Look, our popular culture is a cesspool. It's blatantly obvious. But my advice to mothers out there is to turn off the boob tube, deny (or at least limit) internet access, and take away the video games. We got rid of cable TV and the world didn't stop.
WASHINGTON – Forget about the "mommy wars," in which stay-at-home mothers were supposedly locking horns with their working sisters, at least in popular perception.
What's really happening with American mothers of all stripes - from full-time homemakers to full-fledged workaholics, all income levels, all racial backgrounds - is worry about popular culture, and what feels like a tsunami of forces threatening parents' ability to impart positive values to their children, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 mothers. Moms report a cultural onslaught that goes far beyond Hollywood movies and TV, and into the world of the Internet, electronic games, and advertising.
"We heard mothers talking about the kind of hypersexuality that's out there, about violence and disrespect, about body image, all the things that are not exactly news, but cutting across a huge and diverse sample of mothers," says Martha Farrell Erickson of the University of Minnesota, lead researcher on the study, released by the Institute for American Values in New York. "What they would really like to see is mothers and fathers joining forces more effectively to take on some of these issues."
Friday, May 06, 2005
I Thought They Were Talking About Law School
The 25 students in jeans and T-shirts could have been in any career that requires hustle. The classes, covering topics such as effective marketing, stress reduction and legal issues, could have been part of any professional development seminar.
But this was "Whore College," and any illusion it was just another corporate how-to for young go-getters abruptly ended at the sex toy display and was stripped away for good during a graphic demonstration that put a whole new twist on the concept of hands-on training.
"We are still illegal," instructor Kimberlee Cline said before her 20-minute demonstration. "If we want to be treated as business professionals, we need to act ethically within the industry."
Presented in conjunction with the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival, the class Wednesday at an erotic art gallery was billed as away for working girls and guys to polish their skills in a supportive atmosphere.
It was the first time the biennial festival, begun in 1999 to showcase films about and by sex workers, included a session devoted to how to maintain a satisfying career.
But this was "Whore College," and any illusion it was just another corporate how-to for young go-getters abruptly ended at the sex toy display and was stripped away for good during a graphic demonstration that put a whole new twist on the concept of hands-on training.
"We are still illegal," instructor Kimberlee Cline said before her 20-minute demonstration. "If we want to be treated as business professionals, we need to act ethically within the industry."
Presented in conjunction with the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and Arts Festival, the class Wednesday at an erotic art gallery was billed as away for working girls and guys to polish their skills in a supportive atmosphere.
It was the first time the biennial festival, begun in 1999 to showcase films about and by sex workers, included a session devoted to how to maintain a satisfying career.
More Barry Bonds weirdness
SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds' three recent knee operations were performed by a prominent doctor who has a history of troubles with state medical authorities.
Dr. Arthur J. Ting has been reprimanded twice by the Medical Board of California, and currently is on probation for unprofessional conduct, the Arizona Republic reported Thursday.
Ting, the team physician for the NHL's San Jose Sharks who has treated many prominent Bay Area athletes, completed his first probation in 1998. According to the newspaper, Ting was placed on five years' probation on April 5, 2004, because of a second incident of unprofessional conduct.
A medical board spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone call Thursday from The Associated Press.
Ting has performed three operations on Bonds' troublesome left knee since January. On Monday, Ting performed an emergency surgery to clean out a bacterial infection in Bonds' knee, according to the San Francisco Giants slugger's Web site, where he releases the only available updates on his condition.
According to documents obtained by the Republic, a complaint to the medical board in May 2003 alleged that Ting employed an unlicensed technician who saw patients and wrote prescriptions. Many patients believed the technician was a doctor.
The complaint also accused Ting of prescribing "dangerous drugs and controlled substances to friends and acquaintances, particularly athletes, for whom he kept no medical records or for whom the medical records were fictitious, inadequate or inaccurate."
Ting signed an agreement with the board on Jan. 4, 2004, acknowledging he "was negligent in his supervision of subordinates," but he denied all other allegations in the complaint.
Ting was ordered to pay for the $15,000 investigation. The board revoked his license, but stayed the revocation while he served five years' probation.
Dr. Arthur J. Ting has been reprimanded twice by the Medical Board of California, and currently is on probation for unprofessional conduct, the Arizona Republic reported Thursday.
Ting, the team physician for the NHL's San Jose Sharks who has treated many prominent Bay Area athletes, completed his first probation in 1998. According to the newspaper, Ting was placed on five years' probation on April 5, 2004, because of a second incident of unprofessional conduct.
A medical board spokeswoman didn't immediately return a phone call Thursday from The Associated Press.
Ting has performed three operations on Bonds' troublesome left knee since January. On Monday, Ting performed an emergency surgery to clean out a bacterial infection in Bonds' knee, according to the San Francisco Giants slugger's Web site, where he releases the only available updates on his condition.
According to documents obtained by the Republic, a complaint to the medical board in May 2003 alleged that Ting employed an unlicensed technician who saw patients and wrote prescriptions. Many patients believed the technician was a doctor.
The complaint also accused Ting of prescribing "dangerous drugs and controlled substances to friends and acquaintances, particularly athletes, for whom he kept no medical records or for whom the medical records were fictitious, inadequate or inaccurate."
Ting signed an agreement with the board on Jan. 4, 2004, acknowledging he "was negligent in his supervision of subordinates," but he denied all other allegations in the complaint.
Ting was ordered to pay for the $15,000 investigation. The board revoked his license, but stayed the revocation while he served five years' probation.
The West Has Spoken
By all accounts (i.e., what the media tells us), the war against Islamic terror - and more specifically the war in Iraq - is wildly unpopular. As a result, the three leaders of this war - John Howard, W, and Tony Blair - are likewise unpopular. Hmmm. Then how do you explain this:
John Howard - re-elected handily (and his party picks up seats).
George Bush - re-elected handily (and his party picks up seats).
Tony Blair - re-elected handily (his party loses seats).
Very interesting.
John Howard - re-elected handily (and his party picks up seats).
George Bush - re-elected handily (and his party picks up seats).
Tony Blair - re-elected handily (his party loses seats).
Very interesting.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
This Is Unbelievable
Apparently, the Bluebirds have not learned a lesson. Arrogance, arrogance, arrogance. And this kid's dad is a fool.
Hearing slated for Highlands appeal
By Feoshia HendersonPost staff reporter
An appeal hearing for Highlands High School has been set for next month in the case of the football star who the state athletic association deemed ineligible for the 2004 season.
In an April ruling, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association made the school forfeit games in which running back Michael Mitchell participated - all except the opener and state championship.
KHSAA bylaws permitted the Fort Thomas school to hold on to its state championship, though, with a 2-13 record. The record had been 14-1 before the KHSAA ordered the forfeits.
The KHSAA hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. June 6 at the association's Lexington offices. The hearing is a day after Mitchell, a senior, is set to graduate from the high school.
The 17-year-old was ruled ineligible by the KHSAA but was approved to play in Campbell Circuit Court.
Mitchell has obtained a court injunction allowing him to play baseball and run track, which the KHSAA has appealed, thus keeping him from participating.
On Friday, he'll be back in Campbell Circuit Court before Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward in an effort to run on the track team.
Highlands attorney Don Ruberg said the school was being cautious following the KHSAA's sanctions.
"We've got two different bodies telling us two different things. Both of them have the power to impose sanctions if we don't obey them," Ruberg said.
"One's saying you can't play the boy; one's saying the boy's eligible to play. All we're trying to do is what we feel is right. I would certainly love KHSAA and the courts to give us something that's at least theoretically possible to comply with."
The school feared what is known as the "death penalty" - violating existing sanctions - if it allowed Mitchell to run, Ruberg said. The death penalty would bar all Highlands High students from playing sports.
"Right now if we let him run track pursuant to the court order (and) in light of the sanctions that have been imposed, as well as the finding of lack of institutional control and three years' probation, there's no doubt in my mind that KHSAA would impose further sanctions, up to and including the death penalty," he said.
Mitchell's eligibility to play high school sports came into question in 2004 when he and his family moved from Florence to Fort Thomas. Mitchell transferred to Highlands High from Covington Catholic, but KHSAA said it wasn't a bona-fide move because it was athletics-motivated. It ruled that he must sit out a year.
Mitchell later asked Highlands for permission to run track this spring. The school decided against it following KHSAA's sanctions, which also mandate three years' probation, a $1,500 fine and a two-game suspension of football coach and Athletic Director Dale Mueller next season.
The boys' track team is well into its season. The first track meet was March 24, according to the Highlands Athletic Boosters Association Web site.
Mitchell had foot surgery last month and was unsure if he would be able to participate in spring sports. His father, Maurice Mitchell, said he is healthy and working with a personal trainer three times a week.
Maurice Mitchell said Highlands should follow the court rulings, not the KHSAA.
"I believe in the rule of law, I believe in the law of this country. And I believe the court has the final say-so in a dispute, not an organization," he said.
Maurice Mitchell said his son was stunned by the controversy surrounding his eligibility.
"He's really a nice kid, very respectful. He has never been any trouble whatsoever. And what has happened has all been a total shock to him. He didn't do anything wrong."
Hearing slated for Highlands appeal
By Feoshia HendersonPost staff reporter
An appeal hearing for Highlands High School has been set for next month in the case of the football star who the state athletic association deemed ineligible for the 2004 season.
In an April ruling, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association made the school forfeit games in which running back Michael Mitchell participated - all except the opener and state championship.
KHSAA bylaws permitted the Fort Thomas school to hold on to its state championship, though, with a 2-13 record. The record had been 14-1 before the KHSAA ordered the forfeits.
The KHSAA hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. June 6 at the association's Lexington offices. The hearing is a day after Mitchell, a senior, is set to graduate from the high school.
The 17-year-old was ruled ineligible by the KHSAA but was approved to play in Campbell Circuit Court.
Mitchell has obtained a court injunction allowing him to play baseball and run track, which the KHSAA has appealed, thus keeping him from participating.
On Friday, he'll be back in Campbell Circuit Court before Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward in an effort to run on the track team.
Highlands attorney Don Ruberg said the school was being cautious following the KHSAA's sanctions.
"We've got two different bodies telling us two different things. Both of them have the power to impose sanctions if we don't obey them," Ruberg said.
"One's saying you can't play the boy; one's saying the boy's eligible to play. All we're trying to do is what we feel is right. I would certainly love KHSAA and the courts to give us something that's at least theoretically possible to comply with."
The school feared what is known as the "death penalty" - violating existing sanctions - if it allowed Mitchell to run, Ruberg said. The death penalty would bar all Highlands High students from playing sports.
"Right now if we let him run track pursuant to the court order (and) in light of the sanctions that have been imposed, as well as the finding of lack of institutional control and three years' probation, there's no doubt in my mind that KHSAA would impose further sanctions, up to and including the death penalty," he said.
Mitchell's eligibility to play high school sports came into question in 2004 when he and his family moved from Florence to Fort Thomas. Mitchell transferred to Highlands High from Covington Catholic, but KHSAA said it wasn't a bona-fide move because it was athletics-motivated. It ruled that he must sit out a year.
Mitchell later asked Highlands for permission to run track this spring. The school decided against it following KHSAA's sanctions, which also mandate three years' probation, a $1,500 fine and a two-game suspension of football coach and Athletic Director Dale Mueller next season.
The boys' track team is well into its season. The first track meet was March 24, according to the Highlands Athletic Boosters Association Web site.
Mitchell had foot surgery last month and was unsure if he would be able to participate in spring sports. His father, Maurice Mitchell, said he is healthy and working with a personal trainer three times a week.
Maurice Mitchell said Highlands should follow the court rulings, not the KHSAA.
"I believe in the rule of law, I believe in the law of this country. And I believe the court has the final say-so in a dispute, not an organization," he said.
Maurice Mitchell said his son was stunned by the controversy surrounding his eligibility.
"He's really a nice kid, very respectful. He has never been any trouble whatsoever. And what has happened has all been a total shock to him. He didn't do anything wrong."
This is Not Good
DETROIT (AP) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services cut its corporate credit ratings to junk status for both General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. (F), a significant blow that will increase borrowing costs and limit fund-raising options for the nation's two biggest automakers.
Shares of both companies fell 5 percent or more after Thursday's downgrades, and the news sent the overall market lower.
The decision by one of the nation's most respected ratings agencies comes as the two iconic American automakers are losing market share at home to Asian automakers, seeing sales soften for their most profitable models and are facing enormous health care and post-retirement liabilities.
Shares of both companies fell 5 percent or more after Thursday's downgrades, and the news sent the overall market lower.
The decision by one of the nation's most respected ratings agencies comes as the two iconic American automakers are losing market share at home to Asian automakers, seeing sales soften for their most profitable models and are facing enormous health care and post-retirement liabilities.
Oooops!
Don't you hate it when you sign a $50 million contract and then can't think of anything funny to write.
Comedy Central announced that the highly anticipated third season of Dave Chappelle's show will not make its May 31 premiere date. "Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of Chappelle's Show until further notice," network spokesman Tony Fox said. The first season currently ranks as the all-time top-selling TV show on DVD ...
Comedy Central announced that the highly anticipated third season of Dave Chappelle's show will not make its May 31 premiere date. "Comedy Central has suspended production on the third season of Chappelle's Show until further notice," network spokesman Tony Fox said. The first season currently ranks as the all-time top-selling TV show on DVD ...
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
The Howard Dean of the Right
Please shut up:
Federal judges are a more serious threat to America than Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorists, the Rev. Pat Robertson claimed yesterday.
"Over 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings," Robertson said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"I think we have controlled Al Qaeda," the 700 Club host said, but warned of "erosion at home" and said judges were creating a "tyranny of oligarchy."
Confronted by Stephanopoulos on his claims that an out-of-control liberal judiciary is the worst threat America has faced in 400 years - worse than Nazi Germany, Japan and the Civil War - Robertson didn't back down.
"Yes, I really believe that," he said. "I think they are destroying the fabric that holds our nation together."
Federal judges are a more serious threat to America than Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorists, the Rev. Pat Robertson claimed yesterday.
"Over 100 years, I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that's held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings," Robertson said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"I think we have controlled Al Qaeda," the 700 Club host said, but warned of "erosion at home" and said judges were creating a "tyranny of oligarchy."
Confronted by Stephanopoulos on his claims that an out-of-control liberal judiciary is the worst threat America has faced in 400 years - worse than Nazi Germany, Japan and the Civil War - Robertson didn't back down.
"Yes, I really believe that," he said. "I think they are destroying the fabric that holds our nation together."
Monday, May 02, 2005
Today's Top Ten
Top Ten Cool Things About Being The New Pope
10. Can always spot the Popemobile in crowded mall parking lots.
9. Conservative values. Liberal expense account.
8. Always gets preferred seating at any Applebee's.
7. Free "Get out of Hell" card.
6. No longer necessary to tip the pizza delivery guy -- just bless him.
5. Can now legitimately put "My other car is a Popemobile" bumper sticker on pick-up.
4. Infallibility makes you unbeatable at Scrabble.
3. Papal robes go for a lot of money on eBay.
2. Those jerks who made fun of you in high school? Excommunicated.
1. Same old celibacy, but new flashy gear and bling-bling.
10. Can always spot the Popemobile in crowded mall parking lots.
9. Conservative values. Liberal expense account.
8. Always gets preferred seating at any Applebee's.
7. Free "Get out of Hell" card.
6. No longer necessary to tip the pizza delivery guy -- just bless him.
5. Can now legitimately put "My other car is a Popemobile" bumper sticker on pick-up.
4. Infallibility makes you unbeatable at Scrabble.
3. Papal robes go for a lot of money on eBay.
2. Those jerks who made fun of you in high school? Excommunicated.
1. Same old celibacy, but new flashy gear and bling-bling.
Is Journalism Getting Better?
Has journalism become an ethical cesspool, or just been forced to adopt greater standards of cleanliness?
In the past month alone, four reporters for major newspapers have been ousted, and a columnist was suspended, for ethical missteps. The drip-drip-drip of disclosures about sloppiness, fabrication and plagiarism have further eroded the media's reputation, leading to a one-strike-and-you're-out policy at many outlets. . . .
Media bosses are getting tougher on wayward staffers not just because of a greater sense of professionalism, but because outsiders -- led by bloggers and other critics -- have stepped up the pressure. In the Internet age, there's no rug under which to sweep these problems.
"Because we are self-policing so much better, it makes it seem like there's a tremendous cascade of ethical violations," says Thomas Kunkel, dean of the University of Maryland's journalism school. "There used to be a lot more in the way of shenanigans and monkey business that we either didn't know about or, if it was caught, it was winked at. There was a boys-will-be-boys quality about it -- they were mostly boys -- and they would get a slap on the wrist at best."
In the past month alone, four reporters for major newspapers have been ousted, and a columnist was suspended, for ethical missteps. The drip-drip-drip of disclosures about sloppiness, fabrication and plagiarism have further eroded the media's reputation, leading to a one-strike-and-you're-out policy at many outlets. . . .
Media bosses are getting tougher on wayward staffers not just because of a greater sense of professionalism, but because outsiders -- led by bloggers and other critics -- have stepped up the pressure. In the Internet age, there's no rug under which to sweep these problems.
"Because we are self-policing so much better, it makes it seem like there's a tremendous cascade of ethical violations," says Thomas Kunkel, dean of the University of Maryland's journalism school. "There used to be a lot more in the way of shenanigans and monkey business that we either didn't know about or, if it was caught, it was winked at. There was a boys-will-be-boys quality about it -- they were mostly boys -- and they would get a slap on the wrist at best."
Not So Fast
One of the greatest freedom fighters of the 20th century resigns.
JERUSALEM -- Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, cited as an inspiration by President Bush for promoting democracy, resigned Monday to protest the planned Gaza withdrawal, which he called a "tragic mistake" that will encourage Palestinian violence and deepen the rift in Israeli society.
Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident who was minister for Diaspora Affairs and Jerusalem, served in Cabinets during the past nine years and repeatedly criticized Israeli prime ministers for what he said was their mishandling of negotiations with the Palestinians.
In his letter of resignation to Sharon, obtained by The Associated Press, Sharansky wrote that he opposes making unilateral concessions to the Palestinians.
"As you know, I was opposed to the disengagement plan from the outset, on the basis of my deep belief that every concession in the peace process made by the Israeli side must be accompanied by democratic reform on the Palestinian side," Sharansky wrote.
He told Israel Army Radio that he considers the disengagement plan "a tragic mistake that exacts a high price and also encourages terror."
JERUSALEM -- Cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, cited as an inspiration by President Bush for promoting democracy, resigned Monday to protest the planned Gaza withdrawal, which he called a "tragic mistake" that will encourage Palestinian violence and deepen the rift in Israeli society.
Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident who was minister for Diaspora Affairs and Jerusalem, served in Cabinets during the past nine years and repeatedly criticized Israeli prime ministers for what he said was their mishandling of negotiations with the Palestinians.
In his letter of resignation to Sharon, obtained by The Associated Press, Sharansky wrote that he opposes making unilateral concessions to the Palestinians.
"As you know, I was opposed to the disengagement plan from the outset, on the basis of my deep belief that every concession in the peace process made by the Israeli side must be accompanied by democratic reform on the Palestinian side," Sharansky wrote.
He told Israel Army Radio that he considers the disengagement plan "a tragic mistake that exacts a high price and also encourages terror."
Bad Idea
(CBS) A college production tells the story of Matthew Sheppard, a student beaten to death because he was gay. And soon, it could be banned in Alabama.
Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.
"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."
This guy's wandered off the reservation. Gay author's or actors or whatever are not the problem. They are what they are and are part of who we are. They are no threat to
"the children". Look, the alcoholic across town is no threat to my children. The alcoholic teacher instructing my kids on the joys of getting loaded is.
Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.
"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."
This guy's wandered off the reservation. Gay author's or actors or whatever are not the problem. They are what they are and are part of who we are. They are no threat to
"the children". Look, the alcoholic across town is no threat to my children. The alcoholic teacher instructing my kids on the joys of getting loaded is.
This Is Sweet
"Why can't I make my own decision?"
That was the blunt question to a judge from a pregnant 13-year-old girl ensnared in a Palm Beach County court fight over whether she can have an abortion.
"I don't know," Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez replied, according to a recording of the closed hearing obtained Friday.
"You don't know?" replied the girl, who is a ward of the state. "Aren't you the judge?"
Against a backdrop of state and federal efforts to pass a parental notification law for teen abortions, the exchange was typical of L.G.'s pluck as she argued that she had the right and capability to make her own decision, despite a move by the Department of Children & Families to seek a judge's permission for her abortion.
"I think if I want to make the decision, it's my business and I can do that," she told the judge.
The DCF is the teen's legal guardian after she was taken away from her parents for abuse or neglect. State law allows minors to have abortions without notifying their guardians. Experts say the law extends to wards of the state, raising the question of why this girl's decision has ended up before a judge.
I think the girl has a point. Our society - in this case the State of Florida - has determined that killing a child in the womb is fine...a mere medical procedure. The State of Florida has also determined that children have the "right" to kill their offspring without the consent of their parents or guardians.
I just hope this "plucky" little girl doesn't want a tattoo. That, I'm sure, requires parental consent.
That was the blunt question to a judge from a pregnant 13-year-old girl ensnared in a Palm Beach County court fight over whether she can have an abortion.
"I don't know," Circuit Judge Ronald Alvarez replied, according to a recording of the closed hearing obtained Friday.
"You don't know?" replied the girl, who is a ward of the state. "Aren't you the judge?"
Against a backdrop of state and federal efforts to pass a parental notification law for teen abortions, the exchange was typical of L.G.'s pluck as she argued that she had the right and capability to make her own decision, despite a move by the Department of Children & Families to seek a judge's permission for her abortion.
"I think if I want to make the decision, it's my business and I can do that," she told the judge.
The DCF is the teen's legal guardian after she was taken away from her parents for abuse or neglect. State law allows minors to have abortions without notifying their guardians. Experts say the law extends to wards of the state, raising the question of why this girl's decision has ended up before a judge.
I think the girl has a point. Our society - in this case the State of Florida - has determined that killing a child in the womb is fine...a mere medical procedure. The State of Florida has also determined that children have the "right" to kill their offspring without the consent of their parents or guardians.
I just hope this "plucky" little girl doesn't want a tattoo. That, I'm sure, requires parental consent.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Holy Crap!
And I thought my man Ratzinger was a good choice.
Pope Benedict's ascent to the papacy took a conclave of 115 cardinals, four rounds of voting and followed a lifetime of service to the Vatican.
But ask Internet doomsayers eyeing a 12th century Catholic prophecy and they'll tell you it was all stitched up more than eight centuries ago and that judgment day is nigh.
The prophecy -- widely dismissed by scholars as a hoax -- is attributed to St. Malachy, an Irish archbishop recognized by members of the Church for his ability to read the future.
Benedict, believers say, fits the description of the second-to-last pope listed under the prophecy before the Last Judgement, when the bible says God separates the wicked from the righteous at the end of time.
"The Old Testament states: 'believe his prophets and you will prosper' -- so believe it. We are close to the return of the Judge of the nations. Christ is coming," wrote one Internet post by the Rev. Pat Reynolds.
"Thank God for the witness of St. Malachy."
St. Malachy was said to have had a vision during a trip to Rome around 1139 of the remaining 112 Popes. The new pope would be number 111 on that list, and is described in a text attributed to St. Malachy as the "Glory of the Olive."
To connect Benedict, a pale, bookish German, to anything olive takes some imagination. But Malachy-watchers point to the choice of the name Benedict -- an allusion to the Order of Saint Benedict, a branch of which is known as the Olivetans.
"When (he) chose the name Benedict XVI, this was seen as fulfilling the prophecy for this pope," wrote one entry on www.wikipedia.org.
Benedict said that he chose the name partly in honor of Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), calling him a "courageous prophet of peace." On Wednesday, Benedict dedicated his papacy to "the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples."
"Perhaps Benedict XVI will be a peacemaker in the Church or in the world, and thus carry the olive branch," speculated www.catholic-pages.com.
Another site, www.bibleprobe.com, went even further, showing a picture of Benedict holding olive branches in March during Palm Sunday celebrations.
"Is this the Pope of Peace (olive)?" it asked in the caption.
Critics widely dismiss the Malachy prophecy as a forgery and possible propaganda meant to influence a 16th century conclave. Doses of skepticism even appear on the most energetic Malachy web pages.
But believers point out similarities between the prophecy's descriptions and past pontificates. Pope John Paul II, number 110, was described in the prophecy as "de labore solis" -- or "of the labor of the sun."
He was born on May 18, 1920, the same day as a solar eclipse. The pontiff was buried on April 8, 2005 -- the same day as a partial eclipse, visible in the Americas.
More pressing for doomsayers are the prophecy's references to the last Pope on the list, Peter the Roman, who will lead the Church before "the formidable judge will judge his people."
Since Benedict is already 78 years old, they say Peter the Roman must be coming soon, and with him, the end of the world.
"His reign will only last a few years at most. This signals that we are living in what may be the end of days as we know it," said one Web Site entry by someone calling himself SmartBob.
Pope Benedict's ascent to the papacy took a conclave of 115 cardinals, four rounds of voting and followed a lifetime of service to the Vatican.
But ask Internet doomsayers eyeing a 12th century Catholic prophecy and they'll tell you it was all stitched up more than eight centuries ago and that judgment day is nigh.
The prophecy -- widely dismissed by scholars as a hoax -- is attributed to St. Malachy, an Irish archbishop recognized by members of the Church for his ability to read the future.
Benedict, believers say, fits the description of the second-to-last pope listed under the prophecy before the Last Judgement, when the bible says God separates the wicked from the righteous at the end of time.
"The Old Testament states: 'believe his prophets and you will prosper' -- so believe it. We are close to the return of the Judge of the nations. Christ is coming," wrote one Internet post by the Rev. Pat Reynolds.
"Thank God for the witness of St. Malachy."
St. Malachy was said to have had a vision during a trip to Rome around 1139 of the remaining 112 Popes. The new pope would be number 111 on that list, and is described in a text attributed to St. Malachy as the "Glory of the Olive."
To connect Benedict, a pale, bookish German, to anything olive takes some imagination. But Malachy-watchers point to the choice of the name Benedict -- an allusion to the Order of Saint Benedict, a branch of which is known as the Olivetans.
"When (he) chose the name Benedict XVI, this was seen as fulfilling the prophecy for this pope," wrote one entry on www.wikipedia.org.
Benedict said that he chose the name partly in honor of Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922), calling him a "courageous prophet of peace." On Wednesday, Benedict dedicated his papacy to "the service of reconciliation and harmony between peoples."
"Perhaps Benedict XVI will be a peacemaker in the Church or in the world, and thus carry the olive branch," speculated www.catholic-pages.com.
Another site, www.bibleprobe.com, went even further, showing a picture of Benedict holding olive branches in March during Palm Sunday celebrations.
"Is this the Pope of Peace (olive)?" it asked in the caption.
Critics widely dismiss the Malachy prophecy as a forgery and possible propaganda meant to influence a 16th century conclave. Doses of skepticism even appear on the most energetic Malachy web pages.
But believers point out similarities between the prophecy's descriptions and past pontificates. Pope John Paul II, number 110, was described in the prophecy as "de labore solis" -- or "of the labor of the sun."
He was born on May 18, 1920, the same day as a solar eclipse. The pontiff was buried on April 8, 2005 -- the same day as a partial eclipse, visible in the Americas.
More pressing for doomsayers are the prophecy's references to the last Pope on the list, Peter the Roman, who will lead the Church before "the formidable judge will judge his people."
Since Benedict is already 78 years old, they say Peter the Roman must be coming soon, and with him, the end of the world.
"His reign will only last a few years at most. This signals that we are living in what may be the end of days as we know it," said one Web Site entry by someone calling himself SmartBob.
Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer
The University of Oklahoma is conducting an investigation after ESPN informed the school of racially-insensitive comments made to the network by OU's head baseball coach Larry Cochell.
Although Cochell remains head coach, assistant coach Sunny Golloway will serve on an interim basis until the matter is resolved, according to a statement released by the school. Golloway coached the Sooners in their 8-1 loss to Nebraska Friday night.
Tuesday, before the telecast of the Oklahoma-Wichita State game on ESPN2 and ESPNU, Cochell used a racially-insensitive term in off-camera interviews with ESPN to describe Sooners freshman outfielder Joe Dunigan, an African-American.
Cochell was speaking with play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne when he called Dunigan over to praise him for staying in school. When the freshman returned to the field, Cochell told Thorne, "There's no n----- in him." The network informed the school that Cochell used similar language in an interview with ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson.
Making ignorant comments to a friend or family member is one thing. Making ignorant comments to an announcer for the world-wide leader in sports...that's another.
Although Cochell remains head coach, assistant coach Sunny Golloway will serve on an interim basis until the matter is resolved, according to a statement released by the school. Golloway coached the Sooners in their 8-1 loss to Nebraska Friday night.
Tuesday, before the telecast of the Oklahoma-Wichita State game on ESPN2 and ESPNU, Cochell used a racially-insensitive term in off-camera interviews with ESPN to describe Sooners freshman outfielder Joe Dunigan, an African-American.
Cochell was speaking with play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne when he called Dunigan over to praise him for staying in school. When the freshman returned to the field, Cochell told Thorne, "There's no n----- in him." The network informed the school that Cochell used similar language in an interview with ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson.
Making ignorant comments to a friend or family member is one thing. Making ignorant comments to an announcer for the world-wide leader in sports...that's another.
Beware of the Burrito
CLOVIS, N.M. - A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant burrito.
Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.
The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.
"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school Principal Diana Russell said.
State police, Clovis police and the Curry County Sheriff's Department arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. They searched the premises and determined there was no immediate danger.
In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio report, descended on the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in a semi-circle, straining their necks, awaiting news.
"There needs to be security before the kids walk through the door," said Heather Black, whose son attends the school.
After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito was identified as the culprit, parents pulled 75 students out of school, Russell said.
Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought everyone in the school together in the auditorium to explain what was going on.
"The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this (report of a student with a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, they're talking about my burrito.'"
Afterward, eighth-grader Michael Morrissey approached her.
"He said, 'I think I'm the person they saw,'" Russell said.
The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment to create commercial advertising for a product.
Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.
The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a 30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.
"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school Principal Diana Russell said.
State police, Clovis police and the Curry County Sheriff's Department arrived at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. They searched the premises and determined there was no immediate danger.
In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio report, descended on the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in a semi-circle, straining their necks, awaiting news.
"There needs to be security before the kids walk through the door," said Heather Black, whose son attends the school.
After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito was identified as the culprit, parents pulled 75 students out of school, Russell said.
Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought everyone in the school together in the auditorium to explain what was going on.
"The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this (report of a student with a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, they're talking about my burrito.'"
Afterward, eighth-grader Michael Morrissey approached her.
"He said, 'I think I'm the person they saw,'" Russell said.
The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment to create commercial advertising for a product.
We're Sick
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- At least 1,700 women from Latin America and the Caribbean are lured each year into sexual slavery in Japan's huge illicit sex industry, according to a new report.
A team of researchers hired by the Organization of American States found that most of the women come from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.
...Japan's National Police Agency estimates the sex trade industry there to be worth $83 billion a year.
$83 billion!!! In the tiny country of Japan!!! And I'm sure that's probably a conservative estimate. I imagine worldwide it's a trillion dollar industry.
A team of researchers hired by the Organization of American States found that most of the women come from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and Peru.
...Japan's National Police Agency estimates the sex trade industry there to be worth $83 billion a year.
$83 billion!!! In the tiny country of Japan!!! And I'm sure that's probably a conservative estimate. I imagine worldwide it's a trillion dollar industry.
Friday, April 29, 2005
The Old Lefthander Is Back In The Booth
Excerpts from Todd Jones' column in the Columbus Dispatch:
Hop in your car tonight, drive through the darkness and let the voice take you back in time.
Listen to the weathered tone, the mangled grammar, the whistling "s" sound, the occasionally mispronounced name. Hear the dead air, when the voice forgets to fill the broadcast, providing a respite from a world otherwise filled with too much shouting.
Let the Ol' Left-hander take you home again tonight.
Yes, it'll be a blast tonight when Nuxhall, 76, returns to the Cincinnati Reds' radio broadcast booth. He'll fill in for his partner of 31 years, Marty Brennaman, as the Reds play three games in Milwaukee and a home game Monday against St. Louis.
Brennaman is missing the four games so he can return to his native North Carolina, where he will be inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
I just miss Nuxhall's voice. Miss his lack of ego. Miss how he wasn't technically proficient. Miss his historical anecdotes. Miss his chuckle.
This is no knock on Steve Stewart, Nuxhall's replacement in the booth.
Stewart does credible work, and he has handled with grace and humility the awkward role of stepping into the spikes of a Cincinnati icon.
"Steve does a good job," Nuxhall said. "I tell people to give him a chance. He knows baseball."
His voice just doesn't sound like home. Building familiarity takes time.
The psychic wounds from his forced retirement are healed.
"It could have been my decision to retire instead of somebody else's," Nuxhall said. "After 38 years, (the decision) was made by someone who probably didn't know a baseball from a banana. But I accept it. I have no animosity anymore."
His unpolished voice...sounding like a guy you could share a beer and laugh with...was always part of Cincinnati's summer.
Tonight, Nuxhall is briefly everyone's partner again. We're all rounding third together.
So what if Joe says tonight that a ball is hit to right left-center or credits a putout to a guy already removed from the game.
It'll sound lovely, a slice of the past making the present feel like home.
Hop in your car tonight, drive through the darkness and let the voice take you back in time.
Listen to the weathered tone, the mangled grammar, the whistling "s" sound, the occasionally mispronounced name. Hear the dead air, when the voice forgets to fill the broadcast, providing a respite from a world otherwise filled with too much shouting.
Let the Ol' Left-hander take you home again tonight.
Yes, it'll be a blast tonight when Nuxhall, 76, returns to the Cincinnati Reds' radio broadcast booth. He'll fill in for his partner of 31 years, Marty Brennaman, as the Reds play three games in Milwaukee and a home game Monday against St. Louis.
Brennaman is missing the four games so he can return to his native North Carolina, where he will be inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.
I just miss Nuxhall's voice. Miss his lack of ego. Miss how he wasn't technically proficient. Miss his historical anecdotes. Miss his chuckle.
This is no knock on Steve Stewart, Nuxhall's replacement in the booth.
Stewart does credible work, and he has handled with grace and humility the awkward role of stepping into the spikes of a Cincinnati icon.
"Steve does a good job," Nuxhall said. "I tell people to give him a chance. He knows baseball."
His voice just doesn't sound like home. Building familiarity takes time.
The psychic wounds from his forced retirement are healed.
"It could have been my decision to retire instead of somebody else's," Nuxhall said. "After 38 years, (the decision) was made by someone who probably didn't know a baseball from a banana. But I accept it. I have no animosity anymore."
His unpolished voice...sounding like a guy you could share a beer and laugh with...was always part of Cincinnati's summer.
Tonight, Nuxhall is briefly everyone's partner again. We're all rounding third together.
So what if Joe says tonight that a ball is hit to right left-center or credits a putout to a guy already removed from the game.
It'll sound lovely, a slice of the past making the present feel like home.
The Thad Five
Ohio State apparently is on the verge of landing its second major men's basketball recruit in the class of 2006 as coach Thad Matta and his staff prepare to play host to possibly a five-man recruiting class that one Web site has dubbed the "Thad Five."
Dave Lighty, a 6-foot-4 guard from Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph, has "not totally" committed to sign with the Buckeyes but could have an announcement early next week, his mother, Emily, said yesterday. "He's told them he's very, very interested and is probably going to tell them very soon."
Emily Lighty said her son plans to visit Ohio State on May 6-7, when as many as four other 2006 recruits...all currently high-school juniors...also could be on campus.
Seven-foot center Greg Oden and 6-1 point guard Mike Conley, high-school teammates from Indianapolis, also are scheduled to visit that weekend. They will be joined by their AAU teammate, 6-4 guard Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar, who committed to Ohio State in March.
A fifth prospect, 6-8 forward Thaddeus Young of Memphis, Tenn., said yesterday that he is "trying to figure out if I can make a visit" the same weekend as the others.
All five recruits are ranked among the top 20 nationally in their class by the scout.com recruiting site.
-- Bob Baptist, Columbus Dispatch
Dave Lighty, a 6-foot-4 guard from Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph, has "not totally" committed to sign with the Buckeyes but could have an announcement early next week, his mother, Emily, said yesterday. "He's told them he's very, very interested and is probably going to tell them very soon."
Emily Lighty said her son plans to visit Ohio State on May 6-7, when as many as four other 2006 recruits...all currently high-school juniors...also could be on campus.
Seven-foot center Greg Oden and 6-1 point guard Mike Conley, high-school teammates from Indianapolis, also are scheduled to visit that weekend. They will be joined by their AAU teammate, 6-4 guard Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar, who committed to Ohio State in March.
A fifth prospect, 6-8 forward Thaddeus Young of Memphis, Tenn., said yesterday that he is "trying to figure out if I can make a visit" the same weekend as the others.
All five recruits are ranked among the top 20 nationally in their class by the scout.com recruiting site.
-- Bob Baptist, Columbus Dispatch
I Could See Me Doing This
Police arrested a Lexington father who refused to leave the Joseph Estabrook School yesterday after school officials rejected his demands that his 6-year-old son be shielded from any discussions about gay households.
David Parker, 42, confronted officials after his son brought home ``Who's in a Family,'' a storybook that includes characters who are gay parents.
Yesterday, Parker refused to leave a meeting after Lexington Superintendent Bill Hurley rejected his demand that he be notified when his son is exposed to any discussion about same-sex households as part of classroom instruction.
"Our parental requests for our own child were flat-out denied,'' Parker said in a statement.
Parker also asked that the boy be pulled from similar discussions that arise spontaneously, said Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, which supports the ouster of four pro-gay marriage judges on the state's Supreme Judicial Court.
School officials could not be reached for comment.
David Parker, 42, confronted officials after his son brought home ``Who's in a Family,'' a storybook that includes characters who are gay parents.
Yesterday, Parker refused to leave a meeting after Lexington Superintendent Bill Hurley rejected his demand that he be notified when his son is exposed to any discussion about same-sex households as part of classroom instruction.
"Our parental requests for our own child were flat-out denied,'' Parker said in a statement.
Parker also asked that the boy be pulled from similar discussions that arise spontaneously, said Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, which supports the ouster of four pro-gay marriage judges on the state's Supreme Judicial Court.
School officials could not be reached for comment.
Zombies!!!!
Now this creeps me out. From the BBC:
There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.
The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.
After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”
Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.
General Ary Serey had this to say, "We have obtained samples of this new parasite and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all."
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice opposed the plan saying that the Cambodian government holds a great biological weapon and should destroy it immediately. Cambodian officials have yet to comment.
A United Nations team will be dispatched to Cambodia to confirm the safety of biological research in Cambodia.
There has been a small outbreak of “zombism” in a small town near the border of Laos in North-Eastern Cambodia.
The culprit was discovered to be mosquitoes native to that region carrying a new strain of Malaria which thus far has a 100 percent mortality rate and kills victims in fewer than 2 days.
After death, this parasite is able to restart the heart of its victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believed to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”
Cambodian officials say that the outbreak has been contained and the public has no need to worry.
General Ary Serey had this to say, "We have obtained samples of this new parasite and plan to learn how it starts the heart and other major organs of the deceased. We intend to use this to increase the quality of life for all."
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice opposed the plan saying that the Cambodian government holds a great biological weapon and should destroy it immediately. Cambodian officials have yet to comment.
A United Nations team will be dispatched to Cambodia to confirm the safety of biological research in Cambodia.
Civil Rights
Once again, Republicans are on the side of the black man:
With a few strokes of his pen, Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday erased some of the ugliest parts of Georgia’s history from the state’s legal code.
The governor signed four bills that repeal segregation-era laws. The laws have not been enforced in years, but they remained in the code. Perdue said that removing the laws is not only a symbolic gesture, but also a substantive one.
“Today I think is another important step in the ongoing process of putting real meat to the process of racial reconciliation in Georgia,” Perdue said in his office before signing the bills.
The laws were aimed at circumventing the desegregation of public schools following the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education.
Why didn't the Democrats think of this?
With a few strokes of his pen, Gov. Sonny Perdue on Thursday erased some of the ugliest parts of Georgia’s history from the state’s legal code.
The governor signed four bills that repeal segregation-era laws. The laws have not been enforced in years, but they remained in the code. Perdue said that removing the laws is not only a symbolic gesture, but also a substantive one.
“Today I think is another important step in the ongoing process of putting real meat to the process of racial reconciliation in Georgia,” Perdue said in his office before signing the bills.
The laws were aimed at circumventing the desegregation of public schools following the 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education.
Why didn't the Democrats think of this?
Buried Money Update
LAWRENCE, Mass. --A group of men who made national headlines by claiming they found a buried treasure in a Methuen back yard were charged Friday with stealing the collection of old currency from a house where they were doing roofing work.
Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 22, of Methuen, Mass., were charged with receiving stolen property, conspiracy and accessory after the fact. At their arraignment Friday in Lawrence District Court Bail was set at $5,000 for Billcliff and $1,000 for Crebase.
Warrants also were issued Friday for Kevin Kozak, 27, of Methuen, and Matt Ingham, 23, of Newton, N.H. They were being sought on the same charges, but it was unclear whether the two were already in police custody.
Police said Crebase confessed to finding the money in the gutter of a barn they were hired to repair in Newbury. But lawyers for Billcliff and Crebase said the men were sticking to their story of finding the box under a tree in the back yard of a house Crebase rented from Kozak.
Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 22, of Methuen, Mass., were charged with receiving stolen property, conspiracy and accessory after the fact. At their arraignment Friday in Lawrence District Court Bail was set at $5,000 for Billcliff and $1,000 for Crebase.
Warrants also were issued Friday for Kevin Kozak, 27, of Methuen, and Matt Ingham, 23, of Newton, N.H. They were being sought on the same charges, but it was unclear whether the two were already in police custody.
Police said Crebase confessed to finding the money in the gutter of a barn they were hired to repair in Newbury. But lawyers for Billcliff and Crebase said the men were sticking to their story of finding the box under a tree in the back yard of a house Crebase rented from Kozak.
Uh-Oh!
From Scientific American:
On a gray day in mid-January, Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, suggested that innate differences in the build of the male and female brain might be one factor underlying the relative scarcity of women in science. His remarks reignited a debate that has been smoldering for a century, ever since some scientists sizing up the brains of both sexes began using their main finding--that female brains tend to be smaller--to bolster the view that women are intellectually inferior to men.
To date, no one has uncovered any evidence that anatomical disparities might render women incapable of achieving academic distinction in math, physics or engineering. And the brains of men and women have been shown to be quite clearly similar in many ways. Nevertheless, over the past decade investigators have documented an astonishing array of structural, chemical and functional variations in the brains of males and females.
These inequities are not just interesting idiosyncrasies that might explain why more men than women enjoy the Three Stooges. They raise the possibility that we might need to develop sex-specific treatments for a host of conditions, including depression, addiction, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, the differences imply that researchers exploring the structure and function of the brain must take into account the sex of their subjects when analyzing their data--and include both women and men in future studies or risk obtaining misleading results.
On a gray day in mid-January, Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard University, suggested that innate differences in the build of the male and female brain might be one factor underlying the relative scarcity of women in science. His remarks reignited a debate that has been smoldering for a century, ever since some scientists sizing up the brains of both sexes began using their main finding--that female brains tend to be smaller--to bolster the view that women are intellectually inferior to men.
To date, no one has uncovered any evidence that anatomical disparities might render women incapable of achieving academic distinction in math, physics or engineering. And the brains of men and women have been shown to be quite clearly similar in many ways. Nevertheless, over the past decade investigators have documented an astonishing array of structural, chemical and functional variations in the brains of males and females.
These inequities are not just interesting idiosyncrasies that might explain why more men than women enjoy the Three Stooges. They raise the possibility that we might need to develop sex-specific treatments for a host of conditions, including depression, addiction, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, the differences imply that researchers exploring the structure and function of the brain must take into account the sex of their subjects when analyzing their data--and include both women and men in future studies or risk obtaining misleading results.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Steve Fields Steak and Lobster Lounge
The big opening is almost here.
Steve Fields, the nightclub impresario who developed Dallas Alley with Spencer Taylor nearly two decades ago, is going solo. He's severing most of his ties with Truluck's Seafood, Steak, Crab House to launch a steak house, of all things. It's called Steve Fields Steak and Lobster Lounge, and it will open in May on the corner of Park and Preston in Plano in an old Grady's location. "This is a little nerve-wracking for me," he says. What will set this prime steak house apart from the rest of the Dallas rib eye litter? The lobster lounge and its ebony digital baby grand piano and a huge lobster tank near the entrance. Chef Johnny Carino of the Truluck's Restaurant Group is developing the menu, and Fields says he is getting backing from some Truluck's investors, which operate six of the stone crab restaurants in Austin (2), Houston, Dallas, Addison and Naples, Florida.
Steve Fields, the nightclub impresario who developed Dallas Alley with Spencer Taylor nearly two decades ago, is going solo. He's severing most of his ties with Truluck's Seafood, Steak, Crab House to launch a steak house, of all things. It's called Steve Fields Steak and Lobster Lounge, and it will open in May on the corner of Park and Preston in Plano in an old Grady's location. "This is a little nerve-wracking for me," he says. What will set this prime steak house apart from the rest of the Dallas rib eye litter? The lobster lounge and its ebony digital baby grand piano and a huge lobster tank near the entrance. Chef Johnny Carino of the Truluck's Restaurant Group is developing the menu, and Fields says he is getting backing from some Truluck's investors, which operate six of the stone crab restaurants in Austin (2), Houston, Dallas, Addison and Naples, Florida.
Bob Dole Speaks
In the coming days, I hope changing the Senate's rules won't be necessary, but Senator Frist will be fully justified in doing so if he believes he has exhausted every effort at compromise. Of course, there is an easier solution to the impasse: Democrats can stop playing their obstruction game and let President Bush's judicial nominees receive what they are entitled to: an up-or-down vote on the floor of the world's greatest deliberative body.
Tru dat.
Tru dat.
The French Lose Again
PARIS -- The United States' bread-baking skills were crowned superior to those of France and the rest of the world the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, the World Cup of Baking, held in Paris, France.
The 2005 U.S. Bread Bakers Guild team was coached by Didier Rosada and included Jeffrey Yankellow, both of the San Francisco Baking Institute. They beat 11 other countries' teams to win the competition, the Bread Bakers Guild of America reported today.
The 2005 U.S. Bread Bakers Guild team was coached by Didier Rosada and included Jeffrey Yankellow, both of the San Francisco Baking Institute. They beat 11 other countries' teams to win the competition, the Bread Bakers Guild of America reported today.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
I Think This Originated In Newport
In one video clip, labelled Bitch Slap, a youth approaches a woman at a bus stop and punches her in the face. In another, Knockout Punch, a group of boys wearing uniforms are shown leading another boy across an unidentified school playground before flooring him with a single blow to the head.
In a third, Bank Job, a teenager is seen assaulting a hole-in-the-wall customer while another youth grabs the money he has just withdrawn from the cash machine.
Welcome to the disturbing world of the "happy slappers" - a youth craze in which groups of teenagers armed with camera phones slap or mug unsuspecting children or passersby while capturing the attacks on 3g technology.
According to police and anti-bullying organisations, the fad, which began as a craze on the UK garage music scene before catching on in school playgrounds across the capital last autumn, is now a nationwide phenomenon.
And as the craze has spread from London to the home counties to the north of England, so the attacks have become more menacing, with increasing numbers of violent assaults and adult victims.
Didn't this just used to be called assault? Why do we have to give it a cool name?
In a third, Bank Job, a teenager is seen assaulting a hole-in-the-wall customer while another youth grabs the money he has just withdrawn from the cash machine.
Welcome to the disturbing world of the "happy slappers" - a youth craze in which groups of teenagers armed with camera phones slap or mug unsuspecting children or passersby while capturing the attacks on 3g technology.
According to police and anti-bullying organisations, the fad, which began as a craze on the UK garage music scene before catching on in school playgrounds across the capital last autumn, is now a nationwide phenomenon.
And as the craze has spread from London to the home counties to the north of England, so the attacks have become more menacing, with increasing numbers of violent assaults and adult victims.
Didn't this just used to be called assault? Why do we have to give it a cool name?
The Slide Continues
There was a time - not so long ago - when women served as the moderating force of society. Men wanted sex, they had to get married. Men wanted to booze it up day and night, they had to deal with the temperance crusaders. In short, women counterbalanced the idiocy of men.
Not anymore.
TRENTON, N.J. -- An alarming number of American girls, some as young as 9, are using bodybuilding steroids -- not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars, experts say.
Girls are getting their hands on the same dangerous testosterone pills, shots and creams that have created a scandal in major league baseball and other sports. Often, these are the same girls who have eating disorders, according to some research.
Not anymore.
TRENTON, N.J. -- An alarming number of American girls, some as young as 9, are using bodybuilding steroids -- not necessarily to get an edge on the playing field, but to get the toned, sculpted look of models and movie stars, experts say.
Girls are getting their hands on the same dangerous testosterone pills, shots and creams that have created a scandal in major league baseball and other sports. Often, these are the same girls who have eating disorders, according to some research.
I See A Pattern
From Peter King's column in CNNSI:
"When life gives you lemons, you've got to make lemonade.'' -- Former New Orleans and Carolina linebacker and assistant coach Sam Mills, who died last week after a 21-month bout with intestinal cancer.
I have covered some good men during my 21 years on the football beat. Anthony Munoz comes to mind. Frank Reich. Mark Bavaro. Jim Breech. Steve Young. Don Hasselbeck. His son Matt. Hines Ward. Kurt Warner. Derrick Brooks. But none better than Sam Mills. We talked 10 or 15 times over the years, including once over dinner before a Panthers playoff game in the franchise's early days. And the guy just wouldn't give himself credit for anything. Jim Mora deserved praise for giving him a chance, Carl Peterson for signing him, Bill Kuharich for scouting him, Dom Capers for coaching him, Rickey Jackson and Vaughn Johnson for freeing him up to be a Pro Bowl linebacker in New Orleans. Mills was just a remarkably self-effacing person -- and not self-effacing in the phony way. He meant every word.
What do Mills, Munoz, Reich, Bavaro, Breech, Young, Hasselbeck (father and son), Warner and Brooks all have in common? All are devout, evangelistic Christians who use their athletic prowess and fame to share the love of Christ. Young, of course, is a Mormon, but very open about his faith. And I don't know much about Hines Ward (but I would suspect he's a Christian too).
What does this mean? It means these boys are light in the darkness...the salt of the earth. You have to really walk the walk to have this sort of affect on a grizzled, cynical sportswriter like Peter King.
"When life gives you lemons, you've got to make lemonade.'' -- Former New Orleans and Carolina linebacker and assistant coach Sam Mills, who died last week after a 21-month bout with intestinal cancer.
I have covered some good men during my 21 years on the football beat. Anthony Munoz comes to mind. Frank Reich. Mark Bavaro. Jim Breech. Steve Young. Don Hasselbeck. His son Matt. Hines Ward. Kurt Warner. Derrick Brooks. But none better than Sam Mills. We talked 10 or 15 times over the years, including once over dinner before a Panthers playoff game in the franchise's early days. And the guy just wouldn't give himself credit for anything. Jim Mora deserved praise for giving him a chance, Carl Peterson for signing him, Bill Kuharich for scouting him, Dom Capers for coaching him, Rickey Jackson and Vaughn Johnson for freeing him up to be a Pro Bowl linebacker in New Orleans. Mills was just a remarkably self-effacing person -- and not self-effacing in the phony way. He meant every word.
What do Mills, Munoz, Reich, Bavaro, Breech, Young, Hasselbeck (father and son), Warner and Brooks all have in common? All are devout, evangelistic Christians who use their athletic prowess and fame to share the love of Christ. Young, of course, is a Mormon, but very open about his faith. And I don't know much about Hines Ward (but I would suspect he's a Christian too).
What does this mean? It means these boys are light in the darkness...the salt of the earth. You have to really walk the walk to have this sort of affect on a grizzled, cynical sportswriter like Peter King.
Lenny Dykstra Did Steriods and Gambled
I don't believe it. He seemed like such an upstanding individual.
LOS ANGELES Apr 25, 2005 — Lenny Dykstra has been accused in a civil lawsuit of taking steroids and gambling illegally during his baseball career, according to a newspaper report.
Lindsay Jones, Dykstra's former partner in a lucrative car wash business, alleges in the suit that the former Philadelphia center fielder advised him to bet thousands of dollars with a bookmaker on selected Phillies games in 1993, the Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday editions.
The suit also includes a sworn statement from a Florida bodybuilder and convicted drug dealer who said Dykstra paid him $20,000 plus "special perks" during their eight-year association to "bulk up" the once-slight ballplayer.
LOS ANGELES Apr 25, 2005 — Lenny Dykstra has been accused in a civil lawsuit of taking steroids and gambling illegally during his baseball career, according to a newspaper report.
Lindsay Jones, Dykstra's former partner in a lucrative car wash business, alleges in the suit that the former Philadelphia center fielder advised him to bet thousands of dollars with a bookmaker on selected Phillies games in 1993, the Los Angeles Times reported in Sunday editions.
The suit also includes a sworn statement from a Florida bodybuilder and convicted drug dealer who said Dykstra paid him $20,000 plus "special perks" during their eight-year association to "bulk up" the once-slight ballplayer.
Some Guys Have All The Luck
This sort of thing would never happen to me:
Pair digs up buried hoard in Methuen
By David Abel, Globe Staff April 26, 2005
It's everyone's fantasy, a dream we always wake up from, tormented that the images of our sleep are just illusions.
That is, finding buried treasure.
One morning three weeks ago, such a fairy tale suddenly came true for Barry Villcliff and Tim Crebase, two friends trying to dig up a small tree in Crebase's yard in Methuen, they said.
Using a spade to get at the roots, Crebase heard a thud, and about a foot down, he saw he had hit a piece of wood. The 23-year-old roofer then realized the wood was part a 2-foot-wide box.
He kept digging until he ripped the top off and found nine rusted tin cans, which decades ago -- maybe nearly a century ago -- held ginger cookies and dough. Crebase wrapped the cans in a sweatshirt and carried them to a nearby truck, where he and Villcliff, his 27-year-old boss from Manchester, N.H., began cracking them open.
''It didn't look like anything we ever saw before," Villcliff said in a phone interview last night. Then he caught a glimpse of Crebase's face and knew he found something valuable.
''I'm a pessimist; I was waiting until I got a professional review before I jumped to any conclusions," Villcliff said. ''Tim, however, was singing and dancing. He was ranting like a rabid monkey."
When they finished emptying the old cans in a milk crate, they saw before them about 1,800 bills -- including more than 900 $1 bills, 200 $2 bills, and 300 $20 bills dated from 1899 to 1929, they said. There were also a pile of gold and silver certificates and scores of notes from local banks in Methuen, Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, and beyond.
The two went back to work, but later that afternoon made their way to the Village Coin Shop in Plaistow, N.H. When they walked in with their milk crate full of old greenbacks, Domenic Mangano, the shop's owner, quickly locked the door behind them.
''I was thinking, 'I've never seen anything like this in my life,' " said Mangano, who estimates their find is worth more than $100,000.
He knew they were genuine, he said, because fake bills look purposely aged.
None of the men know why the money was hidden in Crebase's yard, but they have their theories.
One is that the stash was the proceeds of a robbery. Another is that it was profits hoarded from bootlegging during Prohibition. Or, they figure, it could be the savings of immigrants who didn't trust the local banks.
Pair digs up buried hoard in Methuen
By David Abel, Globe Staff April 26, 2005
It's everyone's fantasy, a dream we always wake up from, tormented that the images of our sleep are just illusions.
That is, finding buried treasure.
One morning three weeks ago, such a fairy tale suddenly came true for Barry Villcliff and Tim Crebase, two friends trying to dig up a small tree in Crebase's yard in Methuen, they said.
Using a spade to get at the roots, Crebase heard a thud, and about a foot down, he saw he had hit a piece of wood. The 23-year-old roofer then realized the wood was part a 2-foot-wide box.
He kept digging until he ripped the top off and found nine rusted tin cans, which decades ago -- maybe nearly a century ago -- held ginger cookies and dough. Crebase wrapped the cans in a sweatshirt and carried them to a nearby truck, where he and Villcliff, his 27-year-old boss from Manchester, N.H., began cracking them open.
''It didn't look like anything we ever saw before," Villcliff said in a phone interview last night. Then he caught a glimpse of Crebase's face and knew he found something valuable.
''I'm a pessimist; I was waiting until I got a professional review before I jumped to any conclusions," Villcliff said. ''Tim, however, was singing and dancing. He was ranting like a rabid monkey."
When they finished emptying the old cans in a milk crate, they saw before them about 1,800 bills -- including more than 900 $1 bills, 200 $2 bills, and 300 $20 bills dated from 1899 to 1929, they said. There were also a pile of gold and silver certificates and scores of notes from local banks in Methuen, Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, and beyond.
The two went back to work, but later that afternoon made their way to the Village Coin Shop in Plaistow, N.H. When they walked in with their milk crate full of old greenbacks, Domenic Mangano, the shop's owner, quickly locked the door behind them.
''I was thinking, 'I've never seen anything like this in my life,' " said Mangano, who estimates their find is worth more than $100,000.
He knew they were genuine, he said, because fake bills look purposely aged.
None of the men know why the money was hidden in Crebase's yard, but they have their theories.
One is that the stash was the proceeds of a robbery. Another is that it was profits hoarded from bootlegging during Prohibition. Or, they figure, it could be the savings of immigrants who didn't trust the local banks.
Monday, April 25, 2005
This Is Disturbing
Scientists have begun putting genes from human beings into food crops in a dramatic extension of genetic modification. The move, which is causing disgust and revulsion among critics, is bound to strengthen accusations that GM technology is creating "Frankenstein foods" and drive the controversy surrounding it to new heights.
Do think there's anyone hanging with these nerds saying, "Hey guys, this is kinda weird, gross, disgusting and dangerous. Maybe we shouldn't be doing this." Probably not.
Do think there's anyone hanging with these nerds saying, "Hey guys, this is kinda weird, gross, disgusting and dangerous. Maybe we shouldn't be doing this." Probably not.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
I Work With These People
The technology addicts, not the stoners.
LONDON, England -- Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows.
The constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic, according to a survey carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett Packard.
The survey of 1,100 Britons showed:
In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day.
He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.
"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson said. "We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness.
"Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working."
Wilson said the IQ drop was even more significant in the men who took part in the tests.
"The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour 'always on' society," said David Smith of Hewlett Packard.
"This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses."
LONDON, England -- Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows.
The constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic, according to a survey carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett Packard.
The survey of 1,100 Britons showed:
- Almost two out three people check their electronic messages out of office hours and when on holiday
- Half of all workers respond to an e-mail within 60 minutes of receiving one
- One in five will break off from a business or social engagement to respond to a message.
Nine out of 10 people thought colleagues who answered messages during face-to-face meetings were rude, while three out of 10 believed it was not only acceptable, but a sign of diligence and efficiency.
In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day.
He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.
"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson said. "We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness.
"Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working."
Wilson said the IQ drop was even more significant in the men who took part in the tests.
"The research suggests that we are in danger of being caught up in a 24-hour 'always on' society," said David Smith of Hewlett Packard.
"This is more worrying when you consider the potential impairment on performance and concentration for workers, and the consequent impact on businesses."
My Kind of Congressman
Washington, D.C. – Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents the state’s Sixth District, today released the following statement regarding his vote against House Resolution 148, which supports the goals and ideals of Financial Literacy Month.
“Given Congress' appetite for pork barrel spending and penchant for deficits, we’re in no position to lecture anybody on financial literacy,” said Flake. “Perhaps we should have included a provision in the bill requiring Congress to practice what it preaches.”
Congressman Flake was one of two Members of the House of Representatives to vote against House Resolution 148, which passed 409 to 2.
“Given Congress' appetite for pork barrel spending and penchant for deficits, we’re in no position to lecture anybody on financial literacy,” said Flake. “Perhaps we should have included a provision in the bill requiring Congress to practice what it preaches.”
Congressman Flake was one of two Members of the House of Representatives to vote against House Resolution 148, which passed 409 to 2.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Who's Lighting the Cigarettes?
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa -- A South African zoo wants a chimpanzee to quit smoking cold turkey. Keepers say Charlie the chimpanzee picked up the habit from visitors at the Bloemfontein Zoo who sometimes toss him cigarettes.
"It looks funny to see a chimp smoking," a zoo spokesman said, but Charlie's trick could cost him his health. The zoo is asking people to stop tossing cigarettes and contributing to the chimp's habit.
A zoo official says Charlie "acts like a naughty schoolboy" and hides his cigarettes when workers are around.
"It looks funny to see a chimp smoking," a zoo spokesman said, but Charlie's trick could cost him his health. The zoo is asking people to stop tossing cigarettes and contributing to the chimp's habit.
A zoo official says Charlie "acts like a naughty schoolboy" and hides his cigarettes when workers are around.
Beware of Those Sneaky Real Estate Brokers
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Did you pay your real estate broker too much? The U.S. Department of Justice may be set to turn Tulsa, Okla. into a test-case for ending the stranglehold 6 percent commissions have over the real estate brokerage business.
MONEY has learned that Justice's Antitrust Division is gathering information on the bully tactics that full-commission brokers in Tulsa allegedly use against their discount rivals to discourage commission-cutting. The probe follows other recent efforts to spur competition in the real estate industry.
According to a copy of a Justice Department subpoena obtained by MONEY, federal investigators are seeking information on "possible anticompetitive conduct in the provision of real estate services in the Tulsa area" as well as "documents related to refusal to cooperate on real estate transactions."
An Antitrust Division spokeswoman confirmed the existence of the investigation but declined to provide additional details.
MONEY has learned that Justice's Antitrust Division is gathering information on the bully tactics that full-commission brokers in Tulsa allegedly use against their discount rivals to discourage commission-cutting. The probe follows other recent efforts to spur competition in the real estate industry.
According to a copy of a Justice Department subpoena obtained by MONEY, federal investigators are seeking information on "possible anticompetitive conduct in the provision of real estate services in the Tulsa area" as well as "documents related to refusal to cooperate on real estate transactions."
An Antitrust Division spokeswoman confirmed the existence of the investigation but declined to provide additional details.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
One of the NBA's Good Guys
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Golden State Warriors guard Derek Fisher donated $700,000 to Arkansas-Little Rock on Monday night, and a new auxiliary gym on the campus of his alma mater will carry his last name.
Fisher presented a giant check to the school's athletic director, Chris Peterson, before the Warriors hosted the Los Angeles Lakers, Fisher's former team.
Most of the money will go to establish and fund the "Fisher Fellows" program, which will provide guidance to children from nearby Southwest Middle School to better prepare them for high school with the goal of going to college. The students will be paired with student-athletes from Arkansas-Little Rock to learn concepts of life and academics, as well as organizational, social and athletic skills.
A portion of the donation will go toward the construction of an auxiliary gym, which will be called the Fisher Gym. It will host the Fisher Fellows program.
"I'm extremely fortunate to be in a position where I can provide my assistance to something that has had a huge impact on my life and career," Fisher said. "I hope this mentoring program will give some of the students in Little Rock the chance to reach their potential and achieve their dreams, much like I had the opportunity to do so as a youngster."
Fisher presented a giant check to the school's athletic director, Chris Peterson, before the Warriors hosted the Los Angeles Lakers, Fisher's former team.
Most of the money will go to establish and fund the "Fisher Fellows" program, which will provide guidance to children from nearby Southwest Middle School to better prepare them for high school with the goal of going to college. The students will be paired with student-athletes from Arkansas-Little Rock to learn concepts of life and academics, as well as organizational, social and athletic skills.
A portion of the donation will go toward the construction of an auxiliary gym, which will be called the Fisher Gym. It will host the Fisher Fellows program.
"I'm extremely fortunate to be in a position where I can provide my assistance to something that has had a huge impact on my life and career," Fisher said. "I hope this mentoring program will give some of the students in Little Rock the chance to reach their potential and achieve their dreams, much like I had the opportunity to do so as a youngster."
The All-Important Webster Update
A little fame goes a long way--especially when you're Emmanuel Lewis.
The pint-sized Webster alter ego managed to escape unscathed from a speeding ticket this week thanks to a star-struck police officer.
The lead-footed Lewis, whose preferred mode of locomotion in the '80s was being toted around in Michael Jackson's arms, was clocked doing 70 in a 45 mph zone in the rural Georgia speed-trap town of Warwick on Tuesday.
Officer Ron Kirk tagged Lewis as the actor raced up State Route 300. An Atlanta resident, Lewis was hauling an SUV back to his home that he had purchased in Albany, in the southern part of the state.
Kirk pulled over the rig and immediately recognized the 33-year-old Lewis.
"Well, I grew up watching him and he was very nice and professional, so I just gave him a courtesy warning," Kirk told Albany television station WALB.
Before he let Lewis go, however, Kirk requested and received an autograph. The former child star also posed for a photo op with Kirk and the town's police chief, Randy Howard Jr.
Kirk told WALB that Warwick gets a good chunk of revenue from speeding tickets. He says that Lewis was likely unfamiliar with the area and didn't realize the speed limit dropped in the town.
The pint-sized Webster alter ego managed to escape unscathed from a speeding ticket this week thanks to a star-struck police officer.
The lead-footed Lewis, whose preferred mode of locomotion in the '80s was being toted around in Michael Jackson's arms, was clocked doing 70 in a 45 mph zone in the rural Georgia speed-trap town of Warwick on Tuesday.
Officer Ron Kirk tagged Lewis as the actor raced up State Route 300. An Atlanta resident, Lewis was hauling an SUV back to his home that he had purchased in Albany, in the southern part of the state.
Kirk pulled over the rig and immediately recognized the 33-year-old Lewis.
"Well, I grew up watching him and he was very nice and professional, so I just gave him a courtesy warning," Kirk told Albany television station WALB.
Before he let Lewis go, however, Kirk requested and received an autograph. The former child star also posed for a photo op with Kirk and the town's police chief, Randy Howard Jr.
Kirk told WALB that Warwick gets a good chunk of revenue from speeding tickets. He says that Lewis was likely unfamiliar with the area and didn't realize the speed limit dropped in the town.
Capital Punishment
Ok, is there anyone on the planet that doesn't think this guy should be executed? Anyone?
TAMPA, Fla. — A 9-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, state prosecutors said in documents released Wednesday.
Jessica Lunsford's (search) body was found March 19 buried about 150 yards from her house in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa.
According to the documents, Jessica was found wearing shorts and a shirt — different from the pink nightgown her family said she was wearing when they reported her missing Feb. 24, The Tampa Tribune said in its online edition late Wednesday.
The body was wrapped in two plastic trash bags knotted at her head and feet in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, the state attorney's office said in the documents.
Jessica died of asphyxiation, according to a coroner's report. A convicted sex offender,John Evander Couey (search), 46, is charged in her slaying.
Officials said they believe Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia.
TAMPA, Fla. — A 9-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, state prosecutors said in documents released Wednesday.
Jessica Lunsford's (search) body was found March 19 buried about 150 yards from her house in Homosassa, about 60 miles north of Tampa.
According to the documents, Jessica was found wearing shorts and a shirt — different from the pink nightgown her family said she was wearing when they reported her missing Feb. 24, The Tampa Tribune said in its online edition late Wednesday.
The body was wrapped in two plastic trash bags knotted at her head and feet in a grave covered by a mound of leaves, the state attorney's office said in the documents.
Jessica died of asphyxiation, according to a coroner's report. A convicted sex offender,John Evander Couey (search), 46, is charged in her slaying.
Officials said they believe Jessica may have been alive in Couey's home while police and volunteers searched for her. After she was killed, Couey fled to Georgia.
Wily Mo! Wily Mo! Wily Mo!
Two more home runs last night...that's 5 on the season. Rich Aurillia says he's never seen anyone hit the ball as hard as Wily Mo...and he spent several years playing with Barry Bonds.
Best of all...he's only 23. 23!
I have to give old leather pants (Jim Bowden) some props. He believed in Wily Mo, and Wily Mo looks like the real deal.
Best of all...he's only 23. 23!
I have to give old leather pants (Jim Bowden) some props. He believed in Wily Mo, and Wily Mo looks like the real deal.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Oooops!
What's a few hundred thousand deaths between friends.
CHICAGO — Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation from the CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated today that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.
The new analysis found that obesity — being extremely overweight — is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight.
Biostatistician Mary Grace Kovar, a consultant for the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center in Washington, said "normal" may be set too low for today's population. Also, Americans classified as overweight are eating better, exercising more and managing their blood pressure better than they used to, she said.
The study — an analysis of mortality rates and body-mass index, or BMI — was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Based on the new calculation, excess weight would drop from the second leading cause of preventable death, after smoking, to seventh. It would fall behind car crashes and guns on the list of killers.
CHICAGO — Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation from the CDC.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated today that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.
The new analysis found that obesity — being extremely overweight — is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight.
Biostatistician Mary Grace Kovar, a consultant for the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center in Washington, said "normal" may be set too low for today's population. Also, Americans classified as overweight are eating better, exercising more and managing their blood pressure better than they used to, she said.
The study — an analysis of mortality rates and body-mass index, or BMI — was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Based on the new calculation, excess weight would drop from the second leading cause of preventable death, after smoking, to seventh. It would fall behind car crashes and guns on the list of killers.
The Words of the New Pope
Thus the moral theologians of the Western Hemisphere, in their efforts to still remain "credible" in our society, find themselves facing a difficult alternative: it seems to them that they must choose between opposing modern society and opposing the Magisterium. ...Thus we stand before the difficult alternative: either the Church finds an understanding, a compromise with the values propounded by society which she wants to continue to serve, or she decides to remain faithful to her own values (and in the Church's view these are the values that protect man in his deepest needs) as the result of which she finds herself on the margin of society. ... But one cannot struggle against nature without undergoing the most devastating consequences. The sacrosanct equality between man and woman does not exclude, indeed it requires, diversity. ... Christianity is not "our" work; it is a Revelation; it is a message that has been consigned to us, and we have no right to reconstruct it as we like or choose.
--- The Rupture between Sexuality and Marriage: Reflections on unnatural liberation by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
Today what people have in view is eliminating suffering from the world. For the individual, that means avoiding pain and suffering in whatever way. Yet we must also see that it is in this very way that the world becomes very hard and very cold. Pain is part of being human. Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything else, because there can be no love without suffering, because it always demands an element of self-sacrifice, because, given temperamental differences and the drama of situations, it will always bring with it renunciation and pain.
--- The Question of Suffering, the Response of the Cross By Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
--- The Rupture between Sexuality and Marriage: Reflections on unnatural liberation by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
Today what people have in view is eliminating suffering from the world. For the individual, that means avoiding pain and suffering in whatever way. Yet we must also see that it is in this very way that the world becomes very hard and very cold. Pain is part of being human. Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything else, because there can be no love without suffering, because it always demands an element of self-sacrifice, because, given temperamental differences and the drama of situations, it will always bring with it renunciation and pain.
--- The Question of Suffering, the Response of the Cross By Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Great News Out of Rome
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, a longtime guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy, was elected the new pope Tuesday evening in the first conclave of the new millennium. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI.
Ratzinger, the first German pope in centuries, served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms. He turned 78 on Saturday.
Ratzinger, the first German pope in centuries, served John Paul II since 1981 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In that position, he has disciplined church dissidents and upheld church policy against attempts by liberals for reforms. He turned 78 on Saturday.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Traffic and "The Starbuck's Effect"
Almost every morning for a decade, Roger Bratter has stopped at a Starbucks in Gaithersburg to sip a grande latte sans foam or a green tea and spend 20 peaceful minutes with the newspaper before heading to his auto repair shop.
Grabbing a cup at home, he said, just isn't the same.
"Our kid's got to go to school. My wife has to get to the Metro. I've got to get to work," Bratter, 54, said during a 7:30 a.m. visit last week. "If I have to make [coffee] and clean it up, it's just an extra stress factor."
Minutes earlier, at the same Starbucks on Quince Orchard Road, Steve Elgin, 41, pulled into the drive-through. A venti latte once or twice a week takes the edge off his one-hour commute between Frederick and Gaithersburg.
"It gives me something to do on [Interstate] 270," said Elgin, an executive in an insurance claims company.
The two men represent what one researcher says is evidence that the national craving for gourmet coffee may be adding mileage to the morning rush hour. And the numbers might be significant enough to complicate efforts to reduce traffic congestion, save fuel and reduce air pollution.
She calls it -- what else? -- the "Starbucks Effect."
"If you see people replacing an in-home activity like brewing your own coffee with an activity that requires a new [car] trip, that's not exactly the trend we're looking for," said Nancy McGuckin, a travel behavior analyst who used U.S. Department of Transportation data to develop her findings.
McGuckin built her thesis from the department's National Household Travel Survey, a periodic study of about 70,000 households in which each member keeps a diary of comings and goings -- who's driving where, how far and for what purpose.
What McGuckin and two colleagues found in comparing the 1995 and 2001 surveys, the two most recent ones, was that 1.6 million new more Americans tacked personal errands onto their commutes. Studies have long shown that errands are an integral part of the daily routine, especially on the way home from work, when arrival times are more flexible. Women continue to outpace men in these trips, shouldering most of the early-evening family tasks after leaving the office, such as grocery shopping and picking up children.
Grabbing a cup at home, he said, just isn't the same.
"Our kid's got to go to school. My wife has to get to the Metro. I've got to get to work," Bratter, 54, said during a 7:30 a.m. visit last week. "If I have to make [coffee] and clean it up, it's just an extra stress factor."
Minutes earlier, at the same Starbucks on Quince Orchard Road, Steve Elgin, 41, pulled into the drive-through. A venti latte once or twice a week takes the edge off his one-hour commute between Frederick and Gaithersburg.
"It gives me something to do on [Interstate] 270," said Elgin, an executive in an insurance claims company.
The two men represent what one researcher says is evidence that the national craving for gourmet coffee may be adding mileage to the morning rush hour. And the numbers might be significant enough to complicate efforts to reduce traffic congestion, save fuel and reduce air pollution.
She calls it -- what else? -- the "Starbucks Effect."
"If you see people replacing an in-home activity like brewing your own coffee with an activity that requires a new [car] trip, that's not exactly the trend we're looking for," said Nancy McGuckin, a travel behavior analyst who used U.S. Department of Transportation data to develop her findings.
McGuckin built her thesis from the department's National Household Travel Survey, a periodic study of about 70,000 households in which each member keeps a diary of comings and goings -- who's driving where, how far and for what purpose.
What McGuckin and two colleagues found in comparing the 1995 and 2001 surveys, the two most recent ones, was that 1.6 million new more Americans tacked personal errands onto their commutes. Studies have long shown that errands are an integral part of the daily routine, especially on the way home from work, when arrival times are more flexible. Women continue to outpace men in these trips, shouldering most of the early-evening family tasks after leaving the office, such as grocery shopping and picking up children.
Advice for Dave Miley
We went and saw the Reds beat the Astros Saturday 3-2. I came away with two observations:
1. Wily Mo Pena must play everyday.
2. Danny Graves must not.
1. Wily Mo Pena must play everyday.
2. Danny Graves must not.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
More Trouble for the Bluebirds
If Highlands fans didn't think it could get any worse...it can.
And oh yeah, the KHSAA is still reserving the right to recoup its mountain of legal fees from Highlands - a bill that several lawyers familiar with the case have said could reach more than $100,000.
And oh yeah, the KHSAA is still reserving the right to recoup its mountain of legal fees from Highlands - a bill that several lawyers familiar with the case have said could reach more than $100,000.
Nike Eyes
This strikes me as...well...illegal.
After grounding out in his first at-bat Saturday, Ken Griffey Jr. was seeing red the rest of the game.
The Reds center fielder slipped inside the team's clubhouse and re-emerged wearing a pair of orange-tinted contact lenses manufactured by Nike.
"I wore them off and on for two weeks," Griffey said. "I was debating on whether I should use them during a game.
"After that first at-bat I decided, 'All right. I'll try 'em now.' "
The vision-enhancing lenses, which are not yet available to the public, seemed to work. Griffey walked and doubled twice in his next three at-bats.
"I don't feel comfortable hitting in glasses," said Griffey, who has 20-20 vision. "Some people can. Some people can't. But with these, they're fine."
The purpose of the lenses is to clarify and highlight objects, such as the spinning seams on a pitched baseball.
Reds closer Danny Graves sported a similar pair of Nike lenses around the clubhouse during spring training but decided against wearing them during a game.
"Everything that is red is red," Griffey said.
"Everything else has like an orange tint. ... It's just different. You're not squinting. Your eyes are more relaxed."
After grounding out in his first at-bat Saturday, Ken Griffey Jr. was seeing red the rest of the game.
The Reds center fielder slipped inside the team's clubhouse and re-emerged wearing a pair of orange-tinted contact lenses manufactured by Nike.
"I wore them off and on for two weeks," Griffey said. "I was debating on whether I should use them during a game.
"After that first at-bat I decided, 'All right. I'll try 'em now.' "
The vision-enhancing lenses, which are not yet available to the public, seemed to work. Griffey walked and doubled twice in his next three at-bats.
"I don't feel comfortable hitting in glasses," said Griffey, who has 20-20 vision. "Some people can. Some people can't. But with these, they're fine."
The purpose of the lenses is to clarify and highlight objects, such as the spinning seams on a pitched baseball.
Reds closer Danny Graves sported a similar pair of Nike lenses around the clubhouse during spring training but decided against wearing them during a game.
"Everything that is red is red," Griffey said.
"Everything else has like an orange tint. ... It's just different. You're not squinting. Your eyes are more relaxed."
More Material for that Tough Humanities Teacher
Thousands of previously illegible manuscripts containing work by some of the greats of classical literature are being read for the first time using technology which experts believe will unlock the secrets of the ancient world.
Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.
The Oxford documents form part of the great papyrus hoard salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus more than a century ago. The thousands of remaining documents, which will be analysed over the next decade, are expected to include works by Ovid and Aeschylus, plus a series of Christian gospels which have been lost for up to 2,000 years.
Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.
The Oxford documents form part of the great papyrus hoard salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus more than a century ago. The thousands of remaining documents, which will be analysed over the next decade, are expected to include works by Ovid and Aeschylus, plus a series of Christian gospels which have been lost for up to 2,000 years.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
I'm Calling Bulls%^t On This One
SPRINGFIELD -- Pro-abortion forces won a victory in the Illinois House Wednesday as State Rep. Rosemary Mulligan (R-Park Ridge) successfully passed HB 2492 which would make it a criminal offense for an ultrasound to be administered without a doctor's order.
Mulligan said that Planned Parenthood and the Illinois State Medical Society encouraged her to sponsor the legislation because there was a concern about long exposure of fetuses to ultrasound waves.
"There's a new little industry that does ultrasound videos on babies before they're born for entertainment purposes," the Cook County legislator told her colleagues. "There is concern about the neurological development with long exposure."
Two points:
1. Why does Mulligan refer to "babies before they're born". If they're babies before they're born, then you're killing babies. Not quite consistent.
2. Since when does Planned Parenthood give a damn about the development of babies? They're mission is the non-development of babies.
Mulligan said that Planned Parenthood and the Illinois State Medical Society encouraged her to sponsor the legislation because there was a concern about long exposure of fetuses to ultrasound waves.
"There's a new little industry that does ultrasound videos on babies before they're born for entertainment purposes," the Cook County legislator told her colleagues. "There is concern about the neurological development with long exposure."
Two points:
1. Why does Mulligan refer to "babies before they're born". If they're babies before they're born, then you're killing babies. Not quite consistent.
2. Since when does Planned Parenthood give a damn about the development of babies? They're mission is the non-development of babies.
Could You Make This Up?
Probably not.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- In a victory for pranksters at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a bunch of computer-generated gibberish masquerading as an academic paper has been accepted at a scientific conference.
Jeremy Stribling said Thursday that he and two fellow MIT graduate students questioned the standards of some academic conferences, so they wrote a computer program to generate research papers complete with "context-free grammar," charts and diagrams.
The trio submitted two of the randomly assembled papers to the World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI), scheduled to be held July 10-13 in Orlando, Florida.
To their surprise, one of the papers -- "Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy" -- was accepted for presentation.
The prank recalled a 1996 hoax in which New York University physicist Alan Sokal succeeded in getting an entire paper with a mix of truths, falsehoods, non sequiturs and otherwise meaningless mumbo-jumbo published in the quarterly journal Social Text, published by Duke University Press.
Stribling said he and his colleagues only learned about the Social Text affair after submitting their paper.
"Rooter" features such mind-bending gems as: "the model for our heuristic consists of four independent components: simulated annealing, active networks, flexible modalities, and the study of reinforcement learning" and "We implemented our scatter/gather I/O server in Simula-67, augmented with opportunistically pipelined extensions."
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) -- In a victory for pranksters at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a bunch of computer-generated gibberish masquerading as an academic paper has been accepted at a scientific conference.
Jeremy Stribling said Thursday that he and two fellow MIT graduate students questioned the standards of some academic conferences, so they wrote a computer program to generate research papers complete with "context-free grammar," charts and diagrams.
The trio submitted two of the randomly assembled papers to the World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (WMSCI), scheduled to be held July 10-13 in Orlando, Florida.
To their surprise, one of the papers -- "Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy" -- was accepted for presentation.
The prank recalled a 1996 hoax in which New York University physicist Alan Sokal succeeded in getting an entire paper with a mix of truths, falsehoods, non sequiturs and otherwise meaningless mumbo-jumbo published in the quarterly journal Social Text, published by Duke University Press.
Stribling said he and his colleagues only learned about the Social Text affair after submitting their paper.
"Rooter" features such mind-bending gems as: "the model for our heuristic consists of four independent components: simulated annealing, active networks, flexible modalities, and the study of reinforcement learning" and "We implemented our scatter/gather I/O server in Simula-67, augmented with opportunistically pipelined extensions."
Ratzinger the Man to Beat?
From the NY Times:
ROME, April 16 - There was never doubt that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith, would have a strong hand in selecting the next pope. But in the days of prayer and politics before the conclave, which begins on Monday, he has emerged as perhaps the surprise central figure: the man who could become the 265th pope, choose him or be the one other cardinals knock from the running.
I do love how the Times describes Ratzinger as the "Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith." Imagine that, a Roman Catholic cardinal that zealously defends the Roman Catholic faith.
And people wonder why no one takes the NY Times seriously.
ROME, April 16 - There was never doubt that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith, would have a strong hand in selecting the next pope. But in the days of prayer and politics before the conclave, which begins on Monday, he has emerged as perhaps the surprise central figure: the man who could become the 265th pope, choose him or be the one other cardinals knock from the running.
I do love how the Times describes Ratzinger as the "Vatican's hard-line defender of the faith." Imagine that, a Roman Catholic cardinal that zealously defends the Roman Catholic faith.
And people wonder why no one takes the NY Times seriously.
Great News!
Bob Novak is usually very reliable. Here's hoping he is this time too:
WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders count only two or three GOP senators who will vote against the efforts to end, by a straight majority vote, filibusters on confirmation of judicial nominations.
Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island will not support this move, and they are likely to be joined by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. That would mean 52 senators would go along with the parliamentary maneuver attempting to end filibusters on judges. Only 50 are needed.
The only Democrat who might possibly join this effort is Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. But Bush will not press him to break party discipline if his help is unnecessary.
WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders count only two or three GOP senators who will vote against the efforts to end, by a straight majority vote, filibusters on confirmation of judicial nominations.
Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island will not support this move, and they are likely to be joined by Sen. John McCain of Arizona. That would mean 52 senators would go along with the parliamentary maneuver attempting to end filibusters on judges. Only 50 are needed.
The only Democrat who might possibly join this effort is Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. But Bush will not press him to break party discipline if his help is unnecessary.
Some Advice for Mike Brown
The Bengals should do what the Redskins are doing:
Washington PostRod Flowers has not played organized football since middle school and never considered a future in the NFL. But when the Washington Redskins' scouting department contacted him last week, the Tennessee State basketball star listened.
Flowers, who completed his senior season and is working toward a master's degree, has the size, weight and athletic ability NFL scouts covet, and although the Redskins do not plan to audition him, the mere fact he was considered is an indication of how far NFL teams are going to unearth talent.
The rise of Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates in San Diego has prompted other clubs to pursue alternative sources for players. Gates was signed as an undrafted free agent in May 2003 and set the NFL record for touchdowns by a tight end in 2004.
Flowers, who attended a high school that restricted students from playing football and basketball, has a 6-9, 240-pound frame, and is a former Parade High School all-American basketball player. Tennessee State basketball coach Cy Alexander said he was contacted by a Redskins scout last week to gather information about Flowers and assess if he would be interested in playing tight end. Alexander called Flowers, who was intrigued by the possibility, and phoned the Redskins to tell them so.After holding internal discussions, Vinny Cerrato, Washington's vice president of football operations, said the team has decided not to bring Flowers to Redskins Park for a workout.
Alexander said that Flowers was willing to put an offer he has to play professional basketball in Spain on hold to come to Washington, and was surprised by the phone call.
"The scout said they were looking for the next Gates, who played basketball at Kent State," Alexander said. "He asked me about Rod's background and what kind of athlete he was and said they were interested because of his height and weight. Rod is a pretty special athlete, and I think he could make the transition to more of a contact sport, but he'd have to put on some weight."
Alexander said the scout informed him the Redskins found Flowers on a "wire," which listed numerous players by height and weight, and that Flowers was just one of many basketball players being contacted.
Washington PostRod Flowers has not played organized football since middle school and never considered a future in the NFL. But when the Washington Redskins' scouting department contacted him last week, the Tennessee State basketball star listened.
Flowers, who completed his senior season and is working toward a master's degree, has the size, weight and athletic ability NFL scouts covet, and although the Redskins do not plan to audition him, the mere fact he was considered is an indication of how far NFL teams are going to unearth talent.
The rise of Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates in San Diego has prompted other clubs to pursue alternative sources for players. Gates was signed as an undrafted free agent in May 2003 and set the NFL record for touchdowns by a tight end in 2004.
Flowers, who attended a high school that restricted students from playing football and basketball, has a 6-9, 240-pound frame, and is a former Parade High School all-American basketball player. Tennessee State basketball coach Cy Alexander said he was contacted by a Redskins scout last week to gather information about Flowers and assess if he would be interested in playing tight end. Alexander called Flowers, who was intrigued by the possibility, and phoned the Redskins to tell them so.After holding internal discussions, Vinny Cerrato, Washington's vice president of football operations, said the team has decided not to bring Flowers to Redskins Park for a workout.
Alexander said that Flowers was willing to put an offer he has to play professional basketball in Spain on hold to come to Washington, and was surprised by the phone call.
"The scout said they were looking for the next Gates, who played basketball at Kent State," Alexander said. "He asked me about Rod's background and what kind of athlete he was and said they were interested because of his height and weight. Rod is a pretty special athlete, and I think he could make the transition to more of a contact sport, but he'd have to put on some weight."
Alexander said the scout informed him the Redskins found Flowers on a "wire," which listed numerous players by height and weight, and that Flowers was just one of many basketball players being contacted.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Tip for Next March
Here's something to keep in mind when filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket next year:
Margin of victory matters
Excepting Syracuse, every Tournament Champion since 1998 ranked in the Top 10 in scoring margin. North Carolina (2005) and Duke (2001) led all NCAA teams. This year, all four Final Four clubs, including Louisville (2nd), Illinois (3rd) and Michigan State (5th), were among the 5 squads that most handily defeated opponents. In other words, you ought to keep margin of victory in mind when completing next year's bracket.
Margin of victory matters
Excepting Syracuse, every Tournament Champion since 1998 ranked in the Top 10 in scoring margin. North Carolina (2005) and Duke (2001) led all NCAA teams. This year, all four Final Four clubs, including Louisville (2nd), Illinois (3rd) and Michigan State (5th), were among the 5 squads that most handily defeated opponents. In other words, you ought to keep margin of victory in mind when completing next year's bracket.
Papal Vote Counting
From Michael Novak:
Now that the Italian press is reporting that Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, a hero of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and perhaps the closest intellectual associate of Pope John Paul II during the past 25 years, has already received the support of 40, maybe 50 cardinals, out of the 77 votes needed to be elected the next Pope, it is time for the American media to begin searching into the mind and heart of one so close to JPII. The Pope and Ratzinger, his closest cardinal friend, met for long discussion at least once a week, and often twice a week. Their theological and philosophical commitments to ideas like the primacy of love (glimpsed by the newborn child in the eyes of its mother, and felt in her touch, from the first moments of birth) and their bold visions for the future of the church united them, although they also loved to argue. Ratzinger's theological mind is encyclopedic, sweeping over nearly all of Christian history, and his interests--in bioethics, for instance, and in the analysis of history and culture-- draw him into excited engagement with contemporary problems. Recently, he published a short book called Without Roots on problems of nihilism and relativism in contemporary Europe, in dialogue with the President of the Italian Senate, the intelligent and probing Senator Marcello Pera.
In the European and Italian context, Ratzinger is strongly pro-American on issues of religious liberty, and rather Tocquevillian in his interpretation of the American experience. He has expressed a certain disdain for efforts three decades ago to wed Catholicism to Marxist economics--he had seen too much of the latter close-up. He has a strong commitment to honest and frank ecumenism, based upon fraternal love but not upon false and mealy-mouthed pretendings of unity, where there is no unity.
It was Ratzinger who presided over the magnificently conducted funeral of John Paul II, the greatest funeral in the whole history of Rome along the axes both of history and of global reach. Many said: He looked every inch the Pope. Most surprising to many were the warmth and poetry of his sermon, evoking Pope John Paul II so realistically that at several points the vast crowds broke out in affectionate applause. And, actually, my own sources in Rome now suggest that the number of cardinals supporting Ratzinger is closer to 55, leaving him at this early point some 22 short.
Some caution should be exercised here, since in Rome counting of this sort is in most cases not actually by head, as is done in Washington by a Senate or House whip. In Rome, estimates are usually made by inference from known connections of cardinals and their close associates. However, some people in Rome (not necessarily with experience in American mayoralty elections) do know how to count votes. Those I know of in this camp are keeping their cards close to their chest. But they do not dispute the published numbers, except to hint that the true number is higher.
What no one disputes is that the numbers of the "progressives," once gathered around Cardinals Donneels of Belgium and Martini of Milan (now retired), have collapsed. There are not even enough of them to block the majority seeking a "Continuator" of John Paul II's legacy. The loyalty expressed by millions all around the world to John Paul II became so visible at the funeral that "Continuator" is now the motif. Whether that mantle falls on Ratzinger--or, perhaps, on someone younger and more vigorous--such as Angelo Scola of Venice, a truly brilliant and creative student of the much-beloved theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, will soon enough become clear. There are four or five who could fill this place in the batting order, or take their turn next time around.
Now that the Italian press is reporting that Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, a hero of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and perhaps the closest intellectual associate of Pope John Paul II during the past 25 years, has already received the support of 40, maybe 50 cardinals, out of the 77 votes needed to be elected the next Pope, it is time for the American media to begin searching into the mind and heart of one so close to JPII. The Pope and Ratzinger, his closest cardinal friend, met for long discussion at least once a week, and often twice a week. Their theological and philosophical commitments to ideas like the primacy of love (glimpsed by the newborn child in the eyes of its mother, and felt in her touch, from the first moments of birth) and their bold visions for the future of the church united them, although they also loved to argue. Ratzinger's theological mind is encyclopedic, sweeping over nearly all of Christian history, and his interests--in bioethics, for instance, and in the analysis of history and culture-- draw him into excited engagement with contemporary problems. Recently, he published a short book called Without Roots on problems of nihilism and relativism in contemporary Europe, in dialogue with the President of the Italian Senate, the intelligent and probing Senator Marcello Pera.
In the European and Italian context, Ratzinger is strongly pro-American on issues of religious liberty, and rather Tocquevillian in his interpretation of the American experience. He has expressed a certain disdain for efforts three decades ago to wed Catholicism to Marxist economics--he had seen too much of the latter close-up. He has a strong commitment to honest and frank ecumenism, based upon fraternal love but not upon false and mealy-mouthed pretendings of unity, where there is no unity.
It was Ratzinger who presided over the magnificently conducted funeral of John Paul II, the greatest funeral in the whole history of Rome along the axes both of history and of global reach. Many said: He looked every inch the Pope. Most surprising to many were the warmth and poetry of his sermon, evoking Pope John Paul II so realistically that at several points the vast crowds broke out in affectionate applause. And, actually, my own sources in Rome now suggest that the number of cardinals supporting Ratzinger is closer to 55, leaving him at this early point some 22 short.
Some caution should be exercised here, since in Rome counting of this sort is in most cases not actually by head, as is done in Washington by a Senate or House whip. In Rome, estimates are usually made by inference from known connections of cardinals and their close associates. However, some people in Rome (not necessarily with experience in American mayoralty elections) do know how to count votes. Those I know of in this camp are keeping their cards close to their chest. But they do not dispute the published numbers, except to hint that the true number is higher.
What no one disputes is that the numbers of the "progressives," once gathered around Cardinals Donneels of Belgium and Martini of Milan (now retired), have collapsed. There are not even enough of them to block the majority seeking a "Continuator" of John Paul II's legacy. The loyalty expressed by millions all around the world to John Paul II became so visible at the funeral that "Continuator" is now the motif. Whether that mantle falls on Ratzinger--or, perhaps, on someone younger and more vigorous--such as Angelo Scola of Venice, a truly brilliant and creative student of the much-beloved theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, will soon enough become clear. There are four or five who could fill this place in the batting order, or take their turn next time around.
Warriors Update
I kind of new this:
You probably already know this, but apparently most fans of the movie don’t: The Warriors retells the story of Xenophon’s Anabasis, wherein the Persian Cyrus, while trying to take the Persian throne, was killed and his Greek troops, led by Xenophon, were left stranded in enemy territory and had to fight their way back home. That’s why the movie works—it’s pretty faithful to the spirit of the original.
You probably already know this, but apparently most fans of the movie don’t: The Warriors retells the story of Xenophon’s Anabasis, wherein the Persian Cyrus, while trying to take the Persian throne, was killed and his Greek troops, led by Xenophon, were left stranded in enemy territory and had to fight their way back home. That’s why the movie works—it’s pretty faithful to the spirit of the original.
Smart Move by the Military
Send in the talk show hosts.
WLW-AM's Mike McConnell will broadcast from Iraq next week, during the Pentagon's first war-zone tour for talk-radio hosts.
Seven radio personalities - plus a reporter and a classic-rock DJ - will be escorted through the country.
Although the military has led "regional media" trips to war zones since Vietnam, this is the first for talk-radio hosts, says Navy Capt. Roxie Merritt, Defense Department press operations director.
"I'm interested in checking it all out myself, and seeing the devastation up close," says McConnell, who has supported the war and reconstruction.
McConnell, the 9 a.m.-noon weekday host, will broadcast live - when possible - by satellite phone, a briefcase-size device.
One media professor called the trip a propaganda junket.
"Given that the vast majority of talk-show hosts are conservative in tone and belief ... this seems to be a propaganda move, looking for positive comments on 'our boys' over there," says Chris Sterling, a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.
Asked if he thought the military is manipulating him, McConnell says: "You keep your eyes open. I have a brain."
WLW-AM's Mike McConnell will broadcast from Iraq next week, during the Pentagon's first war-zone tour for talk-radio hosts.
Seven radio personalities - plus a reporter and a classic-rock DJ - will be escorted through the country.
Although the military has led "regional media" trips to war zones since Vietnam, this is the first for talk-radio hosts, says Navy Capt. Roxie Merritt, Defense Department press operations director.
"I'm interested in checking it all out myself, and seeing the devastation up close," says McConnell, who has supported the war and reconstruction.
McConnell, the 9 a.m.-noon weekday host, will broadcast live - when possible - by satellite phone, a briefcase-size device.
One media professor called the trip a propaganda junket.
"Given that the vast majority of talk-show hosts are conservative in tone and belief ... this seems to be a propaganda move, looking for positive comments on 'our boys' over there," says Chris Sterling, a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.
Asked if he thought the military is manipulating him, McConnell says: "You keep your eyes open. I have a brain."
A Football Team Hugs Could Be Proud Of
Phillip Fulmer is one of the best recruiters in college football. He works hard at it, but he also has the touch it takes in a player's living room to tip the scales in favor of Tennessee.
He has the piercing baby blues, the warm smile and the friendly demeanor that mamas love. And as with all college coaches, part of his sales pitch is a pious pledge to make Johnny Testosterone not just a better man-eating linebacker, but a better person.
"I believe that you must be closely involved with your players, much like a parent," Fulmer says in the 2004 Volunteers media guide. "You must guide and direct them, socially, academically and spiritually, as well as athletically."
Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer says he's embarrassed by the Vols' behavior, but what's he going to do about it?
If you go by the police blotter, Fulmer's surrogate parenting has been abysmal over the last 13 months. Guidance and direction? The coach should be able to guide his players through the booking process by now, and direct them to the program-friendly attorneys in Knoxville. Beyond that, Fulmer's off-field authority is in question at present.
Eleven Volunteers football players have been arrested or issued citations since the end of February 2004. Four have been arrested on assault charges this week, including the best athlete on the Tennessee team, freshman quarterback Brent Schaeffer. And three players are currently facing felony charges for aggravated assault, stemming from two separate altercations in 2005.
Two players have been charged in a March 5 assault at a campus party that left a student with a broken jaw that reportedly remains wired shut to this day. Defensive end Robert Ayres told police he hit the victim twice. Linebacker Jerod Mayo says he is innocent and is a victim of mistaken identity; a former Tennessee football player signed an affidavit saying he saw Mayo hit the victim in the jaw.
Another player, 6-foot-7, 295-pound defensive tackle Tony McDaniel, had his aggravated assault case sent to the grand jury this week. McDaniel faces charges that he broke a student's face in four places in an altercation during a January pickup basketball game.
If you thought other SEC schools delighted in referring to Tennessee as UThug before, what are they saying now?
He has the piercing baby blues, the warm smile and the friendly demeanor that mamas love. And as with all college coaches, part of his sales pitch is a pious pledge to make Johnny Testosterone not just a better man-eating linebacker, but a better person.
"I believe that you must be closely involved with your players, much like a parent," Fulmer says in the 2004 Volunteers media guide. "You must guide and direct them, socially, academically and spiritually, as well as athletically."
Tennessee's Phillip Fulmer says he's embarrassed by the Vols' behavior, but what's he going to do about it?
If you go by the police blotter, Fulmer's surrogate parenting has been abysmal over the last 13 months. Guidance and direction? The coach should be able to guide his players through the booking process by now, and direct them to the program-friendly attorneys in Knoxville. Beyond that, Fulmer's off-field authority is in question at present.
Eleven Volunteers football players have been arrested or issued citations since the end of February 2004. Four have been arrested on assault charges this week, including the best athlete on the Tennessee team, freshman quarterback Brent Schaeffer. And three players are currently facing felony charges for aggravated assault, stemming from two separate altercations in 2005.
Two players have been charged in a March 5 assault at a campus party that left a student with a broken jaw that reportedly remains wired shut to this day. Defensive end Robert Ayres told police he hit the victim twice. Linebacker Jerod Mayo says he is innocent and is a victim of mistaken identity; a former Tennessee football player signed an affidavit saying he saw Mayo hit the victim in the jaw.
Another player, 6-foot-7, 295-pound defensive tackle Tony McDaniel, had his aggravated assault case sent to the grand jury this week. McDaniel faces charges that he broke a student's face in four places in an altercation during a January pickup basketball game.
If you thought other SEC schools delighted in referring to Tennessee as UThug before, what are they saying now?
If You Play With Fire...
...you're going to get burned. Terrell Owens is fire, and the Eagles are going to get burned.
Terrell Owens already wants a new contract from the Philadelphia Eagles before he starts his second season with the team.
Owens, who helped lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl in his first season in Philadelphia, is looking to renegotiate the seven-year deal worth almost $49 million he signed last March.
"This is not about me being greedy or selfish," Owens told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Thursday's editions. "I was called selfish for trying to come back and play in the Super Bowl. I just want people to think about what they're hearing from all these reports about me being greedy. Just take a moment and look at my stature in the game."
Terrell Owens already wants a new contract from the Philadelphia Eagles before he starts his second season with the team.
Owens, who helped lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl in his first season in Philadelphia, is looking to renegotiate the seven-year deal worth almost $49 million he signed last March.
"This is not about me being greedy or selfish," Owens told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Thursday's editions. "I was called selfish for trying to come back and play in the Super Bowl. I just want people to think about what they're hearing from all these reports about me being greedy. Just take a moment and look at my stature in the game."
The End of the Big 3
I think we're witnessing the end of an era.
DETROIT, April 14 - In just the last few weeks, the grand plans that were supposed to carry General Motors and Ford Motor into their second centuries have crumbled.
Sales at G.M. have fallen, profits have tumbled to losses. Last week, Ford also warned of a drop in earnings. Thursday, in yet another blow, its union refused to give much ground on G.M.'s health care coverage. If that were not enough, G.M.'s stock hit a 12-year low. (Related Article)
The Big Two automobile giants offer plenty of explanations, from soaring health care costs to rising gas prices and creeping interest rates. But consumers and industry specialists say G.M. and Ford have swerved off course for a more basic reason: not enough people like their cars.
DETROIT, April 14 - In just the last few weeks, the grand plans that were supposed to carry General Motors and Ford Motor into their second centuries have crumbled.
Sales at G.M. have fallen, profits have tumbled to losses. Last week, Ford also warned of a drop in earnings. Thursday, in yet another blow, its union refused to give much ground on G.M.'s health care coverage. If that were not enough, G.M.'s stock hit a 12-year low. (Related Article)
The Big Two automobile giants offer plenty of explanations, from soaring health care costs to rising gas prices and creeping interest rates. But consumers and industry specialists say G.M. and Ford have swerved off course for a more basic reason: not enough people like their cars.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Devil of the Year
I'd like to sit down and have a beer with this guy...except that I'm not going to Hell to do it.
COP killer Kamel Bourgass was yesterday unmasked as Osama Bin Laden’s master poisoner — with a mission to murder as many Britons as possible.
Fanatical Bourgass, who stabbed detective constable Stephen Oake to death as police closed in on an al-Qaeda cell, spearheaded a terrifying plot to terrorise London.
The gang planned to smear lethal RICIN poison on door handles of cars and shops in the bustling Holloway Road, North London.
They even intended to open TOOTHBRUSH packs in shops, daub them with ricin and re-seal them.
And the alarming campaign also involved a CYANIDE attack on the Tube, targeting passengers with a pump-style garden spray gun.
COP killer Kamel Bourgass was yesterday unmasked as Osama Bin Laden’s master poisoner — with a mission to murder as many Britons as possible.
Fanatical Bourgass, who stabbed detective constable Stephen Oake to death as police closed in on an al-Qaeda cell, spearheaded a terrifying plot to terrorise London.
The gang planned to smear lethal RICIN poison on door handles of cars and shops in the bustling Holloway Road, North London.
They even intended to open TOOTHBRUSH packs in shops, daub them with ricin and re-seal them.
And the alarming campaign also involved a CYANIDE attack on the Tube, targeting passengers with a pump-style garden spray gun.
More Highlands Nonsense
Michael Bouldin, the attorney who represented Mitchell, said the school was put in an unwinable situation because to sit Mitchell for the entire season, as the association ordered, would have been in conflict with the court ruling that he was eligible to play.
"I think a good way to prevent all of this is for the KHSAA to adopt bylaws saying the organization will take no action against people who are following court orders," Bouldin said. "You basically have the KHSAA flexing their muscle against the courts, but it puts the coaches and athletic director in an impossible situation."
Highlands, as I understand it, was not required to play Mitchell by the injunction. The injunction simply made Mitchell eligible to play...but Highlands was not forced by the court to play Mitchell. That was their decision.
Also, if a court injunction now gives high schools free reign to play illegal players, imagine the shenanigans that will result. It was a Ft. Thomas judge that issued this bogus injunction in the first place. What do you think will happen down in Pikeville and Bell County?
Finally, all of this irrelevant. Mitchell should have never been allowed to suit up for Highlands in the first place. The school should have nipped this in the bud when he first asked to play.
No, I think it's just time for Mr. Bouldin, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Meuller and the parents of Ft. Thomas to grow up.
"I think a good way to prevent all of this is for the KHSAA to adopt bylaws saying the organization will take no action against people who are following court orders," Bouldin said. "You basically have the KHSAA flexing their muscle against the courts, but it puts the coaches and athletic director in an impossible situation."
Highlands, as I understand it, was not required to play Mitchell by the injunction. The injunction simply made Mitchell eligible to play...but Highlands was not forced by the court to play Mitchell. That was their decision.
Also, if a court injunction now gives high schools free reign to play illegal players, imagine the shenanigans that will result. It was a Ft. Thomas judge that issued this bogus injunction in the first place. What do you think will happen down in Pikeville and Bell County?
Finally, all of this irrelevant. Mitchell should have never been allowed to suit up for Highlands in the first place. The school should have nipped this in the bud when he first asked to play.
No, I think it's just time for Mr. Bouldin, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Meuller and the parents of Ft. Thomas to grow up.
Shame!
Is there no one in Ft. Thomas with integrity? Maybe not.
Highlands High School will appeal the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's sanctions against its state championship football team for using an ineligible player, the school's attorney confirmed Wednesday.
Those sanctions, released Tuesday by the KHSAA, consist of the forfeiture of 12 games, a $1,500 fine and a two-scrimmage, two-game suspension next season for coach Dale Mueller. According to the sanctions, Highlands also will be on three year's probation.
Highlands High School will appeal the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's sanctions against its state championship football team for using an ineligible player, the school's attorney confirmed Wednesday.
Those sanctions, released Tuesday by the KHSAA, consist of the forfeiture of 12 games, a $1,500 fine and a two-scrimmage, two-game suspension next season for coach Dale Mueller. According to the sanctions, Highlands also will be on three year's probation.
The Airline Industry
It seems some airlines are finding ways to make a profit:
DALLAS (AP) — Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Inc. on Thursday said first-quarter earnings nearly tripled, thanks to successful fuel hedging and higher traffic in March.
Quarterly income rose to $76 million, or 9 cents a share, from $26 million, or 3 cents a share, last year. Revenue climbed 12 percent to $1.66 billion from $1.48 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected Southwest to earn 5 cents a share on sales of $1.65 billion for the period.
DALLAS (AP) — Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines Inc. on Thursday said first-quarter earnings nearly tripled, thanks to successful fuel hedging and higher traffic in March.
Quarterly income rose to $76 million, or 9 cents a share, from $26 million, or 3 cents a share, last year. Revenue climbed 12 percent to $1.66 billion from $1.48 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected Southwest to earn 5 cents a share on sales of $1.65 billion for the period.
Stop Drinking So Much Water
I've always thought the fluid intake recommendations from the experts were waaaay too high. It turns out drinking too much water can have very dangerous affects.
After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk.
An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by drinking too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill and even dying, the doctors say.
New research on runners in the Boston Marathon, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms the problem and shows how serious it is.
The research involved 488 runners in the 2002 marathon. The runners gave blood samples before and after the race. While most were fine, 13 percent of them - or 62 - drank so much that they had hyponatremia, or abnormally low blood sodium levels. Three had levels so low that they were in danger of dying.
After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk.
An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by drinking too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill and even dying, the doctors say.
New research on runners in the Boston Marathon, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms the problem and shows how serious it is.
The research involved 488 runners in the 2002 marathon. The runners gave blood samples before and after the race. While most were fine, 13 percent of them - or 62 - drank so much that they had hyponatremia, or abnormally low blood sodium levels. Three had levels so low that they were in danger of dying.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Are the Kids Fat?
If Japanese kids are watching the most TV, shouldn't they be the fattest? From everything I read from the "experts", excessive TV watching leads to obesity. You know, they watch cartoons which are wedged between cookie commercials which lead helpless kids to binge eat. I don't want to stereotype, but Japanese kids typically aren't overweight.
Cannes, France (Hollywood Reporter) - The average level of television consumption increased on nearly every continent last year, but a new study has found that Japanese viewers watch more TV than anybody.
The newly released report from Eurodata TV Worldwide, the focus of a panel discussion at the MIPTV convention in Cannes, also found Americans' daily dose of TV climbed by three minutes last year to an average of four hours and 28 minutes -- nearly 90 minutes above the world average.
The Japanese watched the most television last year, clocking in a daily average of five hours. Americans were second, followed by Argentinians and the Greeks, who consumed four hours and 25 minutes and four hours and four minutes, respectively.
Cannes, France (Hollywood Reporter) - The average level of television consumption increased on nearly every continent last year, but a new study has found that Japanese viewers watch more TV than anybody.
The newly released report from Eurodata TV Worldwide, the focus of a panel discussion at the MIPTV convention in Cannes, also found Americans' daily dose of TV climbed by three minutes last year to an average of four hours and 28 minutes -- nearly 90 minutes above the world average.
The Japanese watched the most television last year, clocking in a daily average of five hours. Americans were second, followed by Argentinians and the Greeks, who consumed four hours and 25 minutes and four hours and four minutes, respectively.
How Do You Spell Fraud?
Ok, they fined Mueller? Good. They made them forfeit their regular season games? Good. But to let them keep the state title - because the ineligible player didn't play who had played during the season to get them to the state title - is a travesty.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has ordered Highlands High School to forfeit most of its 2004 regular-season football games and fined the team's coach, but will allow the team to retain its state championship in a series of sanctions imposed over star player Michael Mitchell's transfer to the school.
The sanctions were outlined in a letter from KHSAA Commissioner Brigid DeVries to Highlands High School principal Elgin Emmons, said Michael Bouldin, Mitchell's attorney. Bouldin said today he had discussed the letter with school board attorney Don Ruberg.
According to Bouldin, the association put Highlands on probation, fined Highlands football coach Dale Mueller $1,500 and ruled that the coach will not be allowed to coach the first two scrimmages and first two games of the season next year.
"I don't know what actions Highlands has taken," Bouldin said.
Bob Schneider, a football coach at Newport Central Catholic High School and a member of the KHSSA board of control, said the sanctions were decided at a meeting Monday. The school has until April 15 to appeal that decision, he said.
The KHSAA letter, Bouldin said, says Highlands can keep its state championship title because Mitchell did not play in the championship game. Because Mitchell also did not play in the first game of the season, Highlands' season record will go from 14-1 to 2-13.
Emmons would not discuss the contents of the letter, but said he has been in contact with DeVries over the past week.
"Right now, unless the KHSAA makes some public announcement, I have no comment," Emmons said.
"It is my understanding the Michael Mitchell situation is an unresolved situation. I understand the case is still being resolved in the courts. We have been very respectful of the authority of the KHSAA and the courts throughout this. We've been subject to whatever authority we've found ourselves subject to."
School district officials also declined to confirm the letter.
"It's my understanding the KHSAA has levied some sanctions regarding the Michael Mitchell issue," said Brad Fennell, a Fort Thomas school board member. "our position is certainly that we've handled everything above board." He would not specify what those sanctions were.
The letter is the latest in an ongoing battle over the eligibility of Mitchell, who transferred from Covington Catholic High School to Highlands in January 2004 after the Mitchell family moved from Florence to Fort Thomas.
The KHSAA's regulations usually require transfer students to sit out a year, but the association has made exceptions. It would not, however, waive the rule for Mitchell.
Mitchell and his family and the school took the issue to court, insisting the transfer was part of a bona fide move from one residence to another. He played the football season under a temporary injunction signed by then-Circuit Court Judge William Wehr.
The KHSAA appealed that judgment and eventually won in the Court of Appeals, which upheld the association's refusal to give Mitchell a waiver.
That decision is what kept Mitchell out of the championship game, which Highlands won 22-6 over Boyle County.
Mitchell's parents have appealed the ruling in the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Because Mitchell had played the fall season in 2004, the KHSAA ruled that he would have to sit out the spring sports season.
Another court battle overturned that decision in March when Campbell Circuit Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward signed a permanent injunction declaring Mitchell eligible to play baseball and run track this spring. Bouldin said the KHSAA has filed a notice that it intends to appeal the permanent injunction ruling.
The KHSAA bylaws say it may punish a school for using an ineligible player. But school board attorney Ruberg said in documents filed in November that allowing the association to punish a school after the fact allows it to effectively ignore court orders.
He said Mitchell was playing legally because a court had allowed that play through the injunctions.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association has ordered Highlands High School to forfeit most of its 2004 regular-season football games and fined the team's coach, but will allow the team to retain its state championship in a series of sanctions imposed over star player Michael Mitchell's transfer to the school.
The sanctions were outlined in a letter from KHSAA Commissioner Brigid DeVries to Highlands High School principal Elgin Emmons, said Michael Bouldin, Mitchell's attorney. Bouldin said today he had discussed the letter with school board attorney Don Ruberg.
According to Bouldin, the association put Highlands on probation, fined Highlands football coach Dale Mueller $1,500 and ruled that the coach will not be allowed to coach the first two scrimmages and first two games of the season next year.
"I don't know what actions Highlands has taken," Bouldin said.
Bob Schneider, a football coach at Newport Central Catholic High School and a member of the KHSSA board of control, said the sanctions were decided at a meeting Monday. The school has until April 15 to appeal that decision, he said.
The KHSAA letter, Bouldin said, says Highlands can keep its state championship title because Mitchell did not play in the championship game. Because Mitchell also did not play in the first game of the season, Highlands' season record will go from 14-1 to 2-13.
Emmons would not discuss the contents of the letter, but said he has been in contact with DeVries over the past week.
"Right now, unless the KHSAA makes some public announcement, I have no comment," Emmons said.
"It is my understanding the Michael Mitchell situation is an unresolved situation. I understand the case is still being resolved in the courts. We have been very respectful of the authority of the KHSAA and the courts throughout this. We've been subject to whatever authority we've found ourselves subject to."
School district officials also declined to confirm the letter.
"It's my understanding the KHSAA has levied some sanctions regarding the Michael Mitchell issue," said Brad Fennell, a Fort Thomas school board member. "our position is certainly that we've handled everything above board." He would not specify what those sanctions were.
The letter is the latest in an ongoing battle over the eligibility of Mitchell, who transferred from Covington Catholic High School to Highlands in January 2004 after the Mitchell family moved from Florence to Fort Thomas.
The KHSAA's regulations usually require transfer students to sit out a year, but the association has made exceptions. It would not, however, waive the rule for Mitchell.
Mitchell and his family and the school took the issue to court, insisting the transfer was part of a bona fide move from one residence to another. He played the football season under a temporary injunction signed by then-Circuit Court Judge William Wehr.
The KHSAA appealed that judgment and eventually won in the Court of Appeals, which upheld the association's refusal to give Mitchell a waiver.
That decision is what kept Mitchell out of the championship game, which Highlands won 22-6 over Boyle County.
Mitchell's parents have appealed the ruling in the Kentucky Supreme Court.
Because Mitchell had played the fall season in 2004, the KHSAA ruled that he would have to sit out the spring sports season.
Another court battle overturned that decision in March when Campbell Circuit Judge Julie Reinhardt Ward signed a permanent injunction declaring Mitchell eligible to play baseball and run track this spring. Bouldin said the KHSAA has filed a notice that it intends to appeal the permanent injunction ruling.
The KHSAA bylaws say it may punish a school for using an ineligible player. But school board attorney Ruberg said in documents filed in November that allowing the association to punish a school after the fact allows it to effectively ignore court orders.
He said Mitchell was playing legally because a court had allowed that play through the injunctions.
Teens and Faith
Some very promising findings...until the end.
No book in recent memory has as much potential to transform the practice of youth ministry as Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton's account of the findings of their National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Smith, a committed Christian who may be his generation's most significant sociologist of religion, carefully designed not only an in-depth phone survey of 3,290 teenagers and their parents, but also crafted 267 in-person interviews. The results overturn nearly every piece of conventional wisdom about teens and faith.
There is no generation gap. The NSYR finds that youth overwhelmingly admire and practice the religion of their parents, just as other studies have shown that teens these days overwhelmingly admire and like their parents. The baby-boomer ethos of adolescent rebellion has disappeared—if, indeed, it ever was so widespread as the media would have us believe.
Teens like church. There simply isn't much hostility to organized religion among 13- to 17-year-olds, Smith and Denton find: "U.S. teens as a whole report that they would like to attend religious services even more than they currently do."
Teens are not "spiritual seekers." Vanishingly few have heard the phrase "spiritual but not religious," the mantra of baby-boomer, mix-and-match spirituality. Less than 1 percent are exploring alternative religions like Wicca. Seventy-five percent of teens identify with some form of Christianity.
So far, so good, for those who would offer Christian faith to the next generation. If only all the news were so encouraging. In fact, these quantitative indicators are overshadowed by what Smith and Denton found out when they sat down to talk with teens one-on-one. It should rock the world of every church in the country: In spite of their generally positive attitude toward religion, almost no teenagers, from any religious background, can articulate the most basic beliefs of their faith. This interview excerpt, with a 15-year-old who "attends two church services every Sunday, Sunday school, church youth group, and Wednesday-night Bible study," illustrates how vaguely most teenagers answered a question about their personal beliefs:
"[Pause] I don't really know how to answer that. ['Are there any beliefs at all that are important to you? Really generally.'] [Pause] I don't know. ['Take your time if you want.'] I think that you should just, if you're gonna do something wrong then you should always ask for forgiveness and he's gonna forgive you no matter what, cause he gave up his only Son to take all the sins for you, so…"
No book in recent memory has as much potential to transform the practice of youth ministry as Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton's account of the findings of their National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). Smith, a committed Christian who may be his generation's most significant sociologist of religion, carefully designed not only an in-depth phone survey of 3,290 teenagers and their parents, but also crafted 267 in-person interviews. The results overturn nearly every piece of conventional wisdom about teens and faith.
There is no generation gap. The NSYR finds that youth overwhelmingly admire and practice the religion of their parents, just as other studies have shown that teens these days overwhelmingly admire and like their parents. The baby-boomer ethos of adolescent rebellion has disappeared—if, indeed, it ever was so widespread as the media would have us believe.
Teens like church. There simply isn't much hostility to organized religion among 13- to 17-year-olds, Smith and Denton find: "U.S. teens as a whole report that they would like to attend religious services even more than they currently do."
Teens are not "spiritual seekers." Vanishingly few have heard the phrase "spiritual but not religious," the mantra of baby-boomer, mix-and-match spirituality. Less than 1 percent are exploring alternative religions like Wicca. Seventy-five percent of teens identify with some form of Christianity.
So far, so good, for those who would offer Christian faith to the next generation. If only all the news were so encouraging. In fact, these quantitative indicators are overshadowed by what Smith and Denton found out when they sat down to talk with teens one-on-one. It should rock the world of every church in the country: In spite of their generally positive attitude toward religion, almost no teenagers, from any religious background, can articulate the most basic beliefs of their faith. This interview excerpt, with a 15-year-old who "attends two church services every Sunday, Sunday school, church youth group, and Wednesday-night Bible study," illustrates how vaguely most teenagers answered a question about their personal beliefs:
"[Pause] I don't really know how to answer that. ['Are there any beliefs at all that are important to you? Really generally.'] [Pause] I don't know. ['Take your time if you want.'] I think that you should just, if you're gonna do something wrong then you should always ask for forgiveness and he's gonna forgive you no matter what, cause he gave up his only Son to take all the sins for you, so…"
Monday, April 11, 2005
The Most Untrusted Source In Journalism
Sy Hersh...full of crap...I don't believe it.
Since the Abu Ghraib story broke eleven months ago, The New Yorker’s national-security correspondent, Seymour Hersh, has followed it up with a series of spectacular scoops. Videotape of young boys being raped at Abu Ghraib. Evidence that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be a “composite figure” and a propaganda creation of either Iraq’s Baathist insurgency or the U.S. government. The active involvement of Karl Rove and the president in “prisoner-interrogation issues.” The mysterious disappearance of $1 billion, in cash, in Iraq. A threat by the administration to a TV network to cut off access to briefings in retaliation for asking Laura Bush “a very tough question about abortion.” The Iraqi insurgency’s access to short-range FROG missiles that “can do grievous damage to American troops.” The murder, by an American platoon, of 36 Iraqi guards.
Not one of these exclusives appeared in the pages of The New Yorker, however. Instead, Hersh delivered them in speeches on college campuses and in front of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and on public-radio shows like “Democracy Now!” In most cases, Hersh attaches a caveat—such as “I’m just talking now, I’m not writing”—before unloading one of his blockbusters, which can send bloggers and reporters scurrying for confirmation.
Every writer understands that there is a gap between the print persona and the actual self, but Hersh subscribes to a bright-line test, a wider chasm than is usually acknowledged, particularly in today’s multimedia age.
There are two Hershes, really. Seymour M. is the byline. He navigates readers through the byzantine world of America’s overlapping national-security bureaucracies, and his stories form what Hersh has taken to calling an “alternative history” of the Bush administration since September 11, 2001.
Then there’s Sy. He’s the public speaker, the pundit. On the podium, Sy is willing to tell a story that’s not quite right, in order to convey a Larger Truth. “Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people,” Hersh told me. “I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.”
Since the Abu Ghraib story broke eleven months ago, The New Yorker’s national-security correspondent, Seymour Hersh, has followed it up with a series of spectacular scoops. Videotape of young boys being raped at Abu Ghraib. Evidence that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be a “composite figure” and a propaganda creation of either Iraq’s Baathist insurgency or the U.S. government. The active involvement of Karl Rove and the president in “prisoner-interrogation issues.” The mysterious disappearance of $1 billion, in cash, in Iraq. A threat by the administration to a TV network to cut off access to briefings in retaliation for asking Laura Bush “a very tough question about abortion.” The Iraqi insurgency’s access to short-range FROG missiles that “can do grievous damage to American troops.” The murder, by an American platoon, of 36 Iraqi guards.
Not one of these exclusives appeared in the pages of The New Yorker, however. Instead, Hersh delivered them in speeches on college campuses and in front of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and on public-radio shows like “Democracy Now!” In most cases, Hersh attaches a caveat—such as “I’m just talking now, I’m not writing”—before unloading one of his blockbusters, which can send bloggers and reporters scurrying for confirmation.
Every writer understands that there is a gap between the print persona and the actual self, but Hersh subscribes to a bright-line test, a wider chasm than is usually acknowledged, particularly in today’s multimedia age.
There are two Hershes, really. Seymour M. is the byline. He navigates readers through the byzantine world of America’s overlapping national-security bureaucracies, and his stories form what Hersh has taken to calling an “alternative history” of the Bush administration since September 11, 2001.
Then there’s Sy. He’s the public speaker, the pundit. On the podium, Sy is willing to tell a story that’s not quite right, in order to convey a Larger Truth. “Sometimes I change events, dates, and places in a certain way to protect people,” Hersh told me. “I can’t fudge what I write. But I can certainly fudge what I say.”
Head & Shoulders
I think we need a really, really big bottle.
Millions of tons of dandruff are circling the Earth, blocking out sunlight, causing rain and spreading disease, startling new research shows.
Flaky as it may seem, the research - partly funded by the German government - may provide the solution to one of the world's most enduring pollution mysteries: the origin of much of the vast clouds of fine dust in the atmosphere. It suggests that more than half of the dust is a rich soup of organic detritus, including particles of decaying leaves, animal hair, dead skin and dandruff.
Millions of tons of dandruff are circling the Earth, blocking out sunlight, causing rain and spreading disease, startling new research shows.
Flaky as it may seem, the research - partly funded by the German government - may provide the solution to one of the world's most enduring pollution mysteries: the origin of much of the vast clouds of fine dust in the atmosphere. It suggests that more than half of the dust is a rich soup of organic detritus, including particles of decaying leaves, animal hair, dead skin and dandruff.
Bo Is In The Clear
ONTARIO, Calif. -- A Southern California newspaper on Sunday apologized to Bo Jackson and retracted part of a story saying the former football and baseball star used steroids.
"Jackson has stated publicly he has never used steroids," the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin said on its Web site. "We retract the quote and the further statement that the speaker personally witnessed this damage to his life. We apologize to Mr. Jackson, without reservation."
In a story published March 24 under sports editor Jim Mohr's byline, dietary expert Ellen Coleman was quoted as saying she knew personally that "Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse."
Jackson responded last week by suing the newspaper, MediaNews Group Inc., MediaNews Group Interactive, Inc., Mohr and three other employees for unspecified general and punitive damages in Illinois.
"I've got nothing to hide," Jackson said. "If anyone wants to check into my medical past, go get blood tests, go check up on those blood tests and see if there was any anabolic steroids in it. You're more than welcome."
Jackson's defamation suit would continue, his attorney Dan Biederman said Sunday, adding that he had no comment on the newspaper's retraction.
"Jackson has stated publicly he has never used steroids," the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin said on its Web site. "We retract the quote and the further statement that the speaker personally witnessed this damage to his life. We apologize to Mr. Jackson, without reservation."
In a story published March 24 under sports editor Jim Mohr's byline, dietary expert Ellen Coleman was quoted as saying she knew personally that "Bo Jackson lost his hip because of anabolic abuse."
Jackson responded last week by suing the newspaper, MediaNews Group Inc., MediaNews Group Interactive, Inc., Mohr and three other employees for unspecified general and punitive damages in Illinois.
"I've got nothing to hide," Jackson said. "If anyone wants to check into my medical past, go get blood tests, go check up on those blood tests and see if there was any anabolic steroids in it. You're more than welcome."
Jackson's defamation suit would continue, his attorney Dan Biederman said Sunday, adding that he had no comment on the newspaper's retraction.
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