To: The people running Explore Park
Re: This debacle with Larry Vander Maten
When you committed to this prenuptial agreement with developer Larry Vander Maten, I never publicly said, "It'll never work."
But darn, if the thought didn't cross my mind. Read more »
Stupid grown folks ban 9-year-old Jericho Scott from pitching because he's too good. Seems the kid's fastball tops out at 40 mph. He throws so hard that the youth league in his New Haven, Conn., hometown told him to pack it in and go home.
How stupid is that? In an era when kids need all the positive re-enforcement they can get, adults penalize a child for doing something right? This is beyond stupid. It's absurd.
If the boy were in Roanoke and had a 1.3 grade point average, he'd be welcomed onto the team.
s
Look, gang: I've always kept this blog focused on my columns and the news affairs of famous people. But consider this a rare timeout to share insight on my consumer habits.
The TV in my bedroom is dying. It was a college graduation gift received during the heydays of the Reagan administration. So I went TV shopping. (Don't tell Sears the economy bites. The TV department on Sunday afternoon was hopping!)
Give it to New Yorker magazine. It pulled out every rumor and stereotype the far right has dredged up about Barack and Michelle Obama for its current magazine cover. They're standing in the Oval Office, and he's dressed as a Muslim. She's a terrorist.
It's supposed to be satire, a comical way of shooting down all of that nonsense circulating on the Internet about the presidential candidate. Problem is, not everybody is as intellectual as those New Yorker readers. Some anti-Obama zealots will take the satire as gospel truth---and run with it! (Trust me, I get their e-mails. Some of these folks are a few croutons short of a salad.) Notice, I said "zealots," not "critics." I know lots of Obama critics who will easily see the cover as satire.
Some people don't "get" satire. I learned that earlier this year when I wrote a satirical piece about Advance Auto moving to Minnesota. Even when I came back the next week and wrote a column explaining that the original was satire, somebody named Pat accused me of being like an ex-spouse, willing to say anything to cover for a mistake. Huh?
Anyway, hit me back with your take on the New Yorker cover.
s
On June 7, 1981, a squadron of Israeli Air Force F-16A fighter aircraft, with an escort of F-15As, bombed and heavily damaged the Osirak reactor.
The Israeli "Nuclear Reactor Strike" and Syrian Weapons of Mass Destruction October 24, 2007
The attached analysis shows, however, that several things that are clear about Syria's position, and puts any Syrian nuclear efforts in context. In brief:
Syrian chemical and possible biological capabilities do not give it a meaningful deterrent to Israel, do not rival Israel's status as a nuclear power, and might do more to justify an Israeli use of nuclear weapons in retaliation than achieve strategic benefits.
Iranian president says war with U.S., Israel ... including threats to hit Israel and U.S. Gulf bases with missiles and stop oil traffic
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., stated that sanctions and direct negotiations are the best way to deal with Iran Missile Test situation.
I respect the ideals of our youth yet,
If Sen. Obama thinks Israel is going let Iran Reactor go on line then he is delusional. History proves no matter who is in office Israel will attack that reactor.
Backlash
Roanoke native Rene Marie caused a dust-up Tuesday in Denver when she sang the lyrics of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" to the tune of the national anthem.
"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" is known as the black national anthem. Our homegrown jazz singer, who now lives in Denver, pulled her switcheroo without the prior knowledge of her hosts at the mayor's State of the City speech.
Was Rene right or wrong?
...maybe the caller was.
OK, let me go back to the beginning. I published a piece Tuesday morning about Allen Iverson maturing, right? I say good things about A.I. I chronicled his evolution from cocky kid to overall good NBA citizen.
I got this message at 10:28 a.m. on voicemail:
Women take breast-feeding seriously. So seriously they failed to see I was poking fun at myself, not breast-feeding, in the introduction of my column.
My use of the word "gross" was a writing tactic. I was my own foil to draw readers' attention to what otherwise could have been a very staid column about a case in Massachusetts.
My depiction of my reaction to breast-feeding was supposed to be juvenile, hence the word "gross." As in a 13-year-old's reaction, "Oh that is SO gross!" Not Hannibal Lecter gross. (Maybe as a wordsmith, I see a clear distinction. After all, kids think a zit is gross.)
That said, I am uncomfortable in the presence of a woman breast-feeding her child. If you want to hit me on that, hit me on that. But I'm being honest. I believe it is a natural, but private act. Many things we do are natural, but we'd just as soon others not be privvy to them.
I'm sure I've probably been in the presence of women breast-feeding, and I didn't know because they were modest and covered themselves. But when I'm aware, I'm uncomfortable.
The benefits of breast-feeding are countless, which I note in the third paragraph of the column. Additionally, the two women I interviewed unknowingly spoke for me. I understood and knew everything they said was true.
The point of the column, which seemed to escape most, was that the doctor is not the ideal advocate for the cause. Of course, she needed extra time to pump. But she also seems to be someone who wants special treatment after special treatment after special treatment. (There are some details that didn't make it into the column that suggests she is all about "me," making her life decisions, and then expecting others to accomodate her choices.)
It is my belief that the overwhelming majority of breast-feeding mothers are not self-centered. They simply want sanitary and comfortable accomodations. They deserve that.
s
When it comes to breast-feeding, I'm in league with a quiet sect of men -- and women:
It grosses me out.
Not the idea of mothers bonding with their babies and providing them nutrition and other natural goodies for healthy, growing bodies. But the act of them doing so, anywhere in my visual range.
I am not a mother, I've never nursed, and I've never jumped out of bed for a 3 a.m. feeding.
In her signature plainspoken style, Michigan native Shanna Flowers peels away the layers and gets to the heart of the issues. No pretense. Just straightforward perspective. Shanna writes about local people whose circumstances reflect decisions made as near as City Hall or as far away as the halls of Congress. Other times, she weighs in on a topic because it is incredibly ridiculous. Or heartening. Or fascinating. Read Shanna's column three days a week, Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at roanoke.com
