asdf: NPR, current events Options

[Psykopath]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_...missile_defense

MOSCOW - A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.
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The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile interceptor base as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations. Moscow, however, feels it is aimed at Russia's missile force.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike — 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

Ah, the Cold War part II.........at least for another few months before, as someone said in another thread, Russia/China/Iran/N.Korea decide to "up the ante."

BRING ON THE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!

[FORSAKENR320]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_...missile_defense



Ah, the Cold War part II.........at least for another few months before, as someone said in another thread, Russia/China/Iran/N.Korea decide to "up the ante."

BRING ON THE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!

i need more ammo

[Psykopath]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080819/ap_on_...ts_drinking_age

College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.

The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.

"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."

Other prominent schools in the group include Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.

Thoughts?



I'd also like to ad that you can go and die for your country at 18, but you still can't have a beer. Guess you're adult-enough to kill/be killed but not yet mature enough to have a glass of beer with your steak.

This post has been edited by Psykopath: Aug 18 2008, 09:30 PM

[Spectatrix]

Yes, drinking age should be lowered to 18. I've thought that for a long while.

[chook]

I honestly think there shouldn't be a drinking age, but parents be responsibe for their kids drinking.

[jonathan83]

i think everything should be set to 18.

drinking age, voting, smoking, driving, everything.

the main reason people are concerned are bc they're saying there would be more drunk driving or whatever, but that wouldnt be a problem if the driving age was also raised to 18. i mean damn. 16 year olds are way too immature to be controlling a car.

[impala454]

Yeah lets let kids learn to drive and legally drink on the same birthday. that's friggin genius.

As far as the "you can die for your country but can't legally drink", IMHO that's an asinine argument. Drinking & fighting are not exactly two things that go hand in hand. If you feel otherwise, fine, make it legal to drink at 18 with a military ID. Somehow though I doubt that'd satisfy those crying that particular argument, since I'd bet most who use it probably have no desire to join the military.

I think all the current age laws are fine, and the idea that lowering the drinking age to 18 will lower binge drinking on college campuses is absolutely stupid. Can someone explain to me how that works?

[Epic]

sure thing Chuck, I actually agree with it even though I work with 18 year old freshmen.

If you limit someone's access to alcohol, the opportunities they have to drink will be less yes, but we are finding more and more often that major binge drinking happens as students end up pounding a lot more back the one night they can get it than if they have access to it 24/7. I'm not saying that 21 year olds and up don't binge drink, but there has been a lot of research (quantitative and qualitative) on college drinking habits that indicates people drink less when they can have it when they want it.

Let's look at the attitudes of many of our college freshmen. They go to the dining hall, and binge eat because it is available and open only during certain hours. They get a large lump sum refund or loan and spend spend spend because they have it all at once. They go to a bar and don't get carded so they drink and drink because they can't do it when they want.

so a major intiative on a lot of campuses is to control these sorts of behaviors (which shouldnt' be our job, but we're trying anyway) where we have dining options open all day and late at night. Schools are dolling out refunds on a monthly basis to reduce impulse spending, and we're thinking that lowering the drinking age will have similar affects.

I'd pull out my journals and post them for you, but I'm really lazy and about to get really busy (move in day is tomorrow). But I will say this. The current system isn't working. We have more cases of alcohol poisoning at hospitals here in Central texas from people 18-20 than we do 21-45. That's a big deal for us here and an issue we're concerned about.

And yes, other factors play in, I'm not discounting that.



As for the driving? i say keep it at 16. More and more high school students work and need to get to work. Businesses rely on that source of cheap and unskilled labor to provide affordable prices. If anything, we should bring back the driving test as a mandatory piece because some young drivers don't drive, they just try to keep the car between the lines.

[impala454]

I understand where you're coming from, but I think it's wrong. Quantitative research doesn't tell you why a person binge drinks. Only how much and when. How much of this supposed research was done handing drinks to minors? Zero (I hope). I know you're taking a lot of this from your RA experience, but I was an RA as well and I'd bet next paycheck that it has much more to do with the fact that these kids are away from home and parental control for the first time rather than than whatever the drinking age is. They're away from home and want to party 24-7. They get to around 21-22 years old and go "oh shit I need to get a degree" and quit partying so much. By the same reasons it's also why younger college students make a lot of noise and are generally more irresponsible and inconsiderate than the older students.

It should be obvious from your poisoning stats that changing it to 18 wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. If anything it'd probably increase the amount of drinking in even younger kids.

[Epic]

Agree to disagree, and no offense, but my experience with college student cultures, previous research, and a large number of professionals back up the idea. And the qualititative research has tackled the issue of why our younger students binge drink and the answer "when I have free or cheap alcohol at my disposal, i'm going to drink it because it is tough to come by." I'm not saying this is 100% accurate, but i do believe many students do binge drink because of availability at certain times. I'm also saying the current system doesn't work, and my stats point toward the current system..

And the same idea follows with having "happy hours." Many states have made happy hours illegal because when you limit the "deals" to a certain time people cram more in than they need to.

[impala454]

So why do college kids run up credit card debt or dramatically change their appearance or mis-use loan money their first couple years in college? Is it because the drinking age is 21 and not 18? No offense but I wouldn't really call a few polls to students and not expanding the topic beyond drinking "research". Not to mention, kids answering "I drink a lot when it's cheap or free"... well what does this have to do with anything? Do the people over 21 not answer that they drink a lot when it's cheap or free? If the drinking age was lowered to 18 does that mean they won't binge drink as much if it was cheap or free?!? If you dramatically widen the availability people aren't going to want to party anymore? The logic doesn't make sense.

[Seeker]

The logic doesn't make sense.

Because your brain is logically handicapped. Don't panic though, 1 in 10 men and 100% of all women have the same problem.

[impala454]

DDDUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Epic]

So why do college kids run up credit card debt or dramatically change their appearance or mis-use loan money their first couple years in college? Is it because the drinking age is 21 and not 18? No offense but I wouldn't really call a few polls to students and not expanding the topic beyond drinking "research". Not to mention, kids answering "I drink a lot when it's cheap or free"... well what does this have to do with anything? Do the people over 21 not answer that they drink a lot when it's cheap or free? If the drinking age was lowered to 18 does that mean they won't binge drink as much if it was cheap or free?!? If you dramatically widen the availability people aren't going to want to party anymore? The logic doesn't make sense.

again chuck, agree to disagree. I feel confident and informed in my position, and you feel instinctual in yours. I'll leave computers to you, and refer to myself to things relating to higher education.

[Mommy]

I think military dudes should be able to drink the day they finish basic. If they fuck up and drink and drive or get a PI, they have a lot more to lose than civilians do. As for lowering the drinking age for everyone, well you are just going to have a lot more kids dying of alcohol poisoning on their 18th birthday as opposed to their 21st. Tragic really since most binge drink because of peer pressure. "Here, let me buy you a birthday shot" times 20+.