Another good kid, this time in Texas, is expelled from school because there was a knife in the back of his truck, one that everyone agrees fell out a day before when moving his grandmother's belongings. And yet despite him not having "possession" of the knife in legal terms, and not bringing it into the school, the "zero tolerance" policy in Texas got him expelled.

I always used to be amazed at zero tolerance. In the 1980s, conservatives were demanding it, saying we had to get tough on kids and show them these things were serious, that zero-tolerance was tough but fair since it applied to everyone. And then kids started getting expelled for things like this, or having cough syrup or cough drops at school ("drugs"), or nail clippers ("weapons"), or other such nonsense. Then Rush Limbaugh and the right started railing against these "stupid" policies, never remembering the right had originally pushed for them.

That would require admitting the truth -- it wasn't "zero tolerance" that they wanted, it was to remove discretion from school administrators who might have been more lenient than they were. Same thing with "mandatory sentencing," which the right sees as stupid when it applies to good Christian folk but just fine for all those worthless drug addicts. Better to be too harsh than too lenient. (Didn't Jesus say that?) [found via Obscure Store]