I enjoy Chinese food. A lot. There happens to be a Chinese buffet about 3 blocks from my house and I order takeout from them frequently. A while back it seemed that every time I called a man who spoke basically no English would answer the phone. After a few awkward moments of neither of us being able to understand the other, he’d put the woman who usually answers the phone on and all was well.
After about the fourth or fifth time this happened, it started to really annoy me. “Why the hell would you have the guy who doesn’t speak any English answering the phone? That’s just stupid.” I groused.
Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that I had been calling their fax number, which evidently rings in the kitchen, where English fluency isn’t so much a requirement. I had to laugh as I imagined the dialogue: “Why the hell does that guy keep calling the fax machine? That’s just stupid.”
Our values and priorities are so fucked up in this country. Penn State head coach Joe Paterno turns a blind eye to a former assistant coach who was (allegedly) molesting children and yet he is (apparently) being allowed to retire at the conclusion of the (all-important) football season.
Let’s look at this from another angle - imagine for a moment that instead of a football coach, we were talking about, let’s say, a History professor. Would he be allowed to retire at the end of the year knowing what he knew and having not notified the proper authorities? Hell no! They’d fire his ass like a cannon (and rightly so).
It’s morally repugnant when the Catholic church shelters child abusers and those who facilitate or ignore the abuse, and it’s just as disgusting when it’s done by Penn State University, or any other organization.
Paterno must go.
This sort of lazy misuse of the word “accident” makes me so mad. From KTLA
Bicyclist Killed in Possible Road Rage Accident.
Seriously, if it was “road rage” then it stands to reason that it was not an “accident”. Why does it make me mad? Because it’s indicative of a far too common apologist attitude when it comes to crimes being committed by automobile drivers. Far too often motorists get away with recklessly, sometimes intentionally, maiming or killing cyclists, pedestrians, motorcylists, and yes, even each other because “it was just an accident”.
The English language is a rich and varied tapestry, full of synonyms with gradated meanings. Stop calling it an “accident” every time a car crashes. I know that the media is careful (for the most part) not to assign or imply blame, but they should also be more careful not to implicitly absolve (alleged) perpetrators of blame which is exactly what the misuse of the word “accident” does.
Robert Mecklenborg is a conservative Republican who represents much of western Hamilton County, Ohio.
Check out his mugshot, here.
Investigators say Mecklenborg had viagra in his system and a woman in the car with him. There are reports that she is connected to a Lawrenceburg strip club called Concepts Showgirls.
Man! Talk about burying the lede! How is that not the headline?
Winfrey’s latest venture: “Oprah’s Oberlin Ohio Hobo Oboe Orchestra”. You read it here first.
The commercials finally convinced me, so I asked my doctor if I’m healthy enough for sexual activity.
He said, “I’m a podiatrist, jackass.”
Sometimes I worry that if I accidentally put the wrong type of plastic in my recycling bin it will send the guy into a wild-eyed rage and he’ll scatter the contents across my yard before hurling the empty bin through my front window.*
That’s a rational fear, right?
* Poorly-drawn cartoon representation on the way, stay tuned
Back in 2003 I went to see the “Tell Us The Truth” tour. Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello), Boots Riley, Lester Chambers, and Mike Mills joining forces to raise awareness about the dangers of media consolidation and the FCC’s recently increased “media ownership cap” which allowed individual networks to control a larger percentage of the national market.
Flash forward to today. Media giant Comcast buys control of MSNBC, which then promptly fires Olbermann, their highest rated host.
Tom Morello’s words from 2003 seem particularly prophetic today.
A few massive corporations will soon control all we see on TV and print and radio, there’s a very narrow number of gatekeepers, and that can be very destabilizing for a democracy. Ten years ago, 50 corporations controlled the major media outlets. Now it’s down to six, and everybody loses except the super-rich at the top.
Since it’s apparently perfectly okay for a complete stranger to say to me:
“You’re so skinny! Don’t you eat?”
Then it stands to reason that must be acceptable for me to respond:
“You’re so fat! Do you ever stop eating?”
I think I’ll try that out. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
If you’ve ever doubted that there are two systems of justice in the United States (one for the rich, one for the rest of us), read this story.
The first sentence sums it up nicely:
A financial manager for wealthy clients will not face felony charges for a hit-and-run because it could jeopardize his job, prosecutors said Thursday.
According to District Attorney, Mark Hurlbert:
“Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger’s profession, and that entered into it,” Hurlbert said. “When you’re talking about restitution, you don’t want to take away his ability to pay.”
This makes me angry on so many levels that I find it difficult to articulate. Click here to sign a petition urging DA Hurlbert not to drop the felony charges against Martin Erzinger.
I’m still looking for the petition to have Mark Hurlbert disbarred and brought up on criminal charges.
It’s interesting to note that this the same District Attorney who did feel that felony charges were warranted in the case of two women exchanging numbers in the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.
Cheating at bike racing? Class 6 felony!
Running down a respected doctor, father, and husband and leaving him for dead? Misdemeanor.
Yeah, that seems fair and just.
I just don’t understand how we, as a society, came to view driving a car as some sort of God-given right.
Early in the morning of Sunday, August 1, Rebecca Thompson, a 42 year old mother of three and her dog were struck and killed while walking in Harrison Township. The driver, later identified as 24 year old Jimmie Picklesimer fled the scene.
After killing Rebecca Thompson, Picklesimer called 911, not to get help for the woman and dog he’d run down, but to claim that his 1992 Chevrolet S-10 pickup had been carjacked by an armed black man two blocks north of the crime scene. He told deputies that his assailant had taken his keys. Inconsistencies in his story and the fact that it was discovered he had the keys in his pocket naturally caused deputies to question his story. Picklesimer eventually admitted to hitting the woman and her dog, and also to having downed six beers prior to doing so.
Now, here’s the really disturbing part of the story. Picklesimer who, remember, is just 24, has had his license suspended 9 times and in 2006 he was convicted of driving without a license. 9 suspensions in roughly 8 years, yet this person was still licensed to drive. Am I the only one who thinks there is something very, very wrong with this scenario?
From The Dayton Daily News:
Local police say they regularly stop drivers with multiple license suspensions. “It’s not unusual to get a guy with 10 or 15 suspensions,” said veteran Dayton police Officer Randy Beane. “We spend a lot of time with individuals like this.”
How can the automotive culture and lawmakers in this country be so blinded by our love affair with our cars as to be willing to allow these people to drive, unhindered, until they kill someone?
Honest to God, how many times does a person have to demonstrate that they aren’t capable of safely operating a motor vehicle before the “justice” system takes that privilege away from them, for good?
*Source: Dayton Daily News. Link 1, Link 2, Link 3