Too Much Security?

Despite working in security and constantly pushing for increased security measures at the hospital I work at, I can understand where David Ignatius is coming from.

The hyper-security has added as much to public fear (and annoyance) as to public safety. The Transportation Security Administration is so pervasive at airports that we forget how bizarre it is to see old ladies and pregnant mothers and 8-year-old kids frisked and searched as if they had just arrived from Waziristan. Does this really make sense?

21 to Drink

Seems that one of the main drivers of the law to make 21 the legal drinking age is now saying that it has not worked.

Since that time, however, Chafet has apparently had a change of heart. The Los Angeles Times reports that in an editorial that has yet to be published, Chafet describes his effort to raise the drinking age as the "single most regrettable decision" of his career. "To be sure, drunk driving fatalities are lower now than they were in 1982," Chafet notes. "But they are lower in all age groups. And they have declined just as much in Canada, where the age is 18 or 19, as they have in the United States."

This is one of those laws that I have never understood. How could anyone think that having a law like this was going to stop young adults from drinking? It just drives them underground so they are doing it out of sight. Maybe I'm crazy, but it seems to me that laws should reflect reality (to an extent) and be enforceable. If not, then I think we need to examine whether it should be a law or not.

Of course, none of this even gets into the dubious notion of restricting an adult's rights before they have even done anything wrong.

xkcd

If you haven't checked out this webcomic about "romance, sarcasm, math, and language," you are missing out.