Mindless Sanctimony Alert - You

Mindless Sanctimony Alert - You can tell a lot about someone's state of mind by their tone of voice. It's a subtle point, but true.

So I was coming up the stairs with a load of laundry at about 6AM, and I had the Channel 9 morning news on the TV (Mmmmm, Alix Kendall). I heard a voice - not well enough to make out words, but I could get the tone and delivery. The voice was male, but with lousy breath support - a small guy. He was speaking in short, clipped sentences, the tone rising at the end of each sentence in a tone that suggested "moral condescension" to me. I thought - "sounds like a "peace" protester. Probably from some Lutheran church here in the Twin Cities.

Sure enough, it was part of the Nine's live team coverage of a busful of middle-aged Volvo-driving perpetually-concerned people from a local church, taking off for DC to protest in favor of chemical weapons, terrorism, rape and mass-murder.

Stupid School Alert - Also heard on the Nine (mmmm, Alix Kendall) this morning: a first-grader brought a weed pipe to school for show and tell. The kid's teacher called the cops, and the parents were arrested - for child endangerment. So - for getting high occasionally (we don't know), the kid's parents will go through a trial, their parent-child relationship will be scrutinized by packs of county social workers and attorneys and the whole "Child Protection" industry.

So - anyone wonder if the teachers, school administrators, cops, social workers, judges and attorneys ever have a belt on the way home after work? Keep any beer or wine in the fridge, or a bottle of something stronger in the hutch? Maybe a highball after a rough day, or a pitcher of margaritas on a hot summer evening?

Oh, yeah - and the kid, a first-grader, was also suspended. The boy violated the "zero tolerance" policy.

I've never smoked chiba in my life - but the hypocrisy of this story just kills me.