Dumb People on the Loose

I frequent Yahoo's Odd News section. I love to see what the crazies are doing, as well as what the "normal" people like me are doing to defend themselves against the encroaching mobs. (As the British Royal Observer Corps' motto says, "Fore-warned is fore-armed.")

I ran across this article yesterday. Too bad I passed up that elective in fencing:

Man uses candy cane to subdue attacker with knife
Wed Dec 3, 5:53 pm ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A man using a candy cane lawn ornament fended off a knife-wielding neighbor who had been attacking holiday guests at a Sacramento home. Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said the man used the two-foot-tall plastic ornament to subdue the attacker until officers arrived.

He said the 49-year-old suspect became intoxicated, went over to a neighbor's home on Thanksgiving and began waving a kitchen knife at people gathered on the lawn.

He cut several peoples' clothing before one of them decided to fight back.

Police said the man with the knife was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. The guest who took up the candy cane was not arrested because police determined he acted in self-defense.

The drunk was only arrested on "suspicion of assault" even though "He cut several peoples' clothing" -- Wow. I'm surprised they didn't go ahead and arrest the victim for carrying a concealed candy cane.

This morning I found another story worth repeating:

Aussies mull breath-test before voting
Thu Dec 4, 1:38 am ET

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Politicians in Australia's most populous state could be breath-tested for alcohol before voting on laws after a series of late-night incidents that have embarrassed the center-left government.

New South Wales state lawmaker Andrew Fraser resigned from his conservative opposition frontbench role after shoving a female colleague in the wake of Christmas party celebrations.

"Breath test this mob," said a front page headline in Sydney's mass-selling Daily Telegraph newspaper. State police minister Matt Brown was dumped from his portfolio in September after allegedly "dirty" dancing in his underwear over the chest of a female colleague after a drunken post-budget office party.

Conservative Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell said he would support alcohol breath tests for drunkenness for lawmakers before they entered parliament, while Green MPs John Kaye and Lee Rhiannon also backed the plan, along with the parliament's speaker.

"Honestly, if you are going to have breathalyzers for people driving cranes you should have breathalyzers for people writing laws," Kaye told the Telegraph.

I wonder what would happen if we here the U.S. implemented across-the-board monthly drug testing as well as yearly standardized achievement testing for every member of the House and Senate? Maybe our resulting laws would make more sense.