Hanging by the News

What a guy

2006-01-31T00:16:00.000-05:00

Now why would former HealthSouth Chairman Richard Scrushy be complaining that the jury pool for his trial isn't made up of enough blacks?

Maybe it's because he doesn't want to see his hard-earned money go to waste?

A $100,000 coincidence?

2006-01-30T23:53:00.000-05:00

If you surf eBay and have a six-figure bank account to blow, you might want to check out this item: a five-year old box of cereal.

But it's not just any box of cereal. Not only does it feature promotional graphics for American Airlines, but also an expiration date of Sept. 11, 2001.

The owner of the box said a portion of the winning bid amount will go to the 9/11 Childrens Fund, and said donation would be sizeable were someone to plop down the $100,000 starting bid. The man's auction originally stated that 10 percent of the bid would go to the charity, but likely due to a stream of publicity and some outrage, the amount has been upped to 50 percent.

But is the box really work $100,000 or more? If the box is legit, it's just a strange coincidence, but it's not the first coincidental link to the 9/11 attacks. And if the box is real, it's still only that -a coincidence.

But as some have pointed out, the pictures of the box top showing the date are blurry, and the 1 in the 2001 does almost look like it wasn't originally there.

Regardless of the authenticity of this "HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER 9/11 COLLECTIBLE," this auction reeks of greed. But that's America for you.

That Scrushy's a good guy, ain't he?

2006-01-23T03:28:00.000-05:00

You'd think so if you were a writer paid to write positive articles about him. Or if he gave your church a huge donation.

Sure, he was found not guilty on all 36 counts of fraud, securities violations, money laundering and conspiracy. But do his actions truly seem like those of an innocent man? God only knows.

Are the Oompa Loompas getting FEMA aid?

2006-01-23T03:17:00.000-05:00

"It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have it no other way." - New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin

A politician playing the race card on MLK Day? Unthinkable. Good thing no one else in this country stooped to that level. What's that, you say, Mrs. Clinton?

At least Hillary and her comments haven't made their way onto a T-shirt. Yet.

Because monkeys are funny

2006-01-23T03:11:00.000-05:00

A bill in the Georgia Legislature would allow disabled Georgians to keep monkeys as helpers.

Funniest part of the story:

A Boston nonprofit group, "Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled," trains small monkeys to help with errands like getting food, picking up dropped objects and changing a CD.

"C'mon Mojo! Take the Britney Spears CD out and put in the Kelly Clarkson! Good Mojo!"

Making a stand for keg stands

2006-01-23T02:48:00.000-05:00

The keg party, a venerable institution at many a college, may soon disappear from Alabama colleges and elsewhere if state legislators have their way. The reason: Kegs are often used for underage drinking.

Luckily, the entire state of Alabama has not gone mad, with the proof coming from The Greenville Advocate. An editorial in the paper points out the obvious fact which legislators are missing (everybody gasp now): Minors can and will consume beer contained in bottles or cans.

Or perhaps they'll turn to hard liquor. Jagerbombs are mighty hard to resist.

If kegs are banned, binge drinking will still occur - drinkers will just have some cans or bottles to help them keep score against their fellow drinkers.

There's got to be a reason why certain lawmakers want to see this pass, but I'm not sure why. Just can't put my finger on it...

Pass the rock, Kobe

2006-01-23T02:41:00.000-05:00

Scoring 81 points in a single NBA game is awesome. Recording only two assists is not.

No "Three-Pete," no "dynasty"

2006-01-05T00:36:00.000-05:00

It's got to be the best game of the year and arguably one of the greatest NCAA championship games of all time, despite a few missed calls on both sides of the pigskin. In case you missed it, Texas hooked USC, 41-38.

I was glad to see the underdog take the victory, especially when ESPN and countless others couldn't stop giving the Trojans verbal fellatio.

In other good news, the University of Alabama's general scholarship fund will get a $100,000 boost thanks to Tyrone Prothro's excellent catch against Southern Miss, which was named the year's Pontiac Game-Changing Performance. If you haven't seen the play, you just don't know how amazing it was, though being a Bama graduate, I may be a bit biased.

"Happy New Year" to some, "Have a nice day" to others

2005-12-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

With all the debate people had about "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays," I'm surprised no one's argued that wishing people "Happy New Year" might be offensive to those who celebrate the new year on other days of the year.

And while tomorrow might be the beginning of 2006 for many people, some will still consider it to be 1426 while others call it 5766.

But to those of you celebrating the coming of 2006 tonight and into tomorrow, have a Happy New Year and be safe.

"I drink up all the Hennessy ya got on ya shelf..."

2005-12-31T17:42:00.000-05:00

Hopefully rapper 50 Cent earned more than his namesake for giving lyrical shoutouts to some of the biggest brand names around.

Cent dropped 17 brand names in seven of his songs, making him the most brand-dropping rapper of 2005.

Cent mentioned Mercedes-Benz and Nike in his songs, the top two brand names dropped this year, according to the Agenda Inc. survey. It is unknown whether the mentions earned Cent or any other rappers any coin from brand executives, though the CNN Money article states that industry analysts say that revealing such deals "would likely undermine both the rapper and the brand's credibility."

How much credibility can a man that calls himself "50 Cent" have?

P.S. Though it's an easy one, bonus points if you get the reference from the title. Double bonus points if you can guess my favorite line from said reference.

Your media at work

2005-12-19T02:01:00.000-05:00

This post isn't to debate whether the U.S. should have began the war with Iraq or whether we should still be occupying their country, despite the fact that I'm linking to this AP story on Bush's speech Sunday night regarding the war in Iraq.

This post is to point out a possible pushing of an agenda - a liberal, leftist, anti-Bush agenda - by the story's authors or possibly even their entire news organization.

The fifth paragraph:

The president spoke from the Oval Office, where in March 2003, he announced the U.S.-led invasion. Nearly three years later, more than 2,150 U.S. soldiers have died, Bush's popularity has plummeted and about half of Americans think the war was a mistake. Yet a strong majority oppose an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces. (Emphasis mine.)

The statement "about half of Americans think the war was a mistake" is a total lie. Polls may assert that "about half of Americans think the war was a mistake" but they cannot prove it so unless they polled every American, and I'm pretty sure that very few polls do so ... I've never been polled about our foreign policy...have you? If one is to make this blanket statement about the opinion of our entire country, the source of that assertion should at least be cited.

In fact, this story doesn't mention a poll until the 22nd graf:

A new poll shows that a strong majority of Americans oppose an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. The AP-Ipsos poll found 57 percent of those surveyed said the U.S. military should stay until Iraq is stabilized.

So we see where the claim that a majority of Americans oppose an immediate withdrawal came from, yet the source of the claim that about half of Americans think the war was a mistake is unmentioned, although it's likely from the same poll. Still, the source of any such claim needs to be cited immediately after the claim is made. The fact that such a claim is made high in the story makes me question the intention of the authors by putting it there.

In the first paragraph I cited, I emphasized the statement that Bush's popularity has plummeted. Again, was I polled? Were you?

And what does the president's popularity rating tell us? Absolutely nothing - it's just more fodder for the media. I can't remember who said it, but the media is getting good at making their own news.

Bush's lower popularity ratings does not mean he is not doing the right thing in Iraq (and I'm not arguing that he is). Likewise, a president with a high popularity rating doesn't mean that president is making all the right decisions.

Finally, the authors state that more than 2,150 U.S. soldiers have died since the war began in March 2003. I am saddened by the loss of these no-doubt decent individuals, but merely mentioning the death toll does not show the progress or the lack thereof of our troops in this war. To these reporters' credit, few reporters, if any, have attempted to show the true effects of this war besides mentioning the death toll.

This is your media at work.

A truce in the "War on Christmas"

2005-12-19T01:41:00.000-05:00

This debate on "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays" needs to stop.

I'm a Christian (specifically, a Catholic), and "Happy Holidays" doesn't offend me. Why? Because I realize there's Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus and possibly dozens of holidays during the month of December, whether they're the holidays of a large religion, a faction of people or simply a television show. "Happy Holidays" doesn't exclude Christmas and the Christian majority of our country; it just includes people of other religions and the non-religious as well.

Furthermore, I'm not going to boycott a store because they display or speak the words "Happy Holidays." Boycotting a store for just reason is utterly stupid. When I go into a store, I look for two things - dollar signs and the low prices next to them. Unless the store promotes such heinous messages as "Heil Hitler" or "Eat a baby," I'll probably shop there if I can get a bargain. Heck, I'll even let the girl wearing Goth makeup and a Satanic symbol around her neck scan my items if her line has no waiting...but I will keep an eye on her.

If one wants to fight the secularization of Christmas, look no further than Santa Claus. Which of these phrases do you hear more often:

"Now be good, else Santa will bring you a lump of coal instead of all the presents you want."

or

"Now be good, because our Savior Jesus, who was born on Christmas Day, grew up and promoted the message of 'Love thy neighbor.'"

Still alive, fellow readers

2005-12-12T23:59:00.000-05:00

I apologize for not having the drive to constantly update the blog, but according to my records, I seem to be getting a few hits each week.

For those of you that found your way here, welcome: I hope to update this blog more often so you'll visit it again.

For those of you consistently checking to see if I've updated, thanks for sticking around. I'll try to update the blog so you will have something new to read next time.

I'll have a few posts up by the end of the night. You'll find them below this post.

At least Festivus remains the same

2005-12-12T22:47:00.000-05:00

John Leo of TownHall.com has an excellent commentary on this year's changes to Christmas in the form of a quiz. Reading about what people are doing to cleanse the Christ out of Christmas made me shake my head, but the column itself made me "Ho ho ho" a few times. Check it out.

Death to Tookie

2005-12-12T22:06:00.000-05:00

Barring a last-minute publicity stunt by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, a founder of the Crips gang, will die by lethal injection Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. PST.

Earlier today, Schwarzenegger denied clemency to Williams, citing "no need to rehash or second guess the myriad findings of the courts over 24 years of litigation."

Though Williams' supporters claim that he has reformed, pointing to Williams' anti-gang and anti-crime messages (including a children's book series he authored - though any man, or even a child, could write a children's book) Williams is a man that should be made an example - an example of what happens to those who break the most serious of our laws.

This isn't a debate on whether we should have capital punishment in our country; rather, it's a debate on whether capital punishment should be used on this man.

Williams' legacy, if you will, goes far beyond the four individuals he killed more than 25 years ago. As co-founder of the Crips, Williams must be blamed - as least in part - for those injured or killed, intentionally or accidentally, by Crips gang members, not to mention for all the other crimes committed by gang members.

Williams may be genuinely sorry for his past actions, but after more than two decades of prison, most men would claim to be sorry for their actions. But Schwarzenegger says in his clemency rejection that Williams has mentioned little apology over the countless murders committed by the Crips.

Williams has also done little, if anything, to help authorities identify Crips members, and it is this, more than anything, that shows his true lack of remorse for those affected by gang violence, and thus, the strongest reason of all why Williams should get the death penalty.

Jesus died for your reality TV

2005-10-28T01:20:00.000-04:00

I'm cool with churches relating the message of Jesus Christ in a modern way (as well as churches of other peaceful religions doing the same). But when your relating of His teachings involve swallowing live goldfish [bugmenot.com], I think you've gone off the deep end of the baptismal pond.

When did youth ministries start throwing old school hazing rituals into their lessons?

I'll give PETA some credit for stepping in on this one. I just hope they don't go back across the river and try to shut down my old employer.

Home rule apparently doesn't apply...

2005-10-26T01:19:00.000-04:00

...when you're playing in the World Series.

Right now, the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros are knotted up at 5 in the bottom of the 12th and the stadium roof is open.

Astros players would have liked to have Minute Maid Park's roof closed for game 3 of the World Series to keep their home crowd's noise inside, but Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig ordered the roof open, citing precedent made during the 2001 World Series at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix.

"The only factor that should determine it is weather," Selig said. "We don't do things to give teams competitive advantages in anything."

But having the home-field is an advantage in almost any sport, albeit a small one. And for the most part, teams in many sports are allowed to do a number of things to demoralize the visiting team, including having their visitors' locker room painted pink.

If the Astros are allowed to open or close the roof at their whim during the regular season, why not during the postseason? It is their home. Do you allow your houseguests to make long-distance calls and help themselves to your pantry as they please, Bud? Well, you probably do, because you've made enough money while you've ruined the sport of baseball. (The player's strike, the 2002 All-Star Game tie, a sub-par drug policy and having the All-Star Game determining World Series home advantage - only a handful of the bad things you've committed against baseball.)

Like the pink locker room, keeping the home crowd noise inside can only affect the visiting team mentally. It won't keep them from hitting the ball or keeping their long balls inside the park. (One would argue that blocking out the outside weather conditions might change the flight of the ball, but unless they open and close the roof when the teams change sides, the weather conditions affect both teams equally.) And the home-field advantage, no matter what rule-book-allowable mental measures the home team uses, can be overcome by any player confident in their ability; the White Sox made it to the World Series, so surely they can overcome a little more crowd noise.

"This is part of our home-field advantage and for major league baseball to try and change that is either a) ridiculous or b) they're American League fans," said Astros catcher Brad Ausmus. I'll go with choice a.

If Selig can't allow the Astros to naturally amplify their crowd noise by closing the roof, why does he allow teams to play certain songs when players come up to bat? Why should the Astros be allowed to play the "Killer B's" sound when Craig Biggio comes up to bat? Couldn't that arguably give the home team a "competitive advantage," Bud?

Let the 'stros close their dome, Bud. Make at least one good decision before you retire.

According to the courts, the Price was right

2005-10-11T02:41:00.000-04:00

Mike Price, perhaps the only Alabama football coach to never coach a game, likely has a fatter wallet thanks to Alabama's pitiful shield law.

Price and Time Inc. have settled a $20 million defamation lawsuit where Price asserted that Sports Illustrated (which Time Inc. owns) defamed him by wrongly reporting that he had sex in his hotel after a night of heavy drinking at a topless bar. He went to a strip club and got really drunk, mind you, but he didn't have sexual relations with some woman.

Yeah, I'd probably deny having sex too if the supposed sexual partner in question looked like this (Safe for work but not for your libido).

In July, The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alabama's shield law did not protect SI from having to identify a confidential source, as the law specifically protected newspapers and broadcast news reports but not magazines. And that is why the law is pitiful - it doesn't provide the same protection to magazines as it does newspapers and broadcasts.

Magazines have the benefit of coming out less frequently than daily newspapers, which can give them the benefit of more time to work on in-depth stories. Without the work of many magazines, fewer scandals would be uncovered and history would not be as defined as it is today.

If Alabama's shield law can't protect a magazine's sources on a controversial story, then whistleblowers may be less likely to speak to magazine reporters, meaning that corruptions may continue unscathed, but perhaps that's what politicians want. Every journalist in this country should push Alabama lawmakers to amend the law to give magazines the same protection as other news outlets, because an injustice to one state's journalists' is an injustice to all journalists.

Alabama politics: Funny, yet sometimes scary

2005-10-11T02:14:00.000-04:00

Former Alabama Democratic Party chairman Redding Pitt might ought to check his netiquette after inadvertently sending an message containing expletives to an editor of the Mobile Register.

"Please accept my apology for the email which came to your address last night," Pitt responded after the blunder. "I have just become aware of this. It was late, I'd been working on something all day, and was attempting to comment, however crudely, on another matter. I was not aware that you had emailed me at all.

"Since I don't believe we have ever met, I hope you will not take this communication personally. It was not intended to refer to you or your colleagues, and was directed at another matter."

Pitt's apology is commendable, but he should have done a few things differently. One, he should thought before he posted, or in this case, e-mailed. He should have noticed who this e-mail was going to. Two, if he was angry enough to use such language, he should have taken a proverbial step back to cool his temper. And three, he should have considered not using such language even with a cool head - you never know who might forward your writing to someone you hope wouldn't read it.

At least this goes to show that the Republicans aren't the only ones who end up sticking their feet into their mouths.

--

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who claims to be God's "go-to guy" to be Alabama's next governor, might just have another reason you should vote for him: Next year's political primaries will be held on June 6, or 06-06-06, or 666 or something, as pointed out by the Register. Expect Moore to crank out commercials and ads saying Alabama should vote for a man of God on the date of the beast.

For me, the date is one more reason you shouldn't vote for Moore.

Ignoring the little guy

2005-10-06T02:16:00.000-04:00

Being in the news business, it's not surprising to see such a news organization rip off the little guys in the business. Such is the case here where the AP is reporting on a debate [visit www.bugmenot.com if the site asks you to log in] on the University of Alabama's "Rammer Jammer" cheer. (In full disclosure, I am a UA graduate and I wholeheartedly enjoy and perform the cheer when it occurs at an Alabama sporting event.)

The debate started here in The Crimson White on Sept. 15, though the story doesn't tell you the source of the debate until the 10th paragraph - it only calls it the "campus newspaper" in the second graf - a move which is typical of the AP and many other news outlets. The debate on the cheer continues today. (Additional disclosure - I am a former CW staffer.)

If the debate in the pages of The CW was important enough for the AP to write a story on it, at least mention The CW by the fourth graf. You don't put a quote in your story and tell who said it eight grafs later, nor do you mention a piece of legislation in the beginning of your story and tell readers who authored it at the end.

Give credit where it is due, AP.

Giving her another minute of fame

2005-10-06T01:59:00.000-04:00

After weeks of coverage of two hurricanes and their aftermath, who would've thought that someone in the media would have resurrected runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks?

Bill Zwecker reports that Wilbanks will once again put on her running shoes - this time for the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. On race official says Wilbanks "is a very respectable marathoner and known in running circles throughout the South."

Wilbanks may be a respectable marathoner, but she's not considered much of a cross-country runner; when she wants to go longer distances, she usually takes the bus.

People elected this guy, too

2005-09-28T23:46:00.000-04:00

Pop quiz of the day #2:

"New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness. It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God [Hurricane Katrina]."

Was this said by:

A. Pat Robertson;
B. Jerry Falwell; or
C. Alabama State Sen. Hank Erwin (R-Montevallo)

If you guessed C., you're correct. Erwin spewed this nonsense in a column he distributes to news outlets, which ended up the subject of a story in today's issue of The Birmingham News. Wonder if Erwin thinks that when it's raining, God is bowling.

Note to Erwin and those who think like him: The next time you get a crazy theory like this in your head, you might want to keep those thoughts to yourself.

In a Katrina-related note, Ben Stein makes an excellent argument that the media is creating the next "Big Lie" by saying that blacks were treated worse of anyone in the path of Katrina.

When New Orleans is two-thirds black and disaster hits, the majority of those harmed are likely going to be black. It's not racism - it's simple math.

Luckily, the whole country - white, black, polka-dotted, you name it - has been pitching in to help refugees of all colors, a fact Stein points out. Though some will argue that racism is still afoot in the relief efforts across the country, folks with two eyes and a brain behind them know better.

And people elected this guy

2005-09-28T23:16:00.000-04:00

We've all seen the movies and heard the stories of politicians and VIPs getting out of speeding or traffic tickets, but one Georgia legislator is taking that stereotype one step further.

State Rep. David Graves (R-Macon) is attempting to use his position to get out of a DUI charge he received in Cobb County in February . Graves cites an 18th-century provision in the state's constitution which protects lawmakers from being arrested during sessions of the general assembly - a measure which was written to protect lawmakers from political intimidation.

Graves has a lot of gall to play the legal loophole card. This guy was driving with a 0.13 BAL, way over the legal limit of 0.08. We're not exactly talking about only "one too many," not to mention the fact that he could have killed someone.

Luckily, this waste of a legislative seat and precious oxygen had his silly argument rejected by a judge, but we'll likely see the case reappear in the Georgia Supreme Court.

Let's hope he won't be driving to that hearing.

"Original recipe, beeyotch!"

2005-09-28T21:17:00.000-04:00

When stopped by a police officer after he catches you going the wrong way down a one-way street, do you:

A. apologize to the officer and promise not to do it again;
B. claim you didn't know you were going the wrong way; or
C. throw a plate of chicken wings at him, then hit him with a Coke bottle and punch him in the face.

Political, social commentary at its finest

2005-09-20T03:38:00.000-04:00

What drives a man to paste 50,000 empty cartoon speech bubbles on top of movie posters, ads and signs all over New York City, hoping that passers-by will write something in one of the bubbles? I don't know, but the result is quite humorous and seemingly telling of what our citizens are thinking.

Yes, I consider the man's effort art. Hey, it's better than anything that no-talent hack Christo could do.

Pardon the interruption

2005-09-20T03:28:00.000-04:00

Though I got a new computer on Labor Day and hooked my Internet back up the next day, I had been too swamped to update the blog during the last few days. I'm going to try to get back in the swing of things and update at least once a week.

So to those of you that checked the blog since my last post, sorry for the interruption in service. Whether you've been here before or if this is your first visit, I hope you will stick around this place in cyberspace and enjoy the posts to come.

Sorry

2005-08-30T22:28:00.000-04:00

My computer went kaput last week after a little more than six years of faithful service. The main hard drive on it up and died, though I don't know if it can be revived. I am without a home computer for the time being, so my posts here will be even less frequent than usual.

To the two readers that checked my blog last week, I'm sorry.

I will sporadically update here when doing so fancies my whim - and when I have time to do so at my work computer when I'm done with work for the day.

Hope they don't allow that as carry-on baggage

2005-08-15T01:12:00.000-04:00

The Transportation Security Administration may soon allow passengers to bring a few types of "weapons" onto the airplane.

Under proposed policy changes, passengers may be allowed to carry razorblades and small knives when flying the unfriendly skies.

The proposed policy wouldn't give would-be terrorists that much to work with if they wanted to take control of the airplane - that is, unless they wanted to threaten to shave any passengers that come too close or whittle a piece a wood into something dangerous.

I used to carry my Leatherman Micra pocketknife on my key ring, but in the wake of tighter security, we can't have that in our airplanes, because the knife's scissors are oh so sharp.

Other proposed "weapons" that may be allowed on future flights are scissors, ice picks and bows and arrows. No one really needs scissors on a flight unless they wanted to cut coupons or newspaper articles to pass the time. Ice picks, though sharp, will help ensure that the flight attendants can provide passengers with ice-filled drinks.

But bows and arrows? Well, I guess even pro archers have to fly sometime. Just keep those in your checked baggage.

Finally, other proposed changes would exempt several categories of passengers from screening, including federal judges, members of Congress, Cabinet members, state governors, high-ranking military officers and those with high-level security clearances.

I'm not quite for exempting all of these important people from security screening - even government officials could carry weapons onto the flight. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff may not be that much of a threat, but he and other government officials could follow the same rules the common man follows to show a sign of solidarity.

However, I will give the important peacekeepers a pass on security screening; show a valid badge and be on your way ... just watch out for passengers with bows and arrows.

Game over

2005-08-10T00:50:00.000-04:00

Devin Moore will soon find out that life is not a video game.

The 20-year-old Moore was found guilty of capital murder charges for murdering three Fayette, Ala., police officers. His defense lawyers placed part of the blame on the Grand Theft Auto video game series, of which Moore was an avid player. His lawyers also blamed the abuse he had received as a child.

After being arrested on a stolen auto charge, Moore, then 18, grabbed an officer's gun and shot all three officers in the head before fleeing in a police car.

Common sense prevailed in this case because the jury placed the blame entirely on where it belonged - on Moore and not the video games.

The families of the victims are suing Rockstar Games, the manufacturer of the GTA series, and two stores, claiming that Moore killed the officers after playing the GTA games. No trial date has been set on the civil lawsuit, but hopefully, common sense will prevail and the suit will be dropped or thrown out.

The video games are violent and sexually explicit, but that alone does not tell the player to do these things in real life. Millions of people have seen the Batman movies, but few to none (there may be one or two) are dressing up in costumes and attempting to fight crime.

Their suit is reminiscent of the Columbine High School massacre, where parents blamed the video game Doom for pushing Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to murder 12 classmates and a teacher before committing suicide.

The hypodermic needle theory of media was debunked decades ago - a media image isn't implanted into the brain when one sees it; the viewer/reader/listener absorbs the message and interprets it. If we acted on every one of the media's suggestions, no matter how subtle, we'd be buying every product on the shelf and imitating every one on television.

I feel for the families of the victims, but they nor anyone should blame someone else for another's misguided actions. I wish those families peace, and swift vengeance against Moore.

Time to eat deez nuts

2005-08-10T00:37:00.000-04:00

Peanuts, that is, because the United States is headed for a peanut surplus.

Surprisingly, the peanut farmers are in good shape, because the government guarantees them $385 per ton. The American taxpayer, however, may have to pay the difference between that price and the actual market value.

In summation - eat these nuts before you have to pay for deez nuts.

For all your lawn care needs, call Wilbanks Landscaping

2005-08-10T00:10:00.000-04:00

Jennifer Wilbanks' apparently still has some of her 15 minutes left, as the media found time to catch the former runaway bride mowing the grass as part of her court-ordered community service.

Wilbanks is working one eight-hour day a week to complete her 120 hours of community service, doing tasks such as washing public vehicles and cleaning probation offices. Though Wilbanks has only repaid about $13,250 of the estimated $43,000 the city of Duluth, Ga., spent looking for her, at least the city's getting another "employee."

Were she an actual city employee, however, I don't think her 120 hours of service would be worth nearly $248 an hour. But then again, aren't most government employees overpaid?

Of course, she could use some of that book deal money to repay the city for their troubles. Until that day, if it ever comes, at least the media eye watching her repay most of her debt to society is giving her a lot of what she deserves.

Props to Alan Colmes to making a funny at the end of tonight's Hannity and Colmes at Wilbanks' expense: "It's hard to run away when you're pushing a lawn mower."

Because Bush REALLY pulled the trigger

2005-08-09T02:05:00.000-04:00

(It's hard to be sarcastic in a headline.)

A California woman has been sitting outside George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch, waiting for Bush to explain the "noble cause" for which her son died.

Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed in Baghdad in April 2004, and she's none to happy with the continuing Iraq war.

"I want to ask George Bush what noble cause my son died for," Sheehan said. "I don't want him to use my son's name or my family's name to justify more killing."

Her son, the thousands of other soldiers who have died in the war, the victims of 9/11, the victims of the London bombings and who knows how many future victims - we're fighting for all of them. Is fighting a war to avenge the deaths of thousand of innocents and to prevent countless more deaths not a noble enough cause?

We're fighting this war because there's no other way. We could sneak our soldiers into their country and bomb their innocents and bomb their mosques. And maybe it would work. But it's very likely that it wouldn't work - the backlash against us would be far greater than we could imagine, and using those tactics would make us just as evil as our enemies.

Sheehan runs a group called the Gold Star Families for Peace, and with a quick glance at their Web site, you'll discover that Sheehan and her group wants Bush to explain why he hasn't sent his twin daughters over there.

I have a problem when people like Sheehan ask Bush why his daughters aren't fighting in the war, or when Michael Moore asked members of Congress if their children were in the armed forces. Frankly, how would Sheehan and Moore feel if their parents forced them into the military or any other profession? Wouldn't be too fair, would it?

As Neal Boortz points out, forcing one's children into military service also defeats the purpose of an all-volunteer military. As you can see, he also thinks Sheehan is going a bit over the top.

I haven't lost a family member to this war or to any war. I don't know what it's like for those who have. I feel for anyone who has lost a family member in this continuing war, and I hope they and their family find peace.

But those family members cannot let their grief and anger over their relatives' death blind them from what we should all be seeing - that our brave men and women over there are dying for a good cause, and that cause is peace.

Going after the major leaguers

2005-08-01T13:10:00.000-04:00

Major League Baseball's new steroids policy has its first major victim: Rafael Palmeiro. But I use the term "victim" loosely.

Palmeiro is only the seventh player to test positive for steroids under the "stricter" MLB policy, and arguably, he's the biggest name to receive the mandatory 10-game suspension for a "first offense."

When someone tests positive for steroids, do you think he took the drug only yesterday? Doubtful. Surely a player would take them early in the season after any pre-season drug tests. Why then, does the MLB only suspend a player for 10 games when they've likely been taking them, with or without their knowledge, for the entire season? Is the length of time of 10 games the amount of time it takes to get steroids out of the body? (Please, I really want to know.)

If Palmeiro's being busted in the second half of the season, how do we know he wasn't juiced for for the first 104 games of the Orioles season? Wouldn't it make sense to at least suspend him for the remainder of the season or even the next 104 games?

While steroid use might bring a player's stats and impact to the team in question, they really haven't helped this season; Palmeiro's only batting .280 (a mere .003 above the league average) with 18 homers (above the league average of 10 but not near the leader with 32), while the Orioles are 51-53 and fourth in the AL East.

The irony of the Palmeiro bust is that on March 17 he told a congressional committee that he had never used steroids. With his honesty, I bet he'd fit in well with the Washington crowd.
The bust also comes months after Jose Canseco cited Palmeiro as a steroid user in his tell-all book on the 'roids, as well as claiming on 60 Minutes that he had injected Palmeiro with the juice.

In the next few days, we'll likely see Bud Selig tout the MLB's steroids policy as something that works, saying that it's not playing favorites with the big names.

Whether Palmeiro knowingly took the steroids or not (I'm leaning to the former), I think he's being used as the sacrificial lamb to show that the drug policy "works." Sure, he's a big name, but at 40, Palmeiro doesn't have many years left in the game.

Until the policy tests all players, including the young, big-name stars (and catches those that are actually doing it), then the policy is a mere shell of what it needs to be.

Are Mexicans the new blacks?

2005-08-01T03:11:00.000-04:00

In case you thought the era of the Ku Klux Klan and racism was long gone, think again.

The KKK of the 21st century is now targeting Hispanic immigrants, with one KKK member going as far as building pipe bombs to kill Hispanics. That's terrorism in my book, no matter if who you're trying to blow up.

Before I go further, I'll explain the title. Obviously, blacks were the minority of choice for Klan hatred in the past (and perhaps still to this day), but it looks like their focus may be on Hispanics now. Though Hispanics are not slaves, many are working less-desirable jobs than the populace (like picking fruits and vegetables), or working jobs (such as construction) and making less money than a citizen would make - perhaps even "slave wages."

Surprisingly, one KKK member had a profound statement about the Hispanic immigration: "The blacks fought for their civil rights. These illegal immigrants are coming in here and having everything just handed to them," said Imperial Wizard Billy Jeffery of the North Georgia White Knights.

Many blacks were brought to America against their will, made to work for little more than food and clothing. It took almost two centuries since our country's founding for blacks to be given the same rights as whites.

Today, Hispanics are entering the country under their own power and attempting to take jobs, jobs that citizens of this country should have. Sure, immigrants may be picking tomatoes or doing the manual labor in the poultry business, but those are still jobs our citizens should have. The bottom rung of society may not have the skills to be a bank loan officer or a college professor, but the low-tier jobs should be available to them.

But immigrants aren't just taking the low-tier jobs; they're also doing construction work, which should be decent pay. Instead, some of these workers are getting paid under the table for less than a legitimate worker would make. During my time as a bank teller, I saw such Hispanic construction workers get paid with personal checks, and I made more a week than they did. A bank teller doesn't make that much money, but a construction worker should make a bit more.

When such workers are being paid under the table, it's likely that payroll taxes aren't coming out, which makes the whole illegal immigration thing a serious crime. The workers aren't contributing their share of state and federal income taxes, and companies are likely making a few extra bucks they shouldn't be making. And though the workers may be paying sales taxes when they buy necessities, it's chump change compared to what they should be paying. The average American pays about 25 percent of their total earnings (give or take depending on your state) in state and federal taxes; sales tax is less than 10 percent.

But we won't likely see the IRS bust the great number of illegal workers and the companies that use them anytime soon. As Alabamian puts it, "America's dirty little secret is that ... it needs immigrants willing to work cheaply at less-desirable jobs to keep the economy humming."

For the record, immigration per se is fine with me. The United States is still the "Land of Opportunity," and if you're willing to work hard, obey all the laws and pay your taxes, then come on in. If you're not willing to do any or all of the three, then get out.

Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass would be proud

2005-07-29T01:17:00.000-04:00

Today's Journalism Lesson

How to build a "man on the street" section for your newspaper:
1. Go to a place in town where many people can be found at any given time during the day, i.e. the mall.
2. Talk to people. Ask them questions. Take their mugshot.
3. After talking with enough people, return to the office and compile a list of the best quotes and the mugs of those that said them.

How NOT to build a "man on the street" section for your newspaper:
1. Find people's names and pictures on thefacebook.com.
2. Make up quotes and attribute to the people you found on thefacebook.com.

Doing it the right way ain't that hard, people.

Still alive

2005-07-29T01:13:00.000-04:00

For those of you still reading the blog, I'm still alive. I've just had some busy weeks and weekends. I'll be making some posts to the blog this weekend.

Earning a B for Bias

2005-06-24T02:15:00.000-04:00

It doesn't take a master's in political science to see bias in today's media.

I noticed this a few weeks ago, but a recent column from conservative talker Larry Elder rekindled my interest in a story from earlier this month about the grades George W. Bush and John F. Kerry made during their time at Yale.

The Associated Press "reported" that Kerry's grades were "similar" to Bush's. That's funny, because the story says that Kerry received four Ds in his freshman year alone. Compare that to the one D, a 69 in astronomy, Bush received during his entire tenure at Yale.

In his column, Elder says Kerry received five Ds during his four years (I didn't immediately find that fact in a news story). If that is the case, that's a semester's worth of Ds.

The San Francisco Chronicle points out that Kerry's four Ds during that freshman year were a 61 in geology (two points from an F), a 63 and 68 in two history classes, and a 69 in political science.

Huh. A future politician can't even garner a "gentleman's C" in political science. I just hope that grade didn't come from Kerry being in the "wrong class in the wrong place at the wrong time."

To Kerry's credit, he did pull up his grades to earn an average of 76, compared to Bush's 77. Is this what constitutes the AP's assessment of "similar"? Only if you'd claim that the Detroit Pistons had a "similar" season to that of the San Antonio Spurs. And after tonight, I don't think that's the case.

So what does the college grade comparison of Bush and Kerry matter? Nothing. It merely shows that there's a little bit of bias and spin out there, even on the stories that should be crystal clear.

In this day and age, even a C student can see the bias.

They can't take our lives, but they are taking our freedoms...

2005-06-24T01:39:00.000-04:00

Apparently it's "Find Reasons To Curl Into Fetal Position Week," because the government seems to be doing all they can to drive thinking Americans into such a condition.

Earlier this week, we learned that the personal information of Americans flying on commercial airlines was purchased and stored in order to test a new terrorist-screening program.

Now, we're seeing Congress attempt to pass a constitutional amendment that would ban flag burning. I may have skipped or slept through a few of my Media Law classes in college, but I thought the reasoning behind not banning the burning of the American flag or almost anything else was clear: Though the actions may not contain words per se, actions with a message should still be considered speech and be protected by the First Amendment.

I'm not would that would likely burn the flag (though the last few months under Bush and even the last few days are driving me to reconsider), but I believe anyone has the right to, that is, unless they're burning a flag that belongs to someone else. If someone wants to buy a flag and burn it, no problem. At least the company that made that flag got some money out of it. (But it's ironic that that flag would likely be made from a foreign company.) Yay capitalism.

If flag burning, an action with a message, is banned, what other actions with a message would be banned? Protesting against the government's actions? Protesting against the president's views. (Well, Bush's folks are already making sure they keep dissenters out of the "Town Hall" meetings and the like.)

The thing about the First Amendment is that it doesn't just protect the speech you like - it protects all speech. I may not like it that the gays want to have a parade, but if they follow the same rules other groups do, they should be allowed to have a parade. The speech of the minority cannot be suppressed because of the wishes of the majority.

But the reverse of that previous statement is also true: The speech of the majority cannot be suppressed because of the minority.

...and soon, they may be taking our homes

2005-06-24T01:38:00.000-04:00

Reason #3 why I started considering entering the fetal position this week ...

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the government can use its powers of eminent domain to foster economic development.

The meaning of this decision: If the government wants to see a mall stand in the place of your neighborhood, your home could become the future site of the food court.

Before, eminent domain was really only used in cases where the property would have a public use, such as a highway or public utility. With the decision, whose to stop a local government from demolishing a neighborhood to bring a Wal-Mart into town?

States and local municipalities are scrambling to tell residents that their laws would prevent such instances from occurring, but I have a feeling that like the recent Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana, the power of the federal level would topple the power on the state and local level.

The old song is ringing true. The government may soon be paving your paradise and putting up a parking lot.

Right to privacy? What right to privacy?

2005-06-22T01:08:00.000-04:00

And you thought those security breaches at the credit card companies were scary: Now your government is purchasing and storing personal information about citizens who flew on commercial airlines to use to test a new terrorist-screening program.

It's funny, because we often frown upon other groups of people, like spammers, who purchase personal information from companies to use for their purposes. But since it's the government doing it, we should just look the other way, right?

Maybe we should just go ahead and lobby to have those biometric microchips implanted into our hands now. Cause hey, it just might make the line at the airport go a little bit faster. Just make sure you program my microchip to read "Not a terrorist."

Possible endorsement deal?

2005-06-22T00:30:00.000-04:00

Bus ticket to Las Vegas - $107
Bus ticket to Albuquerque - $76
Payment to the authorities that searched for you - $15,799
Netting a $500,000 media deal by skipping out on your wedding - Priceless

There are some things money can't buy...

---

Yes, the above parody may seem cliched, but since we now know how and why Jennifer Wilbanks traveled across the country, we have a perfect setup for a MasterCard commercial starring the runway bride.

Of course, if Wilbanks and fiance John Mason decide to tie the knot, then the wedding expenses can provide a second commercial for the credit card company.

I've said nearly all I can say about the mistakes Wilbanks made during those last few days of April, and frankly, so has the media. Those two potential 30-second commercials would really say what all needs to be said about this Wilbanks case. Pending any important developments in the dwindling Wilbanks saga, the media now needs to start focusing on the "important" stories, like the still-missing Natalee Holloway and the Boy Scout that was found after being missing in the Utah wilderness for four days (And, oddly enough, I hadn't heard about until his discovery today, which I'm guessing was important enough to divert some attention away from the two white women flavors of the month.).

(To clarify the previous paragraph, I'm still hoping that Holloway is found and that all parents learn an important lesson of which this ordeal has reminded us.)

But I'll end this post on Wilbanks: If MasterCard doesn't like my commercial ideas, then maybe Wilbanks still has a chance for an endorsement deal with Greyhound. Just think: "Flee your upcoming wedding on a cross-country bus for the lowest fares around!"

The Jennifer Wilbanks Drinking Game

2005-06-21T02:20:00.000-04:00

Looking for some pre-game entertainment before the Pistons-Spurs tip off tonight? Look no further.

Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks will open her crazy mouth tonight on Dateline NBC as it airs Katie Couric's interview with Wilbanks and her fiance, John Mason, at 8 p.m. EDT.

And though you might have lost interest in Wilbanks' story weeks ago, the "Jennifer Wilbanks Drinking Game" will get you sufficiently warmed up before the big game.

I've never created a drinking game, so if you have any suggestions on what other instances should be worth x drinks or other ways to make the game more interesting, feel free to e-mail them to jgextreme@hotmail.com. I'll be glad to acknowledge you if I add your submission.

Feel free to link to the game and/or my blog. In return, I'll put a link on my blog to yours.

And let's keep it clean, folks. After all, this is all in good fun.

My disclaimer is that anyone wishing to participate in this game should be a responsible drinker. Know your limits and don't risk it by drinking and driving.

The Game

Take one drink if:

* Wilbanks apologizes to someone.
* Wilbanks or Couric mentions fiance John Mason.
* anyone mentions Wilbanks' mental health treatment.
* anyone mentions God/prayers/blessings, etc.

Take two drinks if:

* anyone mentions cities of Duluth, Ga., Albuquerque, N.M., or Las Vegas, Nev.
* Wilbanks cries.
* Wilbanks says she still loves him.
* Mason says he still loves her.
* Wilbanks or Mason talks about the media coverage.

Take three drinks if:

* anyone mentions the media deal with ReganMedia.
* anyone mentions the made-up kidnappers.
* anyone mentions money Wilbanks paid to city of Duluth or Gwinnett County, Ga.
* Wilbanks or Mason mentions a new wedding date (or month).

Take five drinks if:

* Wilbanks or Mason says the wedding is off.

------

More rules to be added as readers submit suggestions.

Suggestions/comments/etc.? E-mail me at jgextreme@hotmail.com.

One sick freak

2005-06-20T01:35:00.000-04:00

This story disturbed me last night, and if you have any sort of beating heart in your chest, it will likely do the same to you.

Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller was being held without bail Saturday, accused of molesting two boys in San Jose, Calif.

But that's not all: Over the course of 35 years, the 63-year-old Schwartzmiller has molested children as many as 36,000 times.

What is even more sick about this man is that he kept notes on all of his encounters, putting them in categories such as "Blond Boys," "Cute Boys" and "Boys who say no," and included codes which indicate how he abused them, authorities believe.

Schwartzmiller was arrested nine times for molesting boys and spent only 12 of those 35 years in prison, mainly due to his legal knowledge, which he used when he defended himself in court on some occasions.

Schwartzmiller had spent some years living with another child molester -- Freddie Everts, 34, who claims Schwartzmiller claimed to be dying from an undisclosed illness and was keeping notes on his "encounters with boys" for a manuscript. (I'm sure that would end up on Michael Jackson's best-seller list.)

Cases like this often make me ponder the death penalty. If any criminal deserves it, it's this guy, but then again, I don't mind criminals spending life in prison and living with the guilt of committing such a heinous deed. If Schwartzmiller is capable of feeling guilt over what he did, then I don't mind giving him the rest of his life to feel that guilt in prison. If he can't, then the sooner we send this guy to hell, the better.

Luckily, in this day and age there are more laws that would prevent a repeat offender like Schwartzmiller from re-entering society, or laws that would at least require authorities to keep tabs on him to prevent other such crimes.

But laws aren't enough to protect our children. Parents, teachers and other defenders of our children have to remain ever vigilant to keep our kids safe, because Schwartzmiller's ilk is still out there. They may not be card-carrying members of NAMBLA, but they're out there.

So that's how she's going to pay her bills

2005-06-17T00:26:00.000-04:00

Someone once said that running away never solved anything.

I guess someone hasn't yet met Jennifer Wilbanks.

The runaway bride signed a deal with ReganMedia, giving the multimedia company all media rights to the life stories of Wilbanks and fiance John Mason. Though not yet confirmed by the company, the deal is reportedly worth $500,000.

Yes, staging your own kidnapping apparently nets you half a million dollars in 2005. And Wilbanks is lucky to be living in Georgia: the state has no "Son of Sam" laws on the books to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes.

The good thing about Wilbanks' sell-out deal is that perhaps she can reimburse the remaining $29,750 of the almost $43,000 the city of Duluth spent looking for her. She has already paid the city $13,250, and paying back the remainder of the money wasted on her would be a good move on her part.

In fact, agreeing to pay off the city should have been the immediate move after inking the deal with ReganMedia. That way, any critics calling her a sellout would almost be silenced by the fact that at least helped the city recoup their losses.

Those losses ought to be paid because the city spent thousands of dollars in overtime pay for authorities on the search, not to mention that those authorities could have been preventing real crimes or responding when crimes happened.

Next, Wilbanks could be generous enough to somehow compensate the 600 guests and 28 attendants that were scheduled to attend the wedding, or at least the ones that had purchased plane tickets to attend the wedding or had scheduled vacation time to attend.

It's not too late for Wilbanks to do the right thing and reimburse the city of Duluth for their troubles. Only time will tell whether she takes responsibility for her actions or stiffs the good people of her hometown.

Finally, I would be amiss to not frown upon ReganMedia's decision to sign Wilbanks to a media deal. Such a deal legitimizes Wilbanks' actions and may encourage others to perform similar acts in order to "cash in."

In fact, I'm hoping to run away very soon in hopes to earn a lucrative book deal. I may not be days away from my wedding, but hopefully my tale of running away "because I was lonely" would net me at least a quarter mil.

It might be a smaller deal than Wilbanks', but at least I wouldn't have 600 wedding guests to deal with.

Spreading the virus

2005-06-12T03:48:00.000-04:00

New York Daily News TV editor Richard Huff doesn't like Opie & Anthony's XM satellite radio show.

In a recent column, Huff discusses his dislike of the show because fans have been showing up in the background of live TV news shots to advertise for O&A by holding up signs and/or shouting the show's name. And the show's fans are even encouraged to commit such actions.

Yes, perhaps those individuals are idiots for going out of their way to advertise for a radio show and "ruining" the TV stations' live shots. But then again, I've considered doing that numerous times.

Back when I was still at The Crimson White, the university-owned and PAX affiliate WVUA 7 would often use such live shots during the weather segment. The meteorologist on duty would take a camera and broadcast live next to the steps of Reese Phifer Hall - no more than 25 feet from the entrance to the building, whose bottom floor housed the TV station.

If you really want a live shot for your weather, at least travel across the campus to somewhere where you can see the good weather, or at least drive out of walking distance from the studio and find a suitable location.

During the aforementioned live shots I wanted to run behind the person in front of the camera with a copy of the CW, because though they were on the university campus, we were the official source of campus news. (Heck, I even scooped them on local news on at least one occasion.)

To this day, I want to start a group and intentionally ruin such live shots, either through the use of silly costumes (imagine a guy in a gorilla suit walking into a live shot) or by staging a scene (like a mock mugging).

But there's another reason why I wanted to "ruin" WVUA's live shot and why I have no pity on the news stations whose live shots are "ruined": Live shots on the local news are dumb.

Television may be a visual medium, but the live shot is overdone. Every local newscast seems to have to have one at the top of the program. Whatever the top story is, they have to have the reporter near the scene to tell us about it.

But usually, the reporter is not even close to the scene of the top story - usually broadcasting in front of the building or along the street. If they were truly close to the scene, with ambulances or police cars right behind them, then the live shot would be worth it. But such live shots would make the media seem even more intrusive than it is now.

As TV news stands now, the live shot really just provides a use for the expensive cameras and newsvans. And instead of calling sources and following up on developing stories, those reporters may simply be sitting at the scene of a live shot waiting to go on the air.

Instead of live shots, the cameraman can film the reporter doing their standup near the scene and include that in the story's package. They can then send it along to the station and then leave to follow-up on the story or pursue another one. That way, you still have video but also your reporter to do better work or more work instead of just sitting there.

I'll let the national news slide, because they send many of their reporters across the country and even to other countries to cover the breaking news. It's not merely driving the news van a couple of miles. ("A California woman found a finger in her chili at a Wendy's, so let's do a live shot in front of our local Wendy's.")

So Opie & Anthony fans, "spread the virus," because live shots in the television industry are a virus, too.

"I am a real American"

2005-06-12T02:25:00.000-04:00

The Discovery Channel will present The Top 25 great Americans in the second part of the four-part series that whittles down a list of 100 great Americans to leave one - the "Greatest American." The show airs at 9 ET/8 CT.

Thought the 25 will be discussed tonight, the list is already online. And for the most part, it's a pretty good list. It's hard to boot anyone off the list, though it can be argued that some on the list may be there only because they've been in the news in recent months.

The top 25 list includes eight presidents, including current President George W. Bush. And while I do not dispute his inclusion onto the list, his presence in the daily news can be a contributing factor. Only time will tell if Bush will end up in history as one of the "greatest Americans."

Hence the problem with the list: When living Americans are put onto the list, are they being judged by their entire body of work or just by their recent work? If this list only judged Americans that had died years before (probably no later than 1995 to give at least a decade to examine an individual's impact), it would likely be a better assessment.

Though the Americans on the top 25 are great Americans, the list leaves off a few deserving candidates and ignores at least one key area of work in which some of the Americans on the entire list excelled: The top 25 list includes neither Mark Twain or Maya Angelou, the only two writers on the list of 100.

As far as the deserving Americans that probably should be in the top 25, I won't begin to argue in the favor of numerous people on the list of 100 that should be up there: Too many people at least deserve to be tied for 25th.

Only three women are on the list of 25. The list of 100 had 19 women, so the list has gone from 19 percent women to 12 percent women. It will be interesting to see if a woman cracks the top five.

The search (and the media blitz) continues

2005-06-12T01:09:00.000-04:00

Though earlier reports indicated that a suspect confessed to killing Natalee Holloway, the latest reports deny that such a confession was made.

I'm sad that Holloway is missing and possibly dead, but the media blitz isn't helping. I don't know how many reporters from multiple organizations are working on the story, but I'm sure half of them could make a pretty sizeable search party.

If anything comes out of this, it should be parents thinking twice about letting their children travel out of the country for their senior trip, or at least making sure their are plenty of vigilant chaperones on the trip.

And I wonder how lucrative some of these senior trips would be if the U.S. drinking age was lowered to 18, which many countries have set as their drinking age. Then students could travel to Florida or New Orleans and still have an alcohol-filled good time if they wished. Sure, there's still the chance of a kidnapping occurring, but at least such a case wouldn't involve dealing with authorities of a foreign country.

Not to jump too far from the original topic, but if you're legally considered an adult at 18 (19 in Alabama), can vote and can serve in the armed forces at 18, why must you be 21 to drink?

Lactose intolerant

2005-06-02T02:46:00.000-04:00

"Stay in school, don't do drugs and drink your milk!"

Well, get ready to scratch that last one if you're a student attending École Marie Poburan in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.

The French Immersion School is considering banning the sale of milk because of the potentially fatal dairy allergies of two students. The other 400-odd students could still bring milk to school but could not buy it, though the sale of milk would resume once those students move on from the school.

If students can still bring milk, then I'm guessing the two students would not get sick from simply being near students drinking the milk. If that's the case, then why consider banning the sale of it? Can't these two students simply be given an alternative beverage to drink?

Milk is probably the healthiest drink available for a child, and eliminating its presence from a school breakfast or lunch could seemingly be detrimental to a child's nutritional intake. If this were an everyday public school, then the milk and school lunch may be the healthiest food a student eats all day (perhaps even the only food they eat)

Banning the sale of milk seems to be overkill, and eliminating it from the school lunch may have other consequences, such as requiring menu alternatives that would give children the vitamins they need. Such alternatives may raise the cost of lunches across the board.

Milk does do a body good, and the 400-odd students without allergies to it should have the opportunity to drink it everyday.

"In the year 2000..."

2005-06-02T02:37:00.000-04:00

Conan O'Brien is up to his old tricks again - predicting the future.

"The future, Conan?"

Yes, but this time, his tongue-in-cheek predictions are about the future of television, which will apparently include random wolf attacks, TiVo-arranged marriages and "abacus porn".

"Crane plazy ... Er, plain crazy."

2005-06-01T02:24:00.000-04:00

In the past week, Atlanta has been the site of not one but two criminals that climbed atop construction cranes to avoid capture from authorities.

The first was murder suspect Carl Edward Roland, 41, accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend, 36-year-old Pinellas County, Fla., resident Jennifer Gonzalez, whose body had been found in a pond behind her apartment May 24. Roland climbed atop the crane the next day and remained there for 56 hours, perhaps setting a Guinness World Record for "Longest Time Atop a Crane by Criminal on the Run."

The standoff drew crowds of spectators, tied up traffic and forced the closing of a few nearby businesses as police closed off surrounding roads. Those businesses have Roland to thank for losing thousands of dollars in business during his stunt, and it would be interesting to see if those businesses had any legal recourse against him.

Roland's crane idea was so good that Thomas Eugene Robinson, 26, decided to make the climb on Monday. Unlike Roland, Robinson was driven to climb the crane because of mental health problems. A police spokesperson said Robinson told police that demons and the government were after him. (I wonder which group he's afraid of more?)

Robinson, who was arrested on charges of criminal trespass and reckless conduct, was not able to equal Roland's feat, as he was lured down with doughnuts and cigarettes shortly after his climb; looks like the government got him in the end.

In light of my previous post, at least the incidents took a few minutes of coverage away from the ongoing Jennifer Wilbanks saga.

Check, please

2005-06-01T02:01:00.000-04:00

Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks will be footing a part of the costs the city of Duluth, Ga., racked up while looking for her.

Wilbanks will pay the city $13,250, though the city will have to write off some $30,000 in other costs incurred while searching the bride-to-be, who had disappeared just four days before her April 30 wedding.

I'm torn on the issue: Should Wilbanks have to reimburse the city for all the costs incurred in her search or should she be given a break in case she is diagnosed with recognized mental issues? Surely any American woman after the case of Laci Peterson would realize that disappearing would not be a good idea, as local authorities would go on full alert. But if Wilbanks was not in a right state of mind (at least determined by at least psychiatric professional), then I see a case for excusing her actions.

Meanwhile, media coverage of Wilbanks has been going on for over a month and will likely pick up steam after she completes her psychiatric treatment.

That's the American media for you.

Twenty-six is a winner

2005-05-30T02:41:00.000-04:00

Though Danica Patrick didn't win the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, she'll likely remain the talk of the racing world for a while.

And that's deservedly so. Her fourth place finish was the best Indy finish by a woman in history. Her 57th lap will also be in the record books, as that lap made her the first woman to ever lead at Indy. Finally, Patrick was the top-finishing rookie of this year's race.

(By the way, Dan Wheldon in the number 26 car won the race, in case you're wondering and hence the title of this post.)

A Patrick victory would have truly been one of the top sports moments of the year or even the decade, not to mention a turning point in the history of women in male-dominated sports. Still, her fairly strong but still record-setting finish is a bright spot in today's sports world, which remains rife with steroids, greed, high ticket prices and more.

I guess Robby Gordon's concern that Patrick's lighter body weight would help her go faster on the track matters little since Patrick did not take the checkered flag.

Scientifically, Gordon is correct. Patrick, who weighs 100 pounds, would be weighing her car down less than the other drivers, and Indy officials estimated that her lower weight would give her car a nearly 1 m.p.h. advantage. In a sport where speed and time are measured to the thousandth, that's pretty significant: The race lasted three hours and 10 minutes, so a 1 m.p.h. advantage would give her a 3.16 mile advantage over the entire race, or about 1.26 of a lap. It seems like a small advantage yet could be more than the difference between first and second.

But it's not an unfair advantage - it's just a benefit of being lighter. If a midget chose to enter the race (if rules allowed accommodations for shorter-legged drivers), then he/she too could get the advantage.

Plus, it still takes a driver of skill to win the race, no matter what his/her car's speed. A driver whose car could do 400 m.p.h. would still have to be skilled enough to drive around the other cars for 200 laps (Or perhaps the other drivers would be smart enough to get out of the way!)

If Gordon wants to whine about Patrick's weight, then he should advocate all drivers being weighed before the start of the race and having lighter drivers carry extra weight in the car, with the extra weight and the driver's weight totaling the weight of the heaviest driver in the field. (Of course, the driver would have to hold the extra weight themselves, because putting the extra weight elsewhere in the car wouldn't be the same.)

Obviously, such an idea is ridiculous, and I do not advocate it. Still, it would bring a new strategy factor to the world of racing: Would you hire the heaviest drivers for your team or lighter ones that could hold the extra weight?

Any physics majors or graduates want to tackle the weight issue?

Mark your calendar

2005-05-25T23:59:00.000-04:00

Students across the nation will now have another school day where the lesson plan is thrown out the window. September 17 is now "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day," and due to a little-known provision passed by Congress last year, every school and college that receives federal money must teach about the Constitution that day. (If September 17 falls on a weekend day or holiday, then the schools must schedule a program immediately before or after that date.)

But how much or how little the Constitution will be taught that day is still under question, as neither Congress nor the Department of Education has spelled out a curriculum for that special day.

I wonder: Will pre-schoolers have to put off learning numbers and colors to learn about the Articles of Confederation? Will college students have to discuss the Continental Congress during Math 112 and Underwater Basketweaving 101?

I have mixed feelings about this "Constitution Day." Students could very well learn something that day, or perhaps get rid of those misconceptions of the law of the land. Maybe they would realize that hey, the First Amendment is pretty cool, and those other amendments aren't so bad, either.

But I don't think that lesson plan should knock out the teacher's lesson plan for that day, especially at the lower levels. Since the lower grades of school focus on repetition, I do not think it is wise to be teaching students their times tables one day, then jumping to a lesson on our Founding Fathers, then going back to multiplication.

But then again, we have no idea how this crazy thing is going to be enforced. Too bad it's not the only ridiculous law our government has passed.

"Won't somebody please think of the children!?"

2005-05-25T23:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, our country is going to hell in a handbasket all because Paris Hilton is wearing a skimpy outfit and washing a car in a commercial for the Spicy BBQ Burger at Carl's Jr.

At least she didn't pull a Janet Jackson and flash her nipple on national TV, then we'd all be in trouble.

Still deep in the heart of Taxes

2005-05-25T12:07:00.000-04:00

(A reprint of my March 22, 2005 entry on my personal blog.)

I came across an interesting article today concerning one of the two sure things in life.

If you're wondering how your state taxes on goods compare to that of other states, look no further.

For fun, I compared my home state (Alabama) to the state where I'm currently residing (Georgia).

Gas taxes are indeed lower in Georgia, in fact, they're the lowest in the country at 7.5 cents. Alabama's is 18 cents, though a lot of states have theirs in the twenties and Rhode Island has the highest with 31 cents. A 10.5 cent difference means I'd have to pay $1.26 more for a 12-gallon fill-up in Alabama. If I fill my tank once per week, I'd have to pay $65.52 more in Alabama. Those numbers don't take into account the local gas taxes, but the price difference between the two states is significant to me.

The Peach State also beats the Yellowhammer State in sales taxes, with Georgia's averaging 7 percent to Alabama's 11 percent (The highest in the country!). However, these numbers are from 2003 and they represent the highest sales tax found in the state. Local sales taxes may differ.

Georgia's tobacco taxes, however, are more than double Alabama's, with Georgia at 37 cents and Alabama at 16.5 cents. I don't use tobacco, but if you smoke a pack a day (Is that the norm?), that's a $74.83 difference in a year. It's interesting to note that the tobacco taxes seem the lowest in and around the states that grow tobacco (Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky), but much higher elsewhere (including $2.05 in New Jersey).

Although Georgia beats Alabama in taxes on purchased goods, Alabama's income taxes are much lower and are even among the lowest in the country (This handy-dandy map told me so.). Listed is the type of tax, the percentage of income taken and its rank among the 50 states and D.C.

Alabama State/local 9.1% 42nd W/federal taxes 25% 50th

Georgia State/local 10% 19th W/federal taxes 27.3% 22nd

The differences in the percentages seem small, but when they take a larger slice of your paycheck, they're significant.

So how much is left in your wallet?

They found their scapegoat

2005-05-18T23:33:00.000-04:00

By now, you know that a Newsweek article reported that American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay put copies of the Quran on toilets and even flushed one down a toilet. The story was later retracted as the toilet incident could not be confirmed.

The story reportedly caused anti-American riots in Afghanistan, in which 16 Afghans were killed and more than 100 injured.

Whether the story was totally true or all false, correct or incorrect with the reporting of the alleged toilet incident or any other details, a magazine article cannot be the justification of any riots in Afghanistan or any country.

Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel puts it well: "Those rampaging in Afghanistan didn't need a reason to riot; they needed an excuse. That the media provided one is regrettable, but that regret needs to be tempered by perspective and objectivity."

Well said.

My spel chek is brokn ...

2005-05-17T22:57:00.000-04:00

... But in Britain, the spell check has been thrown out of part of an English exam that is given to 14-year-olds.

British schoolchildren now need not worry about correct spelling on the main writing portion of the exam, which accounts for nearly a third of a student's score.

Students' spelling ability is still taken into account on the "shorter writing test," a portion of the exam that accounts for twenty percent of the total grade. However, spelling ability only accounts for four points out of the entire exam's possible 100.

So apparently it's OK for students to have spelling errors in longer compositions but not in shorter ones.

Students need to learn how to spell and need to be regularly tested on it. Students may not necessarily need to know how to spell words like chincherinchee or mesothelioma by heart, but they should at least know the basics. For instance, the difference between to/too/two, four/for, no/know, etc.

Spelling errors alone should not flunk a student, but a student demonstrating a poor grasp of the written word may not be taken seriously when a teacher or professor reads a report riddled with such errors.

With spelling becoming less important in today's schools, and warped forms of English such as "leet speak" almost becoming the vernacular, spelling errors will become more prominent, even in this era of spell check (which usually cannot distinguish errors with to/too/two, etc.).

Let's keep spelling in our schools so our students won't look like fools when they enter college and the real world.

P.S. I'll accept a small penalty of one point off per word I've misspelled in this posting.

Meanwhile, we still have a faulty championship system

2005-05-17T01:59:00.000-04:00

Thirty NCAA teams may soon be hunting for some new names.

The NCAA is considering a ban on Native American team mascots and nicknames. Such a ban would mean no more Florida State Seminoles, no Utah Utes, and certainly not any Southeastern Oklahoma Savages.

Are any true Native Americans actually upset because a school uses Native American mascots or nicknames? And why can't the press ask one actual Native American what he/she thought about the issue?

From what I know about my heritage, the only team I can identify with is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, because I know of no school that are the "Fighting French" or the "Combating Catholics" ( (C) 2005).

But the Fighting Irish doesn't offend me. Why would a simple team nickname like the Seminoles offend a descendant of the actual Seminole tribe?

It seems like such a team name could honor your culture. Wouldn't having a team named after your tribe mean that the school honors your tribe for its athletic prowess?

Passing a rule which bans such nicknames could cost schools hundreds of thousands of dollars to re-brand their athletic teams and their entire school, which would include destroying old logos/trademarks and designing/creating new logos/trademarks for a number of items. Items which would have to have the new logos/trademarks can include:

letterheads, business cards, other paper supplies
signs/paintings
athletic gear (helmets, jerseys, shirts, mascot costume)
fan gear (fan wear, art, other items)
alumni gear
etc.

If the NCAA wants to pass a rule banning Native American nicknames, then they should ban new schools from giving themselves such nicknames or old schools to change to such nicknames. Any current nicknames should stand or allow those schools to change their nicknames if they wish.

But if a total banning of Native American nicknames is passed, then many a head will be scalped by angry school officials and fans.

Cashing in like crazy

2005-05-16T01:02:00.000-04:00

Some people just don't have any class left in them.

Being from the state that brought us "runaway bride" Jennifer Wilbanks, I heard most of the latest news about her from the Atlanta-based news stations and the AP wire. After she was found and it was discovered that she had not been kidnapped, it didn't take long for me to say that we should get back to our normal lives and the news should start covering real issues again. But the latter hasn't quite happened yet.

Shortly after Wilbanks was found, her shenanigans inspired some tasteless individuals to attempt to make money off of this woman's incident. And so, the "Runaway Bride" action figure and "Jennifer's High Tailin' Hot Sauce" were made. God only knows if others have followed suit with their own Wilbanks-inspired products.

Though Wilbanks did make false statements to authorities, that's no reason to try to profit off this woman. Though her actions may have worried her family and her husband-to-be, as well as ruined the weekend of the hundreds of people planning to attend her wedding, that's no reason to try to make money off of this unstable individual.

What she did was not right, but at least she is trying to get treatment. People trying to profit off of Wilbanks should knock it off and show a little respect for her.

The Cost of Freedom Fries

2005-05-11T23:38:00.000-04:00

"Would you like extra tax with that?"

This may be a phrase you'll soon hear in Detroit, where Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will soon ask voters to approve a 2 percent fast food tax.

The tax would be in addition to the 6 percent state sales tax (which seems pretty light compared to the sales taxes I've seen in Alabama). The 2 percent tax on Big Macs, Whoppers and, yes, even Monster Burgers, will go toward paying down the city's deficit.

Granted, 2 percent on a fast food meal is not that much (only a dime on a $5 meal), but why fast food at all? Why target only these restaurants?

And what qualifies as a "fast food restaurant" anyway? A restaurant with a drive-thru? A restaurant without servers/waitstaff? A chain restaurant? It seems as though the law would have to define "fast food" before the tax could be enacted.

A number of restaurants that are generally known as fast food establishments only prepare your food after you order it, so that condition may rule them out as fast food. Who knows what establishments would qualify as "fast food"?

Why not add the tax to all restaurant bills? You then wouldn't have to define a "fast food restaurant," and you could get more taxes.

Fast food isn't the healthiest stuff out there, and a slight tax increase may make Detroit residents buy less of it, but that small of a tax increase doesn't seem to be for such a purpose though it would be interesting to see if anyone believes the tax is for that purpose.

If the tax increase is not to help Detroit residents slim down, then I'm confused as to why fast food was chosen as a target. Why not increase cigarette or alcohol taxes, or why not add a little bit to traffic fines? Tacking the tax to fast food just makes you wonder why that industry is being targeted.

Fast food taxes make Ronald McDonald cry.

Common sense comes calling

2005-05-11T00:26:00.000-04:00

Kevin Francois is back in school after serving only two days of suspension instead of the 10-day suspension he was originally given for refusing a teacher's command to end a cell phone conversation with his mother, who is stationed in Iraq.

Francois can thank the mainstream media (and perhaps other media) for spreading the story, which prompted angry readers/listeners/watchers to send in loads of e-mail to administrators at Spencer High School in Columbus, Ga.

The two days of suspension is a much more fair punishment than the 10-day suspension, which is usually doled out to students who fight on school property (and likely a few other violations worse than talking on a cell phone to your mother stationed overseas).

This story proves that even in the year 2005, common sense can sometimes triumph.

In a related note, John Phillips Jr., superintendent for the Muscogee County School District (which includes Spencer High School), was once superintendent of the county school system that I cover on my education beat.

Your neighbors deserve the First Amendment, too

2005-05-08T01:58:00.000-04:00

Like Charlton Heston and the gun in his hands, disabled Vietnam veteran Bill Kriso will have to be cold and dead before you can remove the "Thank You Jesus" sign from one of his home's windows.

The sign thanks the Son of God for Kriso's new home in an Elyria, Ohio, development, but the development's management told Kriso to remove the sign. The bylaws of the development seem to be on Kriso's side, as he claims they only forbid "For Sale" signs.

But bylaws or no bylaws, any action from development officials that would seek to remove a sign from a homeowner's property would clearly violate our nation's First Amendment. Any man or woman in this country has a right to free speech, especially in their own home. (If that freedom is not allowed in our own homes, then we're in trouble.) Unless Kriso's sign were vulgar (and clearly, his sign is not), then it should be allowed to remain wherever he wishes to put it.

And though the development's bylaws may attempt to keep properties from becoming eyesores, I would say that Kriso's sign in the window is far from an eyesore.

Neighborhood or development bylaws can be a good thing. For instance, a bylaw which reasonably limits the hours when loud stereos or lawn equipment could be operated would benefit almost every resident. But no neighborhood or development has the right to limit the freedoms granted by the Constitution.

The park manager wouldn't talk to NewsChannel5 on camera, but after talking with
both parties, it's believed that the case will likely be settled in court.

It's too bad that the failure to grasp a simple precept contained in our nation's founding documents may result in settling this situation in court. It just wouldn't come to that had the park manager paid attention during his first day of high school civics class.

Mother's Day Follow-up

2005-05-08T00:50:00.000-04:00

The Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, Ga., ran a followup on the high school junior suspended for refusing to hang up on his mother.

A few choice cuts in the article are worth noting (Bracketed text and emphasis mine):

[Sgt. 1st Class Monique] Bates came to Fort Benning with her son from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. She enrolled him at Spencer in August. Since her deployment overseas, [Kevin] Francois, whose father was killed when he was 5 years old, lives with a guardian who has five children in Columbus.

Francois' only birth parent is stationed in Iraq, a tough situation for any child. Read on.

"They are really allowed to have those cell phones so that after band or after chorus or after the debate and practices are over they have to coordinate with the parents," said Alfred Parham, assistant principal at Spencer. "They're not supposed to use them for conversating back and forth during school because if they were allowed to do that, they could be text messaging each other for test questions."

They could be doing that, but I think that any teacher could tell within a few seconds of using the student's phone that they are (a.) talking to a live person, (b.) that this person is an adult and (c.) this person is their mother.

The student said he then went with the teacher to the school's office where he surrendered his phone. His mother called again at 12:37 p.m. and left a message scolding her son about hanging up and telling him to answer the phone when she calls.

I think she needed to leave that message with the front office, but since she likely did not know what had happened, that is to be expected.

"I was mad at the time, but I feel now maybe I should've went about it differently," he said. "Maybe I should've just waited outside to pick up the phone. But I don't I feel I should've changed any of my actions. I feel I was right by not hanging up the phone."
For Francois, he said he gets to hear from his mother once a month, and phone calls vary depending on when she can use the phone in Iraq. Francois said his mother calls as late as 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and tries to catch him during hours he's awake. He said the phone call Wednesday was the first time she called him while he was at school.

As I surmised yesterday, Bates has few opportunities to call her son, and with the time differential between Georgia and Iraq, those opportunities may have to be taken while Francois is in class.

And I think any school administrator would agree that students need a good night's sleep -- 3 a.m. phonecalls aren't conducive to that.

Francois, who said he's been struggling with his grades in school, wants to go back to school and finish the rest of his year. He fears he may have pay for summer school because of his punishment.

"My grades had been low, but I was bringing them up. My grades were coming back up. On one of my report cards I had like a 'F' in one of my classes, but I brought it back up to a low 'C.' This just brought me all the way down."

So we have an excessive punishment that leads to Francois failing for the year. Yes, that 10-day suspension was a good idea. Thanks, Spencer High School administrators!

An unwelcome Mother's Day present

2005-05-07T00:13:00.000-04:00

Kevin Francois listened to his mother, and for that he was suspended from school for 10 days.

Francois, a 17-year-old junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, Ga., received the punishment after strongly refusing a teacher's command to end a cell phone call from his mother during the school's lunchtime Wednesday. Francois had been "defiant and disorderly" in his refusal, including using profanity while being taken to the office, according to assistant principal Alfred Parham.

Francois' breaking of the rules might be an open-and-shut case if not for one detail: His mother, Sgt. 1st Class Monique Bates, had called him from Iraq, where she has been stationed with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion since January.

Spencer High School students are allowed to have cell phones on campus but cannot use them during school hours. Francois is clearly guilty breaking that rule, but a 10-day suspension for breaking this rule and vehemently refusing to end a possibly rare conversation with his mother seems a bit excessive.

I'm guessing that most soldiers in Iraq do not have the capability to pick up a phone at any time and call back to the States. Even if they had the capability, their work schedule would likely limit the time periods in which they could make such a call.

With Iraq being eight hours ahead of Georgia, a lunchtime somewhere between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time would end up being between 7:30 and 9 p.m. in Iraq - probably the best and maybe the only time Bates could call her son. At 3:30 p.m. EDT, it would be 11:30 p.m. in Iraq, and Bates would unlikely be allowed or able to call at that time.

But even with a 10-day suspension, Francois got off pretty light, because school officials considered putting him under arrest.

"When a kid becomes out of control like that they can either be arrested or suspended for 10 days," Parham said.

I'm sorry, Mr. Parham, but I too would get a little bit "out of control" if I was told to hang up on my mother who was calling me from halfway around the world and probably did not get many opportunities to call me.

"Now being that his mother is in Iraq, we're not trying to cause her any undue hardship; he was suspended for 10 days," Parham said.

"Undue hardship"?!? Sure, her son may not have been arrested, but a 10-day suspension is a major penalty, especially if the student earns zeroes on all the work they miss during those days.

A 10-day suspension is usually reserved for a major rule infraction such as fighting. I don't think speaking to your mother over the phone even comes close to such an infraction.

I can't say that Francois deserves no punishment for what he did; if he was that unruly and used profanity, then some punishment is needed, for he could have reacted in a better manner.

Considering the situation, I would say the maximum punishment should be a single day of suspension. But not 10 days, for that harsh of a punishment handed down to her son does not make a good Mother's Day gift for Sgt. Bates.

I wonder what the administrators' mothers would think of all this?

Saturday Night Cockfights

2005-05-06T01:16:00.000-04:00

You're never too old to start a cockfighting ring.

Robert Greene, 83, was one of five people arrested in connection with a cockfighting ring that's apparently all the rage in Blue Ridge, Ga. As many as 300 people attended the Saturday night cockfights, so it's either that popular or there isn't that much to do in Blue Ridge. If the latter is true, maybe that is Greene's fault: As the mayor of Blue Ridge, maybe he should have done more to promote the creation of legitimate businesses in town.

Greene and four others have been charged with commercial gambling, keeping a gambling place and cruelty to animals. Surprisingly, the five were not charged with perpetuating a Southern stereotype.

Lil Jon says "What?!?"

2005-05-05T00:39:00.000-04:00

The TV show that made "I'm Rick James, bitch!" a household phrase (if your household allows that kind of language) has once again had its season premiere pushed back.

Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show, which stars Dave Chappelle in a mix of stand-up and comedic sketches, was recently scheduled to begin its third season May 31 (just three days after my birthday, for those of you keeping score at home), but the production of the shows has been delayed due to reasons unstated at this time.

The third season had originally been slated to begin in February, but the premiere was pushed back after Chappelle fell ill in December.

The delay doesn't seem to be based on contractual issues: Chappelle seems to be on the winning end of a two-year, $50 million deal with Comedy Central. Chappelle's plate, however, does appear to be full, as he appears to be working on a book for Hyperion and may portray Rick James in a biopic for Paramount.

It seems unlikely that Chappelle would again be majorly "under the weather" since it is spring and all, but then again, there are so many conditions and diseases out there that it can be hard to assume that he is well.

I am praying that Chappelle is well and that he and Comedy Central will soon resume production of one of the network's funniest programs. Because like most Chappelle fans, I'm waiting for another catch phrase to replace "I'm Rick James, bitch!"

The first post

2005-05-04T23:49:00.000-04:00

Nothing to see here, folks. Yet.