The Latest Campus Craze

There was a time, back when I was in college, that the stimulants of choice for all-nighters were 7-Eleven coffee and No-Doz. (The Hyperion, our own locally-owned coffee shop in Fredericksburg, closed at 9pm or 10pm. This was before Starbucks had invaded our quaint college town. But I digress.)
Now it looks like kids are abusing drugs....to do their homework?
Check out this Christian Science Monitor article.

Turns out it's also the subject of this week's poll in The Onion.

Ah, well, what's a liberal arts education good for anyway?

To Avoid Liberal Indoctrination, Duke Students Avoid Humanities

Seriously, though, I'm sure our nation's future conservative leaders have no need for English or history education. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but "political science" still falls under the rubric of humanities, correct?

You don't leave all constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door....

The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against a Missouri high school that twice admonished a gay student for wearing T-shirts bearing gay pride messages. The suit charges that the school violated the youth's constitutional right to free expression." The Times continues, "By the account of the civil liberties union, the student, Brad Mathewson, a 16-year-old junior, was sent to the principal's office at Webb City High School on Oct. 20 for wearing a T-shirt that he said came from the Gay-Straight Alliance at a school he previously attended, in Fayetteville, Ark. The shirt bore a pink triangle and the words 'Make a Difference!'" The Times adds, "Mr. Mathewson, the A.C.L.U. said, was told to turn the shirt inside out or go home and change. Instead he traded shirts with a friend, who wore the gay pride shirt the rest of the day without incident. ... A week later, Mr. Mathewson was again admonished for wearing a gay pride T-shirt, this one featuring a rainbow and the inscription 'I'm gay and I'm proud.' Told once more to turn the shirt instead out or leave, he chose to go home and was eventually ordered not to return to school wearing clothing supporting gay rights. (NY Times article)

Wingwomen

That's right, now you can pay women to help you meet other women at a bar. That is awesome. I'm getting a franchise right now. Wingwomen By the way, my roommate Steve claims he knows either the woman who started this, or another woman who started an identical business. He states this is not a good "business plan" because the premise is getting men to admit that they are bad at meeting women.

Alternatively, ladies, you can also Rent Mr. Right Now for the evening, so you have a no-strings-attached date for a special event. Now, when men use this sort of service, I think we usually call it a different name.

Bus 42

The following was a letter written to Dr. Gridlock, a columnist for the Washington Post. For those of you not familiar, DC has a (theoretically) very strict no eating/drinking rule on its buses and trains. This is absolutely appalling.


Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I recently took the No. 42 bus home from work. As I boarded, I noticed the bus driver talking on a cell phone again. When we were at the Dupont Circle stop, many school kids got on, all with their food and drink, as usual.

A lady sitting across from me politely asked two girls who sat down near her to please put the food away, as she has food allergies, and it was illegal to eat on a bus anyway. They of course mouthed off to her and kept eating.

The lady then asked the bus driver to enforce the rules, but of course he didn't hear her because he was still on his cell phone. When she finally got his attention, he told her not to worry because they were kids.

She pointed out that she had allergies and it was against the law, the same as being on a cell phone while driving.

That did not sit well with the driver, and he called her an expletive and told her to deal with it.

I leaned forward to tell him the lady was right, and he turned on me and called me a troublemaker, also using an expletive.

The lady said she was going to report him, and he directed the f-word at her several more times. I handed her my card and told her that I would file a report also.

The bus driver then stopped in the middle of Connecticut Avenue and cussed both of us some more and ordered us off "his" bus. He used the f-word a few more times and really started to frighten people.

He then shouted at the lady that it was his expletive cell phone and that he expletive pays for it and that he will talk on it anytime he wants.

When people started to complain, he finally sat down and drove. He wouldn't stop slandering the lady, calling her a "fat expletive" several more times.

When I got to my stop and tried to exit, he said he wasn't going to expletive let me off.

I was becoming fearful for my life, as I have never had someone this crazy to deal with.

When I started to panic after being held against my will, I noticed a little glass case with a hammer like you would break in case of a fire. I figured this might alert someone, so I picked up the hammer and started to break the glass. Then he opened the door to let us out.

I have reported this to Metro, but I have done this before, and nothing is ever corrected.

I am a 61-year-old man, and the bus is my only way to get home.

Any suggestions?

Brent Fleek

Washington

Deep Fat Fried Turkey

Here is a step-by-step guide how to fry a turkey. Especially amusing to me is the instructions on choosing the appropriate oil: "Canola oil....would be appropriate to mix with peanut oil if fat and cholesterol are a concern." Huh? You're deep fat frying a turkey in five gallons of oil. I'm going to guess fat and cholesterol are not a concern.

However, here's your caveat: the Consumer Products Safety Commission has reports of 75 "incidents" associated with frying one's turkey since 1998, including house fires and burns.

Indeed, even the State of Michigan released a warning to its citizens, asking them to do this safely. State Fire Marshal Urges Consumers to Use Caution with Turkey Fryers.

Now, just as an informal survey, I'd like to hear from any liberals who would actually eat this. It's just a theory I have.

Oh, the Thanksgiving hijinks!

Teens Arrested in Turkey Hurling Incident

Garden Gnomes in Compromising Positions

The East German amusement park Dwarf-Park Trusetal apparently has been burglarized; scantily clad garden gnomes have been stolen. No, I can't make this stuff up.

Cross Dressing Day

So this little town in Texas, as part of its Homecoming Week, would have a day where the boys dressed as girls and vice versa. Naturally, some mother, apparently frightened that her 4 year old might turn gay, enlisted the help of "Liberty Legal Institute" (why is it you can always tell a religious conservative law firm by its name?) to get rid of this obvious promotion of the gay lifestyle. (Apparently, now, I didn't know this, but all gay people are cross dressers.) Here is the article. Oh, and the best part? What the school replaced this tradition with? Camo Day! That's right, the kids can dress up in camouflage and pretend to be soldiers and shoot....oh, this is Texas, so they probably can bring their guns to school.

Arlen Specter, the Judiciary Committee, etc.

The Washington Post writes: "Christian antiabortion groups are planning a "pray-in" on Capitol Hill tomorrow to try to block Specter" from the position of the Chair of the Judiciary Committee. That's right kids, apparently even ARLEN SPECTER is not conservative enough.

So, here's the update. Looks like Mr. Specter will get his chair. However, certain conservatives are unhappy: "It is a betrayal and a slap in the face to millions of pro-life Americans who helped re-elect this president," said Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition. "Don't turn to us in four years when you want to run for president ... and expect us to contribute millions of dollars."

OK, we won't.

Help the Homeless Walkathon

If you're in DC, you should consider signing up. I'll be walking with N Street Village, but Bread for the City, my former employer, is also a worthy cause.

Here's the link.

You can also donate money here.

More Blue State/Red State Fuel for the Fire

Ted Rall editorializes: So our guy lost the election. Why shouldn't those of us on the coasts feel superior? We eat better, travel more, dress better, watch cooler movies, earn better salaries, meet more interesting people, listen to better music and know more about what's going on in the world. If you voted for Bush, we accept that we have to share the country with you. We're adjusting to the possibility that there may be more of you than there are of us. But don't demand our respect. You lost it on November 2.

While, an e-mail forward I received from Toby K. as a "What Kerry really should have said in his concession speech":
We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this
country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the
majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about 'em.

We in the blue states are the only ones who've been attacked by
foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in
our name.

We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so
greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us
and our values.

Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on
terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing behind us and
yelling "Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!" More than 40% of you Bush voters still
believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.

I don't know that I agree with it all completely, but I will say this: I do find it interesting that people I know in DC and NY (i.e., places which are likely terrorist targets) are a lot less worried about it than the so-called "security moms," including the one I heard on NPR saying she was voting for Bush because she didn't want anything to happen to her children in an Ohio daycare center. I don't want to sound insensitive, but Al-Qaeda is not coming after your kids in their Ohio daycare center.

Pole Dancing

Well, it certainly would have made gym classes more interesting.

Pole Dancing Classes for Children Cancelled

Squirrel Nutkin

You will all be thankfully relieved that Squirrel Nutkin has received a reprieve from the Pennsylvania Superior Court.Commonwealth of Pa v. Gosselin Seriously, even for the non-law people out there, it's a pretty funny opinion. ("Then one day, tragedy struck: Nutkin fell from her tree nest!")

What, you say, you don't know the saga of Squirrel Nutkin? Perhaps the Squirrel Lovers for Freedom website can fill you in.

Battered Women's Syndrome

My section 2 buddies will remember fondly Prof. Yeager's exposition on this topic and why this defense is actually anti-feminist, although I can't exactly remember the particulars. But here's a story in which the defense actually worked.

The Values Vote

I've heard a lot of angry things from people and on other blogs about a war liberals need to wage against the Christian right. But let's not forget that there's a whole other group of mainline Christians and religious people. In this Zogby poll, 42% of respondents said that Iraq was the moral issue they were most concerned about. And surprise, surprise, infidelity and financial problems were more of a threat to marriage than gay marriage. (Still not clear to me how marriage is a threat to marriage, if anyone could explain that one to me coherently and logically and without reference to Leviticus.) My point? There are intelligent, religious people out there whose concerns and values are much more in line with the liberal/progressive stance (poverty, economic justice, peace) than with xenophobic or gay-hating "values." So, what's the problem, then? Part of it, and I'm sure Amy can add something to this, is that most mainline Christian churches do not work in absolutes, but emphasize struggling with moral issues. So more gray-area topics, like ending poverty and providing health care, while no one is vehemently against, few people see it as a moral imperative to strive for these things.

Related to this topic is this Puritan of the Rich, on how Bush and his followers fall more into a Puritan ethos.

Conspiracy Theories

Carmen sent this to me. For anyone who has taken 4th grade logic, well, let's just say, I don't even know where to begin.

By the way, I've enable comments, so anyone should be able to post comments to anything, if you'd like. This is fun!:)

Refused birth control?

When did the pill become equivalent to abortion? Don't pro-life people want to reduce the number of abortions? Isn't preventing pregnancy an incredibly efficient way of doing so?

Druggists Refuse to Give Out Pill

Maybe guns aren't that bad...

Handgun Stops Man From Driving Drunk

Trying something new today....

My sister has reminded me that I did start a blog so I could put these articles on a website, so having mastered preschool level HTML (hey, they probably are teaching HTML in preschool), I'm trying this out today.


Here is an interesting, if sad, story from the Guardian about a disability lawsuit.

Also, it appears that Baltimore is a very unsexy city, but really, who knows where Fremont, California is?

Anyway, hopefully, if this works, then I'll refrain from sending out six articles a day to everyone, though I know you enjoy it. You'll have to come here for your entertainment now!:) Also, I think I may be losing the few Republican friends I have from my incessant mailings of my vast left-wing conspiracy agenda. Enjoy.