I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
frizzist!
Also, Vista sucks ass.
toid!
forfth!
Cults are wha's happening.
Cults are wha's happening.
Nah. It's all about the scary irrational wimmins.
thanks, avedon. What, no candidate bashing? waiting ... 5...4....3....2....
wimmins are being all demanding with that equality crap.
Nah. It's all about the scary irrational wimmins.
Molly Ivors, Blue
Gotz hormones?
wimmins are being all demanding with that equality crap.
You realize of course that suggesting that makes you....
a wimmin!
The only person champing for a Bloomberg candidacy, imo, is Michael Bloomberg.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Rosenthal said he decided to step down in part because his judgment had been affected by a combination of drugs prescribed for him.
Don't take the yellow acid!
The only person champing for a Bloomberg candidacy, imo, is Michael Bloomberg.
plantsman
Not true. Broder has a chubby.
I think Bloomberg is Broder's candidate, too, plantsman.
trifecta, that's WAY TMI.
Broder has that attractive form of senility where one appears sane and rational.
Morning, rational people.
I made an interesting discovery yesterday. I am no longer able to work a 14 hour day without waking up with hangover symptoms.
keith is beginning to piss me off. He said last night that every so often Hillary seems to get angry and airs a negative ad against Barack. He might as well have said it seems to happen monthly.
Seriously, McCain winning the primary kills Bloomie. Obama's lead does too. The villagers want anybody but a liberal. They would be fine with a wingnut. "Maverick" is beloved.
Bye bye bloomie.
Don't take the yellow acid!
Moe Szyslak, two-handed!
he has to spend more time with his fam'ly, in ft Worth, he's gonna need it.
Anybody else having a problem with the 2nd link? it keeps crashing my browser. 
Broder has that attractive form of senility where one appears sane and rational.
Well, right up until the point where he starts railing about Kaiser Wilhelm, sure.
Personally, I welcome our self-aggrandizing billionaire overlords.
Morning, all.
Been gone, pretty much, since Thursday.
Have I missed anything particularly irksome since I've been away?
Diggin' some Digby:
Bush, you'll recall, defended Rafael Palmiero when this whole thing was first revealed. Even the question of drug use is a partisan issue.
I confess that when I saw Dan Burton out there railing like his old self, like he was getting ready to go shoot a watermelon with a picture McNemee's head on it, I was a little confused. Since when are Republicans the big softies toward people accused of drug use?
And then I realized that it's because steroids aren't a drug used for pleasure, which we know is a big no-no. They are drugs used solely to give users an edge that others don't have. Of course they are protective of a big, white Texas boy using steroids to win by any means necessary. It's a fundamental conservative value!
Anybody else having a problem with the 2nd link? it keeps crashing my browser.
Me too.
Had to run down the local market to fill up a jug with filtered water.
el has me beat in at least one, if not both, games.
The more human speed of playing with a person is
quite nice, otherwise.
I am irked about nothing Steve. Sorry.
Hi, Diane, hungover, having discovered NYTimes union busting for healthcare. at http://cabdrollery.blogspot.com
Since when are Republicans the big softies toward people accused of drug use?
Since this one is a big Republican-booster.
HOUSTON – Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal resigned Friday under the weight of a scandal involving the release of dozens of pornographic, racist and political e-mails on his office computer.
In his resignation letter, Mr. Rosenthal said he decided to step down in part because his judgment had been affected by a combination of drugs prescribed for him.
"This position is much too important for anyone to be less than their best," wrote Mr. Rosenthal.
He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.
Mr. Rosenthal, a Republican, has endured public outcry for his head – some of it from protesters at a street demonstration and from his own party – since a federal judge released the e-mails as part of a civil rights lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff's Department.
The bizarre contents of his computer's in-box also included romantic e-mails he had sent to his secretary, with whom he acknowledged having an affair in the 1980s. Mr. Rosenthal cited the negative attention the e-mails have brought on his family.
"I have been trying to restore my family as a unit, but the constant media pressure had made that restoration more difficult," he said.
The resignation came hours after Lloyd Kelley, the attorney whose lawsuit resulted in the release of the e-mails, had filed another suit Friday, asking that the prosecutor be removed from office on grounds of misconduct, incompetence and drinking on the job.
Have I missed anything particularly irksome since I've been away?
steve simels
Well, for one thing you weren't here...
steve,
I'll be posting the weirdest news of the election season so far at our place in a bit.
Community and religious leaders in Houston said the racist and sexist e-mails found on Mr. Rosenthal's computer were an indication of deeper problems in the district attorney's office, and that others in the office should resign as well.
Mr. Rosenthal was forced off the March 4 GOP primary ballot by the scandal but steadfastly refused to resign, saying "stupidity" was not grounds for quitting.
He also was under threat of a federal contempt of court citation for the deletion of 2,500 other e-mails demanded as part of the lawsuit against the Sheriff's Department.
The contempt issue is still pending before a federal judge, and Mr. Kelley said Mr. Rosenthal's resignation won't affect it.
But an investigation by the Texas attorney general's office on whether Mr. Rosenthal used his county e-mail account for political campaigning, a possible violation of the law, ended with his resignation, said spokesman Jerry Strickland.
Gov. Rick Perry will appoint Mr. Rosenthal's replacement, said Perry spokeswoman Krista Piferrer.
Mr. Rosenthal was caught up in an unrelated but simultaneous scandal when he successfully asked a judge to dismiss a grand jury's indictment of a state Supreme Court justice and his wife on charges they torched their house because of financial problems. Justice David Medina and his wife, Francisca, have denied the charges.
white baseball players and golfers skew heavily GOP.
They just are protecting their own. And I think these hearings are stupid.
More on Texas SC Judge David Medina (too many CRs)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story....nt/
5539836.html
They also want to defend themselves against accusations that they were part of a "runaway grand jury," Dorrell said.
By law, grand jury proceedings are usually required to be kept secret.
"The other members of the grand jury felt that our grand jury had been abused and insulted by both the district attorney's office and the defense attorneys in the case," Dorrell said. "We took our duties seriously and discharged our oath and our reward was to be insulted and attacked."
The grand jury on Jan. 17 indicted Francisca Medina on an arson charge and David Medina on a charge of tampering with a document.
Hours after the Medinas were indicted, Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said the charges would be dismissed due to "insufficient evidence."
Wisner also said he didn't think a judge would allow the grand jurors to disclose evidence they heard behind closed doors.
.
The group is not seeking any money or attorney fees.
.
State District Judge Jim Wallace disbanded the grand jury Jan. 24 after determining it had been improperly impaneled.
.
The panel was held past its scheduled Nov. 2 end date to maintain continuity during the investigation of a massive mortgage scam in which more than 30 people were indicted.
.
The document that requested the term extension, however, was incorrectly worded.
.
David Medina's attorney, Terry Yates, called the lawsuit frivolous.
steve,
I'll be posting the weirdest news of the election season so far at our place in a bit.
Molly Ivors, Blue
Amy Winehouse will marry Kucinich too?
2nd link is Dallas Morning News, they load you up with all sorts of ads before they let you near what news you came for.
Mr. Rosenthal was forced off the March 4 GOP primary ballot by the scandal but steadfastly refused to resign, saying "stupidity" was not grounds for quitting.
Oh, now there's a good riposte.
Sorta like "Even stupid people have a right to a representative."
They just are protecting their own. And I think these hearings are stupid.
trifecta | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 7:33 am | #
Right both times, sugar.
I know lots of people love "The Mustache of Justice", but aside from the fact that he has a stupid stache, I wish Waxman wouldn't waste so much time on this culture-bashing crap. Cigarettes and stereoids are not that important to go after when the Constitution is being shredded.
If the villagers could get themselves into a lather over Fred Thompson, how can they avoid swooning over a billionaire like Bloomberg?
Whatever became of ol' Fred, anyway?
Whatever became of ol' Fred, anyway?
SteveLG, wine-walla
I suspect he's gone to Bob Dole for advice on landing a job in commercials.
Whatever became of ol' Fred, anyway?
SteveLG, wine-walla
Shhhhh, he's napping. He gets fussy if you wake him up early.
Fred and Jeri are getting busy in the leased red pickup, last I heard.
Whatever became of ol' Fred, anyway?
He's wandering around TN in an old red pickup truck.
Waxman thought the hearings were stupid too. Shades of that movie, Forrest Gump, where stupid is what stupid does.
That second link didn't crash my browser. Maybe because I have this flash block plugin. This replaces flash objects with a button that you have to click on to enable it to be viewed.
Work pretty well except for stupid web sites that have their entire site built with flash objects. I tend to never bother. If the web designer was that ignorant as to create a site built on flash, than the odds of the site being worthwhile to view is about zip.
our peace and justice site had a thoughtful commentary on prejudice, whipped up by pundits toward Hill and Obama.
The premise was that Hill got the brunt, as you still can't go there with the race issue, but ok to stomp on women.
Made me sensitive to how those 2 are fish out of water in the campaign. Watching Hill operate in blustery male combat formats (attack mode speeches) I realize we have a long way to go.
And I think these hearings are stupid.
trifecta
Well, as Snow has pointed out, baseball is a monopoly overseen by Congress. But yeah, with everything else going on, these hearings seem kind of lame.
another day, another repuglican perv:
GOP's McKee Resigns After Home Is Searched
By Philip Rucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 16, 2008; B05
Robert A. McKee, a long-serving Republican delegate from Western Maryland, announced his resignation yesterday after authorities, who say they are conducting a child pornography investigation, seized two computers, videotapes and printed materials from his Hagerstown home.
First elected to the House of Delegates in 1994, McKee was chairman of the Western Maryland delegation and sponsored legislation to protect minors from sexual predators. McKee, 58, also resigned yesterday from his post as executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, a child mentorship program where he has worked for 29 years.
"For me, this is deeply embarrassing," McKee said in a statement. "It reflects poorly on my service to the community."
The FBI's cyber-crimes unit and the county sheriff's office are reviewing the materials seized from McKee's home Jan. 31, federal and local authorities said.
"No charges have been filed as of this time," Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore said.
morning all....
...when he successfully asked a judge to dismiss a grand jury's indictment of a state Supreme Court justice and his wife
Of course this is untainted by the scandal and corruption surrounding him.
Must be the undisclosed medications since he is afterall a member of the "Party of Personal Responsibility".
Sorta like "Even stupid people have a right to a representative."
Diane C. Barking-Mad
we need one on the Supreme Court then.
Ralphie, when I read the ingredients in Morningstar Farms "Veggie Links" and realized wheat gluten is the primary ingredient, I couldn't help thinking of you.
steve,
I'll be posting the weirdest news of the election season so far at our place in a bit.
Molly Ivors, Blue
The weirdest? Given the season so far, that's saying something.
In any case, I await it with breathless enthusiasm...
Wheat gluten is used to hold together many proccessed foods. I have to read labels carefully.
Digby now apparently has the stupidest fucking trolls in the blogosphere... or perhaps she shares them with Atrios.
This election is worse than being stuck in seventh grade for the rest of your life. Jesus H Christ.
digby
Trolls. What a waste of existence.
On the Canadianization front, I've lately noticed that I've started calling that last letter of the alphabet "zed."
Yeah, but when wheat gluten is the main ingredient, the texture's kinda ookie.
Amy Winehouse will marry Kucinich too?
He will convert to Mormonism first.
And Mike Huckabee is having a fight with... well, you'll see.
Moe, maybe that will finally meet with -- --'s approval!
On the Canadianization front, I've lately noticed that I've started calling that last letter of the alphabet "zed."
But how do you feel about doughnuts?
hmmmm, someything went off wrong there.
I've lately noticed that I've started calling that last letter of the alphabet "zed."
Moe Szyslak, two-handed!
so give it a rest. matey.
My inlaws are celiacs. We've discovered that a lot of restaurants use some sorta rice mix, rather than actual, ya know, rice. The mix contains wheat, for some unfathomable reason.
Always ask, at restaurants. If they don't know what you're talking about, or seem pestered by the question, go somewhere else.
But how do you feel about doughnuts?
Molly Ivors
I went to Timmy's *twice* yesterday.
Celiacs, stock up on quinoa! (pronounced, as always, "Keen-Wa.")
plantsman, your turn
And Mike Huckabee is having a fight with... well, you'll see.
Molly Ivors, Blue
Heh.
Terrific catch, Molly I
I have no trouble with wheat, I feel fortunate to say; but whole-wheat pasta seems to spike my blood sugar.
Always ask, at restaurants. If they don't know what you're talking about, or seem pestered by the question, go somewhere else.
Or order a baked potato. Most commercial salad dressings also contain gluten. It's oil and vinegar for me. Most retaurant soups are thickened with flour or barley. Must pass on those.
Molly, makes me wonder if this doesn't make it impossible for anyone whose music is taken in vain to stay silent - Francis Scott Keys' descendants will have lots of ammunition there.
Sorry, el; when I last checked Scrabulous, the games were *gone*, so you won them both.
Congratulations!
Molly Ivors:
Holy crap.
Pun intended....
Francis Scott Keys patent ran out 78 years after he composed it, though. Now free for all.
Sorry, plantsman, I started a new game. If you want to, start another.
and thanks, luck at the end
Francis Scott Keys patent ran out 78 years after he composed it, though. Now free for all.
el
isn't misrepresentation anything at all then? no, I guess not.
I've lately noticed that I've started calling that last letter of the alphabet "zed."
Moe Szyslak, two-handed!
"koooo-loo-koo-koo-koo-loo-koo-koooooo"
Welcome to the Great White North.
I went to Timmy's *twice* yesterday.
(looks Moe up and down critically)
You'll do.
I wish Waxman wouldn't waste so much time on this culture-bashing crap
Waxman was quoted yesterday as saying that he wished he hadn't called the Clemens hearing, and only did so because Clemens demanded it.
OK, but since when do druggie pitchers get to dictate congressional hearings. (Hmmm, wonder if we could find one who wants impeachment hearings)
I went to Timmy's *twice* yesterday.
Moe Szyslak
Moe, what kind of beer goes best with donuts?
turn, el.
I guess the guy who's supporting the Huckster played with the band on their state fair tour in 1983, or something.
Remember Reagan tried to steal "Born in the USA" in 84. But this is a bit different, since they're *playing* the song. This could get pretty complicated, legally--I mean, cover bands are supposed to ask permission and pay royalties too, I guess, but they don't.
The fact that it's stupid ought not to act as a deterrent to investigation. Art, ideology, terrible haircuts: someone should at least get a postdoc out of this.
Swear to god, you sound exactly like Mrs. Moe. I love you academics, but can't understand you at all.
Moe, what kind of beer goes best with donuts?
Gromit
Ha! You're testing me. Eveyone knows you eat Timbits with beer, not the doughnut proper.
(Hmmm, wonder if we could find one who wants impeachment hearings)
Gromit
(raises hand, waves wildly)
(raises hand, waves wildly)
Okay, but first, what's your ERA?
ugh. CNN blaring headlines;
"AP: Police in Accokeek, Maryland, say 7 people killed when a car apparently plows into them while they are watching a drag race"
Swear to Dawg, the "Paint Your Lawn Green" ad at Facebook cracks me up! They used lawn paint decades ago at my high school in Phoenix and I don't imagine it's improved much.
OK, I'm going back to bed to try to sleep off this work hangover.
I'll be back later, hopefully without the headache and poor attitude.
However, I'll still think the NY Times editorial sucks.
Okay, but first, what's your ERA?
Molly Ivors, Blue
I own some almost worthless GMAC Smart Notes, will that do?
Ruth, Offer only applies to tobacco-chewing major league pitchers with large butts, fat heads and huge egos. Minimum 15 years or major league experience, 1000 strikeouts, and earned run average below 4. Requires express permission of commissioner of major league baseball.
standards too high, tho I'll work on the fat head and ego.
Mr. Rosenthal was forced off the March 4 GOP primary ballot by the scandal but steadfastly refused to resign, saying "stupidity" was not grounds for quitting.
The dubya precedent.
I started a game of Scrabulous with Moonbootica.
Her plays so far have been hesitant, almost sheepish -- 2 or 3 letters. I have this weird feeling she's going to erupt into hyper-competence all of a sudden.
Mr. Murder 'stupid' will never reach the heights it has with the cretin in chief. Retire the number.
Last night on NOW, a really great lady who started a union for freelancers. A number of "freelance" full timers, 40 hour workweeks with 2 weeks vaca and 3 sick days (sounds like workweek, donit?)
It's time to have universal health care, and NOT paid for by our employers. They will weasel out of anything.
You know, it really was very ballsy of Olbermann to call out his own network on Ann Coulter like that.
Feeling his oats.
Good for him.
"I have been trying to restore my family as a unit, but the threat of gay marriage has made that impossible," he said.
fixed it
My Prius 104,000 miles was pronounced soon to be DOA. One of the small batteries was dead, and on running a diagnostic, they said brain needed to be replaced.
ok. There is a paper out on it, but it doesn't apply to me, because over 90,000 miles. A mere infant to a Toyota.
Just as I was beginning to love the car. Brains cost $2500.
Ugh, that's rough, el!
el What would you sell that 'broken' Prius for, what condition (besides that battery, and brain) is the auto in?
If in otherwise clean condition, it would be an excellent candidate to do a brain and battery transplant to to make it a long distance plugin.
Barely a day goes by without some fawning story speculating about Bloomberg's potential run for president - implying that he has some sort of huge mass constituency and political monopoly on so-called "competence" and "bipartisanship."
Dear Dave,
Our media are idiots.
Your,
CoT
P.S. - I'm not kidding about this.
Yes, yes; wee Americans, vote in the Plutocracy by your own hands, "My Friends."
http://theangryblackwoman.wordpr...-with-feminism/
Which drinking game will get you smashed fastest... having a drink when Bush says "terror," when McCain says "my friends", when Obama says "change," or Hillary says "solutions" ?
McCain saying, "My Friends."
I want a car that has no brain.
You'd have loved my old truck!
Well, off to the farmers market. Later, all.
McCain saying, "My Friends."
plantsman,
Yep. Better break out the big ol box of wine.
Morning, all
Which drinking game will get you smashed fastest... having a drink when Bush says "terror," when McCain says "my friends", when Obama says "change," or Hillary says "solutions" ?
SteveLG, wine-walla
Doing all of the above at once.
I heard McCain saying my friends 3 times in one sentence.
I can't find the damn remote. I'm stuck listening to a vacuum cleaer infomercial.
.
I can't find the damn remote. I'm stuck listening to a vacuum cleaer infomercial.
That must suck.
It's in the sofa cushion. Or on top of the fridge.
That must suck./i
CoT, you crack me up.
I am unduly proud of myself: I have repaired a DVD player.
(bows)
Watch the 8 pound Oreck pick up this bowling ball!
Molly who is Melanie Abraham?
McCain saying, "My Friends."
Most annoying verbal tick ever. Like Prof. Harold Hill insincere.
.
.
"Look! The smoke's starting to clear up!"
I am unduly proud of myself: I have repaired a DVD player.
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
"12:00"
It's in the sofa cushion. Or on top of the fridge.
Or in the fridge.
Will I like Veronica Guerin , I wonder>
Can I have a big, AWWWW from the assembled?
Apparently, Latrell Sprewell really was having a hard time feeding his family.
The former NBA star's home is up for foreclosure and his yacht was sold at auction, according to filings in a Milwaukee court.
Sprewell, right, who once rejected a three-year, $21-million contract extension saying, "I've got my family to feed," has failed to make his $2,593 mortgage payment since September.
His $1.5-million yacht was seized last summer and sold at an auction last month for $856,000, but Sprewell might still be responsible for the remaining $500,000 owed to the bank
Latrell, in case you have forgotten, is the player who choked his coach and was never actually punished beyond a slap on the wrist for the action.
Seems his money management skills are similar to his social skills, eh?
Chimpy learns Geography
SC is a concealed carry state except for public buildings (it's OK for the peasants to walk around with crazies carrying guns but public officials don't want the risk).
Thank B'aal it wasn't "Snow".
MOUNT PLEASANT — A rookie solicitor was arrested Friday and accused of pointing a loaded gun during a road rage incident on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.
Ninth Circuit Assistant Solicitor William Grayson Ervin, 29, of Charleston is charged with pointing and presenting a firearm, Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said.
A woman driving toward Mount Pleasant on the bridge about 2:50 p.m. reported that a man behind her was trying to get around but couldn't. When he finally passed, he pointed the barrel of his black handgun at her, Mount Pleasant police Lt. Sean Kenneally said.
DWD, you may wanna read this. or not. on NCLB, WaPo op-ed givingit a failing grade. http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp...8021503008.html
Molly who is Melanie Abraham?
Teh Google sez a belly dancer. Why?
Or in the fridge.
Check the back of the toilet, too.
"12:00"
"12:00"
attaturk, drama queen
Fixed that 11:59 blinker did ya?
"But your floor better not be dirty, 'cause the Roomba doesn't hold shit!"
Teh Google sez a belly dancer. Why?
Molly Ivors, Blue
Bobblespeak is the #11 for searches her name because I once wrote "Melanie: Abraham Lincoln says"
I thought maybe she was pop star.
I am unduly proud of myself: I have repaired a DVD player.
With a Bowie knife? That's how a student fixed his laptop. In class.
A woman driving toward Mount Pleasant on the bridge about 2:50 p.m. reported that a man behind her was trying to get around but couldn't. When he finally passed, he pointed the barrel of his black handgun at her, Mount Pleasant police Lt. Sean Kenneally said.
Gimlet | 02.16.08 - 8:42 am | #
But if she'd had a gun, too, she could have whipped it out and pointed it back at him, thus averting potential disaster!
/gun nut
i didn't know "solicitor" was used that way in the US - unless the court employs prostitutes.
Found it. Could swear I looked there -- twice!
.
this is a cool development:
February 16, 2008
For ‘EcoMoms,’ Saving Earth Begins at Home
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The women gathered in the airy living room, wine poured and pleasantries exchanged. In no time, the conversation turned lively — not about the literary merits of Geraldine Brooks or Cormac McCarthy but the pitfalls of antibacterial hand sanitizers and how to retool the laundry using only cold water and biodegradable detergent during non-prime-time energy hours (after 7 p.m.).
Move over, Tupperware. The EcoMom party has arrived, with its ever-expanding “to do” list that includes preparing waste-free school lunches; lobbying for green building codes; transforming oneself into a “locovore,” eating locally grown food; and remembering not to idle the car when picking up children from school (if one must drive). Here, the small talk is about the volatile compounds emitted by dry-erase markers at school.
Perhaps not since the days of “dishpan hands” has the household been so all-consuming. But instead of gleaming floors and sparkling dishes, the obsession is on installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, buying in bulk and using “smart” power strips that shut off electricity to the espresso machine, microwave, X-Box, VCR, coffee grinder, television and laptop when not in use.
“It’s like eating too many brownies one day and then jogging extra the next,” said Kimberly Danek Pinkson, 38, the founder of the EcoMom Alliance, speaking to the group of efforts to curb eco-guilt through carbon offsets for air travel.
Part “Hints from Heloise” and part political self-help group, the alliance, which Ms. Pinkson says has 9,000 members across the country, joins a growing subculture dedicated to the “green mom,” with blogs and Web sites like greenandcleanmom.blogspot.com and eco-chick.com. Web-based organizations like the Center for a New American Dream in Takoma Park, Md., advocate reducing consumption and offer a registry that helps brides “celebrate the less-material wedding of your dreams.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/
1...agewanted=print
where was it?
McCain saying, "My Friends."
"I ain’t your friend, palooka."
But if she'd had a gun, too, she could have whipped it out and pointed it back at him, thus averting potential disaster!
/gun nut
Brooklyn Girl | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 8:47 am | #
When I lived in SC years ago there was an attempted robbery in a 7/11 near us where multiple customers pulled weapons and shot each other.
Bowie knives are overrated.
Okay, off to Gomorrah on the Hudson for various errands and such. Then an evening of the traditional quaffing of the elitist chardonnay, this time in the company of an Atriot or two along with my usual satanic commie pals.
Talk to you all much later this PM, or manana morn.
In the meantime -- I love you all more than food!!!!
Aw, Ruth, it is not even that complicated. I wrote a fairly long post last night explaining why some schools "work" and some do not but it really comes down to this: if the parents are involved in the schools and have high expectations for their children's success, the schools will be fine. (By this I mean the test scores will be great, the teachers will be brilliant, the buildings will even be adequate, and the materials will be present) If the parents do not care about their children or the schools (other than to come in a bitch about the way their children are being mistreated) there is really little that the schools can do to rectify the situation.
But there are some things: but these cost money and take time. Lots of time and patience. Before school programs, after school programs, mentors and sponsors. An adult to supplant the role of parent.
This article is not wrong nor is it right. It just misses the point.
But if she'd had a gun, too, she could have whipped it out and pointed it back at him, thus averting potential disaster!
/gun nut
Brooklyn Girl | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 8:47 am |
This morning on ABC they had someone UT student on who supports arming students on campus.
As far as I could tell, ABC didn't have anyone on saying that was a dumb idea.
There's gotta be something wrong with people who's answer to so much gun violence is more guns.
Found it. Could swear I looked there -- twice!.
Sparkle Plenty
Elves of Lost Objects:
"Shit, we almost got caught!"
It was lurking just behind the skirt of the couch. Brat!
.
Bowie knives are overrated.
SIMELLLLLLLLLLLS!
This article is not wrong nor is it right. It just misses the point.
DWD - Delighted with Dems.
It's pretty funny to me, since WaPo is in a very ethnically mixed city but most of its audience is northern MD and VA elitist suburbs, so it walks a tightrope trying to be informed and intelligent without ever showing bias, and schools are the no-mans land of editorialists. Cannot say, rich suburbs have better schools because their kids have better backgrounds for educamashun.
If the parents do not care about their children or the schools (other than to come in a bitch about the way their children are being mistreated) there is really little that the schools can do to rectify the situation.
DWD - Delighted with Dems. | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 8:51 am | #
It does not have to be parents. The Eugene Lang experiment in Harlem was pretty definitive.
The particular problem he has most often been working to solve has been access to higher education for underprivileged children. His interest in the subject found its expression in 1981 while he was giving a commencement speech to the middle school graduating class of Public School 121 in East Harlem, the same school he had attended. In the speech he promised the 62 graduates that he would help finance the higher education of any in the group who, at the end of high school, wanted to continue on to college. As he tells it, he turned from the podium to be greeted by the principal, who slapped him on the back and said his commitment would not cost him much since the high school had a drop out rate of more than 60 percent. On average only two students from every PS 121 middle school class went on to college.
“That comment really made me mad,” says Lang. “Not only that it belittled what I was trying to do, but also that this person knew there was this problem and hadn’t done anything to fix it.” He decided he needed “not only to give college scholarships but to find ways to keep the students in school.” The result was a mentorship program created for the PS 121 class to which he made his original commitment. The program included tutoring, trips to nearby colleges, and personal mentoring. “We let them know that we cared for them,” said Mr. Lang about that first group of students. “That they meant something, and they saw we were sincere about it because we didn’t go away.”
The result? Ninety percent of that first group of students ultimately graduated from high school, and seventy percent went on to college. More than half of those graduated with a degree. That initial proof of concept spawned the establishment of the national I Have a Dream Foundation (IHAD) in 1986.
buckeye; "UT student on who supports arming students on campus."
Betcha he's applied for the franchise.
It was lurking just behind the skirt of the couch. Brat!
Sparkle Plenty
Punish it!
Discipline is very important in situations like this.
DWD- although i don't disagree with what you're saying, i think it's true that if you can pay for it, a good education is completely possible with almost no parent involvement. tutors, boarding, a busy schedule...there are lots of ways to "give a child a good education" and have it show up in terms of test scores and college acceptance letters and whatnot, with little to no parental interaction. parents should be involved, but if that isn't possible, we shouldn't assume it an impossible challenge to educating a child.
It's pretty funny to me, since WaPo is in a very ethnically mixed city but most of its audience is northern MD and VA elitist suburbs, so it walks a tightrope trying to be informed and intelligent without ever showing bias, and schools are the no-mans land of editorialists.
You are correct. We simply cannot say that the parents are the problem for that would be . . . a problem.
But until we recognize what the problem is, there really is not much hope of fixing it, is there?
The example I referenced last night was just ironic. The local charter school that has really hurt my school district (by taking about four hundred students) has never been successful. They have failed by every possible measure. (The lowest scores in the county and so on) The university sponsoring them finally has pulled their certification and they are going out of business next school year.
Adjacent to the article on their demise was a human interest story about a lady who had moved into Muskegon Heights and sent her children to this school. She had tried to form a parents group to help save the school and could not find anyone interested. . . .
There you go.
parental interaction. parents should be involved, but if that isn't possible, we shouldn't assume it an impossible challenge to educating a child.
chicago dyke, mellow | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 8:59 am | #
Money, honey. If poor kids went to places like the Lab School or Deerfield Academy, and someone bought them 2 meals a day, and told them they were important, they'd do well
CD,
I did say that, I think. "But there are some things: but these cost money and take time. Lots of time and patience. Before school programs, after school programs, mentors and sponsors. An adult to supplant the role of parent."
Good morning, Hero Leaguers! How's the weekend looking?
And, John McCain is no friend of mine.
I used a screwdriver, duh.
It was my own fault--I moved the damn thing with a disc in and it got knocked out of place and jammed the door.
"I am unduly proud of myself: I have repaired a DVD player."
i'll send you my portable cd player. hasn't been the same since the cat gacked on it.
I think it's safe to say guns and frat parties will be an unpleasant mix.
hasn't been the same since the cat gacked on it.
Ummm, ick.
When I lived in SC years ago there was an attempted robbery in a 7/11 near us where multiple customers pulled weapons and shot each other.
rootless-e
Is there video?
And, John McCain is no friend of mine.
Grandpa John is going to send you a check for eight dollars on your birthday.
CD,
Did you see David Brook's column yesterday where he explained that poor kids don't go to college because they don't have any money but they don't go because they are inadequately prepared?
Grandpa John is going to send you a check for eight dollars on your birthday.
Molly Ivors, Blue | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 9:06 am | #
And a letter that starts "Greetings ..."
"Private education" as opposed to public has been just another Gooper fraud perpetrated in the interest of lowering taxes for the already affluent.
Charter schools and others of it's ilk have shown that their performance is not better than public schools, it's just delivered cheaper because teachers are severely underpaid and they get to cherry pick non-problematic students.
Jonathan Kozol has all the data on this if anyone is interested in reading his books.
Punish it!
Discipline is very important in situations like this.
Gimlet
Oh, I punched its buttons, awright.
Charter schools and others of it's ilk have shown that their performance is not better than public schools, it's just delivered cheaper because teachers are severely underpaid and they get to cherry pick non-problematic students.
Since the charter school opened, we have not had a raise.
Worked, didn't it?
Our experience is that charter schools are not always a bad thing. In many poorer communities, school districts are purely employment agencies. Charters allow unhappy parents to take the money back and try to spend it on kids.
Regardless of how many times Bushboy is shown to be: a)lying b) not know what he's talking about c)distorting d) all of the above, the MSM continues to present him as a viable and respectable spokesperson.
That ship has sailed MSM! Bushboy is damaged beyond repair and always will be!!!
DWD, and ChiDyke, in my experience in the elitist No.MD suburbs, less educated, less wealthy parents were intimidated by pushy parents when they did try to get involved. Some still spent a lot of effort to keep their kids going, others got hostile and kind of launched hostile kids against the world, which destroyed the kids of course.
but now I gottz to get out doing things before the next big storms come in.
And Diane found NYT pushing health care off onto GM/unions - http://cabdrollery.blogspot.com
Grandpa John is going to send you a check for eight dollars on your birthday.
Molly Ivors, Blue | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 9:06 am | #
And a letter that starts "Greetings ..."
rootless-e | 02.16.08 - 9:07 am
Oh, that'd be hysterical. Carter didn't want me, Reagan didn't want me, Bush, Clinton, and Chimpy didn't want me, I'm too old, and I ain't goin'.
Oh, I punched its buttons, awright.
See? It just needed a good ass-whuppin'.
Recent school gunman was a September 2001 signup for the war.
He'd undergone psych detention at parents bequest out of HS.
"Kazmierczak enlisted in September 2001, but was discharged in February 2002 for an "unspecified" reason, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said.
He worked from Sept. 24 to Oct. 9 as a corrections officer at the Rockville Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Rockville, Ind."
The charter school thing drives me nuts. Here in Ohio students from "failing" schools are given vouchers, but the good-performing schools don't accept them. Parents and kids end up choosing religious schools, "military schools" and various fly-by-night sounding stuff.
.
Everything the Goopers have touched since Raygun was elevated to the WH in 1981 has been a disaster for the American people.
Raygun immediately shifted the majority of the tax burden to the middleclass and gave the rich a whopping cut in their tax rate of 50%.
He then appointed many criminals to office as the subsequent Justice Dept. convictions showed. Undeterred the Bushboy WH appointed many of those same criminals to office and politicized the Justice Dept. so that these criminals wouldn't be re-arrested for current crimes.
The Goopers are a monolithic party that is a fraud and a fake and plays the demagogue game far better than the disunited Democrats who are too often in disarray because they disagree on a single ideology.
Oh, that'd be hysterical. Carter didn't want me, Reagan didn't want me, Bush, Clinton, and Chimpy didn't want me, I'm too old, and I ain't goin'.
filkertom | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 9:11 am | #
Ask not what your country can do for you - you won't like the answer anyways. Ask what God forsaken war your country can ship your ass to.
- John McCain's inauguration speech.
Ahhhhhh, that's better.
Re-morning.
When I was seven, I tested pretty damn high in IQ, and my parents were offered the chance to put me in Detroit Country Day School. They couldn't really afford it, and I didn't want to go because I would be away from my friends, and so I stayed in Detroit Public Schools.
And then I ended up in one of the new Magnet Middle School programs, which terrified my mom because two-thirds of the kids were Teh Black.
White, black, whatever. I was a geeky nerd with a bean head and the thickest, raccooniest glasses since Buddy Holly, and I got beat up a lot. But I had free rein to learn what I wanted, and I soaked it up like a sponge.
And then we started Chess Club, and suddenly I was on much better ground. Half the school went chess-crazy, thanks to Fischer/Spassky, and I was tied for second-best player in the school, and that battlefield was where the rest of my school days were spent.
It was hardly perfect... but we all ended up with a lot more respect for each other than we might've had otherwise. And I never learned to hate or fear others because of their skin color.
Morning!
Did any of you see B. Maher last night?
C. McCaskill was on there and defended her vote.
Regardless of how many times Bushboy is shown to be: a)lying b) not know what he's talking about c)distorting d) all of the above, the MSM continues to present him as a viable and respectable spokesperson.
That ship has sailed MSM! Bushboy is damaged beyond repair and always will be!!!
Rudy
But surely the MSM should be regarded as damaged as well. It isn't clear that most of the citizens realize just how sycophantic and fawning our press has been (and continues to be.)
Newspapers and other media are continuing to lose revenue because fewer and fewer people are getting their news from founts no longer trusted. For every Charlie Savage and Sy Hersh there are a hundred Chris Wallaces and Norah O'Donnells.
Amazingly enough, Dorothy Rabinowicz (sp?), Wall Street Journal, has just ripped Chris Matthews a new one on NPR for his idiotic and revealing remark about "a thrill up his leg".
The old time media know they are in serious trouble. It remains to be seen if they will repair the self-inflicted damage, break down and actually report the news honestly.
Greets, BD.
The reality of teaching disadvantaged kids rarely matches the rhetoric you see uninformed politicians use.
First of all, lower income kids move a lot. It's rare for a school to have an opportunity to work with those kids for more than year.
Secondly, lots of those kids show up at school with serious behavior and attitude issues that create a very real barrier to teaching especially in a traditional classroom environment where their disruptive behavior is likely to result in a series of office referrals.
By the time the student is identified for some special program, the parent(s) have moved again (or been passed of to another relative or foster home), and student re-enters the system elsewhere.
Highya filk. Still in midst of your travels, or are you home again?
(just in time for freezing rain/snow/etc)?
Well, speaking of education...
Pay attention children, there will be a test.
G'wan, it's science-y
Money, honey. If poor kids went to places like the Lab School or Deerfield Academy, and someone bought them 2 meals a day, and told them they were important, they'd do well
rootless-e
Absolutely true.
At Lab we have not nearly enough scholarship kids (though we have some, and nobody outside of the highest levels of administration knows who they are), but those we have are first-rate. There has to be support.
And, in hopes that DWD is still reading, you have to support the teachers and all the ancillary staff who are trying to provide the support.
Check out this URL:
http://www.obamamessiah.blogspot.com
Regardless of how many times Bushboy is shown to be: a)lying b) not know what he's talking about c)distorting d) all of the above, the MSM continues to present him as a viable and respectable spokesperson.
That ship has sailed MSM! Bushboy is damaged beyond repair and always will be!!!
Rudy
But surely the MSM should be regarded as damaged as well. It isn't clear that most of the citizens realize just how sycophantic and fawning our press has been (and continues to be.)....
The old time media know they are in serious trouble. It remains to be seen if they will repair the self-inflicted damage, break down and actually report the news honestly.
David Derbes, writin' away | 02.16.08 - 9:18 am
Ain't gonna happen. Not except for isolated cases like Stewart and Olbermann. I genuinely think the media, punditry, and political class are locked into the sociological equivalent of a codependent relationship involving clinical psychosis. Party A thinks reality is different from what we can plainly see and prove it to be, and Party B loves Party A so much that they keep saying, "It's all right, dear, don't listen to them, they don't understand".
If I'm wrong, I'd sure like to see some proof.
NCLB and abstinence only programs have been boondoggles for the religious right.
I hope that either President Obama or President Clinton will get rid of both.
break down and actually report the news honestly.
David Derbes, writin' away
I don't think you can separate the MSM from it's corporate sponsors.
There are a lot of excellent alternative news sources such as DemocracyNow on community TV, the Nation and Harpers magazines among others, and the growing AirAmerica model on radio, but none of those will ever have the money or the FCC in their pocket so they can dominate the airwaves the way the MSM does.
The MSM will always be a whore. IMO the best we can hope for it's that they only pass on STDs like gonorrhea or herpes and aren't lethal with syphilis and HIV.
Last leg, BD. Currently at CapriCon in Chicago. Good concert last night, a couple of panels today, and audio of me singing "Talk Like A Pirate Day" with The Pirate Guys. Home on Monday.
Check out this URL
No.
filk,
Do you still play chess?
the media and the banks suffer from the same problem of over-centralization. Turns out that gigantic bureaucracies created on debt financing are too large and homogeneous to work well.
Nobody coulda predicted ..
Check out this URL:
http://www.obamamessiah.blogspot.com
arsom | 02.16.08 - 9:23 a
"'E is not the Messiah! 'E's a very naughty boy!"
G'wan, it's science-y
Jeebus!
Filk, are you on Facebook?
FYI...
She stated in so many words that she does support her fellow Dems. It is just that she feels they are going the wrong direction with the telecoms. She feels that people should be able to go after the "REAL" responsible party, which is the B. Administration and all those that facilitated this eavesdropping.
She feels the telecoms were acting in good faith because they were browbeaten into it by a heavy handed Government.
Okay, there you go. Maybe you folks saw that, done that already. I had not seen her response until last night on Bill's show.
Not in a long time, Rudy. I keep thinking I'll get back into it at some point, but I spend so much time doing other things that I never even boot up the ol' Chessmaster.
I used to be pretty good. At one point over a two-day tournament, I got really frickin' lucky, and on Day One I beat a couple of people I really shouldn't have, and I don't know what exactly happened with my ranking but the next day I was playing geniune ranked Masters. Who smacked me down to earth real fast. But those twelve hours in between, when I thought I was a ranked Master, were great.
NTodd -- nope. MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/filkertom). I've got a few too many sites to keep track of as it is, and with all the privacy concerns and Join Us scumware they have going I just never bothered.
Jeebus!
Molly Ivors
I love the spyhops...
"We get him?"
"Nope, still there"
("Oh god, they're LOOKING at me!")
Yo Ho! Shiver me timbers!
Great filk, really great.
"'E is not the Messiah! 'E's a very naughty boy!"
filkertom | Homepage | 02.16.08 - 9:26 am | #
It shows something about the caliber of the last 40 years of Democratic politicians that one with star quality is greeted with suspicion.
She feels that people should be able to go after the "REAL" responsible party, which is the B. Administration and all those that facilitated this eavesdropping.
Wait, who facilitated the eavesdropping, if not the fucking telecoms?
HBK,
CoT and I were talking about going to see Begley at "Shoot" on Monday if you're into it ...
i adore Lab School and the kids there, scholarship and otherwise. lab is such a dream school, in some respects.
Did you see David Brook's column yesterday where he explained that poor kids don't go to college because they don't have any money but they don't go because they are inadequately prepared?
DWD -
no. but of course he'd say that. believe me, i think a lot of not-needing-scholarship kids grow up to be like brooks, constantly trying to prove that money and daddy really didn't have anything to do with them getting/staying in. esp after they encounter brighter scholarship kids who make them seem unhip/stupid.
filk,
If you ever decide to get back into chess check out the website "Chessgames.com."
They have some of the greatest games played by the greatest masters of all time.
And perhaps one day we could push a few pieces....
I just searched on the NYTimes for articles about Obama's healthcare plan--and got four hits, all in 2007. Nothing from Krugman, btw. On a sidebar, several NYTimes blog entries came up.
The NYTimes--four articles--none in 2008.
We are not well served.
Now, perhaps my search terms "Obama healthcare plan," aren't bringing up everything the Times has published on this issue, which is usually one of the top concerns of voters, but, still...four???
Molly Ivors,
Czech your email, you minx.
"Wait, who facilitated the eavesdropping, if not the fucking telecoms?
NTodd, Löving Führer "
DUH! If you and I participated in a crime...
We would do the time! PERIOD!
She has lost her mind.
Czech your email, you minx.
sigh...
Sheets.
David Derbes,
I have some free time this weekend, and I'm gonna spend some of it reading that material you sent me. So feedback to come by early next week.
Fucking troll gets more action than me.
Assholes.
Key party for owls
I'm reading a book now called "The Political brain," by psychologist Drew Westen.
Westen is a Dem who is frustrated (like the rest of us), because the Goopers keep winning elections that they shouldn't.
His very perceptive conclusion is that the Goopers play the emotion game very well, while the Dems have mistakenly thought that by appealing to the rationality of voters they would succeed.
As Kansas and many other places have shown, people don't vote their self-interest, if their emotional buttons on other things have been pushed.
Westen thinks Dems have to start playing the emotion game better!
Rudy -- I could work with that.
Thanks, ql! [hugs]
jawbone, the NYT search engine is terrible. Often I can't find things I know I read there, so that could be part of it. But you're right, we are not well served.
His very perceptive conclusion is that the Goopers play the emotion game very well, while the Dems have mistakenly thought that by appealing to the rationality of voters they would succeed.
As Kansas and many other places have shown, people don't vote their self-interest, if their emotional buttons on other things have been pushed.
david brooks said this last night on teh news hour: hillary's speechifying used to be all wonk and obamania's was emotional. and i thought of it for a little bit and realized that yes, uhmericans choose almost EVERYTHING on emotion and NOT rationality
"... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama" - Barack Obama, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
January 7, 2008.
http://www.obamamessiah.blogspot.com
Good grief--I'd seen the CJR article and the quote about seeing the light, but I hadn't realized this was something Obama says frequently.
OMG.
el | 02.16.08 - 7:39 am
el, do you have a link for this?
And, have you contact the Toyota zone office to see if they will do anything?
This is not good publicity for the Prius, to put it mildly. If the zone area manger won't do anything, escalte further. No guarantee, but you might get some help on this.
Again, tell them how many people are astonished at learning about such an important failure so early in the life of the car and how it makes customers think several times about making such a large investment...etc.
Uh Oh...Barack = War In Iraq after all?
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