After hours and hours and hours of focusing on John Mark Karr, the news organizations are going to eat a LOT of crow.
Why?
DNA evidence shows he didn’t do it. And they’re not filing charges. He’s just a weirdo wannabe.
Signs Of AntiSemitis
Yeah. A cheap shot, and a somewhat dated topic (Mel Gibson’s Malibu meltdown). But funny:
Early American Textbooks
A strange editorial in the Wall Street Journal seems wistful for the days of 200 years ago:
In early American public schools, there was no separation between church and state. Tenets of Christianity were embedded in almost every lesson and book, including spelling, reading, history, grammar, arithmetic and science.
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The schoolbooks used by early Americans were supposed to teach literacy and knowledge, but they also had a broader purpose: to create a national character, instilling children with a belief in God and a moral code appropriate to the pious citizens of a new republic. While learning to read, students also had to absorb messages about religion, patriotism and other virtues, such as thrift, diligence and honesty.
Yea, right.
As Hurricane Paths Go, This One Is Pretty Sucky
Hurricanes lose strength as they pass on to land. Ernesto seems to "know" this:
Debbie Pictures
I’ll probably do a full online "album" in a few days, but here’s some pictures from the show (stolen from Heather’s media page):
"Jock Rock" (Girls [L-R]: Teresa, Rebecca, Heather, Cheryl, Emily; Guys [L-R]: Ken, David, Derrick)
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Mr. Greenfelt propositions Debbie: "I’ll give you ten dollars to look at your breasts"
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He not only looks at them; he touches them. Heather ("Debbie"), money in hand, has a priceless pained expression on her face. I’m sure Heather is just "acting" that expression. *Ahem*
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Backstage photos:
Chicks ([L-R]: Emily, Heather, Cheryl, Teresa, Rebecca)
…and Chiquitas ([L-R]: Heather, Teresa, Emily)
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The cast with director Jamie
Katrina Anniversary
First, some one-year-after-the-fact facts:
– Less than half of the city’s pre-storm population of 460,000 has returned, putting the population at roughly what it was in 1880.
– Nearly a third of the trash has yet to be picked up.
– Sixty percent of homes still lack electricity.
– Seventeen percent of the buses are operational.
– Half of the physicians have left, and there is a shortage of 1,000 nurses.
– Six of the nine hospitals remain closed.
– Sixty-six percent of public schools have reopened.
– A 40 percent hike in rental rates, disproportionately affecting black and low-income families.
– A 300 percent increase in the suicide rate.
Everyone’s got their opinion out what Katrina — one year later — "means", but mine is much like Paul Krugman’s (registration required):
Apologists for the administration will doubtless claim that blame for the lack of progress rests not with Mr. Bush, but with the inherent inefficiency of government bureaucracies. That’s the great thing about being an antigovernment conservative: even when you fail at the task of governing, you can claim vindication for your ideology. But bureaucracies don’t have to be this inefficient. The failure to get moving on reconstruction reflects lack of leadership at the top.
Mr. Bush could have moved quickly to turn his promises of reconstruction into reality. But he didn’t. As months dragged by with little sign of White House action, all urgency about developing a plan for reconstruction ebbed away.
Mr. Bush could have appointed someone visible and energetic to oversee the Gulf Coast’s recovery, someone who could act as an advocate for families and local governments in need of help. But he didn’t. How many people can even name the supposed reconstruction "czar"?
Mr. Bush could have tried to fix FEMA, the agency whose effectiveness he destroyed through cronyism and privatization. But he didn’t. FEMA remains a demoralized organization, unable to replenish its ranks: it currently has fewer than 84 percent of its authorized personnel.
Maybe the aid promised to the gulf region will actually arrive some day. But by then it will probably be too late. Many former residents and small-business owners, tired of waiting for help that never comes, will have permanently relocated elsewhere; those businesses that stayed open, or reopened after the storm, will have gone under for lack of customers. In America as in Iraq, reconstruction delayed is reconstruction denied — and Mr. Bush has, once again, broken a promise.
Krugman is right. Government bureaucracies are a problem, and everybody acknowledges it. But we’ve elected leaders who merely choose to wallow in the problem, and even perpetuate it. The problem becomes the excuse for their failures. What is needed, of course, is leadership that not only recognizes the problem, but has the desire and ability to fix it.
Or… as one person has said: “It does indeed logically stand to reason that if one elects into office people who don’t believe the government has any real business existing (beyond the bare necessities of a standing military) that disaster relief will be handled horrifically. Garbage in, garbage out…”
More Homobigotry from UNC Professor Mike Adams
Seriously, why is this guy still employed?
Here’s Mike Adams, professor of criminology at UNC-Wilmington:
Several years ago, I began writing columns questioning the so-called gay rights movement. I prefer to call it the “gay privileges” movement because gays are not presently deprived of anything that is rightfully theirs. A gay man has the same right I have to marry a woman.
Oy.
But here is the thesis of his latest screed:
There is nothing wrong with discriminating against a class of people who are afflicted with an emotional or mental illness that is relevant to the completion of a given task – especially if that task is crucial to the well-being of the society at large. That is why I am opposed to the idea of gays adopting or teaching our children.
The only problem is that the American Psychological Association has long rejected the notion that homosexuality is an emotional or mental illness.
But if we are going to set up absurd standards for who should and shouldn’t be teaching our kids, let’s look at this tidbit:
For the record, I have never cheated on my wife. I did, however, attempt to cheat on my wife one time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past Ms. [Ann] Coulter’s bodyguard.
In my humble opinion, anyone who wants to commit adultery with Ann Coulter has a serious mental and emotional problem, and should not be teaching.
Now here is "Professor" Adams attempt at humor. He’s talking about criticism of his gay-bashing columns:
Frequently, the criticism would come en masse from gay groups who would post my columns on PRIDE websites or chat rooms at universities like UNC-Greensboro, which is also known as UNC-Gonorrhea.
Get it? Because he took the "G" in UNC-G and changed it from "Greensboro" to "Gonorrhea". Hahahahahaha! That’s so funny and clever! He’s like — I don’t know — Oscar Wilde or something!
The nutcase readers at Free Republic respond with typical bigotted homophobic approval, including this little gem:
UNC-Greensboro is very gay. Literally something like 50% of the male students are homosexual. However, if you’re a straight young man, you can be ugly and dumb and still have a harem, since 70% of the student population is female. Even after accounting for lesbians, you’ve got about 4:1 odds. I used to know a smoking hot young lady from my hometown who went there who always complained about not having a boyfriend.
And UNCGers out there agree?
Okay, Bye!*
*Post title ripped off from Emily
I’m done doing Debbie, and having a cigarette.
If any theater experience can be described as "too much of a good thing", that pretty much sums up my present feelings about "Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical". I’m spent.
What a great experience. It was an incredible. A dream cast — both onstage and off — and a stellar crew. Fantastic audiences. Perhaps my best theatrical partaking ever.
But now it is time to shower off, and clean up my website. And take a trip to Golden Pond (which I am directing).
Spoke Too Soon?
A U.S. military commander in Baghdad says significant progress is being made in reducing attacks against security forces and civilians in the Iraqi capital since a large-scale operation was launched several weeks ago. Army Colonel Robert Scurlock made the remarks during a teleconference from Baghdad.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen and bombers claimed at least 69 lives in Iraq on Sunday, even as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki repeated the assertions of Iraqi and U.S. leaders that violence was easing from a wartime high set earlier this summer.
The U.S. military said seven American soldiers were killed in and around Baghdad over the weekend: four died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in northern Baghdad, one was killed by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad and one by gunfire in the eastern part of the capital.
An American soldier also was killed Saturday in a roadside bomb southeast of Baghdad, making it one of the deadliest weekends for the U.S. military.
Improv Everywhere Strikes Again
The date: August 19, 2006
The target: Home Depot’s mega-store in Manhatten
The mission: 225 participants (or "agents") entered the Home Depot posing as ordinary customers, scattered throughout the store and then proceeded to shop . . . in slow motion. At a pre-determined time, they all froze for five minutes.
The results: Full recounting, with video and photos, here. Unlike previous ventures, the employees of Home Depot weren’t pricks about it. They were understandably confused (as were regular customers), but they seemed to laugh rather than get annoyed.
YouTube video:
I don’t think this one was as good as the "Best Buy" mission from last April. In that one, 80 Improv Everywhere agents entered a Manhattan Best Buy megastore, all dressed in the "Best Buy" blue shirt and tan khakis worn by Best Buy employees. And they just stood around. This upset the real Best Buy employees a lot (and confused many many customers). The NYPD was called in, and many of the Improv Everywhere agents were escorted from the store. Here’s that video:
UPDATE: Oh, what the hell — more Improv Everywhere antics. This one, from December 2005, is self-explanatory:
Other missions:
Posing as U2 and performing a rooftop concert (ended in arrests)
And of course their yearly Ride the Subway With No Pants Event
My favorite though is Romantic Comedy Cab, an improv mission played solely to one person, an unsuspecting cabbie. It’s a really sweet improv — but too complicated to explain. Follow the link and read.
What Does The U.S. Surgeon General Say About “Plan B”?
Remember C. Everett Koop? Like him or hate him, you knew he was the Surgeon General of the United States, and he opined on the important health matters of the day.
So where is the current Surgeon General, and what’s his or her opinion on the "Plan B’ morning-after pill?
Do you even know who he/she is?
Don’t feel bad. We don’t have one!
Who’s Sorry Now?
Yeah, Greg at The Talent Show is right…
Whaddup with everybody apologizing on YouTube?
Terrorist Are Planning To Frappe Us
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) – A West Virginia man claiming to be Osama Bin Laden led Ocean City Police on a high speed chase that ended in a crash. He then threatened officers with a blender.