1
I certainly hope it is going well.
Hang tough.
; )
Posted by: Christina at April 20, 2007 06:53 AM (d3xGU)
2
You're in my thoughts, as always. You have my number...feel free to call if you need a gentle shoulder. Or, if you're just busy, I wish you rest and relaxation.
Say hi to DH for me. And the sweet pup, too...
((hugs))
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all
ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it
would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with
the arrangement, until on day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you
are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of
your daily beer by $20."Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so
the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men --- the paying customers? How could
they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair
share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the
sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.So, the bar
owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by
roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each
should pay. And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men
began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the
$20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got
$10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night
the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had
beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between
all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
1
It's one of my favorite parables that comes around every tax season. Too bad too few take notice of it.
Posted by: Teresa at April 17, 2007 08:33 PM (gsbs5)
2
Oh, I've never heard this one before, but I love it! It does always crack me up when people complain that the tax breaks go to the wealthy. Uh yeah, the tax breaks would actually go to the people who pay the taxes. What a surprise . . .and you know, it wouldn't be so bad if the money wasn't going to support things like train museums and farm subsidies. Don't get me started.
Posted by: Anita at April 18, 2007 03:55 AM (jjxde)
3
I loved that post at Denny's! I had seen something similar before... but it is perfect right now.
Posted by: vw bug at April 18, 2007 05:17 AM (IwPzd)
4
Very cool. I'll add a link in my annual anti-Tax Day post.
Posted by: physics geek at April 18, 2007 11:13 AM (KqeHJ)
Posted by: Richmond at April 18, 2007 12:54 PM (e8QFP)
6
An old "joke" but a great one-- and the Ayn Randesque ending, where the rich go away is the topper!
In the real world, of course, the "rich" guy puts his money into tax-free or off-shore accounts and settle in at around #5's share-- to a great deal of teeth-gnashing!
Posted by: Tony Iovino at April 22, 2007 09:50 AM (85Zmb)
Their counteroffer was $10,000 over asking plus lots of cash up front, in other words, F**K OFF, we don't want to sell to you. Or anyone else, evidently.
1
That really sucks.
Seem to be a lot of folks lately who don't have a realistic idea what their property is actually worth. It's not the same market it was a couple of years ago almost anywhere...
Idjits.
2
The market is what people think it is.... Just wait 3 months, and if it's still on the market, make an offer for 10 grand less than what you offered the first time.
If they wanted full highest price, they should of sold last year, not be trying to sell now.
Posted by: Bill at April 14, 2007 04:17 PM (oWOkB)
3
About 10 years ago, my boss had some next door neighbors who had their house on the market for 5 years!!! I could never figure out why they wanted it on the market or why the realtor didn't just drop them as a client.
The neighborhood is very pricey - they wanted an offer with NO contingencies! I couldn't believe it. I know that's why it never sold. The chances of someone having the cash in hand, walking up and buying the place were about nil.
Some people shouldn't have their house on the market. Period!
Posted by: Teresa at April 14, 2007 05:06 PM (gsbs5)
4
I suspect in time... they'll wish they'd taken your offer. But by then you'll have found something you like and have made your own and you will quietly laugh to yourself that you got the last laugh. Well... at least I would.
5
10K over the asking price?!?! WTF? I take it the house hasn't been on the market for long... Perhaps this one wasn't meant to be. In that case, there's an even better one out there for you!
Posted by: Marie at April 16, 2007 07:32 AM (ocfI9)
6
A pox on them I say! A pox!!
It just wasn't your house - something better will come along.
Posted by: Richmond at April 16, 2007 11:52 AM (e8QFP)
7
You need revenge...just go pour a cupful of pool chemicals on their lawn. It will create a brown spot...which they will water, thus spreading the 'brown' spot even further. When it's really spread out, and they're wanting to move for fighting it, THEN you go in and make the offer. For what you want. And tell them to resod or knock a few thousand more off for you to 'fix' it yourself.
Posted by: Mrs. Who at April 17, 2007 07:22 PM (9FXen)
Would that more journalists saw things this way
ESPN.com's Jemele Hill apologizes to the Duke Lacrosse players wrongfully accused of rape (it's a long passage, but well worth the time and bandwidth):
My being a black woman, my knowing too many athletes who treat women like items to be purchased in a vending machine, and my witnessing enough athlete rape trials where accusers are overwhelmed by their fame and fortune -- it all tainted my perception and made me doubt your innocence.
I feel stupid now.
I could blame Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, but that would be too easy. Oh, he's a lout, no doubt. He played upon the emotions of a community and its long-held hostilities, and put his reelection bid above morality and common sense. He played all of us and should be punished with nothing less than disbarment.
I could blame Jesse Jackson, who I have hoped for years would disappear to a faraway land where CNN wouldn't follow. As usual, Jesse showed up and showed out. He incited the masses and then left everyone else to sort out the wreckage. And if Jesse wants to gain an ounce of the credibility he no longer has, he would find the nearest camera -- and we know he's good at that -- and express sorrow with all the sincerity he can muster. But the day Jesse apologizes for causing a scene is the day Rosie O'Donnell wears a muzzle.
But if there is anything to be learned from Don Imus' fall, it's that real apologies are never accompanied by rationalizations.
So to Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans, the three Duke lacrosse players whose lives were mangled by an unsupported rape accusation, I say two of the hardest words in the English language:
I'm sorry.
It's not enough, and I won't pretend that it is. For the last year, your lives and those of your families have been more difficult than any of us can possibly imagine. I'll never know what it was like walking around normal society labeled a rapist. I'll never know what it's like to lose everything -- your school, your program and your life -- because of one unproven accusation.
You deserve all of that back and then some, but unfortunately, you won't get it. You have every right to not trust anyone and think less of people. Duke University abandoned you. An overzealous prosecutor tormented you. A community, a nation, didn't believe you. Journalists everywhere, sensing ratings and salivating over the salaciousness of black strippers and white athletes, chose to keep you under attack.
Not that this is a contest to see who was wronged the most, but the Rutgers women's basketball team at least received justice, because Imus was suspended and dropped by MSNBC, which simulcasts his morning show. Plenty of people are outraged on their behalf.
But who is outraged on your behalf? What justice will you receive? Will the same networks that willingly aided in destroying your reputations now give you airtime to vent your frustrations? Will Jesse Jackson now offer the three of you a free scholarship like he did the "victim," since he helped assist in your battered reputation?
Maybe the only modicum of fairness you have received is that the News & Observer in Raleigh decided to print the name of your accuser. I don't normally advocate that the names of alleged victims be printed, but it feels right in this instance.
I know I'd certainly like to ask your accuser a few questions, even though she stood by her story as North Carolina's attorney general vehemently proclaimed your innocence. Does she understand she has tanked not only her credibility, but that of other women, too? Does she understand the next time a woman comes forward with an allegation this serious, all of our minds will scroll back to this case, and we will be less inclined to believe her? Does she know women with legitimate sexual-assault complaints will look at this furor and decide silence is best?
I can't deny that your race, gender and class have everything to do with how you were treated then and how you are treated now. Some people believe white men are exempt from sympathy and incapable of being maligned, so they will not swallow their pride and offer you the decency you should have received in the first place. Yes, you made an unwise decision to entertain strippers at a residence, but that just makes you guilty of being like 90 percent of college males.
Bravo to Ms. Hill, who put politics and BS aside in the face of what is right, and my best wishes to these three young men, who have learned a very painful lesson about race, class, and sex in this country. I hope that they are able to pick up where they left off, and come to a place where people don't know their names except based on their accomplishments and kindnesses.
1
"Bravo to Ms. Hill, who put politics and BS aside in the face of what is right, and my best wishes to these three young men, who have learned a very painful lesson about race, class, and sex in this country. I hope that they are able to pick up where they left off, and come to a place where people don't know their names except based on their accomplishments and kindnesses."
Well said. And kudos to Ms. Hill, for addressing the issues most wouldn't. I especially respected her for addressing actual victims who might choose silence out of fear. That happens too often already and our media isn't doing it's job (not that they ever have, really). Thank you, CTG, for doing the job that they chose not to, and for giving a voice to the REAL victims in this case.
2
Great post and great link. There is such a stark contrast between the uproar over the Imus/Rutgers incident and the lack of it over what these young men had to endure. That alone makes me stop and ponder what is really wrong with our society.
Here from Theresa's!
Posted by: Karin at April 14, 2007 10:16 AM (wwK1H)
3
I'm glad she seems to finally get it and that she apologized. The fact that she compares the more than year long torture these young men have endured (and the continuing stigma that will follow them the rest of their lives - because there are so many who will always consider them to be guilty) with the fairly innocuous dissing of the Rutgers women's basketball team, is troubling. (talk about moral equivalence!)
Everyone raise their hand who thinks that the idiot Imus has labeled these women for life! (yeah, I don't think so either)
I must say that on reading the entire thing, I kept hearing an "Archie Bunker" accent. Honestly, if a white person had written this, they would be crucified for being an over the top extreme bigot and would most certainly lose their "journalist" job.
So, I'm conflicted. I do believe her apology is sincere though and that's something I can seldom if ever say about other liberals. It's a start.
Posted by: Teresa at April 14, 2007 11:24 AM (gsbs5)
4
Wow - that was a great read. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Gretchen at April 19, 2007 09:40 PM (Tpvct)
A Literary Loss
Kurt Vonnegut died today at the age of 84. You might be surprised to find me a Vonnegut fan, given his politics, but he had a GENIUS way with words.
Breakfast of Champions was the first Vonnegut I read. In high school. In between giggling at his picture of an a$$hole....
I discovered the first REALLY SMART book I ever read. Admittedly it took me a couple of trips through before I really got it.
And I was hooked. Over the years, I've put a lot of Vonnegut between my ears, including many of the lesser known books, especially Hocus Pocus, which gave me one of my favorite phrases ever, "When the Excrement Hit the Air Conditioning".... And yes, he capitalized it just like that.
His sense of the euphemism was unmatched, and he used them like metaphors. In a world of fumbling double entendre and pathetic punnery, his phrases stand out for their lack of self-importance.
My favorite of his works, though, was his last novel, Timequake, a book I love so dearly that I have thumb tabbed a number of quotes.
I have two favorite passages, a short one I will share with you here, and a longer bit below the jump (profanity below the jump, BTW).
Vonnegut's advice to the physicist Leo Seren, who apologized for participating in the atomic bomb production:
"Somebody should have told him that being a physicist on a planet where the smartest animals hate being alive so much means never having to say you're sorry."
Science and Belief, Not Incompatible
As you all know, I am a scientist. Most of my friends are scientists, my colleagues are scientists, and I have had the privilege of meeting many of the world's deepest and most renowned scientific thinkers.
And again and again, I am struck by the depth of faith to be found in the scientific community. While laypeople bitch and moan over Evolution, Creation, and Intelligent Design, many scientists simply don't see the incongruity.
The more you know about the amazing intricacies of the world around us, the easier it is to believe in an omniscient supreme being as designer and creator. It's all just so smart you know?
Anyway, the point of this post is to share with you a bit of this piece from CNN, where Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project at NIH, discusses his faith and how one can be a scientist AND a believer.
So, some have asked, doesn't your brain explode? Can you both pursue an understanding of how life works using the tools of genetics and molecular biology, and worship a creator God? Aren't evolution and faith in God incompatible? Can a scientist believe in miracles like the resurrection?
Actually, I find no conflict here, and neither apparently do the 40 percent of working scientists who claim to be believers. Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.
But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.
I have found there is a wonderful harmony in the complementary truths of science and faith. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship.
That's absolutely how I feel, and I know many others who feel the same way. Science and Faith go hand in hand. Science is the discovery of the majesty of our world, and revealing the wonder of the universe gives glory to its author.
Have a Blessed Easter, Passover, or whatever you choose to celebrate this weekend!
Posted by: Marianne at April 08, 2007 09:01 PM (vEfFN)
5
I want to thank you for your thoughtful comments here. Having attended the most prestigious institutions for my undergrad and medical school, and having read works of the great current scientists, cosmologists, molecular biologists, quantum physicists, I have concluded everything you have stated. The historic person of Jesus Christ could have performed miracles, could be a visible part of the whole trinity (think the sphere which intersected the plane in Abbott's Flatland - was Christ the circle? Was the Father the part of the sphere above the plane? Was the Holy Spirit the part below the plane?) and, most importantly, have risen from the dead and appear to hundreds of eyewitnesses, could have been there in the beginning, etc. if there are more dimensions than our 3 (4), up to 11 as proposed by Witten's M-theory? Good enough for me. The acceptance of these other dimensions releases us from the need to "see", "touch", or experiment upon God. There are extra-dimensional entities to which our scientific method just can't apply (gasp!), and we have appreciated this fact as we reach the limits of our abilities to explore (think proving the Uncertainty Principle, how a deterministic model of the universe in which entropy is becoming maximal can't explain how in our corner the complexity of life is incredible!). Thanks again, and I look forward to reading other comments!!
Posted by: turbostar at April 08, 2007 10:58 PM (yIj6K)
6
Thank you. Thank you. Caltechgirl, I only wish that I could have written that blog post. Very well put.
And Dr. Collins is 100% spot on about Augustine. One need only read the last several books of Augustine's Confessions, his search for God in the categories of memory, time and eternity, form and matter, and creation.
From a somewhat different angle, Thomas Aquinas also concluded that language regarding creation is analogical language— remember Aquinas and the analogia entis, the analogy of being, which is referential, but neither literal nor figurative nor any combination of literal and figurative.
I take a special interest in these matters, since before I became a Presbyterian minister, I was originally aimed to become a mathematician.
BTW, a belated Happy Easter!
Posted by: Paul Burgess at April 09, 2007 05:54 AM (7EVyU)
7
And in math, most of my friends and colleagues were in math, physics, or engineering. Amazing how many of them, I remember, saw the matter in much the same light as you lay out here.
BTW, I managed to comment this time without acquiring a new blog. You may recall, attempting to comment on one of your posts about faith and science was how I originally (and rather accidentally) acquired a blog of my own, way back when... :-)
Posted by: Paul Burgess at April 09, 2007 06:05 AM (7EVyU)
8
Heck, I'm an atheist, and I've long believed the same thing (about the compatibility of science and belief in God, that is).
(It helps having been raised as a non-believer, I think, rather than the god-hating types who were brought up as believers and then had to go to extremes as a form of rejection.
I have no dog in the fight, so I don't have any emotional investment.)
Posted by: Sigivald at April 09, 2007 03:58 PM (4JnZM)
9
Yeah, personally I'm agnostic, but I never understood the argument that it was either one or the either. It always seemed very apples and oranges to me.
Posted by: silvermine at April 09, 2007 07:10 PM (zqzYV)
10
Excellent post-- reminds me of the einstein quote:
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. -Albert Einstein
I've often told my daughters that chemistry is the study of things; biology is the study of life; and physics is the study of God.
Posted by: Tony Iovino at April 10, 2007 05:12 PM (85Zmb)
11
Well, of course Dr. Collins is dead on. He articulates it so much better than I can though. Thanks for posting it, I hadn't seen it.
Posted by: Teresa at April 10, 2007 07:27 PM (gsbs5)
12
I'm still playing catch up on my blog reading...
I LOVE this post and will have my husband, the atheist, read it. For some reason he sees a disparity between science and faith. Not being a person of science, I've never had that particular problem.
Thank you for posting this!!
13
I've always felt like you but couldn't have expressed it the way you did. Thank you!
(Faith and reason are like a pair of shoes...you can get a lot further with both than with just one or the other.)
Posted by: Mrs. Who at April 11, 2007 03:22 PM (9FXen)
14
You have no idea how long I've wanted to write this post myself.
Of course, there are those who believe in a literal interpretation of the bible. They're nearly unreachable, of course. I've tried to question these types on the editorial process.
It seems to me that unless a bible turns up, written in flaming letters, it was written by a human. There's bound to be interpretation in there somewhere.
Posted by: Aaron at April 13, 2007 08:59 PM (SbW5B)
It's Tartan Day 2007!
It's Tartan Day once again, a day to celebrate all things Scottish.
Remember, if it's not Scottish, it's crap!
For more on Tartan Day, see Ith's post, or check out the Tartan blogroll (near the bottom of the left sidebar on this page)
Last year's post recognizing my own Scots ancestry is here.
One of my favorite Scottish things is the music. There are TON of great bands from Scotland, both in traditional and popular music. Check out this list of Scotland's favorites. You might even know some of them.
Here are some Scottish bands that are DEFINITELY NOT crap:
(LOTS of YouTube vids below the Jump!)
more...
1
I'm of Scottish descent. My surname is rooted near Edinburgh, and I have MacDougall and McKinnon as well. You wanna make me cry, play Amazing Grace performed by one of those large piper bands; the one that starts with one piper, followed by the rest, followed by the strings. Wow.
Small wonder the English considered the bagpipes a weapon and outlawed them back in the day.
Posted by: PaleoMedic at April 06, 2007 02:42 PM (xirX/)
2
I love "So I married an Axe Murderer". My wife hates the fact that I like that movie.
Posted by: Contagion at April 06, 2007 04:50 PM (T4WRc)
3
HAHAHAHAHA! I finally got to watch the whole "if it's not Scottish, it's crap" video. I nearly died when I saw the dartboard in the bathroom!
This gives a WHOLE NEW MEANING to the "troll under the bridge"
Let's put it this way, if I was the mama Billy Goat Gruff, I wouldn't go near this bridge myself, let alone the little BGG....
Paroled sex offenders living under Miami highway bridge
MIAMI -- Several paroled sex offenders are living under a noisy highway bridge and fending off rats each night, because they cannot find housing in compliance with strict county ordinances for violators, state officials and one of the men said Thursday.
At least three men are making their home under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, which connects Miami with neighboring Miami Beach, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Corrections Department. One of the men under the bridge said he was among five.
The state decided they could live under the bridge because the men were unable to find housing they could afford and that did not violate Miami-Dade county rules, which say sex offenders must live at least 2,500 feet from places children gather.
They must stay there between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. because a parole officer checks on them nearly every night, Plessinger said.
"This is not an ideal situation for anybody, but at this point we don't have any other options," Plessinger said. "We're still looking, the offenders are still actively searching for residences."
[...]
"This is an injustice," said the man who wouldn't give his name. "I completed my sentence."
The man refused to discuss the crime that landed him under the bridge, but state records show a host of offenses for the men who live there: sexual battery, molestation, abuse, grand theft. Many of the crimes are against children.
"Public safety is our main focus and we feel like public safety is being achieved in these individuals," Plessinger said. "But this is a problem that is going to have to be addressed. If we drive these offenders so far underground or we can't supervise them because they become so transient it's not making us safer."
Most homeless shelters won't take the men, Plessinger said, because they're sex offenders. One that would is within the prohibited range of a school or daycare center. She said one of the men, for example, found dozens of residences he was happy to live in, but parole officers vetoed all of them because they violated county rules.
Plessinger said she believed the state first authorized sex offenders to live under a bridge last June. Before the causeway, some of the men lived under a bridge in downtown Miami. They were forced to leave, Plessinger said, when it was determined they were within range of a daycare center.
The man under the causeway on Thursday said he had been there for about six weeks. He said he fears for his life.
Here's the creepy part:
Ironically, putting the men here hasn't kept them out of reach of children. On Thursday afternoon, down the concrete slope from the men's makeshift home, a family with young children played in the bay next to their boat, oblivious to the sex offenders who call a place under a bridge their home. (emphasis mine, --Ed.)
Personally,I could give a crap that they can't find a place to live. Shoulda thought of that BEFORE you raped or molested, asshole. Living with rats is HIGHLY appropriate for this kind of vermin.
At least the state isn't putting them up at taxpayers' expense. Out of prison, off the taxpayers' dole and still living in shit. Nice Job.
Posted by: Amanda at April 06, 2007 07:44 AM (Yc9Qw)
2
Good...keep them where we can find them, and don't let them be living a better life than their victims. They don't deserve the rights of others.
Posted by: Mrs. Who at April 07, 2007 01:55 PM (9FXen)
3
I disagree.
Not that I like sex offenders, or think they shouldn't be punished.
But they weren't sentenced to this.
Want the death penalty for sex offenders? Fine - lobby for it. Petition for a ballot measure. Maybe the Supreme Court will decide it's not "cruel and unusual" punishment and let it stand - though I doubt they'd let this stand if it was a "punishment".
(Heck, if it's for aggravated rape, I'll sign the petition and vote for it myself.)
But the state passing laws to prohibit a general class of people living, in effect, anywhere? And having this be a pseudo-punishment for crime, but not under the control of the courts?
Serious justice, due-process, and rule-of-law issue with doing it like that.
I'm all in favor of harsh punishments for real sex offenders (see caveat below), but I want them done properly, up front, under proper judicial supervision, NOT as a "screw them, they're bad, who cares?" thing.
Because once that starts, it tends to spread to places one doesn't want it. I'm hesitant to bring up the abused words of Rev. Niemuller, but they seem apt. Even scum deserve the protection of the law - if only because if they don't have it, it erodes for everyone else. (I don't think the slippery slope is very steep, but I do think it's there.)
In short: As part of sentencing, sure, as an option if the judge thinks it needful. For an entire class of offenders, automatically and without appeal? No.
(And none of this brings up the other issue with "sex offense" laws, which is that in some states, you can become a "sex offender" by peeing behind a bar - it's "indecent exposure".
Shall every one of those people be denied the ability to live anywhere, or be killed? I'm sure Beth doesn't think so, but that's the problem with "sex offender" - it doesn't mean, legally, the same as "rapist" or "child molester", which is what people interpret it as.)
Full disclosure: I'm speaking only about rule of law and legal issues; I have no personal connection to anything involved in any way.
Posted by: Sigivald at April 09, 2007 04:12 PM (4JnZM)
1
no one seems to think this blog deserves a comment
Posted by: John Ryan at April 05, 2007 04:20 PM (TcoRJ)
2
Can you hear me applauding? Well said. I agree completely.
Posted by: Theresa at April 05, 2007 04:24 PM (xpIQQ)
3
I saw a youtube video at Beth's http://www.thedonovan.com/beth/archives/2007/04/i_think_i_shoul.html today that you might like. I think you're right, and so is the girl in the video. Hell. None of us are perfect and we all have to deal with stuff that we shouldn't have to because of our flaws and the way society views them. Keep rantin' if it make you feel good.
Posted by: RedNeck at April 05, 2007 07:29 PM (IqSuW)
4
I can't wait to meet you in person and give you a hug. You're my hero.
Posted by: wRitErsbLock at April 05, 2007 07:31 PM (0Pi1o)
5
I've started a comment about 3 different times only to be interrupted and have to leave off... ARG!
To some people I'm fat, to others I'm skinny. It all depends on who is doing the looking and sometimes who I'm standing next to... (my family were masters of insinuating that I was fat *sigh*) Long ago I realized I can't "do" diets. I don't have the interest to maintain something like that - it's way too much work. There for I am what I am - I don't try to be different.
And while I've never been out shopping with friends, I know all about not finding your size in most any store... I'm 5'9"... that puts me squarely between the regular sizes (ending at 5'7") and the tall sizes (starting at 5'10"). Nothing is more frustrating than being the only kid in class who can't find jeans that hit below the ankle. Looking at cute jackets... only to find that the sleeves end three inches above the wrist. Being the one girl who has to stand in the back with the boys (most of whom you also tower over) for class pictures...
I've had friends who were "fat" and yet none of them was persecuted as much as one of my friends in High School who was severely underweight. She wasn't just thin, she was skinny... in the knobby knee and elbow sense. I tried my best to stand up to them when she was harassed within my hearing.
I've never understood why people pick on others because of their looks. Of course it's a mind game... makes the harassers feel superior. Far too many people think they need to tell others how to live, eat, sleep, play, work... you name it. With looks, it's an easy target - someone always has advice and "knows" it's the best around. Ho-hum.
Unfortunately, our brains are built to remember the slights far more clearly than the smiles.
Having had the great pleasure of meeting you, I can say right now, I really never thought at all about your weight... there were far more relevant things to be thinking about... like the conversation at hand. Then again I have a wonky brain, ask anyone. Heh.
Posted by: Teresa at April 05, 2007 08:28 PM (gsbs5)
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I'm glad you are able to deal with the comments and feel good about yourself. If we ever get to meet, I'll show you pictures of me as I was growing up and you'll wonder why I love myself. I was ugly. But amazingly it works wonders if you don't care what other people think and love yourself. You know best!
Posted by: vw bug at April 06, 2007 12:28 PM (cudDU)
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Thank you. Reading that was just what I needed. I just got done having a discussion with my mom who was telling me how important it is for women to learn to accept and love themselves, no matter what they look like or what size they are. You're an excellent example.
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I am perpetually amazed by people and how judgemental they are. (I've been meaning to comment on this post since I read it yesterday, but just had a couple minutes of down time.) I don't get it. I really don't.
I think one of the most appalling things I've seen in awhile was when we were together and someone came up to you and said something I construed as insulting and rude. I thought I'd blow a frickin' gasket. And you handled yourself so well, while I wanted to absolutely strangle her with her tongue.
I have many friends who shop in the Plus sizes departments and to all of them I say, when they bring up weight, "Just Love yourself." That's all I want for them. If they love themselves no matter their weight, I am happy and care not about anything else. If they cannot love themselves for who they are, then I am concerned.
I liked your post. Nicely ranted.
It's not often when you know the genesis of a story idea
...and you don't even know the reporter.
But this story, from Sunday's Raleigh News and Observer, well, it's not hard.
Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture
When Eliseo Hernandez came to the United States 30 years ago, he thought he drove better after a few beers. Driving drunk had been normal back in Mexico, he said. But Hernandez, 54, learned of its perils firsthand. He quit the practice after falling asleep at the wheel and hitting a tree 18 years ago.
Then, last year, a young Hispanic man who authorities say was drunk nearly killed Hernandez's only son, Diego, in a crash on a rural Johnston County road. Eliseo Hernandez's daughter, who was nine months pregnant, lost her unborn child in the accident.
Hernandez has spent the past year following Diego through four hospitals and 14 brain surgeries. Diego only recently began to smile again and might never walk.
Hernandez said he hopes his painful journey will teach his friends and family a lesson. Car accidents are the top killer of Hispanics in North Carolina, and the disproportionate number of alcohol-related arrests and wrecks are an embarrassment to a minority already beleaguered by hard feelings over illegal immigration.
"It makes the Mexicans look bad, very bad," Hernandez said. "The American people say 'Oh, it's just another Hispanic, the same as the others.' "
It was a commonly held assumption among the Orange County sheriff's deputies and other local cops that a hispanic man driving to the ABC (state-owned liquor store) was probably already drunk. And that if you pulled over a hispanic man, chances are he would fail a roadside sobriety test.
DWIs are far higher among hispanics than any other culture in NC, and for a while this was seen as racial profiling by police and State Troopers. In CA, many times the DWI hispanic driver is also an illegal alien. Interesting now to see this article owning that DWI/DUI is sometimes part of the culture.
1
But if it's part of their culture, then it must be okay. Right?
Posted by: Contagion at April 05, 2007 04:06 PM (T4WRc)
2
"The first step is admitting you have a problem."
That, or the first step is a night in jail. I prosecute DUI's, among other misdemeanors. It genuinely makes me sick just how wasted some of these people out on the road are, and how unbelievably irresponsible someone could be to drive in that state.
I also had a former colleague in a previous job who's now serving seven years in state prison for DUI manslaughter. EVERY DUI has the potential to end that way.
Posted by: Dave J at April 05, 2007 05:29 PM (SKqxt)
Tuesday TiVo dilemma
The TiVo records 2 things at a time, and we can't watch another channel when it records 2.
Tuesday at 9, however, is a WEALTH of good TV. What's a girl to do?
House DWS elimination show Deadliest Catch (it's back! YAY!) Dog the Bounty Hunter
Thank God the cable companies re-run their primetime shows 3 or 4 hours later. DC and Dog each record at 1am Wednesday, while DWS and House record LIVE...
So I'll be seeing both of them tonight.
I've mentioned before how much I LURVE Deadliest Catch. Don't ask why. I just like watching these guys go out and try to beat Mother Nature and make BANK in 2 weeks. Good for them.
1
we have so much recorded that we need to watch, including Deadliest Catch. Also four episodes from LAST SEASON of the Shield, which also started back up last night. So now five episodes of that. I'm also now three episodes behind on Friday Night Lights.
I need a nice leisure day to watch hours and hours of tv.
Three more weeks until the end of this semester...
Posted by: wRitErsbLock at April 04, 2007 07:14 PM (0Pi1o)
2
I watch DWS on ABC.com. My Tivo is only hooked up to record/view one show at a time. POS
BTW, House was really good. And I think next week's is going to be great.
Posted by: Sissy at April 04, 2007 07:22 PM (y2kUf)
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Flap and Mrs. Flap have 3 DVR's and they all are constantly recording.
Now to find the time to watch it all.
Posted by: Flap at April 07, 2007 09:39 PM (JlBYW)
Now this is more like it
I would use some cliche title like "Fat and Happy" but that would insult ME, so I didn't.
This so perfectly expresses my attitude about my body.
Fat happens. Get over it. Yes, I can diet and exercise. In fact, I do. But my body happens to LIKE being this size, I guess. So what? Why should you care? Projecting YOUR insecurities on me, huh? I'm happy, my husband thinks I'm sexy, and the doctor says I'm 100% healthy except for a disease that has NOTHING to do with my weight.
So why should I waste my time being upset about it? Seriously.
As my buddy Cartman once put it, "I'm not fat, I'm festively plump."
h/t RG
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Oh holy crap!! She is my freeking hero!!!
You can sit my me, Sister. 215 and a 16-18. Unless it's a top - then bigger is better. :-)
This is the size my body has settled at. According to my doctor I am VERY healthy. And by God I am happy as hell with myself.
Posted by: Richmond at April 04, 2007 12:58 PM (e8QFP)
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Be happy with yourself, dear! That's the only thing that matters.
The people that irritate me are the self-loathers who descend into victimhood and scream about it. And they are many groups, not just overweight.
And for the record - though I didn't watch the whole thing so I may have missed some - (a) the smoking chick looked to be about as big as her friend in the car, and (b) I would not describe any of the ones I saw as "fat".
Buh-Bye Blue Devils!
It appears the dookie spelling test got 50% easier. But you still have to spell Krzyzewski, as it's coach Gail Goestenkors that's leaving town:
Goestenkors was widely considered the top candidate to replace Hall of Famer Jody Conradt at Texas after her sudden resignation last month.
The night Conradt retired, Texas officials made it clear they would be willing to pay for a top-notch coach. Conradt earned $550,000 a year. While Goestenkors' salary at Duke is not a public record, it was believed the private school would be unlikely to match a high offer from the Longhorns.
Goestenkors visited the Texas campus last week, when she met with women's athletic director Chris Plonsky and members of the school's search committee and toured the Longhorns' facilities.
Goestenkors coached the Blue Devils to four Final Fours and two appearances in the national championship game. Her last Duke team was one of her best. The Blue Devils ended the regular season ranked No. 1 and held the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, but were upset in the regional semifinals by Rutgers. Duke ended the season 32-2.
dook's loss is clearly Texas' gain. Good luck Coach G.
Seem to be a lot of folks lately who don't have a realistic idea what their property is actually worth. It's not the same market it was a couple of years ago almost anywhere...
Idjits.
Thank you for posting this!!
