Have a great weekend!!

(Note: Picture in honor of Jeremy…)

Educators at a Norway school have stirred up a hornet’s nest with a new policy.

A decision in the local district that schoolboys must sit on toilet seats when urinating, not stand.

That’s right, let’s have the little guys take a seat. One man was particularly infuriated by the decision.

According to the news report, the rule was announced for boys at Dvergsnes School, prompting outrage from Vidar Kleppe, the chief of The Democrats Party.

“When boys are not allowed to pee in the natural way, the way boys have done for generations, it is meddling with God’s work,” Kleppe, whose group is a splinter group of former Progress Party hardliners, said in the newspaper.

“It is a human right not to have to sit down like a girl,” he said.

Apparently all of the fuss is due to bathrooms being used by both sexes.

But she did tell Norwegian Broadcasting NRK that the restrooms are used by both boys and girls, and the young boys are not “good enough at aiming” in order to have “a pleasant toilet.”

They are probably leaving the seats up as well. So is this an attempt to feminize young boys, or just the reaction of a fed-up janitor? You decide.

Have you ever wondered where our own Mayor White and Chief Hurtt get some of their wacky ideas on crime fighting such as the no-chase policy? It would appear they import them from Europe.

Muggers could be hit with £100 [about $188] on-the-spot fines under controversial new proposals.

Home Office officials have drawn up plans for an extension of the fixed penalty notice system, which could cover almost 30 offences including assaulting a police officer, mugging, theft, drunkenness and possession of cannabis.

Police already issue penalty notices for low-level offences such as criminal damage and shoplifting.

The Brits are seeking to remove many of these offenses from the court system so as to alleviate judicial backlog and reduce costs. This means mugging someone then assaulting a responding bobby could simply cost the perp a few hundred dollars and no court appearance if he is caught. The effort is being sold as an attempt to “rebalance” British justice.

Home Secretary John Reid vowed at Labour’s annual conference in Manchester yesterday that he would rebalance the criminal justice system and suggested violent offenders could be forced to pay for the health care of their victims.

Let’s review the steps in Britain’s crime fighting efforts.

1. Install cameras to watch everyone
2. Decriminalize bad behavior
3. “Tax” said behavior
4. Cash in while crime increases

Could this “British Model” for crime fighting be the one adopted in the now-smoke-free back rooms of the White Administration?  It certainly sounds like a recent city program.

When it comes to falling oil prices of course.  Jack Z. Smith, Star-Telegram Staff Writer has an interesting take on the conspiracy theories that are blooming about the falling oil prices.  Bush Lied Oil Slides.

The conspiracy nuts are loose again, just in time for the fall elections. This time they’re falling for a wildly illogical theory with no basis in reality.

Some of the same folks who believed that evil, omniscient forces were conspiring to send energy prices skyrocketing a year ago are now experiencing angst about sharply falling crude oil and gasoline prices.

I love a big can conspiracy nuts mixed with cashews.  Would anyone like to bet which side of the political spectrum the 42% are on?

A USA Today/Gallup poll found that 42 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the Bush administration “deliberately manipulated the price of gasoline so that it would decrease before this fall’s elections.” Fifty-three percent disagreed, and 5 percent were uncertain.

The conspiracy postulate I’ve been hearing is that the Bush administration, or Big Oil, or the two in combination, are conniving to send gas prices plunging prior to the upcoming elections so that Americans will be happier and less inclined to throw out Republican incumbents (e.g., GOP lawmakers who control Congress).

A little sanity please.

I’m not so wildly biased against George W. Bush and his cronies as to think that they and their Big Oil compadres can simply snap their fingers and manipulate energy prices up or down. (Nor do I believe the ultra-goofy, left-wing conspiracy theory that the Bush administration helped perpetrate the 9-11 terrorist attacks).

If Big Oil can rig gasoline prices at will, why on earth were pump prices low for most of 1986-2000? And why did so many energy companies achieve only modest profits during such an extended period? I’m awaiting your answer, conspiracy theorists.

Mr. Smith goes on to explain why gas prices are down”

• demand is down
• the “fear factor” that was inflating energy prices, particularly on the volatile futures markets, has dissipated.
• Oil giants such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP are powerful companies that can throw their weight around. But they can’t control energy prices at will.

The final dagger to the heart of this conspiracy theory.

Energy prices are most greatly influenced by the global forces of supply and demand. Conspiracy theorists don’t like hearing that because it’s pretty dull stuff. It’s more fun to complain that falling gas prices are the illegitimate child of a political conspiracy geared to produce favorable election results.

I hope I haven’t spoiled anyone’s fun by injecting common sense into the debate.

…upon someone’s forehead with a rusty needle and ink from a Bic pen…

A man serving life for molesting and killing a little girl in Indiana got yet another “just dessert”, and no I don’t mean ice cream. Everyone has heard about how poorly sexual predators and child molesters do in prison. It seems that “honest criminals” don’t have a lot of truck with the vermin and they tend to inhabit the lowest rung on the prison food chain….

Let’s just hope that the homemade tatoo rig used was used on someone with HIV first….

It was a boastful, passionate, whispering, masculine kind of flight in seats 20A and 20B, where could be found…

…George Tsikhiseli, a television journalist, and his writer boyfriend, Stephan Varnier. “We’ve been together only four months,” Tsikhiseli said last week. “So it felt like a honeymoon.”

But turbulence would soon jolt those wistful, intelligent writer’s eyes.

Shortly after takeoff, Varnier nodded off, leaning his head on Tsikhiseli. A stewardess came over to their row. “The purser wants you to stop that,” she said.

“I opened my eyes and was, like, ‘Stop what?’ ” Varnier recalled the other day.

“The touching and the kissing,” the stewardess said, before walking away.

Tsikhiseli and Varnier were taken aback. “He would rest his head on my shoulder or the other way around. We’d kiss—not kiss kiss, just mwah,” Tsikhiseli recalled, making a smacking sound.

The amount of “mwah-ing” going on and exactly who might have been offended or made uncomfortable seems to be in dispute, but eventually a number of stewardesses, other passengers, and even the captain were all drawn into this mile-high maelstrom of love. Post-flight, American Airlines spokesmen are getting a workout as well.

Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said that the stewardess’s injunction to the men was reasonable, and would have been made whether the couple was gay or straight. “Our passengers need to recognize that they are in an environment with all ages, backgrounds, creeds, and races. We have an obligation to make as many of them feel as comfortable as possible,” he said. (He added, “Our understanding is that the level of affection was more than a quick peck on the cheek.”)

“The captain has illuminated the no-kissing sign. Please return all passengers to the upright position and prepare for landing. Thank you for choosing Harlequin Airlines.”

 

 

Today’s dolls too provocative, says survey of Moms

From the New York Post comes word that Democrat money-man George Soros is tired of politics.

“In the future, I’d very much like to get disengaged from politics,” Soros said at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting on the Upper East Side. “I’m interested in policy and not in politics.”

Perhaps the thrill is fading since President Bush cannot run for office again.

Predictably, the Chron’s Cragg Hines has aligned himself with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez in calling the president ‘the devil’:

At least Arlen Specter is a man of his word. He kept his deal with the devil.

To forestall conservatives from challenging his accession as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee when the current term began, the Pennsylvania Republican essentially promised to give all of President Bush’s judicial nominees a hearing, regardless of how bad some were certain to be.

Nice one, Cragg. Next up on the Hines rotation — the 493rd accusation that conservatives are just like the Taliban.

The Chronicle has an amusing editorial out this morning praising corporations for having pro-gay policies (same-sex partner benefits, etc).

At a time when some legislatures are depriving gay citizens of equal opportunity and protection under the law, a powerful sector is marching in the other direction. It’s corporate America.

While the Chronicle would have us believe that recent efforts in the legislatures to ensure that marriage remains exclusively heterosexual somehow “deprive[] gay citizens of equal opportunity and protection under the law,” the truth is much more complicated. But that doesn’t keep them from using inflammatory rhetoric, it seems.

On one hand, the findings are a refreshing surprise. On the other, they reflect basic logic. A big proportion of Americans — 10 percent is the conventional estimate — is gay. The same figure applies to the work force.

What employer would want to alienate a tenth of its staffers, distracting them from their work and undermining their loyalty?

Ok, the 10% figure is a myth. It was exposed long ago. True figures are about 3% for men, and significantly less for women. As a whole, about 2% of the population is gay.

I think this blurb from Snopes.com sums it up: “The common figure of “10% of the population is homosexual” is often bandied about, but that number is derived from a misapplication of a Kinsey study which was not based upon a representative sample of the population. One can find estimates that place of the percentage of the population considered to be homosexual anywhere between 1-2% and 25%-35%, but a reasonable survey of the more controlled studies would put the figure in about the 2-3% range (for males, at least).”

To say Kinsey was not representative is an understatement. He oversampled males, prostitutes, convicts — you name it. It stands to reason that his data was incorrect.

When capitalism works, employees, employers and consumers all enjoy the benefits. Equitable workplaces are a good example. A secure environment creates loyal, productive workers. Consumers get a better product, and employers are not only better citizens — they stand to make richer profits.

A better interpretation is that gay advocacy groups are powerful and can sway corporate policy. Nobody wants the Human Rights Campaign breathing down their neck, especially when roughly half the population sympathizes with gays and is willing to vote with its collective pocketbook. Conservatives have proven less willing to punish corporations for being friendly to gays (as conservatives are less likely to participate in any protest — probably a reaction against the 60’s).

So is this free enterprise? Sure. But probably not in the way the Chron paints it.

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From the Rocky Mountain News: Community reeling after siege at school

I don’t know what to say about this shooting right now, other than to pray for the family of Emily Keyes who was killed by the gunman.  The authorities have not let out much information yet about the gunman, who he was or why he may have done this.  At least this time it wasn’t one of the students, but that fact doesn’t really make it better.

Why does this sort of thing happen?  What is it that makes people go over the edge and commit such acts of terror and murder?  I don’t have an answer; all we can do is pray.

LST reader FourAlarm has composed a photo montage, set to music, in memory of HPD Officer Rodney Johnson. The photos were taken this afternoon, and depict Officer Johnson’s funeral procession on an otherwise empty freeway. It brought tears to my eyes.

Watch it, and then watch it again.

You blame the consultants of course!

Back on May 18, right after the board cancelled the election, the Houston Community Newspapers ran an article which had the following:

Months before the election, the district hired Austin-based consulting firm Johnston and Associates which advised the board to plan the election at the
campuses, something that could have saved the district more than $100,000.
Ray Laughter, the NHMCCD Vice Chancellor of External Affairs, said Johnston and Associates “evaluates demographic patterns in elections to provide
the best possible coverage of minority communities.” At press time last week, Laughter said he did not know how much the consulting contract cost the
college district. Also, the district frequently seeks the advice of its attorneys from Houston law firm Vinson & Elkins, who sat in on the May 11
conference call when the trustees made their decision in an emergency meeting.
Laughter said the board never anticipated complaints that could jeopardize the May election.

Here is the invoice submitted by Johnson and Associates to the NHMCCD board on March 2, 2006 Read more

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