Page created 31 Jul 2002 by pedro
URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
An entree that's as American as... well... yeah.
What's white, anyway?(login zootboot, pw zootboot if need be)
try this one.
whoops.
I was using links and I still haven't read the article so this is another meaningless post.
40-year old murder solved.Do you think he should get life? Or what?
...because a wore a beard and was shot in the temple...
From the Duluth News-Tribune...and the referring story from NBC5 Chicago.
Life in These Zany United States.
Downers Grove Woman, 19, Found Dead in Chicago.
From Christianity today: (scroll down past the Bruce Springsteen, Messiah article)Heroic religion
A couple of years ago, Weblog noted an article examining the religion of Superman and Batman. Now, in the wake of disclosure that The Fantastic Four's Thing is Jewish, The Dallas Morning News examines lesser-known 7 superheroes' religion. Jews still come out on top, but the paper notes that the X-Men's Nightcrawler is planning to become a priest and that Nightwing (the original Robin) listens to dcTalk and reads the NIV Bible.
They neglected to mention that my favorite superhero, Emadman, is Muslim!
Yesterday I was in another teacher's room and she had the latest People (tabloid) magazine on her desk. Britney Spears was smiling out at me from the cover which promised to tell me her side of the story re her break-up with Justin and her recent decision to take time off (there wasn't any break-down involved apparently....), etc. But then, on the side bar, there was a picture of one of the girls who recently escaped from the kidnapper and I guess inside there was an article about her finding strength in the situation... My question- how does she expect to find healing in sharing her story with the masses? What a horrible way to exploit her/ what a horrible way to look for your fifteen minutes of fame!
I want more details about the Britney/Justin breakup!!!1!!
I bet he wears white socks with sandals. That's what finally killed the relationship.
i think he was jealous of the snake she wore during her cover of 'Satisfaction', and always talked about how he thought it was a horrible cover, while deep down he was totally enraged by the whole snake thing. that, and she makes more money than him. (i mean, he's gotta split royalties with like 4 other cats, while she rakes in the dough...)
McDonald's opens Friday on Tower Avenue
Maria Lockwood
The Daily Telegram
Last Updated: Friday, November 15th, 2002 10:59:58 PM
Friday's celebration at the Tower Avenue McDonald?s was part homecoming, part grand opening and even part birthday party.
The new building opened to cake, balloons and a doubling of staff. The old restaurant had 35 employees, said manager Phil Thieschafer. The new one has 70. "We're expecting to be busier than before," said Thieschafer. For the past few months while construction was being done on the new building, employees worked at other McDonald's restaurants, including those in Hermantown and Duluth.
"I was in West Duluth since August," said Linda Gilbertson of Superior. "I like the people over there; I made friends there." But, Gilbertson said, she's glad to be back behind the counter in Superior. Especially since it cuts her round-trip commute down from 12 miles to four. "Most people are excited to be back home," said Thieschafer.
The employees aren't the only ones glad that the new store is open.
"We've been waiting for this place to open up so that we could come check it out," said Dave Murray of Foxboro as he munched on French fries. "I like the lay-out," said his wife Cindy. "It's great." "We're glad it's back," said Dave. For years, the couple said, the Tower Avenue McDonald's has been the hub of their daily stops.
"Our kids are made of McDonald's," said Cindy with a laugh. "I used to eat here every day when I was pregnant."
Customers were impressed with the spacious, sunny dining area.
"It's very nice and new and clean," said Janice Bergsten of Poplar. "It's great."
"It's nice, classy," said Dave Murray.
Oddly enough, the restaurant celebrated its grand opening on Thieschafer's 25th birthday. Originally, he said, it was set to open on Nov. 8 but the date got pushed back. When he saw that the new date fell on his birthday, he said with a smile, it was a "good present."
"We're glad to be open," said area supervisor Mike Nagan.
"Very glad to be open," said Thieschafer.
The new McDonald's restaurant, at the corner of Tower Avenue and N. 21st Street, is open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day except Friday, when the store stays open until midnight.
Her kids are made of McDonald's? Nothing like breeding little slices of artificial, hormone injected, corporate suckwads right? The best thing to happen to all these people in years a new McDonald's so they don't have to drive 10 minutes out of their way, I was thinking of moving because my closest McDonald's is like three blocks away, THREE BLOCKS can you imagine how long it takes to drive my SUV THREE BLOCKS?! I mean imagine my kid needs some Chicken McNuggets and my car is in the shop, we'd be stranded, we could very well starve to death with nothing but a Burger King across the street! Think of the children people! Remember you are what you eat, and I for one don't want to be made of Subway, that damn Jarod!
"cuts her round-trip commute down from 12 miles to four"im kinda saddened that these people would have driven 12 miles to work at McDonald's. maybe its different up in duluthsuperior, i don't know.
i hate mcd's, and i hate myself everytime i eat there. unfortunately, it is the only place i can grab something quick, which is all i have time for when im starving at work.
I'll agree with that bags, everytime I eat fast food, well not Taco Bell but that's another story, I feel regretful, but it's so damn handy, that's why I've switched to the fruit and yogurt parfait for breakfast, and the smallest thing for lunch, like a mcchicken or something, but the fruit and yogurt parfait rocks, I mean who doesn't like a parfait?
You kow I've never even eaten it, but I feel jkust from the name...It would turn me into a big pussy...and yes BigJ I am insinuating that I you are, in fact, a big pussy...Man aren't you glad to have me aorund again. Even if it is in this shitty cyber way?
I think there's a little more dignity in working for mcdonalds up north, because people are nicer and its cleaner and all that... for that matter, I think that's true anywhere outside of big cities. It is still a low-end minimum wage job for most people, but it's probably better.WHat got me about the article wasn't so much the whole "mcdonalds is evil" spin, as much as it just really illustrates the whole big news in a small town kind of thing.
I wasn't going to start out capitalizing on the mcdonald's is evil thing, but my rant went that way regardless. I started with small town poling fun, but damnit the evilness of mcdonald's just took over and I went to town, oh well. If they live in a town where a new McD's makes the front page cool for them, not my style, but then maybe it would be better for us all if we weren't so strung out over huge issues but focused on the nice small things like, for instance, a new two story mcD's that's 8 miles closer to home, I for one could go for a McFlurry.
I'm not even offended by poking fun of the small town thing or bashing mcdonalds in an "enlightened and i know better" kind of way (ok, well, that is annoying sometimes but I do it too)... i just thought the article was cute/hilarious/embarassing/sad/wonderful all wrapped up in one.Plus, I'm related to Janice Bergsten of Poplar.
"It's the same with the hunters. You used to be proud. Now it's like we're soldiers in the trenches."
Interesting. It manages to be offensive to both myself and pedro, for entirely different reasons. That's talent.
it dont get much more american than this.oh... to be at that party. a close friend who swears that it is his duty as an american citizen to take revenge on the bush family decided that the best way was to marry the hot florida model neice. jeb's daughter. what better way to seek revenge than to become one of them?
now only the olsen twins' 21st could be better.
I'm not really offended by it. I know that most of those hunters have never been "in the trenches" so to speak, but I do understand what it means for them to shoot deer and not use the meat -- like the guy said, "it's a sin" for hunter culture. I also really feel sad that CWD could mean the end of eating wild venison, so I appreciate the heavy and burdensome task for the hunters in "eradication" counties, not to mention the somewhat reasonable fear that this may mean the end of a long and sometimes wonderful tradition in the state. And I don't mean tourism.The sad fact is, if CWD infects the whole herd, hunters are still going to have to thin the herd, because CWD doesn't kill them fast enough -- so hunting will have to continue for the sake of the herd and the populace in the state -- but people won't be able to eat *any* deer. And that would be terribly sad. Maybe it's just an epidemic that will burn itself out...
maybe its a sign of the coming vegan revolution?who knows?
not me- thats fer damn sure.
I've got Fast Food Nation awaiting reading on my nightstand. Karna finished it and won't eat fast-food meat ever again. Apparently it's really gross what they do to the meat in processing. So I figure I need to go out and eat some soft tacos and chalupas for the last time before I find out what nasty bits of cow I'm eating.
You are what you eat right, and whatever you eat is dead because you, or someone who works for you, has to kill it before you can eat it, so that means we're all dead anyway, so who cares. Also I read a study recently that 500 doctors agreed on, 10 out of 10 people die. Interesting thought.
Scientists realize they can create, er I mean, discuss creating a human mouse hybrid.
" Dr. Irving L. Weissman, an expert on stem cells at Stanford University, said that making mice with human cells could be "an enormously important experiment," but if conducted carelessly could lead to outcomes that are "too horrible to contemplate." He gave as an extreme example the possibility that a mouse making human sperm might accidentally be allowed to mate with a mouse that had made its eggs from human cells."Why would that be so horrible? I mean, why wouldn't you could just abort the fetus, no harm done? What about that is "too horrible to contemplate?"
Seriously, this is one of those moments where our brains are turned completely inside out. Regardless of how you feel about an issue like abortion (I'm sure the feelings here on the diner run the complete spectrum), Iring's feelings are bizarre -- the man is creating (ok, is discussing the possibility of creating) mouse human hybrids but to him a result "too horrible to contemplate" would be a human embryo developing inside a mouse womb.
Why is that so bad, according to science? Because it would make people mad and take away his funding? Or because he believes that would be "wrong" to create? Maybe it's hasty for me assume this, but I'm guessing that Irving is not opposed to abortion. So, what's the big deal? It's just an embryo, right? We'll just throw any experiments that go wrong or are distasteful into the incinerator, end of story. And blithely go on making new and EXCITING DISCOVERIES! [cue exciting, noble sounding trumpet music]
The arbirary places we put our ideas of right and wrong mystify and infuriate me.
I saw that there is a guy in I tink it's Italy that is expecting a human clone to be born in February, kind of creepy if you ask me.
CWD *would* be sad if we can't eat meat. My dad's got it right - my brother killed a squirrel for fun when he was 6 with his BB gun. My dad made him gut, skin, cook and eat it. He says we should never kill an animal that we're not going to use. But the herds WOULD be thinned, and would go to waste. Which would be just awful. I grew up in a hunting culture, and frankly, I prefer to eat wild game. It's free range, lived a good natural life, and I feel bad about factory farms and try to only eat free range animal products. So it would make me sad to have one of my main sources of food gone, and to see that tremendous waste of life for no purpose. God gave animals to eat, but what's the point of killing them if you can't EAT them? CWD makes me sad.
There was an article, or maybe an op-ed, in the Tribune the other day about a lawsuit in NYC. The gist is that a woman is suing a nearby McDonald's(TM) because her son, after eating 3 to 4 meals there every day, is now morbidly obese, and since there were no warnings on the food packaging, she didn't know it would be bad for him. Not only that, but she's also rallied several other scale-tipping neighbors into the lawsuit with the same reasoning. In fact, there's talk of making it nationwide.Now, did this woman really not know that this diet would make her kid Super-Sized(TM)? Of course she did, but she didn't care. Until now, when she realized can make money off of the "big bad corporation." And see, that's the sad part: She's trying to profit from her own negligence and, and even more disturbingly, her son's illness. I'd say that borders on abuse. But, hey, the kid's probably still chowing down on BicMacs(TM) three times a day...or perhaps he's had to move on to Whoppers(TM) for legal reasons.
So is the moral of the story not to worry about what you're eating because you can blame someone else for any negative effects, and, in fact, not to worry about anything you do to yourself (smoking, spilling coffee, etc., etc.) because someone, somewhere can be found at fault in it? Of course it is, silly! This is America(TM, patent pending). Speaking of which, I wonder how much damage I can do to myself with a McDonald's Apple Pie(TM). Maybe if I stuck it in my...OW!
Evan
I already find the idea of mixing mouse and human DNA "too horrible to contemplate" AND I really can't see HOW it could be a really important experiment....
A human mouse combo, not only could it destroy the world, but it could do it with large numbers, REALLY fast.
Finally after a semester of worries about my final film for Production II class I've got it. Half man Half, Squeakor...YES! Now who wants to where the giant mouse costume?
smax, you didn't tell her about 'squeaker' did you?
I think it would be a real triumph if people managed to stop CBS from making The Real Beverly Hillbillies. I for one, am not troubled (as is the TV Professor (!) at the end of this article) that people want to cancel the show before one frame has been shot. Forget that.
i think a great idea for a reality series would be to take a TV producer from beverly hills and three or four of his hollywood coke-slut girlfriends and make them live in a shack in the appilachans without plumbing or electricity for a year.just imagine the episode where they have to work in order to eat!
the coke sluts don't eat.
my bad...
actually, ulyssess, ABC-the starter-of-good-things-and-canceller-of-all is starting a new series called, "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" I need that as much as I need Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) the bastard or a root canal
The New Republic has a good article about why hydrogen fueled cars are still a long way off, and the political evasion surrounding their development. LinkI wasn't sure where to put this, but as it deals with SUVs and government spending, this entree seems about right.
alaric, what a great article.i always had a very vauge sense of understanding that hydrogen wasnt exactly the "quick miracle" its made up to be, but now i have a much better undersatnding.
although i use an average of pobably 3 or 4 gallons a week, i still have a car and am forced to put gas in it. and until i can afford transportation free of fossil fules and foreign entanglements (and from reading that article, it sounds like i never will in my lifetime,) i am in full support of drilling for oil on US land. yeah, the thought of displacing some polar bears for an oil derrik is very unsettling, but it sure beats these foreign entanglements.
but, it was linked from makeoutclub.com. it wsa basically a link to a site that had files that you could print out bumper stickers that said stuff like 'i drive an SUV and support terrorism' and things more witty than that. the idea being you print them out and stick them on people's big stupid Cadillac Escalades and snicker about pissing off the upper middle class bastards. which i thought was kind of funny. but i don't think i would do it. with my luck i'd pick the one guy who uses his Suburban to haul a bunch of food to homeless shelter's or something.
wags-just so you know, that bill maher guy you were referring to on another entree-- the guy who is "one of THE BIGGEST morons on the face of this planet," as you put it-- is at the forefront of the SUVs = TERRORISM thing...
he has a lot of good points. sometimes. but he's a complete ass. and very smug about it.
i mean, Rush Limbaugh wasn't ALWAYS wrong, but he was a complete ass too. which is why people hated him.
I'm not terribly good at Math and Science but I see a big inconsistency in the automotive world. Why is it that a 3000 lb Ford Crown Victoria with a V8 engine can acheive 18 city and 26 highway mpg but a 3400 lb Ford Explorer with a V6 engine can only acheive 15/21 mpg? I know the 4 wheel drive is less fuel efficient but the V8 should be less fuel efficient too. Something definately seems fishy to me.
I'm no mechanic, but I think it's all about how the machine is geared. SUV's are geared more for power than for speed or efficiency, hence the loss of mpg. Of course, you can drive up a mountain with it. (Mountain not included.)
If that's the case, then they should change the ratios on SUVs. Most SUVs are driven under the same conditions as the Crown Vic. If "suburban" Explorers got 26 mpg on the highway, I'd have no problem with them. I think it has more to do with regulatory loopholes that have allowed light trucks to perform worse than cars with regard to mpg. It's cheaper to throw more inefficient parts into SUVs than it is to develop the technology to make them more efficient (like they've been forced to do with cars b/c of the regulations). Also, the base price of an Explorer has gone from $20k to $30k in about 4 years. How about putting some of those profits into increasing the efficiency?
http://www.biodiesel.org/Met some folks with a bio-diesel car. They were nice and their car smells like french fries. Best part is, some places pay you to take fuel! Imagine driving around on McDonalds.
while its true the SUV's are more geared towards power, don't underestimate those Crown Vic's. they tear it up on the highway, with a pretty phat acceleration. they don't touch the Impala's though... boy are those Impala's sure nice...
Wheaton Begins it's Descent Down That Long Slippery Slope
...was a professor at NP and left b/c it was too liberal. Interesting.
is it me, or did that article about Wheaton read a bit like an Onion article?
lotsa funny stuff to say about that. im sure i don't even have to say it, everyone just laugh, 'cause its wheaton! (not to knock barefootjumper's hometown. just the college)
Wanna go snoop Los Alamos National Laboratories with me?
I'll pull on my hiking boots and meet you there... Of course, I can be there in 2 1/2 hours- it'd take you a little longer to get there...
Sen. Zell Miller thinks the show is a bad idea.
was on Leno defending Bush! Thought it was kind of funny
wahoo!
no one got into the baseball hall of fame today. ron santo is totally bummed.
I bought some Necco Wafers at Kmart.
RIP Mr. Rogers
yeah... Mr. Rogers is dead.i was totally tearing up as I read this article.
he will be greatly missed.
"She would say, 'What kind do you all want next year?' " said Rogers. "She said, 'I know what kind you want, Freddy. You want the one with the zipper up the front.' "
I'm calling the president!
I bet Georgie W's car is insured in case someone drops a big one... and his jet and his heliocopter and his yacht and his house, etc.
State Farm, unlike Mr. Rogers, is always a good neighbor. State Farm is the.....ahhhhhhhhhh! Bang! Crash! Oh God, where is my insurance claim id number?!! Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neigbor..
here's proof
This one from Ohio...
This is the kind of soldier the Pentagon is proud to have....
That's unbelieveable. Not only is it unbelievable, but the story is from 'the Falls' adjacent to my home town.Go Prime!
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!Seriously, that had me laughing out loud for like five minutes.
I feel bad for the guy...losing a parent at a young age. A void like that will never be filled. I think changing his name was a little extreme, but I was kind of touched by it. Better that, than Donkey Kong I guess.
"Do you, Optimus, take Cindy to be your lawfully wedded wife...?"
She's more than meets the eye! (cue transforming noise)
I wish the real news didn't read so much like the onion.
I've been keeping a low profile here these days, but on the news ticker on MSNBC (God help me, I miss CNN), I saw "D.C. Police in Standoff with Man on Tractor." And until pedro posted the article, I was thinking two things. The first was mostly uncontrollable laughter, and the second was 2. "Damn, that's got to be one hell of a tractor."On the other hand, I like his way of getting arrested better than I do the crowds on LSD earlier tonight.
<-- inkblot
Are you reading up on this? ...because you should be.
"Republican leaders in Texas and Washington are furious. They have called the Democrats, holed up in a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, "cowards" and "terrorists." "
Politicians can be so fucking childish sometimes. terrorists? if there is to be any power in that word any more, people need to use it with care.
this is a gross abuse of the Homeland Security Network.
Sticks and stones.... Has anyone told the GOP in Texas that they're also acting like 4-year-olds?
Abuse of Power-Hecho de America.
link
Unknown man dies after life with stolen identity
"What's ridiculous, now, is that there's talk of international outrage over the Sosa incident. International outrage?It makes me think of some stoner at a cafe in Amsterdam reading the corked bat incident story in the Herald Tribune, crumpling his paper, flinging his coffee in angry fashion, saying, "Oh, Sammy, say it ain't so." If I read just one more gratuitous "Say it ain't so, Sammy" reference, I might just lose my mind."
there might still be a school in the Ione Sky...lineSo, do you think they should go for it, or not? It probably means "worse" education than if they went to a bigger district, or does it?
I tend to support what they're doing, because I believe that small school districts can be successful, even if they don't have all the bells and whistles, and I believe that community identity is incredibly important.
But maybe that's just me.
one of my favorite exhibits at the smithsonian's american history museum is entitled A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the US Constitutino. It's an exploration of japanese americans during WWII focusing on the detention camps. It is such a well done exhibit and today I discovered there is a fancy virtual exhibit and so I share it with you.
I recommend a trip to Manzanar. When I was there (1996) there was only a memorial, with the majority of the exhibits being up the road in the museum in Independence. It looks as if the site is now much more developed.
remember Jose Padilla? I had no idea he was still locked up as an enemy combatant. yikes.
Lileks has great column today about the dumbing down of American culture.
like we need things dumbinged down for us, I mean come on!
Man, NOw I REALLY love James Lileks.
that was a quality article.
For me Lileks achieved deity status with his bad taste furniture picture collection (now, sadly, not accessible online).
From Ann Coulter's (NO! Don't go! Keep reading!) most recent column (I won't bother link to the whole thing).
Another average individual eager to get Hillary's book was Greg Packer, who was the centerpiece of the New York Times' "man on the street" interview about Hillary-mania. After being first in line for an autographed book at the Fifth Avenue Barnes & Noble, Packer gushed to the Times: "I'm a big fan of Hillary and Bill's. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign."It was easy for the Times to spell Packer's name right because he is apparently the entire media's designated "man on the street" for all articles ever written. He has appeared in news stories more than 100 times as a random member of the public. Packer was quoted on his reaction to military strikes against Iraq; he was quoted at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Veterans' Day Parade. He was quoted at not one - but two - New Year's Eve celebrations at Times Square. He was quoted at the opening of a new "Star Wars" movie, at the opening of an H&M clothing store on Fifth Avenue and at the opening of the viewing stand at Ground Zero. He has been quoted at Yankees games, Mets games, Jets games - even getting tickets for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He was quoted at a Clinton fund-raiser at Alec Baldwin's house in the Hamptons and the pope's visit to Giants stadium.
Evidently Greg Packer is New York's unofficial Event Attender. There's a picture of him here. If it's always the same person, that's really crazy. I guess it's possible, but that seems rather unlikely.
Is apparently sucking the 15-minutes of fame aether from hapless victims and using it for his own devices. He must be stopped!
to Tourist Guy?No, hang on, I think it was proven conclusively that Tourist Guy is Mr. Bad (or emad).
http://www.timessquare.com/bway/features/feat_guy.htmlFirst in Line Guy: Obsession or Art Form?
By 8 o'clock on the coldest morning of the year, Greg Packer was already in his second hour waiting in line to go on a double-decker bus tour of Manhattan with Brandy, the R&B singer.
In Times Square, Greg Packer, 39, a highway maintenance worker from Long Island, wore a black t-shirt with "War" written on it to show his support.
"9/11 was the catalyst. Having been in the city on that day, and seeing how the streets were so empty and the sky smelling so bad, it really reminded me that we had to do whatever we had to do," he said. "And tonight is the night."
i dont know what is more offensive to me, that he is he rationalizes war with Iraq because of 9/11, or that he stood in line to hang out with Brandy
Metropolis, IL celebrates 25th annual Superman Convention.
I know my head hasn't been working right lately, but when I clicked on pedro's link above and saw this, well it was almost too much.
I don't get it!
the headline having the word 'Fans' in it. and then the advertisement for Fans with a big picture of a Fan below the headline. together they can be disorienting, i'd imagine. if you're prone to disorientation anyway.
I may have to make a t-shirt that says that.
I'd buy one.
corn vendor beaten to death in chicago
That story made me cry. What is wrong with people?
from the economist
because it may be true.
He's a black man...who has profited from something he loved (music, at one time he loved it purely and wholey). He can have anyhting he wants, he can make people happy, he can entertain, and he has done it all on his own terms. Damnit, that is the american dream, maybe not your personal dream, but the dream....none the less.
because it's frickin PUFF DADDY_DIDDY_DO!
It's scary because of what he's doing with his money and fame. When the American dream is based on greed and fame, I get scared. I am scared often.
What's scary is that the American Dream involves making money. there is no substance in riches. If that is the American Dream, count me out. though i certainly don't begrudge the man what he's earned and where he's come.
Only, some people believe they need mounds of cash and a phat ride to be happy.
read the play folks and be reassured that you are not the only soul that feels the absurdity of it.
Heh, actually, I realize the problems with a war doll toy, but I still think this is a neat article. My favorite line is the closer:"He's probably the real American hero," said DePriest. "He's not a superhero, he's a real guy."
Recipients are Jacques Barzun, Julia Child, Roberto Clemente Walker, Van Cliburn, Václav Havel, Edward Teller, R. David Thomas, Byron Raymond White, James Q. Wilson, John R. Wooden, and, here's the kicker, Charlton Heston.
Three guys. Chicago to California. On foot. And their website: "you guys are stupid".
from the wash post
A CBS News tally shows this is Bush's 26th presidential trip to Crawford. He has spent all or part of 166 days at the ranch or en route -- the equivalent of 51/2 months. When Bush's trips to Camp David and Kennebunkport, Maine, are added, according to the CBS figures, Bush has spent 250 full or partial days at his getaway spots -- 27 percent of his presidency so far.27 percent!! That's 14 weeks of vacation per year. I'm totally running for president.
Wilfredo T. Laboy has a valuable message for his students who failed to pass the MCAS (Massachusetts' standardized test) and didn't receive their diplomas last spring: Even if you can't pass a literacy test, you can still pull down $150,000 a year as a school administrator.
Schools Superintendent Wilfredo T. Laboy has three times failed a basic literacy test all state educators are required to pass, The Eagle-Tribune has learned.Calling it a "frustrating" and "emotional" issue, Laboy blamed his failing scores on a lack of preparation and concentration and the fact that English is his second language.
"It bothers me because I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test," said Laboy, who received a 3 percent pay hike this week, raising his salary to $156,560 a year. "That's what, emotionally, I'm so upset about."
I like guys like this... although I'm glad they don't live next to me.
On December 28, 1992, with the tires still on Booher's property and no removal plan in place, Booher was jailed for contempt. He spent 10 days in jail before signing an agreement to remove the tires.But instead of removing the tires, Booher sold the land. The tires were no longer his responsibility, Booher said.
Furthermore, the new owner -- Elda Myers, Booher's mother -- would not give Booher permission to come onto the property to remove the tires. She has no listed phone number.
"All I know is it was sold...," Booher said, "and it was done legally and it took the land out of my name."
i'll be back... in 2006
Your votes, give them to me.
...to your local polling location!
whatchu talkin' bout, Davis?
Vote for me if you want to live.
The ugly Illinoisan In Wisconsin and Michigan, they have names for people like us Advertisement House - Tribune Store By Nara Schoenberg, Tribune staff reporter. Freelance writer Debra Fitzgerald contributed to this report from Door County, WisAugust 28, 2003
You're from Chicago, and you know how to get what you want.
If the ice cream scooper in your favorite Lake Michigan resort town is moving too slowly, you grumble, glare and roll your eyes. If a prime parking spot beckons near a quaint shop, you make a U-turn, crossing the yellow line, to claim your prize.
You interrupt clerks who are waiting on other customers, keep your summer neighbors up with your loud music and fireworks, chase the geese off the lake with your overpowered speedboat and run drivers off the road with your pricey SUV.
In the sleepy tourist towns that stretch north through Wisconsin and Michigan, they have a name for people like you.
They call you a FIB.
Summer is the season of Chicagoans behaving badly in Lake Michigan vacationland, or, to use the local lingo, the season of the FIB -- an acronym that sandwiches Illinois between two common profanities. Part joke, part local legend, part real-life offender, the FIB, or FIBWAB (FIB with a boat), or touron (rhymes with moron), or FIP (the P is for person) stands accused of driving like a maniac, making too much noise, indulging in a wide range of rude behaviors and, last but by no means least, hailing from Illinois.
"You talk about the ugly American," says Dennis Cogswell, region editor at the Herald-Palladium newspaper in St. Joseph, Mich. "Well, this is the ugly Illinoisan."
Cogswell is typical in that his take on the FIB issue is mostly tongue-in-cheek: "Of course, it's a terrible stereotype. Obviously there's fine people in Illinois as there are everywhere, and they're not all jerks."
He pauses: "Perhaps a high percentage of them are, but . . ."
But if the summer exploits of Chicagoans (Chicago and Illinois are often interchangeable in the eyes of FIB-watchers) aren't a burning issue in Wisconsin and Michigan, the perception of misbehavior by a small but highly visible minority of "flatlanders" is widespread. So much so that in northeastern Wisconsin, some residents use "Illinois" as a virtual synonym for "rude" or "loud."
"From personal experience -- I have family in those areas -- it's a subject that comes up," says Ruth Olson, the associate director of the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
"There's usually a story or often a comment. If someone does something [rude] or acts a certain way, I have family and friends who say, `Oh, they must be from Illinois.' If you throw a cigarette butt on the ground, if you spit on the sidewalk, [they say,] `Oh, you must be from Illinois.'"
In two dozen interviews with residents of Wisconsin and Michigan, numerous stories of unpleasant behavior emerged, some of it bad enough to make a Chicagoan blush.
On the rudeness front, we have the Illinois couple staying at a Saugatuck bed and breakfast who apparently decided their room was too small to contain their passion. They came downstairs at night and proceeded to engage in vigorous activity on their hostess' Victorian couch.
Hearing the noise, inn owner Felicia Fairchild coughed loudly to indicate she was in the adjoining bedroom and the couple retreated -- but not before they broke the couch.
"I heard this big crack and I think I must have sworn, or something," says Fairchild, now the executive director of the Saugatuck-Douglas Convention and Visitors Bureau in Michigan.
"I yelled something out and I heard them race up the stairs."
A more public variation on the rudeness theme comes from two southwest Michigan ice cream scoopers, teenagers whose employer requested anonymity for his business on the grounds that negative comments about Chicagoans could hurt sales.
"You can tell who the Chicago people are," says one of the scoopers, who reports that they "act more antsy about things," "get snotty with you" and don't tip.
Recently, she says, a scooper forgot an Illinois man's shake order and started waiting on other customers: "It was an honest mistake and the guy's like, `Where's my shake?' and she was like, `I'm sorry. I forgot. Let me go get that for you.' And he started cursing her."
In the category of loudness, Brian Morren, 47, a paper mill worker and retired firefighter in Tomahawk, Wis., charges some Chicagoans with disturbing the peace.
Morren, who stresses that he's talking about a very small minority of visitors, says that when the offenders arrive, they immediately crank up the boom box, build a huge bonfire or haul out a trunk of fireworks.
Making presence heard
"The whole peace and quiet thing that you'd think they were coming up here for is suddenly gone," Morren says, and that can create a lot of conflict if the next-door neighbor is a year-round resident who works the swing shift at the paper mill.
"But it's my vacation," the out-of-towner will protest.
"Well, that's fine," Morren says, reflecting on that argument during a phone interview. "But your right to raise hell kind of rubs up against my right to get a good night's sleep."
If the FIB pedestrian is an annoyance, the FIB driver, also referred to as the Chicago driver, is the stuff of local lore.
The classic specimen drives too fast, too slowly or both, makes U-turns across yellow lines and turns congenial four-way stops into vehicular battlegrounds.
And that's just the beginning.
Michael Feldman, host of the Wisconsin-based public radio show "Whad'Ya Know?" offers a tale of high-price sports cars racing on Wisconsin roads.
The cars, owned by Chicagoans or their North Shore neighbors, go so fast they can only be tracked by helicopter, Feldman says, adding, "This is probably a local myth."
And would that make the Chicago tourist a mythical figure?
"There are a lot of myths," about Chicagoans, Feldman says dryly.
The most obvious explanation for the FIB phenomenon is that Chicagoans lack a certain finesse, at least in their dealings with out-of-towners. But given that so many FIB-watchers say that the complaints apply to only a small minority of Illinois residents -- and in some cases apply equally to people from Minneapolis, Milwaukee or St. Paul -- it's probably fair to say that other forces are also at work.
Olson, the University of Wisconsin scholar, suggests the great Midwestern rivalry syndrome, which has Minnesotans saying Iowa stands for "Idiots Out Walking Around," Iowans calling the mosquito the "state bird" of Minnesota and Illinoisans dismissing Wisconsinites as "cheeseheads."
On a more local level, southern Illinois resents northern Illinois, and northern Wisconsin has threatened, half-seriously, to secede from southern Wisconsin and form the state of "Superior."
"We love these sorts of rivalries," in part because they foster a sense of camaraderie with those on one's own side of the border, Olson says.
An economics issue
The FIB complaint may also be grounded, in part, in economics, with some observers saying that well-heeled Chicagoans drive up property values -- and taxes -- for everyone when they plunk down $500,000 for a "shack by the lake."
Milwaukee college student Paul Koehler points out that Wisconsin often finds itself overshadowed by the Second City, which in turn makes Chicago a logical target for teasing: "It's like picking on your big brother."
It's also important to note that the FIB complaint is not monolithic, with the intensity of anti-Illinois sentiment varying according to factors such as the number of tourists flooding the host community and the extent of the cultural divide separating tourists and residents.
Michigan and Wisconsin both draw large numbers of tourists, for instance, but Wisconsin, a card-carrying member of the Scandinavian politeness belt, tends to be more offended by big-city brashness.
This may account for why in Wisconsin the unruly Chicagoan is often a "FIB," whereas in Michigan, which has its own tendency toward fast driving and blunt behavior, the offender is more likely to be known by the milder term "FIP," with the "P" standing for person.
As the crowds thin out in northern Michigan's Upper Peninsula, even the lesser term "FIP" goes into hiding, with Ann Kelley, a staff writer at the Mining Journal newspaper in Marquette voicing an often-heard sentiment: "We're so far from civilization, that when outsiders come we practically take them hostage."
Similarly, on Wisconsin's relatively uncrowded Washington Island, Patricia Sawosko, co-owner of the Albatross drive-in restaurant, praises "our friends from Chicago" for adjusting quickly and thoroughly to small-town life.
But just in case, Sawosko offers the outsiders a little advice.
"We are good," reads the hand-lettered sign hanging in her restaurant window. "We are cheerful. We are courteous. But we are not fast! For fast, go to Chicago."
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
did they seriously print "illinoisan"?
i had a similar conversation with a woman i met at the bus stop last night (about FIBs, though I didn't know the term then). she is from canada and i'm from CO, so we were just sort of discussing the sociological differences...i think what it comes down to is that this is a big city, life is just faster-paced and people overall tend to be a little shorter with you. i remember how "rude" i thought a lot of people were when i first moved here--it was kind of culture shock--but i don't even notice now. i hope it's not because i'm rude, too.
it just cause everyone is an asshole. There's nothing in chicago that people can just cill out with. i mean, in iowa, colorado and minn. you can sit down and enjoy the beauty. in chicago, you can like, get high or drunk, or both. You can do whatever, but it never has anything to do with being in a beautiful place, so instead people have all day to focus on themselves, and that's what they do. and look at me, i'm just trying to get back!
I'm sure there's something wrong with that argument, but not having been to Chicago for years, I'm not exactly sure what it is.
It's that it's easier to take life at a slower pace in a less urban environment, or where the culture values slower-paced living. Part of the simple, natural beauty of rural spaces (and perhaps the lack of constant stimulation) lends itself to introspection... blah blah, i don't knwo what
there's nothing of value to look a in a big city (not much anyway). so people race from place to place, appointment to appointment, whatev. this breeds impatience, which breeds contempt for things that are 'too slow'. this contempt, and the way urban culture in particular teaches us to demand things, makes people assholes. that and people are just assholes. but things can be said of people that travel to chicago from rural towns: they drive too slow, are too patient, get bug-eyed over the 'fast pace' that the rest of us are used to, etc.
i think the city is beautiful. most of my experience of beauty in the city is related to sunrises, since i've gone to the beach at 4:30 in the morning to see so many. when it's still dark, the clouds are pink around the edges and there's a glint off the top of the hancock building, that's beautiful. and living in the city does not dictate a "fast-paced" lifestyle. what the hell does that mean anyway? that you're always going this way and that? always rushing to the next thing? never pausing to take in what's around you? that sounds like a suburban life to me. slow moments are plentiful in the city. siting at an outdoor table at a cafe for two hours sipping lemonade in the shade, watching the clockwork of the city unfold.... is not "fast-paced".
inkblot, i think you touched on a very relevant point: i'd bet most of the Illinoisans that the Door County residents' association hate so much are actually suburbanites. not that city residents don't go vacationing in WI, but the suburbanites are the ones driving SUV's and racing around on JetSkis and causing all the ruckus. that's be my guess.
also, there is plenty of beauty in the city. perhaps read my post above to be referring to urban settings in general - be they city or suburban.
How about people realizing there are things to appreciate in most places you might find yourselves? Chicago: Cool underground music and theater, varied cultural perspectives etc. Door County: Beautiful scenery, charming stores, restaurants, etc. Nebraska: solitude, huge sky. Anyhow, I think people are too quick to criticize everything. Oh, another point about city folks and impatience: it takes a ton of patience to live in a city. DMV lines are longer, it takes an hour to drive 6 miles, it takes two hours to get from NP to Midway on CTA. I guess I'm mostly arguing against blanket statements. Wow, that sure was opionionated for 6:30 in the morning.
I agree with you, that there's beauty to be appreciated everywhere. However, I do think living in a big city (ESPECIALLY one with bad traffic, like Chicago or DC, but unlike Minneapolis which is pretty darn easy to drive in, even at 5:30 pm) tends to make people tend more towards assholishness. For example, the guy in DC who recently beat a man to death for driving slowly, by bashing his head over and over into the ground, kicking him, and the man was old, frail old man who was killed. A police officer finally had to shoot the assailant, because he was about to beat more people. Also, people in big cities live with the knowledge that yes, there's murder. There's lots of crime. There's lots of gang murders in DC, and other murders, beatings, molestations to be had. Small towns - these things don't happen as much. It can be argued that it's because there's the same percentage of assholes and creeps in every population - be it 500 person Lake Nebagamon or 3 million person DC and suburbs. So you get more incidences of this dickish behaviour when the evil ones collide. But I think living with the stress, constant, of traffic and background noise and crime and worrying about your children in their schools (metal detectors in Northwestern HS? I don't think so. Drugs being sold there? No way. Not that nobody smoked pot - some did. I think. I never saw it.) These things, to some, are balanced out by the cultural benefits you get from living in a nice big city, and people are willing to accept the tradeoff - stress for enrichment. But stress does terrible things to people longterm.Gosh I'm rambling. I should really have my coffee first before posting.
And in any case, my dad's been talking about FIB's for years. I remind him he paints me with the same brush, as DC is just as bad!
It's not imagination that generally brands urbanites (sub or regular) as more rude than the average country bear. You might say that it's just a "cultural" difference between rural and urban lifestyles, but being carelessly inconsiderate is not an issue of culture. And getting pissed off because the line at the hotdog stand is taking longer than you want it to is just plain rude, period, no matter who you are. I think that when you're waiting for someone to fix you a hot dog, your time ceases to be worth $100 an hour. And if you really think that the teenager scooping your ice cream needs to scoop faster because you have Places To Go, remember that in Rome, do as the Romans. Realize that they are working as fast as they are supposed to, and get over it.This is not to say that everyone in the -urban areas are rude, or to say that there is no beauty in the city, or to say that no one in the city is able to be polite, or patient.
So then why do people from the cities have such a bad rap?
I won't try to speculate on the underlying causes here, but I think it's because people in the city are led to expect things to happen as quickly as humanly possible, especially in service industries, and that value is not mirrored in rural cultures.
It also is more acceptable in the city to be rude to people, and more expected to be the subject of someone else's rudeness. I experience it practically every day.
That attitude is not the same in rural areas, and when it is brought there it is unwelcome. Sometimes there are country people who are rude and impatient, but they are the exception, and not the norm.
So, without unilaterally criticizing the city, or the suburbs, or the country for that matter, what is really the core issue here? This stereotype has not been invented out of the blue.
When I was young the pushy stereotype was applied to ALL Americans, with no discrimination between city/country east/west north/south (we just saw you as some kind of homogeneous blob). Having done summer work at hotels in London I had the stereotype reinforced by the large percentage of overweight, middle aged, plaid or leisure suit clad, demanding people with strange accents who were on "see Europe in a week" package tours.Nowadays I am more enlightened and realise that such people only account for 80% of the U.S. population...
My guess is that the annoying people are the ones that stick in your mind and that being able to routinely write them off as "pesky suburbanites" or whatever allows you that brief glow of righteous indignation. How many times have you stopped a strikingly polite and patient person to ask them where they came from? "From the city? I'll have to remember that!".
Up here we call them MASS-holes. Same deal, different states.I have my theories, having lived in 3 different vacation locations. What I believe it comes down to is that efficient use of time is seen to be more valuable in urban places. No one in rural Maine makes $100 an hour, heck most don't make $10. When folks come up for their valuable vacation time, they see it as too valuable and too short already.
It's hard to think about other people, expecially when your time seems so valuable and limited. Unfortunatly these other people are the locals, that vacationers depend on for service and supplies, or more. These people aren't looking at their hour as so valueable.. to us, although it may be Saturday, it's just another work day, and a busy one at that. On top of the sheer amount of people, that usually aren't there, most are impatient FIBs.
I agree with Pedro, when in Rome... but how many rural folks adopt that when they go into suburban or urban environments? They become the assholes that are driving too slow, looking at all the buildings making your commute even longer.
Personally I think it's all kinda funny... but then again I think most things are funny.
-- and that is that it's nearly impossible to drive fast (and feel safe) if you're not used to doing it, especially in traffic. And, if you've come to visit the city, why of course you want to look at the buildings! This is the opposite of trying to tell the FIB to "just relax." He may not know how to! Especially as he watches the grains of gold-plated sand trickle out of his vacation hourglass.
I think that most people just like to complain and it is fairly easy to do it about "the other." If I work at a rural hotdog stand that is burgeoning with tourists, it is easy for me to remember and comment on the rudeness of the stranger; I get to think, that's just the way strangers are. However, if it Joey from down the street who is rude to me, I can think, that's just the way Joey is, and because I know Joey, I don't have to make up a stupid acronym for him.
PS-Impatient people are everywhere, probably equally distributed throughout the population. Cities have more because they are bigger. Kind people are everywhere too.
Sidenote- I have been speechless by the beauty of Chicago.
...is that we expect strangers to be polite to people on their home turf. (Wheras maybe the strangers thing they should be able to act however they want because they're footing the bill.)
hostage robs bank with bomb locked to neck, dies in explosion
My sister works for the DA's office in Erie...she says it's a madhouse there . . .
Civilized Amish man killed by caveman with boomstick.
THat is so supremely disturbing, there are too many people out there that take things way to serisouly and have so much anger in their lives that all they need is a spark to lash out violently, I blame the media, but then I blame the media for everything.
wait--that was a stupid question, which i realized even as i was typing it. guns are not "electric." what i mean is, are the amish allowed to have guns?that is s sad story regardless. when my dad used to drive sarah & i to NPU each fall from CO, we'd pass through the Amana Colonies and visit all of their stores and such. It's a cool place.
was not an Amish person.At least that's how I understood the story.
but I'm just wondering in general if Amish are allowed to have guns. Not that I'd be expecting them to be packing in a corn field where the guy got shot.
Because they use guns for hunting and slaughter. Probably not the fancy semi-automatic type, but the more old fashioned shotguns.
'Wayne Miller, an Amish man from nearby Kidron, said the young people "shouldn't have been throwing tomatoes.""But if people start shooting people for throwing tomatoes, this country's in bad shape," he said.'
A - throwing tomatoes at passing vehicles is a fairly harmless prank, understood. however, in this, the most impatient, hostile, selfish age of AmeriKan Kulture, it's a good way to get more than you bargained for, retaliation-wise.
B - that being said, perhaps the weirdest part of this is: the Amish folk aren't all that in touch with the way things work - mechanically or socially - in our 'modern' society. because most of us would have realized that if you threw a tomato at somebody's car, and they got out and threatened to shoot you if you did it again, you wouldn't do it again. and you'd probably go find another cornfield from which to hurl the things.
C - This country's in bad shape.
...they didn't know they were getting the same guy again.But yeah.
"Girls Gone Wild" might land producer Francis in prison
So I skimmed an article on the "no child left behind" act congress passed a while back. Apparently, the act calls for schoold to implement testing standards by 2013 (or thereabouts) and be at a 100% pass rate by then. Any school not meeting the 100% pass rate can be called failing. I can't find the article so I'm curious if this is really true. That seems pretty crazy to me that on student failing a standardized test could jeopardize a school's funding. I guess it's time to go do some research...
this might be extremely fascinating.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/09/23/environment.milk.ap/index.html...I mean, it's probably still better for kids than formula (all chemicals!)... but yuck.
Somebody quick post pictures of happy kittens or something... this entree is turning into "The World Is Going To Pot (Pie)"
Hahaha.... I need to create that one.
I've often pondered why so many people feed their kids something called formula. It sounds way to Dr. Jeckel to put down anyone. At the very least wee should change the name.
Singing Cats
Googling for cute kittens brought a little more success...as in perfectly undisturbing images.
Kitten Pictures
its just so babies don't spontaneously combust...
Remember, baby clothing can be either flame-retardant or non-toxic, but not both. This way you can just stick with non-toxic.
Well, Rush made a Limbaugh-sized cannonball splash in the news this week, and the media on both sides of things is in a feeding frenzy. What do you think about it? Do you think that Rush's comments about Quarterback McNabb indicate that he is prejudiced against blacks? What about Rush's painkiller issue? Do we care?
I'm firmly in the "Who cares" camp, mostly. For ESPN to hire someone like Rush, who is clearly out of his element, is to me an obvious ploy for a little controversy and exposure.That said, I don't think Rush is prejudiced against blacks. He claims he was taking a stab at the media, but that's really no better as far as his job is concerned, because either way he went in the door with a personal agenda. Short answer: Rush is not an idiot, but he foolishly lives in his own little world -- where everyone agrees with him and he can simply cut you off if you don't -- which he mistakenly thinks mirrors the real world.
ESPN has egg on its face for hiring Rush Limbaugh when a trained monkey could have told them something like this would happen.
Seriously, didn't anyone learn from Dennis Miller?
Replace Rush with the trained monkey.
Rush's comment on McNabb toes the line of outright racism but it was certainly dumb and offensive. Had they ever listened to his radio show, ESPN would have known what they were getting. He says stuff like this all the tiem on his show. Although, most of his absurd comments are directed at liberals and his favorite bogeyman, the liberal media (*diminished chord*). With no opposing viewpoints and no one checking his facts, Rush is taken as gospel. Rush plays to the "angry white males" and the angrier the better so a little race-baiting never hurt his ratings. I think Rush put it best when he said "They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"I'm skpetical of the drug use charges. So far we've got a NY Daily News story that was sourced from a National Enquirer story. That's quality reporting there. If it is true and Rush has an addiction problem I hope he seeks treatment and learns a little compassion towards those who struggle with addiction.
What a splendid idea. It certainly couldn't have been any worse than hiring Rush.While we're kind of on this subject, I'd just like to say that I am really sick, sick, sick of hearing about "THE LIBERAL MEDIA." I have news for the no-longer-big-and-fat-but-get-back-to-me-on-idiot Rush and those like him: there are as many viewpoints as there are people, and the world is not hurting for conservative viewpoints. In other words: you ARE the media. Stop bellyaching.
And I agree with everyone else in the galaxy that ESPN should have known what they were getting into when they hired him. What bothers me is that I think it is true that there is a desire for a strong black quarterback (people are certainly cognizant of the historical lack of black QBs), and if McNabb is getting more hype than his playing justifies, then perhaps it is because he is black and people (for many good reasons) want him to succeed. If that is true, then Rush's comment should have been something that people could discuss -- "No, I think he's overrated because the quarterback pool across the NFL is low." -- "No, I don't think he's overrated -- I think he's a great quarterback who had a few crappy games." Even, "I think he's overrated but I resent that you attribute that to his race."But if Rush actually had a point (which it seems to me most people automatically assume otherwise), it's something we should talk about openly, not just fire him^H^H^H^Hmake him resign. And I haven't heard that many people (in the news reports) dispute Rush's claim that McNabb is overrated. (Again, I don't know football, so I really can't speak to that for myself, but it seems like none of the quotes in the news reports dispute that claim.)
What it really comes down to for me is that it bothers me that a person can say something which is difficult or sticky, and get screwed just for saying it, regardless of its' merit. (I'd have an easier case to make if it were Mr. Rogers or someone widely liked rather than Rush Limbaugh.)
In Lukas' words it "toes the line of outright racism" -- and at first I disagreed, but the more I thought about it, yeah, it really does "toe the line." If Rush is racist -- and only his doctor knows for sure -- his comment about McNabb is sneaky at best and diabolical at worst. If he's not racist and he's wrong, at worst his comment illuminates wrong-headed ways of thinking. If he's right, that illuminates other issues and areas that surround our world's race fiasco. The problem is, how do you talk about race, or talk about the nitty gritty of any sticky issue like that, without "toeing a line"? Someone is almost always going to think you were too close -- if they don't think you stepped right over it.
I guess in one sense Rush should expect it much like the little boy who cried "wolf," because most people know him as a blowhard (he would say "entertainer") who says outrageous things. But on the other hand it bothers me that someone can say something that might very well deserve consideration, and be ridden out of town on a rail basically because we don't want to hear it, or think about it.
And then on the other hand we can have "politicians" (Arnold) get up and say, "Yes, I did some improprietous things as recently as three years ago, and I just want to say right now, from the bottom of my heart, as part of my campaign, and on national television, ''I'm very sorry and I apologize.``" (But I only now thought to apologize!) And then still have respect!
What a joke.
I actually wish Rush hadn't quit ESPN and then they could have continued the debate on air. That's why ESPN hired him but I dunno, maybe he was forced out or maybe he just wanted to play martyr.
To Kill a Mockingbird Play Canned... because of the N Word.
I would disagree. I think the kids need to hear the "N" word in a play- a play that is sensitive and beautiful and shows racism for what it is. I mean, what in the hell do we have theater for if not to hold a mirror up to society and to emphasize its flaws? Clearly, no one in that school is thinking like an educator.
As the students said, TKAM and Huck Finn are both required reading in the school -- they cancelled the play because they asked the NAACP what they thought and the NAACP asked them not to put it on... or at least, not to have the kids put it on.
1 Asian beetle seen out of zonePublished October 10, 2003
LINCOLN PARK -- Chicago officials confirmed Thursday that a lone Asian longhorned beetle was discovered near a park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, more than 30 blocks south of the quarantine zone the city has established for the destructive insect.
The beetle was found Wednesday on a light pole across from Oz Park, at the intersection of Lincoln and Webster Avenues and Larrabee Street, officials said. A Chicagoan who has an interest in the Asian longhorned beetle made the discovery, city Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said.
"We're not really worried, because it's late in the season, and we've had four crews out," Smith said. "They're not coming up with anything."
The quarantine zone was established after Asian longhorns infested the Ravenswood neighborhood in 1998. It was expanded in 2001 and is bounded by Howard Street on the north, Bryn Mawr Avenue on the south, Western Avenue on the west and Lake Michigan.
Chicago lost 1,400 trees in the first two years after the beetle infestation.
Boy, I'm really glad that the federal government stepped in and took hold of airport security so that we can be sure only the most qualified people are given the job of protecting America's skies. I mean would your average Joe be able to answer questions like this?:
One question asks "why is it important to screen bags for IEDs? (improvised explosive devices)." Multiple-choice answers included "ticking timer could worry other passengers," "batteries could leak and damage other passenger bags," or the wires could "cause a short to the aircraft wires." The correct answer is that "IEDs can cause loss of lives, property and aircraft." "Some questions give away the answer and some are simply inane," Mr. Ervin said. Another multiple-choice question asks how "threats get aboard an aircraft." The choices are carry-on baggage, checked bags, or another person's bag, and the correct answer is "all of the above."
what's with all the ladybugs?
check my diary entry from the other day, they aren't ladybugs, they are Asian lady beetles. My diary post says more.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,99731,00.html
Jim Wilson, who graduated from a certain institution we all know and [love...hate], has a regular article at Partial Observer. He wrote one about Rush Limbaugh that's pretty interesting. I don't even know/feel comfortable necessarily saying how much I agree with him, but it's worrth a read and a ponder.
TUESDAY, OCT 14, 2003 last updated at 1:53 p.m.JUDGMENT TO RUSH
Editorials in the Trib and S-T today meditate on Rush Limbaugh's drug problem:
Trib: "American political debate has a show-no-mercy quality to it these days, and Limbaugh has certainly contributed to the harsher tenor of that debate. ....This, though, is a time for compassion....As compelling as the temptation may become to deride and chastise him as this arrogant and seemingly self-confident man leaves the public stage, the better angels of our nature call us to understand that if he takes recovery seriously, he is about to strip himself bare, penetrate the veneer he has constructed over his life and gaze deep into a chasm that no one has ever seen" S-T: "We do not want to gloat over Limbaugh's personal tragedy.... but as one of the loudest voices supporting our misguided and punitive national drug policy, Limbaugh bears some responsibility for a society that all too readily pays to keep nonviolent drug offenders like Limbaugh in prison while stinting on the kind of treatment that Limbaugh is now receiving..... (When Limbaugh returns to the air) he might consider a kind of conservatism that promotes personal responsibility without condemning and vilifying those who fall short."
Burt Constable at the D-H also weighs in: "Some might recall how Limbaugh mocked Bill Clinton for, among everything else, the president's drug history. But all Limbaugh's story proves is that the conservative talk show host is more adept than Bill Clinton when it comes to drug use. The liberal Clinton willingly tried to smoke marijuana, but claims he was too stupid to figure out how to inhale. Limbaugh managed to become a drug addict without even trying."
Over the last several days I've been trying to let my higher self agree with my colleagues on the editorial board, that this is a time for compassion. As I was just about there, I went back and re-read Rush Limbaugh Says The Darndest Things, a series of verbatim comments and exchanges I transcribed from his radio program in December, 2000 and January 2001. Here are just a few:
"Liberalism is totally emotion-based...the most gutless choice you can make"
"What does Bush owe people who didn't vote for him?....It cannot be said that Bush owes these people anything in the political sense....You take that (black) vote out of there, George W. Bush has one hell of a mandate, does he not?"
"This is about winning and losing. It's about defeat and victory. It's not about getting along, it's not about bipartisanship at all. it's about prevailing."
"The poor liberals...these people live in a constant fog. They lie to themselves all the time."
"This arrogant cockiness of the leftists is extremely off putting and frustrating. To me, arrogance is one of the most offensive human behavioral characteristics anyway."
"Not following the law is the Democrat's stock in trade. That's what they do."
"The liberals are fundamentally people who are lawless. .... They don't believe in virtue. They're suspicious of virtue because they know they're not virtuous in the traditional sense."
On and relentlessly on he goes.
This man is a poisonous, divisive, nasty figure on the American scene who heaps scorn and contempt on good people with whom he disagrees.
Limbaugh would be mocking and imitating and belittling a prominent liberal Democrat who found himself in the hellish grip of addiction and alleged criminal activity in which Limbaugh now finds himself. He'd be impugning his values, his integrity and his intelligence and trashing everything he stands for.
Others are clearly able to rise above this man's history of intolerant invective, turn the other cheek and wish him well.
I just can't.
© 2003 Chicago Tribune
Hadn't heard much about this story lately.
Have any of you been following this?Her feeding tube was removed yesterday.
You'd think that in a case as unclear as that one, judges would want to allow as much evidence as possible rather than just taking the husband's word for it... Also, I realize there is no changing this now, but Terry should have picked a better husband.
Here's her parent's support page: www.terrisfight.org.Doctors say it may take up to two weeks for her to die. Doesn't it seem ridiculous that if we as a society and justice system are trying to do the right thing, the humane thing for a person we let her starve to death? Why do we do that? Because we won't administer a lethal injection of morphine or something else, because we as a society won't support that because it is too much like killing. But letting a disabled person starve to death is absolutely no different.
I'm sure that the facts you hear on both sides are not as honest as they should be. People in these situations tend to exaggerate to make their points. I hate that, and I hate that I have to disbelieve people because experience has shown me that people are untrustworthy. But the more I read about this situation, the more it sounds like her husband just doesn't want to deal with the situation any more, after all, he has been engaged to another woman for 7 years (and has a child with her). Why not just assign custody to her parents? Or divorce her? Because maybe he'd lose the settlement money?
There are lots of places online you can sign petitions if you are so inclined. Some of them would even have you call or fax the governor in Florida. The phone numbers are listed on Terri's page... I'm certainly not saying what I think anyone should do, but I just have a tremendous sense of loss and frustration about thi