This is for you Sue

I'm climbing up on my soapbox right now. There is a letter to the editor in the newspaper today that has me riled up. Sue Jones of Decatur writes:
Peanut butter was the last straw for me.
It's now been banned from being served in the Mt.Zion schools; not because of salmonella, but due to nut allergies. The "land of the free" is experiencing an astounding erosion of liberty.
Last year, it was a sculpture that was rejected due to the depiction of "bullets." Sugary sodas were outlawed in January to reduce obesity.
The driving hours to receive a license has been increased to 50, and teen drivers can only carry one non-family member in the car for six months. It certainly seems we are becoming a "no" society.
I would like to take this issue before the courts, but I have to save my funds for state-mandated physicals and dental checks for my students, as well as their immunizations. I would rather not have my 4-pound Yorkie spayed, so I am paying a dog license fee four times the usual rate.
My personal protest against these restrictions is to give up exercise and begin drinking sodas with sugar. I'm not a smoker (God bless their souls, soon they won't be able to smoke in their personal vehicles), but I'm thinking about taking it up.
If you see me smoking, or chewing tobacco for that matter, it means I've finally been pushed over the edge. I feel sure you can find an administrator or a legislator who is willing to have me committed. If it comes to that, please be sure to buckle me in, and if force is required, have a FOID card in your possession. You would hate to break any of the laws of this good land. My final request, however, would be to please pack me a peanut butter sandwich for the road.

Isn't Sue just so clever!? This is a good example of the kind of letter to the editor that I just hate--the uninformed kind. First of all, the Mt. Zion cafeterias are going to stop serving peanut butter and they asked that parents stop packing peanut butter for their kids. If a peanut butter sandwich is that important to you, you can still bring one in your lunch. This is one of those rules that probably sounds ridiculous unless it's your 5 year old that has a deadly peanut allergy. This has become a common allergy so we are not talking about one child in the whole school who could become ill--there are many.
Then Sue mentions the sculpture again. I wish this one would just go away forever, or that someone would publicly speak up and put the accurate information out there. For anyone who might be reading this that doesn't know the story, last year, the high school art teacher came to a school board meeting with a proposal to put a series of sculptures at the high school representing each of the foreign wars. He had a sketch of the Vietnam sculpture which showed a soldier with bullets wrapped around his neck. A few of the board members questioned that, in light of the school's zero tolerance policy on weapons, perhaps the high school might not be the best place to put such a sculpture. However, the board unanimously APPROVED the sculpture. Then the artist decided to withdraw his "offer" because he didn't like the fact that he was questioned about it. It also turns out that he had taken the image for the sculpture straight from a photograph in a high school textbook but was passing it off as original artwork. The photo was not copywrited, so technically it isn't plagiarism--it's just wrong anyway. The sculpture is now in the city park which is a much better place for it anyway.
As for laws on sodas, cigarettes and seatbelts, legislators have to pass laws in these areas because people seem too stupid to know what is good for them. If they get fat, they sue fast food restaurants. If a family member dies in a car accident and wasn't buckled in, they sue the car manufacturer. And cigarettes--come on! There are so many things wrong with smoking that I can't even begin to address them all.
So, Sue, you seem to be one of the people that are too stupid to do the right thing, so the administrators and legislators are forcing you to make good decisions. The reason it comes to legislation and policy-making is because we are a "YES" society. We say yes to bad habits that make us fat and unhealthy and then we want to blame everyone else.
Go ahead and eat your peanut butter sandwich Sue.