of years of Roman and Greek society behind it? Then you might get an idea of what Dan is dealing with in Costa Rica today. No Wal-Mart; no PDAs; no distinction between Apple or Microsoft (THE HORROR!).

While I'm definitely against overpopulation and world governments throwing money at problems, this type of direct assistance being provided by Dan & his fellow volunteers strengthens my view that private organizations do a much better job than any government ever could in terms of assistance. It also strengthens my view that people should and could be helped directly by giving of time & money versus sending boxes of air-dropped food and drugs to, say, Africa, and then watching as corrupt governments cash in on that aid.

What the US government does, while patting itself on the back, is throw money, drugs, or food at a problem and says, "have fun". They don't actually build anything, but they waste our taxpayer money on looking good to the rest of the world, while simultaneously giving guns and ammo to horrible allies like Israel, our "American in the Middle East".

Dan, however, is actually building something for families and watching as their situation gets just a little better. That family will have a much better view of America and Americans as a result, especially compared to the Palestinian grandfather who can still remember when Israel was called Palestine and he and his family weren't living in concentration camps. This grandfather has probably seen one son or grandson "accidentally" murdered by Israeli military strikes, and another one angry enough and stupid enough to join a terrorist organization as payback.

There's aid which only upholds the corrupt regimes we claim to fight in this country, and then there's aid that actually does something of value. Dan is doing a great job writing about how much more effective the latter can be.

New Corrupt.org project

I shared with my fellow Corrupt.org writers the fact that I'll be a father soon (woo hoo!). Before I realized my wife was pregnant, I already had some pretty strong feelings on parenthood. I was very fortunate to have a mother at home when I was young and never had to be sent to day care. I feel I'm a better person because I had great parents who were there for me. I also believe family planning in this society we view as so "enlightened" is piss-poor these days. I see too many children being coddled, oversocialized on the playground & undersocialized within their own families, or just plain plopped in front of a television. Life is far too precious - okay, I know, let me be corny for just a minute - to waste it on day care providers and DVD producers. Even day care providers I know are horrified at the age at which some parents drop their kids into their arms to raise.

The reason I bring Corrupt.org into this is because I brought this issue to Corrupt.org. We brainstormed how we could try to get more family-type posts and Alex at Corrupt wanted me to start a series of "Family" columns. I told him I'm no expert and wouldn't want to make it preachy, since I just found out I'll be a Dad in six months or so. He told me to just use what I know of Corrupt.org's mission as well as my own writing style to formulate a series of posts centering on what is wrong with today's ideas of parenting & what I feel is a better way.

I'm up to the challenge, and a couple of posts have already been published. The column can be seen at the below link. Enjoy!

http://www.corrupt.org/blogs/frank_azzurro/family/

Corrupt.org parody video: "The Idiot Effect"

Excellent video parody of "The Girl Effect" video series by Nike.

This parody brought to you by the usual suspects - Corrupt.org!

This symbolizes adequately what I'll be teaching my kid(s) to avoid.

Whole foods are always a better option

What is it about this recession that is making us obsessed with food? Half of the country wants to dig its way out of misery, preferably on allotments from the National Trust. The other half is flocking to McDonald's, Greggs and Domino's Pizza, which are reporting surging sales. Kentucky Fried Chicken is planning to create 9,000 jobs.

The junk-food boom is being portrayed as evidence of hard times. Maybe. But I can pick up a pizza in Tesco for half what I pay at Domino's. I can make my family dinner for less than the £10 family bucket that KFC is so proud of. Joanna Blythman, in her wonderful book Bad Food Britain, points out that poverty has spawned some of the world's greatest cuisines, like that of southern Italy. But these are based on fresh, local ingredients. We Brits seem addicted to our comforting, effortless jumbles of water, fat, sugar and additives. We consume half of all the crisps and ready meals in Europe.

Most of us are confused. We bleat about animal welfare, but shun the pricey local butcher in favour of meat that may or may not have ever seen a daisy. We balk at paying for raw ingredients, but readily cough up for extortionate ready meals. We spend hours watching TV chefs but apparently only 13 minutes on average making a meal - down from one hour in 1980. Thirteen minutes is about the time it takes to unwrap an overpackaged pie, wait for it to cook and boil up some frozen veg. (I know this because I retain a deep childhood nostalgia for Fray Bentos).

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Different country, same idea.

In the US, I'd be willing to bet that McDonald's and all the other fast-food places are doing very well. The reason for that? Well, these are tough times, why not spend $7 or so for a meal instead of spending the time to cook it? Most families are two-income now, so when times get tough, it's not just about the money, it's about the time investment in cooking and preparing vs. buying ready-made meals.

This causes health problems down the line, and we seem to be ignoring that as a culture. Health food as snobbery is nothing new; that goes back to the 1960s, and its most recent and familiar incarnation was in the 1980s - yogurt, jogging, salads, etc. We've replaced that in the new millenium with organic products, which has now spurned an industry of "green" products - that still come in plastic bottles or have mercury, like those "green" light bulbs everyone loves so much, and do more damage to the environment than before.

Even two bags of groceries at a place that sells mostly organic products, like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, will yield a bill of $40-$50 for two people. Most of that food - hopefully - is fresh, so it has to be consumed within a week, and then it's back to the grocery store for more staples.

Where's the benefit in this, besides the obvious health benefits?

The benefit is that if $40-$50 feeds two people with fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and maybe even some dried but unsalted and unprocessed snacks for the better part of a week (think a $5.00 bag of dry, raw almonds), you're only spending about $5 a day EACH to eat. Throw in some meat and, okay, you might be talking $7 a day each. If you go to McDonald's, you get a crappy meal for $7, and you're left wanting more because the food is designed to make you more thirsty and even more hungry for the same type of junk.

Do your body a favor and stick to as many fresh greens, carrots, peppers, and fruits like mango, orange, pears, and bananas as possible. Make fruit smoothies, boil instead of fry unless using extra virgin olive oil. The one-time hit to your wallet each week will seem like a lot, but if you're going to a discount grocery store for processed crap AND eating out at places like McDonald's, you're spending more money to put more chemicals into your body than it can handle.

Don't believe me? Have fun with that diabetes.

New Automotive blog

I've decided to start a new automotive blog, at the following link:

http://drivingenthusiast.blogspot.com

This blog is not for mechanics or DIY-experts. We have plenty of forums for things like that. This is mainly to discuss luxury import vehicles, though that's not to say I won't be writing about some of the better American offerings here and there. I may even have a second author enlisted if he has time to post.

The point is to give some general ideas and thoughts to new passenger vehicles. Will I occasionally write about F1 racing, Ferraris, over-$100K cars, etc.? Sure, but most of it will focus on cars that most people can afford if they buy used and only a few years old.

The direction of the blog will undoubtedly change over time, just as this one has. While it's tempting to rewrite history and export some of my car posts from this blog into my new blog, I think I'd rather get a fresh start and worry about linking to past car posts here and at Corrupt.org at a later date.

Enjoy!

Fiat takes stake in Chrysler

Chrysler, best known for its Jeep and minivan models, has been hurt by its reliance upon slow-selling trucks and sport utility vehicles and analysts have said it may not survive the year as an independent company despite receiving a $4 billion government loan late last year.

The company was hit especially hard by last year's industrywide drop in North American auto sales. Its sales plunged 53 percent in December and it posted a 30 percent drop for 2008.

Nardelli said the partnership would provide a return for taxpayers on the loan, "securing long-term viability of Chrysler brands," boosting consumer confidence and "preserving American jobs."

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Chrysler refuses to die. The government bailed them out with $1billion in the late 70s, they need more bailout money now while Ford sits by and watches, and now they need yet another partnership from a European company to save them. Chrysler is a macrocosm of people in our society: neurotic and constantly looking for a savior to bail them out.

To Nardelli's credit above, though, he's correct in that the only way to boost confidence and preserve American jobs is through businesses sorting this stuff out for themselves. The economy is receding; we should let it continue to recede until it's done, then allow it to grow back naturally - and don't forget organically. The big joke this week is that the dollar is recovering, so all the hyperinflation nonsense goes out the window. Don't misunderstand strength for deflation, which, in fact, IS closely followed by hyperinflation.

Let's hope Fiat follows through with its plan to sell Fiat models in the US for the first time in nearly 30 years. Once their models begin to outshine those of Chrysler, Fiat should spin off Jeep into its own company and kill Chrysler for good, rebadging the entire company as Fiat Automotive.