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DEL.ICIO.USAn arborist, attitudes and a bad bet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
• A high school in Gonzales, Texas, requires inappropriately dressed students to don navy blue coveralls — prison jumpsuits of a sort. Some parents object. What’s wrong with public education? These three things, among others: 1) parents who object to efforts to maintain discipline; 2) students who disregard simple instructions; 3) parents who don’t parent before the child hits school.
• Financing a car for six years, as Chrysler proposes, appeals to those who buy based on the monthly payment. It’s the kind of thinking that prepares people for payday loans and subprime mortgages.
• Now that Hillary is out and has no use for them, Barack Obama — in the spirit of party unity — asks that all the delegates from Florida and Michigan be allowed to vote at the convention.
• At a federal reimbursement rate of 58.5 cents per mile, parents and the DeKalb school system both win by transporting their own children to new schools from those that are nonperforming, as parents of 2,300 request. Car pools. Vans. All are preferred to buying more under-filled buses in rush-hour traffic.
• Atlanta fired a popular arborist, arousing concern among some that the city will be too lax in enforcing tree ordinances. I love trees. But right now I’m all worried-up. Global warming. Whether we’re executing people who are too fat. Whether Paris Hilton has a better energy policy than Barack Obama. The arborist firing is on my list, though. It’s due for serious worry time at 9:16 a.m. on April 16, 2011.
• First Starbucks and now Whole Foods Market announces lower earnings and plans to curtail expansion. Can the trendy among us live another day? Yes, if we assure them that all’s well with IKEA and itsy-bitsy cars are here to stay.
• When Gwinnett’s minorities become the majority — minorities had reached 48.3 percent a year ago — can the world stop ascribing all the convenient “suburban” stereotypes to the place, specifically related to MARTA and to how Republicans think? Comparing attitudes about MARTA today, for example, to those of decades ago reflects ignorance of the changes that have taken place. It’s ignorant, too, to assume that all Republicans think alike because they represent districts usually identified as “suburban” or that Democrats do who represent “rural” areas.
• Like Jim Martin, I declare myself a friend of the working people. And if his guy wins the White House, my friends are going to get hosed by the tax man.
• Sure as shootin’ when state revenues dip, the casino-gambling/ horse-racing crowd emerges to push their agenda. The president of the Georgia-South Carolina Horse Racing Committee wants you to know he is very distressed about education funding in Georgia and the tax burden on old folks. Just guessing, but might he have a solution to propose? Coincidentally, yes. But no thanks. We’ll get by without giving poor people even more ways to lose the butter and egg money.
• See, these folks being held at Guantanamo are enemy combatants captured on the battlefield. They didn’t shop-lift at Wal-Mart. They’re not U.S. citizens with constitutional rights. When The Associated Press account notes in the first sentence of its report of the split verdict on Osama bin Laden’s driver that “A jury of six military officers … ” and at the start of the second paragraph that “The Pentagon-selected jury … ” one gets the distinct impression that the reporter is trying to tell us that the driver could not get a fair trial. But he did. Then we’re told that defense lawyers “feared a guilty verdict was inevitable” because “the tribunal system’s rules seemed designed to achieve convictions.” That observation was attributed to the driver’s “Pentagon-appointed attorney.”
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Comments
By AJC/DNC Management
August 8, 2008 8:00 AM | Link to this
Yeah boy, people just hang on every word the dimwitocrats say:
SPEAKER OF THE FLOP: PELOSI SELLS 2,737 COPIES OF BOOK…
~~~~~
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will call on his fighters to maintain a cease-fire with U.S. troops but may lift the order if a planned Iraq-U.S. security agreement lacks a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, a spokesman said Thursday.-Urinal/Jihad
Let’s see here, every time that Mookie lifts the “cease fire” with the American troops, his forces throw down their weapons and flee into Iran.
Um,
Isn’t.
That.
What.
We.
Want?
The only drawback will be that thee Urinal/Jihad needs to shake Mookie’s dead army at America, they will have to animate thee corpse from across the border.
Wait a minute, they are already on that side.
Never mind.
~~~~~
Judge tosses Detroit mayor in jail-Urinal/DNC
Yeah, and to add insult to injury, Thee Urinal/DNC has stripped him of his political affiliation, a whole article in thee Pinko Times, not one mention of his party, hmmmm.
Oh, look, here it is, he’s a dimwitocrat.
Bwa.
~~~~~
Jobless claims hit ‘02 level-Doom and Gloom/PMS
Which is still just as low as it was all through the KKKlintoon economy, uh, which was a wonderful time according to thee Urinal.
~~~~~
Mr. Obama got tagged the past month as something new, not the candidate from Men’s Vogue but arrogant, aloof and somehow ethereal. There is no there there.
Mr. Obama consistently shows that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. It’s a theme with his talented, confident staff. They don’t know what they don’t know either. Because they’re young and they’ve never been in power and it takes time to know what you don’t know. The presidential-type seal with OBAMA on it, the sometimes over-the-top rhetoric about healing the earth and parting the seas. They pick the biggest, showiest venue for the Berlin speech, the Brandenburg Gate, just like a president, not realizing people would think: Ya gotta earn that one, kid.
Or is he, say, a product of the self-esteem campaign, that movement within the schools and homes of our country the past 25 years that says the way to get a winner is to tell the kid he’s a winner every day? You can get some true people of achievement that way, because some people need a lot of reinforcement to rise. But you can also get, not to put too fine a point of it, empty suits that take on a normal shape only because they’re so puffed up with ego.
Is Mr. Obama’s self-conception in line with his gifts, depth, wisdom and character? That’s the big question, I suspect, on a number of minds.
Welcome back, Peggy.
Say, where is Lord High Dimwit, Thee Most Magnificent, anyway?
By BFKaJ
August 8, 2008 8:05 AM | Link to this
Good morning all. Perhaps I am naive, but I cannot imagine what is “inappropriate dress” for a high school student. It is a wonder that the prison jump suits do not become a fashion statement themselves. Maybe they ought to put flower designs on the suits, or make sure they are paisley. Nevertheless, the jumpsuits seem like a reasonable compromise of the competing interests – the slobs do not disrupt, yet they are still able to participate in their classes. I suspect their participation is not really essential to the common weal.
Seems like financing a Chrysler for six years would be an unsafe and unsound financial practice inherently. Regulatory humor, ark, ark,
I’m wondering if the Florida and Michigan delegate move is a flim-flam, setting in motion a Hail Mary to get the nomination for Hildebeest. I know it almost sounds like one of those tinfoil hat theories, but there is just enough of a nagging possibility that it stirs the imagination. Wonder if her goal is to lose the nomination by just a few votes, say 2,300-2,100. Go out a graceful loser for now, set herself up for 2012.
What kind of tree ordinances exist? Barking rage? Dropping leaves in a no-drop zone? Polluting the environment? Displaying nuts in a public place? Inquiring minds want to know, was the arborist fired because he could not catch his tree?
Jbmlaw explains the world. Starbucks earnings declined because their coffee is undrinkable. Whole Foods is under assault by the FTC, surely the stupidest anti-monopoly action since ATT and IBM were settled. Don’t know what is an IKEA – do you eat it or smoke it? And please don’t mock tiny cars – I lust for a Fit. Should my 16-year old Mazda ever die, I’ll get one. I’ve always been partial to teeny vehicles. Should have been a Shriner.
Friend of the working man? I thought democrats were only friends of the layabouts. Big spenders, who take other people monies for their munificence, are not friends of those who pay the bills. And the working guy pays for everybody, in one way or another.
I have ambivalent thoughts on horse racing. I have never bought a lottery ticket, although I have lived here only nine years, so I suppose I may some day yield to the devil’s entreaties. However, when I worked in Louisiana, I liked the horse races, especially that gorgeous park in Lafayette; think it closed about 15 years ago. My friends mocked me the first time I went. I anticipated watching the noble beasts’s performances; instead I hardly got my nose out of the Daily Racing Form. Won the daily double and six out of eight exactas. Made about $75 on my $2 bets. Big spender. Honesty compels that I disclose that I am down about $200 for my gambling career. Any true libertarian would determine that the government ought not be regulating behavior, so long as there is no fraud.
Agree that much of the MSM reporting on the GTMO trial was bogus. Military officers are straight and smart. Saddam’s driver got five years, for supporting the criminal regime. That’s about right, he was a low-level performer. That is probably more generous than similarly-situate Nuremberg defendants. Contrast Albert Speer, for one conspicuous instance. Fairer trial, fairer sentence. The modern military justice is fairer than American civil courts, and military juries are better than civil juries. The education level is the difference.
By AJC/DNC Management
August 8, 2008 8:13 AM | Link to this
Obama has made his extraordinary life story the central plank of his political career. But the constant repetition of the carefully-crafted narrative has begun to wear a bit thin. All the talk about himself can seem a bit, well, self-regarding.
It fed into a perception that had bubbling since the height of his struggle to overcome Hillary Clinton. The first time I heard the Britney comparison at a Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Richmond, Virginia back in February when Linda Little, a 60-year-old retired secretary and Hillary supporter told me: “Barack has pretty words. It’s like he’s a rock star for people. It’s like he’s Britney Spears or something. They just fall for him.”
The former First Lady’s partially successful attempts to portray Obama as a preening, arugula-munching, Honest Tea-sipping elitist have softened him up for McCain and also provided a trove of quotations to use as ammunition.
But the Vietnam hero has realized that many Americans might be tiring of this election being all about Obama all the time - and that he therefore needs to keep it that way.
Tired?
Disgusted is a much better description.
Who, in their right mind, wants to hear some light weight race hustler and professional cry baby tell you how awful you and your country are?
Hell, if I wanted that, I could just read the Urinal.
By hillbilly ragger
August 8, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this
Mornin’ rational people.
Mornin’ Jim. You took, big fookin’ kludge and the whiny copy/paste guy.
So Jim, after running a column about “Obama fatigue”, and how people supposedly are tired of hearing about him (and would rather hear more about McCain) you think you could go more than a whole day without doing yet another column that talks about Obama (twice!) and ignores McCain? Guess not.
Oh, and about the “Gitmo peeps were captured on the BATTLEFIELD!” meme I’ve been hearing for years from the wingnuts — no, actually, very many of them weren’t, unless the “battlefield” for Chimp’s endless “war on Terra” is wherever Chimp says it is. Nice try though. The one (1) conviction these imbeciles have managed to secure out of the whole money-sucking, Constitution-shredding fiasco that is Gitmo, is from a guy who’d been stopped at a border crossing. Not a battlefield.
Later gators. Gotta go put food on mah fambly.
By Bud Wiser
August 8, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
A Republican in a wheelchair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Republican looked across the restaurant and asked, ‘Is that Jesus sitting over there?’ The waitress nodded ‘yes,’ so the Republican requested that she give Jesus a cup of coffee, on him.
The next patron to come in was a Libertarian with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, ‘Is that Jesus over there?’ The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, ‘My treat.’
The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, ‘Hey there, momma! How’s about gettin’ me a cold Miller Light?’ He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, ‘Is that God’s boy over there?’ The waitress once more nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold beer…. ‘On my bill,’ he said.
As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, ‘For your kindness, you are healed.’ The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door.
Jesus also passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, ‘For your kindness, you are healed.’ The Libertarian felt his back straightening up, and he raised his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door.
Then Jesus walked toward the Democrat. The Democrat jumped up and yelled, ‘Don’t touch me… I’m collecting disability!
By AJC/DNC Management
August 8, 2008 8:28 AM | Link to this
Anybody with a view of thee outdoors right now, take a look at that big, beautiful blue sky, feel that cool crisp morning air, check out the forecast of a 87 degree high in August Hotlanta and then let’s all wonder together what the F the environmental terrorists are whining and moaning about.
And then laugh your as-ses off at what fools they are.
83 degrees next week?
Puh-leeze.
By Maniac is accurate
August 8, 2008 8:36 AM | Link to this
Why, Daddy Jim, pushing government paternalism. I don’t want to go to the horseraces. But I think tracks and casinos should be allowed, just like folks should be allowed to sell alcohol 24-7-365 – or make it in stills in the privacy of their homes.
Daddy me would support school administrators enforcing a dress code, though, I think parents ought to have enough authority and good sense to dress their kids sensibly.
I don’t understand the eighth item at all. Maybe my friend BFKaJ will quid pro quo me for telling him that IKEA as a mega-trendy home furnishings store.
Starbucks coffee is gawdawful. But, also, when I worked in Nashville, there were three within a mile of my office. And, now, in Dalton there are two within a half miles of each other. Dumb.
What kind of following does an arborist attract? Are there groupies?
War crimes trials are not supposed have juries made up of Des Moines housewives of Milledgeville truckers.
He might deny it, but jbmlaw is pretty funny. Displaying nuts in public, indeed. Made me almost spew my coffee.
OK Bride of Godzille, we’re ready for your 68 posts now. Game on.
By AJC/DNC Management
August 8, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this
Joe Klein, toady, trying to usher in the McBushie Presidency as quickly as possible:
And so Obama would be wise to change course now: challenge McCain to town-hall debates on the Sunday nights after each convention—one before a military audience, another with hard-pressed Rust Belt workers. He’d be wise to make this a campaign about issues instead of ads as soon as possible. It is true that debates often turn on one-liners and flubs, but more often they turn on sustained, vivid demonstrations of character.
There would be smoke where Obama was standing on that stage, hahaha.
When Obama— correctly —said that keeping your tires inflated was one way to conserve energy (and save some money), McCain distributed tire-pressure gauges stamped OBAMA’S ENERGY PLAN.
Do tell us, America, how many of you are too stupid to know that your tires need to be inflated, like the pompous One is saying about you?
By Mr. Anderson
August 8, 2008 8:52 AM | Link to this
Anyone else find Wooten to be more akin to a crotchety old man, whittling wood in his rocking chair, than a legitimate conservative commentator? I swear I saw a King of the Hill where Peggy wrote these little bits of “wisdom” and it was funny there. Here? It’s sad.
By Taxpayer
August 8, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this
Does anyone know if Andy ever posts anything of value. He is such a cut and paste bore. Andy, try pulling you nose out of Boortz’s rear end every once in a while. You might be pleasantly surprised at what fresh air smells like.
Anyway, enough typing wasted on that doofus. I initially trusted Bush and the Republican party because they talked like they actually cared about smaller government, “love thy neighbor type family values”, etc. They sure fooled me. I’ve been thinking a lot this election cycle and digging into what the parties and candidates offer much more so than I have in the past. I’ve even gone as far as to read what people on blogs such as this one are saying. As far as the people on blogs and on radio are concerned, they have sold me on going back to the Democrat Party and voting for Obama. All these so-called Republicans are just too mean and hateful and always trying to put others down with filthy talk but no real substance. For example, Andy is always talking filthy trashing talk to the point that he even got me to do it back at him and I must admit that I was not that way before I started reading this blog. Anyway, my final words are addressed to Mr. Wooten. I wish you the best in you future ventures. Good Bye.
By findog
August 8, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this
1 – amen
2 – amen
3 – of course
4 – how does school choice become business travel?
5 – code enforcement personnel need the same support we give our police officers
6 – whatever
7 – I believe the ballot count in Gwinnett County’s recent primary showed a compelling difference between D and R voters on Marta; but neither was 100%
8 – Everyone one has already been hosed by President Bush and the six years of government expansion; whoever is elected will either have to raise taxes or sell more of America to China
9 – The lottery is gambling for people who failed statistics, thank you Zell
10 – Jim you really whiffed this one; the sentence is 5.5 years with time served, he’ll be out about the time our next President is inaugurated. That is what really shows how off base the article and the defense lawyer were in the alleged report.
By Amy in the ATL
August 8, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this
Ummm…why are Conservatives so anti-conservative when it comes to our natural resources? Shouldn’t we all join in to do our part in promoting a better utilization of resources? Metro Atlanta’s love affair with large gas-guzzling vehicles and ever expanding houses farther and farther away on treeless lots requiring WAY more a/c to make habitable drains our pocketbooks and makes it harder for those same folks to save their money to make GOOD investments, like paying for their kids college, paying off their house (as opposed to living off home equity) and investing in their retirement fund. Too many so-called suburban Conservatives I know spend more money per year on car expenses (gas, car financing, insurance, maintenance) than they put into their 401Ks and kids’ college funds. Does that make sense? So Jim, while you’re railing on taxes, why don’t you also rail on your fellow Republicans’ inability to make some adjustments to their lifestyle that would not only improve our air quality but also help contribute to a more sustainable economy? Sure, it’s your right as an American to be a complete idiot, but let’s just be clear that moving 1.5 hours away from your job to get a 5000 square foot house that you can barely afford, let alone pay for the gas you’re putting in that Yukon, is pretty darn idiotic.
Meanwhile, the good folks in the City are concerned about mass transportation quality and tree coverage. Which seems a heck of a lot more rationale to me.
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 9:05 AM | Link to this
I HAVE TO PASS A URINE TEST FOR MY JOB, SO. Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem.
What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test. Shouldn’t one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their A*, doing drugs, while I work… . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?
By Mara
August 8, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
“Atlanta fired a popular arborist, arousing concern among some that the city will be too lax in enforcing tree ordinances. I love trees. But right now I’m all worried-up.”
Just like a republicant…no respect for the law and an indifference toward the harrassment and retaliation meted out to those who actually try to enforce it…especially if that enforcement inconveniences those who reliably support republicant pilferage.
What is it with republicants and their hatred of the law. Between McAmnesty, Gonzales, Miers, and Bush, the “rule of law” has pretty much deteriorated into the “suggestion of law”.
By Copyleft
August 8, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
Whoops! You made a mistake, Jim. In your regular snipe against public education, you listed three problems: 1) parents, 2) students, and 3) parents.
You forgot to whine about the evils of teacher’s unions, and the horrible NEA that keeps trying to educate ALL of our children regardless of income!
A person reading your commentary would come away thinking that the only REAL problem with public education is the morons who try to interfere with it! Gosh. I’m sure that isn’t what you intended.
By ByteMe
August 8, 2008 9:15 AM | Link to this
Congrats, Jim! Another day talking about how great John McCain will be as President and nothing about Obama (because of all that “fatigue” we’re suffering from).
Oh, wait. Never mind. You didn’t do that. Only one little bit on Obama, nothing at all (again) on McCain.
Must be hard to be a Republican these days with nothing positive to say about the chosen future “leader” of your own party. Poor you.
By AJC/DNC Management
August 8, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this
By Taxpayer August 8, 2008 8:53 AM Does anyone know if Andy ever posts anything of value. He is such a cut and paste bore. Andy, try pulling you nose out of Boortz’s rear end every once in a while
Numbnuts: The last time I listened to Neil Boretz was 5 something years ago, right after he said that “there is nothing wrong with being gay.”
Buh-bye, Neil.
By Paul
August 8, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this
taxpayer
[[Does anyone know if Andy ever posts anything of value. ]]
Yes I know.
Yes he does.
You may want to address any topic he references - the current state of al-Sadr’s forces and the reasons.
Current attitudes on unemployment rate vs attitudes of similar rates under prior administrations.
How certain media outlets make the decision to specify (or not) the party affiliation of politicians with legal problems.
Lots of food for thought, there -
By Just Nasty and Mean
August 8, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this
G’mornin, Jim, et al,
Since when did public schools get the cohunes to even attempt to discipline school kids? I was under the impression the schools were scared-to-death about confronting the parents, much less getting sued.
Democraps: “Oh, now that Hillary is on the sidelines, and Obama limped across the finish line, lets let the Michigan/Florida voters count and sing “We are the world” Its enough to make you puke.
Since when is it my (a taxpayer’s) responsibility to transport some kid across town because someone decided they didn’t like who-knows-what about their school. If it’s that important—pay for it yourself! Why is the Federal taxpayer always left holding the bag?
Jim, why don’t we mind our own friKKin business? If someone wants to open a horse/dog track or casino, what business is it of yours (ours?). If someone wants to spend their butter and egg money, what business is it of ours (yours)? Is it any worse than the lottery that most think is very successful? Loosen your sphincter, dude! Its no big deal!
Can somebody tell me what in hell we are doing giving “trials” to enemy combatants arrested in the war zone? Have we lost every semblance of common sense of how to win a war. Let’s put them in jail until the war is over. Period.
Mrs Godzilla Is there even a chance we could let Jim lead this blog, or do you have to day after day? Why not get your OWN blog with your Obama billboards, helter-skelter topics, Democrap talking points and quit mooching off this one? We’d like to get a word in edgewise about the topics Jim presents. OK? You could stand to loosen your sphincter, also.
Have a great weekend everybody!
By ButtHead
August 8, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
Any bets on how long until MrsGodzilla starts coping the HuffingtonPuss on to this blog? I say 5 minutes…
By Clt
August 8, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this
A comment is less than 150 words; you poor dumb redneckrepublicans are publishing a manifesto! Jim Wooten is still a lying dimwit and dullard! He has not been right about anything since he gave up his job at the bus station on Lucky Street.
By Southern Born
August 8, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this
Peadawg (or is that Pee-dawg) @ 9:05:
Insightful point made, sauce for the goose & gander.
By Oz
August 8, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this
Hey peadawg: The only reason you can pass a drug test is because your teeny weeny peeny’s weak stream wouldn’t show up in snow, much less a ritalin sensitive strip of telltale congenital mongoloidism that your mother’s crack habit would most certainly taint. I wouldn’t let you run a lemonade stand. I couldn’t trust the color yellow around foodstuffs you might have access to.
Try the oldest profession. I hear nursing homes need a few good men……..you could start a website called www.bedpanbordello.com……ew.
bwa
By Peter
August 8, 2008 9:50 AM | Link to this
By BFKaJ……… we understand you are out of touch………IKEA …..is a store !
Yes this was a true statement……….”Perhaps I am naive”.
When is Jim going to post a column with some teeth ?
By zeke
August 8, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this
10-4 good buddy!!!!
By lacuda
August 8, 2008 9:53 AM | Link to this
No Obama fatigue yet,i see several Obama references and nothing about the celebrated and despised vietnam captured weak unsoldier cum-prisoner. This economy hasnt hosed you yet Jim,how much are u paying for your gas,if i may ask? And your company is laying off pple left right and center……and you too blind to Bush economics right around ur corner….
By CommunistAJC
August 8, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
This is a must read. Anyone who DOES NOT have a sense of humor need not read it. For all those who do, you will laugh your arse off.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/newlinensns**opens
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Oz @ 9:48
Wow man…you must be one of those sorry asses w/ 8 kids and no job that i’m talking about and you’re mad b/c i make a good point.
By jungleland
August 8, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
This is EXACTLY why the poor get poorer.
If you have to finace for 6 years than you CAN’T AFFORD the car.
Plus this car will be worth NOTHING in six years (if it even still runs)
Debt management is YOUR responsibility.
By FRANKLEEDARLING
August 8, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this
LEGALIZE IT
By "Charles", The Original
August 8, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
Jim Wooten writes, “A high school in Gonzales, Texas, requires inappropriately dressed students to don navy blue coveralls — prison jumpsuits of a sort. Some parents object. What’s wrong with public education? These three things, among others: 1) parents who object to efforts to maintain discipline; 2) students who disregard simple instructions; 3) parents who don’t parent before the child hits school.”
Some parents have made the correct call. I too strongly object to donning inappropriately dressed students in navy blue coveralls——prison jumpsuits of a sort. Without exception, all students should be required to dress appropriately while attending public schools; no ifs, no ands, and no buts.
What’s wrong with public education? We can sum it up in two words, mandatory integration, among others. Granted, all of our public schools should be accessible to any student regardless of race, creed, or color. And in the Southern states, that’s exactly what policy makers required of public schools prior to 1970. But there was a problem, only the emotionally weaker students of each racial group decided to transfer to other schools. This occurrence caused policy makers to make a critical error; they decided that the integration of public schools would become mandatory.
Prior to mandatory integration, the overwhelming majority of students in the African American community obeyed simple instructions. A few contemptuous students were assigned instructors that specialized in transforming students in need of extra attention.
Americans know that the lives of African Americans haven’t been a crystal stair. There has been slavery, Jim crow, etc., and in the interim, too many individuals lost the ability to parent. Consequently, responsible black adults organized the transforming community. The transforming community served as a safety net that included grand-parents/adults tasked with the responsibility of preventing children from falling through the cracks. The parenting of each child was considered a right/duty of adults in the community before the advent of integration. But mandatory integration dismantled the safety net. And the results have been a dysfunctional hostile community with too many parents/children in dire need of socialization.
Presently, most integrationists argue that we don’t have integration in America. I contest the argument vigorously as far as the overwhelming majority of African Americans are concerned. Regrettably, mandatory integration has been a complete success where it matters most; in the minds of too many African Americans.
I can deduce that other communities share similar integration based outcomes.
By ButtHead
August 8, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Hey Amy in Atlanta, most of us who live in the suburbs is because we want to have a yard and a safe place to raise children. I would never want to raise a child in down town Atlanta. By the way I drive a small pick up that get over 30 miles per gallon and made it a point to find a job that is not in Atlanta where you can’t afford a house, police or firemen. So you have fun in down town, I can’t remember the last time I heard gun shots at night in Alpharetta.
WOW Copyleft, I actually agree with you, does that mean I am falling left.. LOL
By findog
August 8, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this
Trees are the natural remedy for the heat island effect in that pavement is some 20 degrees cooler in shad than direct sunlight. Atlanta was the city of trees some years ago, it may still be, but in the 90’s we were clearing 200-acres of trees every day. What happens is that the radiated heat pushes a column of hot air up from the densely developed area. The natural west to east winds that bring rain are split by that column of hot air and the leeward cities as far away as Augusta have artificial drought conditions. Tree ordinances try to save larger specimen trees that take 30 or more years to grow and call for replacing them at a premium while requiring trees to shade portions of parking lots. The problem is not unlike gun law’s, we do not need more tree protection laws, local government’s need to enforce them. And that is why the arborist being fired for doing his job is bad for everyone…
By Oz
August 8, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this
Glad you liked the material, P-hole, (i mean pdog), feel free to steal. Then folks’ll think that YOU’RE the genius, instead of the twin-lipped meat thermometer your face truly is.
bwa
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this
Oz you make no sense. What material would I steal? You sound like you’re vey very angry and need help.
By jm
August 8, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this
I wonder why Mr. Wooten is willing to let parents choose which schools to send their kids to but not what clothes those kids can wear to those schools.
I wonder why Mr. Wooten fails to mention that the 58.5 cents per mile will come from taxes.
I wonder why Mr. Wooten and others have been afraid of following the Geneva Convention with regards to those held at Gitmo. All they are doing is legitimizing any ill treatment US troops may be subject to in the future.
By Mara
August 8, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this
Peadawg - What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test”
LOL!!
FYI - Peadawg is a plagarist and his post is an unattributed cut-and-paste. It was first posted to the net prior to April ‘06, but it has been making the GOP e-mail circuit for years.
By Harry
August 8, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this
Peadawg:
Your phony chain email went thru my office a year ago!
It starts with the false premise that most people are required to take a urine test. This is simply not BS; my guess is a small percentage of GA residents are subject to mandatory drug testing. You can buy a gun or a car without a drug test. Also, you can play high school sports, play in the band or go to the prom without being tested..
Less than one percent of the federal budget goes to welfare, this drug testing idea would not be very cost effective. Maybe if you include other government entitlement checks like social security or military and government pensions, a larger segment of the population would need to be tested…but what about the cost vs. benefit? The average welfare is $150 dollars a month, it cost that mush per day to keep somebody in jail. Besides, I thought you Repuglafants were against government interference.
Seems to be a fix for a problem that does not exist… kinda like voter fraud. No cases of voter fraud (voting in person) have been prosecuted, yet now everyone in GA must present a photo ID to vote.
You seem to be factually challenged when it comes to the economy and social problems. Do you watch a lot of FOX TeeVee?
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 10:22 AM | Link to this
Mara, I actually did get it in a funny email this morning and thought it made a lot of sense and figured I post it on here.
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this
Wow! Those pictures of the Olympic Opening Ceremony are amazing. I can’t wait to see the ceremony tonight.
Happy 08/08/08 everyone. Hope it brings you good luck.
Too bad Jim didn’t write something about the Olympics today.
By Crickets chirp, until the wind picks up
August 8, 2008 10:27 AM | Link to this
Maybe Mrs. Godzilla doesn’t “work” on Fridays. That really would make it TGIF.
By Willie
August 8, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this
By jm: You see the mess caused by the liberals in the schools? It has Jim defending rights from one level of the spectrum to another. And the gitmo thing really should not bother you. Your kind does not join the armed forces. When I say your kind I mean you are the ones who called me baby killers and then pressured the government to make me take the first volley of rounds before I could shoot back. Now you want to give full constitutional rights to anyone in the world. I did not realize the constitution was for all the citizens of the world. Hmmm…liberals Be an American Bi##ch slap one.
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this
Plagarism demonstrates the absence of higher thinking capabilities.
And it’s stealing too.
Just like those worthless, lazy, poor people who steal our tax money the wingnuts hate so much.
Right Mr. Peadawg?
By BS detector
August 8, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this
More thefts. Bud Wiser at 8:22 and Peadawg at 9:05.
Sure is sad. How insecure these folks must be to make people think they are something they are not. Bud, Pea and Commie you are all thieves. At least AJC/mgt and Godzilla mark their long winded posts to let people know they aren’t posting original material.
Its kinda like welfare. These people are taking something they haven’t earned. Sad.
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this
so I copied an email that was sent to me…wow people. take a joke, laugh at an email every once in a while. like Joker said, “Why so serious?”
By Blind Homer
August 8, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
Poor people victimized by legalized gambling may be Jim’s most liberal comment ever. We need gambling. A racetrack and a couple of casinos would also act as additional tourist tax for the state. The jumpsuits are a bad solution. If they’re inappropriately dressed, send them home and make the parents be responsible for seeing that they’re appropriately dressed instead of having the school cover their butts.
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
Peadawg,
I’m a very laid back individual, but thieves I have no patience for.
You judge individuals, but when you are judged, your defense is “lighten up folks.”
Your a thief and a hypocrit. Pathetic.
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this
Back to elections.
Does Hillary Clinton have no frakking shame? (I used “frak” - ha ha).
Why doesn’t she just admit frakking defeat and go the home with her obnoxious husband?
Good God woman.
My son’s friend made a good point the other day about Hills Clinton being the Commander in Chief. I guess it troubled him because he had to register for the selective service as does my oldest soon. His point: it’s reverse gender discrimination, Clinton would be CIC, but at the age of 18, she didn’t not have to register, as does any female.
I thought it was a good point.
By mike hussein smith
August 8, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
IKEA trendy? I almost spit grits on my newspaper when I read that. IKEA is something Wooten doesn’t know anything about, obviously, but what has he been smoking?
By Mara
August 8, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
and all the hoopla could have been avoided with one little sentence…”I got this in an e-mail today, agreed with it, and decided to share…”
but that would have meant admitting that the thoughts weren’t your own.
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this
theif? lol all i did was copy an email that sent to me. i never claimed it was my own words. wow this blog is way to uptight all of a sudden. what has friday done to everyone?
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this
Mara, thank you. I never realized that would cause so much trouble.
*THE POST AT 9:00 WAS FROM AN E-MAIL. IT IS NOT MY OWN WORDS. I THOUGHT IT WAS HUMEROUS AND A LITTLE EXXAGERATED, BUT STILL FUNNY**
EVERYONE HAPPY NOW? GEEZE
By RW-(the original)
August 8, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this
Jim,
One thing you must have missed about the school dress code story is that the kids have found the jumpsuits so popular they are deliberately violating the dress code. All they’ve done is increased the instances of inappropriate dress.
By candide
August 8, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this
Russian tanks are entering Georgia. I hope Obama will send a gunboat or swiftboat up the Chatahoochie.
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
for all the people who took my post as my own words, knew it was from an email, and still blew up about it…this is what ‘political correctness’ has done
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
Peadawg,
As I once told Commie, if you post words under your name, copy/paste whatever, and it is not your original writing, and you do not credit the original author — you are a plagarist and a thief — even on a blog.
It’s really quite simple. And it goes to show what kind of person you are: one of very low character.
You hold others to a higher standard, but do not feel that standard applies to you.
By Ronnie R.
August 8, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Get big government OFF OUR BACKS! Hey you: come here and whiz in this cup. We wanna sniff it and apply our arbitrary standards to determine your acceptability in American society.
By getalife "whiners"
August 8, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this
It is all about the Clintons now that the one has cut and run again to vacation in Hawaii.
President Clinton and dick will speak at the conventions.
New war started in Georgia today. Their President is asking w, what about our freedom w?
w is at the Olympics and the gop call him “Bejing George”.
Al Sadr said he will disarm when we withdraw.
By Juan Carquinez-Martinez
August 8, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Pardon the abbrubt change of subject, but does anyone happen to know any details on the Russian attack on Georgia? It seems that the armed forces of Georgia, a democratic republic next in line for NATO membership, launched an assault to secure the capital of South Ossetia, a breakaway province of Russophones arguing for independence, aided and abetted by Russia. (The UN regards Ossetia as a part of Georgia.) Georgian forces occupied the provincial seat this morning, only to have Russians troops and tanks pouring in to fight them, on their own sovereign soil. Russia vows to retake the seat of a Georgian province.
There’s talk of a Russian declaration of war against Georgia. Each side has killed the other’s troops in the past few hours. CNN is not covering this.
The Turkish oil pipeline runs through Ossetia.
Remember Hitler and his justification of the taking the Sudatenland: that its residents were mostly German-speakers.
Bush and Poot-Poot have “discussed” the mater in Slayging. Why do I find that cold comfort?
By "Charles", The Original
August 8, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Jim Wooten writes, “A high school in Gonzales, Texas, requires inappropriately dressed students to don navy blue coveralls — prison jumpsuits of a sort. Some parents object. What’s wrong with public education? These three things, among others: 1) parents who object to efforts to maintain discipline; 2) students who disregard simple instructions; 3) parents who don’t parent before the child hits school.”
Some parents have made the correct call. I too strongly object to donning inappropriately dressed students in navy blue coveralls——prison jumpsuits of a sort. Without exception, all students should be required to dress appropriately while attending public schools; no ifs, no ands, and no buts.
What’s wrong with public education? We can sum it up in two words, mandatory integration, among others. Granted, all of our public schools should be accessible to any student regardless of race, creed, or color. And in the Southern states, that’s exactly what policy makers required of public schools prior to 1970. But there was a problem, only the emotionally weaker students of each racial group decided to transfer to other schools. This occurrence caused policy makers to make a critical error; they decided that the integration of public schools would become mandatory.
Prior to mandatory integration, the overwhelming majority of students in the African American community obeyed simple instructions. A few contemptuous students were assigned instructors that specialized in transforming students in need of extra attention.
Americans know that the lives of African Americans haven’t been a crystal stair. There has been slavery, Jim crow, etc., and in the interim, too many individuals lost the ability to parent. Consequently, responsible black adults organized the transforming community. The transforming community served as a safety net that included grand-parents/adults tasked with the responsibility of preventing children from falling through the cracks. The parenting of each child was considered a right/duty of adults in the community before the advent of integration. But mandatory integration dismantled the safety net. And the results have been a dysfunctional hostile community with too many parents/children in dire need of socialization.
Presently, most integrationists argue that we don’t have integration in America. I contest the argument vigorously as far as the overwhelming majority of African Americans are concerned. Regrettably, mandatory integration has been a complete success where it matters most; in the minds of too many African Americans.
I can deduce that other communities share similar integration based outcomes.
By Oz
August 8, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Friday? Did Pee’er Pressure say that it’s Friday? Well why didn’t you say that in the first place? That’s a horse of a different color. P-schlong is RIGHT!
Miller time is only minutes, er, hours away. What R fighting for? It’s FRIDAY!
Camera to me stuffing michelob lights in dry ice, and using a thermal infrared holographic imagery machine to ascertain that the temp stays at 34 degrees farenwipe.
That said, the right only hacks rushannity on this blog. Every comment by duhng, corporal glenn, BJfaque, and @@ are cut-n-paste.
They are like parrots. You see, I listen to five minutes of Rushannity per week. Rush, in five minutes, gives away everything he’s going to say for a week. Then, Duhnglips hacks the same rim-print all day long. that’s why nobody reads it. We dont have to. We know what it says. (and what it smells like…..ew) AJC MGT = Refried Rushannity.
That’s why I’m virtually the only blogger who gets read. You couldn’t pay me to sell out.
You couldn’t pay me to sell out.
By Paul
August 8, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
Bosch
You said “frak.” Ha ha, you’re a doodoohead!
Can you tell it’s Friday?
Your son’s experience gets back to something I drilled into my kids - “life isn’t fair, deal with it,” One of them is an exec now - said he’s used that line at work. I told him to watch it - he might get sued for encouraging discrimination, unfairness, lowering self esteem and not giving everyone an award for doing their job.
Your Hillary comment - seems to me their marriage works much better when they aren’t at home together…. hey, whatever works.
NBC had a piece this morning over controversial swimsuits for the Olympics. Seems the suits are very tight, cause a water flow that cuts drag and increases buoyancy and has led do numerous worlds records being broken.
And now for my Friday Serious Question: American deaths in Afghanistan have hit 500. If not before, at least after, Pres Obama winds down Iraq and transfers American forces to Afg, are we going to see the daily name/casualty count and questions of “how many more Americans have to die before we leave” as we did with Pres Bush and Iraq? And if anybody says “Iraq was an elective war, we’re fighting AQ in Afg” I’ll have to observe that regardless of how our involvement in Iraq began, it morphed into, as OBL put it, the central battleground between us and them. So even then the daily counts continued -
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:18 AM | Link to this
Bosch
give it a rest. i forgot to put a disclaimer at the bottom, sorry. let it go
By Paul
August 8, 2008 11:26 AM | Link to this
candide
“Red Dawn” is showing on TBS this weekend -
Regarding the calls for US/Pres Bush to ‘get involved” in the Georgia situation:
What US national interests are at stake? If none, or if not great, what justifies our involvement?
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Oz, please do us all a favor and stop talking out of ur butt. You really make no sense at all.
By Mrss. Godzillla
August 8, 2008 11:32 AM | Link to this
No dice Peadawg.
You’ve been reported.
Disclaimer: The preceding was a parody (admittedly a bad one). The real Mrs. Godzilla did not post it, likely does not approve of it and is a lovely, kind person of the highest intellect.
By GOPs got to go
August 8, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this
YAWN………………………………..YAWN again. Totally agree with Ragger on the can’t find anything good to say about McCain so I will bring up my opinions on Obama over and over and over and over and over….
Cut and Paste scary nut case guy with same old ranting BS which is never on topic/urinal/moron/retard
By Peadawg
August 8, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this
Reported for what? making a honest mistake that a appologized for many times?
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this
Paul,
I’m all about the “life isn’t fair” deal. My kids hear that on a regular basis. You made me laugh about the “awards” comment. I hate awards day at school: “And here’s little Jimmy’s award for the Best Crayon Drawing by a fourth-grader named Jimmy.” And the crowd goes wild!!!! Yeah Jimmy!
Please.
My oldest will be 18 on Sunday, and we have that card sitting on the kitchen table ready to sign and mail in. It makes me mad that girls don’t have to do that. If Hills can be the CIC, then girls should have to register with the selective service. Equality for all - that’s the socialist in me coming out.
I know that if I were married to Hills, I’d be going on “business” trips alot. But, you’re right. I know lots of couples who don’t see each other much, and it’s probably better and safer for the entire planet that they don’t.
Swimming? I think it should be done nude. That way, we’d know who really was the champion. But then you’d have some guys and girls whose certain parts would cause a bigger drag….. but hey, life isn’t fair sometimes, right?
War in Afghanistan? As you know, I’ve changed my mind about that. Bring the troops home, send out covert, small, secret operations. CIA thing. Like James Bond, and Batman.
I don’t think we should ever have another shock and awe (or in other words “conventional”) war again. Small, well planned, strikes. In and out - blow up and go home.
Peadawg,
I’ll let it go when you admit you’re a thief and a hypocrit. Only thing I hate worse in this world other than murderers: thieves.
By Juan Carquinez-Martinez
August 8, 2008 11:42 AM | Link to this
Paul, I for one have no idea what is or should be the U.S. position on Georgia. We’ve sponsored their candidacy for NATO right through the Clinton and Bush administrations. (Geographically, they are, really, the best of the bygone USSR). Putin has made it clear that he won’t let that happen. He seems to want, if not a reassemblage of the USSR, at least the creation of a Greater Russia.
As for American interests: the oil pipeline, and a democracy more stable and earnest than Russia’s.
I didn’t think it possible for a man to be caught with three pairs of pants down at once, but Bush has managed it: by pulling for Georgia without either forming a bilateral alliance or succeeded in gaining their admission to NATO; by going to Slayjing; by falling under the malodorous spell of his “Poot-Poot”, whose soulful eyes are pools of liquid love for mankind.
I think oil is Russia’s ulterior motive.
By Referee
August 8, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
15-yard penalty on Peadawg for unattributed posting of another’s material.
Multiple 15-yard penalties to Bosch, Paul, etc. for piling on.
Play ball!
By Referee
August 8, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this
15-yard penalty on Peadawg for unattributed posting of another’s material.
Multiple 15-yard penalties to Bosch, Oz, etc. for piling on.
Play ball!
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this
Paul,
Another thing,
What else is OBL going to say? He’s a propogandistic murdering scum.
I don’t really care what OBL said about Iraq. I don’t base my opposition to war based on what he said.
Get the point?
Oh, and I agree with what you said about the Russia/Georgia thing, BUT, there is OIL there! So…..is it in our interest?
And, you’re a doo doo head too, albeit, a good one. :-)
Raise of hands. How many on the blog today think the Peadawg would have admitted his mistake if he had not been caught?
{And the crickets chirp.}
By RW-(the original)
August 8, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
Paul,
Our interest in Georgia from a political perspective is for the left to demand action right up until the moment it looks like we might take action.
Peadawg,
Why don’t you give it a rest? As long as you keep apologizing these idiots are going to keep whining at you.
By GOPs got to go
August 8, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
Agree with the female draft thing, As soon as Jenna and Not-Jenna sign up to serve, then I will offer up my 2. And the lesbian Cheney off spring does not get a homo-by.
By Bosch
August 8, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this
Hey Ref,
You suck.
By "Charles", The Original
August 8, 2008 11:50 AM | Link to this
So, 11:34 is undoubtedly a nut case gatekeeper for the New World Order. He’s probably white and hates the masses of white people with as much venom as the so-called educated integrationist mongrel Negroes hates the masses of black people.
Clearly, he is not programmed to think. He can only cast aspersions. But if I have to come down to his level, so be it.
By findog
August 8, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this
Senator Obama on vacation in Hawaii and Mrs. Godzilla is not here today. Coincidence, I think not… As for you Peadawg
By hillbilly ragger
August 8, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this
Back for a bit (and a lunchtime bite). Lessee, what’s shakin’…
CopyLeft @ 9.15,yeah, Jim missed that one big-time. I know, too, from listening to Reich-wing radio that the NEA is the most horrible thing ever to happen to this greatest country on God’s green earth. Forget about the sin of trying to educate everyone regardless of income—How dare public educators unionize and advocate positions on behalf of their membership?
#Copy/paste whiner @ 9.16, who’s “Neil Boretz?”
Maybe you meant “Neal Boortz.” He’s a Cox employee, like Jim, only Neal draws—what is it, Jim, about 15x your annual salary last I’d heard, for spewing the very same right-wing lies, right? hee hee.
#Charles (the KauKasian Kingfish) @ 9.56 and inexplicably regurgitated @ 11.16, where are you and your white-separatist kin going to hole up when the scary crypto-Moooslem, “pro-integrationist” progeny of race-mixin’ is sworn in as President in January? Eric Rudolf’s old stomping grounds, perhaps? Can you get wireless out there? If not, how will you ever get your daily dose of StormFront?
(for those who get the “Kingfish” ref, seriously, read his posts with that dialect. It all makes perfect sense! “Now looky heah. Ah can dedooshanalize dat udduh communacubbies share simimar integrationable-based outgoes. Ah beez Charles, de Originable!”)
Segregation Fo-evah, right, Charles?
#I’ll switch off the snark for our Peadawg — you’re asking “so I copied an email that was sent to me…wow people. take a joke, laugh at an email every once in a while. like Joker said, “Why so serious?””
I’ll try to answer that honestly, without getting quite as (understandably) emotional as some here. It’s beyond simply acknowledging a source, and doing what one knows to do in kindergarten—namely, don’t try to pass of something as your own that isn’t actually your own.
It’s because disformation is a seriously Bad Thing. Whatever the source. While there are some decidedly left-wing urban legends out there that too many people accept as true (Bush claiming the Constituion is “just a god - damn piece of paper”, and asking “do you have black people in Brazil?” are two stubborn ones—neither are credible), they are dwarfed by the utter tsunami of right-wing nonsense being pushed out by RNC operatives and corporate sponsored third parties.
Because of this, we’ve had to waste time online refuting crazy notions that (just to focus for a moment on the Dem. nominee) Obama: 1. is a secret muslim 2. won’t say the pledge 3. took his oath of office on a Koran 4. will surrender sovereignity to the UN 5. wrote provocative stuff about race and religion he didn’t, you know, actually write in his bestselling books 6. wasn’t born in the US (and is hiding his “real” birth certificate!)
…and that’s just stuff that comes to mind without opening Snopes.
I’d like to have open and honest online discussions with folks when the opportunity permits. It’s impossible if the comments threads are to be littered with unattributed humbug like your copy/paste. But beyond my personal discomfort, seriously, doesn’t it bother you to be receiving “funny emails” that are, actually about deadly serious topics? Drug testing is a