Booze, Chickens, and Wal-Mart (School Life)

Booze vs Drugs: Either Way, Mom's Buying.
The New York Times argues that we should be focusing on alcohol, not other drugs, while Huffington highlights the news that it's parents, not kids, who get booze for kids: Debunking the Drug War (NYT), Study: Teens Get Booze From Parents, No Need For Fake ID's... (Huffington Post). Meanwhile, the crackdown on non-daylight, friends-in-the-car types of teen driving continues: Teen driving curbs show results (Stateline.org).

Chickens, Beavers, and Paper Airplanes.
First, the NYT reports that chickens are an increasingly popular suburban pet: Scratch a Suburb, Find a Chicken. Then the NYT shows how Beaver College doubled its enrollment by changing its name to Arcadia University: To Woo Students, Colleges Choose Names That Sell). Then Neat New Stuff shows us the best paper airplane ever: Paper Airplane - the best paper airplane in the world.

Teachers Unions Tell You Where to Shop.
While CNN and everyone else point out how many billions (yes 14 billions of them) are spent on back to school supplies, teachers unions turn up the heat on Wal-Mart (which is the target of a big unionization effort) by urging parents to shop elsewhere for folders and pencils: Back to school savings guide (CNN.com),Unions asking back-to-school shoppers to boycott Wal-Mart (Chicago Sun Times). Savvy and opportunistic, yes, but I'm not sure how I feel about its appropriateness for some reason. Maybe I'm just not sure that the teachers unions have that much credibility to spare on a much larger fight right now.