They’re not Sudanese refugees trying to make a new start. They’re blond, blue-eyed superfluous males from communities that are run more like a pride of lions or a troop of baboons than a town. Shurtleff helps revive ‘lost boys’ bill Legislation billed as a way to help youths evicted from polygamous homes – known as the “lost boys” – died in a Senate logjam last year. On Wednesday, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told the Judiciary Interim Committee the bill, which would allow a judge to emancipate a minor at age 16, is among his top priorities. Shurtleff said hundreds…
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A Taste Of Heaven in the Andersonville neighborhood sounds like heaven on earth for a childfree curmudgeo-woman like me. Naturally, the proprietor is now the most hated man on the Chicago North Side. Basically, he has a firmly worded little sign in the shop that states that “children of all ages have to use their indoor voices.” Many former patrons are in an uproar, because the world is their living room, and how dare anyone object to the happy shrieks and “cute” antics of their children. Especially not anyone in a tin-ceilinged coffee shop in what used to be an…
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BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Illiteracy ‘hinders world’s poor’ The regions found to have the lowest levels of literacy are sub-Saharan Africa, south and west Asia and the Arab states, where only 60% of the population are able to read and write. Women remain more at risk of illiteracy, with only 88 women worldwide considered literate for every 100 men. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, these figures are even less, at 62 and 57 respectively for every 100 men. The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) welcomed the publication and its focus on adult literacy, saying illiteracy was a violation…
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Oooweee! One of our favorite TV shows has been Boing Boinged! It’s almost as if BB wasn’t really familiar with the show, which is weird because it’s totally on topic for them and totally aimed at their dream demographic: smart, slightly geeky people who build cool shit and blow stuff up in the name of Science! So anyway, there’s a DVD coming out. There are already a couple of books on the mighty Mythbusters. It appears that the mustache of Jamie Hyneman will probably succeed in taking over the world, one visual media at a time. But until then, it’ll…
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It’s the day after an off-year election, and all the news outlets have filed their stories about how it’s a victory for Democrats and it’s a referendum against Bush (especially in the case of the Virginia governor’s race, where Bush had done a campaign stop hours before). Governator Ahnuld got shut out on his pet ballot initiatives, too. However, I actually think it’s more of a victory for politicians who aren’t Religious Right pod people, because a few Republican moderates were elected, too. If a heavily Democratic city like New York can re-elect a Republican mayor, that says that they…
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Okay. After last week’s horrible ending on TAR8, where we bade farewell to the awesome Gaghan family and were stuck with the not-very-appealing and socially backward Weaver family in next-to-last place, I realized I Officially Just Don’t Care Who Wins. I’ll watch until the bitter end, but I won’t care very much (or scream encouragement and imprecations very much). Tonight, for your reading pleasure, I am under way with two (2) glasses of Pinot Grigio safely stowed away, and may get into the Merlot if absolutely necessary (the Merlot was bought more for deglazing purposes than for actual drinkability). I…
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Pleas exuse Scooter from ethics skool. Because he is maybe going to jale or to talk to a judge so too bad for Scooter. P.S. pleas dont give a pass to Carl he should be grounded. Yours trooly, The White House Administrative Staff
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Okay, this is only going to be funny to fans of Stargate, but there’s this asteroid out there that has a very small chance of striking the Earth in about 30 years. What’s it called? Apophis. Fans of the show will be imagining the asteroid decked out in gold lame’ and eyeliner. I have to wonder at whoever is naming small objects in the solar system; that’s the second possible cheezy-SF reference in as many weeks. The other one was the new planet or moon or whatever that was just named “Xena.”
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The Price of Loyalty – Newsweek National News – MSNBC.com This has been the Bush pattern. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill presciently says a second tax cut is unaffordable if we want to fight in Iraq—he’s fired. Bush’s economic adviser Larry Lindsey presciently says the war will cost between $100 billion and $200 billion (an underestimate)—he’s fired. Army Gen. Eric Shinseki presciently says that winning in Iraq will require several hundred thousand troops—he’s sent into early retirement. By contrast, CIA Director George Tenet, who presided over two of the greatest intelligence lapses in American history (9/11 and WMD in Iraq) and…
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We went to see our friend Earle in this production of Beauty and the Beast last night – another fine entry in a long list of fun, great community theater productions. It always amazes me how they manage to put on a professional-caliber show on with volunteer help and donated funds. It compared pretty well with the version of Beauty and the Beast we saw at the Marriott theater previously. The woman playing Belle was especially good, as was the Beast. The only rough bits had to do with sound – body mikes not working right or issuing popping noises.…