Sometimes facts are stranger than fiction.
http://www.activistpost.com/2014/03/...-old-lady.html

This is what happens when so-called "zero tolerance policies" are enforced, and this seems to be all the rage in the US.

In this case, an elderly woman was ordered "not to feed wild animals" (she'd previously left food for bears in her backyard). She then fed birds with breadcrumbs. Birds are "wild animals". Off to jail she goes.

Insisting on "zero tolerance <anything>" is the same as outlawing common sense. Other cases you've probably heard of:

An elementary school has a "zero tolerance" policy against weapons and pictures of such. A 6-year old student makes an L-shaped object out of Lego bricks, another points a finger at another student. Those bricks and that hand look vaguely like a gun (if you squint and disconnect your brain)! The students are immediately suspended.

Another student, a 12-year old girl, attends a school with a "zero tolerance policy" against drugs. She has the equivalent of an aspirin in her pocket (for a good reason). The teachers get wind of this and the underage student is subjected to a strip-search (her parents are not notified). Over-the-counter pain medication is technically a "drug", so she's suspended.

Pornographic images of minors are strictly forbidden. A man is caught with naughty cartoon images and is sent to jail for an eternity. An underage girl sends nude selfies to a friend and ends up as a registered sex offender.

You think this is bad? Check this article out:
10-year old Johnny Jones suspended for shooting imaginary arrow
Not even Twilight Zone movies predicted this.

Arcane, that link made my eyes moist with pity and anger. Whatever happened to " Common Sense " in today's world. When I was a boy everyone had cap pistols, waterguns, etc. which can not harm anyone unless you hit someone really hard with it. My Boy Scout camping equipment would probably land a kid in jail today. Talk about being all the way " OVERBOARD "!!

Come on people. 'merica is the freest place in the whole wide world. Enjoy your freedom kids, and remember: freedom isn't free.

Now sing the national anthem with me ... land of the free, and the home of the brave ...

"Zero tolerance" is one of the stupidest fads to ever catch the short attention spans of American public education.

It prevents school administrators from exercising judgment. The only thing that can be said in its defense is that many school administrators don't seem to have any judgment.

If that's not scary enough, look up the WHO's definition of a "drug." If the school in question chose a literal interpretation of either of the first two definitions (medical and pharmacological), they could strip and suspend any pupil found drinking water, since its biochemical effects famously enhance physical and mental welfare in anyone suffering dehydration.

I'm suddenly even more glad I was blessed with a brain. And a pitchfork.

Incidentally, things like Ser Olmy's last story are another reason I use Linux for all my personal computers. Windows is not quite as insecure as it was when I first tried it, but it's still all too easy for a third party to save files on a box without the owner knowing.

Another piece of "zero tolerance" inanity hit the news today.

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/st...gets-suspended

They should start using those EEG gaming helmets on kids. If they even think about a gun ... double plus ungood crimethink !

Ummmm.... is it possibly deemed to be significant that this particular lady was feeding bears?

However, I also admit that birds are "quite the different sort of animal," such that I do question whether the Honorable Judge in this particular case might badly need to take a swift dip in a very cold mountain stream . . .