[Previous entry: "Microsoft rant of the week"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Wurlitzer"]

03/19/2004 Archived Entry: "Bluffing?"

Bluffing am I?! I see Brad's Firesign Theatre clip and raise him a Monty Python -- specifically, his favorite "French insult" from The Holy Grail. Hah!

For you Trekkie fans out there "Your Trekkie Communicator Is Ready"...Seriously! Meanwhile, Virgin Airlines is likely to get thoroughly bashed by feminists. Why?The New York Post explains, "This is one set of lips you're never going to want to kiss goodbye. A urinal shaped like the puckered-up mouth of a woman waiting to be kissed is being installed in the men's room of the newly-opened Virgin Airways Clubhouse at Kennedy Airport. " No, no...I'm serious! Do you think I could make this stuff up? Oh well...here's the daily dose of intentionally funny items: Doonesbury's latest cartoon "Laura's Thing"; and, Walt Handelsman's "Disappeared". Enjoy!

This week's Liberty Action, brought to you courtesy of Mary Lou Seymour, is "Just say no to Student Drug Testing." The following is a combination of my synopsis and quotations from Mary Lou's original piece.

"The June 2002 Supreme Court decision in Pottawatomie vs. Earls (.pdf) opened the door to random drug testing for students in our public schools (middle and high school) who wish to participate in extra-curricular activites." The reasoning: such students had a "reduced expectation of privacy" and, so, the Fourth Amendment didn't apply. The school "did not need to demonstrate an existing drug problem in order to justify a drug testing policy." This ruling - along with Bush's State of the Union call for more funds for student drug testing - are behind the recent slew of media stories about police in high school corridors, searching for drugs. Civil libertarians "argue that drug testing is not only an invasion of privacy, but also ineffective, as well as parenting groups, who believe that giving the gov't involved in these issues is an unwarranted intrusion into family life and undermines parental authority and the relationship between parents and children."

The White House is pushing its Nationwide Student Drug Testing Agenda at Four Regional Summits, which consist of free workshops with titles like "Current Drug Testing Technology" and "Current Legal Issues." Two summits have occurred, in Chicago (March 16) and in Fresno (March 18). Two will occur in shortly, in Atlanta (March 25) and in Denver (April 8). "To register for one of these `summits', go to the http://www.cmpinc.net/dts/ ONDCP online registration site and login?. Going to the March 25 or April 8 `summit' and voicing your opposition to mandatory random drug testing is an important action you can take."

Other ways to get involved in this issue include:
---print out the flier (.pdf) at The Drug Policy Alliance and circulate it
---print out the poster and put it up where it will be seen
---use the samples and write a letter to the editor
---circulate a petition of protest among parents
Another source of posters and ideas is the site Common Sense for Drug Policy.

"For info on parents and grandparents who have stood up for their children's privacy rights?see "Parents' Stories" at the Drug testing Fails our Youth website, and, if you have a story to share, send it in! (If you're interested in writing LTEs or Op-Ed articles, The Media Awareness Project (MAP) has an excellent resource guide, with sample LTEs, tips on writing and getting published and resource directories.) ....For more information on student drug testing, see the ACLU's `A test you can't study for' and the booklet `Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No' from the Drug Policy Alliance and ACLU."