From the Sun-Times: Student faces expulsion for Web post
And this is the problem with this.
I get that kids do stupid things. And I really, really hate MySpace. But if I had access to something like MySpace when I was in high school, and got expelled every time I said “LHS sucks sweaty-ass balls and I wish it would just burn down”, I never would have graduated. This is a slippery slope that school districts should stay away from.
“Thinking together?” You mean as opposed to hurling invective at each other? Well, I suppose it’s worth a try.
I saw the billboard above on my way home from work last night, way out west on North Ave. I was intrigued and visited the website, which is rather interesting.
Not only is there a range of opinion from the American side, but there’s also the Mexican perspective, including the views of candidates in Mexico’s upcoming Presidential election.
It’s a helpful reminder that our policies here in the U.S. reverberate throughout the world and play a role in the domestic politics of other countries (for another reminder, see: the last Iranian elections, in which Bush’s big mouth helped push hardliners into power, or for that matter, the last Palestinian elections).
National Cartoonists Society is hosting the 60th Annual Reuben Awards in Chicago this week. Which means you could spot such cartoon luminaries as Lynn Johnston, Bill Amend, or Mort Walker walking around town! Well, maybe you could if you had any idea what any of them looked like. At any rate, there will be a book signing even at the Borders at State and Randolph (150 N. State) on May 25th from 5-7pm.
You were so good for four seasons. Tops. Then for season five you brutally betray everyone and turn into a huge, huge piece of crap. You’re like a beloved pet who, just before season five, got hit by a car about 40 times. You survived but you changed. You’re not the same. You sort of look similar, but now you suck so bad, it just hurts to look at you.
I guess Garner was like, “hey everybody, since everyone likes Alias so much, let’s change every single thing that people like, and make it a lame ass show for this season.” And JJ was like, “Okay, we’ll do whatever you want Garner! I started another show anyway plus I have M:I 3. Garner, take over! Yea!”
I just watched the last episode. Well, finally the misery is over, and man, it was just pathetic. To add insult to injury, they had the balls to thank the peeps who wathed for five years. So sad. It’s just so sad. Is it so much to ask that you just care about your show? I just hate you so much right now. Assholes.
President Logan, er, Bush, departs for Washington, D.C.
No, that wasn’t the headline in the Trib or Sun-Times this morning, but it should have been.
Let’s just hope the stupid bastards that were clambering over each other for a lock of Dear Leader’s hair enjoyed the show, since their illegal immigrant employees were, I sincerely hope, emptying the till and boning their wives in their absence.
Here’s the full transcript of Bush’s speech.
Here are a few choice outtakes from the slobbering crowd, as they pushed and shoved one another, and trampled their own children, to get on the mic and polish Bush’s knob:
Q Thank you, Mr. President. First, I want to tell you, thank you, how much we love your brother.
THE PRESIDENT: I had nothing to do with it. (Laughter.) Thank my mother. (Laughter.)
(Translation: “Incest isn’t our thing; I wasn’t born in Texas, remember.”)
Q He has been very good to the restaurant industry.
THE PRESIDENT: He has been eating a lot, I noticed. (Laughter.)
(Translation: Yep, that Jeb shore is a fat bastard, aint he?”
…
(more…)
If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Since teenagers clearly don’t have the mental ability to make decisions on their own, or form opinions about the world, two north side (naturally) schools are legislating what is appropriate student behavior.
Given my previous post on adult overreaction to MySpace, you can imagine my surprise when I was watching Fox News last night after a dismal 24 season finale, and saw my alma mater name-dropped. Now, Libertyville is totally the kind of place that legislates just because it has nothing better to do – I know this because I received TWO tickets when I was 16 for underage smoking while I was walking to school. Talk about nothing better to do. So this is incredibly not surprising – what’s your take?
Just a short SUV drive away, Arlington Heights is considering banning books because they talk about *gasp* abortion, guns, and sexuality. At what point are we supposed to learn about these things? High school seems like a pretty good time – especially for sexuality and abortion. Again – your take?
“Idiocy is part of the administration’s work.”
The Sun-Times reports that living legend Studs Terkel has joined a lawsuit against AT&T in an attempt to end their practice of supplying the government with your phone records. The suit is being brought by the Illinois ACLU and several other Chicagoans, including “Illinois House majority leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), Rabbi Gary Gerson of Oak Park Temple, Loyola University law professor Diane Geraghty, former Chicago corporation counsel James Montgomery, and former American Public Health Association president Dr. Quinten Young.”
“This is the kind of insidious, coercive relationship we’ve seen before in our history,” said ACLU legal director Harvey Grossman. “These are ominous times.”
“Terkel, 94, derided AT&T brass as “toadies.”
“Anything the corporate boys do these days does not astonish me,” Terkel said.
Terkel also chided the Bush administration for invading Americans’ privacy.
“Somehow, idiocy is part of the administration’s work. Along with that is an arrogance and a vulgarity that is unprecedented,” he said.”
Studs Terkel, STILL not afraid to stick it to the muthafuckin’ man! Go Studs!
Yesterday The Trib printed this lovely article “exploring” emo culture. Besides being completely out-of-touch it also does a terrific job of distorting that which is actually emo.
I could go into a history lesson here, but I won’t.
Please read the article for what it is and recognize that it is first and foremost an alarmist piece of clap-trap. This is not primarily a piece about cutters or teenage depression or pill popping or MySpace or anything like that. That is just some of the tangential stuff the author has thrown in to support her theory that emo is scary and will cause kids harm. Whatever.
Quick, hide the kids…it’s emo!
(Emo Bear pic via Threadless)
As if I needed another reason to buy a new MacBook, today I learned (via Gizmodo) that the Chicago Apple Store features a Green Roof, from Green Grid. I love more green in the city, I just wish I could actually see it.
Tune up your bikes!
Saturday morning we meet at the corner of Union and 18th St at 9:30am.
We’ll ride the lakeshore route up to Milwaukee and catch the 12:30 ferry crossing over to Muskegon, MI. Arrive in Muskegon, ride around the hills, then find rooms & get cleaned up for the evening.
Go find my cousin Cookie who will show us cool places to have a drink and enjoy the lakeshore sunset.
Wake up Sunday morning, get breakfast, then ride down to Gingerman Raceway for some vintage motorcycle racing.
Ride back to Chicago that night? Maybe. But we don’t haveta if we don’t wanna because MONDAY IS A HOLIDAY!
Winner!
