Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Students Have a Right to Take Medicine

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Let me make this perfectly clear: students have a right to take over-the-counter and prescription medications whenever and wherever their parents permit them to take them. Public schools often claim—under onerous and overreaching ‘zero-tolerance’ drug policies—that parents have to arrange for the school nurse or other official to handle all medicines and provide them to students at specified times and intervals, but this is not the schools’ decision to make. Schools don’t like to admit it, but it is parents who decide what medicines their children may take and when. Period.

It is particularly ludicrous to hear of otherwise well-behaved students finding themselves suspended or expelled for taking cold medicine, pain killers, or—as in the case of one local girl—oral contraceptives. Newsflash to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS): oral contraceptives are not, and never will be, a recreational drug akin to meth or marijuana. We can debate the morality of oral contraceptives for teenagers ad-infinitum, but once again that’s an issue for the parents not for the public schools. But, no matter how you cut it, taking an oral contraceptive in school is not an offense at all, let alone an offense worthy of the same punishment a student would get for taking a handgun to school.

What’s most amazing is that schools spend an incredible amount of time and effort on being a drug dispensary, enforcing a strict ‘no medicine at all except via our dispensary’ policy, reviewing and editing (big-brother style) student publications, assigning hours-upon-hours of pointless busywork, establishing and enforcing pointless and overly-restrictive dress codes, and labeling honest criticism of school policies as dangerous anarchistic activity. Meanwhile, they fail to . . . you know . . . educate their students in any useful, worthwhile way. Does anybody else see this as an insanely improper prioritization of educational effort?

North Korea Launches Rocket

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North Korea, the reclusive totalitarian nation on the Korean peninsula, has launched a rocket suspected to be part of an offensive missile testing program. The North Korean government claims the launch was simply a peaceful launch of a communications satellite. North Korea is known to be developing a nuclear weapons system, and the rocket technology used for this launch is presumed to be easily adaptable and can be used to carry a nuclear payload to the United States and elsewhere.

U.S., South Korean, and Japanese authorities have condemned the launch as a reckless and provocative. The Japanese government requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council for Sunday afternoon to respond to North Korea’s brinkmanship, although it is expected that China—which has veto power on the council—will block any serious condemnation or retaliation against North Korea.

Seeing Through the Economic ‘Message’

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It should surprise nobody that sitting presidents—even those like George W. Bush (R) who publicly deny paying attention to polls—commission polls all the time. Barack Obama (D) is no exception.

There’s nothing wrong with conducting polls, since they can provide valuable insight into how policies and programs are being received by the American people. We must be wary though of politicians using polls for ‘message testing’ to determine the most friendly, acceptable way of communicating a policy. Polls should help politicians to know what their constituents think about the issues of the day, but should not be used to craft a message least likely to be scrutinized and criticized by ‘we the people’.

You see this use of message testing in the continual evolution of economic policy spin. First the government was executing a ‘bailout,’ then a ‘stimulus,’ then a ‘reinvestment’ or ‘recovery.’ They’re all the same, but the last two have been found least likely to rile us up and have become the current words used by the president for the same dangerous economic policies.

Politicians will spin, whatever party or policy they support. Fair enough. We need to be smart enough to see through it. Whether you call it ‘bailout,’ ‘stimulus,’ ‘reinvestment,’ ‘recovery plan,’ or something else, the underlying plan remains equally misguided. Obama—like Presidents Bill Clinton (D), Ronald Reagan (R), and others—has a wonderful way with words, but that’s no reason to let him run roughshod over sound, free market principles.

April Fools Site: Ad-Laden and Obnoxious

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On April Fools Day 2009, Off on a Tangent appeared covered in annoying, obnoxious banner ads. The site carried the following announcement:

New Advertising Policy

As most of you know, I have long had a policy of placing some limited advertising on my site in an effort to cover its operation costs. Unfortunately, this has not covered those costs and Off on a Tangent has operated at a loss throughout its entire existence.

In an effort to reduce my expenses in these tough economic times, I cannot continue to operate this web site at a loss. As such, I’m adjusting my advertising a bit in hopes that the site will start bringing in enough cash to at least pay for its own annual hosting. If not, I may end up having to shut down (unless the government is willing to offer me a bailout!).

Thanks for your support and patience. Please let me know if you find the new advertisements to be too distracting!

Click to see how it all looked.

In Tough Times, Americans Hoarding Starbucks Coffee

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In these tough economic times, one business is doing extraordinarily well: Starbucks.

The premium coffee shop, known for charging more than $3 for a simple cup of coffee, has found itself struggling to keep pace with drastically increased demand as more and more Americans resort to hoarding the hard-to-find drinks. While the company insists it has the means to keep up with demand, many local Starbucks are reporting shortages of their most popular drinks and some customers are being sent away empty handed.

“I have a gun safe at home, and I’ve moved all the rifles and handguns to the closet so I have room in there for Caffe Mochas and Caramel Macchiatos,” said Keith Robinson, a local real estate agent. “I want to make sure I have all the Starbucks coffees I need if things go bad, and they’re getting hard to find.”

Much of the recent fear stems from comments by members of the United States Board of Directors indicating that premium coffee rights may be limited over the coming months and years. The United States of America, which announced this morning it had been acquired by Chinese computer-maker Lenovo, has a very high coffee abuse rate, and some company officials have indicated their support for coffee control measures like prohibitions on high-caffeine drinks, six-hour purchase waiting periods, and more.

Robinson says he isn’t taking any chances. “If these limits take effect, well, we might just have a revolution on our hands. And if that day comes, I’m going to be wired.”

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.