Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Messages - Brent

#61
Yes, you read that correctly: "Boys Are Dumb, Wash Their Bum!" is just one of a series of offensive slogans on some merchandise at Fred Meyer, a chain department store in many western states.

The products are lip gels and soaps, targetted at teen- and pre-teen girls. Personally, I think it's offensive in a number of ways- it's offensive to boys and it sends the wrong message to young girls. And wouldn't ya know it- these products are put out by those ignorant a-holes that made the "Boys Are Dumb- Throw Rocks At Them" shirts, the company called  "David & Goliath".

Not surprisingly, there were NO products that make girls the target- no "Girls Are Dumb, Wash Their Bum!" merchandise at all.

So, I spoke with the manager and told him I come to this store almost every week and spend a hell of a lot of money over the course of a year- but that was stopping TODAY. I dropped all my (unbought) stuff right there on the floor and told him I'd never spend another dime in a Fred Meyer store until they removed this offensive, gender-biased garbage. To his credit, he started pulling stuff off the shelves right then and there, but he's just one manager at one store.

We need to get the word out to ALL the Fred Meyer stores that this kind of merchandise is unacceptable.

Below are the product numbers and toll-free telephone number for Fred Meyer. Please give them a call and let them know that you won't shop at a store that discriminates against boys, and that tells young girls that it's COOL to be mean to boys.


Toll-Free Number: 1-888-247-4439

Product numbers:

7-67014-35483
7-67014-34245
7-67014-36845
7-67014-32254
7-67014-34107
7-67014-34105

When you call, be polite, but BE FIRM, and let the customer representative know a few things:

1) You will NOT shop at Fred Meyer while they carry these products, and

2) That you are offended that Fred Meyer would carry this kind of merchandise, and

3) That you find this merchandise to be quite offensive.

 
Thank you. Let's get this junk out of the stores and let them know that targetting boys to be made fun of is a stupid and offensive thing to do.

...Brent
#62
Whoops, my mistake- there isn't a man even mentioned in this story. :)  


Teacher Jailed After Brawl With Parent

Fri Oct 22, 4:59 PM ET

MACON, Georgia - A teacher-parent brawl in front of 19 primary school pupils sent a mother to the emergency room and the teacher to jail.

Teacher Katrina Ann Rucker, 30, is charged with battery and cruelty to children for allegedly beating a parent who tried to retrieve her daughter's book bag, The Macon Telegraph newspaper reported Friday.

According to police interviews, parent Lurella Amica went to Bruce-Weir Elementary School Thursday morning to deliver a note to her 9-year-old daughter.

At the classroom door, the girl told her mother that Rucker had thrown her bag in the trash can, the report stated. Amica entered the classroom and tried to get the book bag, but Rucker grabbed for it and the two struggled, the report said.

After Amica wrestled the bag away, police say Rucker picked up a chair and hit her in the back, knocking Amica to the floor. Rucker then began punching Amica in the face and body.

During the fight, the girl was reportedly crying for her teacher to stop hitting her mother and ran up to them. Rucker then allegedly hit the child, pulled her hair and pushed her out of the way before starting to strike the mother again.

Rucker dragged Amica by the hair outside the classroom, according to the report.

"A school administrator and another teacher had to pull the teacher off the mother," Macon police spokeswoman Melanie Hofmann said.

In Rucker's account of the story, she said Amica hit her hand during the initial struggle, Hofmann said.

"The teacher said she was defending herself because she gets a shot in that hand and it hurt," Hofmann said.  (Yeah, now there's an excuse I can buy into for her psychotic rage!... Brent)

Amica was in stable condition in the emergency room of The Medical Center of Central Georgia late Thursday night.

Rucker was placed on administrative leave.

Sylvia McGee, Bibb County's deputy superintendent, said school staff called the parent or guardian of each child in the class. Social workers counseled students, and only Amica's daughter left school early.

Principal Karen Konke sent letters to parents about the incident.

"Let me assure you the school is safe and that our students have been involved in appropriate instructional activities throughout the day," Konke wrote.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=14&u=/ap/parent_teacher_fight
#63
General Issues / Completely Off Topic :)
Oct 04, 2004, 09:29:05 AM
The admin asked me to post or mention this:


[img src=http://www.royalrecipes.com/images/small_logo.gif]
[font size=+1]www.RoyalRecipes.com[/font]

Someone he knows has just started a recipe site  (I believe he had a hand in building it) and he wanted me to mention here for the people who are into cooking.

One neat thing about the site is that you can plug in the ingredients you have laying around and it'll give you a list of what recipes can be made with those ingredients. I haven't seen that anywhere else. I played with it and it's pretty slick.

#64
I don't run this site, but I think I can answer your question.

>Are you a Robert Ludlum fan?  Is that where the deltabravo
>came from?

I saw this under discussion a while back on another board. In mathematics and science, a "change" in something is represented by the Greek letter delta, and a "bravo" is what you say to a good performance or a job well done. The owner wanted it to symolize or  mean "a good change" or "a change for the better".

I don't know if he reads Robert Ludlum, but you can ask him: [email protected]  :)
#65
I don't run this site, but I think I can answer your question.

>Are you a Robert Ludlum fan?  Is that where the deltabravo
>came from?

I saw this under discussion a while back on another board. In mathematics and science, a "change" in something is represented by the Greek letter delta, and a "bravo" is what you say to a good performance or a job well done. The owner wanted it to symolize or  mean "a good change" or "a change for the better".

I don't know if he reads Robert Ludlum, but you can ask him: [email protected]  :)
#66
Tuesday is INDUCE call-in day.

Note that they're NOT referring to betamax VCR tapes, but the famous "Betamax" legal ruling which made it legal for people to make backups of music and software, and to be able to legally listen to music you own on different devices (like recording an album or CD to tape or MP3 player), allowed for legally making compilations of your favorite tunes, etc etc.



As writer Cory Doctrow detailed last week, Tuesday September 14 is "Save Betamax National Call-in Day."

Why Save Betamax? The short version: We're organizing a call-in day to Congress on September 14 to oppose new legislation that would undermine the Betamax decision (INDUCE Act).

Here's why: The Betamax VCR died more than 15 years ago, but the Supreme Court decision that made the Betamax and all other VCRs legal lived on. In Sony vs. Universal (known as the Betamax decision) the Court ruled that because VCRs have legitimate uses, the technology is legalâ€"even if some people use it to copy movies.

Of course, the movie industry was lucky it lost the case against VCRs, because home video soon became Hollywood's largest source of revenue. And the freedom to use and develop new technology that was protected by the Betamax decision set the stage for the incredible growth in computer technology we've seen in the last few decades.

Hollywood is Trying to Kill the "Betamax Decision"

The Betamax ruling is the only thing that protects your right to own a VCR, tape recorder, CD-burner, DVD-burner, iPod, or TiVo. It's that important. But new legislation that's being pushed through the Senate by lobbyists for the music and movie industries would override the Betamax decision and create a huge liability for any business that makes products which can copy sound or video. This legislation (formerly known as the INDUCE Act) would essentially give Hollywood veto power over a huge range of new technologies. And if they get this power, they'll definitely use it. Even "compromise" drafts from the Copyright Office could make mp3-playing iPods ancient history; the music and movie industries want to force all content to go through their own restricted channels.
Is Congress Insane?

You might think so at first glance. Voters, technology experts, public interest groups, and electronics manufacturers all oppose these efforts to weaken Betamax. So why is it still happening? Because the major record labels and the movie studios-- the same companies that opposed the Betamax ruling-- make huge donations to the re-election campaigns of the Senators who are sponsoring this legislation. And most members of Congress assume this is a non-controversial issue, off the radar of most voters. If they can please their donors without a big fuss, they will. It's bad policy, but until we start making noise, it's smart politics.
Why We Need a National Call-In Day

We need to make sure Congress hears from the public. There's been plenty of opposition on the internet to the INDUCE Act and its more recent drafts. But this general dissatisfaction hasn't quite come together into a real demonstration of how strongly people feel about protecting the Betamax decision. At Downhill Battle, we've organized people to send faxes to Congress before and there's been lots of emails flying around, but telephone calls take it to the next level. A big, one-day mobilization to swamp these members of Congress with phone calls could make a huge impact on the debate. If you care about keeping Betamax intact but haven't felt compelled to act before, now's the time to get involved. You can sign up here: http://www.savebetamax.org/


#67
Hang in there, Nugo!

Sometimes this stuff overwhelms us, but persevere, never give up, and keep on fighting. Like Peanutsdad, I've been there too. Just keep moving forward.
#68
General Issues / OT - Wow
Aug 17, 2004, 08:25:36 AM
If true, this is VERY scary.


From Capitol Hill Blue

Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior
By TERESA HAMPTON
Editor, Capitol Hill Blue
Jul 28, 2004, 08:09

President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned.

The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President's mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately.

"It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally."

 [img src=http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/uploads/070804bushwalkoff_001.jpg]
Angry Bush walked away from reporter's questions.


Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay.

"Keep those motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide backstage. "If you can't, I'll find someone who can."

Bush's mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President's wide mood swings and obscene outbursts.

Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports an anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a "paranoid meglomaniac" and "untreated alcoholic" whose "lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad" showcase Bush's instabilities.

"I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank said. "He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated."

Dr. Frank's conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School.

The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first campaign for President.

"President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and megalomaniac tendencies," Dr. Frank adds.

The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this article.

Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known, White House sources say they are "powerful medications" designed to bring his erratic actions under control. While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President's annual physical, details of the President's health and any drugs or treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the President.

Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information about Bush's health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald Reagan's second term when aides managed to conceal the President's increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease.

It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon's final days when the soon-to-resign President wandered the halls and talked to portraits of former Presidents. The stories didn't emerge until after Nixon left office.

One long-time GOP political consultant who – for obvious reasons – asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush.

"We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not good for the country."

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/printer_4921.shtml
#69
General Issues / OT - Humor - Pilots Rules
Aug 15, 2004, 02:34:17 PM
RULES OF THE AIR

1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the
   stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the
   stick all the way back, then they get bigger again.
3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.
4. It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than up
   there wishing you were down here.
5. The ONLY time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep
   the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot
   starts sweating.
7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No-one has ever collided
   with the sky.
8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great'
   landing is one after which they can use the plane again.
9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make
   all of them yourself.
10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to
    taxi to the ramp.
11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle
    of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival
    and vice versa.
12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to
    five minutes earlier.
13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about
    might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable
    sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in
    clouds.
14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the
    number of take offs you've made.
15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing.
    Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience.
    The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag
    of luck.
17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them.
18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round
    and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the
    passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminium going
    hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour,
    the ground has yet to lose.
20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience
    usually comes from bad judgment.
21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much
    as possible.
22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And it's
    not subject to repeal.
24. The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you,
    runway behind you and a tenth of a second ago.
25. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. There are, however,
    no old bold pilots.
#70
>I just don't understand what makes Brent think Bush is so
>bad.

Well, if you have to ask, I suspect that nothing I could say would suffice. I don't mean to be flip, I'm serious. If you don't understand right now why so many people are anti-Bush, what could I possibly say that would convince you or change your mind? We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

>I'd like some concrete examples of exactly what Bush has
>done to make him have such a strident stance.

Well, almost everything he's done so far. He's uneducated, he's uncaring, he's a completely ineffective President, he blatantly mixes church and State, and so on. He doesn't even know the meaning of "sovernity". Did you see the clip on MSNBC where he tried to explain what "sovernity" meant? Watch that clip and tell me he should be President.

Finally, is there ANYONE that thinks George Jr. would be President if his daddy hadn't been? No one I know can answer "yes" to that question with a straight face- and I bet you can't either.



George W. Bush Resume

Past work experience:

Ran for congress and lost.

Produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.

Bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas, company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

Bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using tax-payer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to the Chicago White Sox.

With fathers help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

Accomplishments: Changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union. Replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for most executions by any Governor in American history.

Became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, with the help of my fathers appointments to the Supreme Court.

Accomplishments as president:

Attacked and took over two countries.

Spent the surplus and bankrupted the treasury.

Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.

Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.

Set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.

First president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

First president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.

First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.

After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, presided over the worst security failure in US history.

Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.

In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.

Cut unemployment benefits for more out of work Americans than any president in US history.

Set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12 month period.

Appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history.

Set the record for the least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.

Signed more laws and executive orders circumventing the Constitution than any president in US history.

Presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.

Presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as past presidents have.

Cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.

Set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (http://www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches/)

Dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.

My presidency is the most secretive and un-accountable of any in US history.

Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (the 'poorest' multi-millionaire, Condoleezza Rice has an Chevron oil tanker named after her).

Had more states to simultaneously go bankrupt than any president in the history of the United States.

Presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud of any market in any country in the history of the world.

Created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States.

Set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.

First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the human rights commission.

First president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the elections monitoring board.  

Removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history.

Rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.

Withdrew from the World Court of Law.

Refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.

First president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 US elections).

All-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations.

My biggest life-time campaign contributor presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation).

Spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.

First president in US history to unilaterally attack a sovereign nation against the will of the United Nations and the world community.

First president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1)

First US president to establish a secret shadow government.

Took the biggest world sympathy for the US after 911, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).

With a policy of 'dis-engagement' created the most hostile Israeli-Palestine relations in at least 30 years.

Fist US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.

First US president in history to have the people of South Korea more threatened by the US than their immediate neighbor, North Korea.

Changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.

Set all-time record for number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations bidding for government contracts.

Failed to fulfill my pledge to get Osama Bin Laden 'dead or alive'.

Failed to capture the anthrax killer who tried to murder the leaders of our country at the United States Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads and zero suspects.

In the 18 months following the 911 attacks I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States.

Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.

In a little over two years created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided the US has ever been since the civil war.

Entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.

Records and References:

At least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).

AWOL from National Guard and Deserted the military during a time of war.

Refuse to take drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.

All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.

All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public view.

Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and un-available for public review.

For personal references please speak to my daddy or uncle James Baker (They can be reached at their offices of the Carlyle Group for war-profiteering.)