2001-06-01 - 10:16 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: John Lennon's "Imagine"

Okay! I'm back on the political track (for today, at least) with two topics: teen drinking, and gun statistics.

First, as you've certainly guessed, is the Jenna Bush thing.

Random comments:

Unless she's doing this for a specific political purpose, Jenna is a dope. She's arrested and sentenced for underage drinking, and then she turns right around and tries it again, when she MUST know that people are WATCHING her. Hopefully by this time she knows that she can't do this shit without getting caught anymore, and will let her friends smuggle her some alcohol at small, private parties from now on.

I heard the restaurant manager called 911. That is STUPID. Nine-one-one is for EMERGENCIES! Christ! If I was bleeding to death and 911 was tied up for THAT I would go punch his lights out as soon as I recovered.

But seriously. What I'm hoping is that this will turn into a wake-up call about the utter stupidity and pointlessness of teenage drinking laws, and possibly lead to a repeal. This is one of those things that drives me up the wall.

From what I understand, the drinking age was instituted at 21 because too many teenagers were drinking and driving.

Now, I appreciate this intention. I despise drinking and driving. I have fought drunk people for their keys and hidden them. I am all about designated drivers and taking cabs or sleeping over.

Nevertheless, the drinking itself is not the problem here! Choosing to drive while drunk is! And the kind of person who would drive drunk, with all the social pressure against it, is going to do it regardless of whether they're over or under 21!

Yes, teenagers can behave very stupidly because they're not grown-ups yet. They might be more likely to drive while intoxicated because their common sense is not yet fully developed, or because they feel invincible. But how much of this attitude of teenagers is due to the fact that they are treated like stupid, helpless children? What if you demanded more responsibility from teenagers in return for granting them more privileges? Maybe teenage irresponsibility would be much less of a problem!

I find it extremely difficult to believe that humans have changed so much in the last hundred years that the same human beings who were married with children and working hard on the farm or in factories by the age of 18 are now unable to take care of themselves.

Not to mention there's the oft-cited irony of being able to be sent off to war at 18 but being unable to drink for another three years. Why is a person considered a legal adult at age 18 but is not old enough to make his own decisions about drinking?

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY KIND OF SENSE.

There shouldn't BE a drinking age.

Get rid of the drinking age, and let children learn responsible drinking in the home from a very young age. If the 'rents are having a little wine with dinner, let the kids have a glass, too. If Dad's having a beer while watching the football game, let the kid have some too. Get rid of the stigma, and binge drinking will plummet. It's not a coincidence and it's not a sudden magic "growing up" that makes people drink considerably less after they turn 21.

Now the other thing was gun statistics. I read this article the other day and liked it a lot, particularly the bathtub analogy. And the comment about Tennessee is also true for Virginia and Florida, far as I know. If nothing else, it shows that we gun advocates are right when we say that criminals don't register their guns. They're certainly not applying for concealed carry permits.

But I got to thinking, being a math major and all, that maybe the bathtub statistic was not quite right. The overall likelihood of a kid drowning in a bathtub is greater than the likelihood of getting shot, true. In general, you'd be better off keeping a close eye on your kid when there's water in the bathtub than you are trying to tell me I can't carry my handgun on my person if I choose to do so.

But are there more bathtubs than guns? Don't we need to know bathtub deaths as a percent of total bathtubs, and gun deaths as a percent of total guns? Or maybe, the probability of dying of an accidental gunshot given that there's a gun in the house versus the probability of drowning given that there's a bathtub in the house?

The problem with any of these statistics, though, is that they don't take into account irresponsible, evil, or stupid behavior. ANYTHING can be dangerous in the hands of people like that, whether it's a kitchen knife, a car, or a baseball bt. The REAL problem here is not the existence of guns, it's irresponsible, evil, and stupid people. If we could figure out how to get rid of THOSE, we'd be in good shape.

Speaking of guns, oh my goodness. I can see I'll be spending a lot of time here.

Um, 'nother entry coming up, with photos and nonsense.

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